Search results for: sediment transport monitoring

Authors: A. F. Huseynov, N. T. Mardanov, J. Y. Nakhchivanski

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This practical research is aimed to improve the management quality and efficiency of public administration agencies providing e-services. The monitoring system developed will provide continuous review of the websites compliance with the selected indicators, their evaluation based on the selected indicators and ranking of services according to the quality criteria. The responsible departments in the government agencies were surveyed; the questionnaire includes issues of management and feedback, e-services provided, and the application of information systems. By analyzing the main affecting factors and barriers, the recommendations will be given that lead to the relevant decisions to strengthen the state agencies competencies for the management and the provision of their services. Component 1. E-services monitoring system. Three separate monitoring activities are proposed to be executed in parallel: Continuous tracing of e-government sites using built-in web-monitoring program; this program generates several quantitative values which are basically related to the technical characteristics and the performance of websites. The expert assessment of e-government sites in accordance with the two general criteria. Criterion 1. Technical quality of the site. Criterion 2. Usability/accessibility (load, see, use). Each high-level criterion is in turn subdivided into several sub-criteria, such as: the fonts and the color of the background (Is it readable?), W3C coding standards, availability of the Robots.txt and the site map, the search engine, the feedback/contact and the security mechanisms. The on-line survey of the users/citizens – a small group of questions embedded in the e-service websites. The questionnaires comprise of the information concerning navigation, users’ experience with the website (whether it was positive or negative), etc. Automated monitoring of web-sites by its own could not capture the whole evaluation process, and should therefore be seen as a complement to expert’s manual web evaluations. All of the separate results were integrated to provide the complete evaluation picture. Component 2. Assessment of the agencies/departments efficiency in providing e-government services. - the relevant indicators to evaluate the efficiency and the effectiveness of e-services were identified; - the survey was conducted in all the governmental organizations (ministries, committees and agencies) that provide electronic services for the citizens or the businesses; - the quantitative and qualitative measures are covering the following sections of activities: e-governance, e-services, the feedback from the users, the information systems at the agencies’ disposal. Main results: 1. The software program and the set of indicators for internet sites evaluation has been developed and the results of pilot monitoring have been presented. 2. The evaluation of the (internal) efficiency of the e-government agencies based on the survey results with the practical recommendations related to the human potential, the information systems used and e-services provided.

Keywords: e-government, web-sites monitoring, survey, internal efficiency

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Authors: Piush Verma, Y. R. Sood

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This paper provides the information on the diagnostics techniques for condition monitoring of power transformer (PT). This paper deals with the practical importance of the transformer diagnostic in the Electrical Engineering field. The life of the transformer depends upon its insulation i.e paper and oil. The major testing techniques applies on transformer oil and paper i.e dissolved gas analysis, furfural analysis, radio interface, acoustic emission, infra-red emission, frequency response analysis, power factor, polarization spectrum, magnetizing currents, turn and winding ratio. A review has been made on the modern development of this practical technology.

Keywords: temperature, condition monitoring, diagnostics methods, paper analysis techniques, oil analysis techniques

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Authors: Said Benaissa, David Plets, Emmeric Tanghe, Jens Trogh, Luc Martens, Leen Vandaele, Annelies Van Nuffel, Frank A. M. Tuyttens, Bart Sonck, Wout Joseph

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The herd monitoring and managing - in particular the detection of ‘attention animals’ that require care, treatment or assistance is crucial for effective reproduction status, health, and overall well-being of dairy cows. In large sized farms, traditional methods based on direct observation or analysis of video recordings become labour-intensive and time-consuming. Thus, automatic monitoring systems using sensors have become increasingly important to continuously and accurately track the health status of dairy cows. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and internet-of-things (IoT) can be effectively used in health tracking of dairy cows to facilitate herd management and enhance the cow welfare. Since on-cow measuring devices are energy-constrained, a proper characterization of the off-body wireless channel between the on-cow sensor nodes and the back-end base station is required for a power-optimized deployment of these networks in barns. The aim of this study was to characterize the off-body wireless channel in indoor (barns) environment at 868 MHz using LoRa nodes. LoRa is an emerging wireless technology mainly targeted at WSNs and IoT networks. Both large scale fading (i.e., path loss) and temporal fading were investigated. The obtained path loss values as a function of the transmitter-receiver separation were well fitted by a lognormal path loss model. The path loss showed an additional increase of 4 dB when the wireless node was actually worn by the cow. The temporal fading due to movement of other cows was well described by Rician distributions with a K-factor of 8.5 dB. Based on this characterization, network planning and energy consumption optimization of the on-body wireless nodes could be performed, which enables the deployment of reliable dairy cow monitoring systems.

Keywords: channel, channel modelling, cow monitoring, dairy cows, health monitoring, IoT, LoRa, off-body propagation, PLF, propagation

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Authors: Sourabh Jain, S. S. Jain

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Intelligent transportation system (ITS) is the application of technologies for developing a user–friendly transportation system to extend the safety and efficiency of urban transportation systems in developing countries. These systems involve vehicles, drivers, passengers, road operators, managers of transport services; all interacting with each other and the surroundings to boost the security and capacity of road systems. The goal of urban corridor management using ITS in road transport is to achieve improvements in mobility, safety, and the productivity of the transportation system within the available facilities through the integrated application of advanced monitoring, communications, computer, display, and control process technologies, both in the vehicle and on the road. Intelligent transportation system is a product of the revolution in information and communications technologies that is the hallmark of the digital age. The basic ITS technology is oriented on three main directions: communications, information, integration. Information acquisition (collection), processing, integration, and sorting are the basic activities of ITS. In the paper, attempts have been made to present the endeavor that was made to interpret and evaluate the performance of the 27.4 Km long study corridor having eight intersections and four flyovers. The corridor consisting of six lanes as well as eight lanes divided road network. Two categories of data have been collected such as traffic data (traffic volume, spot speed, delay) and road characteristics data (no. of lanes, lane width, bus stops, mid-block sections, intersections, flyovers). The instruments used for collecting the data were video camera, stop watch, radar gun, and mobile GPS (GPS tracker lite). From the analysis, the performance interpretations incorporated were the identification of peak and off-peak hours, congestion and level of service (LOS) at midblock sections and delay followed by plotting the speed contours. The paper proposed the urban corridor management strategies based on sensors integrated into both vehicles and on the roads that those have to be efficiently executable, cost-effective, and familiar to road users. It will be useful to reduce congestion, fuel consumption, and pollution so as to provide comfort, safety, and efficiency to the users.

Keywords: ITS strategies, congestion, planning, mobility, safety

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Authors: EMMANUEL DWAMENA SASU

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International climate policy actions require countries under Paris Agreement to design instruments, provide support (financial and technical), and strengthen institutional capacity with tendency to transcending policy formulation to implementation and sustainability. Changes associated with moisture depletion has been a growing phenomenon; especially in developing countries with projected global GDP drop from 7% to 2% between 2005 and 2050. These developments have potential to adversely affect food production in feeding the growing world population, with corresponding rise in global hunger. Incongruously, there is global absence of a harmonized policy direction; capable of providing the required indicators on climate policies for monitoring sustainability of international agricultural development projects. We conduct extensive review and synthesis on existing limitations on global climate policy governance, agricultural food security and sustainability of international agricultural development projects, and conjecture the role of non-state and sub-national climate stakeholder engagements, and monitoring and evaluation strategies for improved climate policy action for sustaining international agricultural development projects.

Keywords: climate policy, agriculture, development projects, sustainability

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Authors: Zdenek Silar, Martin Dobrovolny

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This article deals with the obstacle detection on a railway crossing (clearance detection). Detection is based on the optical flow estimation and classification of the flow vectors by K-means clustering algorithm. For classification of passing vehicles is used optical flow direction determination. The optical flow estimation is based on a modified Lucas-Kanade method.

Keywords: background estimation, direction of optical flow, K-means clustering, objects detection, railway crossing monitoring, velocity vectors

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Authors: Rui Chen, Shu-min Zhou, Xiong-jie Zhang, Ren-bo Wang, Fan Huang, Bin Tang

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During the temperature changes in reactor core, the nuclide cross section in reactor can vary with temperature, which eventually causes the changes of reactivity. To simulate the interaction between incident neutron and various materials at different temperatures on the nose, it is necessary to generate all the relevant reaction temperature-dependent cross section. Traditionally, the real time cross section generation method is used to avoid storing huge data but contains severe problems of low efficiency and adaptability for narrow energy region. Focused on the research on multi-temperature cross sections generation in real time during in neutron transport, this paper investigated the on-the-fly cross section generation method for resolved resonance region, thermal region and unresolved resonance region, and proposed the real time multi-temperature cross sections generation method based on double-exponential formula for resolved resonance region, as well as the Neville interpolation for thermal and unresolved resonance region. To prove the correctness and validity of multi-temperature cross sections generation based on wide energy region of incident neutron, the proposed method was applied in critical safety benchmark tests, which showed the capability for application in reactor multi-physical coupling simulation.

Keywords: cross section, neutron transport, numerical simulation, on-the-fly

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Authors: Nkechi V. Osuji

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The use of blockchain to address the issue of climate change is increasingly a discourse among countries, industries, and stakeholders. For a long time, the European Union (EU) has been combating the issue of climate action in industries through sustainability programs. One of such programs is the EU monitoring reporting and verification (MRV) program of the EU ETS. However, the system has some key challenges and areas for improvement, which makes it inefficient. The main objective of the research is to look at how blockchain can be used to improve the inefficiency of the EU ETS program for the Danish energy industry with a focus on its monitoring and reporting framework. Applying empirical data from 13 semi-structured expert interviews, three case studies, and literature reviews, three outcomes are presented in the study. The first is on the current conditions and challenges of monitoring and reporting CO₂ emission trading. The second is putting into consideration if blockchain is the right fit to solve these challenges and how. The third stage looks at the factors that might affect the implementation of such a system and provides recommendations to mitigate these challenges. The first stage of the findings reveals that the monitoring and reporting of CO₂ emissions is a mandatory requirement by law for all energy operators under the EU ETS program. However, most energy operators are non-compliant with the program in reality, which creates a gap and causes challenges in the monitoring and reporting of CO₂ emission trading. Other challenges the study found out are the lack of transparency, lack of standardization in CO₂ accounting, and the issue of double-counting in the current system. The second stage of the research was guided by three case studies and requirement engineering (RE) to explore these identified challenges and if blockchain is the right fit to address them. This stage of the research addressed the main research question: how can blockchain be used for monitoring and reporting CO₂ emission trading in the energy industry. Through analysis of the study data, the researcher developed a conceptual private permissioned Hyperledger blockchain and elucidated on how it can address the identified challenges. Particularly, the smart contract of blockchain was highlighted as a key feature. This is because of its ability to automate, be immutable, and digitally enforce negotiations without a middleman. These characteristics are unique in solving the issue of compliance, transparency, standardization, and double counting identified. The third stage of the research presents technological constraints and a high level of stakeholder collaboration as major factors that might affect the implementation of the proposed system. The proposed conceptual model requires high-level integration with other technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning. Therefore, the study encourages future research in these areas. This is because blockchain is continually evolving its technology capabilities. As such, it remains a topic of interest in research and development for addressing climate change. Such a study is a good contribution to creating sustainable practices to solve the global climate issue.

Keywords: blockchain, carbon emission trading, European Union emission trading system, monitoring and reporting

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Authors: Anna Pajdak, Mateusz Kudasik, Norbert Skoczylas, Leticia Teixeira Palla Braga

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A substantial majority of gas transport and sorption researches into coal are carried out on samples that are free of stress. In natural conditions, coal occurs at considerable depths, which often exceed 1000 meters. In such conditions, coal is subjected to geostatic pressure. Thus, in natural conditions, the sorption capacity of coal subjected to geostatic pressure can differ considerably from the sorption capacity of coal, determined in laboratory conditions, which is free of stress. The work presents the results of filtration and sorption tests of gases in coal under confining pressure conditions. The tests were carried out on the author's device, which ensures: confining pressure regulation in the range of 0-30 MPa, isobaric gas pressure conditions, and registration of changes in sample volume during its gas saturation. Based on the conducted research it was found, among others, that the sorption capacity of coal relative to CO₂ was reduced by about 15% as a result of the change in the confining pressure from 1.5 MPa to 30 MPa exerted on the sample. The same change in sample load caused a significant, more than tenfold reduction in carbon permeability to CO₂. The results confirmed that a load of coal corresponding to a hydrostatic pressure of 1000 meters underground reduces its permeability and sorption properties. These results are so important that the effect of load on the sorption properties of coal should be taken into account in laboratory studies on the applicability of CO₂ Enhanced Coal Bed Methane Recovery (CO₂-ECBM) technology.

Keywords: coal, confining pressure, gas transport, sorption

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Authors: Cristina da Silva Torres, José Luis Duarte Ribeiro, Maria Auxiliadora Cannarozzo Tinoco

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As a result of the rapid growth of the Brazilian Air Transport, many airports are at the limit of their capacities and have a reduction in the quality of services provided. Thus, there is a need of models for assessing the quality of airport services. Because of this, the main objective of this work is to propose a model for the evaluation of quality attributes in airport services. To this end, we used the method composed by literature review and interview. Structured a working method composed by 5 steps, which resulted in a model to evaluate the quality of airport services, consisting of 8 dimensions and 45 attributes. Was used as base for model definition the process mapping of boarding and landing processes of passengers and luggage. As a contribution of this work is the integration of management process with structuring models to assess the quality of services in airport environments.

Keywords: quality airport services, model for identification of attributes quality, air transport, passenger

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Authors: Ilya Kavalchuk, Hayrettin Arisoy, Alex Stojcevski, Aman Maun Than Oo

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Electric vehicles are one of the most complicated electric devices to simulate due to the significant number of different processes involved in electrical structure of it. There are concurrent processes of energy consumption and generation with different onboard systems, which make simulation tasks more complicated to perform. More accurate simulation on energy consumption can provide a better understanding of all energy management for electric transport. As a result of all those processes, electric transport can allow for a more sustainable future and become more convenient in relation to the distance range and recharging time. This paper discusses the problems of energy consumption simulations for electric vehicles using different software packages to provide ideas on how to make this process more precise, which can help engineers create better energy management strategies for electric vehicles.

Keywords: electric vehicles, EV, power consumption, power management, simulation

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Authors: K. Alafogiannis, E. E. Houssos, E. Anagnostou, G. Kouvarakis, N. Mihalopoulos, A. Fotiadi

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The Mediterranean basin is an area where different aerosol types coexist, including urban/industrial, desert dust, biomass burning and marine particles. Particularly, mineral dust aerosols, mostly originated from North African deserts, significantly contribute to high aerosol loads above the Mediterranean. Dust transport, controlled by the variation of the atmospheric circulation throughout the year, results in a strong spatial and temporal variability of aerosol properties. In this study, the synoptic conditions which favor dust transport over the Eastern Mediterranean are thoroughly investigated. For this reason, three datasets are employed. Firstly, ground-based daily data of aerosol properties, namely Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT), Ångström exponent (α440-870) and fine fraction from the FORTH-AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) station along with measurements of PM10 concentrations from Finokalia station, for the period 2003-2011, are used to identify days with high coarse aerosol load (episodes) over Crete. Then, geopotential height at 1000, 850 and 700 hPa levels obtained from the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis Project, are utilized to depict the atmospheric circulation during the identified episodes. Additionally, air-mass back trajectories, calculated by HYSPLIT, are used to verify the origin of aerosols from neighbouring deserts. For the 227 identified dust episodes, the statistical methods of Factor and Cluster Analysis are applied on the corresponding atmospheric circulation data to reveal the main types of the synoptic conditions favouring dust transport towards Crete (Eastern Mediterranean). The 227 cases are classified into 11 distinct types (clusters). Dust episodes in Eastern Mediterranean, are found to be more frequent (52%) in spring with a secondary maximum in autumn. The main characteristic of the atmospheric circulation associated with dust episodes, is the presence of a low-pressure system at surface, either in southwestern Europe or western/central Mediterranean, which induces a southerly air flow favouring dust transport from African deserts. The exact position and the intensity of the low-pressure system vary notably among clusters. More rarely dust may originate from deserts of Arabian Peninsula.

Keywords: aerosols, atmospheric circulation, dust particles, Eastern Mediterranean

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Authors: Dimitrios J. Dimitriou, Maria F. Sartzetaki

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Transport infrastructure assets are key components of the national asset portfolio. The decision to invest in a new infrastructure in transports could take from a few years to some decades. This is mainly because of the need to reserve and spent many capitals, the long payback period, the number of the stakeholders involved in decision process and –many times- the investment and business risks are high. Therefore, the decision assessment framework is an essential challenge linked with the key decision factors meet the stakeholder expectations highlighting project trade-offs, financial risks, business uncertainties and market limitations. This paper examines the decision process for new transport infrastructure projects in cross border regions, where a wide range of stakeholders with different expectation is involved. According to a consequences analysis systemic approach, the relationship of transport infrastructure development, economic system development and stakeholder expectation is analyzed. Adopting the on system of system methodological approach, the decision making framework, variables, inputs and outputs are defined, highlighting the key shareholder’s role and expectations. The application provides the methodology outputs presenting the proposed decision framework for a strategic railway project in north Greece deals with the upgrade of the existing railway corridor connecting Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria.

Keywords: decision making, system of system, cross-border, infrastructure project

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Authors: Ashwani Kumar

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GPS plays an important role in everyday life for safe and convenient transportation. While pedestrians use hand held devices to know their position in a city, vehicles in intelligent transport systems use relatively sophisticated GPS receivers for estimating their current position. However, in urban areas where the GPS satellites are occluded by tall buildings, trees and reflections of GPS signals from nearby vehicles, GPS position estimation becomes poor. In this work, an exhaustive GPS data is collected at a single point in urban area under different times of day and under dynamic environmental conditions. The data is analyzed and statistical refinement methods are used to obtain optimal position estimate among all the measured positions. The results obtained are compared with publically available datasets and obtained position estimation refinement results are promising.

Keywords: global positioning system, statistical approach, intelligent transport systems, least squares estimation

Procedia PDF Downloads 267

Authors: Ben Morrow, Patrick O'Hara, Natalie Ban, Tunai Marques, Molly Fraser, Christopher Bone

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Relative to commercial fisheries, recreational fisheries are often poorly understood and pose various challenges for monitoring frameworks. In British Columbia (BC), Canada, Pacific salmon are heavily targeted by recreational fishers while also being a key source of nutrient flow and crucial prey for a variety of marine and terrestrial fauna, including endangered Southern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca). Although commercial fisheries were historically responsible for the majority of salmon retention, recreational fishing now comprises both greater effort and retention. The current monitoring scheme for recreational salmon fisheries involves aerial-roving creel surveys. However, this method has been identified as costly and having low predictive power as it is often limited to sampling fragments of fluid and temporally dynamic fisheries. This study used imagery from two shore-based autonomous cameras in a highly active recreational fishery around Sooke, BC, and evaluated their efficacy in supplementing existing aerial-roving surveys for monitoring a recreational salmon fishery. This study involved continuous monitoring and high temporal resolution (over one million images analyzed in a single fishing season), using a deep learning-based vessel detection algorithm and a custom image annotation tool to efficiently thin datasets. This allowed for the quantification of peak-season effort from a busy harbour, species-specific retention estimates, high levels of detected fishing events at a nearby popular fishing location, as well as the proportion of the fishery management area represented by cameras. Then, this study demonstrated how it could substantially enhance the temporal resolution of a fishery through diel activity pattern analyses, scaled monthly to visualize clusters of activity. This work also highlighted considerable off-season fishing detection, currently unaccounted for in the existing monitoring framework. These results demonstrate several distinct applications of autonomous cameras for providing enhanced detail currently unavailable in the current monitoring framework, each of which has important considerations for the managerial allocation of resources. Further, the approach and methodology can benefit other studies that apply shore-based camera monitoring, supplement aerial-roving creel surveys to improve fine-scale temporal understanding, inform the optimal timing of creel surveys, and improve the predictive power of recreational stock assessments to preserve important and endangered fish species.

Keywords: cameras, monitoring, recreational fishing, stock assessment

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Authors: Wenjin Zhu, Ian E. Jacobs, Henning Sirringhaus

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This project delves into the efficiency of uniaxial alignment and ion exchange doping as methods to optimize the thermoelectric properties of organic polymers. The anisotropic nature of charge transport in conjugated polymers is capitalized upon through the uniaxial alignment of polymer backbones, ensuring charge transport is streamlined along these backbones. Ion exchange doping has demonstrated superiority over traditional molecular and electrochemical doping methods, amplifying charge carrier densities. By integrating these two techniques, we've observed marked improvements in the thermoelectric attributes of specific conjugated polymers such as PBTTT and DPP based polymers. We demonstrate respectable power factors of 172.6 μW m⁻¹ K⁻² in PBTTT system and 41.7 μW m⁻¹ K⁻² in DPP system.

Keywords: organic electronics, thermoelectrics, uniaxial alignment, ion exchange doping

Procedia PDF Downloads 46

Authors: Truong H. Le, Ngoc M. To, Quang N. Tran, Luu T. Cao, Chi V. Le

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Introduction: In Vietnam, the current monitoring and treatment for ordinary diabetic patient mostly based on glucose monitoring with HbA1c test for every three months (recommended goal is HbA1c < 6.5%~7%). For diabetes in pregnant women or Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), glycemic control until the time of delivery is extremly important because it could reduce significantly medical implications for both the mother and the child. Besides, GDM requires continuos glucose monitoring at least every two weeks and therefore an alternative marker of glycemia for short-term control is considering a potential tool for the healthcare providers. There are published studies have indicated that the glycosylated serum protein is a better indicator than glycosylated hemoglobin in GDM monitoring. Based on the actual practice in Vietnam, this study was designed to evaluate the role of serum fructosamine as a monitoring tool in GDM treament and its correlations with fasting blood glucose (G0), 2-hour postprandial glucose (G2) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Methods: A cohort study on pregnant women diagnosed with GDM by the 75-gram oralglucose tolerance test was conducted at Endocrinology Department, Cho Ray hospital, Vietnam from June 2014 to March 2015. Cho Ray hospital is the final destination for GDM patient in the southern of Vietnam, the study population has many sources from other pronvinces and therefore researchers belive that this demographic characteristic can help to provide the study result as a reflection for the whole area. In this study, diabetic patients received a continuos glucose monitoring method which consists of bi-weekly on-site visit every 2 weeks with glycosylated serum protein test, fasting blood glucose test and 2-hour postprandial glucose test; HbA1c test for every 3 months; and nutritious consultance for daily diet program. The subjects still received routine treatment at the hospital, with tight follow-up from their healthcare providers. Researchers recorded bi-weekly health conditions, serum fructosamine level and delivery outcome from the pregnant women, using Stata 13 programme for the analysis. Results: A total of 500 pregnant women was enrolled and follow-up in this study. Serum fructosamine level was found to have a light correlation with G0 ( r=0.3458, p < 0.001) and HbA1c ( r=0.3544, p < 0.001), and moderately correlated with G2 ( r=0.4379, p < 0.001). During study timeline, the delivery outcome of 287 women were recorded with the average age of 38.5 ± 1.5 weeks, 9% of them have macrosomia, 2.8% have premature birth before week 35th and 9.8% have premature birth before week 37th; 64.8% of cesarean section and none of them have perinatal or neonatal mortality. The study provides a reference interval of serum fructosamine for GDM patient was 112.9 ± 20.7 μmol/dL. Conclusion: The present results suggests that serum fructosamine is as effective as HbA1c as a reflection of blood glucose control in GDM patient, with a positive result in delivery outcome (0% perinatal or neonatal mortality). The reference value of serum fructosamine measurement provided a potential monitoring utility in GDM treatment for hospitals in Vietnam. Healthcare providers in Cho Ray hospital is considering to conduct more studies to test this reference as a target value in their GDM treatment and monitoring.

Keywords: gestational diabetes mellitus, monitoring tool, serum fructosamine, Vietnam

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Authors: Elisângela de Albuquerque Sobreira Borovoski, Ricardo Willian Borovoski

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Microbiological infections acquired by animals pose a risk to public health. In public health, monitoring the health of primates is linked to the risk of transmission of zoonoses through scratches, bites and contact with biological samples. The project was approved by the Ethics Committee on the Use of Animals Protocol No. 170/2019. It was authorized by ICMBio Protocol No. 52117-1. The study was carried out in the period 2019-2022 in the municipality of Anápolis. Iron and galvanized wire traps were used and the animals were anesthetized with 4.4mg/kg zolethyl intramuscularly and saliva was collected through swabs. Fifty-three capuchin monkeys were captured from the Onofre Quinan Environmental Park in Anápolis-Goiás for health monitoring purposes. In the laboratory, the samples were deposited on the agar surface and seeded by exhaustion to obtain isolated colonies. These colonies were analyzed according to morphocolonial characteristics. Morphometric characterization and biochemical tests for bacterial identification were performed. A total of 861 bacterial samples were isolated, nine of which were strict anaerobic bacteria of the genus Peptostreptococcus. Previous and constant knowledge of the prevalence of pathogenic agents in biological samples is essential to be prepared to act in pandemic situations.

Keywords: Brazil, microbiology, monkeys, public health

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Authors: Ana Maria Carmen Ilie, Carmela Vaccaro

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Gas migration through wellbore failure, in particular from abandoned wells, is repeatedly identified as the highest risk mechanism. The vadose zone was subject to monitoring system close to the wellbore in Minerbio, methane storage site. The new technology has been well-developed and used with the purpose to provide reliable estimates of leakage parameters. Of these techniques, soil flux sampling at the soil surface, via the accumulation chamber method and soil flux sampling at the depths of 100cm below the ground surface, have been an important technique for characterizing the gas concentrations at the gas storage site. We present results of soil Radon Bq/m3, CO2%, CH4% and O2% concentration gases. Measurements have been taken for radon concentrations with an Durridge RAD7 Company, Inc., USA, instrument. We used for air and soil quality an Biogas ETG instrument monitoring system, with NDIR CO2, CH4 gas sensor and electrochemical O2 gas sensor. The measurements started in September-October 2015, where no outliers have been identified. The measurements have continued in March-April-July-August-September 2016, almost at the same time in the same place around the gas storage site, values measured 15 minutes for each sampling, to determine their concentration, their distribution and to understand the relationship among gases and atmospheric conditions. At a depth of 100 cm, the maximum soil radon gas concentrations were found to be 1770 ±±582 Bq/m3, the soil consists of 64.31% sand, 20.75% silt and 14.94% clay, and with 0.526 ppm of Uranium. The maximum concentration (September 2016), in soil at 100cm below the ground surface, with 83% sand, 8.96% silt and 7.89% clay, was about 0.06% CH4, and in atmosphere 0.06% CH4 at 40°C (T). In the other months the values have been on the range of 0.01% to 0.03% CH4. Since we did not have outliers in the gas storage site, soil-gas samples for isotopic analysis have not been done.

Keywords: leakage gas monitoring, lithology, soil gas, methane

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Authors: Risdiana, D. Suhendar, S. Pratiwi, W. A. Somantri, T. Saragi

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Superconductor is a promising material for future applications especially for energy saving because of their advantages properties such as zero electrical resistivity when they are cooled down to sufficiently low temperatures. However, the mechanism describing the role of physical properties in superconductor is far from being understood clearly, so that the application of this material for wider benefit in various industries is very limited. Most of superconductors are cuprate compounds, which has CuO2 as a conducting plane in their crystal structures. The study of physical properties through the partially substitution of impurity for Cu in superconducting cuprates has been one of great interests in relation to the mechanism of superconductivity. Different behaviors between the substitution of nonmagnetic impurity and magnetic impurity for Cu are observed. For examples, the superconductivity and Cu-spin fluctuations in the electron-doped system are suppressed through the substitution of magnetic Ni for Cu more markedly than through the substitution of nonmagnetic Zn for Cu, which is contrary to the result in the hole-doped system. Here, we reported the effect of partially substitution of magnetic impurity Fe for Cu to the magnetic and transport properties in electron-doped superconducting cuprates of Eu1.85+yCe0.15-yCu1-yFeyO4+α-δ (ECCFO) with y = 0.01, 0.02, and 0.05, in order to investigate the mechanism of magnetic and transport properties of ECCFO in normal-state. Magnetic properties are investigated by DC magnetic-susceptibility measurements that carried out at low temperatures down to 2 K using a standard SQUID magnetometer in a magnetic field of 5 Oe on field cooling. Transport properties addressed to electron mobility, are extracted from radius of electron localization calculated from temperature dependence of resistivity. For y = 0, temperature dependence of dc magnetic-susceptibility indicated the change of magnetic behavior from paramagnetic to diamagnetic below 15 K. Above 15 K, all samples show paramagnetic behavior with the values of magnetic moment in every volume unit increased with increasing y. Electron mobility decreased with increasing y. Some reasons for these results will be discussed.

Keywords: DC magnetic-susceptibility, electron mobility, Eu1.85+yCe0.15-yCu1-yFeyO4+α-δ, normal state

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Authors: Tehreem Fatima, Enjun Xia

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The research investigates the relationship between total oil consumption and transport oil consumption, GDP, oil price, and oil reserve in order to forecast future oil demand in China. Annual time series data is used over the period of 1980 to 2015, and for this purpose, an oil demand function is estimated by applying structural time series model (STSM). The technique also uncovers the Underline energy demand trend (UEDT) for China oil demand and GDP, oil reserve, oil price and UEDT are considering important drivers of China oil demand. The long-run elasticity of total oil consumption with respect to GDP and price are (0.5, -0.04) respectively while GDP, oil reserve, and price remain (0.17; 0.23; -0.05) respectively. Moreover, the Estimated results of long-run elasticity of transport oil consumption with respect to GDP and price are (0.5, -0.00) respectively long-run estimates remain (0.28; 37.76;-37.8) for GDP, oil reserve, and price respectively. For both model estimated underline energy demand trend (UEDT) remains nonlinear and stochastic and with an increasing trend of (UEDT) and based on estimated equations, it is predicted that China total oil demand somewhere will be 9.9 thousand barrel per day by 2025 as compare to 9.4 thousand barrel per day in 2015, while transport oil demand predicting value is 9.0 thousand barrel per day by 2020 as compare to 8.8 thousand barrel per day in 2015.

Keywords: china, forecasting, oil, structural time series model (STSM), underline energy demand trend (UEDT)

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Authors: Prakash Thapa, Gye Choon Park, Sung Gi Kwon, Jin Lee

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The generation of electric power from a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is influenced by temperature, pressure, humidity, flow rate of reactant gaseous and partial flooding of membrane electrode assembly (MEA). Among these factors, temperature and cathode flooding are the most affecting parameters on the performance of fuel cell. This paper describes the detail design and effect of these parameters on PEM fuel cell. Performance of all parameters was monitored, analyzed and controlled by using 5KWatt PEM fuel cell. In the real-time data communication for remote monitoring and control of PEM fuel cell, a normalized least mean square algorithm in cognitive radio environment is used. By the use of this method, probability of energy signal detection will be maximum which solved the frequency shortage problem. So the monitoring system hanging out and slow speed problem will be solved. Also from the control unit, all parameters are controlled as per the system requirement. As a result, PEM fuel cell generates maximum electricity with better performance.

Keywords: proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, pressure, temperature and humidity sensor (PTH), efficiency curve, cognitive radio network (CRN)

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Authors: Tzong-Ying Hao, Mohammad T. Rahmani

Abstract:

This article presents the structural health monitoring (SHM) method based on changes in wave traveling times (wave method) within a layered 1-D shear beam model of structure. The wave method measures the velocity of shear wave propagating in a building from the impulse response functions (IRF) obtained from recorded data at different locations inside the building. If structural damage occurs in a structure, the velocity of wave propagation through it changes. The wave method analysis is performed on the responses of Torre Central building, a 9-story shear wall structure located in Santiago, Chile. Because events of different intensity (ambient vibrations, weak and strong earthquake motions) have been recorded at this building, therefore it can serve as a full-scale benchmark to validate the structural health monitoring method utilized. The analysis of inter-story drifts and the Fourier spectra for the EW and NS motions during 2010 Chile earthquake are presented. The results for the NS motions suggest the coupling of translation and torsion responses. The system frequencies (estimated from the relative displacement response of the 8th-floor with respect to the basement from recorded data) were detected initially decreasing approximately 24% in the EW motion. Near the end of shaking, an increase of about 17% was detected. These analysis and results serve as baseline indicators of the occurrence of structural damage. The detected changes in wave velocities of the shear beam model are consistent with the observed damage. However, the 1-D shear beam model is not sufficient to simulate the coupling of translation and torsion responses in the NS motion. The wave method is proven for actual implementation in structural health monitoring systems based on carefully assessing the resolution and accuracy of the model for its effectiveness on post-earthquake damage detection in buildings.

Keywords: Chile earthquake, damage detection, earthquake response, impulse response function, shear beam model, shear wave velocity, structural health monitoring, torre central building, wave method

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Authors: Barbara Kyampeire, Gerald Karyeijja

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This study investigated the influence of local community participation on the adoption of new agricultural technology in Uganda, using the case study of Smooth Cayenne Pineapples in Kayunga District, Uganda. The mechanism of adoption of new technologies is often not fully understood and this prompted the study. The study adopted a descriptive, co relational, survey design. The researcher used questionnaire survey, focus group discussion as methods of data collection. A total of 152 respondents including adopters and non-adopters of new technology for producing pineapples were selected from 8 farmer groups in Kayunga District. The results indicated that the participation of the community in the planning, implementation and the monitoring and evaluation of the adoption of the new technology for producing pineapples was low thus reducing the adoption of the new technology in the District. The researcher concluded that community participation significantly influences the adoption of new agricultural technology by members of a particular community. The study thus recommended that: first, there is need for maximum involvement of members of the community in the planning, implementation and monitoring of any new agricultural technology; secondly, there is need for continued sharing of information about new agricultural technologies being introduced; and finally, community members must be equipped with Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) skills in order to make them monitor the progress made by the new agricultural technologies.

Keywords: adoption, community, technology, implementation

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Authors: Maciej Zaręba, Sławomir Lasota

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Knowing the degree of dependencies between the sets of input signals and selected sets of indicators that measure a production system's effectiveness is of great importance in the industry. This paper introduces the SELM method that enables the selection of sets of input signals, which affects the most the selected subset of indicators that measures the effectiveness of a production system. For defined set of output indicators, the method quantifies the impact of input signals that are gathered in the continuous monitoring production system.

Keywords: manufacturing operation management, signal relationship, continuous monitoring, production systems

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Authors: Michael J. Hahn

Abstract:

Docker is a powerful tool used by many companies such as PayPal, MetLife, Expedia, Visa, and many others. Docker works by bundling multiple applications, binaries, and libraries together on top of an operating system image called a container. The container runs on a Docker engine that in turn runs on top of a standard operating system. This centralization saves a lot of system resources. In this paper, we will be demonstrating how to bypass Transport Layer Security and execute remote code within Docker containers built on a base image of Alpine Linux version 3.7.0 through the use of .apk files due to flaws in the Alpine Linux package management program. This exploit renders any applications built using Docker with a base image of Alpine Linux vulnerable to unwanted outside forces.

Keywords: cloud, cryptography, Docker, Linux, security

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Authors: Carolina Gouveia, José Vieira, Pedro Pinho

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The cardiopulmonary signal monitoring, without the usage of contact electrodes or any type of in-body sensors, has several applications such as sleeping monitoring and continuous monitoring of vital signals in bedridden patients. This system has also applications in the vehicular environment to monitor the driver, in order to avoid any possible accident in case of cardiac failure. Thus, the bio-radar system proposed in this paper, can measure vital signals accurately by using the Doppler effect principle that relates the received signal properties with the distance change between the radar antennas and the person’s chest-wall. Once the bio-radar aim is to monitor subjects in real-time and during long periods of time, it is impossible to guarantee the patient immobilization, hence their random motion will interfere in the acquired signals. In this paper, a mathematical model of the bio-radar is presented, as well as its simulation in MATLAB. The used algorithm for breath rate extraction is explained and a method for DC offsets removal based in a motion detection system is proposed. Furthermore, experimental tests were conducted with a view to prove that the unavoidable random motion can be used to estimate the DC offsets accurately and thus remove them successfully.

Keywords: bio-signals, DC component, Doppler effect, ellipse fitting, radar, SDR

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Authors: Mohamed Amhal, Jose Sayritupac

Abstract:

Photovoltaic (PV) systems have risen as one of the modern renewable energy sources that are used in wide ranges to produce electricity and deliver it to the electrical grid. In parallel, monitoring systems have been deployed as a key element to track the energy production and to forecast the total production for the next days. The reliability of the PV energy production has become a crucial point in the analysis of PV systems. A deeper understanding of each phenomenon that causes a gain or a loss of energy is needed to better design, operate and maintain the PV systems. This work analyzes the current losses distribution in PV systems starting from the available solar energy, going through the DC side and AC side, to the delivery point. Most of the phenomena linked to energy losses and gains are considered and modeled, based on real time monitoring data and datasheets of the PV system components. An analysis of the order of magnitude of each loss is compared to the current literature and commercial software. To date, the analysis of PV systems performance based on a breakdown structure of energy losses and gains is not covered enough in the literature, except in some software where the concept is very common. The cutting-edge of the current analysis is the implementation of software tools for energy losses estimation in PV systems based on several energy losses definitions and estimation technics. The developed tools have been validated and tested on some PV plants in France, which are operating for years. Among the major findings of the current study: First, PV plants in France show very low rates of soiling and aging. Second, the distribution of other losses is comparable to the literature. Third, all losses reported are correlated to operational and environmental conditions. For future work, an extended analysis on further PV plants in France and abroad will be performed.

Keywords: energy gains, energy losses, losses distribution, monitoring, photovoltaic, photovoltaic systems

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Authors: Henar Martín-Sanz García, Eleni Chatzi, Eugen Brühwiler

Abstract:

Located on the shore of Geneva Lake, in Switzerland, the Chillon Viaducts are two parallel structures consisted of post-tensioned concrete box girders, with a total length of 2 kilometers and 100m spans. Built in 1969, the bridges currently accommodate a traffic load of 50.000 vehicles per day, thereby holding a key role both in terms of historic value as well as socio-economic significance. Although several improvements have been carried out in the past two decades, recent inspections demonstrate an Alkali-Aggregate reaction in the concrete deck and piers reducing the concrete strength. In order to prevent further expansion of this issue, a layer of 40 mm of Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced cement-based Composite (UHPFRC) (incorporating rebars) was casted over the slabs, acting as a waterproof membrane and providing significant increase in resistance of the bridge structure by composite UHPFRC – RC composite action in particular of the deck slab. After completing the rehabilitation works, a Structural Monitoring campaign was installed on the deck slab in one representative span, based on accelerometers, strain gauges, thermal and humidity sensors. This campaign seeks to reveal information on the behavior of UHPFRC-concrete composite systems, such as increase in stiffness, fatigue strength, durability and long-term performance. Consequently, the structural monitoring is expected to last for at least three years. A first insight of the analyzed results from the initial months of measurements is presented herein, along with future improvements or necessary changes on the deployment.

Keywords: composite materials, rehabilitation, structural health monitoring, UHPFRC

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Authors: Dike Ibegbulem

Abstract:

This paper interrogates the chances of Nigeria achieving its target of making the list of the first 70 countries in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings by the year 2023. That is, in light of existing conflicts in policies relating to the door-to-door carriage of goods and multimodal transport operations (MTOs) in the country. Drawing on the famed Legal Origins theory plus data from World Bank; and using Singapore as a touchstone, the paper unveils how amongst the top-ranked Commonwealth jurisdictions, positive correlations have been recorded over the past years between certainty in their policies on MTOs on the one hand; and their Enforcing Contracts (EC) and Doing Business (DB) indices on the other. The paper postulates that to increase Nigeria’s chances of achieving her DB2023 objective, legislative and curial policies on MTOs and door-to-door carriage of goods have to be realigned in line with prevailing policies in highly-ranked Commonwealth jurisdictions of the Global North. Her appellate courts, in particular, will need some unshackling from English pedigrees which still delimit admiralty jurisdiction to port-to-port shipping, to the exclusion of door-to-door carriage of goods beyond navigable waters. The paper identifies continental and domestic instruments, plus judicial precedents, which provide bases for expanding admiralty jurisdiction to adjudication of claims derived from door-to-door or multimodal transport contracts and other allied maritime-plus contracts. It prescribes synergy between legislative and curial policies on MTOs and door-to-door carriage of goods as species of admiralty – an emerging trend in top-ranked Commonwealth jurisdictions of the Global North.

Keywords: admiralty jurisdiction, legal origins, world bank, ease of doing business, enforcing contracts, multimodal transport operation, door-to-door, carriage of goods by sea, combined transport shipping

Procedia PDF Downloads 58