Search results for: product competition

Authors: Beaula, M. Kruger, Silindisipho, T. Belot

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Small informal retailers are considered one of the most important features of developing countries around the world. Those small informal retailers form part of the local communities in South African townships and are estimated to be more than 100,000 across the country. The township economic landscape has changed over time in South Africa. The traditional small informal retailers in South African Townships have been faced with numerous challenges of increasing competition; an increase in the number of local retail shops and foreign-owned shops. There is evidence that the South African personal and disposable income has increased amongst black African consumers. Historically, people residing in townships were restricted to informal retail shops; however, this has changed due to the growing number of formal large retail chains entering into the township market. The larger retail chains are aware of the improved income levels of the middle-income townships residence and as a result, larger retailers have followed certain strategies such as; (1) retail format development; (2) diversification growth strategy; (3) market penetration growth strategy and (4) market expansion. This research did a comparative analysis between the different retail models developed by Pick n Pay, Spar and Shoprite. The research methodology employed for this study was of a qualitative nature and made use of a case study to conduct a comparative analysis between larger retailers. A questionnaire was also designed to obtain data from existing smaller retailers. The study found that larger retailers have developed smaller retail formats to compete with the traditional smaller retailers operating in South African townships. Only one out of the two large retailers offers entrepreneurs a franchise model. One of the big retailers offers the opportunity to employ between 15 to 20 employees while the others are subject to the outcome of a feasibility study. The response obtained from the entrepreneurs in the townships were mixed, while some found their presence as having a “negative impact,” which has increased competition; others saw them as a means to obtain a variety of products. This research found that the most beneficial retail model for both bigger retail and existing and new entrepreneurs are from Pick n Pay. The other retail format models are more beneficial for the bigger retailers and not to new and existing entrepreneurs.

Keywords: Pick n Pay, retailers, shoprite, spar, townships

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Valerie Yocco Rossi

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Objective: The author will share why differentiation is necessary for all classrooms as well as strategies for differentiating content, process, and product. Through learning how to differentiate, teachers will be able to create activities and assessments to meet the abilities, readiness levels, and interests of all learners. Content and Purpose: This work will focus on how to create a learning experience for students that recognizes their different interests, abilities, and readiness levels by differentiating content, process, and product. Likewise, the best learning environments allow for choice. Choice boards allow students to select tasks based on interests. There can be challenging and basic tasks to meet the needs of various abilities. Equally, rubrics allow for personalized and differentiated assessments based on readiness levels and cognitive abilities. The principals of DI help to create a classroom where all students are learning to the best of their abilities. Outcomes: After reviewing the work, readers will be able to (1) identify the benefits of differentiated instruction; (2) convert traditional learning activities to differentiated ones; (3) differentiate, writing-based assessments.

Keywords: differentiation, personalized learning, design, instructional strategies

Procedia PDF Downloads 69

Authors: Elvan G. Bulut, Betul Goksun, Tugba G. Gun, Ozge Sakiyan Demirkol, Kamuran Ayhan, Kezban Candogan

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Dysphagia, difficulty in swallowing solid foods and thin liquids, is one of the common health threats among the elderly who require foods with modified texture in their diet. Although there are some commercial food formulations or hydrocolloids to thicken the liquid foods for dysphagic individuals, there is still a need for developing and offering new food products with enriched nutritional, textural and sensory characteristics to safely nourish these patients. 3D food printing is an appealing alternative in creating personalized foods for this purpose with attractive shape, soft and homogenous texture. In order to modify texture and prevent phase separation, hydrocolloids are generally used. In our laboratory, an optimized 3D printed beef-based formulation specifically for people with swallowing difficulties was developed based on the research project supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK Project # 218O017). The optimized formulation obtained from response surface methodology was 60% beef powder, 5.88% gelatin, and 0.74% kappa-carrageenan (all in a dry basis). This product was enriched with powders of freeze-dried beet, celery, and red capia pepper, butter, and whole milk. Proximate composition (moisture, fat, protein, and ash contents), pH value, CIE lightness (L*), redness (a*) and yellowness (b*), and color difference (ΔE*) values were determined. Counts of total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TMAB), lactic acid bacteria (LAB), mold and yeast, total coliforms were conducted, and detection of coagulase positive S. aureus, E. coli, and Salmonella spp. were performed. The 3D printed products had 60.11% moisture, 16.51% fat, 13.68% protein, and 1.65% ash, and the pH value was 6.19, whereas the ΔE* value was 3.04. Counts of TMAB, LAB, mold and yeast and total coliforms before and after 3D printing were 5.23-5.41 log cfu/g, < 1 log cfu/g, < 1 log cfu/g, 2.39-2.15 log EMS/g, respectively. Coagulase positive S. aureus, E. coli, and Salmonella spp. were not detected in the products. The data obtained from this study based on determining some important product characteristics of functional beef-based formulation provides an encouraging basis for future research on the subject and should be useful in designing mass production of 3D printed products of similar composition.

Keywords: beef, dysphagia, product characteristics, texture-modified foods, 3D food printing

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Carole A. El Raheb, Hassan K. Abdel-Salam, Ingi Elcherif

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An architect carrying the design process alone is the main reason for the deterioration of the quality of the architectural product as the complexity of the projects makes it a multi-disciplinary work; then, the Integrative Design Process (IDP) must be applied in the architectural firm especially from the early design phases to improve the product’s quality and to eliminate the ignorance of the principles of design causing the occurrence of low-grade buildings. The research explores the Integrative Design (ID) principles that fit in the architectural practice. Constraints facing this application are presented with strategies and solutions to overcome them. A survey questionnaire was conducted to collect data from a number of recognized Egyptian Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) firms that explores their opinions on using the IDP. This survey emphasizes the importance of the IDP in firms and presents the reasons preventing the firms from applying the IDP. The aim here is to investigate the potentials of integrating this approach into architectural firms emphasizing the importance of this application which ensures the realization of the project’s goal and eliminates the reduction in the project’s quality.

Keywords: application, architectural firms, integrative design principles, integrative design process, the project quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 231

Authors: Pegah Zamani

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This multidisciplinary study interrogates the reformulation of socio-ecological systems by bringing different disciplines together and incorporating ecological, social, and technological components to the sustainable design. The study seeks for a holistic sustainable system to understand the multidimensional impact of the evolving innovative technologies on responding to the variable socio-environmental conditions. Through a range of cases, from the vernacular built spaces to the sophisticated optimized systems, the research unfolds how far the environmental elements would impact the performance of a sustainable building, its micro-climatic ecological requirements, and its human inhabitation. As a product of the advancing technologies, an optimized and environmentally responsive building offers new identification, and realization of the built space through reformulating the connection to its internal and external environments (such as solar, thermal, and airflow), as well as its dwellers. The study inquires properties of optimized buildings, by bringing into the equation not only the environmental but also the socio-cultural, morphological, and phenomenal factors. Thus, the research underlines optimized built space as a product and practice which would not be meaningful without addressing and dynamically adjusting to the diversity and complexity of socio-ecological systems.

Keywords: ecology, morphology, socio-ecological systems, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 204

Authors: Khaja Moiduddin, Tamer Khalaf, Muthuramalingam Thangaraj

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Due to the variety of benefits over traditional cutting techniques, the usage of laser cutting technology has risen substantially in recent years. Hot wire machining can cut the leather in the required shape by controlling the wire by generating thermal energy. In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate the effects of performance measures in the hot wire machining process on cutting leather specimens. Carbonization and material removal rates were considered as quality indicators. Burning leather during machining might cause carbon particles, reducing product quality. Minimizing the effect of carbon particles is crucial for assuring operator and environmental safety, health, and product quality. Hot wire machining can efficiently cut the specimens by controlling the current through it. Taguchi- DEAR-based optimization was also performed in the process, which resulted in a required Carbonization and material removal rate. Using the DEAR approach, the optimal parameters of the present study were found with 3.7% prediction error accuracy.

Keywords: cabronization, leather, MRR, current

Procedia PDF Downloads 64

Authors: Zatil Afifah Omar, Siti Nur Izati Azmi, Kathi Swaran, Navin Kumar

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Lost circulation has always been one of the greatest problems faced by drilling companies during drilling operations due to excessive drilling Fluids losses. Loss of circulation leads to Huge cost and non-productive time. The objective of this study is to evaluate the sealing efficiency of a proprietary blend of synthetic rubber as loss circulation material in comparison with a conventional product such as calcium carbonate, graphite, cellulosic, and nutshells. Sand Bed Tester with a different proprietary blend of synthetic rubber compositions has been used to determine the effectiveness of the LCM in preventing drilling fluids losses in a lab scale. Test results show the proprietary blend of synthetic rubber have good bridging properties and sealing Off fractures of various sizes. The finish product is environmentally friendly with lower production lead time and lower production cost compared to current conventional loss circulation materials used in current drilling operations.

Keywords: loss circulation materials, drilling operation, sealing efficiency, LCM

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: Winita Kitisak, Boontarika Panyomoon, Siriyakorn Nilpoun, Nithit Yosit, Peeraya Somsak

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The purpose of this study will affect the marketing mix that influences the consumers’ behavior towards beverage purchasing from retail stores. It aims to study the consumers and to better understand their behaviors and factors influencing their decision making on buying beverage in retail stores. We study the example of 400 consumers in Chiang Mai. The study shows that most of the respondents were male, 50 percent is 20-30 year old, and 36.66 percent is 31-40 year old, only 2.66 percent is upper 50 years old, bachelor’s degree holders, working in business field and student with 10,001-15,000 Baht income. Most buyers spend 4-6 times a week buying cheap beverage from retail stores. The consumer bought alcoholic beverages, green tea drinks, and soft drinks, but the mainly purchased product was beer. The results indicate that the brand of the product motivates more on consumers’ demand. While shelf displays, products presentation, and sales promotion affect the most on the consumers’ decision to purchase from the retail stores, the promotions moderately impact the consumers’ decision on purchasing from retail stores.

Keywords: consumer behavior, beverage, retail stores, convenience store

Procedia PDF Downloads 223

Authors: Chao-Ton Su, Li-Fei Chen

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The parameter design is crucial to improving the uniformity of a product or process. In the product design stage, parameter design aims to determine the optimal settings for the parameters of each element in the system, thereby minimizing the functional deviations of the product. In the process design stage, parameter design aims to determine the operating settings of the manufacturing processes so that non-uniformity in manufacturing processes can be minimized. The parameter design, trying to minimize the influence of noise on the manufacturing system, plays an important role in the high-tech companies. Taiwan has many well-known high-tech companies, which show key roles in the global economy. Quality remains the most important factor that enables these companies to sustain their competitive advantage. In Taiwan however, many high-tech companies face various quality problems. A common challenge is related to root causes and defect patterns. In the R&D stage, root causes are often unknown, and defect patterns are difficult to classify. Additionally, data collection is not easy. Even when high-volume data can be collected, data interpretation is difficult. To overcome these challenges, high-tech companies in Taiwan use more advanced quality improvement tools. In addition to traditional statistical methods and quality tools, the new trend is the application of powerful tools, such as neural network, fuzzy theory, data mining, industrial engineering, operations research, and innovation skills. In this study, several examples of optimizing the parameter settings for the manufacturing process in Taiwan’s tech companies will be presented to illustrate proposed approach’s effectiveness. Finally, a discussion of using traditional experimental design versus the proposed approach for process optimization will be made.

Keywords: quality engineering, parameter design, neural network, genetic algorithm, experimental design

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: Aka S. Koffi, N’Goran Yao, Philippe Bastide, Denis Bruneau, Diby Kadjo

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Cocoa beans (Theobroma cocoa L.) are the main components for chocolate manufacturing. The beans must be correctly fermented at first. Traditional process to perform the first fermentation (lactic fermentation) often consists in confining cacao beans using banana leaves or a fermentation basket, both of them leading to a poor product thermal insulation and to an inability to mix the product. Box fermenter reduces this loss by using a wood with large thickness (e>3cm), but mixing to homogenize the product is still hard to perform. Automatic fermenters are not rentable for most of producers. Heat (T>45°C) and acidity produced during the fermentation by microbiology activity of yeasts and bacteria are enabling the emergence of potential flavor and taste of future chocolate. In this study, a cylindro-rotative fermenter (FCR-V1) has been built and coconut fibers were used in its structure to confine heat. An axis of rotation (360°) has been integrated to facilitate the turning and homogenization of beans in the fermenter. This axis permits to put fermenter in a vertical position during the anaerobic alcoholic phase of fermentation, and horizontally during acetic phase to take advantage of the mid height filling. For circulation of air flow during turning in acetic phase, two woven rattan with grid have been made, one for the top and second for the bottom of the fermenter. In order to reduce air flow during acetic phase, two airtight covers are put on each grid cover. The efficiency of the turning by this kind of rotation, coupled with homogenization of the temperature, caused by the horizontal position in the acetic phase of the fermenter, contribute to having a good proportion of well-fermented beans (83.23%). In addition, beans’pH values ranged between 4.5 and 5.5. These values are ideal for enzymatic activity in the production of the aromatic compounds inside beans. The regularity of mass loss during all fermentation makes it possible to predict the drying surface corresponding to the amount being fermented.

Keywords: cocoa fermentation, fermenter, microbial activity, temperature, turning

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: Tushar Vasant Salunkhe, Sariput M. Nawghare, Maheboobsab B. Nadaf, Sushovan Dutta, J. N. Mandal

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The model tests were conducted in the laboratory without and with plastic recycled polymer in fly ash steep slopes overlaying soft foundation soils like fly ash and power soil in order to check the stability of steep slope. In this experiment, fly ash is used as a filling material, and Plastic Recycled Polymers of diameter = 3mm and length = 4mm were made from the waste plastic product (lower grade plastic product). The properties of fly ash and plastic recycled polymers are determined. From the experiments, load and settlement have measured. From these data, load–settlement curves have been reported. It has been observed from test results that the load carrying capacity of mixture fly ash with Plastic Recycled Polymers slope is more than that of fly ash slope. The deformation of Plastic Recycled Polymers slope is slightly more than that of fly ash slope. A Finite Element Method (F.E.M.) was also evaluated using PLAXIS 3D version. The failure pattern, deformations and factor of safety are reported based on analytical programme. The results from experimental data and analytical programme are compared and reported.

Keywords: factor of safety, finite element method (FEM), fly ash, plastic recycled polymer

Procedia PDF Downloads 428

Authors: Narendra Akhadkar, Silvestre Cano, Christophe Gourru

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Injection-molded parts are widely used in power system protection products. One of the biggest challenges in an injection molding process is shrinkage and warpage of the molded parts. All these geometrical variations may have an adverse effect on the quality of the product, functionality, cost, and time-to-market. The situation becomes more challenging in the case of intricate shapes and in mass production using multi-cavity tools. To control the effects of shrinkage and warpage, it is very important to correctly find out the input parameters that could affect the product performance. With the advances in the computer-aided engineering (CAE), different tools are available to simulate the injection molding process. For our case study, we used the MoldFlow insight tool. Our aim is to predict the spread of the functional dimensions and geometrical variations on the part due to variations in the input parameters such as material viscosity, packing pressure, mold temperature, melt temperature, and injection speed. The input parameters may vary during batch production or due to variations in the machine process settings. To perform the accurate product assembly variation simulation, the first step is to perform an individual part variation simulation to render realistic tolerance ranges. In this article, we present a method to simulate part variations coming from the input parameters variation during batch production. The method is based on computer simulations and experimental validation using the full factorial design of experiments (DoE). The robustness of the simulation model is verified through input parameter wise sensitivity analysis study performed using simulations and experiments; all the results show a very good correlation in the material flow direction. There exists a non-linear interaction between material and the input process variables. It is observed that the parameters such as packing pressure, material, and mold temperature play an important role in spread on functional dimensions and geometrical variations. This method will allow us in the future to develop accurate/realistic virtual prototypes based on trusted simulated process variation and, therefore, increase the product quality and potentially decrease the time to market.

Keywords: correlation, molding process, tolerance, sensitivity analysis, variation simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 178

Authors: Bojana Ž. Bajić, Damjan G. Vučurović, Siniša N. Dodić, Jovana A. Grahovac, Jelena M. Dodić

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Biosynthesis of xanthan, a microbial polysaccharide produced by Xanthomonas campestris, is characterized by the possibility of using non-specific carbohydrate substrates, which means different waste effluents can be used as a basis for the production media. Potential raw material sources for xanthan production come from industries with large amounts of waste effluents that are rich in compounds necessary for microorganism growth and multiplication. Taking into account the amount of waste effluents generated by the bioethanol industry and the fact that it contains a high inorganic and organic load it is clear that they represent a potential environmental pollutants if not properly treated. For this reason, it is necessary to develop new technologies which use wastes and wastewaters of one industry as raw materials for another industry. The result is not only a new product, but also reduction of pollution and environmental protection. Biotechnological production of xanthan, which consists of using biocatalysts to convert the bioethanol waste effluents into a high-value product, presents a possibility for sustainable development. This research uses scientific software developed for the modeling of biotechnological processes in order to design a xanthan production plant from bioethanol production waste effluents as raw material. The model was developed using SuperPro Designer® by using input data such as the composition of raw materials and products, defining unit operations, utility consumptions, etc., while obtaining capital and operating costs and the revenues from products to create a baseline production plant model. Results from this baseline model can help in the development of novel biopolymer production technologies. Additionally, a detailed economic analysis showed that this process for converting waste effluents into a high value product is economically viable. Therefore, the proposed model represents a useful tool for scaling up the process from the laboratory or pilot plant to a working industrial scale plant.

Keywords: biotechnology, process model, xanthan, waste effluents

Procedia PDF Downloads 348

Authors: Safeer Ahmad, Pratheek Sudhakran, M. Arif Kamal, Tarique Anwar

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In Healthcare facility designing, Efficient MEP services are very crucial because the built environment not only affects patients and family but also Healthcare staff and their outcomes. This paper shall cover the basics of Value engineering and its different phases that can be implemented to the MEP Designing stage for Healthcare facility optimization, also VE can improve the product cost the unnecessary costs associated with healthcare services. This paper explores Healthcare facility services and their Value engineering Job plan for the successful application of the VE technique by conducting a Workshop with end-users, designing team and associate experts shall be carried out using certain concepts, tools, methods and mechanism developed to achieve the purpose of selecting what is actually appropriate and ideal among many value engineering processes and tools that have long proven their ability to enhance the value by following the concept of Total quality management while achieving the most efficient resources allocation to satisfy the key functions and requirements of the project without sacrificing the targeted level of service for all design metrics. Detail study has been discussed with analysis been carried out by this process to achieve a better outcome, Various tools are used for the Analysis of the product at different phases used, at the end the results obtained after implementation of techniques are discussed.

Keywords: value engineering, healthcare facility, design, services

Procedia PDF Downloads 198

Authors: C. S. Caires, A. Barbosa, W. Hanyou

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In this paper, we present the main results achieved during a five-week international workshop on Interactive Furniture for the Classroom, with 22 Chinese design students, in Jiangmen city (Guangdong province, China), and five teachers from Portugal, France, Iran, Macao SAR, and China. The main goal was to engage design students from China with new skills and practice methodologies towards interactive design research for furniture and product design for the classroom. The final results demonstrate students' concerns on improving Chinese furniture design for the classrooms, including solutions related to collaborative learning and human-interaction design for interactive furniture products. The findings of the research led students to the fabrication of five original prototypes: two for kindergartens ('Candy' and 'Tilt-tilt'), two for primary schools ('Closer' and 'Eks(x)'), and one for art/creative schools ('Wave'). From the findings, it was also clear that collaboration, personalization, and project-based teaching are still neglected when designing furniture products for the classroom in China. Students focused on these issues and came up with creative solutions that could transform this educational field in China.

Keywords: product design, collaborative education, interactive design, design research and prototyping

Procedia PDF Downloads 130

Authors: Natalia A. Salazar, Erika K. Méndez, Catalina Álvarez, Carlos E. Orrego

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Lyophilization, also called freeze-drying, is an important dehydration technique mainly used for pharmaceuticals. Food industry also uses lyophilization when it is important to retain most of the nutritional quality, taste, shape and size of dried products and to extend their shelf life. Vacuum-Induced during freezing cycle (VI) has been used in order to control ice nucleation and, consequently, to reduce the time of primary drying cycle of pharmaceuticals preserving quality properties of the final product. This procedure has not been applied in freeze drying of foods. The present work aims to investigate the effect of VI on the lyophilization drying time, final moisture content, density and reconstitutional properties of mango (Mangifera indica L.) slices (MS) and mango pulp-maltodextrin dispersions (MPM) (30% concentration of total solids). Control samples were run at each freezing rate without using induced vacuum. The lyophilization endpoint was the same for all treatments (constant difference between capacitance and Pirani vacuum gauges). From the experimental results it can be concluded that at the high freezing rate (0.4°C/min) reduced the overall process time up to 30% comparing process time required for the control and VI of the lower freeze rate (0.1°C/min) without affecting the quality characteristics of the dried product, which yields a reduction in costs and energy consumption for MS and MPM freeze drying. Controls and samples treated with VI at freezing rate of 0.4°C/min in MS showed similar results in moisture and density parameters. Furthermore, results from MPM dispersion showed favorable values when VI was applied because dried product with low moisture content and low density was obtained at shorter process time compared with the control. There were not found significant differences between reconstitutional properties (rehydration for MS and solubility for MPM) of freeze dried mango resulting from controls, and VI treatments.

Keywords: drying time, lyophilization, mango, vacuum induced freezing

Procedia PDF Downloads 410

Authors: Sunil Kumar

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For many years, small organic molecules derived naturally from microbes and plants have delivered a number of expedient therapeutic drug agents. The search for naturally occurring lead compounds has continued in recent years as well, with the constituents of marine flora and fauna along with those of telluric microorganisms and plants being investigated for their anti-bacterial and anti-cancer activities. It has been observed that such promising lead molecules incline to promptly generate substantial attention among scientists like synthetic organic chemists and biologists. Subsequently, the availability of a given precious natural product sample may be enriched, and it may be possible to determine a preliminary idea of structure-activity relationships to develop synthetic analogues. For instance, anti-tumor drug topotecan is a synthetic chemical compound similar in chemical structure to camptothecin which is found in extracts of Camptotheca acuminate. Similarly, researchers at AstraZeneca discovered anti-biotic pyrrolamide through a fragment-based lead generation approach from kibdelomycin, which is isolated from Staphylococcus aureuss.

Keywords: anticancer, antibiotic, lead molecule, natural product, synthetic analogues

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: D. Lalitha Rani, K. Sankar Rao

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MSMEs, due to their unique characteristics, are found to have inherent capabilities to undertake technological and non-technological innovations successfully across industries and nations. While there is considerable empirical evidence to throw light on SME innovation contributions in the context of developed countries, there is hardly any evidence to reveal how innovative SMEs are in rapidly industrializing economies like India. Indian MSMEs are largely incremental innovators, prompted by their customers and involved in product and/or process innovations. But majority carried out innovations with internal efforts only whereas the minority which obtained external support, had better technical strength, indulged in more frequent and both product & process innovations. Such MSMEs achieved better innovation performance as well as better economic performance. Some of them internationalized themselves in the process. However such achievements are “an oasis” in the vast Indian SME sector. How to promote (i) innovations, (ii) quality of innovations and (iii) patenting culture among the SMEs is a challenge for Indian Policy Makers. However this paper examines what are the innovation practices which are being carried out in this sector and identified the barriers for innovations in this sector and concludes with proposing some policy recommendations for promoting innovations in MSME sector in India.

Keywords: MSMEs, incremental innovators, policies, non-technological innovations

Procedia PDF Downloads 479

Authors: Vipan Kumar Sohpal, Rajesh Kumar Sharma

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Thermo-chemical conversion of non-edible biomass offers an efficient and economically process to provide valuable fuels and prepare chemicals derived from biomass in the context of developing countries. Pyrolysis has advantages over other thermochemical conversion techniques because it can convert biomass directly into solid, liquid and gaseous products by thermal decomposition of biomass in the absence of oxygen. The present paper aims to focus on the slow thermochemical conversion processes for non-edible Jatropha curcus seed cake. The present discussion focuses on the effect of nitrogen gas flow rate on products composition (wt %). In addition, comparative analysis has been performed for different mesh size for product composition. Result shows that, slow pyrolysis experiments of Jatropha curcus seed cake in fixed bed reactor yield the bio-oil 18.42 wt % at a pyrolysis temperature of 500°C, particle size of -6+8 mesh number and nitrogen gas flow rate of 150 ml/min.

Keywords: Jatropha curcus, thermo-chemical, pyrolysis, product composition, yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 433

Authors: Z. Ansari, M. R. M. Rejab, D. Bachtiar, J. P. Siregar

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This study focus on the compression and tensile properties of new and recycle square honeycombs structure from sugar palm fibre (SPF) and polylactic acid (PLA) composite. The end data will determine the failure strength and energy absorption for both new and recycle composite. The control SPF specimens were fabricated from short fibre co-mingled with PLA by using a bra-blender set at 180°C and 50 rpm consecutively. The mixture of 30% fibre and 70% PLA were later on the hot press at 180°C into sheets with thickness 3mm consecutively before being assembled into a sandwich honeycomb structure. An INSTRON tensile machine and Abaqus 6.13 software were used for mechanical test and finite element simulation. The percentage of error from the simulation and experiment data was 9.20% and 9.17% for both new and recycled product. The small error of percentages was acceptable due to the nature of the simulation model to be assumed as a perfect model with no imperfect geometries. The energy absorption value from new to recycled product decrease from 312.86kJ to 282.10kJ. With this small decrements, it is still possible to implement a recycle SPF/PLA composite into everyday usages such as a car's interior or a small size furniture.

Keywords: failure modes, numerical modelling, polylactic acid, sugar palm fibres

Procedia PDF Downloads 294

Authors: Othmane Touri, Sanaa El Filali, El Habib Benlahmar

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Natural Language Processing (NLP) has gained significant attention lately. It has proved its ability to analyze and extract insights from unstructured text data in various languages. It is found that one of the most popular NLP applications is sentiment analysis which aims to identify the sentiment expressed in a piece of text, such as positive, negative, or neutral, in multiple languages. While there are several multilingual NLP models available for sentiment analysis, there is a need to investigate their effectiveness in different contexts and applications. In this study, we aim to investigate the effectiveness of different multilingual NLP models for sentiment analysis on a dataset of online product reviews in multiple languages. The performance of several NLP models, including Google Cloud Natural Language API, Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services, Amazon Comprehend, Stanford CoreNLP, spaCy, and Hugging Face Transformers are being compared. The models based on several metrics, including accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score, are being evaluated and compared to their performance across different categories of product reviews. In order to run the study, preprocessing of the dataset has been performed by cleaning and tokenizing the text data in multiple languages. Then training and testing each model has been applied using a cross-validation approach where randomly dividing the dataset into training and testing sets and repeating the process multiple times has been used. A grid search approach to optimize the hyperparameters of each model and select the best-performing model for each category of product reviews and language has been applied. The findings of this study provide insights into the effectiveness of different multilingual NLP models for Multilingual Sentiment Analysis and their suitability for different languages and applications. The strengths and limitations of each model were identified, and recommendations for selecting the most performant model based on the specific requirements of a project were provided. This study contributes to the advancement of research methods in multilingual NLP and provides a practical guide for researchers and practitioners in the field.

Keywords: NLP, multilingual, sentiment analysis, texts

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Authors: Amitkumar Barot, Vijaykumar Sinha

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There is growing interest in the development of new materials based on recycled polymers from plastic waste, and also in the field of lubricants much effort has been spent on substitution of petro-based raw materials by natural-based renewable ones. This is due to the facts of depleting fossil fuels and due to strict environmental laws. In relevance to this, new technique for the formulation of grease that combines the chemical recycling of poly (ethylene terephthalate) PET with the use of castor oil (CO) has been developed. Comparison to diols used in chemical recycling of PET, castor oil is renewable, easily available, environmentally friendly, economically cheaper and hence sustainability indeed. The process parameters like CO concentration and temperature were altered, and further, the influences of the process parameters have been studied in order to establish technically and commercially viable process. Further thereby formed depolymerized product find an application as base oil in the formulation of grease. A depolymerized product has been characterized by various chemical and instrumental methods, while formulated greases have been evaluated for its tribological properties. The grease formulated using this new environmentally friendly approach presents applicative properties similar, and in some cases superior, compared to those of a commercial grease obtained from non-renewable resources.

Keywords: castor oil, grease formulation, recycling, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 220

Authors: Sharon Hovav, Ilya Levner, Oren Nahum, Istvan Szabo

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In modern large-scale logistic centers (e.g., big automated warehouses), complex logistic operations performed by human staff (pickers) need to be coordinated with the operations of automated facilities (robots, conveyors, cranes, lifts, flow racks, etc.). The efficiency of advanced logistic centers strongly depends on optimizing picking technologies in synch with the facility/product layout, as well as on optimal distribution of material flows (products) in the system. The challenge is to develop a mathematical operations research (OR) tool that will optimize system cost-effectiveness. In this work, we propose a model that describes an automatic logistic center consisting of a set of workstations located at several galleries (floors), with each station containing a known number of flow racks. The requirements of each product and the working capacity of stations served by a given set of workers (pickers) are assumed as predetermined. The goal of the model is to maximize system efficiency. The proposed model includes two echelons. The first is the setting of the (optimal) number of workstations needed to create the total processing/logistic system, subject to picker capacities. The second echelon deals with the assignment of the products to the workstations and flow racks, aimed to achieve maximal throughputs of picked products over the entire system given picker capacities and budget constraints. The solutions to the problems at the two echelons interact to balance the overall load in the flow racks and maximize overall efficiency. We have developed an operations research model within each echelon. In the first echelon, the problem of calculating the optimal number of workstations is formulated as a non-standard bin-packing problem with capacity constraints for each bin. The problem arising in the second echelon is presented as a constrained product-workstation-flow rack assignment problem with non-standard mini-max criteria in which the workload maximum is calculated across all workstations in the center and the exterior minimum is calculated across all possible product-workstation-flow rack assignments. The OR problems arising in each echelon are proved to be NP-hard. Consequently, we find and develop heuristic and approximation solution algorithms based on exploiting and improving local optimums. The LC model considered in this work is highly dynamic and is recalculated periodically based on updated demand forecasts that reflect market trends, technological changes, seasonality, and the introduction of new items. The suggested two-echelon approach and the min-max balancing scheme are shown to work effectively on illustrative examples and real-life logistic data.

Keywords: logistics center, product-workstation, assignment, maximum performance, load balancing, fast algorithm

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Authors: Kehinde Peter Oyeduntan, Kayode Oshinubi

Abstract:

Nigeria is referred as the ‘Giant of Africa’ due to high population, land mass and large economy. However, it still trails far behind many smaller economies in the continent in terms of maritime operations. As we have seen that the maritime industry is the spark plug for national growth, because it houses the most crucial infrastructure that generates wealth for a nation, it is worrisome that a nation with six seaports lag in maritime activities. In this research, we have studied how the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the maritime transport influences the Nigerian economy. To do this, we applied Simple Linear Regression (SLR), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Polynomial Regression Model (PRM), Generalized Additive Model (GAM) and Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) to model the relationship between the nation’s Total GDP (TGDP) and the Maritime Transport GDP (MGDP) using a time series data of 20 years. The result showed that the MGDP is statistically significant to the Nigerian economy. Amongst the statistical tool applied, the PRM of order 4 describes the relationship better when compared to other methods. The recommendations presented in this study will guide policy makers and help improve the economy of Nigeria in terms of its GDP.

Keywords: maritime transport, economy, GDP, regression, port

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Authors: Sajjad Farahani, Wilkistar Otieno, Xiaohang Yue

Abstract:

This paper develops a model for the optimal disposition decision for product returns in a remanufacturing system with limited recoverable inventory capacity. In this model, a constant demand is satisfied by remanufacturing returned products which are up to the minimum required quality grade. The quality grade of returned products is uncertain and remanufacturing cost increases as the quality level decreases, and remanufacturer wishes to determine which returned product to accept to be remanufactured for reselling, and any unaccepted returns may be salvaged at a value that increases with their quality level. Accepted returns can be stocked for remanufacturing upon demand requests, but incur a holding cost. A Markov decision problem is formulated in order to evaluate various performance measures for this system and obtain the optimal remanufacturing policy. A detailed numerical study reveals that our approach to the disposition problem outperforms the current industrial practice ignoring quality grade of returned products. In addition, we identify conditions under which this improvement is the highest.

Keywords: green supply chain management, matrix geometric method, production recovery, reverse supply chains

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Authors: Zeynep Sener, Mehtap Dursun

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Supplier evaluation and selection is one of the most important components of an effective supply chain management system. Due to the expanding competition in healthcare, selecting the right medical device suppliers offers great potential for increasing quality while decreasing costs. This paper proposes a fuzzy decision making approach for medical supplier selection. A real-world medical device supplier selection problem is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed decision methodology.

Keywords: fuzzy decision making, fuzzy multiple objective programming, medical supply chain, supplier selection

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Authors: Tz-Bang Du, Cheng-Han Hsieh, Li-Ping Ju, Hung-Jie Liou

Abstract:

Polyether amines synthesize by secondary hydroxyl polyether diol play an important role in epoxy hardener. The low molecular weight product is used in low viscosity and high transparent polyamine product for the logo, ground cover, especially for wind turbine blade, while the high molecular weight products are used in advanced agricultures such as a high-speed railway. High-pressure reductive amination process is required for producing these amines. In the condition of higher than 150 atm pressure and 200 degrees Celsius temperature, supercritical ammonia is used as a reactant and also a solvent. It would be a great challenge to select a catalyst support for such high-temperature alkaline circumstance. In this study, we have established a six-autoclave-type (SAT) high-pressure reactor for amination catalyst screening, which six experiment conditions with different temperature and pressure could be examined at the same time. We synthesized copper-nickel catalyst on different shaped alumina catalyst support and evaluated the catalyst activity for high-pressure reductive amination of polypropylene glycol (PPG) by SAT reactor. Ball type gamma alumina, ball type activated alumina and pellet type gamma alumina catalyst supports are evaluated in this study. Gamma alumina supports have shown better activity on PPG reductive amination than activated alumina support. In addition, the catalysts are evaluated in fixed bed reactor. The diamine product was successfully synthesized via this catalyst and the strength of the catalysts is measured. The crush strength of blank supports is about 13.5 lb for both gamma alumina and activated alumina. The strength increases to 20.3 lb after synthesized to be copper-nickel catalyst. After test in the fixed bed high-pressure reductive amination process for 100 hours, the crush strength of the used catalyst is 3.7 lb for activated alumina support, 12.0 lb for gamma alumina support. The gamma alumina is better than activated alumina to use as catalyst support in high-pressure reductive amination process.

Keywords: high pressure reductive amination, copper nickel catalyst, polyether amine, alumina

Procedia PDF Downloads 229

Authors: Randall E. Osborne, Seth A. Doty

Abstract:

As participation in organized sports increases, so does the risk of sustaining an athletic injury. These unfortunate injuries result in missed time from practice and, inevitably, the field of competition. Recovery time plays a pivotal role in the overall rehabilitation of the athlete. With time and rehabilitation, an athlete’s physical injury can be properly treated. However, there seem to be few measures assessing psychological recovery from injury. Although an athlete has been cleared to return to play, there may still be lingering doubt about their injury. Overall, there is a vast difference between being physically cleared to play and being psychologically ready to return to play. Certain personality traits might serve as predictors of an individual’s rate of psychological recovery from an injury. The purpose of this research study is to explore the correlations between athletes’ personality and their recovery from an athletic injury, specifically, examining how locus of control has been utilized through other studies and can be beneficial to the current study. Additionally, this section will examine the link between hardiness and coping strategies. In the current study, mental toughness is being tested, but it is important to determine the link between these two concepts. Hardiness and coping strategies are closely related and can play a major role in an athlete’s mental toughness. It is important to examine competitive trait anxiety to illustrate perceived anxiety during athletic competition. The Big 5 and Social Support will also be examined in conjunction with recovery from athletic injury. Athletic injury is a devastating and common occurrence that can happen in any sport. Injured athletes often require resources and treatment to be able to return to the field of play. Athletes become more involved with physical and mental treatment as the length of recovery time increases. It is very reasonable to assume that personality traits would be predictive of athlete recovery from injury. The current study investigated the potential relationship between personality traits and recovery time; more specifically, the personality traits of locus of control, hardiness, social support, competitive trait anxiety, and the “Big 5” personality traits. Results indicated that athletes with a higher internal locus of control tend to report being physically ready to return to play and “ready” to return to play faster than those with an external locus of control. Additionally, Openness to Experience (among the Big 5 personality dimensions) was also related to the speed of return to play.

Keywords: athlete, injury, personality, readiness to play, recovery

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Authors: Salem Ben Said

Abstract:

In recent times the decimal number system to which we are accustomed has received serious competition from the binary number system. In this note, an approach is suggested to teaching and learning the binary number system using examples from the real world. More precisely, we will demonstrate the utility of the binary system in describing the optimal strategy to win the Chinese Nim game, and in telegraphy by decoding the hidden message on Perseverance’s Mars parachute written in the language of binary system. Finally, we will answer the question, “why do modern computers prefer the ternary number system instead of the binary system?”. All materials are provided in a format that is conductive to classroom presentation and discussion.

Keywords: binary number system, Nim game, telegraphy, computers prefer the ternary system

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Hoda Dehghani, Zahra Dehghani

Abstract:

Considering the obvious growth and variety of veterinary biological product and increase consumption and also the price, it is necessary to establish the rules and serious monitoring of this products which are less expensive than the original products. The scope of this research is the study of comparing the registration criteria and procedures of veterinary biological drugs in the world's leading agencies such as EMA, FDA, and WHO. For this, purpose the rules and regulations for registration of these drugs in prestigious organizations such as the FDA, EMA and WHO were examined and compared with the existing legislation in Iran. Studies show that EMA is the forefront of the compilation and registration of drugs in the world. China is a one of the greatest country in the development of drugs and establishes very closely guidelines with creditable global guidelines, and Now, is the first country to implement the rules codified in the Far East and followed by china, India and, South Korea and Taiwan have taken incorporate the industry's top ranking in Asia. At now, Asia by creating appropriate indicators not only as a powerful center in the field of drug delivery but also as a competitor to the United States is a major source of drug discovery and creation of innovation. the activities such as clinical trials and pharmaceutical investment is the speed of technology on the continent.

Keywords: veterinary biological product, regulation of registration, biological products, regularity authorities

Procedia PDF Downloads 364