Search results for: internet of things based light system

Authors: Awais Ahmed, Javed Iqbal

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Pakistan has been for many years facing extreme challenges in energy deficit due to the shortage of power generation compared to increasing demand. A part of this energy deficit is also contributed by the power lost in transmission and distribution network. Unfortunately, distribution companies are not equipped with modern technologies and methods to identify and eliminate these losses. According to estimate, total energy lost in early 2000 was between 20 to 26 percent. To address this issue the present research study was designed with the objectives of developing a standalone GIS application for distribution companies having the capability of loss calculation as well as identification of overloaded transformers. For this purpose, Hilal Road feeder in Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) was selected as study area. An extensive GPS survey was conducted to identify each consumer, linking it to the secondary pole of the transformer, geo-referencing equipment and documenting conductor sizes. To identify overloaded transformer, accumulative kWH reading of consumer on transformer was compared with threshold kWH. Technical losses of 11kV and 220V lines were calculated using the data from substation and resistance of the network calculated from the geo-database. To automate the process a standalone GIS application was developed using ArcObjects with engineering analysis capabilities. The application uses GIS database developed for 11kV and 220V lines to display and query spatial data and present results in the form of graphs. The result shows that about 14% of the technical loss on both high tension (HT) and low tension (LT) network while about 4 out of 15 general duty transformers were found overloaded. The study shows that GIS can be a very effective tool for distribution companies in management and planning of their distribution network.

Keywords: geographical information system, GIS, power distribution, distribution transformers, technical losses, GPS, SDSS, spatial decision support system

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Authors: Yuan Long, Fabrizio Ceschin, David Harrison

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Environmental sustainability is under the threat of excessive single-use plastic packaging waste, and current waste management fails to address this issue. Therefore, it has led to a reidentification of the alternative, which can curb the packaging waste without reducing social needs. Reusable packaging represents a circular approach to close the loop of consumption in which packaging can stay longer in the system to satisfy social needs. However, the implementation of reusable packaging is fragmented and lacks systematic approaches. The product-service system (PSS) is widely regarded as a sustainable business model innovation for embracing circular consumption. As a result, applying PSS to reusable packaging solutions will be promising to address the packaging waste issue. This paper aims at filling the knowledge gap relating to apply PSS to reusable packaging solutions and provide a strategic design tool that could support packaging professionals to design reusable packaging solutions. The methodology of this paper is case studies and workshops to provide a design tool. The respondents are packaging professionals who are packaging consultants, NGO professionals, and entrepreneurs. 57 cases collected show that 15 archetypal models operate in the market. Subsequently, a polarity diagram is developed to embrace those 15 archetypal models, and a total number of 24 experts were invited for the workshop to evaluate the design tool. This research finally provides a strategic design tool to support packaging professionals to design reusable packaging solutions. The application of the tool is to support the understanding of the reusable packaging solutions, analyzing the markets, identifying new opportunities, and generate new business models. The implication of this research is to provide insights for academics and businesses in terms of tackling single-use packaging waste and build a foundation for further development of the reusable packaging solution tool.

Keywords: environmental sustainability, product-service system, reusable packaging, design tool

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Md. Z. Alam, Amal A. Elgharbawy, Muhammad Moniruzzaman, Nassereldeen A. Kabbashi, Parveen Jamal

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The enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass is one of the obstacles in the process of sugar production, due to the presence of lignin that protects the cellulose molecules against cellulases. Although the pretreatment of lignocellulose in ionic liquid (IL) system has been receiving a lot of interest; however, it requires IL removal with an anti-solvent in order to proceed with the enzymatic hydrolysis. At this point, introducing a compatible cellulase enzyme seems more efficient in this process. A cellulase enzyme that was produced by Trichoderma reesei on palm kernel cake (PKC) exhibited a promising stability in several ILs. The enzyme called PKC-Cel was tested for its optimum pH and temperature as well as its molecular weight. One among evaluated ILs, 1,3-diethylimidazolium dimethyl phosphate [DEMIM] DMP was applied in this study. Evaluation of six factors was executed in Stat-Ease Design Expert V.9, definitive screening design, which are IL/ buffer ratio, temperature, hydrolysis retention time, biomass loading, cellulase loading and empty fruit bunches (EFB) particle size. According to the obtained data, IL-enzyme system shows the highest sugar concentration at 70 °C, 27 hours, 10% IL-buffer, 35% biomass loading, 60 Units/g cellulase and 200 μm particle size. As concluded from the obtained data, not only the PKC-Cel was stable in the presence of the IL, also it was actually stable at a higher temperature than its optimum one. The reducing sugar obtained was 53.468±4.58 g/L which was equivalent to 0.3055 g reducing sugar/g EFB. This approach opens an insight for more studies in order to understand the actual effect of ILs on cellulases and their interactions in the aqueous system. It could also benefit in an efficient production of bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass.

Keywords: cellulase, hydrolysis, lignocellulose, pretreatment

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Authors: Ayat E. Ali, Christeen R. Aziz, Merna A. Helmy, Mohammed M. Malek, Sherif H. El-Gohary

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Goal: Purpose of the project was to make a plastic surgery prediction by using pre-operative images for the plastic surgeries’ patients and to show this prediction on a screen to compare between the current case and the appearance after the surgery. Methods: To this aim, we implemented a software which used data from the internet for facial skin diseases, skin burns, pre-and post-images for plastic surgeries then the post- surgical prediction is done by using K-nearest neighbor (KNN). So we designed and fabricated a smart mirror divided into two parts a screen and a reflective mirror so patient's pre- and post-appearance will be showed at the same time. Results: We worked on some skin diseases like vitiligo, skin burns and wrinkles. We classified the three degrees of burns using KNN classifier with accuracy 60%. We also succeeded in segmenting the area of vitiligo. Our future work will include working on more skin diseases, classify them and give a prediction for the look after the surgery. Also we will go deeper into facial deformities and plastic surgeries like nose reshaping and face slim down. Conclusion: Our project will give a prediction relates strongly to the real look after surgery and decrease different diagnoses among doctors. Significance: The mirror may have broad societal appeal as it will make the distance between patient's satisfaction and the medical standards smaller.

Keywords: k-nearest neighbor (knn), face detection, vitiligo, bone deformity

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Authors: Bayan Ahmed Alsaffar

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The aim of this study is to assess the sustainability initiatives at Applied Sciences University (ASU) in Bahrain using a mixed-methods approach based on students, staff, and faculty perceptions. The study involves a literature review, interviews with faculty members and students, and a survey of ASU's level of sustainability in education, research, operations, administration, and finance that depended on the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). STARS is a tool used to evaluate the sustainability performance of higher education institutions. The study concludes that a mixed-methods approach can provide a powerful tool for assessing sustainability initiatives at ASU and ultimately lead to insights that can inform effective strategies for improving sustainability efforts. The current study contributes to the field of sustainability in universities and highlights the importance of user engagement and awareness for achieving sustainability goals.

Keywords: environment, initiatives, society, sustainability, STARS, university

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Authors: Naoki Yamamoto, Hidenobu Ozaki, Taiichiro Ookawa, Youming Liu, Kazunori Okada, Aiping Zheng

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Rice sheath blight is one of the destructive fungal diseases in rice. We have thought that rice sheath blight resistance is a polygenic trait. Host-pathogen interactions and secondary metabolites such as lignin and phytoalexins are likely to be involved in defense against R. solani. However, to our knowledge, it is still unknown how sheath blight resistance can be enhanced in rice breeding. To seek for an alternative genetic factor that contribute to sheath blight resistance, we mined relevant allelic variations from rice core collections created in Japan. Based on disease lesion length on detached leaf sheath, we selected 30 varieties of the top tail-end and the bottom tail-end, respectively, from the core collections to perform genome-wide association mapping. Re-sequencing reads for these varieties were used for calling single nucleotide polymorphisms among the 60 varieties to create a SNP panel, which contained 1,137,131 homozygous variant sites after filitering. Association mapping highlighted a locus on the long arm of chromosome 11, which is co-localized with three sheath blight QTLs, qShB11-2-TX, qShB11, and qSBR-11-2. Based on the localization of the trait-associated alleles, we identified an ankyryn repeat-containing protein gene (ANK-M) as an uncharacterized candidate factor for rice sheath blight resistance. Allelic distributions for ANK-M in the whole rice population supported the reliability of trait-allele associations. Gene expression characteristics were checked to evaluiate the functionality of ANK-M. Since an ANK-M homolog (OsPIANK1) in rice seems a basal defense regulator against rice blast and bacterial leaf blight, ANK-M may also play a role in the rice immune system.

Keywords: allele mining, GWAS, QTL, rice sheath blight

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Authors: Fouzi Harrou, Ying Sun, Sofiane Khadraoui

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Anomaly detection based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was studied intensively and largely applied to multivariate processes with highly cross-correlated process variables. Monitoring metrics such as the Hotelling's T2 and the Q statistics are usually used in PCA-based monitoring to elucidate the pattern variations in the principal and residual subspaces, respectively. However, these metrics are ill suited to detect small faults. In this paper, the Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) based on the Q and T statistics, T2-EWMA and Q-EWMA, were developed for detecting faults in the process mean. The performance of the proposed methods was compared with that of the conventional PCA-based fault detection method using synthetic data. The results clearly show the benefit and the effectiveness of the proposed methods over the conventional PCA method, especially for detecting small faults in highly correlated multivariate data.

Keywords: data-driven method, process control, anomaly detection, dimensionality reduction

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Authors: Kriangkrai Aranyarat

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The effect of N2 pretreatment on the catalytic activity of tungsten-based catalysts was investigated in the metathesis of ethylene and trans-2-butene at 450oC and atmospheric pressure. The presence of tungsten active species was confirmed by UV-Vis and Raman spectroscopy. Compared to the WO3-based catalysts treated in air, higher amount of WO42- tetrahedral species and lower amount of WO3 crystalline species were observed on the N2-treated ones. These contribute to the higher conversion of 2-butene and propylene selectivity during 10 h time-on-stream. Moreover, N2 treatment led to lower amount of coke formation as revealed by TPO of the spent catalysts.

Keywords: metathesis, pretreatment, propylene, tungsten

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Authors: Woo Young Jung, Bu Seog Ju

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This study described the seismic performance evaluation of bridge structures, located near Daegu metropolitan city in Korea. The structural design code or regulatory guidelines is focusing on the protection of brittle failure or collapse in bridges’ lifetime during an earthquake. This paper illustrated the procedure in terms of the safety evaluation of bridges using simple linear elastic 3D Finite Element (FE) model in ABAQUS platform. The design response spectra based on KBC 2009 were then developed, in order to understand the seismic behavior of bridge structures. Besides, the multiple directional earthquakes were applied and it revealed that the most dominated earthquake direction was transverse direction of the bridge. Also, the bridge structure under the compressive stress was more fragile than the tensile stress and the vertical direction of seismic ground motions was not significantly affected to the structural system.

Keywords: seismic, bridge, FEM, evaluation, numerical analysis

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Authors: E. Kharaishvili

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The paper shows the necessity of farm diversification in accordance with the current trends in agricultural sector of Georgia. The possibilities for the diversification and the corresponding economic policy are suggested. The causes that hinder diversification of farms are revealed, possibilities of diversification are suggested and the ability of increasing employment through diversification is proved. Index of harvest diversification is calculated based on the areas used for cereals and legumes, potatoes and vegetables and other food crops. Crop and livestock production indexes are analyzed, correlation between crop capacity index and value-added per one worker and one ha is studied. Based on the research farm diversification strategies and priorities of corresponding economic policy are presented. Based on the conclusions relevant recommendations are suggested.

Keywords: farm diversification, diversification index, agricultural development policy

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Authors: Hamid Rostami, Ali Fallah Yeznabad, Mohammad H. Baziar

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The energy-based method for evaluating seismic soil liquefaction has two main sections. First is the demand energy, which is dissipated energy of earthquake at a site, and second is the capacity energy as a representation of soil resistance against liquefaction hazard. In this study, using a statistical analysis of recorded data by 14 down-hole array sites in California, an empirical equation was developed to estimate the demand energy at sites. Because determination of capacity energy at a site needs to calculate several site calibration factors, which are obtained by experimental tests, in this study the standard penetration test (SPT) N-value was assumed as an alternative to the capacity energy at a site. Based on this assumption, the empirical equation was employed to calculate the demand energy for 193 liquefied and no-liquefied sites and then these amounts were plotted versus the corresponding SPT numbers for all sites. Subsequently, a discrimination analysis was employed to determine the equations of several boundary curves for various liquefaction likelihoods. Finally, a comparison was made between the probabilistic model and the commonly used stress method. As a conclusion, the results clearly showed that energy-based method can be more reliable than conventional stress-based method in evaluation of liquefaction occurrence.

Keywords: energy demand, liquefaction, probabilistic analysis, SPT number

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Authors: Nibedita Pani, Vishnu Tejani, T. S. Anantha Singh

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Water pollution resulting from discharge of partial/not treated textile wastewater containing high carbon and nitrogen pollutants pose a huge threat to the environment, ecosystem, and human health. It is essential to remove carbon- and nitrogen-based organic pollutants more effectively from industrial wastewater before discharging. The present study focuses on removal of carbon-based pollutant in particular COD (chemical oxygen demand) and nitrogen-based pollutants, in particular, ammoniacal nitrogen by Fenton oxidation process using Fe²⁺ and H₂O₂ as reagents. The study was carried out with high strength wastewater containing initial COD 5632 mg/L and NH⁴⁺-N 1372 mg/L. The major operating condition like pH was varied between 1.0 to 4.0. The maximum degradation was obtained at pH 3.0 taking the molar ratio of Fe²⁺/H₂O₂ as 1:1. At this pH, the removal efficiencies of COD and ammoniacal nitrogen were found to be 77.27% and 74.9%, respectively. The Fenton process can be the best alternative for the simultaneous removal of COD and NH4+-N from industrial wastewater.

Keywords: ammoniacal nitrogen, COD, Fenton oxidation, industrial wastewater

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Authors: Amna Javed, Hisashi Masuda, Youji Kohda

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This study examines the value analysis in Islamic and conventional banking services in Pakistan. Many scholars have focused on co-creation of values in services but mainly economic values not non-economic. As Islamic banking is based on Islamic principles that are more concerned with non-economic values (well-being, partnership, fairness, trust worthy, and justice) than economic values as money in terms of interest. This study is important to know the providers point of view about the co-created values, because, it may be more sustainable and appropriate for today’s unpredictable socioeconomic environment. Data were collected from 4 banks (2 Islamic and 2 conventional banks). Text mining technique is applied for data analysis, and values with 100% occurrences in Islamic banking are chosen. The results reflect that Islamic banking is more centric towards non-economic values than economic values and it promotes team work and partnership concept by applying Islamic spirit and trust worthiness concept.

Keywords: economic values, Islamic banking, non-economic values, value system

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Authors: Christopher Battle

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The pursuit of a sustainable future is dependent on the ability of governments from the national to municipal level. The politics of energy and the development of state-sponsored photovoltaic cell expansion can nebulize in several ways based on a state or nation's physical and human geography. This study conducts a comparative analysis of the energy and solar program of Turkey, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia. The study aims to assess the city of Philadelphia's solar policies in contrast with both its political history and the photovoltaic programs of Turkey, a world leader in solar system development, and Pennsylvania's history of energy regulation. This comparative study found that after hundreds of bills and regulations over decades, sustainable energy development in affordable housing and new construction is the next phase of State-Sponsored Green energy for the city of Philadelphia.

Keywords: Turkey, solar power, Philadelphia, affordable energy development

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Mona Mihailescu, Rebeca Tudor, Irina A. Paun, Cristian Kusko, Eugen I. Scarlat, Mihai Kusko

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Specific intensity distributions in the laser beams are required in many fields: optical communications, material processing, microscopy, optical tweezers. In optical communications, the information embedded in specific beams and the superposition of multiple beams can be used to increase the capacity of the communication channels, employing spatial modulation as an additional degree of freedom, besides already available polarization and wavelength multiplexing. In this regard, optical vortices present interest due to their potential to carry independent data which can be multiplexed at the transmitter and demultiplexed at the receiver. Also, in the literature were studied their combinations: 1) axial or perpendicular superposition of multiple optical vortices or 2) with other laser beam types: Bessel, Airy. Optical vortices, characterized by stationary ring-shape intensity and rotating phase, are achieved using computer generated holograms (CGH) obtained by simulating the interference between a tilted plane wave and a wave passing through a helical phase object. Here, we propose a method to combine information through the reunion of two CGHs. One is obtained using the helical phase distribution, characterized by its topological charge, m. The other is obtained using conical phase distribution, characterized by its radial factor, r0. Each CGH is obtained using plane wave with different tilts: km and kr for CGH generated from helical phase object and from conical phase object, respectively. These reunions of two CGHs are calculated to be phase optical elements, addressed on the liquid crystal display of a spatial light modulator, to optically process the incident beam for investigations of the diffracted intensity pattern in far field. For parallel reunion of two CGHs and high values of the ratio between km and kr, the bright ring from the first diffraction order, specific for optical vortices, is changed in an asymmetric intensity pattern: a number of circle arcs. Both diffraction orders (+1 and -1) are asymmetrical relative to each other. In different planes along the optical axis, it is observed that this asymmetric intensity pattern rotates around its centre: in the +1 diffraction order the rotation is anticlockwise and in the -1 diffraction order, the rotation is clockwise. The relation between m and r0 controls the diameter of the circle arcs and the ratio between km and kr controls the number of arcs. For perpendicular reunion of the two CGHs and low values of the ratio between km and kr, the optical vortices are multiplied and focalized in different planes, depending on the radial parameter. The first diffraction order contains information about both phase objects. It is incident on the phase masks placed at the receiver, computed using the opposite values for topological charge or for the radial parameter and displayed successively. In all, the proposed method is exploited in terms of constructive parameters, for the possibility offered by the combination of different types of beams which can be used in robust optical communications.

Keywords: asymmetrical diffraction orders, computer generated holograms, conical phase distribution, optical vortices, spatial light modulator

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Authors: M. Prasanth, V. Nithin, R. Keerthana, S.Kalyani

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In the current scenario, the steering system in automobiles is such that the motion from the steering wheel is transferred to driving wheel by mechanical linkages. In this paper, we propose a method to design a steering mechanism using servomotors to turn the wheels instead of linkages. In this method, a steering angle sensor senses the turn angle of the steering wheel and its output is processed by an electronical control module. Then the ECM compares the angle value to that of a standard value from a look-up database. Then it gives the appropriate input power and the turning duration to the motors. Correspondingly, the motors turn the wheels by means of bevel gears welded to both the motor output shafts and the wheel hubs. Thus, the wheels are turned without the complicated framework of linkages, reducing the driver’s effort and fatigue considerably.

Keywords: electronic control unit, linkage-less steering, servomotors, E-Mo Steer

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Authors: Mnasri Faiza, El Ganaoui Mohammed, Khelifa Mourad, Gabsi Slimane

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The main objective of this paper is to describe the hydrothermal behavior through porous material of construction due to temperature gradient. The construction proposed a bi-layer structure which composed of two different materials. The first is a bio-sourced panel named IBS-AKU (inertia system building), the second is the Neopor material. This system (IBS-AKU Neopor) is developed by a Belgium company (Isohabitat). The study suggests a multi-layer structure of the IBS-AKU panel in one dimension. A numerical method was proposed afterwards, by using the finite element method and a refined mesh area to strong gradients. The evolution of temperature fields and the moisture content has been processed.

Keywords: heat transfer, moisture diffusion, porous media, composite IBS-AKU, simulation

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Authors: Gunasekaran Raja, Ramkumar Jayaraman

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In this paper, we consider CCL-N (Cooperative Cross Layer Network) topology based on the cross layer (both centralized and distributed) environment to form network communities. Various performance metrics related to the IEEE 802.16 networks are discussed to design CCL-N Topology. In CCL-N topology, nodes are classified as master nodes (Master Base Station [MBS]) and serving nodes (Relay Station [RS]). Nodes communities are organized based on the networking terminologies. Based on CCL-N Topology, various simulation analyses for both transparent and non-transparent relays are tabulated and throughput efficiency is calculated. Weighted load balancing problem plays a challenging role in IEEE 802.16 network. CoTS (Concurrent Transmission Scheduling) Scheme is formulated in terms of three aspects – transmission mechanism based on identical communities, different communities and identical node communities. CoTS scheme helps in identifying the weighted load balancing problem. Based on the analytical results, modularity value is inversely proportional to that of the error value. The modularity value plays a key role in solving the CoTS problem based on hop count. The transmission mechanism for identical node community has no impact since modularity value is same for all the network groups. In this paper three aspects of communities based on the modularity value which helps in solving the problem of weighted load balancing and CoTS are discussed.

Keywords: cross layer network topology, concurrent scheduling, modularity value, network communities and weighted load balancing

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Authors: Rahma Amri, Narjès Bellamine Ben Saoud

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Sustainable development or sustainability is one of the most urgent issues in actual debate in almost domains. Particularly the significant way the software pervades our live should make it in the center of sustainability concerns. The social aspects of sustainability haven’t been well studied in the context of software systems and still immature research field that needs more interest among researchers’ community. This paper presents a Goal-Question-Metric based approach to assess social sustainability of software systems. The approach is based on a generic social sustainability model taken from Social sciences.

Keywords: software assessment approach, social sustainability, goal-question-metric paradigm, software project metrics

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Authors: S. Kaci, A. Keffous, O. Fellahi, I. Bozetine, H. Menari

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In this paper, we report the fabrication and characterization of Acropora-like lead sulfide nanostructured thin films using chemical bath deposition. The method has the strong points of low temperature and no surfactant, comparing with the other method. The preferential growth directions of the broad branches were indexed as along (200) directions. The photoelectrochemical property of the as-deposited thin films was also investigated. Photoelectrochemical characterization was performed in the aim to determine the flat band potential (Vfb) and to confirm the n-type character of PbS, elucidated from the J(V) curves both in the dark and under illumination. The apparition of the photocurrent Jph started at a potential VON of −0.41 V/ECS and increased towards the anodic direction, which is typical of n-type behavior. The near infrared absorbance spectrum displayed an absorbance edge at 1959 nm, showing blue shift comparing to bulk PbS (3020 nm). These nanostructured lead sulfide thin films may have potential application as dispersed photoelectrode capable of generating H2 under visible light.

Keywords: lead sulfide, nanostructures, photo-conversion, thin films

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Authors: Hamdi Sana, Emna Bouazizi, Sami Faiz

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In recent years, there is a huge increase in the use of spatio-temporal applications where data and queries are continuously moving. As a result, the need to process real-time spatio-temporal data seems clear and real-time stream data management becomes a hot topic. Sliding window model and frequent itemset mining over dynamic data are the most important problems in the context of data mining. Thus, sliding window model for frequent itemset mining is a widely used model for data stream mining due to its emphasis on recent data and its bounded memory requirement. These methods use the traditional transaction-based sliding window model where the window size is based on a fixed number of transactions. Actually, this model supposes that all transactions have a constant rate which is not suited for real-time applications. And the use of this model in such applications endangers their performance. Based on these observations, this paper relaxes the notion of window size and proposes the use of a timestamp-based sliding window model. In our proposed frequent itemset mining algorithm, support conditions are used to differentiate frequents and infrequent patterns. Thereafter, a tree is developed to incrementally maintain the essential information. We evaluate our contribution. The preliminary results are quite promising.

Keywords: real-time spatial big data, frequent itemset, transaction-based sliding window model, timestamp-based sliding window model, weighted frequent patterns, tree, stream query

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Authors: Nino Kupatadze, Mzevinar Bedinashvili, Tamar Memanishvili, Manana Gurielidze, David Tugushi, Ramaz Katsarava

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Bacteria easily colonize the surfaces of tissues, surgical devices (implants, orthopedics, catheters, etc.), and instruments causing surgical device related infections. Therefore, the battle against bacteria and the prevention of surgical devices from biofilm formation is one of the main challenges of biomedicine today. Our strategy to the solution of this problem consists in using antimicrobial polymeric coatings as effective “shields” to protect surfaces from bacteria’s colonization and biofilm formation. As one of the most promising approaches look be the use of antimicrobial bioerodible polymeric nanocomposites containing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). We assume that the combination of an erodible polymer with a strong bactericide should put obstacles to bacteria to occupy the surface and to form biofilm. It has to be noted that this kind of nanocomposites are also promising as wound dressing materials to treat infected superficial wounds. Various synthetic and natural polymers were used for creating biocomposites containing AgNPs as both particles' stabilizers and matrices forming elastic films at surfaces. One of the most effective systems to fabricate AgNPs is an ethanol solution of polyvinylpyrrolidone(PVP) with dissolved AgNO3–ethanol serves as a AgNO3 reductant and PVP as AgNPs stabilizer (through the interaction of nanoparticles with nitrogen atom of the amide group). Though PVP is biocompatible and film-forming polymer, it is not a good candidate to design either "biofilm shield" or wound dressing material because of a high solubility in water – though the solubility of PVP provides the desirable release of AgNPs from the matrix, but the coating is easily washable away from the surfaces. More promising as matrices look water insoluble but bioerodible polymers that can provide the release of AgNPs and form long-lasting coatings at the surfaces. For creating bioerodible water-insoluble antimicrobial coatings containing AgNPs, we selected amino acid based biodegradable polymers(AABBPs)–poly(ester amide)s, poly(ester urea)s, their copolymers containing amide and related groups capable to stabilize AgNPs. Among a huge variety of AABBPs reported we selected the polymers soluble in ethanol. For preparing AgNPs containing nanocompositions AABBPs and AgNO3 were dissolved in ethanol and subjected to photochemical reduction using daylight-irradiation. The formation of AgNPs was observed visually by coloring the solutions in brownish-red. The obtained AgNPs were characterized by UV-spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy(TEM), and dynamic light scattering(DLS). According to the UV and TEM data, the photochemical reduction resulted presumably in spherical AgNPs with rather high contribution of the particles below 10 nm that are known as responsible for the antimicrobial activity. DLS study showed that average size of nanoparticles formed after photo-reduction in ethanol solution ranged within 50 nm. The in vitro antimicrobial activity study of the new nanocomposite material is in progress now.

Keywords: nanocomposites, silver nanoparticles, polymer, biodegradable

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Authors: Ling-Lang Huang

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Research Background: Historically, the evolution of medicine has not only aimed to extend life but has also inadvertently introduced suffering in the process of maintaining life, presenting a contemporary challenge. We must carefully assess the conflict between the length of life and the quality of living. Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) exists primarily to ensure the quality of cures. However, EBM alone does not fulfill our ultimate medical goals; we must also evaluate Value-Based Medicine (VBM) to find the best treatment for patients. Research Methodology: We can attempt to integrate EBM with VBM. Within the five steps of EBM, the first three steps (Ask—Acquire—Appraise) focus on the physical aspect of humans. However, in the fourth and fifth steps (Apply—Assess), the focus shifts from the physical to applying evidence-based treatment to the patient and assessing its effectiveness, considering a holistic approach to the individual. To consider VBM for patients, we can divide the process into three steps: The first step is "awareness," recognizing that each patient inhabits a different life-world and possesses unique differences. The second step is "integration," akin to the hermeneutic concept of the Fusion of Horizons. This means being aware of differences and also understanding the origins of these patient differences. The third step is "respect," which involves setting aside our adherence to medical objectivity and scientific rigor to respect the ultimate healthcare decisions made by individuals regarding their lives. Discussion and Conclusion: After completing these three steps of VBM, we can return to the fifth step of EBM: Assess. Our assessment can now transcend the physical treatment focus of the initial steps to align with a holistic care philosophy.

Keywords: shared decision-making, evidence-based medicine, values-based medicine, holistic healthcare

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Authors: Zahrul Faizi M. S., Ali A., Norhuda A. M.

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Emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) from solid waste treatment and dependency on fossil fuel to produce electricity are the major concern in Malaysia as well as global. Innovation in downdraft gasification with combined heat and power (CHP) systems has the potential to minimize solid waste and reduce the emission of anthropogenic GHG from conventional fossil fuel power plants. However, the efficiency and capability of downdraft gasification to generate electricity from various alternative fuels, for instance, agriculture residues (i.e., woodchip, coconut shell) and municipal solid waste (MSW), are still controversial, on top of the toxicity level from the produced bottom ash. Thus this study evaluates the adaptability and reliability of the 20 kW downdraft gasification system to generate electricity (while considering environmental sustainability from the bottom ash) using flexible local feedstock at 20, 40, and 60% mixed ratio of MSW: agriculture residues. Feedstock properties such as feed particle size, moisture, and ash contents are also analyzed to identify optimal characteristics for the combination of feedstock (feedstock flexibility) to obtain maximum energy generation. Results show that the gasification system is capable to flexibly accommodate different feedstock compositions subjected to specific particle size (less than 2 inches) at a moisture content between 15 to 20%. These values exhibit enhance gasifier performance and provide a significant effect to the syngas composition utilizes by the internal combustion engine, which reflects energy production. The result obtained in this study is able to provide a new perspective on the transition of the conventional gasification system to a future reliable carbon-negative energy technology. Subsequently, promoting commercial scale-up of the downdraft gasification system.

Keywords: carbon-negative energy, feedstock flexibility, gasification, renewable energy

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Authors: Muhammad Jumat Dasuki

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The curbing of excesses of women in politics is a topic that has been extensively studied in the field of Islamic law. This issue is complex and involves various cultural and religious factors, making it a highly debated topic. This paper examines the role of Islamic law in regulating the behavior of women in politics. In many Islamic societies, women face restrictions and limitations when it comes to their participation in the political sphere. This paper investigates the reasons behind these restrictions and analyzes how Islamic law can be used to curb any excesses that may arise from women's involvement in politics. By examining various case studies and analyzing the principles of Islamic law, this paper sheds light on the issue of women's participation in politics and provides potential solutions for balancing their rights and duties according to Islamic law. The methodology includes primary sources through in-depth oral interviews and secondary sources like textbooks and journals, aiming for a holistic understanding of the ethical dimensions of support initiatives within the context of Islamic Law to establish the fairness of Islam Law in its approach to women in politics. The paper concludes with suggestions and recommendations.

Keywords: excess, Islamic law, principles, women

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Authors: Tugce Talay, Kadir Erkan

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In this study, the necessary steps for the design of axial flow permanent magnet motors are shown. The design and analysis of the engine were carried out based on ANSYS Maxwell program. The design parameters of the ANSYS Maxwell program and the artificial neural network system were established in MATLAB and the most efficient design parameters were found with the trained neural network. The results of the Maxwell program and the results of the artificial neural networks are compared and optimal working design parameters are found. The most efficient design parameters were submitted to the ANSYS Maxwell 3D design and the cogging torque was examined and design studies were carried out to reduce the cogging torque.

Keywords: AFPM, ANSYS Maxwell, cogging torque, design optimisation, efficiency, NNTOOL

Procedia PDF Downloads 204

Authors: P. Sawatnatee, S. Udomsuk, K-N. Areerak, K-L. Areerak, A. Srikaew

Abstract:

The paper presents how to design the indirect vector control of three-phase induction motor drive systems using the artificial intelligence technique called the adaptive tabu search. The results from the simulation and the experiment show that the drive system with the controller designed from the proposed method can provide the best output speed response compared with those of the conventional method. The controller design using the proposed technique can be used to create the software package for engineers to achieve the optimal controller design of the induction motor speed control based on the indirect vector concept.

Keywords: indirect vector control, induction motor, adaptive tabu search, control design, artificial intelligence

Procedia PDF Downloads 385

Authors: Sandip Sadhukhan, Arpita Sarkar, Debprasad Sinha, Goutam Kumar Ghorai, Gautam Sarkar, Ashis K. Dhara

Abstract:

Accurate segmentation of the optic disc is very important for computer-aided diagnosis of several ocular diseases such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and hypertensive retinopathy. The paper presents an accurate and fast optic disc detection and segmentation method using an attention based fully convolutional network. The network is trained from scratch using the fundus images of extended MESSIDOR database and the trained model is used for segmentation of optic disc. The false positives are removed based on morphological operation and shape features. The result is evaluated using three-fold cross-validation on six public fundus image databases such as DIARETDB0, DIARETDB1, DRIVE, AV-INSPIRE, CHASE DB1 and MESSIDOR. The attention based fully convolutional network is robust and effective for detection and segmentation of optic disc in the images affected by diabetic retinopathy and it outperforms existing techniques.

Keywords: attention-based fully convolutional network, optic disc detection and segmentation, retinal fundus image, screening of ocular diseases

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Milca F. Coelho, K. Bousson, Kawser Ahmed

Abstract:

To accurately track an aerospace vehicle in a time-critical situation and in a highly nonlinear environment, is one of the strongest interests within the aerospace community. The tracking is achieved by estimating accurately the state of a moving target, which is composed of a set of variables that can provide a complete status of the system at a given time. One of the main ingredients for a good estimation performance is the use of efficient estimation algorithms. A well-known framework is the Kalman filtering methods, designed for prediction and estimation problems. The success of the Kalman Filter (KF) in engineering applications is mostly due to the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), which is based on local linearization. Besides its popularity, the EKF presents several limitations. To address these limitations and as a possible solution to tracking problems, this paper proposes the use of the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF). Although the EnKF is being extensively used in the context of weather forecasting and it is being recognized for producing accurate and computationally effective estimation on systems with a very high dimension, it is almost unknown by the tracking community. The EnKF was initially proposed as an attempt to improve the error covariance calculation, which on the classic Kalman Filter is difficult to implement. Also, in the EnKF method the prediction and analysis error covariances have ensemble representations. These ensembles have sizes which limit the number of degrees of freedom, in a way that the filter error covariance calculations are a lot more practical for modest ensemble sizes. In this paper, a realistic simulation of a radar tracking was performed, where the EnKF was applied and compared with the Extended Kalman Filter. The results suggested that the EnKF is a promising tool for tracking applications, offering more advantages in terms of performance.

Keywords: Kalman filter, nonlinear state estimation, optimal tracking, stochastic environment

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Raul G. Angeles

Abstract:

The Philippine government instituted major reforms in its educational system. The Department of Education pushes the K to 12 program that makes kindergarten mandatory and adds two years of senior high school to the country's basic education. In essence, the students’ stay in basic education particularly those who are supposedly going to college is extended. The majority of the students expressed that they will be taking the Academic Track of the Senior High School curriculum specifically the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and General Academic (GA) strands. Almost certainly, instruction should match the students' styles and thus through this descriptive study a city survey was conducted to explore the teaching strategies preferences of junior high school students and teachers who will be promoted to senior high school during the Academic Year 2016-2017. This study was conducted in selected public and private secondary schools in Metro Manila. Questionnaires were distributed to students and teachers; and series of follow-up interviews were also carried out to generate additional information. Preferences of students are centered on employing innovations such as technology, cooperative and problem-based learning. While the students will still be covered by basic education their interests in science are sparking to a point where the usual teaching styles may no longer work to them and for that cause, altering the teaching methods is recommended to create a teacher-student style matching. Other effective strategies must likewise be implemented.

Keywords: curriculum development, effective teaching strategies, problem-based learning, senior high school, science education, technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 246