Search results for: technological process

Authors: Ha-Guk Jeong, Jong-Beom Lee

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Cladding process is very typical technology for manufacturing composite materials by the hydrostatic extrusion. Because there is no friction between the metal and the container, it can be easily obtained in uniform flow during the deformation. The general manufacturing process for a metal-matrix composite in the solid state, mixing metal powders and ceramic powders with a suited volume ratio, prior to be compressed or extruded at the cold or hot condition in a can. Since through a plurality of unit processing steps of dispersing the materials having a large difference in their characteristics and physical mixing, the process is complicated and leads to non-uniform dispersion of ceramics. It is difficult and hard to reach a uniform ideal property in the coherence problems at the interface between the metal and the ceramic reinforcements. Metal hybrid composites, which presented in this report, are manufactured through the traditional plastic deformation processes like hydrostatic extrusion, caliber-rolling, and drawing. By the previous process, the realization of uniform macro and microstructure is surely possible. In this study, as a constituent material, aluminum, copper, and titanium have been used, according to the component ratio, excellent characteristics of each material were possible to produce a metal hybrid composite that appears to maximize. MgB₂ superconductor wire also fabricated via the same process. It will be introduced to their unique artistic and thermal characteristics.

Keywords: cladding process, metal-hybrid composites, hydrostatic extrusion, electronic/thermal characteristics

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Ostad Ali Naghi Kashani

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Nowadays, the amounts of companies which tend to have an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application are increasing. Although ERP projects are expensive, time consuming, and complex, there are some successful experiences. These days, developing countries are striving to implement ERP projects successfully; however, there are many obstacles. Therefore, these projects would be failed or partially failed. This paper concerns the implementation of a successful ERP implementation, IFS, in Iran at Dana Geophysics Company (DGC). After a short review of ERP and ERP market in Iran, we propose a three phases deployment methodology (phase 1: Preparation and Business Process Management (BPM) phase 2: implementation and phase 3: testing, golive-1 (pilot) and golive-2 (final)). Then, we present five guidelines (Project Management, Change Management, Business Process Management (BPM), Training& Knowledge Management, and Technical Management), which were chose as work streams. In this case study we present lessons learned in Project management and Business process Management.

Keywords: business process management, critical success factors, ERP, project management

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Authors: Amaraporn Puraya, Roongtiva Boonpracom, Somsak Thojampa, Sirikanok Klankhajhon, Kittisak Kumpeera

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The objective of this qualitative research was to study the elderly health care process by community participation. Data were collected by quality research methods, including secondary data study, observation, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions and analyzed by content analysis, reflection and review of information. The research results pointed out that the important elderly health care process by community participation consisted of 2 parts, namely the community participation development process in elderly health care and the outcomes from the participation development process. The community participation development process consisted of 4 steps as follows: 1) Building the leadership team, an important social capital of the community, which started from searching for both formal and informal leaders by giving the opportunity for public participation and creating clear agreements defining roles, duties and responsibilities; 2) investigating the problems and the needs of the community, 3) designing the elderly health care activities under the concept of self-care potential development of the elderly through participation in community forums and meetings to exchange knowledge with common goals, plans and operation and 4) the development process of sustainable health care agreement at the local level, starting from opening communication channels to create awareness and participation in various activities at both individual and group levels as well as pushing activities/projects into the community development plan consistent with the local administration policy. The outcomes from the participation development process were as follows. 1) There was the integration of the elderly for doing the elderly health care activities/projects in the community managed by the elderly themselves. 2) The service system was changed from the passive to the proactive one, focusing on health promotion rather than treating diseases or illnesses. 3) The registered nurses / the public health officers can provide care for the elderly with chronic illnesses through the implementation of activities/projects of elderly health care so that the elderly can access the services more. 4) The local government organization became the main mechanism in driving the elderly health care process by community participation.

Keywords: elderly health care process, community participation, elderly, Thailand

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Authors: Krešimir Fertalj, Mladen Matejaš

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In turbulent modern economy, the companies need to properly manage their business processes. Well defined and stable business processes ensure the security of crucial data and application, and provide a quality product or service to the end customer. On the other side constant changes on the market, new regulatory provisions and emerging new technologies require the need of issuing prompt and effective changes of business process. In this article, we explore the use of agile principles in working with business process management (BPM) solutions. We deal with difficulties in BPM development cycle, review the benefits of using agility and choose the basic agile principles that ensure the success of a BPM project.

Keywords: agile development, BPM environment, Kanban, SCRUM, XP

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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: Mina Sadat Orooje, Mohammad Mehdi Latifi, Behnam Fereydooni Eftekhari

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The integration of cutting-edge Internet of Things (IoT) technologies with advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems is revolutionizing healthcare facility management. However, the current landscape of hospital building maintenance suffers from slow, repetitive, and disjointed processes, leading to significant financial, resource, and time losses. Additionally, the potential of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in facility maintenance is hindered by a lack of data within digital models of built environments, necessitating a more streamlined data collection process. This paper presents a robust framework that harmonizes AI with BIM-IoT technology to elevate healthcare Facility Maintenance Management (FMM) and address these pressing challenges. The methodology begins with a thorough literature review and requirements analysis, providing insights into existing technological landscapes and associated obstacles. Extensive data collection and analysis efforts follow to deepen understanding of hospital infrastructure and maintenance records. Critical AI algorithms are identified to address predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, and optimization needs alongside integration strategies for BIM and IoT technologies, enabling real-time data collection and analysis. The framework outlines protocols for data processing, analysis, and decision-making. A prototype implementation is executed to showcase the framework's functionality, followed by a rigorous validation process to evaluate its efficacy and gather user feedback. Refinement and optimization steps are then undertaken based on evaluation outcomes. Emphasis is placed on the scalability of the framework in real-world scenarios and its potential applications across diverse healthcare facility contexts. Finally, the findings are meticulously documented and shared within the healthcare and facility management communities. This framework aims to significantly boost maintenance efficiency, cut costs, provide decision support, enable real-time monitoring, offer data-driven insights, and ultimately enhance patient safety and satisfaction. By tackling current challenges in healthcare facility maintenance management it paves the way for the adoption of smarter and more efficient maintenance practices in healthcare facilities.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, building information modeling, healthcare facility maintenance, internet of things integration, maintenance efficiency

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Authors: Anna M. Salejda, Urszula Tril, Grażyna Krasnowska

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The aim of this study was to analyze selected quality characteristics of cooked pork sausages manufactured with the addition of Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) berries preparations. Stuffings of model sausages consisted of pork, backfat, water and additives such a curing salt and sodium isoascorbate. Functional additives used in production process were two preparations obtained from dried Sea buckthorn berries in form of powder and brew. Powder of dried berries was added in amount of 1 and 3 g, while water infusion as a replacement of 50 and 100% ice water included in meat products formula. Control samples were produced without functional additives. Experimental stuffings were heat treated in water bath and stored for 4 weeks under cooled conditions (4±1ºC). Physical parameters of colour, texture profile and technological parameters as acidity, weight losses and water activity were estimated. The effect of Sea buckthorn berries preparations on lipid oxidation during storage of final products was determine by TBARS method. Studies have shown that addition of Sea buckthorn preparations to meat-fatty batters significant (P≤0.05) reduced the pH values of sausages samples after thermal treatment. Moreover, the addition of berries powder caused significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) in weight losses after cooking process. Analysis of results of texture profile analysis indicated, that utilization of infusion prepared from Sea buckthorn dried berries caused increase of springiness, gumminess and chewiness of final meat products. At the same time, the highest amount of Sea buckthorn berries powder in recipe caused the decrease of all measured texture parameters. Utilization of experimental preparations significantly decreased (P≤0.05) lightness (L* parameter of color) of meat products. Simultaneously, introduction of 1 and 3 grams of Sea buckthorn berries powder to meat-fatty batter increased redness (a* parameter) of samples under investigation. Higher content of substances reacting with thiobarbituric acid was observed in meat products produced without functional additives. It was observed that powder of Sea buckthorn berries added to meat-fatty batters caused higher protection against lipid oxidation in cooked sausages.

Keywords: sea buckthorn, meat products, texture, color parameters, lipid oxidation

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Authors: K. Indra Gandhi

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Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have always been characterized for application-specific sensing, relaying and collection of information for further analysis. However, software development was not considered as a separate entity in this process of data collection which has posed severe limitations on the software development for WSN. Software development for WSN is a complex process since the components involved are data-driven, network-driven and application-driven in nature. This implies that there is a tremendous need for the separation of concern from the software development perspective. A layered approach for developing data acquisition design based on Model Driven Development (MDD) has been proposed as the sensed data collection process itself varies depending upon the application taken into consideration. This work focuses on the layered view of the data acquisition process so as to ease the software point of development. A metamodel has been proposed that enables reusability and realization of the software development as an adaptable component for WSN systems. Further, observing users perception indicates that proposed model helps in improving the programmer's productivity by realizing the collaborative system involved.

Keywords: data acquisition, model-driven development, separation of concern, wireless sensor networks

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Authors: Muzaffar Shaikh, Shoaib Shaikh, Mark Moyou, Gaby Hawat

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This paper presents the use of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in evaluating the site selection of a new plant by a corporation. Due to intense competition at a global level, multinational corporations are continuously striving to minimize production and shipping costs of their products. One key factor that plays significant role in cost minimization is where the production plant is located. In the U.S. for example, labor and land costs continue to be very high while they are much cheaper in countries such as India, China, Indonesia, etc. This is why many multinational U.S. corporations (e.g. General Electric, Caterpillar Inc., Ford, General Motors, etc.), have shifted their manufacturing plants outside. The continued expansion of the Internet and its availability along with technological advances in computer hardware and software all around the globe have facilitated U.S. corporations to expand abroad as they seek to reduce production cost. In particular, management of multinational corporations is constantly engaged in concentrating on countries at a broad level, or cities within specific countries where certain or all parts of their end products or the end products themselves can be manufactured cheaper than in the U.S. AHP is based on preference ratings of a specific decision maker who can be the Chief Operating Officer of a company or his/her designated data analytics engineer. It serves as a tool to first evaluate the plant site selection criteria and second, alternate plant sites themselves against these criteria in a systematic manner. Examples of site selection criteria are: Transportation Modes, Taxes, Energy Modes, Labor Force Availability, Labor Rates, Raw Material Availability, Political Stability, Land Costs, etc. As a necessary first step under AHP, evaluation criteria and alternate plant site countries are identified. Depending upon the fidelity of analysis, specific cities within a country can also be chosen as alternative facility locations. AHP experience in this type of analysis indicates that the initial analysis can be performed at the Country-level. Once a specific country is chosen via AHP, secondary analyses can be performed by selecting specific cities or counties within a country. AHP analysis is usually based on preferred ratings of a decision-maker (e.g., 1 to 5, 1 to 7, or 1 to 9, etc., where 1 means least preferred and a 5 means most preferred). The decision-maker assigns preferred ratings first, criterion vs. criterion and creates a Criteria Matrix. Next, he/she assigns preference ratings by alternative vs. alternative against each criterion. Once this data is collected, AHP is applied to first get the rank-ordering of criteria. Next, rank-ordering of alternatives is done against each criterion resulting in an Alternative Matrix. Finally, overall rank ordering of alternative facility locations is obtained by matrix multiplication of Alternative Matrix and Criteria Matrix. The most practical aspect of AHP is the ‘what if’ analysis that the decision-maker can conduct after the initial results to provide valuable sensitivity information of specific criteria to other criteria and alternatives.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, multinational corporations, plant site selection, preference ratings

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Authors: Isaac Diaka, Matsui Kenichi

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Ghana’s rice production has increased mainly because of increased cultivated areas. On this point, scholars who promoted crop production increase for food security have overlooked the fact that its per-acre yield has not increased. Also, Ghana’s domestic rice production has not contributed much to domestic rice consumption especially in major cities where consumers tend to rely on imported rice from Asia. Considering these points, the paper seeks to understand why smallholder rice farmers have not been able to increase per acre rice yield. It also examines smallholder rice farmers’ rice yield improvement needs, and the relationship that exist between rice farmers’ socioeconomic factors and their yield levels by rice varieties. The study adopted a simple random sampling technique to select 154 rice farmers for a questionnaire survey between October and November 2020. The data was analyzed by performing a correlation analysis, an independent t-test, and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance. The results showed that 58.4% of the respondents cultivated popular high-yield varieties like AGRA and Jasmine. The rest used local varieties. Regarding respondents’ yield differentials, AGRA and Jasmine had an average yield of 2.6 mt/ha, which is higher than that of local varieties (1.6mt/ha). The study found untimely availability of improved seed varieties and high cost of inputs some of the major reasons affecting yield in the area. For respondents’ yield improvement needs, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance showed that access to improved varieties, irrigation infrastructure, and row planting were respondents’ major technological needs. As to their non-technological needs, the respondents needed timely information about rice production, access to credit support options, and extension services. The correlation analysis revealed that farm size and off-farm income exhibited a positive and negative association towards respondents’ yield level, respectively. This paper then discusses recommendations for providing with improved rice production technologies to farmers.

Keywords: Ghana, rice, smallholder farmers, yield improvement.

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Authors: Viliam Makis, Farnoosh Naderkhani, Leila Jafari

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In this paper, we present a model and an algorithm for the calculation of the optimal control limit, average cost, sample size, and the sampling interval for an optimal Bayesian chart to control the proportion of defective items produced using a semi-Markov decision process approach. Traditional p-chart has been widely used for controlling the proportion of defectives in various kinds of production processes for many years. It is well known that traditional non-Bayesian charts are not optimal, but very few optimal Bayesian control charts have been developed in the literature, mostly considering finite horizon. The objective of this paper is to develop a fast computational algorithm to obtain the optimal parameters of a Bayesian p-chart. The decision problem is formulated in the partially observable framework and the developed algorithm is illustrated by a numerical example.

Keywords: Bayesian control chart, semi-Markov decision process, quality control, partially observable process

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Authors: Wanwimon Mekwimon

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Drug addiction is a serious problem in Thailand which has occurred continuously and repeatedly and enormously impacting health and economy of drug users. The indigenous wisdom and folk medicine is an attractive alternative choice, especially in detoxification and rehabilitation period. There are two objectives: First is to study about rehabilitation process and the curing for drug eaters and 2nd is to investigate the effectiveness of the curing and rehabilitation process by indigenous wisdom at Tamkrabok monastery, Pra-Puttabat district, Saraburi province. The main informants are 10 curers, 15 patients and 17 after-1-year rehabilitators. In the process, the semi-structured questionnaire is administered, the data are analyzed and proved by triangulation. The curing and rehabilitation process which use herbal remedies has a period of 15 days (5 days for detoxification and 10 days for recovery period) and the occupational training and self-consciousness awakening were delivered. The follow-up process includes twice-a-month recall for 6 months, follow-up letters and in depth interview with their families. The outcome of 1 year post-treatment was 94% (16 from 17). There are many reasons for not relapsing: the recovering patients have drawn on their inner strength, self-awareness and coping skill as well as their family and social support while rehabilitation process which includes difficulties in contacting with family members. They can void themselves from high risk situations to relapse. Recommendations: The follow-up system should be improved for continuous quality improvement, there should be the qualification standard for herbal remedies and the comparison among rehabilitation process of Tamkrabok and another methods are to be guideline for the further development.

Keywords: rehabilitation, drug addiction, Thai indigenous knowledge, herbal remedies

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Authors: Terence Soule, Tami Al Ghamdi

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To study how the partial knowledge transfer may affect the Genetic Algorithm (GA) performance, we model the Transfer Learning (TL) process using GA as the model solver. The objective of the TL is to transfer the knowledge from one problem to another related problem. This process imitates how humans think in their daily life. In this paper, we proposed to study a case where the knowledge transferred from the S problem has less information than what the T problem needs. We sampled the transferred population using different strategies of TL. The results showed transfer part of the knowledge is helpful and speeds the GA process of finding a solution to the problem.

Keywords: transfer learning, partial transfer, evolutionary computation, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Mani Ram Sharma

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We live in a busy world with sudden distractions and many things to think about. The rapid speed of science and technology keeps our world in constant motion. Students leaving the classroom after being taught by the teachers are thinking about a thousand things: "Did I understand what teacher taught?" However, when they come into the classroom, as teachers, we expect them to be ready to learn, ready to receive information, and retain it. There is a question that how can learners do this with so much in their learning process. It is obliviously with the use of innovation in the classroom. It fosters the students to learn innovatively to establish learner's autonomy. This article outlines the role, need, and process of innovation in the language classroom and teaching.

Keywords: distraction, foster, innovation, learner's autonomy, retainment

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Authors: Aisling De Paor

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Scientific and technological developments are driving genetics and genetic technologies into the public sphere. Scientists are making genetic discoveries as to the make up of the human body and the cause and effect of disease, diversity and disability amongst individuals. Technological innovation in the field of genetics is also advancing, with the development of genetic testing, and other emerging genetic technologies, including gene editing (which offers the potential for genetic modification). In addition to the benefits for medicine, health care and humanity, these genetic advances raise a range of ethical, legal and societal concerns. From an ethical perspective, such advances may, for example, change the concept of humans and what it means to be human. Science may take over in conceptualising human beings, which may push the boundaries of existing human rights. New genetic technologies, particularly gene editing techniques create the potential to stigmatise disability, by highlighting disability or genetic difference as something that should be eliminated or anticipated. From a disability perspective, use (and misuse) of genetic technologies raise concerns about discrimination and violations to the dignity and integrity of the individual. With an acknowledgement of the likely future orientation of genetic science, and in consideration of the intersection of genetics and disability, this paper highlights the main concerns raised as genetic science and technology advances (particularly with gene editing developments), and the consequences for disability and human rights. Through the use of traditional doctrinal legal methodologies, it investigates the use (and potential misuse) of gene editing as creating the potential for a unique form of discrimination and stigmatization to develop, as well as a potential gateway to a form of new, subtle eugenics. This article highlights the need to maintain caution as to the use, application and the consequences of genetic technologies. With a focus on the law and policy position in Europe, it examines the need to control and regulate these new technologies, particularly gene editing. In addition to considering the need for regulation, this paper highlights non-normative approaches to address this area, including awareness raising and education, public discussion and engagement with key stakeholders in the field and the development of a multifaceted genetics advisory network.

Keywords: disability, gene-editing, genetics, law, regulation

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Authors: Kathleen Frances Haigh, Mieke Nieder-Heitmann, Somayeh Farzad, Mohsen Ali Mandegari, Johann Ferdinand Gorgens

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Lignocellulose can be converted to a range of biochemicals and biofuels. Where this is derived from agricultural waste, issues of competition with food are virtually eliminated. One such source of lignocellulose is the South African sugar industry. Lignocellulose could be accessed by changes to the current farming practices and investments in more efficient boilers. The South African sugar industry is struggling due to falling sugar prices and increasing costs and it is proposed that annexing a biorefinery to a sugar mill will broaden the product range and improve viability. Process simulations of the selected chemicals were generated using Aspen Plus®. It was envisaged that a biorefinery would be annexed to a typical South African sugar mill. Bagasse would be diverted from the existing boilers to the biorefinery and mixed with harvest residues. This biomass would provide the feedstock for the biorefinery and the process energy for the biorefinery and sugar mill. Thus, in all scenarios a portion of the biomass was diverted to a new efficient combined heat and power plant (CHP). The Aspen Plus® simulations provided the mass and energy balance data to carry out an economic assessment of each scenarios. The net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and minimum selling price (MSP) was calculated for each scenario. As a starting point scenarios were generated to investigate the production of ethanol, ethanol and lactic acid, ethanol and furfural, butanol, methanol, and Fischer-Tropsch syncrude. The bypass to the CHP plant is a useful indicator of the energy demands of the chemical processes. An iterative approach was used to identify a suitable bypass because increasing this value had the combined effect of increasing the amount of energy available and reducing the capacity of the chemical plant. Bypass values ranged from 30% for syncrude production to 50% for combined ethanol and furfural production. A hurdle rate of 15.7% was selected for the IRR. The butanol, combined ethanol and furfural, or the Fischer-Tropsch syncrude scenarios are unsuitable for investment with IRRs of 4.8%, 7.5% and 11.5% respectively. This provides valuable insights into research opportunities. For example furfural from sugarcane bagasse is an established process although the integration of furfural production with ethanol is less well understood. The IRR for the ethanol scenario was 14.7%, which is below the investment criteria, but given the technological maturity it may still be considered for investment. The scenarios which met the investment criteria were the combined ethanol and lactic acid, and the methanol scenarios with IRRs of 20.5% and 16.7%, respectively. These assessments show that the production of biochemicals from lignocellulose can be commercially viable. In addition, this assessment have provided valuable insights for research to improve the commercial viability of additional chemicals and scenarios. This has led to further assessments of the production of itaconic acid, succinic acid, citric acid, xylitol, polyhydroxybutyrate, polyethylene, glucaric acid and glutamic acid.

Keywords: biorefineries, sugar mill, methanol, ethanol

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Authors: Yeliz Ekinci, Raife Merve Ön

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Nowadays, technological progress is one of the most important components of economic growth and the efficiency of R&D activities is particularly essential for countries. This study is an attempt to analyze the R&D efficiencies of EU countries. The indicators related to R&D efficiencies should be determined in advance in order to use DEA. For this reason a list of input and output indicators are derived from the literature review. Considering the data availability, a final list is given for the numerical analysis for future research.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, economic growth, EU countries, R&D efficiency

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Authors: Christine Winberg, James Garraway

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Many key university documents, such as vision and mission statements and strategic plans, are aspirational and future-oriented. There is a wide range of future-oriented methods that are used in planning applications, ranging from mathematical modelling to expert opinions. Many of these methods have limitations, and planners using these tools might, for example, make the technical-rational assumption that their plans will unfold in a logical and inevitable fashion, thus underestimating the many complex forces that are at play in planning for an unknown future. This is the issue that this study addresses. The overall project aim was to assist a new university of technology in developing appropriate responses to its social responsibility, graduate employability and research missions in its strategic plan. The specific research question guiding the research activities and approach was: how might the use of innovative future-oriented planning tools enable or constrain a strategic planning process? The research objective was to engage collaborating groups in the use of an innovative tool to develop and assess future scenarios, for the purpose of developing deeper understandings of possible futures and their challenges. The scenario planning tool chosen was ‘fictive scripting’, an analytical technique derived from Technology Forecasting and Innovation Studies. Fictive scripts are future projections that also take into account the present shape of the world and current developments. The process thus began with a critical diagnosis of the present, highlighting its tensions and frictions. The collaborative groups then developed fictive scripts, each group producing a future scenario that foregrounded different institutional missions, their implications and possible consequences. The scripts were analyzed with a view to identifying their potential contribution to the university’s strategic planning exercise. The unfolding fictive scripts revealed a number of insights in terms of unexpected benefits, unexpected challenges, and unexpected consequences. These insights were not evident in previous strategic planning exercises. The contribution that this study offers is to show how better choices can be made and potential pitfalls avoided through a systematic foresight exercise. When universities develop strategic planning documents, they are looking into the future. In this paper it is argued that the use of appropriate tools for future-oriented exercises, can help planners to understand more fully what achieving desired outcomes might entail, what challenges might be encountered, and what unexpected consequences might ensue.

Keywords: fictive scripts, scenarios, strategic planning, technological forecasting

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Authors: M. Zayoud, S. Oueida, S. Ionescu, P. AbiChar

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Background: Wireless sensor network is encompassed of diversified tools of information technology, which is widely applied in a range of domains, including military surveillance, weather forecasting, and earthquake forecasting. Strengthened grounds are always developed for wireless sensor networks, which usually emerges security issues during professional application. Thus, essential technological tools are necessary to be assessed for secure aggregation of data. Moreover, such practices have to be incorporated in the healthcare practices that shall be serving in the best of the mutual interest Objective: Aggregation of encrypted data has been assessed through homomorphic stream cipher to assure its effectiveness along with providing the optimum solutions to the field of healthcare. Methods: An experimental design has been incorporated, which utilized newly developed cipher along with CPU-constrained devices. Modular additions have also been employed to evaluate the nature of aggregated data. The processes of homomorphic stream cipher have been highlighted through different sensors and modular additions. Results: Homomorphic stream cipher has been recognized as simple and secure process, which has allowed efficient aggregation of encrypted data. In addition, the application has led its way to the improvisation of the healthcare practices. Statistical values can be easily computed through the aggregation on the basis of selected cipher. Sensed data in accordance with variance, mean, and standard deviation has also been computed through the selected tool. Conclusion: It can be concluded that homomorphic stream cipher can be an ideal tool for appropriate aggregation of data. Alongside, it shall also provide the best solutions to the healthcare sector.

Keywords: aggregation, cipher, homomorphic stream, encryption

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Authors: John Knight, Fuchun Li, Yan Xu

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Based on a new method of the nonparametric estimator of the drift function, we propose a consistent test for the parametric specification of the drift function in the short rate diffusion process using observations from a panel of yields. The test statistic is shown to follow an asymptotic normal distribution under the null hypothesis that the parametric drift function is correctly specified, and converges to infinity under the alternative. Taking the daily 7-day European rates as a proxy of the short rate, we use our test to examine whether the drift of the short rate diffusion process is linear or nonlinear, which is an unresolved important issue in the short rate modeling literature. The testing results indicate that none of the drift functions in this literature adequately captures the dynamics of the drift, but nonlinear specification performs better than the linear specification.

Keywords: diffusion process, nonparametric estimation, derivative security price, drift function and volatility function

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Authors: Yong-Jun Jeon, Hyung-Pil Park, Min-Jae Song, Baeg-Soon Cha

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Following the recent trend of having increased demand in producing lighter-weight car bodies for improvement of automobile safety and gas mileage, there is a forming method that makes use of hot-stamping technique, which satisfies all conditions mentioned above. Hot-stamping is a forming technique with advantages of excellent formability, good dimensional precision and others since it is a process in which steel plates are heated up to temperatures of at least approximately 900°C after which forming is conducted in die at room temperature followed by rapid cooling. In addition, it has characteristics of allowing for improvement in material strength through achievement of quenching effect by having simultaneous forming and rapid cooling of material of high temperatures. However, there is insufficient information on the changes in material strength according to changes in material temperature with regards to material heating method and forming process in hot-stamping. Accordingly, this study aims to design and press die for T-type product of the scale models of the center pillar and to understand the changes in material strength in relation to changes in forming methods of hot-stamping process. Thus in order to understand the changes in material strength due to quenching effect among the hot-stamping process, material strength and material forming precision were to be studied while varying the forming and forming method when forming. For test methods, material strength was observed by using boron steel that has boron additives, which was heated up to 950°C, after which it was transferred to a die and was cooled down to material temperature of 400°C followed by air cooling process. During the forming and cooling process here, experiment was conducted with forming parameters of 2 holding rates and 3 flange heating rates wherein changing appearance in material strength according to changes forming method were observed by verifying forming strength and forming precision for each of the conditions.

Keywords: hot-stamping, formability, quenching, forming, press die, forming methods

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Authors: L. A. Toro, N. Prieto, J. J. Vargas

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There are many control charts for monitoring mean and variance. Among these, the X y R, X y S, S2 Hotteling and Shewhart control charts, for mentioning some, are widely used for monitoring mean a variance in industrial processes. In particular, the Shewhart charts are based on the information about the process contained in the current observation only and ignore any information given by the entire sequence of points. Moreover, that the Shewhart chart is a control chart without memory. Consequently, Shewhart control charts are found to be less sensitive in detecting smaller shifts, particularly smaller than 1.5 times of the standard deviation. These kind of small shifts are important in many industrial applications. In this study and effective alternative to Shewhart control chart was implemented. In case of univariate process an Exponentially Moving Average (EWMA) control chart was developed and Multivariate Exponentially Moving Average (MEWMA) control chart in case of multivariate process. Both of these charts were based on memory and perform better that Shewhart chart while detecting smaller shifts. In these charts, information the past sample is cumulated up the current sample and then the decision about the process control is taken. The mentioned characteristic of EWMA and MEWMA charts, are of the paramount importance when it is necessary to control industrial process, because it is possible to correct or predict problems in the processes before they come to a dangerous limit.

Keywords: control charts, multivariate exponentially moving average (MEWMA), exponentially moving average (EWMA), industrial control process

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Authors: Olia Kanevskaia

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Standardization has been in the limelight of numerous academic studies. Typically described as ‘any set of technical specifications that either provides or is intended to provide a common design for a product or process’, standards do not only set quality benchmarks for products and services, but also spur competition and innovation, resulting in advantages for manufacturers and consumers. Their contribution to globalization and technology advancement is especially crucial in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and telecommunications sector, which is also characterized by a weaker state-regulation and expert-based rule-making. Most of the standards developed in that area are interoperability standards, which allow technological devices to establish ‘invisible communications’ and to ensure their compatibility and proper functioning. This type of standard supports a large share of our daily activities, ranging from traffic coordination by traffic lights to the connection to Wi-Fi networks, transmission of data via Bluetooth or USB and building the network architecture for the Internet of Things (IoT). A large share of ICT standards is developed in the specialized voluntary platforms, commonly referred to as Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), which gather experts from various industry sectors, private enterprises, governmental agencies and academia. The institutional architecture of these bodies can vary from semi-public bodies, such as European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), to industry-driven consortia, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The past decades witnessed a significant shift of standard setting to those institutions: while operating independently from the states regulation, they offer a rather informal setting, which enables fast-paced standardization and places technical supremacy and flexibility of standards above other considerations. Although technical norms and specifications developed by such nongovernmental platforms are not binding, they appear to create significant regulatory impact. In the United States (US), private voluntary standards can be used by regulators to achieve their policy objectives; in the European Union (EU), compliance with harmonized standards developed by voluntary European Standards Organizations (ESOs) can grant a product a free-movement pass. Moreover, standards can de facto manage the functioning of the market when other regulative alternatives are not available. Hence, by establishing (potentially) mandatory norms, SDOs assume regulatory functions commonly exercised by States and shape their own legal order. The purpose of this paper is threefold: First, it attempts to shed some light on SDOs’ institutional architecture, focusing on private, industry-driven platforms and comparing their regulatory frameworks with those of formal organizations. Drawing upon the relevant scholarship, the paper then discusses the extent to which the formulation of technological standards within SDOs constitutes a private legal order, operating in the shadow of governmental regulation. Ultimately, this contribution seeks to advise whether a state-intervention in industry-driven standard setting is desirable, and whether the increasing regulatory importance of SDOs should be addressed in legislation on standardization.

Keywords: private order, standardization, standard-setting organizations, transnational law

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Authors: G. Krishna Mohana Rao, P. Ravi Kumar

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Milling is the process of removing unwanted material with suitable tool. Even though the milling process is having wider application, the vibration of machine tool and work piece during the process produces chatter on the products. Various methods of preventing the chatter have been incorporated into machine tool systems. Damper is cut into equal number of parts. Each part is called as finger. Multiple fingers were inserted in the hollow portion of the shank to reduce tool vibrations. In the present work, nonlinear static and dynamic analysis of the damper inserted end milling cutter used to reduce the chatter was done. A comparison is made for the milling cutter with multiple dampers. Surface roughness was determined by machining with multiple finger inserted milling cutters.

Keywords: damping inserts, end milling, vibrations, nonlinear dynamic analysis, number of fingers

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Authors: Sajjad Esmaeili, Robert Krause, Lukas Gerlich, Alireza Mohammadian Kia, Benjamin Uhlig

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This investigation aims to develop the feasible and qualitative process parameters for the thin films fabrication into ultra-large through-silicon-vias (TSVs) as vertical interconnections. The focus of the study is on TSV metallization and its challenges employing new materials for the purpose of rapid signal propagation in the microsystems technology. Cobalt metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (Co-MOCVD) process enables manufacturing an adhesive and excellent conformal ultra-thin film all the way through TSVs in comparison with the conventional non-conformal physical vapor deposition (PVD) process of copper (Cu) seed layer. Therefore, this process provides a Cu seed-free layer which is capable of direct Cu electrochemical deposition (Cu-ECD) on top of it. The main challenge of this metallization module is to achieve the proper alternative seed layer with less roughness, sheet resistance and granular organic contamination (e.g. carbon) which intensify the Co corrosion under the influence of Cu electrolyte.

Keywords: Cobalt MOCVD, direct Cu electrochemical deposition (ECD), metallization technology, through-silicon-via (TSV)

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Authors: Navajyoti Panda, R. S. Pawar

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In this study, process parameters like punch angle, die opening, grain direction, and pre-bend condition of the strip for deep draw of high strength low alloy steel HSLA 420 are investigated. The finite element method (FEM) in association with the Taguchi and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques are carried out to investigate the degree of importance of process parameters in V-bending process for HSLA 420&ST12 grade material. From results, it is observed that punch angle had a major influence on the spring-back. Die opening also showed very significant role on spring back. On the other hand, it is revealed that grain direction had the least impact on spring back; however, if strip from flat sheet is taken, then it is less prone to spring back as compared to the strip from sheet metal coil. HyperForm software is used for FEM simulation and experiments are designed using Taguchi method. Percentage contribution of the parameters is obtained through the ANOVA techniques.

Keywords: bending, spring-back, v-bending, FEM, Taguchi, HSLA 420 and St12 materials, HyperForm, profile projector

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Authors: Sachin Kamble, Shradha Gawankar

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This paper presents the findings of successful implementation of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) of cement dispatch activities in a cement manufacturing plant located in India. Simulation model was developed for the purpose of identifying and analyzing the areas for improvement. The company was facing a problem of low throughput rate and subsequent forced stoppages of the plant leading to a high production loss of 15000MT per month. It was found from the study that the present systems and procedures related to the in-plant logistics plant required significant changes. The major recommendations included process improvement at the entry gate, reducing the cycle time at the security gate and installation of an additional weigh bridge. This paper demonstrates how BPR can be implemented for improving the in-plant logistics process. Various recommendations helped the plant to increase its throughput by 14%.

Keywords: in-plant logistics, cement logistics, simulation modelling, business process re-engineering, supply chain management

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Authors: Kanokwan Chancharoenchai

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Economic growth can be considered as an important element of countries’ development process. For developing countries, like Thailand, to ensure the continuous growth of the economy, the Thai government usually implements various policies to stimulate economic growth. They may take the form of fiscal, monetary, trade, and other policies. Because of these different aspects, understanding factors relating to economic growth could allow the government to introduce the proper plan for the future economic stimulating scheme. Consequently, this issue has caught interest of not only policymakers but also academics. This study, therefore, investigates explanatory variables for economic growth in Thailand from 2005 to 2017 with a total of 52 quarters. The findings would contribute to the field of economic growth and become helpful information to policymakers. The investigation is estimated throughout the production function with non-linear Cobb-Douglas equation. The rate of growth is indicated by the change of GDP in the natural logarithmic form. The relevant factors included in the estimation cover three traditional means of production and implicit effects, such as human capital, international activity and technological transfer from developed countries. Besides, this investigation takes the internal and external instabilities into account as proxied by the unobserved inflation estimation and the real effective exchange rate (REER) of the Thai baht, respectively. The unobserved inflation series are obtained from the AR(1)-ARCH(1) model, while the unobserved REER of Thai baht is gathered from naive OLS-GARCH(1,1) model. According to empirical results, the AR(|2|) equation which includes seven significant variables, namely capital stock, labor, the imports of capital goods, trade openness, the REER of Thai baht uncertainty, one previous GDP, and the world financial crisis in 2009 dummy, presents the most suitable model. The autoregressive model is assumed constant estimator that would somehow cause the unbias. However, this is not the case of the recursive coefficient model from the state space model that allows the transition of coefficients. With the powerful state space model, it provides the productivity or effect of each significant factor more in detail. The state coefficients are estimated based on the AR(|2|) with the exception of the one previous GDP and the 2009 world financial crisis dummy. The findings shed the light that those factors seem to be stable through time since the occurrence of the world financial crisis together with the political situation in Thailand. These two events could lower the confidence in the Thai economy. Moreover, state coefficients highlight the sluggish rate of machinery replacement and quite low technology of capital goods imported from abroad. The Thai government should apply proactive policies via taxation and specific credit policy to improve technological advancement, for instance. Another interesting evidence is the issue of trade openness which shows the negative transition effect along the sample period. This could be explained by the loss of price competitiveness to imported goods, especially under the widespread implementation of free trade agreement. The Thai government should carefully handle with regulations and the investment incentive policy by focusing on strengthening small and medium enterprises.

Keywords: autoregressive model, economic growth, state space model, Thailand

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Authors: Fadi Eleiwi, Taous Meriem Laleg-Kirati

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This paper presents a complete dynamic modeling of a membrane distillation process. The model contains two consistent dynamic models. A 2D advection-diffusion equation for modeling the whole process and a modified heat equation for modeling the membrane itself. The complete model describes the temperature diffusion phenomenon across the feed, membrane, permeate containers and boundary layers of the membrane. It gives an online and complete temperature profile for each point in the domain. It explains heat conduction and convection mechanisms that take place inside the process in terms of mathematical parameters, and justify process behavior during transient and steady state phases. The process is monitored for any sudden change in the performance at any instance of time. In addition, it assists maintaining production rates as desired, and gives recommendations during membrane fabrication stages. System performance and parameters can be optimized and controlled using this complete dynamic model. Evolution of membrane boundary temperature with time, vapor mass transfer along the process, and temperature difference between membrane boundary layers are depicted and included. Simulations were performed over the complete model with real membrane specifications. The plots show consistency between 2D advection-diffusion model and the expected behavior of the systems as well as literature. Evolution of heat inside the membrane starting from transient response till reaching steady state response for fixed and varying times is illustrated.

Keywords: membrane distillation, dynamical modeling, advection-diffusion equation, thermal equilibrium, heat equation

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Authors: Manjinder Bajwa, Mahipal Singh, Manish Nagpal

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This research paper aims to propose a novel approach using ANOVA technique for the strategic investigation of process parameters and their effects on the mechanical properties of Aluminium alloy cast. The two process parameters considered here were permeability of sand and pouring temperature of aluminium alloy. ANOVA has been employed for the first time to determine the effects of these selected parameters on the impact strength of alloy. The experimental results show that this proposed technique has great potential for analyzing sand casting process. Using this approach we have determined the treatment mean square, response mean square and mean square of error as 8.54, 8.255 and 0.435 respectively. The research concluded that at the 5% level of significance, permeability of sand is the more significant parameter influencing the impact strength of cast alloy.

Keywords: aluminium alloy, pouring temperature, permeability of sand, impact strength, ANOVA

Procedia PDF Downloads 434