Search results for: minimum flows

Authors: T. Damak, S. Houidi, M. A. Ben Ayed, N. Masmoudi

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The Versatile Video Coding standard (VVC) is actually under development by the Joint Video Exploration Team (or JVET). An Adaptive Multiple Transforms (AMT) approach was announced. It is based on different transform modules that provided an efficient coding. However, the AMT solution raises several issues especially regarding the complexity of the selected set of transforms. This can be an important issue, particularly for a future industrial adoption. This paper proposed an efficient hardware implementation of the most used transform in AMT approach: the DCT II. The developed circuit is adapted to different block sizes and can reach a minimum frequency of 192 MHz allowing an optimized execution time.

Keywords: adaptive multiple transforms, AMT, DCT II, hardware, transform, versatile video coding, VVC

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Karmveer Sheoran

Abstract:

To make wireless communication a vast success is to use sunlight for wireless communication. We can use sunlight in upper atmosphere to encode messages to efficiently use sunlight. This use of sunlight for wireless communication will need encoders which will encode sunlight according to our message and then resultant will be spread in all atmospheres wherever sunlight goes, it will take our messages with it. With minimum requirement of cost in equipment used at the edge of atmosphere is where sunlight is being encoded. In this way a very high efficient wireless communication system can be designed. On receiver side we will need light detectors which will detect sunlight variations and will finally give the information contained i it. Sunlight can be encoded at a very high speed that nobody will be annoyed by flickering. It will be most sophisticated and efficient wireless communication ever designed. There are far more possibilities in this sunlight communication. Let us call it “Sunlight Communication".

Keywords: sunlight communication, emerging trends, wireless communication, wifi

Procedia PDF Downloads 396

Authors: Nouri Sabrina, Benzeghiba Mohamed, Ghezal Abderrahmane

Abstract:

Numerical parametric study is conducted to study the effects of ampoule rotation on the flows and the dopant segregation in vertical Bridgman (VB) crystal growth. Calculations were performed in unsteady state. The extended Darcy model, which includes the time derivative and Coriolis terms, has been employed in the momentum equation. It was found that the convection, and dopant segregation can be affected significantly by ampoule rotation, and the effect is similar to that by an axial magnetic field. Ampoule rotation decreases the intensity of convection and stretches the flow cell axially. When the convection is weak, the flow can be suppressed almost completely by moderate ampoule rotation and the dopant segregation becomes diffusion-controlled. For stronger convection, the elongated flow cell by ampoule rotation may bring dopant mixing into the bulk melt reducing axial segregation at the early stage of the growth. However, if the cellular flow cannot be suppressed completely, ampoule rotation may induce larger radial segregation due to poor mixing.

Keywords: numerical simulation, heat and mass transfer, vertical solidification, chemical segregation

Procedia PDF Downloads 344

Authors: Yasser Elhenaw, A. Farag, Mohamed El-Ghandour, M. Shatat, G. H. Moustafa

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This study investigates the performance of two spiral-wound Air Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD) units. These units are connected in two different configurations in order to be tested and compared experimentally. In AGMD, the coolant water is used to condensate water vapor leaving membrane via condensing plate. The rejected cooling water has a relativity high temperature which can be used, depending on operation parameters, to increase the thermal efficiency and water productivity. In the first configuration, the seawater feed flows parallel and equally through both units then rejected. The coolant water is divided into the two units, and the heat source is divided into the two heat exchangers. In the second one, only the feed of the first unit is heated while the cooling rejected from the unit is used in heating the feed to the second. The performance of the system, estimated by the water productivity as well as the Gain Output Ratio (GOR), is measured for the two configurations at different feed flow rates, temperatures and salinities. The results show that at steady state condition, the heat recovery configurations lead to an increase in water productivity by 25%.

Keywords: membrane distillation, heat transfer, heat recovery, desalination

Procedia PDF Downloads 259

Authors: Hirbod Varasteh, Hamidreza Gohari Darabkhani

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The global warming and its impact on climate change is one of main challenges for current century. Global warming is mainly due to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) is known to be the major contributor to the GHG emission profile. Whilst the energy sector is the primary source for CO₂ emission, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) are believed to be the solution for controlling this emission. Oxyfuel combustion (Oxy-combustion) is one of the major technologies for capturing CO₂ from power plants. For gas turbines, several Oxy-combustion power cycles (Oxyturbine cycles) have been investigated by means of thermodynamic analysis. NetPower cycle is one of the leading oxyturbine power cycles with almost full carbon capture capability from a natural gas fired power plant. In this manuscript, sensitivity analysis of the heat exchanger design in NetPower cycle is completed by means of process modelling. The heat capacity variation and supercritical CO₂ with gaseous admixtures are considered for multi-zone analysis with Aspen Plus software. It is found that the heat exchanger design has a major role to increase the efficiency of NetPower cycle. The pinch-point analysis is done to extract the composite and grand composite curve for the heat exchanger. In this paper, relationship between the cycle efficiency and the minimum approach temperature (∆Tmin) of the heat exchanger has also been evaluated.  Increase in ∆Tmin causes a decrease in the temperature of the recycle flue gases (RFG) and an overall decrease in the required power for the recycled gas compressor. The main challenge in the design of heat exchangers in power plants is a tradeoff between the capital and operational costs. To achieve lower ∆Tmin, larger size of heat exchanger is required. This means a higher capital cost but leading to a better heat recovery and lower operational cost. To achieve this, ∆Tmin is selected from the minimum point in the diagrams of capital and operational costs. This study provides an insight into the NetPower Oxy-combustion cycle’s performance analysis and operational condition based on its heat exchanger design.

Keywords: carbon capture and storage, oxy-combustion, netpower cycle, oxy turbine cycles, zero emission, heat exchanger design, supercritical carbon dioxide, oxy-fuel power plant, pinch point analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 201

Authors: Najmeh Mohsenifar, Narjes Mohsenifar, Abbas Kargar

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In this paper, has been presented a stable method for predicting the ECG signals through the RBF neural networks, by the PSO algorithm. In spite of quasi-periodic ECG signal from a healthy person, there are distortions in electro cardiographic data for a patient. Therefore, there is no precise mathematical model for prediction. Here, we have exploited neural networks that are capable of complicated nonlinear mapping. Although the architecture and spread of RBF networks are usually selected through trial and error, the PSO algorithm has been used for choosing the best neural network. In this way, 2 second of a recorded ECG signal is employed to predict duration of 20 second in advance. Our simulations show that PSO algorithm can find the RBF neural network with minimum MSE and the accuracy of the predicted ECG signal is 97 %.

Keywords: electrocardiogram, RBF artificial neural network, PSO algorithm, predict, accuracy

Procedia PDF Downloads 621

Authors: Ayoub El Bourtali, Abdessamed Najine, Amrou Moussa Benmoussa

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It is becoming more and more necessary to manage flood risk, and it must include all stakeholders and all possible means available. The goal of this work is to map the vulnerability of the Oued Derna-region Tagzirt flood zone in the semi-arid region. This is about implementing predictive models and flood control. This allows for the development of flood risk prevention plans. In this study, A resistivity survey was conducted over the area to locate and evaluate soil characteristics in order to calculate discharges and prevent flooding for the study area. The development of a one-dimensional (1D) hydrodynamic model of the Derna River was carried out in HEC-RAS 5.0.4 using a combination of survey data and spatially extracted cross-sections and recorded river flows. The study area was hit by several extreme floods, causing a lot of property loss and loss of life. This research focuses on the most recent flood events, based on the collected data, the water level, river flow and river cross-section were analyzed. A set of flood levels were obtained as the outputs of the hydraulic model and the accuracy of the simulated flood levels and velocity.

Keywords: derna river, 1D hydrodynamic model, flood modelling, HEC-RAS 5.0.4

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Authors: Kadri Koçer, Sezer Kefeli

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This paper proposes a comparison of hydrodynamic performance and stability characteristic for an underwater vehicle which has two type of tail design, namely X and +tail-body configurations. The effects of these configurations on the underwater vehicle’s hydrodynamic performance and maneuvering characteristic will be investigated comprehensively. Hydrodynamic damping coefficients for modeling the motion of the underwater vehicles will be predicted. Additionally, forces and moments due to control surfaces will be compared using computational fluid dynamics methods. In the aviation, the X tail-body configuration is widely used for high maneuverability requirements. However, in the underwater, the + tail-body configuration is more commonly used than the X tail-body configuration for its stability characteristics. Thus it is important to see the effect and differences of the tail designs in the underwater world. For CFD analysis, the incompressible, three-dimensional, and steady Navier-Stokes equations will be used to simulate the flows. Also, k-ε Realizable turbulence model with enhanced wall treatment will be taken. Numerical results is verified with experimental results for verification. The overall goal of this study is to present the advantages and disadvantages of hydrodynamic performance and stability characteristic for X and + tail-body configurations of the underwater vehicle.

Keywords: maneuverability, stability, CFD, tail configuration, hydrodynamic design

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Farid Habibi Tanha, Hawati Janor, Mojtaba Jahanbazi

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The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of asymmetric information on the composition of capital inflows. This study uses the stock market microstructure to capture the asymmetric information. Such an approach allows one to capture the level and extent of the asymmetric information from a firm’s perspective. This study focuses on the two-dimensional measure of the market microstructure in capturing asymmetric information. The composition of capital inflows is measured by running six models simultaneously. By employing the panel data technique, the main finding of this research shows an increase in the asymmetric information of the stock market, in any of the two dimensions of width and depth. This leads to the reduction of foreign investments in both forms of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) and foreign direct investment (FDI), while the reduction in FPI is higher than that of the FDI. The significant effect of asymmetric information on capital inflows implicitly suggests for policymakers to control the changes of foreign capital inflows through transparency in the level of the market.

Keywords: capital flows composition, asymmetric information, stock market microstructure, foreign portfolio investment, foreign direct investment

Procedia PDF Downloads 358

Authors: Manami Masuda, Mariko Era, Takayoshi Kawahara, Takahide Kanyama, Hiroshi Morita

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Objectives: Fatty acid salts are a type of anionic surfactant and are produced from fatty acids and alkali. Moreover, fatty acid salts are known to have potent antibacterial activities. Acanthamoeba is ubiquitously distributed in the environment including sea water, fresh water, soil and even from the air. Although generally free-living, Acanthamoeba can be an opportunistic pathogen, which could cause a potentially blinding corneal infection known as Acanthamoeba keratitis. So, in this study, we evaluated the anti-amoeba activity of fatty acid salts and fatty acids to Acanthamoeba castellanii ATCC 30010. Materials and Methods: The antibacterial activity of 9 fatty acid salts (potassium butyrate (C4K), caproate (C6K), caprylate (C8K), caprate (C10K), laurate (C12K), myristate (C14K), oleate (C18:1K), linoleate (C18:2K), linolenate (C18:3K)) tested on cells of Acanthamoeba castellanii ATCC 30010. Fatty acid salts (concentration of 175 mM and pH 10.5) were prepared by mixing the fatty acid with the appropriate amount of KOH. The amoeba suspension mixed with KOH with a pH adjusted solution was used as the control. Fatty acids (concentration of 175 mM) were prepared by mixing the fatty acid with Tween 80 (20 %). The amoeba suspension mixed with Tween 80 (20 %) was used as the control. The anti-amoeba method, the amoeba suspension (3.0 × 104 cells/ml trophozoites) was mixed with the sample of fatty acid potassium (final concentration of 175 mM). Samples were incubated at 30°C, for 10 min, 60 min, and 180 min and then the viability of A. castellanii was evaluated using plankton counting chamber and trypan blue stainings. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against Acanthamoeba was determined using the two-fold dilution method. The MIC was defined as the minimal anti-amoeba concentration that inhibited visible amoeba growth following incubation (180 min). Results: C8K, C10K, and C12K were the anti-amoeba effect of 4 log-unit (99.99 % growth suppression of A. castellanii) incubated time for 180 min against A. castellanii at 175mM. After the amoeba, the suspension was mixed with C10K or C12K, destroying the cell membrane had been observed. Whereas, the pH adjusted control solution did not exhibit any effect even after 180 min of incubation with A. castellanii. Moreover, C6, C8, and C18:3 were the anti-amoeba effect of 4 log-unit incubated time for 60 min. C4 and C18:2 exhibited a 4-log reduction after 180 min incubation. Furthermore, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined. The MIC of C10K, C12K and C4 were 2.7 mM. These results indicate that C10K, C12K and C4 have high anti-amoeba activity against A. castellanii and suggest C10K, C12K and C4 have great potential for antimi-amoeba agents.

Keywords: Fatty acid salts, anti-amoeba activities, Acanthamoeba, fatty acids

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Authors: Salma Aboussalam, Karima Khalil, Khalid Elkalay

Abstract:

To describe the structure, functioning, and state of the Moroccan Mediterranean Sea ecosystem, an Ecopath mass balance model has been applied. The model is based on 31 functional groups, containing 21 fishes, 7 invertebrates, 2 primary producers, and one dead group (detritus), which are considered in this work to explore the trophic interaction. The system's average trophic transfer efficiency was 23%. Both the total primary production and total respiration were calculated to be >1, suggesting that more energy is produced than respired in the system. The structure of our system is based on high respiration and consumption flows. Indicators of ecosystem stability and development showed low values of the Finn cycle index (13.97), system omnivory index (0.18), and average Finn path length (3.09), suggesting that our system is disturbed and has a more linear than web-like trophic structure. The keystone index and mixed trophic impact analysis indicated that other demersal invertebrates, zooplankton, and cephalopods had a tremendous impact on other groups and were recognized as keystone species.

Keywords: Ecopath, food web, trophic flux, Moroccan Mediterranean Sea

Procedia PDF Downloads 84

Authors: Nouri Sabrina

Abstract:

Numerical parametric study is conducted to study the effects of ampoule rotation on the flows and the dopant segregation in Vertical Bridgman (VB) crystal growth. Calculations were performed in unsteady state. The extended darcy model, whıch includes the time derivative and coriolis terms, has been employed in the momentum equation. It is found that the convection, and dopant segregation can be affected significantly by ampoule rotation, and the effect is similar to that by an axial magnetıc field. Ampoule rotation decreases the intensity of convection and stretches the flow cell axıally. When the convectıon is weak, the flow can be suppressed almost completely by moderate ampoule rotation and the dopant segregation becomes diffusion-controlled. For stronger convection, the elongated flow cell by ampoule rotation may bring dopant mixing into the bulk melt reducing axial segregation at the early stage of the growth. However, if the cellular flow cannot be suppressed completely, ampoule rotation may induce larger radial segregation due to poor mixing.

Keywords: rotating vertical solidification, Finite Volume Method, heat and mass transfer, porous medium, phase change

Procedia PDF Downloads 428

Authors: Raid R. O. Al-Nima, S. S. Dlay, W. L. Woo

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A relationship between face and signature biometrics is established in this paper. A new approach is developed to predict faces from signatures by using artificial intelligence. A multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network is used to generate face details from features extracted from signatures, here face is the physical biometric and signatures is the behavioural biometric. The new method establishes a relationship between the two biometrics and regenerates a visible face image from the signature features. Furthermore, the performance efficiencies of our new technique are demonstrated in terms of minimum error rates compared to published work.

Keywords: behavioural biometric, face biometric, neural network, physical biometric, signature biometric

Procedia PDF Downloads 472

Authors: Pooja Verma, Rajnesh Tyagi, Sunil Mohan

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Al-Si alloys are widely used in various components such as liner-less engine blocks, piston, compressor bodies and pumps for automobile sector and aerospace industries due to their excellent combination of properties like low thermal expansion coefficient, low density, excellent wear resistance, high corrosion resistance, excellent cast ability, and high hardness. The low density and high hardness of primary Si phase results in significant reduction in density and improvement in wear resistance of hypereutectic Al-Si alloys. Keeping in view of the industrial importance of the alloys, hypereutectic Al-Si alloys containing 14, 16, 18 and 20 wt. % of Si were prepared in a resistance furnace using adequate amount of deoxidizer and degasser and their erosion behavior was evaluated by conducting tests at impingement angles of 30°, 60°, and 90° with an erodent discharge rate of 7.5 Hz, pressure 1 bar using erosion test rig. Microstructures of the cast alloys were examined using Optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the presence of Si particles was confirmed by x-ray diffractometer (XRD). The mechanical properties and hardness were measured using uniaxial tension tests at a strain rate of 10-3/s and Vickers hardness tester. Microstructures of the alloys and X-ray examination revealed the presence of primary and eutectic Si particles in the shape of cuboids or polyhedral and finer needles. Yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS), and uniform elongation of the hypereutectic Al-Si alloys were observed to increase with increasing content of Si. The optimal strength and ductility was observed for Al-20 wt. % Si alloy which is significantly higher than the Al-14 wt. % Si alloy. The increased hardness and the strength of the alloys with increasing amount of Si has been attributed presence of Si in the solid solution which creates strain, and this strain interacts with dislocations resulting in solid-solution strengthening. The interactions between distributed primary Si particles and dislocations also provide Orowan strengthening leading to increased strength. The steady state erosion rate was found to decrease with increasing angle of impact as well as Si content for all the alloys except at 900 where it was observed to increase with the increase in the Si content. The minimum erosion rate is observed in Al-20 wt. % Si alloy at 300 and 600 impingement angles because of its higher hardness in comparison to other alloys. However, at 90° impingement angle the wear rate for Al-20 wt. % Si alloy is found to be the minimum due to deformation, subsequent cracking and chipping off material.

Keywords: Al-Si alloy, erosion wear, cast alloys, dislocation, strengthening

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Authors: Mohammad Maruf Hasan

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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been increased at a remarkable position around the globe in which emerging economies are getting more FDI compared to industrialized economies. This study aims to examine the determinants of inward FDI flows in Bangladesh. To estimate the long and short-run impact of the FDI determinants for 1996-2020, we employed the Autoregressive-Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. Results show that: (1) macroeconomic determinants, such as economic growth, infrastructure, and market size, have a significant and strong positive effect.(2) Inflation exchange rate shows insignificant effects, while trade openness has mixed (short-run negative, long-run positive) effects on FDI inflows in both the long and short run. (3) Current institutional determinants rule of law has a positive effect on FDI inflows but is statistically insignificant, political stability has a negative, and the rule of law has a considerable beneficial impact on inflows of FDI. (4) The macroeconomic factors have been determined to impact Bangladesh's FDI inflows. Finally, a stable macroeconomic climate is more effective at luring FDI, as this study confirms. From a policy perspective, this study will help the government and policymakers to make a new investment policy.

Keywords: determinants, FDI, ARDL, Bangladesh

Procedia PDF Downloads 71

Authors: Jin Li, Jing Sun, Xiangkun Cai, Lijuanwang, Yanbin Tang, Junsheng Huo

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In order to improve the malnutrition of infants and young children in poor rural areas of China, Chinese government implement a project on improvement of children's nutrition in poor rural areas. Each infant or young child aged 6 to 23 months in selected poor rural areas of China was provided a package of Yingyangbao (YYB) per day, which is a full fat soy powder mixed with multiple micronutrient powders. A technical direction to implement this project comprehensively in poor rural areas of China will be provided by assessing the nutritional status of infants and feeding practices of caregiver. The nutritional intervention was conducted using Yingyangbao for infants aged 6 to 23 months in six poor counties of Shanxi, Yunnan and Hubei Provinces. The caregiver or parents of infants were educated on feeding knowledge and practice. A total of 1840 infants were assessed before the intervention and 1789 infants one year later. The length, weight, hemoglobin concentration of infants were measured to evaluate nutritional status before and after the intervention respectively. The questionnaires were designed to collect data for the basic demographic information and feeding practices. The average weight of infants aged 6 to 23 months increased from 9.59 ± 1.54kg to 9.73 ± 1.61kg one years later (p<0.01), and the average length from 76.0±6.0 to 77.0±6.1(p<0.01). The weight and length of infants aged 12 to 17 months had most obviously improving effect among the three age groups. Before the intervention, the hemoglobin concentration value of infants was 11.7±1.2g/L, and the anemia prevalence was 32.9%. One year later, the hemoglobin concentration value of the infants was increased to 12.0±1.1g/dL, and the anemia prevalence was decreased to 26.0%. There were both statistically significant (p <0.01). The anemia prevalence of infants aged 18 to 23 months had most obviously improving effect，which decreased from 25.0% to 17.2%(p<0.01). The proportion of infants aged 6 to 8 months who received solid, semi-solid or soft foods in time was increased from 89.4% to 91.6%, while there was no statistically significant. The proportion of 6-23 month-old infants who received minimum dietary diversity increased from 55.6% to 60.3%(p <0.01). The differences of the proportion of infants who received minimum meal frequency was no statistically significant between before and after the intervention. The nutritional intervention using Yingyangbao showed the significant effect for improving infants aged 6 to 23 months anemia status, weight and length. The feeding practices were improved through education in the process of nutritional intervention, while the effect is not significant. It is need for Chinese government to explore new publicity pattern.

Keywords: nutritional intervention, infants, nutritional status, feeding practice

Procedia PDF Downloads 436

Authors: Francesco Paolone

Abstract:

This paper investigates the role of Operating Cash Flow (OCF) and accruals in firm valuation analyzing financial statement information from the largest European companies and evaluating their relation to firm market value. Using a dataset of 500 largest European companies in 2018, the study investigates the relative value-relevance of equity, net income and operating cash flow (OCF). Findings show that the cash flow measure has the same explanatory power and intensity as equity and earnings to explain the market value. This study contributes to the debate on the value relevance of OCF incremental to book value and earnings. It also extends the literature, showing that OCF has information content (value relevance) superior to earnings and book value in the main European markets (Bepari et al., 2013). Finally, the study provides a support that accounting method choice may confuse investors, who have reduced confidence in accounting earnings and book value; in other words, nowadays European investors rely more on cash flows instead of accruals numbers.

Keywords: Cash Flow Statement, Value Relevance, Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: M. Salmanpour, O. Nourani Zonouz

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In this research, a numerical simulation of an Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) actuator’s effects on the flow around a square cylinder by using a finite volume method has been investigated. This is one of the newest ways for controlling the fluid flows. Two plate electrodes are flush-mounted on the surface of the cylinder and one wire electrode is placed on the line with zero angle of attack relative to the stagnation point and excited with DC power supply. The discharge produces an electric force and changes the local momentum behaviors in the fluid layers. For this purpose, after selecting proper domain and boundary conditions, the electric field relating to the problem has been analyzed and then the results in the form of electrical body force have been entered in the governing equations of fluid field (Navier-Stokes equations). The effect of ionic wind resulted from the Electrohydrodynamic actuator, on the velocity, pressure and the wake behind cylinder has been considered. According to the results, it is observed that the fluid flow accelerates in the nearest wall of the frontal half of the cylinder and the pressure difference between frontal and hinder cylinder is increased.

Keywords: CFD, corona discharge, electro hydrodynamics, flow around square cylinders, simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 469

Authors: Elida M. R. Bonifacio

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English language proficiency has become an essential issue in aviation communication after aviation incidents, and accidents happened. Lack of proficiency or inappropriate use of the English language has been found as one of the factors that cause most of those incidents or accidents. Therefore, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) established the requirements for minimum English language proficiency of aviation personnel, especially pilots and air traffic controllers in the 192 member states. In Brazil, the discussions about this topic became patent after an accident that occurred in 2006, which was a mid-air collision and costed the life of 154 passengers and crew members. Thus, the number of schools and private practitioners willing to teach English for aviation purposes started to increase. Although the number of teaching materials internationally used for general purposes is relatively large, it would be inappropriate to adopt the same materials in classes that focus on communication in aviation contexts. On the contrary, the options of aviation English materials are scarce; moreover, they are internationally used and may not fulfill the linguistic needs of all their users around the world. In order to diminish the problems that Brazilian practitioners may encounter in the adoption of materials that demand a great level of adaptation to meet their students’ needs, a checklist was thought to evaluate textbooks. The aim of this paper is to propose a checklist that evaluates textbooks used in English language training of Brazilian air traffic controllers. The criteria used to compound the checklist are based on materials development literature, as well as on linguistic requirements established by ICAO on its publications, on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) principles, and on Brazilian aviation English language proficiency test format. The checklist has as main indicators the language learning tenets under which the book was written, graphical features, lexical, grammatical and functional competencies required for minimum proficiency, similarities to official testing format, and support materials, totaling 117 items marked as YES, NO or PARTIALLY. In order to verify if the use of the checklist is effective, an aviation English textbook was evaluated. From this evaluation, it is possible to measure quantitatively how much the material meets the students’ needs and to offer a tool to help professionals engaged in aviation English teaching around the world to choose the most appropriate textbook according to their audience. From the results, practitioners are able to verify which items the material does not fulfill and to make proper adaptations since the perfect material will be difficult to find.

Keywords: aviation English, ICAO, materials development, English language proficiency

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Authors: Simon Huston, Ebraheim Lahbash, Ali Parsa

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The development of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into a regional trade, tourism, finance and logistics hub has transformed its real estate markets. However, speculative activity and price volatility remain concerns. UAE residential market values (MV) are exposed to fluctuations in capital flows and migration which in turn are affected by geopolitical uncertainty, oil price volatility, and global investment market sentiment. Internally, a complex interplay between administrative boundaries, land tenure, building quality and evolving location characteristics fragments UAE residential property markets. In short, the UAE Residential Valuation System (UAE-RVS) confronts multiple challenges to collect, filter and analyze relevant information in complex and dynamic spatial and capital markets. A robust (RVS) can mitigate the risk of unhelpful volatility, speculative excess or investment mistakes. The research outlines the institutional, ontological, dynamic, and epistemological issues at play. We highlight the importance of system capabilities, valuation standard salience and stakeholders trust.

Keywords: valuation, property rights, information, institutions, trust, salience

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Authors: Elnaz Entezar, Reza Ezzati

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In recent decades, trade flows, capital, workforce, technology and information have increased between international borders and the globalization has turned to an undeniable process in international economics. Meanwhile, despite the positive aspects of globalization, the critics of globalization opine that the risks and costs of globalization for developing vulnerable economies and the world's impoverished people are high and significant. In this regard, this study by using the data of KOF Economic Institute and the World Bank for 113 different countries during the period 2002-2012, by taking advantage of panel smooth transition regression, and by taking the gross domestic product as transmission variables discuss the nonlinear relationship between research variables. The results have revealed that globalization in low regime (countries with low GDP) has negative impact whereas in high regime (countries with high GDP) has a positive impact. In spite of the fact that in the early stages of growth, control of corruption has a positive impact on economic growth, after a threshold has a negative impact on economic growth.

Keywords: globalization, corruption, panel smooth transition model, economic growth, threshold, economic convergence

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Authors: A. Dehghani, S. Shirin

Abstract:

We propose in this article a new configuration of quantum states, |α, β> := |α>×|β>. Which are composed of vector products of two different copies of spin coherent states, |α> and |β>. Some mathematical as well as physical properties of such states are discussed. For instance, it has been shown that the cross products of two coherent vectors remain coherent again. They admit a resolution of the identity through positive definite measures on the complex plane. They represent packets similar to the true coherent states, in other words we would not expect to take spin squeezing in any of the field quadratures Lˆx, Lˆy and Lˆz. Depending on the particular choice of parameters in the above scenarios, they can be converted into the so-called Dicke states which minimize the uncertainty relations of each pair of the angular momentum components.

Keywords: vector (Cross-)products, minimum uncertainty, angular momentum, measurement, Dicke states

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Authors: Sardar Ameer Akram Khan, Shahzad Amin Sheikh

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Blind equalization is an important technique amongst equalization family. Multimodulus algorithms based on blind equalization removes the undesirable effects of ISI and cater ups the phase issues, saving the cost of rotator at the receiver end. In this paper a new algorithm combination of recursive least square and Multimodulus algorithm named as RLSMMA is proposed by providing few assumption, fast convergence and minimum Mean Square Error (MSE) is achieved. The excellence of this technique is shown in the simulations presenting MSE plots and the resulting filter results.

Keywords: blind equalizations, constant modulus algorithm, multi-modulus algorithm, recursive least square algorithm, quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)

Procedia PDF Downloads 639

Authors: Fuyang Peng, Donghong Li

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The aim of information systems integration is to make all the data sources, applications and business flows integrated into the new environment so that unwanted redundancies are reduced and bottlenecks and mismatches are eliminated. Two issues have to be dealt with to meet such requirements: the software architecture that supports resource integration, and the adaptor development tool that help integration and migration of legacy applications. In this paper, a service-enabled dependable integration environment (SDIE), is presented, which has two key components, i.e., a dependable service integration platform and a legacy application integration tool. For the dependable platform for service integration, the service integration bus, the service management framework, the dependable engine for service composition, and the service registry and discovery components are described. For the legacy application integration tool, its basic organization, functionalities and dependable measures taken are presented. Due to its service-oriented integration model, the light-weight extensible container, the service component combination-oriented p-lattice structure, and other features, SDIE has advantages in openness, flexibility, performance-price ratio and feature support over commercial products, is better than most of the open source integration software in functionality, performance and dependability support.

Keywords: application integration, dependability, legacy, SOA

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Authors: Shazi Farooqui, Anupam Sharma

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The Mahi River (~600km long) is an important west flowing the river of Central India. It originates in Madhya Pradesh and starts flowing in NW direction and enters into the state of Rajasthan. It flows across southern Rajasthan and then enters into Gujarat and finally debouches in the Gulf of Cambay. In Gujarat state, it flows through all four geomorphic zones i.e. eastern upland zone, shallow buried piedmont zone, alluvial zone and coastal zone. In lower reaches and particularly when it is flowing under the coastal regime, it provides an opportunity to study – 1. Land–Sea interaction and role of relative sea level changes, 2. Coastal/estuarine geological process, 3. Landscape evolution in marginal areas and so on. The Late Quaternary deposits of Mainland Gujarat is appreciably studied by Chamyal and his group of MS University of Baroda, and they have established that the 30-35m thick sediment package of the Mainland Gujarat is comprised of marine, fluvial and aeolian sediments. It is also established that in the estuarine zone, the upper few meter thick sediments package is of marine nature. However, its thickness, characters and the depositional environment including the role of climate and tectonics is still not clearly defined. To understand few aspects of the above mentioned, in the present study, a 17m subsurface sediment core has been retrieved from the estuarine zone of Mahi river basin. The Multiproxy studies which include the textural analysis (grain size), Loss on ignition (LOI), Bulk and clay mineralogy and geochemical studies have been carried out. In the entire sedimentary sequence, the grain size largely varies from coarse sand to clay; however, a solitary gravel bed is also noticed. The lower part (depth 9-17m), is mainly comprised of sub equal proportion of sand and silt. The sediments mainly have bimodal and leptokurtic distribution and deposited in alternate sand-silt package, probably indicating flood deposits. Relatively low moisture (1.8%) and organic carbon (2.4%) with increased carbonate values (12%) indicate that conditions must have to remain oxidizing. The middle part (depth 9–6m) has a 1m thick gravel bed at the bottom and overlain by coarse sand to very fine sand showing fining upward sequence. The presence of gravel bed suggests some kind of tectonic activity resulting into change in base level or enhanced precipitation in the catchment region. The upper part (depth 6–0m; top part of sequence) mainly comprised of fine sand to silt size grains (with appreciable clay content). The sediment of this part is Unimodal and very leptokurtic in nature suggesting wave and winnowing process and deposited in low energy suspension environment. This part has relatively high moisture (2.1%) and organic carbon (2.7%) with decreased carbonate content (4.2%) indicating change in the depositional environment probably under estuarine conditions. The presence of chlorite along with smectite clay mineral further supports the significant marine contribution in the formation of upper part of the sequence.

Keywords: grain size, statistical analysis, clay minerals, late quaternary, LOI

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Authors: A. Shahriari, M. Khalatbari Jafari, M. Faridi

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Abstract The Muradlu volcanic area is located in Azerbaijan province, NW Iran. The studied area exposed in a vast region includes lesser Caucasus, Southeastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran, comprising Cenozoic volcanic and plutonic massifs. The geology of this extended region was under the influence of the Alpine-Himalayan orogeny. Cenozoic magmatic activities in this vast region evolved through the northward subduction of the Neotethyan subducted slab and subsequence collision of the Arabian and Eurasian plates. Based on stratigraphy and paleontology data, most of the volcanic activities in the Muradlu area occurred in the Eocene period. The Studied volcanic rocks overly late Cretaceous limestone with disconformity. The volcanic sequence includes thick epiclastic and hyaloclastite breccia at the base, laterally changed to pillow lava and continued by hyaloclastite and lave flows at the top of the series. The lava flows display different textures from megaporphyric-phyric to fluidal and microlithic textures. The studied samples comprise picrobasalt basalt, tephrite basanite, trachybasalt, basaltic trachyandesite, phonotephrite, tephrophonolite, trachyandesite, and trachyte in compositions. Some xenoliths with lherzolitic composition are found in picrobasalt. These xenoliths are made of olivine, cpx (diopside), and opx (enstatite), probably the remain of mantle origin. Some feldspathoid minerals such as sodalite presence in the phonotephrite confirm an alkaline trend. Two types of augite phenocrysts are found in picrobasalt, basalt and trachybasalt. The first types are shapeless, with disharmony zoning and sponge texture with reaction edges probably resulted from sodic magma, which is affected by a potassic magma. The second shows a glomerocryst shape. In discriminative diagrams, the volcanic rocks show alkaline-shoshonitic trends. They contain (0.5-7.7) k2O values and plot in the shoshonitic field. Most of the samples display transitional to potassic alkaline trends, and some samples reveal sodic alkaline trends. The transitional trend probably results from the mixing of the sodic alkaline and potassic magmas. The Rare Earth Elements (REE) patterns and spider diagrams indicate enrichment of Large-Ione Lithophile Element (LILE) and depletion of High Field Strength Elements (HFSE) relative to Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE). Enrichment of K, Rb, Sr, Ba, Zr, Th, and U and the enrichment of Light Rare Earth Elements (LREE) relative to Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE) indicate the effect of subduction-related fluids over the mantle source, which has been reported in the arc and continental collision zones. The studied samples show low Nb/La ratios. Our studied samples plot in the lithosphere and lithosphere-asthenosphere fields in the Nb/La versus La/Yb ratios diagram. These geochemical characters allow us to conclude that a lithospheric mantle source previously metasomatized by subduction components was the origin of the Muradlu volcanic rocks.

Keywords: alkaline, asthenosphere, lherzolite, lithosphere, Muradlu, potassic, shoshonitic, sodic, volcanism

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Authors: Atwari Rawani, Hari Narayan Singh, K. D. P. Singh

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In this paper, an analytical investigation of the enhancement of thermal performance of parabolic trough collector (PTC) with twisted tape inserts in the absorber tube is being reported. A comparative study between the absorber with various types of twisted tape inserts and plain tube collector has been performed in turbulent flows conditions. The parametric studies were conducted to investigate the effects of system and operating parameters on the performance of the collector. The parameters such as heat gain, overall heat loss coefficient, air rise temperature and efficiency are used to analyze the relative performance of PTC. The results show that parabolic through collector with serrated twisted tape insert shows the best performance under same set of conditions under range of parameters investigated. Results reveal that for serrated twisted tape with x=1, Nusselt number/heat transfer coefficient is found to be 4.38 and 3.51 times over plain absorber of PTC at mass flow rate of 0.06 kg/s and 0.16 kg/s respectively; while corresponding enhancement in thermal efficiency is 15.7% and 5.41% respectively.

Keywords: efficiency, heat transfer, twisted tape ratio, turbulent flow

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Authors: Ruo-Qian Wang

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Open-source CFD has become increasingly popular and promising. The recent progress in multiphase flow enables new CFD applications, which provides an economic and flexible research tool for complex flow problems. Our numerical study using four-way coupling Euler-Lagrangian Large-Eddy Simulations to resolve particle cloud dynamics with OpenFOAM and CFDEM will be introduced: The fractioned Navier-Stokes equations are numerically solved for fluid phase motion, solid phase motion is addressed by Lagrangian tracking for every single particle, and total momentum is conserved by fluid-solid inter-phase coupling. The grid convergence test was performed, which proves the current resolution of the mesh is appropriate. Then, we validated the code by comparing numerical results with experiments in terms of particle cloud settlement and growth. A good comparison was obtained showing reliability of the present numerical schemes. The time and height at phase separations were defined and analyzed for a variety of initial release conditions. Empirical formulas were drawn to fit the results.

Keywords: four-way coupling, dredging, land reclamation, multiphase flows, oil spill

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Authors: Luana Parisi, Sohrab Donyavi

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Cities have become the nodes of global networks, standing at the intersection points of the flows of capital, goods, workers, businesses and travellers, making them the spots where innovation, progress and economic development occur. The primary challenge for them is to create the most fertile ecosystems for triggering innovation activities. Design emerges as an essential feature in this process of laboratorisation of cities. This paper aims at exploring the spatial hubs of transformation within the knowledge economy, providing an overview of the current models of innovation spaces, before focusing on the innovation district of one of the cities that are riding the innovation wave, namely, Boston, USA. Useful lessons will be drawn from the case study of the innovation district in Boston, allowing to define precious tools for policymakers, in the form of a range of factors that define the broad strategy able to implement the model successfully. A mixed methodology is implemented, including information from observations, exploratory interviews to key stakeholders and on-desk data.

Keywords: Innovation District, innovation ecosystem, economic development, urban regeneration

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Authors: Muhammad Faraz, Talat Rafique, Jang Min Park

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In this article, rotational flow above a permeable surface with a variable free stream angular velocity is considered. Main interest is to solve the associated heat/mass transport equations under different situations. Firstly, heat transport phenomena occurring in generalized vortex flow are analyzed under two altered heating processes, namely, the (i) prescribed surface temperature and (ii) prescribed heat flux. The vortex motion imposed at infinity is assumed to follow a power-law form 〖(r/r_0)〗^((2n-1)) where r denotes the radial coordinate, r_0 the disk radius, and n is a power-law parameter. Assuming a similar solution, the governing Navier-Stokes equations transform into a set of coupled ODEs which are treated numerically for the aforementioned thermal conditions. Secondly, mass transport phenomena accompanied by activation energy are incorporated into the generalized vortex flow situation. After finding self-similar equations, a numerical solution is furnished by using MATLAB's built-in function bvp4c.

Keywords: bödewadt flow, vortex flow, rotating flows, prescribed heat flux, permeable surface, activation energy

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