Search results for: traffic noise level

Authors: Yanrong Song, Zikai Dong, Runqin Xu, Jinrong Tian, Kexuan Li

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Nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) technique has become one of the main techniques to achieve mode-locked fiber lasers for its compactness, implementation, and low cost. In this paper, we demonstrate a compact mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser based on NPR technique in the all normal dispersion (ANDi) regime. In the laser cavity, there are no physical filter and polarization controller in laser cavity. Mode-locked pulse train is achieved in ANDi regime based on NPR technique. The fiber birefringence induced filtering effect is the mainly reason for mode-locking. After that, an extra 20 m long single-mode fiber is inserted in two different positions, dissipative soliton operation and noise like pulse operations are achieved correspondingly. The nonlinear effect is obviously enhanced in the noise like pulse regime and broadband spectrum generated owing to enhanced stimulated Raman scattering effect. When the pump power is 210 mW, the central wavelength is 1030 nm, and the corresponding 1st order Raman scattering stokes wave generates and locates at 1075 nm. When the pump power is 370 mW, the 1st and 2nd order Raman scattering stokes wave generate and locate at 1080 nm, 1126 nm respectively. When the pump power is 600 mW, the Raman continuum is generated with cascaded multi-order stokes waves, and the spectrum extends to 1188 nm. The total flat spectrum is from 1000nm to 1200nm. The maximum output average power and pulse energy are 18.0W and 14.75nJ, respectively.

Keywords: fiber laser, mode-locking, nonlinear polarization rotation, Raman scattering

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Authors: Cheng-Yu Tsai, Wen-Te Liu, Yin-Tzu Lin, Chen-Chen Lo, Kang Lo

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Background: Driving drowsiness related to inadequate or disordered sleep accounts for a major percentage of traffic accidents. Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) syndrome is a common respiratory disorder during sleep. However, the effects of SDB syndrome on driving fatigue remain unclear. Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationship between SDB pattern and driving drowsiness. Methodologies: The physical condition while driving was obtained from the questionnaires to classify the state of driving fatigue. SDB syndrome was quantified as the polysomnography, and the air flow pattern was collected by the thermistor and nasal pressure cannula. To evaluate the desaturation, the mean hourly number of greater than 3% dips in oxygen saturation was sentenced by reregistered technologist during examination in a hospital in New Taipei City (Taiwan). The independent T-test was used to investigate the correlations between sleep disorders related index and driving drowsiness. Results: There were 880 subjects recruited in this study, who had been done polysomnography for evaluating severity for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) as well as completed the driver condition questionnaire. Four-hundred-eighty-four subjects (55%) were classified as fatigue group, and 396 subjects (45%) were served as the control group. Significantly higher values of snoring index (242.14 ± 205.51 /hours) were observed in the fatigue group (p < 0.01). The value of respiratory disturbance index (RDI) (31.82 ± 19.34 /hours) in fatigue group were significantly higher than the control group (p < 0.01). Conclusion: We observe the considerable association between SDB syndrome and driving drowsiness. To promote traffic safety, SDB syndrome should be controlled and alleviated.

Keywords: driving drowsiness, sleep-disordered breathing syndrome, snoring index, respiratory disturbance index.

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Authors: Minakshi Jain, Sachin Yadav

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Gram Panchayat is the smallest unit of Democracy in India. Grassroots Democracy has been further strengthened by implementation of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment act (CAA) in 1992. To analyse the impact of grassroots democracy the three villages are selected, which have the representation of each section of the society. The selected villages belongs to the same block and district of Haryana state. Villages are selected to access the marginalized group such as women and other backward class. These groups are isolated and do not participate in the grassroots level development process. The caste continue to be a relevant factor in determining the rural leadership. The earlier models of Panchayati Raj failed to benefit the marginalized groups of the society. The 73rd CAA, advocates a uniform three tier system of Panchayat at District level (Zilla Panchayat), Taluka/Block level (Block Panchayat), and village level (Gram Panchayat). The socio-economic profile of representatives in each village is important factor in rural development. The study will highlight the socio-economic profile of elected members at gram Panchayat level, Block Level and District level. The analysis reveals that there is a need to educate and develop the capacity and capability of the elected representative. Training must be imparted to all of them to enable them to function as per provision in the act. The paper will analyse the impact of act on rural development than propose some measures to further strengthen the Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI’s) at grassroots level.

Keywords: democracy, rural development, marginalized people, function

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Authors: Sangchul Kim, Dosaeng Park

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It is one of the important design issues to provide various levels of difficulty in order to suit the skillfulness of an individual. In this paper we propose an integer programming-based method for selecting a mixture of challenges for a racing game that meet a given degree of difficulty. The proposed method can also be used to dynamically adjust the difficulty of the game during the progression of playing. By experiments, it is shown that our method performs well enough to generate games with various degrees of difficulty that match the perception of players.

Keywords: level generation, level adjustment, racing game, ip

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Authors: Chanpen Meenakorn

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This research aims to study; (1) behavior of the tourists affecting the satisfaction level of tourism at the Amphawa floating market in Samut Songkhram province, (2) to study the satisfaction level of tourism at the Amphawa floating market. The research method will use quantitative research; data was collected by questionnaires distributed to the tourist who visits the Amphawa floating market for 480 samples. Data was analyzed by SPSS software to process descriptive statistic including frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and inferential statistic is t-test, F-test, and chi-square. The results showed that the behavior of tourists had known tourist attractions in the province comes from the mouth of relatives and friends suggested that he come here before and the reasons to visit is to want to pay homage to the various temples for the frequency to visit travel an average of 2-4 times and  the satisfaction of the tourists in the province found that the satisfaction level of tourists in the province at the significant level of the place, convenient  and services have a high level of satisfaction.

Keywords: amphawa floating market behavior of the tourists, satisfaction level, sustainable tourism, Samut Songkhram province

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Authors: Chia-Ching Tsai

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In service delivery, interpersonal interaction is the key to customer satisfaction, and apparently, the factor of human is critical in service delivery. Besides, customers quite care about the consequences of co-recovery. Thus, this research focuses on service failure caused by other customers and uses a 2x2 factorial design to investigate the impact of consequence and level of service co-recovery on post-recovery satisfaction and repurchase intent. 150 undergraduates were recruited as participants, and assigned to one of the four cells randomly. Every participant was requested to read the scenario and then rated the post-recovery satisfaction and repurchase intent. The results show that under the condition of failed co-recovery, level of co-recovery has no effect on post-recovery satisfaction, while under the condition of successful co-recovery, high-level co-recovery causes significantly higher post-recovery satisfaction than low-level co-recovery. Moreover, post-recovery satisfaction has significantly positive impact on repurchase intent. In the system of service delivery, customers interact with other customers frequently. Therefore, comparing with the literature, this research focuses on the service failure caused by other customers. This research also supplies a better understanding of customers’ view on consequences of different levels of co-recovery, which is helpful for the practitioners to make use of co-recovery.

Keywords: service failure, service co-recovery, consequence of co-recovery, level of co-recovery, post-recovery satisfaction, repurchase intent

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Authors: Stephen Tullis, M. David DiDonato, Hong Sung Park

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Rowing boats (shells) are often steered by a small rudder operated by one of the backward-facing rowers; the attention required of that athlete then slightly decreases the power that that athlete can provide. Reducing the steering distraction would then increase the overall boat speed. Races are straight 2000 m courses with each boat in a 13.5 m wide lane marked by small (~15 cm) widely-spaced (~10 m) buoys, and the boat trajectory is affected by both cross-currents and winds. An optical buoy recognition and tracking system has been developed that provides the boat’s location and orientation with respect to the lane edges. This information is provided to the steering athlete as either: a simple overlay on a video display, or fed to a simplified autopilot system giving steering directions to the athlete or directly controlling the rudder. The system is then effectively a “lane-assist” device but with small, widely-spaced lane markers viewed from a very shallow angle due to constraints on camera height. The image is captured with a lightweight 1080p webcam, and most of the image analysis is done in OpenCV. The colour RGB-image is converted to a grayscale using the difference of the red and blue channels, which provides good contrast between the red/yellow buoys and the water, sky, land background and white reflections and noise. Buoy detection is done with thresholding within a tight mask applied to the image. Robust linear regression using Tukey’s biweight estimator of the previously detected buoy locations is used to develop the mask; this avoids the false detection of noise such as waves (reflections) and, in particular, buoys in other lanes. The robust regression also provides the current lane edges in the camera frame that are used to calculate the displacement of the boat from the lane centre (lane location), and its yaw angle. The interception of the detected lane edges provides a lane vanishing point, and yaw angle can be calculated simply based on the displacement of this vanishing point from the camera axis and the image plane distance. Lane location is simply based on the lateral displacement of the vanishing point from any horizontal cut through the lane edges. The boat lane position and yaw are currently fed what is essentially a stripped down marine auto-pilot system. Currently, only the lane location is used in a PID controller of a rudder actuator with integrator anti-windup to deal with saturation of the rudder angle. Low Kp and Kd values decrease unnecessarily fast return to lane centrelines and response to noise, and limiters can be used to avoid lane departure and disqualification. Yaw is not used as a control input, as cross-winds and currents can cause a straight course with considerable yaw or crab angle. Mapping of the controller with rudder angle “overall effectiveness” has not been finalized - very large rudder angles stall and have decreased turning moments, but at less extreme angles the increased rudder drag slows the boat and upsets boat balance. The full system has many features similar to automotive lane-assist systems, but with the added constraints of the lane markers, camera positioning, control response and noise increasing the challenge.

Keywords: auto-pilot, lane-assist, marine, optical, rowing

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Authors: Siliang Luan, Zhongtai Jiang

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The risk of highway incidents is commonly recognized as a major concern for transportation authorities due to the hazardous consequences and negative influence. It is crucial to respond to these unpredictable events as soon as possible faced by emergency management decision makers. In this paper, we focus on path planning for emergency vehicles, one of the most significant processes to avoid congestion and reduce rescue time. A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming with Semi-Soft Time Windows Model (MIPSSTWM) is conducted to plan an optimal routing respectively considering the time consumption of arcs and nodes of the urban road network and the highway network, especially in developing countries with an enormous population. Here, the arcs indicate the road segments and the nodes include the intersections of the urban road network and the on-ramp and off-ramp of the highway networks. An attempt in this research has been made to develop a comprehensive and executive strategy for emergency vehicle routing in heavy traffic conditions. The proposed Cuckoo Search (CS) algorithm is designed by imitating obligate brood parasitic behaviors of cuckoos and Lévy Flights (LF) to solve this hard and combinatorial problem. Using a Chinese city as our case study, the numerical results demonstrate the approach we applied in this paper outperforms the previous method without considering the nodes of the road network for a real-world situation. Meanwhile, the accuracy and validity of the CS algorithm also show better performances than the traditional algorithm.

Keywords: emergency vehicle, path planning, cs algorithm, urban traffic management and urban planning

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Authors: A.I. Adeyemo

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Ikogosi warm spring results from a complex mechanical and chemical forces that generates internal heat in the rocks forming a warm and cold water at the same geographical location at the same time. From time immemorial, the local community had thought, it to be the work of a deity, and they were worshipping the spring. This complex phenomenon has been a source of tourist attraction to both local and international tourists over the years. 450 copies of a structured questionnaire were given out, and a total of 500 respondents were interviewed. The result showed that ikogosi warm spring impacts the community positively by providing employment to the teeming youths, and it provides income to traders. The result shows that 66% of the respondents confirmed that it increased their income and that transportation business increased more than 73%.the level of enlightenment and socialization increased greatly in the community. However, it also impacted the community negatively as it increased crime rates such as stealing, kidnapping, prostitution, and unwanted pregnancy among the secondary school girls and the other teenagers. Generally, 50% of the respondents reported that tourism in the warm spring results in insecurity in the community. IT also increased environmental problems such as noise and waste pollutions; the continuous movement on the land results in soil compartment leading to erosion, and leaching, which also results in loss of soil fertility. It was concluded that if the potentials of the spring are fully tapped, it will be a good avenue for income generation to the country.

Keywords: community, Ikogosi, revenue, warm spring

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Authors: Ren Moses, Emmanuel Kidando, Eren Ozguven, Yassir Abdelrazig

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Although older drivers (defined as those of age 65 and above) are less involved with speeding, alcohol use as well as night driving, they are more vulnerable to severe crashes. The major contributing factors for severe crashes include frailty and medical complications. Several studies have evaluated the contributing factors on severity of crashes. However, few studies have established the impact of travel time reliability (TTR) on road safety. In particular, the impact of TTR on senior adults who face several challenges including hearing difficulties, decreasing of the processing skills and cognitive problems in driving is not well established. Therefore, this study focuses on determining possible impacts of TTR on the traffic safety with focus on elderly drivers. Historical travel speed data from freeway links in the study area were used to calculate travel time and the associated TTR metrics that is, planning time index, the buffer index, the standard deviation of the travel time and the probability of congestion. Four-year information on crashes occurring on these freeway links was acquired. The binary logit model estimated using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling technique was used to evaluate variables that could be influencing elderly crash severity. Preliminary results of the analysis suggest that TTR is statistically significant in affecting the severity of a crash involving an elderly driver. The result suggests that one unit increase in the probability of congestion reduces the likelihood of the elderly severe crash by nearly 22%. These findings will enhance the understanding of TTR and its impact on the elderly crash severity.

Keywords: highway safety, travel time reliability, elderly drivers, traffic modeling

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Authors: Ruoyu Mao

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Exploring the relationship between urban green development and regional integration level is of great significance for realising regional high quality and sustainable development. Based on the Tapio decoupling model and the theoretical framework of urban green development and regional integration, this paper builds an analysis system, makes a quantitative analysis of urban green development and regional integration level in a certain period, and discusses the relationship between the two. It also takes China's Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration as an example to study the degree of decoupling, the type of decoupling, and the trend of the evolution of the spatio-temporal pattern of decoupling between the level of urban green development and the level of regional integration in the period of 2014-2021, with the aim of providing a useful reference for the future development of the region.

Keywords: regional integration, urban green development, Tapio decoupling model, Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration

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Authors: Niloofar Fathizaviyehkord

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Just as two hands cannot make a good boxer, knowing two or more languages cannot make a skillful interpreter. Interpreting, either consecutive or simultaneous, is a cognitively demanding task requiring not only linguistic and discourse knowledge but also strategic competence. Moreover, experience level can play a very crucial role in the strategies interpreters may employ since translation and interpretation quality is a matter of experience, besides other factors, as well. With regard to the significance of strategic competence, this study investigated what strategies are mainly employed by interpreters, what strategies are employed more frequently, and whether experience level can affect the choice of strategies by interpreters or not. To collect the necessary data, the first retrospective interviews were held with 20 interpreters experienced more or less in simultaneous and consecutive interpretation to see what strategies other than those classified in the literature are employed by interpreters. Then, several classifications of strategies in literature were merged with those emerging from the retrospective interviews to come up with a comprehensive questionnaire on interpreting strategies. After seeking five experts’ opinions regarding the wording/content of the questionnaire, it was given to 60 interpreters. The statistical analysis of the questionnaire data and experience level through ANOVA showed experience level could affect the choice of strategies. This study closes with the theoretical/practical implications of the findings for interpreter training.

Keywords: experience level, consecutive and simultaneous, interpretation strategies, translation

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Authors: Erica Cochran Hameen, Bobuchi Ken-Opurum, Mounica Guturu

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The United Stated (U.S.) populous spends the majority of their time indoors in spaces where building codes and voluntary sustainability standards provide clear Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) metrics. The existing sustainable building standards and codes are aimed towards improving IEQ, health of occupants, and reducing the negative impacts of buildings on the environment. While they address the post-occupancy stage of buildings, there are fewer standards on the pre-occupancy stage thereby placing a large labor population in environments much less regulated. Construction personnel are often exposed to a variety of uncomfortable and unhealthy elements while on construction sites, primarily thermal, visual, acoustic, and air quality related. Construction site power generators, equipment, and machinery generate on average 9 decibels (dBA) above the U.S. OSHA regulations, creating uncomfortable noise levels. Research has shown that frequent exposure to high noise levels leads to chronic physiological issues and increases noise induced stress, yet beyond OSHA no other metric focuses directly on the impacts of noise on contractors’ well-being. Research has also associated natural light with higher productivity and attention span, and lower cases of fatigue in construction workers. However, daylight is not always available as construction workers often perform tasks in cramped spaces, dark areas, or at nighttime. In these instances, the use of artificial light is necessary, yet lighting standards for use during lengthy tasks and arduous activities is not specified. Additionally, ambient air, contaminants, and material off-gassing expelled at construction sites are one of the causes of serious health effects in construction workers. Coupled with extreme hot and cold temperatures for different climate zones, health and productivity can be seriously compromised. This research evaluates the impact of existing green building metrics on construction and risk management, by analyzing two codes and nine standards including LEED, WELL, and BREAM. These metrics were chosen based on the relevance to the U.S. construction industry. This research determined that less than 20% of the sustainability context within the standards and codes (texts) are related to the pre-occupancy building sector. The research also investigated the impact of construction personnel’s health and well-being on construction management through two surveys of project managers and on-site contractors’ perception of their work environment on productivity. To fully understand the risks of limited Environmental and Health Quality metrics for contractors (EHQ) this research evaluated the connection between EHQ factors such as inefficient lighting, on construction workers and investigated the correlation between various site coping strategies for comfort and productivity. Outcomes from this research are three-pronged. The first includes fostering a discussion about the existing conditions of EQH elements, i.e. thermal, lighting, ergonomic, acoustic, and air quality on the construction labor force. The second identifies gaps in sustainability standards and codes during the pre-occupancy stage of building construction from ground-breaking to substantial completion. The third identifies opportunities for improvements and mitigation strategies to improve EQH such as increased monitoring of effects on productivity and health of contractors and increased inclusion of the pre-occupancy stage in green building standards.

Keywords: construction contractors, health and well-being, environmental quality, risk management

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Authors: Longxiang Guo, Haoyan Hao, Xueli Sheng, Hanjun Yu, Jingwei Yin

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In order to prevent target splitting and ensure the accuracy of fusion, system error registration is an important step in multi-static sonar fusion detection system. To eliminate the inherent system errors including distance error and angle error of each sonar in detection, this paper uses offline estimation method for error registration. Suppose several sonars from different platforms work together to detect a target. The target position detected by each sonar is based on each sonar’s own reference coordinate system. Based on the two-dimensional stereo projection method, this paper uses real-time quality control (RTQC) method and least squares (LS) method to estimate sensor biases. The RTQC method takes the average value of each sonar’s data as the observation value and the LS method makes the least square processing of each sonar’s data to get the observation value. In the underwater acoustic environment, matlab simulation is carried out and the simulation results show that both algorithms can estimate the distance and angle error of sonar system. The performance of the two algorithms is also compared through the root mean square error and the influence of measurement noise on registration accuracy is explored by simulation. The system error convergence of RTQC method is rapid, but the distribution of targets has a serious impact on its performance. LS method can not be affected by target distribution, but the increase of random noise will slow down the convergence rate. LS method is an improvement of RTQC method, which is widely used in two-dimensional registration. The improved method can be used for underwater multi-target detection registration.

Keywords: data fusion, multi-static sonar detection, offline estimation, sensor registration problem

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Authors: Javad Saeidaskari, Nader Khalafian

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The undesirable impact of vibrations induced by road and railway traffic is an important concern in modern world. These vibrations are transmitted through soil and cause disturbances to the residence area and high-tech production facilities alongside the train/traffic lines. In this paper for the first time a new method of soil improvement with vibration absorber material, is used to increase the damping factor, in other word, to reduce the ability of wave transitions in sand. In this study standard Firoozkooh No. 161 sand is used as the host sand. The semi rigid polyurethane (PU) foam which used in this research is one of the common materials for vibration absorbing purposes. Series of cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on remolded samples with identical relative density of 70% of maximum dry density for different volume percentage of shredded PU foam. The frequency of tests was 0.1 Htz with shear strain of 0.37% and 0.75% and also the effective confining pressures during the tests were 100 kPa and 350 kPa. In order to find out the best soil-PU foam mixture, different volume percent of PU foam varying from 10% to 30% were examined. The results show that adding PU foam up to 20%, as its optimum content, causes notable enhancement in damping ratio for both shear strains of 0.37% (52.19% and 69% increase for effective confining pressures of 100 kPa and 350 kPa, respectively) and 0.75% (59.56% and 59.11% increase for effective confining pressures of 100 kPa and 350 kPa, respectively). The results related to shear modulus present significant reduction for both shear strains of 0.37% (82.22% and 56.03% decrease for effective confining pressures of 100 kPa and 350 kPa, respectively) and 0.75% (89.32% and 39.9% decrease for effective confining pressures of 100 kPa and 350 kPa, respectively). In conclusion, shredded PU foams effectively affect the dynamic properties of sand and act as vibration absorber in soil.

Keywords: polyurethane foam, sand, damping ratio, shear modulus

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Authors: Paulo José Sigaúque, Paulo Rosman

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The Itajurú channel, located in the Eastern side of the Araruama lagoon, Rio de Janeiro state, is the one who makes the connection between Araruama lagoon and the sea. It is important to understand the hydrodynamic circulation of the location and effects of the sedimentological processes, and also estimate of the hydrodynamic and sedimentological processes in the future after the sea level change due to effects of climate change. This work presents results of a study about sediments dynamics in the Araruama lagoon focusing on the Itajurú channel region considering the present mean sea level and a foreseen sea level rise of 0.5 meters due to climate changes. The study was conducted with the aid of computer modeling for hydrodynamic and morphodynamic in SisBaHiA®. The results indicate that Araruama lagoon is composed by two hydrodynamics compartments; one is dominated by the action of the tide between the entrance of the channel and the strait of Perynas, and another one by the action of wind in narrow region between strait of Perynas and western extreme of the lagoon. With sea level rise, the magnitude of current velocities and flow rates is increased and consequently flow of sediment transport from upstream to downstream of Itajurú channel is increased and has more effect in the bridge Feliciano Sodré.

Keywords: hydrodinamic, superelevation, sea level, climate change

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Authors: Iuri Salukvadze

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Construction takes importance role in the history of mankind, there is not a single thing-product in our lives in which the builder’s work was not to be materialized, because to create all of it requires setting up factories, roads, and bridges, etc. The function of the Republic of Georgia, as part of the connecting Europe-Asia transport corridor, is significantly increased. In the context of transit function a large part of the cargo traffic belongs to motor transport, hence the improvement of motor roads transport infrastructure is rather important and rise the new, increased operational demands for existing as well as new motor roads. Construction of the durable road surface is related to rather large values, but because of high transport-operational properties, such as high-speed, less fuel consumption, less depreciation of tires, etc. If the traffic intensity is high, therefore the reimbursement of expenses occurs rapidly and accordingly is increasing income. If the traffic intensity is relatively small, it is recommended to use lightened structures of road carpet in order to pay for capital investments amounted to no more than normative one. The road carpet is divided into the following basic types: asphaltic concrete and cement concrete. Asphaltic concrete is the most perfect type of road carpet. It is arranged in two or three layers on rigid foundation and will be compacted. Asphaltic concrete is artificial building material, which due stratum will be selected and measured from stone skeleton and sand, interconnected by bitumen and a mixture of mineral powder. Less strictly selected similar material is called as bitumen-mineral mixture. Asphaltic concrete is non-rigid building material and well durable on vertical loadings; it is less resistant to the impact of horizontal forces. The cement concrete is monolithic and durable material, it is well durable the horizontal loads and is less resistant related to vertical loads. The cement concrete consists from strictly selected, measured stone material and sand, the binder is cement. The cement concrete road carpet represents separate slabs of sizes from 3 ÷ 5 op to 6 ÷ 8 meters. The slabs are reinforced by a rather complex system. Between the slabs are arranged seams that are designed for avoiding of additional stresses due temperature fluctuations on the length of slabs. For the joint behavior of separate slabs, they are connected by metal rods. Rods provide the changes in the length of slabs and distribute to the slab vertical forces and bending moments. The foundation layers will be extremely durable, for that is required high-quality stone material, cement, and metal. The qualification work aims to: in order for improvement of traffic conditions on motor roads to prolong operational conditions and improving their characteristics. The work consists from three chapters, 80 pages, 5 tables and 5 figures. In the work are stated general concepts as well as carried out by various companies using modern methods tests and their results. In the chapter III are stated carried by us tests related to this issue and specific examples to improving the operational characteristics.

Keywords: asphalt, cement, cylindrikal sample of asphalt, building

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Authors: Nina Miklavčič, Urška Kugovnik, Natalia Galkina, Primož Ribarič, Rudi Vončina

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Today, the need for weather predictions is deeply rooted in the everyday life of people as well as it is in industry. The forecasts influence final decision-making processes in multiple areas, from agriculture and prevention of natural disasters to air traffic regulations and solutions on a national level for health, security, and economic problems. Namely, in Slovenia, alongside other existing forms of application, weather forecasts are adopted for the prognosis of electrical current transmission through powerlines. Meteorological parameters are one of the key factors which need to be considered in estimations of the reliable supply of electrical energy to consumers. And like for any other measured value, the knowledge about measurement uncertainty is also critical for the secure and reliable supply of energy. The estimation of measurement uncertainty grants us a more accurate interpretation of data, a better quality of the end results, and even a possibility of improvement of weather forecast models. In the article, we focused on the estimation of measurement uncertainty of the diagnostic microscale meteorological model CALMET. For the purposes of our research, we used a network of meteorological stations spread in the area of our interest, which enables a side-by-side comparison of measured meteorological values with the values calculated with the help of CALMET and the measurement uncertainty estimation as a final result.

Keywords: uncertancy, meteorological model, meteorological measurment, CALMET

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Authors: Mark Davey

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Communications on a Network on Chip (NoC) produce timing information, i.e., network injection delays, packet traversal times, throughput metrics, and other attributes relating to the traffic being sent across the chip. The security requirements of a platform encompass each node to operate with confidentiality, integrity, and availability (ISO 27001). Inherently, a shared NoC interconnect is exposed to analysis of timing patterns created by contention for the network components, i.e., links and switches/routers. This phenomenon is defined as information leakage, which represents a ‘side channel’ of sensitive information that can be correlated to platform activity. The key algorithm presented in this paper evaluates how an adversary can control two platform neighbouring nodes of a target node to obtain sensitive information about communication with the target node. The actual information obtained is the period value of a periodic task communication. This enacts a breach of the expected confidentiality of a node operating in a multiprocessor platform. An experimental investigation of the side channel is undertaken to judge the level and significance of inferred information produced by access times to the NoC. Results are presented with a series of expanding task set scenarios to evaluate the efficacy of the side channel detection algorithm as the network load increases.

Keywords: embedded systems, multiprocessor, network on chip, side channel

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Authors: Panagiotis Gkekas, Christos Sougles, Dionysios Kehagias, Dimitrios Tzovaras

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Cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) can greatly improve safety and efficiency in road transport by enabling communication, not only between vehicles themselves but also between vehicles and infrastructure. For that reason, traffic surveillance systems on the road are of great importance. This paper focuses on the development of an on-road unit comprising several magnetic sensors for real-time vehicle detection, movement direction, and speed measurement calculations. Magnetic sensors can feel and measure changes in the earth’s magnetic field. Vehicles are composed of many parts with ferromagnetic properties. Depending on sensors’ sensitivity, changes in the earth’s magnetic field caused by passing vehicles can be detected and analyzed in order to extract information on the properties of moving vehicles. In this paper, we present a prototype algorithm for real-time, high-accuracy, vehicle detection, and speed measurement, which can be implemented as a portable, low-cost, and non-invasive to existing infrastructure solution with the potential to replace existing high-cost implementations. The paper describes the algorithm and presents results from its preliminary lab testing in a close to real condition environment. Acknowledgments: Work presented in this paper was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation (call RESEARCH–CREATE–INNOVATE) under contract no. Τ1EDK-03081 (project ODOS2020).

Keywords: magnetic sensors, vehicle detection, speed measurement, traffic surveillance system

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Authors: Roien Qiam, Shoshi Mizokami

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Parking demand in the Central Business District (CBD) has enlarged with the increase of the number of private vehicles due to rapid economic growth, lack of an efficient public transport and traffic management system. This has resulted in low mobility, poor accessibility, serious congestion, high rates of traffic accident fatalities and injuries and air pollution, mainly because people have to drive slowly around to find a vacant spot. With parking pricing and enforcement policy, considerable advancement could be found, and on-street parking spaces could be managed efficiently and effectively. To evaluate parking demand and making parking policy, it is required to understand the current parking condition and driver’s behavior, understand how drivers choose their parking type and location as well as their behavior toward finding a vacant parking spot under parking charges and search times. This study illustrates the result from an observational, revealed and stated preference surveys and experiment. Attained data shows that there is a gap between supply and demand in parking and it has maximized. For the modeling of the parking decision, a choice model was constructed based on discrete choice modeling theory and multinomial logit model estimated by using SP survey data; the model represents the choice of an alternative among different alternatives which are priced on-street, off-street, and illegal parking. Individuals choose a parking type based on their preference concerning parking charges, searching times, access times and waiting times. The parking assignment model was obtained directly from behavioral model and is used in parking simulation. The study concludes with an evaluation of parking policy.

Keywords: CBD, parking demand forecast, parking policy, parking choice model

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Authors: I. V. Kuzminov

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The research is dedicated to the issue of Bosporus evolution and its key role in the Black Sea forming. Up till nowadays, there is no distinct picture of the historical and geographical events of the last 10 thousand years on the territory from Altai up to the Alps. The present article is an attempt to clarify and, moreover, link the presented version to the historical and climatic events of this period. The paper is a development of the basic idea stated in "Hypothesis on the Black Sea origin". The succession of events in dynamics is offered in this article. In the article, it is shown that fluctuation of the level of the World Ocean is a mirror of the basic events connected with the climate on the Earth on the one hand and hydraulic processes on the other hand. In the present article, it is come out with the assumption that at the formation of passage, there were some cycles of change in a level of the World ocean. The phase of the beginning of climate warming is characterized by an increase in the level of inland water bodies on the way of meltwater runoff and an increase in the World ocean level. The end of the warming phase is characterized by the continuation of a rise in the level of the World ocean and the drying up of inland water bodies deprived of meltwater replenishment.

Keywords: Bosporus, Ryan-Pitman hypothesis, fluctuations of the World Ocean level, the Paratethys Sea, catastrophic breakthrough

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Authors: Bulcha Belay Etana, Benny Malengier, Janarthanan Krishnamoorthy, Timothy Kwa, Lieva Vanlangenhove

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Electromyography measures the electrical activity of muscles using surface electrodes or needle electrodes to monitor various disease conditions. Recent developments in the signal acquisition of electromyograms using textile electrodes facilitate wearable devices, enabling patients to monitor and control their health status outside of healthcare facilities. Here, we have developed and tested wearable textile electrodes to acquire electromyography signals from patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease and incorporated a feedback-control system to relieve muscle cramping through thermal stimulus. In brief, the textile electrodes made of stainless steel was knitted into a textile fabric as a sleeve, and their electrical characteristic, such as signal-to-noise ratio, was compared with traditional electrodes. To relieve muscle cramping, a heating element made of stainless-steel conductive yarn sewn onto a cotton fabric, coupled with a vibration system, was developed. The system integrated a microcontroller and a Myoware muscle sensor to activate the heating element as well as the vibration motor when cramping occurred. At the same time, the element gets deactivated when the muscle cramping subsides. An optimum therapeutic temperature of 35.5°C is regulated and maintained continuously by a heating device. The textile electrode exhibited a signal-to-noise ratio of 6.38dB, comparable to that of the traditional electrode’s value of 7.05 dB. For a given 9 V power supply, the rise time for the developed heating element was about 6 minutes to reach an optimum temperature.

Keywords: smart textile system, wearable electronic textile, electromyography, heating textile, vibration therapy, Parkinson’s disease

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: Hiromi Kawasaki, Satoko Yamasaki, Mika Iwasa, Tomoko Iki, Akiko Takaki

Abstract:

In basic nursing, the conditions necessary for maintaining human health -temperature, humidity, illumination, distance from others, noise, moisture, meals, and excretion- were explained. Nursing students often think of these conditions in the context of a hospital room. In order to make students think of these conditions in terms of an environment necessary for maintaining health and preventing illness for residents, in the third year of community health nursing, students learned how to assess and improve the environment -particularly via the case of shelters in the event of a disaster. The importance of environmental management has increased in 2020 as a preventive measure against COVID-19 infection. We verified the effect of the lessons, which was decided to be conducted through distance learning. Sixty third-year nursing college students consented to participate in this study. Environmental standard knowledge for conducting environmental assessment was examined before and after class, and the percentage of correct answers was compared. The χ² test was used for the test, with a 5% significance level employed. Measures were evaluated via a report submitted by the students after class. Student descriptions were analyzed both qualitatively and descriptively with respect to expected health problems and suggestions for improvement. Students have already learned about the environment in terms of basic nursing in their second year. The correct answers for external environmental values concerning interpersonal distance, illumination, noise, and room temperature (p < 0.001) increased significantly after taking the class. Humidity was registered 83.3% before class and 93.3% after class (p = 0.077). Regarding the body, the percentage of students who answered correctly was 70% or more, both before and after the class. The students’ reports included overcrowding, high humidity/high temperature, and the number of toilets as health hazards. Health disorders to be prevented were heat stroke, infectious diseases, and economy class syndrome; improvement methods were recommended for hyperventilation, stretching, hydration, and waiting at home. After the public health nursing class, the students were able to not only propose environmental management of a hospital room but also had an understanding of the environment in terms of the lives of individuals, environmental assessment, and solutions to health problems. The response rate for basic items learned in the second year was already high before and after class, and interpersonal distance and ventilation were described by students. Students were able to use what they learned in basic nursing about the standards of the human mind and body. In the external environment, the memory of specific numerical values was ambiguous. The environment of the hospital room is controlled, and interest in numerical values may decrease. Nursing staff needs to maintain and improve human health as well as hospital rooms. With COVID-19, it was thought that students would continue to not only consider this point in reference to hospital rooms but also in regard to places where people gather. Even in distance learning, students were able to learn the important issues and lessons.

Keywords: environmental assessment, evacuation center, nursing education, nursing students

Procedia PDF Downloads 104

Authors: Lethamaga Tladi, Ray Kekwaletswe

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This study sought to conceptualise a multi-level framework for the effective use of stock ordering system in small enterprises in a rural area context. The interpretive research methodology has been used to enable the researcher to analyse, in-depth, and the subjective meanings of small enterprises’ employees in using the stock ordering system. The empirical data was collected from 13 small enterprises’ employees as participants through semi-structured interviews and observations. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach was used to analyse the small enterprises’ employee’s own account of lived experiences in relations to stock ordering system use in terms of their relatedness to, and cognitive engagement with. A case study of Kgautswane, a rural area in Limpopo Province, South Africa, served as a social context where the phenomenon manifested. Technology-Organisation-Environment Theory (TOE), Technology-to-Performance Chain Model (TPC), and Representation Theory (RT) underpinned this study. In this multi-level study, the findings revealed that; At the organisational level, the effective use of stock ordering system was found to be associated with the organisational performance gains such as efficiency, productivity, quality, competitiveness, and market share. Equally so, at the individual level, the effective use of stock ordering system minimised the end-user’s efforts and time to accomplish their tasks, which yields improved individual performance. The Multi-level framework for effective use of stock ordering system was presented.

Keywords: effective use, multi-dimensions of use, multi-level of use, multi-level research, small enterprises, stock ordering system

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Adel El-Hadidy

Abstract:

For any industry, the production and quality management or wastages reductions have major impingement on overall factory economy. This work discusses the quality improvement of garment industry by applying Pareto analysis, cause and effect diagram and Taguchi experimental design. The main purpose of the work is to reduce the stitching defects, which will also minimize the rejection and reworks rate. Application of Pareto chart, fish bone diagram and Process Sigma Level/and or Performance Level tools helps solving those problems on priority basis. Among all, only sewing, defects are responsible form 69.3% to 97.3 % of total defects. Process Sigma level has been improved from 0.79 to 1.3 and performance rate improved, from F to D level. The results showed that the new set of sewing parameters was superior to the original one. It can be seen that fabric size has the largest effect on the sewing defects and that needle size has the smallest effect on the stitching defects.

Keywords: garment, sewing defects, cost of rework, DMAIC, sigma level, cause and effect diagram, Pareto analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 166

Authors: K. Urukundu, K. A. Aravind, Pradeep M. Nirgude, K. Sandhya

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Transmission of bulk power over a long distance through HVDC transmission lines is gaining importance. This is because the transfer of bulk power through HVDC, from generating stations to load centers over long distances is more economical. However, these HVDC transmission lines create environmental and interference effects under the right of way of the line due to the ionization of the surrounding atmosphere in the vicinity of HVDC lines. The measurement of ground-level electric field and ionic current density is essential for the evaluation of human effects due to electromagnetic interference of the HVDC transmission line. In this paper, experimental laboratory results of the ground-level electric field under the miniature model of 800 kV monopole HVDC line of length 8 meters are presented in lateral configuration with different heights of the conductor from the ground plane. The results are compared with the simulated test results obtained through Finite Element based software.

Keywords: bundle, conductor, hexagonal, transmission line, ground-level electric field

Procedia PDF Downloads 226

Authors: Enjia Zhang

Abstract:

During the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic, all communities in China were gated and under strict management, which was highly effective in preventing the spread of the epidemic from spreading. Based on the TRIZ theory, this paper intends to propose green design strategies of community control in response to public health emergencies and to optimize community control facilities according to the principle of minimum transformation. Through the questionnaire method, this paper investigates and summarizes the situation and problems of community control during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on these problems, the TRIZ theory is introduced to figure out the problems and associates them with prefabricated facilities. Afterward, the innovation points and solutions of prefabricated community control measures are proposed by using the contradiction matrix. This paper summarizes the current situation of community control under public health emergencies and concludes the problems such as simple forms of temporary roadblocks, sudden increase of community traffic pressure, and difficulties to access public spaces. The importance of entrance and exit control in community control is emphasized. Therefore, the community control measures are supposed to focus on traffic control, and the external access control measures, including motor vehicles, non-motor vehicles, residents and non-residents access control, and internal public space access control measures, including public space control shared with the society or adjacent communities, are proposed in order to make the community keep the open characteristics and have the flexibility to deal with sudden public health emergencies in the future.

Keywords: green design, community control, prefabricated structure, public health emergency

Procedia PDF Downloads 130

Authors: Ali Ashtiani, Cesar Carrasco

Abstract:

Accurate determination of thermo-mechanical responses of jointed concrete pavement slabs is essential to implement an effective mechanistic design. Temperature-induced curling of concrete slabs can produce premature top-down cracking in rigid pavements. Curling of concrete slabs can result from daily temperature variation through the slab thickness. The slab curling can also result from temperature gradients due hot weather construction, drying shrinkage and creep that are permanently built into the slabs. The existence of permanent curling implies that concrete slabs are not flat at zero temperature gradient. In this case, slabs may not be in full contact with the underlying base layer when subjecting to traffic. Built-in curling can be a major factor producing loss of slab support. The magnitude of stresses induced in slabs is influenced by the stiffness of the underlying foundation layers and the contact condition along the slab-foundation interface. An approach for finite element modeling of the effect of loss of slab support due to built-in curling is presented in this paper. A series of parametric studies is carried out for a pavement system loaded with a combination of traffic and thermal loads, considering different built-in curling and different foundation rigidities. The results explain the effect of loss of support in the magnitude of stresses produced in concrete slabs. The results of parametric study can also be used to evaluate whether the governing equations that are used to idealize the behavior of jointed concrete pavements and the effect of loss of support have been accurately selected and implemented in the finite element model.

Keywords: built-in curling, finite element modeling, loss of slab support, rigid pavement

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Omar Juhmani

Abstract:

This paper examines the relation between internal corporate governance and the level of corporate compliance with mandatory IFRS disclosure requirements. The internal corporate governance is measured by board and audit committee characteristics. Using data from Bahrain Stock Exchange, the results show that board independence is positively and significantly associated with level of compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements. This suggests that internal corporate governance mechanisms are effective in the financial reporting practices by increasing the level of compliance with IFRS disclosures. Also, the results of the regression analyses indicate that two of the control variables; company size and audit firm size are significantly positively associated with the level of corporate compliance with mandatory IFRS disclosure requirements in Bahrain.

Keywords: Bahrain, board and audit committee characteristics, compliance, disclosure, IFRS

Procedia PDF Downloads 421