Search results for: high-performance cycle model application

Authors: Nantida Otakum

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The purpose of the study is to study the level of the application of sufficiency economy philosophy among the employees of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. This research also investigates the relationship between the application of sufficiency economy philosophy and work morale of the employees. The research methodology employed a self-administered questionnaire as a quantitative method. The respondents were employees who are working for Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. Totally, 365 usable questionnaires were returned. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied in data analysis. The results showed that the level of the application of sufficiency economy philosophy among the employees was at a good level. The results also indicated that the application of sufficiency economy philosophy was positively correlated with work morale of the employees of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University.

Keywords: employees, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, sufficiency economy philosophy, work morale

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Authors: Oscar Vega Camacho, Andrea Vargas Guevara, Ellery Rowina Ariza

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This paper presents the application of finite dynamic programming, specifically the "Markov Chain" model, as part of the decision making process of a company in the cosmetics sector located in the vicinity of Bogota DC. The objective of this process was to decide whether the company should completely reconstruct its wastewater treatment plant or instead optimize the plant through the addition of equipment. The goal of both of these options was to make the required improvements in order to comply with parameters established by national legislation regarding the treatment of waste before it is released into the environment. This technique will allow the company to select the best option and implement a solution for the processing of waste to minimize environmental damage and the acquisition and implementation costs.

Keywords: decision making, Markov chain, optimization, wastewater

Procedia PDF Downloads 487

Authors: Djarot B. Darmadi

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The wider growing Finite Element Method (FEM) application is caused by its benefits of cost saving and environment friendly. Also, by using FEM a deep understanding of certain phenomenon can be achieved. This paper observed the role of material properties and volumetric change when Solid State Phase Transformation (SSPT) takes place in residual stress formation due to a welding process of ferritic steels through coupled Thermo-Metallurgy-Mechanical (TMM) analysis. The correctness of FEM residual stress prediction was validated by experiment. From parametric study of the FEM model, it can be concluded that the material properties change tend to over-predicts residual stress in the weld center whilst volumetric change tend to underestimates it. The best final result is the compromise of both by incorporates them in the model which has a better result compared to a model without SSPT.

Keywords: residual stress, ferritic steels, SSPT, coupled-TMM

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Authors: Sanchay Vaidya, Sourabh Gupta, Gouresh Singhal

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There are various modes of transport in metro cities in India, auto-rickshaws being one of them. Auto-rickshaws provide connectivity to all the places in the city offering last mile connectivity. Among all the modes of transport, the auto-rickshaw industry is the most unorganized and inefficient. Although unions exist in different cities they aren’t good enough to cope up with the upcoming advancements in the field of technology. An introduction of simple technology in this field may do wonder and help increase the revenues. This paper aims to organize this segment under a single umbrella using GPS devices and mobile phones. The paper includes surveys of about 300 auto-rickshaw drivers and 1000 plus commuters across 6 metro cities in India. Carrying out research and analysis provides a base for the development of this model and implementation of this innovative technique, which is discussed in this paper in detail with ample emphasis given on the implementation of this model.

Keywords: auto-rickshaws, business model, GPS device, mobile application

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Authors: H. Golchoobian, M. H. Taheri, S. Saedodin, A. Sarafraz

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This paper investigates the possibility of using three systems of organic Rankine auxiliary power generation, ejector refrigeration and absorption to recover energy from a diesel car. The analysis is done for both urban and suburban driving modes that vary from 60 to 120 km/h. Various refrigerants have also been used for organic Rankine and Ejector refrigeration cycles. The capacity was evaluated by Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system in both urban and suburban conditions for cyclopentane and ammonia as refrigerants. Also, for these two driving plans, produced cooling by absorption refrigeration system under variable ambient temperature conditions and in ejector refrigeration system for R123, R134a and R141b refrigerants were investigated.

Keywords: absorption system, diesel engine, ejector refrigeration, energy recovery, organic Rankine cycle

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Authors: Ferdi Sönmez, Nihal Yorulmaz

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Decision making on the true planning of the public transportation systems to serve potential users is a must for metropolitan areas. To take attraction of travelers to projected modes of transport, adequately fair overall travel times should be provided. In this fashion, other benefits such as lower traffic congestion, road safety and lower noise and atmospheric pollution may be earned. The congestion which comes with increasing demand of public transportation is becoming a part of our lives and making residents’ life difficult. Hence, regulations should be done to reduce this congestion. To provide a constructive and balanced regulation in public transportation systems, right stations should be located in right places. In this study, it is aimed to design and implement a Decision Support System (DSS) Application to determine the optimal bus stop places for public transport in Istanbul which is one of the biggest and oldest cities in the world. Required information is gathered from IETT (Istanbul Electricity, Tram and Tunnel) Enterprises which manages all public transportation services in Istanbul Metropolitan Area. By using the most real-like values, cost assignments are made. The cost is calculated with the help of equations produced by bi-level optimization model. For this study, 300 buses, 300 drivers, 10 lines and 110 stops are used. The user cost of each station and the operator cost taken place in lines are calculated. Some components like cost, security and noise pollution are considered as significant factors affecting the solution of set covering problem which is mentioned for identifying and locating the minimum number of possible bus stops. Preliminary research and model development for this study refers to previously published article of the corresponding author. Model results are represented with the intent of decision support to the specialists on locating stops effectively.

Keywords: operator cost, bi-level optimization model, user cost, urban transportation

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Authors: Nilufar Chowdhury, Fereydoun Najafian Jazi, Omid Ghasemi-Fare

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The thermal effect on soil properties induces significant variations in hydraulic conductivity, which is attributable to temperature-dependent transitions in soil properties. With the elevation of temperature, there can be a notable increase in intrinsic permeability due to the degeneration of bound water molecules into a free state facilitated by thermal energy input. Conversely, thermal consolidation may cause a reduction in intrinsic permeability as soil particles undergo densification. This thermal response of soil permeability exhibits pronounced heterogeneity across different soil types. Furthermore, this temperature-induced disruption of the bound water within clay matrices can enhance the mineral-to-mineral contact, initiating irreversible deformation within the clay structure. This indicates that when soil undergoes heating-cooling cycles, plastic strain can develop, which needs to be investigated for every soil type to understand the thermo-hydro mechanical behavior of clay properly. This research aims to study the effect of the heating-cooling cycle on the intrinsic permeability and time-dependent evaluation of thermal volume change of sodium Bentonite clay. A temperature-controlled triaxial permeameter cell is used in this study. The selected temperature is 20° C, 40° C, 40° C and 80° C. The hydraulic conductivity of Bentonite clay under 100 kPa confining stresses was measured. Hydraulic conductivity analysis was performed on a saturated sample for a void ratio e = 0.9, corresponding to a dry density of 1.2 Mg/m3. Different hydraulic gradients were applied between the top and bottom of the sample to obtain a measurable flow through the sample. The hydraulic gradient used for the experiment was 4000. The diameter and thickness of the sample are 101. 6 mm, and 25.4 mm, respectively. Both for heating and cooling, the hydraulic conductivity at each temperature is measured after the flow reaches the steady state condition to make sure the volume change due to thermal loading is stabilized. Thus, soil specimens were kept at a constant temperature during both the heating and cooling phases for at least 10-18 days to facilitate the equilibration of hydraulic transients. To assess the influence of temperature-induced volume changes of Bentonite clay, the evaluation of void ratio change during this time period has been monitored. It is observed that the intrinsic permeability increases by 30-40% during the heating cycle. The permeability during the cooling cycle is 10-12% lower compared to the permeability observed during the heating cycle at a particular temperature. This reduction in permeability implies a change in soil fabric due to the thermal effect. An initial increase followed by a rapid decrease in void ratio was observed, representing the occurrence of possible osmotic swelling phenomena followed by thermal consolidation. It has been observed that after a complete heating-cooling cycle, there is a significant change in the void ratio compared to the initial void ratio of the sample. The results obtained suggest that Bentonite clay’s microstructure can change subject to a complete heating-cooling process, which regulates macro behavior such as the permeability of Bentonite clay.

Keywords: bentonite, permeability, temperature, thermal volume change

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Authors: Robert Höttger, Lukas Krawczyk, Burkhard Igel

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This paper introduces novel approaches to partitioning and mapping in terms of model-based embedded multicore system engineering and further discusses benefits, industrial relevance and features in common with existing approaches. In order to assess and evaluate results, both approaches have been applied to a real industrial application as well as to various prototypical demonstrative applications, that have been developed and implemented for different purposes. Evaluations show, that such applications improve significantly according to performance, energy efficiency, meeting timing constraints and covering maintaining issues by using the AMALTHEA platform and the implemented approaches. Further- more, the model-based design provides an open, expandable, platform independent and scalable exchange format between OEMs, suppliers and developers on different levels. Our proposed mechanisms provide meaningful multicore system utilization since load balancing by means of partitioning and mapping is effectively performed with regard to the modeled systems including hardware, software, operating system, scheduling, constraints, configuration and more data.

Keywords: partitioning, mapping, distributed systems, scheduling, embedded multicore systems, model-based, system analysis

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Authors: Ahmed O. Babaleye, Rafet E. Kurt

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The global oil and gas industry is beginning to witness an increase in the number of installations moving towards decommissioning. Decommissioning of offshore installations is a complex, costly and hazardous activity, making safety one of the major concerns. Among existing removal options, complete and partial removal options pose the highest risks. Therefore, a dynamic risk model of the accidents from the two options is important to assess the risks on an overall basis. In this study, a risk-based safety model is developed to conduct quantitative risk analysis (QRA) for jacket structure systems failure. Firstly, bow-tie (BT) technique is utilised to model the causal relationship between the system failure and potential accident scenarios. Subsequently, to relax the shortcomings of BT, Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) were established to dynamically assess associated uncertainties and conditional dependencies. The BBN is developed through a similitude mapping of the developed bow-tie. The BBN is used to update the failure probabilities of the contributing elements through diagnostic analysis, thus, providing a case-specific and realistic safety analysis method when compared to a bow-tie. This paper presents the application of dynamic safety analysis to guide the allocation of risk control measures and consequently, drive down the avoidable cost of remediation.

Keywords: Bayesian belief network, offshore decommissioning, dynamic safety model, quantitative risk analysis

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Authors: Yousuf N. Al Khamisi, Eduardo M. Hernandez, Khurshid M. Khan

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Purpose: This paper presents a model of a Knowledge-Based (KB) using Lean Six Sigma (L6σ) principles to enhance the performance of healthcare leadership. Design/methodology/approach: Using L6σ principles to enhance healthcare leaders’ performance needs a pre-assessment of the healthcare organisation’s capabilities. The model will be developed using a rule-based approach of KB system. Thus, KB system embeds Gauging Absence of Pre-requisite (GAP) for benchmarking and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) for prioritization. A comprehensive literature review will be covered for the main contents of the model with a typical output of GAP analysis and AHP. Findings: The proposed KB system benchmarks the current position of healthcare leadership with the ideal benchmark one (resulting from extensive evaluation by the KB/GAP/AHP system of international leadership concepts in healthcare environments). Research limitations/implications: Future work includes validating the implementation model in healthcare environments around the world. Originality/value: This paper presents a novel application of a hybrid KB combines of GAP and AHP methodology. It implements L6σ principles to enhance healthcare performance. This approach assists healthcare leaders’ decision making to reach performance improvement against a best practice benchmark.

Keywords: Lean Six Sigma (L6σ), Knowledge-Based System (KBS), healthcare leadership, Gauge Absence Prerequisites (GAP), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

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Authors: Jukka Heinonen

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Higher density reduces distances, private car dependency and thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). As a result, increased density has been given a central role among urban development targets. However, it is not just travel behavior that changes along with density. Rather, the consumption patterns, or overall lifestyles, change along with changing urban structure, particularly with changing housing types and consumption opportunities. Furthermore, elevated consumption of services, more frequent flying and less intra-household sharing have been shown to potentially outweigh the gains from reduced driving in more dense urban settlements. In this study, the geography of carbon footprints (CFs) in California is analyzed paying close attention to the household size differences and the resulting economies-of-scale advantages and disadvantages. A hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) framework is employed together with consumer expenditure data to assess the CFs. According to the study, small urban households have the highest CFs in California. Their transport related emissions are significantly lower than those of the residents of less urbanized areas, but higher emissions from other consumption categories, together with the low degree of sharing of goods, overweigh the gains. Two functional units, per capita and per household, are used to analyze the CFs and to demonstrate the importance of household size. The lifestyle impacts visible through the consumption data are also discussed. The study suggests that there are still significant gaps in our understanding of the premises of low-carbon human settlements.

Keywords: carbon footprint, life cycle assessment, lifestyle, household size, consumption, economies-of-scale

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Authors: Luciana S. Almeida

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Nanotechnology has revolutionized the world of science and technology bringing great expectations due to its great potential of application in the most varied industrial sectors. The same characteristics that make nanoparticles interesting from the point of view of the technological application, these may be undesirable when released into the environment. The small size of nanoparticles facilitates their diffusion and transport in the atmosphere, water, and soil and facilitates the entry and accumulation of nanoparticles in living cells. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental regulatory process of nanomaterials in the Brazilian scenario. Three specific objectives were outlined. The first is to carry out a global scientometric study, in a research platform, with the purpose of identifying the main lines of study of nanomaterials in the environmental area. The second is to verify how environmental agencies in other countries have been working on this issue by means of a bibliographic review. And the third is to carry out an assessment of the Brazilian Nanotechnology Draft Law 6741/2013 with the state environmental agencies. This last one has the aim of identifying the knowledge of the subject by the environmental agencies and necessary resources available in the country for the implementation of the Policy. A questionnaire will be used as a tool for this evaluation to identify the operational elements and build indicators through the Environment of Evaluation Application, a computational application developed for the development of questionnaires. At the end will be verified the need to propose changes in the Draft Law of the National Nanotechnology Policy. Initial studies, in relation to the first specific objective, have already identified that Brazil stands out in the production of scientific publications in the area of nanotechnology, although the minority is in studies focused on environmental impact studies. Regarding the general panorama of other countries, some findings have also been raised. The United States has included the nanoform of the substances in an existing program in the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the TSCA (Toxic Substances Control Act). The European Union issued a draft of a document amending Regulation 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and Council to cover the nanoform of substances. Both programs are based on the study and identification of environmental risks associated with nanomaterials taking into consideration the product life cycle. In relation to Brazil, regarding the third specific objective, it is notable that the country does not have any regulations applicable to nanostructures, although there is a Draft Law in progress. In this document, it is possible to identify some requirements related to the environment, such as environmental inspection and licensing; industrial waste management; notification of accidents and application of sanctions. However, it is not known if these requirements are sufficient for the prevention of environmental impacts and if national environmental agencies will know how to apply them correctly. This study intends to serve as a basis for future actions regarding environmental management applied to the use of nanotechnology in Brazil.

Keywords: environment; management; nanotecnology; politics

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Authors: Anjan Naidu

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In this paper we first discuss the minimum spanning tree, then we use the Kruskal algorithm to obtain minimum spanning tree. Based on Kruskal algorithm we propose Kruskal algorithm to apply an application to find minimum cost applying the concept of spanning tree.

Keywords: Minimum Spanning tree, algorithm, Heuxistic, application, classification of Sub 97K90

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Authors: A. Orlov, V. Rachkov

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The future of Nuclear Energetics is seen in fast reactors with inherent safety working in the closed nuclear fuel cycle. The concept of inherent safety, which lies in deterministic elimination of the most severe accidents due to inherent properties of the reactor rather than through building up engineered barriers, is a cornerstone of success in ensuring safety and economic efficiency of future Nuclear Energetics. The focus of this paper is one of the key elements of inherent safety - the lead coolant of a nuclear reactor. Advantages of lead coolant for reactor application, influence on safety are reviewed. BREST-OD-300 fast reactor, currently being developed in Russia withing the “Proryv” Project utilizes lead coolant and a special set of measures and devices, called technology of lead coolant that ensures safe operation in a wide range of temperatures. Here these technological elements are reviewed, and current progress in their development is discussed.

Keywords: BREST-OD-300. , fast reactor, inherent safety, lead coolant

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Authors: Akshay Paranjape, Nils Plettenberg, Robert Schmitt

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Producing faulty products can be costly for manufacturing companies and wastes resources. To reduce scrap rates in manufacturing, process parameters can be optimized using machine learning. Thus far, research mainly focused on optimizing specific processes using traditional algorithms. To develop a framework that enables real-time optimization based on a predictive model for an arbitrary production process, this study explores the application of reinforcement learning (RL) in this field. Based on a thorough review of literature about RL and process parameter optimization, a model based on maximum a posteriori policy optimization that can handle both numerical and categorical parameters is proposed. A case study compares the model to state–of–the–art traditional algorithms and shows that RL can find optima of similar quality while requiring significantly less time. These results are confirmed in a large-scale validation study on data sets from both production and other fields. Finally, multiple ways to improve the model are discussed.

Keywords: reinforcement learning, production process optimization, evolutionary algorithms, policy optimization, actor critic approach

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Authors: Mohamed Shaban, Ali Alfallah

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This paper describes an application for testing of a fault indicator but it could be used for other network protection testing. The application is created in the LabVIEW environment and consists of three parts. The first part of the application is determined for transient phenomenon generation and imitates voltage and current transient signal at ground fault originate. The second part allows to set sequences of trend for each current and voltage output signal, up to six trends for each phase. The last part of the application generates harmonic signal with continuously controllable amplitude of current or voltage output signal and phase shift of each signal can be changed there. Further any sub-harmonics and upper harmonics can be added to selected current output signal

Keywords: signal generator-fault indicator, harmonic signal generator, voltage output

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Authors: C. C. Liang

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MSN used to be the most popular application for communicating among social networks, but Facebook chat is now the most popular. Facebook and MSN have similar characteristics, including usefulness, ease-of-use, and a similar function, which is the exchanging of information with friends. Facebook outperforms MSN in both of these areas. However, the adoption of Facebook and abandonment of MSN have occurred for other reasons. Functions can be improved, but users’ willingness to use does not just depend on functionality. Flow status has been established to be crucial to users’ adoption of cyber applications and to affects users’ adoption of software applications. If users experience flow in using software application, they will enjoy using it frequently, and even change their preferred application from an old to this new one. However, no investigation has examined choice behavior related to switching from Facebook to MSN based on a consideration of flow experiences and functions. This investigation discusses the flow experiences and functions of social-networking applications. Flow experience is found to affect perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness; perceived ease of use influences information ex-change with friends, and perceived usefulness; information exchange influences perceived usefulness, but information exchange has no effect on flow experience.

Keywords: consumer behavior, social media, technology acceptance model, flow experience

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Authors: C. Mekala, Indumathi M. Nambi

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Nitrogen pollution in groundwater arising from wastewater and fertilizer application through vadose zone is a major problem and it causes a prime risk to groundwater based drinking water supplies. Nitrogenous compounds namely ammonium, nitrate and nitrite fate and transport in soil subsurface were studied experimentally. The major process like sorption, leaching, biotransformation involving microbial growth kinetics, and biological clogging due to biomass growth were assessed and modeled with advection-dispersion reaction equations for ammonium, nitrate and acetate in a saturated, heterogeneous soil medium. The transport process was coupled with freundlich sorption and monod inhibition kinetics for immobile bacteria and permeability reduction due to biomass growth will be verified and validated with the numerical model. This proposed mathematical model will be very helpful in the development of a management model for a sustainable and safe wastewater reuse strategies such as irrigation and groundwater recharge.

Keywords: nitrogen species transport, transformation, biological clogging, biokinetic parameters, contaminant transport model, saturated soil

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Authors: Lu Song Ma Li Zhi

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With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technology, large language models (LLMs) have become a milestone in the field of natural language processing, demonstrating remarkable capabilities in semantic understanding, intelligent question answering, and text generation. These models are gradually penetrating various industries, particularly showcasing significant application potential in the data analysis domain. However, retraining or fine-tuning these models requires substantial computational resources and ample downstream task datasets, which poses a significant challenge for many enterprises and research institutions. Without modifying the internal parameters of the large models, prompt engineering techniques can rapidly adapt these models to new domains. This paper proposes a prompt design strategy aimed at leveraging the capabilities of large language models to automate the generation of data analysis code. By carefully designing prompts, data analysis requirements can be described in natural language, which the large language model can then understand and convert into executable data analysis code, thereby greatly enhancing the efficiency and convenience of data analysis. This strategy not only lowers the threshold for using large models but also significantly improves the accuracy and efficiency of data analysis. Our approach includes requirements for the precision of natural language descriptions, coverage of diverse data analysis needs, and mechanisms for immediate feedback and adjustment. Experimental results show that with this prompt design strategy, large language models perform exceptionally well in multiple data analysis tasks, generating high-quality code and significantly shortening the data analysis cycle. This method provides an efficient and convenient tool for the data analysis field and demonstrates the enormous potential of large language models in practical applications.

Keywords: large language models, prompt design, data analysis, code generation

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Authors: Annamária Käferné Rácz, Bence Jáger, Balázs Kövesdi, László Dunai

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Due to the numerous advantages of steel corrugated web girders, its application field is growing for bridges as well as for buildings. The global stability behavior of such girders is significantly larger than those of conventional I-girders with flat web, thus the application of the structural steel material can be significantly reduced. Design codes and specifications do not provide clear and complete rules or recommendations for the determination of the lateral torsional buckling (LTB) resistance of corrugated web girders. Therefore, the authors made a thorough investigation regarding the LTB resistance of the corrugated web girders. Finite element (FE) simulations have been performed to develop new design formulas for the determination of the LTB resistance of trapezoidally corrugated web girders. FE model is developed considering geometrical and material nonlinear analysis using equivalent geometric imperfections (GMNI analysis). The equivalent geometric imperfections involve the initial geometric imperfections and residual stresses coming from rolling, welding and flame cutting. Imperfection sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the necessary magnitudes regarding only the first eigenmodes shape imperfections. By the help of the validated FE model, an extended parametric study is carried out to investigate the LTB resistance for different trapezoidal corrugation profiles. First, the critical moment of a specific girder was calculated by FE model. The critical moments from the FE calculations are compared to the previous analytical calculation proposals. Then, nonlinear analysis was carried out to determine the ultimate resistance. Due to the numerical investigations, new proposals are developed for the determination of the LTB resistance of trapezoidally corrugated web girders through a modification factor on the design method related to the conventional flat web girders.

Keywords: corrugated web, lateral torsional buckling, critical moment, FE modeling

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Authors: M. Nemer, E. I. Konukseven

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In this paper, a motion generation algorithm for a six Degrees of Freedom (DoF) robotic hand in a static environment is presented. The purpose of developing this method is to be used in the path generation of the end-effector for edge finishing and inspection processes by utilizing the CAD model of the considered workpiece. Nonetheless, the proposed algorithm may be extended to be applicable for other similar manufacturing processes. A software package programmed in the application programming interface (API) of SolidWorks generates tool path data for the robot. The proposed method significantly simplifies the given problem, resulting in a reduction in the CPU time needed to generate the path, and offers an efficient overall solution. The ABB IRB2000 robot is chosen for executing the generated tool path.

Keywords: CAD-based tools, edge deburring, edge scanning, offline programming, path generation

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Authors: Michael Dimmer, Holger Flederer

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The basis of realizing a construction project is a technically flawless concept which satisfies conditions regarding environment and costs, as well as static-constructional terms. The presented software system actively supports civil engineers during the setup of optimal designs, by giving advice regarding durability, life-cycle costs, sustainability and much more. A major part of the surrounding conditions of a design process is gathered and assimilated by experienced engineers subconsciously. It is a question about eligible building techniques and their practicability by considering emerging costs. Planning engineers have acquired many of this experience during their professional life and use them for their daily work. Occasionally, the planning engineer should disassociate himself from his experience to be open for new and better solutions which meet the functional demands, as well. The developed expert system gives planning engineers recommendations for preferred design options of new constructions as well as for existing bridge constructions. It is possible to analyze construction elements and techniques regarding sustainability and life-cycle costs. This way the software provides recommendations for future constructions. Furthermore, there is an option to design existing road bridges especially for heavy duty transport. This implies a route planning tool to get quick and reliable information as to whether the bridge support structures of a transport route have been measured sufficiently for a certain heavy duty transport. The use of this expert system in bridge planning companies and building authorities will save costs massively for new and existent bridge constructions. This is achieved by consequently considering parameters like life-cycle costs and sustainability for its planning recommendations.

Keywords: expert system, planning process, road bridges, software system

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Authors: Saeed Yazdani, Sima Mohamadi Amidabadi, Amir Mohamadi Nejad, Farahnaz Nekoofar

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As a result of uncertainty and doubts about the quantity of agricultural products, greater significance has been attached to risk management in the agricultural sector. Normally, farmers seek to minimize risks, and crop diversity has always been a means to reduce risk. The study at hand seeks to explore the long-term impact of crop diversity on income risk reduction. The timeframe of the study is 1998 to 2018. Initially, the Herfindahl index was used to estimate crop diversity in different periods, and next, the Hodrick-Prescott filter was applied to estimate income risk both in nominal and real terms. Finally, using the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), the long-term impact of crop diversity on two modes of risk for the farmer's income has been estimated. Given the long-term pattern’s results, it is evident that in the long-run, crop diversity can reduce income fluctuations in two nominal and real terms. Moreover, results showed that in case the fluctuation shock affects the agricultural income in the short run, to balance out the shock in nominal and real terms, 4 and 3 cycles are needed respectively. In other words, in each cycle, 25% and 33% of the shock impact can be removed, respectively. Thus, as the results of the error correction coefficient showed, policies need to be put in place to prevent income shocks. In case of a shock, they need to be balanced out in a four-year period, taking inflation into account, and in a three-year period irrespective of the inflation and reparative policies such as insurance services should be developed.

Keywords: risk, long-term model, Herfindahl index, time series model, vector error correction model

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Authors: Najeeb Hassan, Mahmudur Rahman

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Arial Khan River is one of the main south-eastward outlets of the River Padma. This river maintains a meander channel through its course and is erosional in nature. The specific objective of the research is to study and evaluate the hydrological characteristics in the form of assessing changes of cross-sections, discharge, water level and velocity profile in different stations and to create a hydrodynamic model of the Arial Khan River. Necessary data have been collected from Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and Center for Environment and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS). Satellite images have been observed from Google earth. In this study, hydrodynamic model of Arial Khan River has been developed using well known steady open channel flow code Hydrologic Engineering Centers and River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) using field surveyed geometric data. Cross-section properties at 22 locations of River Arial Khan for the years 2011, 2013 and 2015 were also analysed. 1-D HEC-RAS model has been developed using the cross sectional data of 2015 and appropriate boundary condition is being used to run the model. This Arial Khan River model is calibrated using the pick discharge of 2015. The applicable value of Mannings roughness coefficient (n) is adjusted through the process of calibration. The value of water level which ties with the observed data to an acceptable accuracy is taken as calibrated model. The 1-D HEC-RAS model then validated by using the pick discharges from 2009-2018. Variation in observed water level in the model and collected water level data is being compared to validate the model. It is observed that due to seasonal variation, discharge of the river changes rapidly and Mannings roughness coefficient (n) also changes due to the vegetation growth along the river banks. This river model may act as a tool to measure flood area in future. By considering the past pick flow discharge, it is strongly recommended to improve the carrying capacity of Arial Khan River to protect the surrounding areas from flash flood.

Keywords: BWDB, CEGIS, HEC-RAS

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Authors: Gulshan Sachdeva, Vaibhav Jain, S. S. Kachhwaha

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Cascade refrigeration systems employ series of single stage vapor compression units which are thermally coupled with evaporator/condenser cascades. Different refrigerants are used in each of the circuit depending on the optimum characteristics shown by the refrigerant for a particular application. In the present research study, a steady state thermodynamic model is developed which simulates the working of an actual cascade system. The model provides COP and all other system parameters like total compressor work, temperature, pressure, enthalpy and entropy at different state points. The working fluid in Low Temperature Circuit (LTC) is CO2 (R744) while ammonia (R717), propane (R290), propylene (R1270), R404A and R12 are the refrigerants in High Temperature Circuit (HTC). The performance curves of ammonia, propane, propylene, and R404A are compared with R12 to find its nearest substitute. Results show that ammonia is the best substitute of R12.

Keywords: cascade system, refrigerants, thermodynamic model, production engineering

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Authors: Salma Aboussalam, Karima Khalil, Khalid Elkalay

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In order to understand the structure, functioning, and current state of the Moroccan Mediterranean Sea ecosystem, an Ecopath mass balance model was applied. The model was based on 31 functional groups, which included 21 fish species, 7 invertebrates, 2 primary producers, and one detritus group. The trophic interactions between these groups were analyzed, and the system's average trophic transfer efficiency was found to be 23%. The total primary production and total respiration were calculated to be greater than 1, indicating that the system produces more energy than it respires. The ecosystem was found to have a high level of respiration and consumption flows, and indicators of stability and development showed low values for the Finn cycle index (13.97), system omnivory index (0.18), and average Finn path length (3.09), indicating that the ecosystem is disturbed and has a linear rather than web-like trophic structure. Keystone species were identified using the keystone index and mixed trophic impact analysis, with other demersal invertebrates, zooplankton, and cephalopods found to have a significant impact on other groups.

Keywords: ecopath, food web, trophic flux, moroccan mediterranean sea

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Authors: Mirza Popovac

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This paper investigates the application of the vortex tubes towards increasing the efficiency of high temperature heat pumps based on natural refrigerants, by recovering a part of the expansion work within the refrigerant cycle. To this purpose the 3D Navier-Stokes solver is used to perform a set of numerical simulations, investigating the vortex tube performance. Firstly, the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics are analyzed for standard configurations of vortex tubes, and the obtained results are validated against the experimental and numerical data available in literature. Subsequently, different geometry specifications are analyzed, as well as the interplay between relevant heat pump operating conditions and the properties of natural refrigerants. Finally, the characteristic curve of performance will be derived for investigated vortex tubes specifications when used within high temperature heat pumps.

Keywords: heat pump, vortex tube, CFD, natural refrigerant

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Authors: Bhavna Rajagopal, Mrinmoyi Kulkarni

Abstract:

Today women experience more menstrual cycles than their ancestors did a hundred years ago, owing to early puberty, fewer pregnancies and dietary changes. Much of the research in menstruation is located in the medical domain with a focus on physical symptoms. The research in psychology is largely concerned with premenstrual syndrome (PMS), whereas the focus in sociology is on social and cultural practices relating to menstruation. Research that simultaneously studies the physical, psychological, social and cultural aspects is lacking. Therefore, in this study, an attempt has been made to identify socio-cultural, psychological and physical factors that interact to influence a woman’s experience of menstruation in the urban setting. The study included seven unmarried women in the age group of 24-30 and data was obtained through a focus group discussion. The transcript of the focus group discussion was thematically analysed. Two major themes relating to the self and social experience of menstruation emerged. Themes relating to the self included menarcheal experiences, self-perception, mood and management of menstrual hygiene and symptoms while themes relating to social experience included the construction of menstruation by family and peers, and cultural factors. Attitudes towards the menstrual cycle appeared to be primarily influenced by severity of symptoms and the resulting disruption to daily life. Outcomes of this study have indicated that future research needs to study menstruation and its impact on women’s wellbeing by adopting a socio-ecological approach and by collecting data using the whole cycle approach across a woman’s reproductive years.

Keywords: India, menstrual cycle, psychosocial approach, wellbeing

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Mohd Salim Mahtab, Izharul Haq Farooqi, Anwar Khursheed

Abstract:

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) based on Fenton are versatile options for treating complex wastewaters containing refractory compounds. However, the classical Fenton process (CFP) has limitations, such as high sludge production and reagent dosage, which limit its broad use and result in secondary contamination. As a result, long-term solutions are required for process intensification and the removal of these impediments. This study shows that Fenton sludge could serve as a catalyst in the Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ reductive pathway, allowing non-regenerated sludge to be reused for complex wastewater treatment, such as landfill leachate treatment, even in the absence of Fenton's reagents. Experiments with and without pH adjustments in stages I and II demonstrated that an acidic pH is desirable. Humic compounds in leachate could improve the cycle of Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ under optimal conditions, and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was 22±2% and 62±2%% in stages I and II, respectively. Furthermore, excellent total suspended solids (TSS) removal (> 95%) and color removal (> 80%) were obtained in stage II. The processes underlying synergistic (oxidation/coagulation/adsorption) effects were addressed. The design of the experiment (DOE) is growing increasingly popular and has thus been implemented in the chemical, water, and environmental domains. The relevance of the statistical model for the desired response was validated using the explicitly stated optimal conditions. The operational factors, characteristics of reused sludge, toxicity analysis, cost calculation, and future research objectives were also discussed. Reusing non-regenerated Fenton sludge, according to the study's findings, can minimize hazardous solid toxic emissions and total treatment costs.

Keywords: advanced oxidation processes, catalysis, Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ cycle, fenton sludge

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: Krassimir Todorov

Abstract:

The purpose of the paper is to redefine the levels of structure of corporate, business and functional strategies that were established over the past several decades, to a conceptual model, consisting of corporate, business and operations strategies, that are reinforced by functional strategies. We will propose a conceptual framework of different perspectives in the role of strategic operations as a separate strategic place and reposition the remaining functional strategies as supporting tools, existing at all three levels. The proposed model is called ‘the strategic engine’, since the mutual relationships of its ingredients are identical with main elements and working principle of the internal combustion engine. Based on theoretical essence, related to every strategic level, we will prove that the strategic engine model is useful for managers seeking to safeguard the competitive advantage of their companies. Each strategy level is researched through its basic elements. At the corporate level we examine the scope of firm’s product, the vertical and geographical coverage. At the business level, the point of interest is limited to the SWOT analysis’ basic elements. While at operations level, the key research issue relates to the scope of the following performance indicators: cost, quality, speed, flexibility and dependability. In this relationship, the paper provides a different view for the role of operations strategy within the overall strategy concept. We will prove that the theoretical essence of operations goes far beyond the scope of traditionally accepted business functions. Exploring the applications of Resource-based theory and Market-based theory within the strategic levels framework, we will prove that there is a logical consequence of the theoretical impact in corporate, business and operations strategy – at every strategic level, the validity of one theory is substituted to the level of the other. Practical application of the conceptual model is tested in automotive industry. Actually, the proposed theoretical concept is inspired by a leading global automotive group – Inchcape PLC, listed on the London Stock Exchange, and constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

Keywords: business strategy, corporate strategy, functional strategies, operations strategy

Procedia PDF Downloads 173