Search results for: atmospheric distillation unit
Commenced in January 2007
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Edition: International
Paper Count: 2948

Search results for: atmospheric distillation unit

1868 Effects of ECCS on the Cold-Leg Fluid Temperature during SGTR Accidents

Authors: Tadashi Watanabe

Abstract:

The LSTF experiment simulating the SGTR accident at the Mihama Unit-2 reactor is analyzed using the RELAP5/MOD3.3 code. In the accident and thus in the experiment, the ECC water was injected not only into the cold legs but into the upper plenum. Overall transients during the experiment such as pressures and fluid temperatures are simulated well by the code. The cold-leg fluid temperatures are shown to decrease if the upper plenum injection system is connected to the cold leg. It is found that the cold-leg fluid temperatures also decrease if the upper-plenum injection is not used and the cold-leg injection alone is actuated.

Keywords: SGTR, LSTF, RELAP5, ECCS

Procedia PDF Downloads 644
1867 Regional Changes under Extreme Meteorological Events

Authors: Renalda El Samra, Elie Bou-Zeid, Hamza Kunhu Bangalath, Georgiy Stenchikov, Mutasem El Fadel

Abstract:

The regional-scale impact of climate change over complex terrain was examined through high-resolution dynamic downscaling conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, with initial and boundary conditions from a High-Resolution Atmospheric Model (HiRAM). The analysis was conducted over the eastern Mediterranean, with a focus on the country of Lebanon, which is characterized by a challenging complex topography that magnifies the effect of orographic precipitation. Four year-long WRF simulations, selected based on HiRAM time series, were performed to generate future climate projections of extreme temperature and precipitation over the study area under the conditions of the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5. One past WRF simulation year, 2008, was selected as a baseline to capture dry extremes of the system. The results indicate that the study area might be exposed to a temperature increase between 1.0 and 3ºC in summer mean values by 2050, in comparison to 2008. For extreme years, the decrease in average annual precipitation may exceed 50% at certain locations in comparison to 2008.

Keywords: HiRAM, regional climate modeling, WRF, Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP)

Procedia PDF Downloads 379
1866 Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment in the New Developments of Tabriz: A Case Study for Roshdieh

Authors: Melisa Yazdan Panahi

Abstract:

Since, today in most countries around the world much attention is paid to planning the smallest unit in the city i.e. the residential neighborhoods to achieve sustainable urban development goals, a variety of assessment tools have been developed to assess and monitor the sustainability of new developments. One of the most reliable and widely used assessment tools is LEED-ND rating system. This paper whit the aim of assessing sustainability level of Roshdieh neighborhood in Tabriz, has introduced this rating system and applied it in the study area. The results indicate that Roshdieh has the potential of achieving the standards of sustainable neighborhoods, but the present situation is far from the ideal point.

Keywords: LEED-ND, sustainable neighborhood, new developments, Tabriz

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1865 Spatial Mapping of Variations in Groundwater of Taluka Islamkot Thar Using GIS and Field Data

Authors: Imran Aziz Tunio

Abstract:

Islamkot is an underdeveloped sub-district (Taluka) in the Tharparkar district Sindh province of Pakistan located between latitude 24°25'19.79"N to 24°47'59.92"N and longitude 70° 1'13.95"E to 70°32'15.11"E. The Islamkot has an arid desert climate and the region is generally devoid of perennial rivers, canals, and streams. It is highly dependent on rainfall which is not considered a reliable surface water source and groundwater is the only key source of water for many centuries. To assess groundwater’s potential, an electrical resistivity survey (ERS) was conducted in Islamkot Taluka. Groundwater investigations for 128 Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) were collected to determine the groundwater potential and obtain qualitatively and quantitatively layered resistivity parameters. The PASI Model 16 GL-N Resistivity Meter was used by employing a Schlumberger electrode configuration, with half current electrode spacing (AB/2) ranging from 1.5 to 100 m and the potential electrode spacing (MN/2) from 0.5 to 10 m. The data was acquired with a maximum current electrode spacing of 200 m. The data processing for the delineation of dune sand aquifers involved the technique of data inversion, and the interpretation of the inversion results was aided by the use of forward modeling. The measured geo-electrical parameters were examined by Interpex IX1D software, and apparent resistivity curves and synthetic model layered parameters were mapped in the ArcGIS environment using the inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation technique. Qualitative interpretation of vertical electrical sounding (VES) data shows the number of geo-electrical layers in the area varies from three to four with different resistivity values detected. Out of 128 VES model curves, 42 nos. are 3 layered, and 86 nos. are 4 layered. The resistivity of the first subsurface layers (Loose surface sand) varied from 16.13 Ωm to 3353.3 Ωm and thickness varied from 0.046 m to 17.52m. The resistivity of the second subsurface layer (Semi-consolidated sand) varied from 1.10 Ωm to 7442.8 Ωm and thickness varied from 0.30 m to 56.27 m. The resistivity of the third subsurface layer (Consolidated sand) varied from 0.00001 Ωm to 3190.8 Ωm and thickness varied from 3.26 m to 86.66 m. The resistivity of the fourth subsurface layer (Silt and Clay) varied from 0.0013 Ωm to 16264 Ωm and thickness varied from 13.50 m to 87.68 m. The Dar Zarrouk parameters, i.e. longitudinal unit conductance S is from 0.00024 to 19.91 mho; transverse unit resistance T from 7.34 to 40080.63 Ωm2; longitudinal resistance RS is from 1.22 to 3137.10 Ωm and transverse resistivity RT from 5.84 to 3138.54 Ωm. ERS data and Dar Zarrouk parameters were mapped which revealed that the study area has groundwater potential in the subsurface.

Keywords: electrical resistivity survey, GIS & RS, groundwater potential, environmental assessment, VES

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1864 Optimal Designof Brush Roll for Semiconductor Wafer Using CFD Analysis

Authors: Byeong-Sam Kim, Kyoungwoo Park

Abstract:

This research analyzes structure of flat panel display (FPD) such as LCD as quantitative through CFD analysis and modeling change to minimize the badness rate and rate of production decrease by damage of large scale plater at wafer heating chamber at semi-conductor manufacturing process. This glass panel and wafer device with atmospheric pressure or chemical vapor deposition equipment for transporting and transferring wafers, robot hands carry these longer and wider wafers can also be easily handled. As a contact handling system composed of several problems in increased potential for fracture or warping. A non-contact handling system is required to solve this problem. The panel and wafer warping makes it difficult to carry out conventional contact to analysis. We propose a new non-contact transportation system with combining air suction and blowout. The numerical analysis and experimental is, therefore, should be performed to obtain compared to results achieved with non-contact solutions. This wafer panel noncontact handler shows its strength in maintaining high cleanliness levels for semiconductor production processes.

Keywords: flat panel display, non contact transportation, heat treatment process, CFD analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 397
1863 Sympathetic Cooling of Antiprotons with Molecular Anions

Authors: Sebastian Gerber, Julian Fesel, Christian Zimmer, Pauline Yzombard, Daniel Comparat, Michael Doser

Abstract:

Molecular anions play a central role in a wide range of fields: from atmospheric and interstellar science, anionic superhalogens to the chemistry of highly correlated systems. However, up to now the synthesis of negative ions in a controlled manner at ultracold temperatures, relevant for the processes in which they are involved, is currently limited to a few Kelvin by supersonic beam expansion followed by resistive, buffer gas or electron cooling in cryogenic environments. We present a realistic scheme for laser cooling of C2- molecules to sub-Kelvin temperatures, which has so far only been achieved for a few neutral diatomic molecules. The generation of a pulsed source of C2- and subsequent laser cooling techniques of C2- molecules confined in a Penning trap are reviewed. Further, laser cooling of one anionic species would allow to sympathetically cool other molecular anions, electrons and antiprotons that are confined in the same trapping potential. In this presentation the status of the experiment and the feasibility of C2- sympathetic Doppler laser cooling, photo-detachment cooling and AC-Stark Sisyphus cooling will be reviewed.

Keywords: antiprotons, anions, cooling of ions and molecules, Doppler cooling, photo-detachment, penning trap, Sisyphus cooling, sympathetic cooling

Procedia PDF Downloads 361
1862 Making Heat Pumps More Compatible with Environmental and Climatic Conditions

Authors: Erol Sahin, Nesrin Adiguzel

Abstract:

In this study, the effects of air temperature and relative humidity on the operation of the heat pump were examined experimentally. The results were analyzed in an energy and exergetic way. Two heat pumps were used in the experimental system established for experimental analysis. With the first heat pump, the relative humidity and temperature of atmospheric air are reduced. The air at low humidity and temperature is given heat and water vapor to the desired extent on the channel that reaches the other heat pump. Effects of the air reaching the desired humidity and temperature in the 2nd heat pump; temperature, humidity, pressure, flow, and current are detected by meters. The measured values and the exergy yield and thermodynamic favor ratios of the system and its components were determined. In this way, the effects of temperature and relative humidity change in the heat pump and components were tried to be revealed. Relative humidity in the air caused a significant increase in the loss of exergy in the evaporator. This has shown that cooling machines experience greater exergy in areas with high relative humidity. The highest COPSM values were determined to be at 30% and 40%, which is the least relative humidity values. The results showed that heat pump exergy efficiency was affected by increased temperature and relative humidity.

Keywords: relative humidity, effects of relative humidity on heat pumps, exergy analysis, exergy analysis in heat pumps, exergy efficiency

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1861 Development of a Mathematical Model to Characterize the Oil Production in the Federal Republic of Nigeria Environment

Authors: Paul C. Njoku, Archana Swati Njoku

Abstract:

The study deals with the development of a mathematical model to characterize the oil production in Nigeria. This is calculated by initiating the dynamics of oil production in million barrels revenue plan cost of oil production in million nairas and unit cost of production from 1974-1982 in the contest of the federal Republic of Nigeria. This country export oil to other countries as well as importing specialized crude. The transport network from origin/destination tij to pairs is taking into account simulation runs, optimization have been considered in this study.

Keywords: mathematical oil model development dynamics, Nigeria, characterization barrels, dynamics of oil production

Procedia PDF Downloads 366
1860 Optimization Model for Support Decision for Maximizing Production of Mixed Fruit Tree Farms

Authors: Andrés I. Ávila, Patricia Aros, César San Martín, Elizabeth Kehr, Yovana Leal

Abstract:

We consider a linear programming model to help farmers to decide if it is convinient to choose among three kinds of export fruits for their future investment. We consider area, investment, water, productivitiy minimal unit, and harvest restrictions and a monthly based model to compute the average income in five years. Also, conditions on the field as area, water availability and initia investment are required. Using the Chilean costs and dollar-peso exchange rate, we can simulate several scenarios to understand the possible risks associated to this market.

Keywords: mixed integer problem, fruit production, support decision model, fruit tree farms

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1859 Particleboard Production from Atmospheric Plasma Treated Wheat Straw Particles

Authors: Štěpán Hýsek, Milan Podlena, Miloš Pavelek, Matěj Hodoušek, Martin Böhm, Petra Gajdačová

Abstract:

Particle boards have being used in the civil engineering as a decking for load bearing and non-load bearing vertical walls and horizontal panels (e. g. floors, ceiling, roofs) in a large scale. When the straw is used as non-wood material for manufacturing of lignocellulosic panels, problems with wax layer on the surface of the material can occur. Higher percentage of silica and wax cause the problems with the adhesion of the adhesive and this is the reason why it is necessary to break the surface layer for the better bonding effect. Surface treatment of the particles cause better mechanical properties, physical properties and the overall better results of the composite material are reached. Plasma application is one possibility how to modify the surface layer. The aim of this research is to modify the surface of straw particles by using cold plasma treatment. Surface properties of lignocellulosic materials were observed before and after cold plasma treatment. Cold plasma does not cause any structural changes deeply in the material. There are only changes in surface layers, which are required. Results proved that the plasma application influenced the properties of surface layers and the properties of composite material.

Keywords: composite, lignocellulosic materials, straw, cold plasma, surface treatment

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1858 Determination of Optimum Torque of an Internal Combustion Engine by Exergy Analysis

Authors: Veena Chaudhary, Rakesh P. Gakkhar

Abstract:

In this study, energy and exergy analysis are applied to the experimental data of an internal combustion engine operating on conventional diesel cycle. The experimental data are collected using an engine unit which enables accurate measurements of fuel flow rate, combustion air flow rate, engine load, engine speed and all relevant temperatures. First and second law efficiencies are calculated for different engine speed and compared. Results indicate that the first law (energy) efficiency is maximum at 1700 rpm whereas exergy efficiency is maximum and exergy destruction is minimum at 1900 rpm.

Keywords: diesel engine, exergy destruction, exergy efficiency, second law of thermodynamics

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1857 New Scheme of Control and Air Supply in a Low-Power Hot Water Boiler

Authors: М. Zh. Khazimov, А. B. Kudasheva

Abstract:

The article presents the state of solid fuel reserves and their share in the world energy sector. The air pollution caused by the operation of heating devices using solid fuels is a significant problem. In order to improve the air quality, heating device producers take constant measures to improve their products. However, the emission results achieved during an initial test of heating devices in the laboratory may be much worse during operation in real operating conditions. The ways of increasing the efficiency of the boiler by improving its design for combustion in full-layer mode are shown. The results of the testing of the improved КВТС-0.2 hot water boiler is presented and the technical and economic indicators are determined, which indicate an increase in the efficiency of the boiler.

Keywords: boiler unit, grate, furnace, coal, ash

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1856 Valorization of Marine Seaweed Biomass: Furanic Platform Chemicals and Beyond

Authors: Sanjay Kumar, Saikat Dutta, Devendra S. Rawat, Jitendra K. Pandey, Pankaj Kumar

Abstract:

Exploding demand for various types of fuels and gradually growing impacts of atmospheric carbon dioxide have forced the researchers to search biofuels in general and algae-based biofuels in particular. However, strain identification in terms of fuel productivity and over all economics of fuel generation remains a debatable challenge. Utilization of marine biomass, especially the ones important in the Indian subcontinent, in forming furanic fuels and specialty chemicals would likely to be a better value-addition pathway. Seaweed species e.g. Ulva, Sarconema, and Gracilaria species have been found more productive than land-based biomass sources due to their higher growth rate. Additionally, non-recalcitrant nature of marine biomass unlike lignocellulosics has attracted much attention in recent years towards producing bioethanol. Here we report the production of renewable, biomass-derived platform molecules such as furfural and 5-(chloromethyl) furfural (CMF) from a seaweed species which are abundant marine biomass. These products have high potential for synthetic upgradation into various classes of value-added compounds such as fuels, fuel-additives, and monomers for polymers, solvents, agrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals.

Keywords: seaweeds, Ulva, CMF, furan

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1855 Efficacy of Coconut Shell Pyrolytic Oil Distillate in Protecting Wood Against Bio-Deterioration

Authors: K. S. Shiny, R. Sundararaj

Abstract:

Coconut trees (Cocos nucifera L.) are grown in many parts of India and world because of its multiple utilities. During pyrolysis, coconut shells yield oil, which is a dark thick liquid. Upon simple distillation it produces a more or less colourless liquid, termed coconut shell pyrolytic oil distillate (CSPOD). This manuscript reports and discusses the use of coconut shell pyrolytic oil distillate as a potential wood protectant against bio-deterioration. Since botanical products as ecofriendly wood protectant is being tested worldwide, the utilization of CPSOD as wood protectant is of great importance. The efficacy of CSPOD as wood protectant was evaluated as per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in terms of its antifungal, antiborer, and termiticidal activities. Specimens of Rubber wood (Hevea brasiliensis) in six replicate each for two treatment methods namely spraying and dipping (48hrs) were employed. CSPOD was found to impart total protection against termites for six months compared to control under field conditions. For assessing the efficacy of CSPOD against fungi, the treated blocks were subjected to the attack of two white rot fungi Tyromyces versicolor (L.) Fr. and Polyporus sanguineus (L.) G. Mey and two brown rot fungi, Polyporus meliae (Undrew.) Murrill. and Oligoporus placenta (Fr.) Gilb. & Ryvarden. Results indicated that treatment with CSPOD significantly protected wood from the damage caused by the decay fungi. Efficacy of CSPOD against wood borer Lyctus africanus Lesne was carried out using six pairs of male and female beetles and it gave promising results in protecting the treated wood blocks when compared to control blocks. As far as the treatment methods were concerned, dip treatment was found to be more effective when compared to spraying. The results of the present investigation indicated that CSPOD is a promising botanical compound which has the potential to replace synthetic wood protectants. As coconut shell, pyrolytic oil is a waste byproduct of coconut shell charcoal industry, its utilization as a wood preservative will expand the economic returns from such industries.

Keywords: coconut shell pyrolytic oil distillate, eco-friendly wood protection, termites, wood borers, wood decay fungi

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1854 Insulation, Sustainable Construction, and Architectural Design to Reduce Energy Consumption in Sustainable Buildings

Authors: Gholamreza Namavar, Ali Bayati

Abstract:

Nowadays according to increasing the population all around the world, consuming of fossil fuels increased dramatically. Many believe that most of the atmospheric pollution comes by using fossil fuels. The process of natural sources entering cities show one of the large challenges in consumption sources management. Nowadays, everyone considered about the consumption of fossil fuels and also reduction of consumption civil energy in megacities that play a key role in solving serious problems such as air pollution, producing greenhouse gasses, global warming and damage ozone layer. In construction industry we should use the materials with the lowest need to energy for making and carrying them, and also the materials which need the lowest energy and expenses to recycling. In this way, the kind of usage material, the way of processing, regional materials and the adaption with environment is critical. Otherwise, the isolation should be use and mention in long term. Accordingly, in this article we investigates the new ways in order to reduce environmental pollution and save more energy by using materials that are not harmful to the environment, fully insulated materials in buildings, sustainable and diversified buildings, suitable urban design and using solar energy more efficiently in order to reduce energy consumption.

Keywords: architectural design, insulation, sustainable construction, reducing energy consumption

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1853 Architectural Design, Low Energy, and Isolation Materials to Have Sustainable Buildings in Iran

Authors: Mohammadreza Azarnoush, Ali Bayati, Jamileh Azarnoush

Abstract:

Nowadays according to increasing the population all around the world, consuming of fossil fuels increased dramatically. Many believe that most of the atmospheric pollution comes by using fossil fuels. The process of natural sources entering cities shows one of the large challenges in consumption sources management. Nowadays, everyone considers the consumption of fossil fuels and also reduction of consumption civil energy in megacities as playing a key role in solving serious problems such as air pollution, producing greenhouse gasses, global warming, and damage ozone layer. In the construction industry, we should use the materials with the lowest need to energy for making and carrying them, and also the materials which need the lowest energy and expenses to recycling. In this way, the kind of usage material, the way of processing, regional materials, and the adoption to the environment is critical. Otherwise, the isolation should be use and mention in the long term. Accordingly, in this article, we investigate the new ways in order to reduce environmental pollution and save more energy by using materials that are not harmful to the environment, fully insulated materials in buildings, sustainable and diversified buildings, suitable urban design and using solar energy more efficiently in order to reduce energy consumption.

Keywords: building design, construction masonry, insulation, sustainable construction

Procedia PDF Downloads 392
1852 Risk Factors of Hospital Acquired Infection Mortality in a Tunisian Intensive Care Unit

Authors: Ben Cheikh Asma, Bouafia Nabiha, Ammar Asma, Ezzi Olfa, Meddeb Khaoula, Chouchène Imed, Boussarsar Hamadi, Njah Mansour

Abstract:

Background: Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI) constitutes an important worldwide health problem. It was associated with high mortality rate in intensive care units (ICU). This study aimed to determine HAI mortality rate in Tunisian intensive care units and identify its risk factors. Methods: We conducted a prospective observational cohort study over a 12 months period (September 15th 2015 to September 15 th 2016) in the adult medical ICU of University Hospital-Farhat Hached (Sousse-Tunisia). All patients admitted in the ICU for more than 48 hours were included in the study. We used an anonymous standardized survey record form to collect data by a medical hygienist assisted by an intensivist. We adopted definitions of Center for Diseases Control and prevention of Atlanta to detect HAI, Kaplan Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazard regression to identify independent risk factor of HAI mortality. Results: Of 171 patients, 67 developed ICU-acquired infection (global incidence rate=39.2%). The mean age of patients was 59 ± 21.2 years and 60.8% were male. The most frequently identified infections were pulmonary acquired infection (ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) and infected atelectasis with density rates 21.4 VAP/1000 days of mechanical ventilation and 9.4 infected atelectasis /1000 days of mechanical ventilation; respectively) and central venous catheter associated infection (CVC - AI) with density rate 28.4 CVC-AI / 1000 CVC-days). HAI mortality rate was 66.7% (n=44). The median survival was 20 days 3.36, 95% Confidential Interval [13.39 – 26.60]. Specific mortality rates according to infectious site were 65.5%, 36.4% and 4.5% respectively for VAP, CVC associated infection and infected atelectasis. In univariate analysis, a significant associations between mortality and cardiovascular history (p=0.04) tracheotomy (p=0.00), peripheral venous catheterization (p=0.04), VAP (p=0.04) and infected atelectasis (p=0.04) were detected. Independent risk factors for HAI mortality were VAP with Hazard Ratio = 3.14, 95% Confidential Interval [1.63 – 6.05] (p=0.001) and tracheotomy (Hazard Ratio=0.22, 95% Confidential Interval [0.10 – 0.44], p=0.000). Conclusions: In the present study, hospital acquired infection mortality rate was relatively high. We need to intensify the fight against these infections especially ventilator-associated pneumonia that is associated with higher risk of mortality in many studies. Thus, more effective infection control interventions were necessary in our hospital.

Keywords: hospital acquired infection, intensive care unit, mortality, risk factors

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1851 Bio-Electrochemical Process Coupled with MnO2 Nanowires for Wastewater Treatment

Authors: A. Giwa, S. M. Jung, W. Fang, J. Kong, S. W. Hasan

Abstract:

MnO2 nanowires were developed as filtration media for wastewater treatment that uniquely combines several advantages. The resulting material demonstrated strong capability to remove the pollution of heavy metal ions and organic contents in water. In addition, the manufacture process of such material is practical and economical. In this work, MnO2 nanowires were integrated with the state-of-art bio-electrochemical system for wastewater treatment, to overcome problems currently encountered with organic, inorganic, heavy metal, and microbe removal, and to minimize the unit footprint (land/space occupation) at low cost. Results showed that coupling the bio-electrochemical with MnO2 resulted in very encouraging results with higher removal efficiencies of such pollutants.

Keywords: bio-electrochemical, nanowires, novel, wastewater

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1850 Self-Disclosure and Suicide

Authors: Netta Horesh Reinman

Abstract:

The inability to communicate feelings and thoughts to people close to oneself may be an important risk factor for suicidal behavior. This inability has been operationalized in the concept of “self-disclosure.” The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the correlation of self-disclosure with suicidal behavior in adolescents. Eighty consecutive admissions to an adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit were evaluated. Thirty-four were suicide attempters, 18 were suicidal ideators, and 18 were non-suicidal. Assessment measures included the Child Suicide Potential Scale, the Suicide Intent Scale, the Suicide Ideation Scale, and the Self-Disclosure Scale. The results show that low self-disclosure levels are associated with suicidal thinking, suicide attempts and suicidal attitudes. Thus, low self-disclosure may well be a risk factor worthy of further evaluation in the attempt to understand adolescent suicidal behavior.

Keywords: self disclosure, suicide, adolescents, treatment

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1849 A Bi-Objective Model to Address Simultaneous Formulation of Project Scheduling and Material Ordering

Authors: Babak H. Tabrizi, Seyed Farid Ghaderi

Abstract:

Concurrent planning of project scheduling and material ordering has been increasingly addressed within last decades as an approach to improve the project execution costs. Therefore, we have taken the problem into consideration in this paper, aiming to maximize schedules quality robustness, in addition to minimize the relevant costs. In this regard, a bi-objective mathematical model is developed to formulate the problem. Moreover, it is possible to utilize the all-unit discount for materials purchasing. The problem is then solved by the constraint method, and the Pareto front is obtained for a variety of robustness values. The applicability and efficiency of the proposed model is tested by different numerical instances, finally.

Keywords: e-constraint method, material ordering, project management, project scheduling

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1848 Parallel 2-Opt Local Search on GPU

Authors: Wen-Bao Qiao, Jean-Charles Créput

Abstract:

To accelerate the solution for large scale traveling salesman problems (TSP), a parallel 2-opt local search algorithm with simple implementation based on Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is presented and tested in this paper. The parallel scheme is based on technique of data decomposition by dynamically assigning multiple K processors on the integral tour to treat K edges’ 2-opt local optimization simultaneously on independent sub-tours, where K can be user-defined or have a function relationship with input size N. We implement this algorithm with doubly linked list on GPU. The implementation only requires O(N) memory. We compare this parallel 2-opt local optimization against sequential exhaustive 2-opt search along integral tour on TSP instances from TSPLIB with more than 10000 cities.

Keywords: parallel 2-opt, double links, large scale TSP, GPU

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1847 Polarization Insensitive Absorber with Increased Bandwidth Using Multilayer Metamaterial

Authors: Srilaxmi Gangula, MahaLakshmi Vinukonda, Neeraj Rao

Abstract:

A wide band polarization insensitive metamaterial absorber with bandwidth enhancement in X and C band is proposed. The structure proposed here consists of a periodic unit cell of resonator arrangements in double layer. The proposed structure shows near unity absorption at frequencies of 6.21 GHz and 10.372 GHz spreading over a bandwidth of 1 GHz and 6.21 GHz respectively in X and C bands. The proposed metamaterial absorber is designed so as to increase the bandwidth. The proposed structure is also independent for TE and TM polarization. Because of its simple implementation, near unity absorption and wide bandwidth this dual band polarization insensitive metamaterial absorber can be used for EMI/EMC applications.

Keywords: absorber, C-band, metamaterial, multilayer, X-band

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1846 DSPIC30F6010A Control for 12/8 Switched Reluctance Motor

Authors: Yang Zhou, Chen Hao, Ma Xiaoping

Abstract:

This paper briefly mentions the micro controller unit, and then goes into details about the exact regulations for SRM. Firstly, it proposes the main driving state control for motor and the importance of the motor position sensor. For different speed, the controller will choice various styles such as voltage chopper control, angle position control and current chopper control for which owns its advantages and disadvantages. Combining the strengths of the three discrepant methods, the main control chip will intelligently select the best performing control depending on the load and speed demand. Then the exact flow diagram is showed in paper. At last, an experimental platform is established to verify the correctness of the proposed theory.

Keywords: switched reluctance motor, dspic microcontroller, current chopper

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1845 Modelling and Simulation of Light and Temperature Efficient Interdigitated Back- Surface-Contact Solar Cell with 28.81% Efficiency Rate

Authors: Mahfuzur Rahman

Abstract:

Back-contact solar cells improve optical properties by moving all electrically conducting parts to the back of the cell. The cell's structure allows silicon solar cells to surpass the 25% efficiency barrier and interdigitated solar cells are now the most efficient. In this work, the fabrication of a light, efficient and temperature resistant interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cell is investigated. This form of solar cell differs from a conventional solar cell in that the electrodes are located at the back of the cell, eliminating the need for grids on the top, allowing the full surface area of the cell to receive sunlight, resulting in increased efficiency. In this project, we will use SILVACO TCAD, an optoelectronic device simulator, to construct a very thin solar cell with dimensions of 100x250um in 2D Luminous. The influence of sunlight intensity and atmospheric temperature on solar cell output power is highly essential and it has been explored in this work. The cell's optimum performance with 150um bulk thickness provides 28.81% efficiency with an 87.68% fill factor rate making it very thin, flexible and resilient, providing diverse operational capabilities.

Keywords: interdigitated, shading, recombination loss, incident-plane, drift-diffusion, luminous, SILVACO

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1844 Fast-Modulated Surface-Confined Plasma for Catalytic Nitrogen Fixation and Energy Intensification

Authors: Pradeep Lamichhane, Nima Pourali, E. V. Rebrov, Volker Hessel

Abstract:

Nitrogen fixation is critical for plants for the biosynthesis of protein and nucleic acid. Most of our atmosphere is nitrogen, yet plants cannot directly absorb it from the air, and natural nitrogen fixation is insufficient to meet the demands. This experiment used a fast-modulated surface-confined atmospheric pressure plasma created by a 6 kV (peak-peak) sinusoidal power source with a repetition frequency of 68 kHz to fix nitrogen. Plasmas have been proposed for excitation of nitrogen gas, which quickly oxidised to NOX. With different N2/O2 input ratios, the rate of NOX generation was investigated. The rate of NOX production was shown to be optimal for mixtures of 60–70% O2 with N2. To boost NOX production in plasma, metal oxide catalysts based on TiO2 were coated over the dielectric layer of a reactor. These results demonstrate that nitrogen activation was more advantageous in surface-confined plasma sources because micro-discharges formed on the sharp edges of the electrodes, which is a primary function attributed to NOX synthesis and is further enhanced by metal oxide catalysts. The energy-efficient and sustainable NOX synthesis described in this study will offer a fresh perspective for ongoing research on green nitrogen fixation techniques.

Keywords: nitrogen fixation, fast-modulated, surface-confined, sustainable

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1843 Assessing the Influence of Chinese Stock Market on Indian Stock Market

Authors: Somnath Mukhuti, Prem Kumar Ghosh

Abstract:

Background and significance of the study Indian stock market has undergone sudden changes after the current China crisis in terms of turnover, market capitalization, share prices, etc. The average returns on equity investment in both markets have more than three and half times after global financial crisis owing to the development of industrial activity, corporate sectors development, enhancement in global consumption, change of global financial association and fewer imports from developed countries. But the economic policies of both the economies are far different, that is to say, where Indian economy maintaining a conservative policy, Chinese economy maintaining an aggressive policy. Besides this, Chinese economy recently lowering its currency for increasing mysterious growth but Indian does not. But on August 24, 2015 Indian stock market and world stock markets were fall down due to the reason of Chinese stock market. Keeping in view of the above, this study seeks to examine the influence of Chinese stock on Indian stock market. Methodology This research work is based on daily time series data obtained from yahoo finance database between 2009 (April 1) to 2015 (September 28). This study is based on two important stock markets, that is, Indian stock market (Bombay Stock Exchange) and Chinese stock market (Shanghai Stock Exchange). In the course of analysis, the daily raw data were converted into natural logarithm for minimizing the problem of heteroskedasticity. While tackling the issue, correlation statistics, ADF and PP unit root test, bivariate cointegration test and causality test were used. Major findings Correlation statistics show that both stock markets are associated positively. Both ADF and PP unit root test results demonstrate that the time series data were not normal and were not stationary at level however stationary at 1st difference. The bivariate cointegration test results indicate that the Indian stock market was associated with Chinese stock market in the long-run. The Granger causality test illustrates there was a unidirectional causality between Indian stock market and Chinese stock market. Concluding statement The empirical results recommend that India’s stock market was not very much dependent on Chinese stock market because of Indian economic conservative policies. Nevertheless, Indian stock market might be sturdy if Indian economic policies are changed slightly and if increases the portfolio investment with Chinese economy. Indian economy might be a third largest economy in 2030 if India increases its portfolio investment and trade relations with both Chinese economy and US economy.

Keywords: Indian stock market, China stock market, bivariate cointegration, causality test

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1842 Burkholderia Cepacia ST 767 Causing a Three Years Nosocomial Outbreak in a Hemodialysis Unit

Authors: Gousilin Leandra Rocha Da Silva, Stéfani T. A. Dantas, Bruna F. Rossi, Erika R. Bonsaglia, Ivana G. Castilho, Terue Sadatsune, Ary Fernandes Júnior, Vera l. M. Rall

Abstract:

Kidney failure causes decreased diuresis and accumulation of nitrogenous substances in the body. To increase patient survival, hemodialysis is used as a partial substitute for renal function. However, contamination of the water used in this treatment, causing bacteremia in patients, is a worldwide concern. The Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc), a group of bacteria with more than 20 species, is frequently isolated from hemodialysis water samples and comprises opportunistic bacteria, affecting immunosuppressed patients, due to its wide variety of virulence factors, in addition to innate resistance to several antimicrobial agents, contributing to the permanence in the hospital environment and to the pathogenesis in the host. The objective of the present work was to characterize molecularly and phenotypically Bcc isolates collected from the water and dialysate of the Hemodialysis Unit and from the blood of patients at a Public Hospital in Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil, between 2019 and 2021. We used 33 Bcc isolates, previously obtained from blood cultures from patients with bacteremia undergoing hemodialysis treatment (2019-2021) and 24 isolates obtained from water and dialysate samples in a Hemodialysis Unit (same period). The recA gene was sequenced to identify the specific species among the Bcc group. All isolates were tested for the presence of some genes that encode virulence factors such as cblA, esmR, zmpA and zmpB. Considering the epidemiology of the outbreak, the Bcc isolates were molecularly characterized by Multi Locus Sequence Type (MLST) and by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The verification and quantification of biofilm in a polystyrene microplate were performed by submitting the isolates to different incubation temperatures (20°C, average water temperature and 35°C, optimal temperature for group growth). The antibiogram was performed with disc diffusion tests on agar, using discs impregnated with cefepime (30µg), ceftazidime (30µg), ciprofloxacin (5µg), gentamicin (10µg), imipenem (10µg), amikacin 30µg), sulfametazol/trimethoprim (23.75/1.25µg) and ampicillin/sulbactam (10/10µg). The presence of ZmpB was identified in all isolates, while ZmpA was observed in 96.5% of the isolates, while none of them presented the cblA and esmR genes. The antibiogram of the 33 human isolates indicated that all were resistant to gentamicin, colistin, ampicillin/sulbactam and imipenem. 16 (48.5%) isolates were resistant to amikacin and lower rates of resistance were observed for meropenem, ceftazidime, cefepime, ciprofloxacin and piperacycline/tazobactam (6.1%). All isolates were sensitive to sulfametazol/trimethoprim, levofloxacin and tigecycline. As for the water isolates, resistance was observed only to gentamicin (34.8%) and imipenem (17.4%). According to PFGE results, all isolates obtained from humans and water belonged to the same pulsotype (1), which was identified by recA sequencing as B. cepacia¸, belonging to sequence type ST-767. By observing a single pulse type over three years, one can observe the persistence of this isolate in the pipeline, contaminating patients undergoing hemodialysis, despite the routine disinfection of water with peracetic acid. This persistence is probably due to the production of biofilm, which protects bacteria from disinfectants and, making this scenario more critical, several isolates proved to be multidrug-resistant (resistance to at least three groups of antimicrobials), turning the patient care even more difficult.

Keywords: hemodialysis, burkholderia cepacia, PFGE, MLST, multi drug resistance

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1841 Scalable UI Test Automation for Large-scale Web Applications

Authors: Kuniaki Kudo, Raviraj Solanki, Kaushal Patel, Yash Virani

Abstract:

This research mainly concerns optimizing UI test automation for large-scale web applications. The test target application is the HHAexchange homecare management WEB application that seamlessly connects providers, state Medicaid programs, managed care organizations (MCOs), and caregivers through one platform with large-scale functionalities. This study focuses on user interface automation testing for the WEB application. The quality assurance team must execute many manual users interface test cases in the development process to confirm no regression bugs. The team automated 346 test cases; the UI automation test execution time was over 17 hours. The business requirement was reducing the execution time to release high-quality products quickly, and the quality assurance automation team modernized the test automation framework to optimize the execution time. The base of the WEB UI automation test environment is Selenium, and the test code is written in Python. Adopting a compilation language to write test code leads to an inefficient flow when introducing scalability into a traditional test automation environment. In order to efficiently introduce scalability into Test Automation, a scripting language was adopted. The scalability implementation is mainly implemented with AWS's serverless technology, an elastic container service. The definition of scalability here is the ability to automatically set up computers to test automation and increase or decrease the number of computers running those tests. This means the scalable mechanism can help test cases run parallelly. Then test execution time is dramatically decreased. Also, introducing scalable test automation is for more than just reducing test execution time. There is a possibility that some challenging bugs are detected by introducing scalable test automation, such as race conditions, Etc. since test cases can be executed at same timing. If API and Unit tests are implemented, the test strategies can be adopted more efficiently for this scalability testing. However, in WEB applications, as a practical matter, API and Unit testing cannot cover 100% functional testing since they do not reach front-end codes. This study applied a scalable UI automation testing strategy to the large-scale homecare management system. It confirmed the optimization of the test case execution time and the detection of a challenging bug. This study first describes the detailed architecture of the scalable test automation environment, then describes the actual performance reduction time and an example of challenging issue detection.

Keywords: aws, elastic container service, scalability, serverless, ui automation test

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1840 An Eigen-Approach for Estimating the Direction-of Arrival of Unknown Number of Signals

Authors: Dia I. Abu-Al-Nadi, M. J. Mismar, T. H. Ismail

Abstract:

A technique for estimating the direction-of-arrival (DOA) of unknown number of source signals is presented using the eigen-approach. The eigenvector corresponding to the minimum eigenvalue of the autocorrelation matrix yields the minimum output power of the array. Also, the array polynomial with this eigenvector possesses roots on the unit circle. Therefore, the pseudo-spectrum is found by perturbing the phases of the roots one by one and calculating the corresponding array output power. The results indicate that the DOAs and the number of source signals are estimated accurately in the presence of a wide range of input noise levels.

Keywords: array signal processing, direction-of-arrival, antenna arrays, Eigenvalues, Eigenvectors, Lagrange multiplier

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1839 Electrical Energy Harvesting Using Thermo Electric Generator for Rural Communities in India

Authors: N. Nandan A. M. Nagaraj, L. Sanjeev Kumar

Abstract:

In the rapidly growing population, the requirement of electrical power is increasing day by day. In order to meet the needs, we need to generate the power using alternate method. In this paper, a presentable approach is developed by analysis and can be implemented by utilizing heat energy, which is generated in numerous ways in some of the rural areas in India. The thermoelectric generator unit will be developed by combing with control circuits and converts, which is used to light the LED lamps. The temperature difference which is available in the kitchens, especially the exhaust pipes/chimneys of wooden fire stoves, where more heat is dissipated into the atmosphere, can be utilized for electrical power generation. Hence, the temperature rise of surroundings atmosphere can be reduced.

Keywords: thermo electric generator, LED, converts, temperature

Procedia PDF Downloads 131