Search results for: switching costs

Authors: Hsu-Yung Cheng, Kuo-Chang Hsu, Chi-Chang Chan, Mei-Hui Tseng, Chih-Chang Yu, Ya-Sheng Liu

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Photovoltaics modules are usually not installed horizontally to avoid water or dust accumulation. However, the measured irradiance data on tilted surfaces are rarely available since installing pyranometers with various tilt angles induces high costs. Therefore, estimating solar irradiance on tilted surfaces is an important research topic. In this work, artificial neural networks (ANN) are utilized to construct the transfer model to estimate solar irradiance on tilted surfaces. Instead of predicting tilted irradiance directly, the proposed method estimates the differences between the horizontal irradiance and the irradiance on a tilted surface. The outputs of the ANNs in the proposed design are differential values. The experimental results have shown that the proposed ANNs with differential outputs can substantially improve the estimation accuracy compared to ANNs that estimate the titled irradiance directly.

Keywords: photovoltaics, artificial neural networks, tilted irradiance, solar energy

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Authors: Mohammadhadi Mirmohammadi, Reza Safian, Hossein Haddad

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This paper presents an innovative solution for complex multi-objective optimization problem which is a part of efforts toward maximizing rolling mill throughput and minimizing processing costs in tandem cold rolling. This computational intelligence based optimization has been applied to the rolling schedules of tandem cold rolling mill. This method involves the combination of two derivative-free optimization procedures in the form of nested loops. The first optimization loop is based on Improving Hit and Run method which focus on balance of power, force and reduction distribution in rolling schedules. The second loop is a real-coded genetic algorithm based optimization procedure which optimizes energy consumption and productivity. An experimental result of application to five stand tandem cold rolling mill is presented.

Keywords: derivative-free optimization, Improving Hit and Run method, real-coded genetic algorithm, rolling schedules of tandem cold rolling mill

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Authors: Arvind Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Dattatraya H. Nagaraj, Amanpreet Singh, Jayanthi Prattapati

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In recent years, the use of renewable energy resources instead of pollutant fossil fuels and other forms has increased. Photovoltaic generation is becoming increasingly important as a renewable resource since it does not cause in fuel costs, pollution, maintenance, and emitting noise compared with other alternatives used in power applications. In this paper, Perturb and Observe and Incremental Conductance methods are used to improve energy conversion efficiency under different environmental conditions. PI controllers are used to control easily DC-link voltage, active and reactive currents. The whole system is simulated under standard climatic conditions (1000 W/m2, 250C) in MATLAB and the irradiance is varied from 1000 W/m2 to 300 W/m2. The use of PI controller makes it easy to directly control the power of the grid connected PV system. Finally the validity of the system will be verified through the simulations in MATLAB/Simulink environment.

Keywords: incremental conductance algorithm, modeling of PV panel, perturb and observe algorithm, photovoltaic system and simulation results

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Authors: Mohamed Mokhtar, Mostafa F. Shaaban

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Among the challenges facing solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), dust accumulation on solar panels is considered the most severe problem that faces the growth of solar power plants. The accumulation of dust on the solar panels significantly degrades output from these panels. Hence, solar PV panels have to be cleaned manually or using costly automated cleaning methods. This paper focuses on initiating cleaning actions when required to reduce maintenance costs. The cleaning actions are triggered only when the dust level exceeds a threshold value. The amount of dust accumulated on the PV panels is estimated using an artificial neural network (ANN). Experiments are conducted to collect the required data, which are used in the training of the ANN model. Then, this ANN model will be fed by the output power from solar panels, ambient temperature, and solar irradiance, and thus, it will be able to estimate the amount of dust accumulated on solar panels at these conditions. The model was tested on different case studies to confirm the accuracy of the developed model.

Keywords: machine learning, dust, PV panels, renewable energy

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Authors: Ahmad Kayvani Fard, Yehia Manawi

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Qatar’s primary source of fresh water is through seawater desalination. Amongst the major processes that are commercially available on the market, the most common large scale techniques are Multi-Stage Flash distillation (MSF), Multi Effect distillation (MED), and Reverse Osmosis (RO). Although commonly used, these three processes are highly expensive down to high energy input requirements and high operating costs allied with maintenance and stress induced on the systems in harsh alkaline media. Beside that cost, environmental footprint of these desalination techniques are significant; from damaging marine eco-system, to huge land use, to discharge of tons of GHG and huge carbon footprint. Other less energy consuming techniques based on membrane separation are being sought to reduce both the carbon footprint and operating costs is membrane distillation (MD). Emerged in 1960s, MD is an alternative technology for water desalination attracting more attention since 1980s. MD process involves the evaporation of a hot feed, typically below boiling point of brine at standard conditions, by creating a water vapor pressure difference across the porous, hydrophobic membrane. Main advantages of MD compared to other commercially available technologies (MSF and MED) and specially RO are reduction of membrane and module stress due to absence of trans-membrane pressure, less impact of contaminant fouling on distillate due to transfer of only water vapor, utilization of low grade or waste heat from oil and gas industries to heat up the feed up to required temperature difference across the membrane, superior water quality, and relatively lower capital and operating cost. To achieve the objective of this study, state of the art flat-sheet cross-flow DCMD bench scale unit was designed, commissioned, and tested. The objective of this study is to analyze the characteristics and morphology of the membrane suitable for DCMD through SEM imaging and contact angle measurement and to study the water quality of distillate produced by DCMD bench scale unit. Comparison with available literature data is undertaken where appropriate and laboratory data is used to compare a DCMD distillate quality with that of other desalination techniques and standards. Membrane SEM analysis showed that the PTFE membrane used for the study has contact angle of 127º with highly porous surface supported with less porous and bigger pore size PP membrane. Study on the effect of feed solution (salinity) and temperature on water quality of distillate produced from ICP and IC analysis showed that with any salinity and different feed temperature (up to 70ºC) the electric conductivity of distillate is less than 5 μS/cm with 99.99% salt rejection and proved to be feasible and effective process capable of consistently producing high quality distillate from very high feed salinity solution (i.e. 100000 mg/L TDS) even with substantial quality difference compared to other desalination methods such as RO and MSF.

Keywords: membrane distillation, waste heat, seawater desalination, membrane, freshwater, direct contact membrane distillation

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Authors: Li Yong

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Using the data of 135 financial institutions in China from 2018 to 2022, this paper deeply analyzes the underlying theoretical mechanism of artificial intelligence (AI) technology promoting financial development and examines the impact of AI technology on the digital transformation performance of financial enterprises. It is found that the level of AI technology has a significant positive impact on the development of finance. Compared with the impact on the expansion of financial scale, AI technology plays a greater role in improving the performance of financial institutions, reflecting the trend characteristics of the current AI technology to promote the evolution of financial structure. By investigating the intermediary transmission effects, we found that AI technology plays a positive role in promoting the performance of financial institutions by reducing operating costs and improving customer satisfaction, but its function in innovating financial products and mitigating financial risks is relatively limited. In addition, the promotion of AI technology in financial development has significant heterogeneity in terms of the type, scale, and attributes of financial institutions.

Keywords: artificial intelligence technology, financial development, China, heterogeneity

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Authors: Alondra Balbuena Medina, Carlos Diaz Delgado, Aleida Yadira Vilchis Fránces

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In Mexico, each year news is disseminated about the ravages of floods, such as the total loss of housing, damage to the fields; the increase of the costs of the food, derived from the losses of the harvests, coupled with health problems such as skin infection, etc. In addition to social problems such as delinquency, damage in education institutions and the population in general. The flooding is a consequence of heavy rains, tropical storms and or hurricanes that generate excess water in drainage systems that exceed its capacity. In urban areas, heavy rains can be one of the main factors in causing flooding, in addition to excessive precipitation, dam breakage, and human activities, for example, excessive garbage in the strainers. In agricultural areas, these can hardly achieve large areas of cultivation. It should be mentioned that for both areas, one of the significant impacts of floods is that they can permanently affect the livelihoods of many families, cause damage, for example in their workplaces such as farmlands, commercial or industry areas and where services are provided. In recent years, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have had an accelerated development, being reflected in the growth and the exponential evolution of the innovation giving; as a result, the daily generation of new technologies, updates, and applications. Innovation in the development of Information Technology applications has impacted on all areas of human activity. They influence all the orders of life of individuals, reconfiguring the way of perceiving and analyzing the world such as, for instance, interrelating with people as individuals and as a society, in the economic, political, social, cultural, educational, environmental, etc. Therefore the present work describes the creation of a system of calculation of flood costs for housing areas, retail establishments and agricultural areas from the Mexican Republic, based on the use and application of geotechnical tools being able to be useful for the benefit of the sectors of public, education and private. To generate analysis of hydrometereologic affections and with the obtained results to realize the Geoinformatics tool was constructed from two different points of view: the geoinformatic (design and development of GIS software) and the methodology of flood damage validation in order to integrate a tool that provides the user the monetary estimate of the effects caused by the floods. With information from the period 2000-2014, the functionality of the application was corroborated. For the years 2000 to 2009 only the analysis of the agricultural and housing areas was carried out, incorporating for the commercial establishment's information of the period 2010 - 2014. The method proposed for the resolution of this research project is a fundamental contribution to society, in addition to the tool itself. Therefore, it can be summarized that the problems that are in the physical-geographical environment, conceiving them from the point of view of the spatial analysis, allow to offer different alternatives of solution and also to open up slopes towards academia and research.

Keywords: floods, technological innovation, monetary estimation, spatial analysis

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Authors: Paul Gurr, Maik Moser

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In Europe, some countries recently abolished air passenger taxes (APT), while others issued or consider issuing an APT. From a fiscal perspective, APT can benefit the environment, while generating a vast amount of tax revenue with relatively low administration costs. However, they may have significant negative effects on the economy. Focusing on the German air passenger tax issued 2011, this work estimates the elasticity of tourism outflows using data on passenger departures from German airports between 2010 and 2016 aggregated by destination country. The results are obtained by estimating a model of the demand for outbound tourism. In line with theory, the regression results indicate a negative relationship between taxes and departures from Germany. Furthermore, on average, an increase of the air passenger tax rate results in a relatively higher decrease of passenger departures. The elasticity of tourism outflows can be used to estimate tax revenue changes and hence evaluate possible policy actions. Neglecting environmental reasons, the results suggest that tax revenue might be maximized by reducing the air passenger tax rate. Besides Germany, this work is also important for countries which have or consider implementing APT.

Keywords: air passenger tax, Germany, Outbound tourism, panel data

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Authors: Saleh Kasiri Bidhendi, Shiva Tashakori

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With the increasing application of six-wheel robots in various industries, including agriculture and environmental monitoring, there is a growing demand for efficient and reliable control systems that can improve manoeuvrability and at the same time reduce energy consumption. Moving on uneven terrains, various factors such as obstacles or soil heterogeneity can cause the robot to slip. There is limited research addressing this issue. Although the robot is supposed to track a predetermined path, sudden lateral deviation necessitates path planning. To further address this issue, explicit steering is added by activating actuators on steerable wheels, while the SMC controller still commands differential traction forces on all wheels. This integration improves energy efficiency and obstacle traversability while maintaining the merits of skid-steering, such as tight turning manoeuvrability. However, achieving the desired steer angles presents certain challenges. Inverse kinematics was initially employed to achieve the needed steering angles from the desired position, but this approach led to excessive steering without yawing the body. Switching to desired velocity values instead of position limited over-steering but caused zero lateral velocity on horizontal paths, which was problematic for unforeseen skidding. To overcome this, a proportional controller has been employed, using lateral error as its input and providing a proportional yaw angle as output, the P-controller contributes to modifying the steering angles. The controller's robustness has been verified through sensitivity analyses under critical speeds and turning radius conditions. Our findings offer valuable insights into designing more efficient steering controls for rocker-bogie mechanisms in challenging situations, emphasizing the importance of reducing energy¬ consumption.

Keywords: six-wheel robots, inverse kinematics, integrated steering, path following, manoeuvrability, energy efficiency, uneven terrains

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Authors: Jiangang Shen

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Olfactory dysfunction is a common symptom companied by anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors in depressive patients. Chronic stress triggers hormone responses and inhibits the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) in the hippocampus and subventricular zone (SVZ)-olfactory bulb (OB), contributing to depressive behaviors and olfactory dysfunction. However, the cellular signaling molecules to regulate chronic stress mediated olfactory dysfunction are largely unclear. Adaptor proteins containing the pleckstrin homology domain, phosphotyrosine binding domain, and leucine zipper motif (APPLs) are multifunctional adaptor proteins. Herein, we tested the hypothesis that APPL2 could inhibit hippocampal neurogenesis by affecting glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling, subsequently contributing to depressive and anxiety behaviors as well as olfactory dysfunctions. The major discoveries are included: (1) APPL2 Tg mice had enhanced GR phosphorylation under basic conditions but had no different plasma corticosterone (CORT) level and GR phosphorylation under stress stimulation. (2) APPL2 Tg mice had impaired hippocampal neurogenesis and revealed depressive and anxiety behaviors. (3) GR antagonist RU486 reversed the impaired hippocampal neurogenesis in the APPL2 Tg mice. (4) APPL2 Tg mice displayed higher GR activity and less capacity for neurogenesis at the olfactory system with lesser olfactory sensitivity than WT mice. (5) APPL2 negatively regulates olfactory functions by switching fate commitments of NSCs in adult olfactory bulbs via interaction with Notch1 signaling. Furthermore, baicalin, a natural medicinal compound, was found to be a promising agent targeting APPL2/GR signaling and promoting adult neurogenesis in APPL2 Tg mice and chronic corticosterone-induced depression mouse models. Behavioral tests revealed that baicalin had antidepressant and olfactory-improving effects. Taken together, APPL2 is a critical therapeutic target for antidepressant treatment.

Keywords: APPL2, hippocampal neurogenesis, depressive behaviors and olfactory dysfunction, stress

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Authors: A. Abubakar, A. Parsa, S. Walker

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Despite advances made in the diagnosis and management of drug-sensitive tuberculosis (TB) over the past decades, treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) remains challenging and complex particularly in high burden countries including Nigeria. Treatment of MDR-TB is cost-prohibitive with success rate generally lower compared to drug-sensitive TB and if care is not taken it may become the dominant form of TB in future with many treatment uncertainties and substantial morbidity and mortality. Addressing these challenges requires collaborative efforts thorough sustained researches to evaluate the current treatment guidelines, particularly in high burden countries and prevent progression of resistance. To our best knowledge, there has been no research exploring the acceptability, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of community-based-MDR-TB treatment model in Nigeria, which is among the high burden countries. The previous similar qualitative study looks at the home-based management of MDR-TB in rural Uganda. This research aimed to explore patient’s views and acceptability of community-based-MDR-TB treatment model and to evaluate and compare the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of community-based versus hospital-based MDR-TB treatment model of care from the Nigerian perspective. Knowledge of patient’s views and acceptability of community-based-MDR-TB treatment approach would help in designing future treatment recommendations and in health policymaking. Accordingly, knowledge of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are part of the evidence needed to inform a decision about whether and how to scale up MDR-TB treatment, particularly in a poor resource setting with limited knowledge of TB. Mixed methods using qualitative and quantitative approach were employed. Qualitative data were obtained using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 21 MDR-TB patients in Nigeria to explore their views and acceptability of community-based MDR-TB treatment model. Qualitative data collection followed an iterative process which allowed adaptation of topic guides until data saturation. In-depth interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Quantitative data on treatment outcomes were obtained from medical records of MDR-TB patients to determine the effectiveness and direct and indirect costs were obtained from the patients using validated questionnaire and health system costs from the donor agencies to determine the cost-effectiveness difference between community and hospital-based model from the Nigerian perspective. Findings: Some themes have emerged from the patient’s perspectives indicating preference and high acceptability of community-based-MDR-TB treatment model by the patients and mixed feelings about the risk of MDR-TB transmission within the community due to poor infection control. The result of the modeling from the quantitative data is still on course. Community-based MDR-TB care was seen as the acceptable and most preferred model of care by the majority of the participants because of its convenience which in turn enhanced recovery, enables social interaction and offer more psychosocial benefits as well as averted productivity loss. However, there is a need to strengthen this model of care thorough enhanced strategies that ensure guidelines compliance and infection control in order to prevent the progression of resistance and curtail community transmission.

Keywords: acceptability, cost-effectiveness, multidrug-resistant TB treatment, community and hospital approach

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Authors: G. L. Rithika, Arvind B. S., Akash R., Ananda Vinayak, Hema M. S.

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Cryptocurrencies were first launched in the year 2009 and have been a great asset to own. Cryptocurrencies are a representation of a completely distinct decentralization model for money. They also contribute to the elimination of currency monopolies and the liberation of money from control. The fact that no government agency can determine a coin's value or flow is what cryptocurrency advocates believe makes them safe and secure. The aim of this paper is to analyze the economic implications of cryptocurrency and how it would disrupt traditional financial systems. This paper analyses the growth of Cryptocurrency over the years and the potential threats of cryptocurrency to financial systems. Our analysis shows that although the DeFi design, like the traditional financial system, may have the ability to lower transaction costs, there are multiple layers where rents might build up because of endogenous competition limitations. The permissionless and anonymous design of DeFi poses issues for ensuring tax compliance, anti-money laundering laws and regulations, and preventing financial misconduct.

Keywords: cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, blockchain technology, traditional financial systems, decentralisation, regulatory framework

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Authors: Ardalan Tofighi Soleimandarabi

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Artificial intelligence has revolutionized the concrete construction industry and improved processes by increasing efficiency, accuracy, and sustainability. This article examines the applications of artificial intelligence in predicting the compressive strength of concrete, optimizing mixing plans, and improving structural health monitoring systems. Artificial intelligence-based models, such as artificial neural networks (ANN) and combined machine learning techniques, have shown better performance than traditional methods in predicting concrete properties. In addition, artificial intelligence systems have made it possible to improve quality control and real-time monitoring of structures, which helps in preventive maintenance and increases the life of infrastructure. Also, the use of artificial intelligence plays an effective role in sustainable construction by optimizing material consumption and reducing waste. Although the implementation of artificial intelligence is associated with challenges such as high initial costs and the need for specialized training, it will create a smarter, more sustainable, and more affordable future for concrete structures.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, concrete construction, compressive strength prediction, structural health monitoring, stability

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Authors: Thorsten Prante, Robert Schöch, Ruth Fleisch, Vaheh Khachatouri, Alexander Walch

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The development of industrial plant control software is a complex and often very expensive task. One of the core problems is that a lot of the implementation and adaptation work can only be done after the plant hardware has been installed. In this paper, we present our approach to virtually developing and validating plant-level control software of production plants. This way, plant control software can be virtually commissioned before actual ramp-up of a plant, reducing actual commissioning costs and time. Technically, this is achieved by linking the actual plant-wide process control software (often called plant server) and an elaborate virtual plant model together to form an emulation system. Method-wise, we are suggesting a four-step iterative process with well-defined increments and time frame. Our work is based on practical experiences from planning to commissioning and start-up of several cut-to-size plants.

Keywords: iterative system design, virtual plant engineering, plant control software, simulation and emulation, virtual commissioning

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Authors: B. Godefroy, D. Beladjine, K. Beddiar

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In France, construction BIM actors commonly evoke the BIM gains for exploitation by integrating of the life cycle of a building. The standardization of level 7 of development would achieve this stage of the digital model. The householders include local public authorities, social landlords, public institutions (health and education), enterprises, facilities management companies. They have a dual role: owner and manager of their housing complex. In a context of financial constraint, the BIM of exploitation aims to control costs, make long-term investment choices, renew the portfolio and enable environmental standards to be met. It assumes a knowledge of the existing buildings, marked by its size and complexity. The information sought must be synthetic and structured, it concerns, in general, a real estate complex. We conducted a study with professionals about their concerns and ways to use it to see how householders could benefit from this development. To obtain results, we had in mind the recurring interrogation of the project management, on the needs of the operators, we tested the following stages: 1) Inculcate a minimal culture of BIM with multidisciplinary teams of the operator then by business, 2) Learn by BIM tools, the adaptation of their trade in operations, 3) Understand the place and creation of a graphic and technical database management system, determine the components of its library so their needs, 4) Identify the cross-functional interventions of its managers by business (operations, technical, information system, purchasing and legal aspects), 5) Set an internal protocol and define the BIM impact in their digital strategy. In addition, continuity of management by the integration of construction models in the operation phase raises the question of interoperability in the control of the production of IFC files in the operator’s proprietary format and the export and import processes, a solution rivaled by the traditional method of vectorization of paper plans. Companies that digitize housing complex and those in FM produce a file IFC, directly, according to their needs without recourse to the model of construction, they produce models business for the exploitation. They standardize components, equipment that are useful for coding. We observed the consequences resulting from the use of the BIM in the property industry and, made the following observations: a) The value of data prevail over the graphics, 3D is little used b) The owner must, through his organization, promote the feedback of technical management information during the design phase c) The operator's reflection on outsourcing concerns the acquisition of its information system and these services, observing the risks and costs related to their internal or external developments. This study allows us to highlight: i) The need for an internal organization of operators prior to a response to the construction management ii) The evolution towards automated methods for creating models dedicated to the exploitation, a specialization would be required iii) A review of the communication of the project management, management continuity not articulating around his building model, it must take into account the environment of the operator and reflect on its scope of action.

Keywords: information system, interoperability, models for exploitation, property industry

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Authors: Marcin Michalak

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Due to the increasing efforts on saving our natural environment a change in the structure of energy resources can be observed - an increasing fraction of a renewable energy sources. In many countries traditional underground coal mining loses its significance but there are still countries, like Poland or Germany, in which the coal based technologies have the greatest fraction in a total energy production. This necessitates to make an effort to limit the costs and negative effects of underground coal mining. The longwall complex is as essential part of the underground coal mining. The safety and the effectiveness of the work is strongly dependent of the diagnostic state of powered roof supports. The building of a useful and reliable diagnostic system requires a lot of data. As the acquisition of a data of any possible operating conditions it is important to have a possibility to generate a demanded artificial working characteristics. In this paper a new approach of modelling a leg pressure in the single unit of powered roof support. The model is a result of the analysis of a typical working cycles.

Keywords: machine modelling, underground mining, coal mining, structure

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Authors: Khachen Kongpakwattana, Nathorn Chaiyakunapruk

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Background: Decision-analytic models for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have been advanced to discrete-event simulation (DES), in which individual-level modelling of disease progression across continuous severity spectra and incorporation of key parameters such as treatment persistence into the model become feasible. This study aimed to apply the DES to perform a cost-effectiveness analysis of treatment for AD in Thailand. Methods: A dataset of Thai patients with AD, representing unique demographic and clinical characteristics, was bootstrapped to generate a baseline cohort of patients. Each patient was cloned and assigned to donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine, memantine or no treatment. Throughout the simulation period, the model randomly assigned each patient to discrete events including hospital visits, treatment discontinuation and death. Correlated changes in cognitive and behavioral status over time were developed using patient-level data. Treatment effects were obtained from the most recent network meta-analysis. Treatment persistence, mortality and predictive equations for functional status, costs (Thai baht (THB) in 2017) and quality-adjusted life year (QALY) were derived from country-specific real-world data. The time horizon was 10 years, with a discount rate of 3% per annum. Cost-effectiveness was evaluated based on the willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of 160,000 THB/QALY gained (4,994 US$/QALY gained) in Thailand. Results: Under a societal perspective, only was the prescription of donepezil to AD patients with all disease-severity levels found to be cost-effective. Compared to untreated patients, although the patients receiving donepezil incurred a discounted additional costs of 2,161 THB, they experienced a discounted gain in QALY of 0.021, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of 138,524 THB/QALY (4,062 US$/QALY). Besides, providing early treatment with donepezil to mild AD patients further reduced the ICER to 61,652 THB/QALY (1,808 US$/QALY). However, the dominance of donepezil appeared to wane when delayed treatment was given to a subgroup of moderate and severe AD patients [ICER: 284,388 THB/QALY (8,340 US$/QALY)]. Introduction of a treatment stopping rule when the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) score goes below 10 to a mild AD cohort did not deteriorate the cost-effectiveness of donepezil at the current treatment persistence level. On the other hand, none of the AD medications was cost-effective when being considered under a healthcare perspective. Conclusions: The DES greatly enhances real-world representativeness of decision-analytic models for AD. Under a societal perspective, treatment with donepezil improves patient’s quality of life and is considered cost-effective when used to treat AD patients with all disease-severity levels in Thailand. The optimal treatment benefits are observed when donepezil is prescribed since the early course of AD. With healthcare budget constraints in Thailand, the implementation of donepezil coverage may be most likely possible when being considered starting with mild AD patients, along with the stopping rule introduced.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, cost-effectiveness analysis, discrete event simulation, health technology assessment

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Authors: Vaibhav V. Dixit, Shubham Ajay Karwa

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Diabetic foot ulcers speak to a critical medical problem. Right now, clinicians and medical caretakers primarily construct their injury evaluation in light of visual examination of wound size and mending status, while the patients themselves rarely have a chance to play a dynamic part. Henceforth, love quantitative and practical examination technique that empowers the patients and their parental figures to take a more dynamic part in every day wound care possibly can quicken wound recuperating, spare travel cost and diminish human services costs. Considering the commonness of cell phones with a high-determination computerized camera, evaluating wounds by breaking down pictures of ceaseless foot ulcers is an alluring choice. In this paper, we propose a novel injury picture examination framework actualized using feature extraction and color segmentation. Here we are using the Normalized minimum distance classifier for classifying the output.

Keywords: diabetic, Gabor wavelet, normalized minimum distance classifier, quantiable parameters

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Authors: K. Kusakana

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A hybrid energy system is a combination of renewable energy sources with back up, as well as a storage system used to respond to given load energy requirements. Given that the electrical output of each renewable source is fluctuating with changes in weather conditions, and since the load demand also varies with time; one of the main attributes of hybrid systems is to be able to respond to the load demand at any time by optimally controlling each energy source, storage and back-up system. The induced optimization problem is to compute the optimal operation control of the system with the aim of minimizing operation costs while efficiently and reliably responding to the load energy requirement. Current optimization research and development on hybrid systems are mainly focusing on the sizing aspect. Thus, the aim of this paper is to report on the state-of-the-art of optimal operation control of hybrid renewable energy systems. This paper also discusses different challenges encountered, as well as future developments that can help in improving the optimal operation control of hybrid renewable energy systems.

Keywords: renewable energies, hybrid systems, optimization, operation control

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Authors: C. Cole, M. Osmani, A. Wheatley, M. Quddus

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EU and UK Government targets for minimising and recycling household waste has led the responsible authorities to research the alternatives to landfill. In the work reported here the local waste collection authority (Charnwood Borough Council) has adopted the aspirational strategy of becoming a “Zero Waste Borough” to lead the drive for public participation. The work concludes that the separate collection of food waste would be needed to meet the two regulatory standards on recycling and biologically active wastes. An analysis of a neighbouring Authority (Newcastle-Under-Lyne Borough Council (NBC), a similar sized local authority that has a successful weekly food waste collection service was undertaken. Results indicate that the main challenges for Charnwood Borough Council would be gaining householder co-operation, the extra costs of collection and organising alternative treatment. The analysis also demonstrated that there was potential offset value via anaerobic digestion for CBC to overcome these difficulties and improve its recycling performance.

Keywords: England, food waste collections, household waste, local authority

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Authors: Jitka Hroudova, Jiri Zach

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The majority of contemporary insulation materials commonly used in the building industry is made from non-renewable raw materials; furthermore, their production often brings high energy costs. A long-term trend as far as sustainable development is concerned has been the reduction of energy and material demands of building material production. One of the solutions is the possibility of using easily renewable natural raw material sources which are considerably more ecological and their production is mostly less energy-consuming compared to the production of normal insulations (mineral wool, polystyrene). The paper describes the results of research focused on the development of thermal and acoustic insulation materials based on natural fibres intended for floor constructions. Given the characteristic open porosity of natural fibre materials, the hygrothermal behaviour of the developed materials was studied. Especially the influence of relative humidity and temperature on thermal insulation properties was observed.

Keywords: Green thermal and acoustic insulating materials, natural fibres, technical hemp, flax, floor construction

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Authors: Barbara Heinisch, Mikael Snaprud

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A common, well understood language is crucial in critical situations like landing a plane. For e-Government solutions, a clear and common language is needed to allow users to successfully complete transactions online. Misunderstandings here may not risk a safe landing but can cause delays, resubmissions and drive costs. This holds also true for higher education, where misunderstandings can also arise due to inconsistent use of terminology. Thus, language barriers are a societal challenge that needs to be tackled. The major means to bridge language barriers is translation. However, achieving high-quality translation and making texts understandable and accessible require certain framework conditions. Therefore, the EU and individual projects take (strategic) actions. These actions include the identification, collection, processing, re-use and development of language resources. These language resources may be used for the development of machine translation systems and the provision of (public) services including higher education. This paper outlines some of the existing resources and indicate directions for further development to increase the quality and usage of these resources.

Keywords: language resources, machine translation, terminology, translation

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Authors: Shouyong Zhou, Meisheng Li, Yijiang Zhao

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The environmentally acceptable disposal of oily wastewater is a current challenge to many industries. The membrane separation technologies, which is no phase change, without pharmaceutical dosing, reprocessing costs low, less energy consumption, etc., have been widely applied in oily wastewater treatment. In our lab, a kind of low cost ceramic microfiltration membranes with a separation layer of attapulgite nanofibers (attapulgite nanofiber-like microfiltration membranes) has been prepared and applied in the purification of cellulase fermentation broth and TiO2 nanoparticles system successfully. In this paper, this new attapulgite nanofiber-like microfiltration membrane was selected to try to separate water from oily wastewater. The oil-in water emulsion was obtained from mixing 1 g/L engine oil, 0.5 g/L Tween-80, 0.5 g/L Span-80 and distilled water at mild speed in blender for 2 min. The particle size distribution of the oil-in-water emulsion was controlled. The maximum steady flux and COD rejection for a 0.2 um attapulgite nanofiber-like microfiltration membrane can reach about 450 L. m-2. h-1 and 98% at 0.2 MPa. The results obtained in this work indicated that the attapulgite microfiltration membrane may represent a feasible pretreatment for oily wastewater.

Keywords: attapulgite, microfiltration membrane, oily wastewater, cross-flow filtration

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Authors: Shuen-Tai Wang, Yu-Ching Lin, Hsi-Ya Chang

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Virtualization technologies are experiencing a renewed interest as a way to improve system reliability, and availability, reduce costs, and provide flexibility. This paper presents the development on leverage existing cloud infrastructure and virtualization tools. We adopted some virtualization technologies which improve portability, manageability and compatibility of applications by encapsulating them from the underlying operating system on which they are executed. Given the development of application virtualization, it allows shifting the user’s applications from the traditional PC environment to the virtualized environment, which is stored on a remote virtual machine rather than locally. This proposed effort has the potential to positively provide an efficient, resilience and elastic environment for online cloud service. Users no longer need to burden the platform maintenance and drastically reduces the overall cost of hardware and software licenses. Moreover, this flexible and web-based application virtualization service represent the next significant step to the mobile workplace, and it lets user executes their applications from virtually anywhere.

Keywords: cloud service, application virtualization, virtual machine, elastic environment

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Authors: Maryam Akbarzadeh, F. Esmaeilzadeh, A. Poostvar, M. Manuchehri

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Preparation of regional input-output tables requires statistical methods combined with high costs and too much time. Obtained estimates by non-statistical methods have low confidence coefficient. Therefore, integrated methods for this purpose are suggested by recent input–output studies. In this study, first GRIT method is introduced as an appropriate integrated method for preparation of input-output table of Fars province. Next, input-output table is prepared for Fars province using this method. Therefore, this study is based on input-output table of national economy in 2001. Necessary modifications performed in the field of changes at level of prices and differences of regional trade compared with other areas at national level. Moreover, up to date statistics and information and technical experts view on the various economic sectors along with input-output table 33 was used in 2011 followed by investigation of general structure of the province economy based on the amounts of added value obtained from this table.

Keywords: grit, input-output, table, regional

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Authors: Rohan Sarker, Cory Smith

Abstract:

ROMIC Group UK is a leading provider of diesel electric locomotives, specializing in innovative and efficient solutions for rail transportation. With a strong focus on sustainability and performance, ROMIC's diesel electric locomotives are engineered to reduce fuel consumption while maximizing operational efficiency. The company's locomotives incorporate advanced technologies such as regenerative braking systems and precision control software, which enhance fuel economy and minimize environmental impact. ROMIC's extensive experience in the rail sector enables it to deliver reliable and powerful locomotives that meet the demands of both freight and passenger services. These locomotives are designed for heavy-duty applications, offering superior traction and load-carrying capacity across various terrains. The company's commitment to cutting-edge engineering and customer satisfaction ensures that its locomotives are a trusted choice for rail operators looking for high performance and low operational costs. ROMIC Group UK continues to drive innovation in the rail industry with its sustainable locomotive solutions.

Keywords: diesel, electric, engines, locomotives

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Authors: Mahsa Pishdar

Abstract:

Food traceability through the supply chain is facing increased demand. IoT and blockchain are among the tools under consideration in the Industry 4.0 era that could be integrated to help implementation of the Circular Economy (CE) principles while enhancing food traceability solutions. However, such tools need intellectual system, and infrastructureto be settled as guidance through the way, helping overcoming obstacles. That is why the critical success factors for implementing Industry 4.0 and circular economy principles in food traceability concept are analyzed in this paper by combination of interval type 2 fuzzy Worst Best Method and Measurement Alternatives and Ranking according to Compromise Solution (Interval Type 2 fuzzy WBM-MARCOS). Results indicate that “Knowledge of Industry 4.0 obligations and CE principle” is the most important factor that is the basis of success following by “Management commitment and support”. This will assist decision makers to seize success in gaining a competitive advantage while reducing costs through the supply chain.

Keywords: food traceability, industry 4.0, internet of things, block chain, best worst method, marcos

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Authors: Janusz Getta, Zhaoxi Pan

Abstract:

Performance-based quality evaluation of database conceptual schemas is an important aspect of database design process. It is evident that different conceptual schemas provide different logical schemas and performance of user applications strongly depends on logical and physical database structures. This work presents the entire process of performance-based quality evaluation of conceptual schemas. First, we show format. Then, the paper proposes a new specification of object algebra for representation of conceptual level database applications. Transformation of conceptual schemas and expression of object algebra into implementation schema and implementation in a particular database system allows for precise estimation of the processing costs of database applications and as a consequence for precise evaluation of performance-based quality of conceptual schemas. Then we describe an experiment as a proof of concept for the evaluation procedure presented in the paper.

Keywords: conceptual schema, implementation schema, logical schema, object algebra, performance evaluation, query processing

Procedia PDF Downloads 292

Authors: Carolina Sanchez, Juan R. Gallego, Manuel Gamez, Tomas Cabello

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Currently, biological control programs in greenhouse crops involve the use, at the same time, several natural enemies during the crop cycle. Also, large number of plant species grown in greenhouses, among them, the used cultivars are also wide. However, the cultivar effects on entomophagous species efficacy (predators and parasitoids) have been scarcely studied. A new method had been developed, using the factitious prey or host Ephestia kuehniella. It allows us to evaluate, under greenhouse or controlled conditions (semi-field), the cultivar effects on the entomophagous species effectiveness. The work was carried out in greenhouse tomato crop. It has been found the biological and ecological activities of predatory species (Nesidiocoris tenuis) and egg-parasitoid (Trichogramma achaeae) can be well represented with the use of the factitious prey or host; being better in the former than the latter. The data found in the trial are shown and discussed. The developed method could be applied to evaluate new plant materials before making available to farmers as commercial varieties, at low costs and easy use.

Keywords: cultivar effects, efficiency, predators, parasitoids

Procedia PDF Downloads 274

Authors: Allison Herlene Du Plessis, Dalena (R.M.) Van Rooyen, Wilma Ten Ham-Baloyi, Sihaam Jardien-Baboo

Abstract:

Introduction: Women die in pregnancy and childbirth for five main reasons—severe bleeding, infections, unsafe abortions, hypertensive disorders (pre-eclampsia and eclampsia), and medical complications including cardiac disease, diabetes, or HIV/AIDS complicated by pregnancy. In 2015, WHO classified sepsis as the third highest cause for maternal mortalities in the world. Chorioamnionitis is a clinical syndrome of intrauterine infection during any stage of the pregnancy and it refers to ascending bacteria from the vaginal canal up into the uterus, causing infection. While the incidence rates for chorioamnionitis are not well documented, complications related to chorioamnionitis are well documented and midwives still struggle to identify this condition in time due to its complex nature. Few diagnostic methods are available in public health services, due to escalated laboratory costs. Often the affordable biomarkers, such as C-reactive protein CRP, full blood count (FBC) and WBC, have low significance in diagnosing chorioamnionitis. A lack of screening impacts on effective and timeous management of chorioamnionitis, and early identification and management of risks could help to prevent neonatal complications and reduce the subsequent series of morbidities and healthcare costs of infants who are health foci of perinatal infections. Objective: This integrative literature review provides an overview of current best research evidence on the screening of women at risk for chorioamnionitis. Design: An integrative literature review was conducted using a systematic electronic literature search through EBSCOhost, Cochrane Online, Wiley Online, PubMed, Scopus and Google. Guidelines, research studies, and reports in English related to chorioamnionitis from 2008 up until 2020 were included in the study. Findings: After critical appraisal, 31 articles were included. More than one third (67%) of the literature included ranked on the three highest levels of evidence (Level I, II and III). Data extracted regarding screening for chorioamnionitis was synthesized into four themes, namely: screening by clinical signs and symptoms, screening by causative factors of chorioamnionitis, screening of obstetric history, and essential biomarkers to diagnose chorioamnionitis. Key conclusions: There are factors that can be used by midwives to identify women at risk for chorioamnionitis. However, there are a paucity of established sociological, epidemiological and behavioral factors to screen this population. Several biomarkers are available to diagnose chorioamnionitis. Increased Interleukin-6 in amniotic fluid is the better indicator and strongest predictor of histological chorioamnionitis, whereas the available rapid matrix-metalloproteinase-8 test requires further testing. Maternal white blood cells count (WBC) has shown poor selectivity and sensitivity, and C-reactive protein (CRP) thresholds varied among studies and are not ideal for conclusive diagnosis of subclinical chorioamnionitis. Implications for practice: Screening of women at risk for chorioamnionitis by health care providers providing care for pregnant women, including midwives, is important for diagnosis and management before complications arise, particularly in resource-constraint settings.

Keywords: chorioamnionitis, guidelines, best evidence, screening, diagnosis, pregnant women

Procedia PDF Downloads 123