Search results for: flexible joint manipulators

Authors: Nasir Khalid

Abstract:

In Malaysia, higher education is big business. There are many companies that are willing if not already to invest heavily in higher education for students that aspire to pursue their degree in diploma, undergraduate as well as graduate studies. These companies sometimes even have a joint venture twinning program with other already established universities in and across Europe, Australia, the United States, and Canada. Some of these investments have been successful whereas others find themselves limited by the obstacle of receiving new students. Recently, the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education has stopped issuing licenses to set up private institutions of higher education. This paper will thus examine the factors affecting the success of private higher education businesses in Malaysia. The samples will consist of thirty private institutions [N=30]. Among the factors that will be mentioned in the literature are academic programs, student quality and achievement, student employability, alumni satisfaction, student enrolment, institutional environment, lecturer-quality and effectiveness of supporting staff. A questionnaire was developed and analyzed using statistical analysis. The result of this study found that the top three factors affecting the success of private higher education businesses in Malaysia are student enrolment, institutional environment and the academic programs offered.

Keywords: higher education business, successful business factors, private institutions, business in Malaysia

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: Stepan Hysek, Premysl Sedivka, Petra Gajdacova

Abstract:

Currently, structural composite materials contain cellulose-based particles (wood chips, fibers) bonded with synthetic adhesives containing formaldehyde (urea-formaldehyde, melamine-formaldehyde adhesives and others). Formaldehyde is classified as a volatile substance with provable carcinogenic effects on live organisms, and an emphasis has been put on continual reduction of its content in products. One potential solution could be the development of an agglomerated material which does not contain adhesives releasing formaldehyde. A potential alternative to formaldehyde-based adhesives could be polyurethane adhesives containing no formaldehyde. Such adhesives have been increasingly used in applications where a few years ago formaldehyde-based adhesives were the only option. Advantages of polyurethane adhesive in comparison with others in the industry include the high elasticity of the joint, which is able to resist dynamic stress, and resistance to increased humidity and climatic effects. These properties predict polyurethane adhesives to be used in OSB/EPS panel production. The objective of this paper is to develop an adhesive for bonding of sandwich panels made of material based on wood and other materials, e.g. SIP) and optimization of input components in order to obtain an adhesive with required properties suitable for bonding of the given materials without involvement of formaldehyde. It was found that polyurethane recyclate as a filler is suitable modification of polyurethane adhesive and results have clearly revealed that modified adhesive can be used for OSB/EPS panel production.

Keywords: adhesive, polyurethane, recyclate, SIP

Procedia PDF Downloads 275

Authors: Mojahid F. Saeed Osman

Abstract:

Repairable items inventory system is a management tool used to incorporate all information concerning inventory levels and movements for repaired and new items. This paper presents development of an effective simulation model for managing the inventory of repairable items for a production system where production lines send their faulty items to a repair shop considering the stochastic failure behavior and repair times. The developed model imitates the process of handling the on-hand inventory of repaired items and the replenishment of the inventory of new items using Economic Order Quantity and Reorder Point ordering policy in a flexible and risk-free environment. We demonstrate the appropriateness and effectiveness of the proposed simulation model using an illustrative case problem. The developed simulation model can be used as a reliable tool for estimating a healthy on-hand inventory of new and repaired items, backordered items, and downtime due to unavailability of repaired items, and validating and examining Economic Order Quantity and Reorder Point ordering policy, which would further be compared with other ordering strategies as future work.

Keywords: inventory system, repairable items, simulation, maintenance, economic order quantity, reorder point

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Mahfuzur Rahman

Abstract:

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

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

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Hamid Ahmadi, Neda Azari Dodaran

Abstract:

This paper aims to study the structural behavior of tubular KT-joints subjected to axial loading at fire induced elevated temperatures. At first, a finite element (FE) model was developed and validated against the data available from experimental tests. Then, a set of 810 FE analyses were performed to study the influence of temperature and dimensionless geometrical parameters (β, γ, θ, and τ) on the ultimate strength and initial stiffness. The joints were analyzed under two types of axial loading and five different temperatures (20 ºC, 200 ºC, 400 ºC, 550 ºC, and 700 ºC). Results show that the ultimate strength and initial stiffness of KT-joints decrease considerably by increasing the temperature. In the joints having bigger values of the β, the temperature elevation leads to less reduction in ultimate strength; while in the joints with bigger values of the γ, the temperature elevation results in more reduction in ultimate strength. The influence of the θ on the ultimate strength is independent from the temperature. To our knowledge, there is no design formula available for determining the ultimate strength of KT-joints at elevated temperatures. Hence, after parametric study, two equations were developed through nonlinear regression, for calculating the ultimate strength of KT-joints at elevated temperatures.

Keywords: axial loads, fire condition, parametric formula, static strength, tubular KT-joint

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Zainal Abu Zarim, Hafizah Omar Zaki

Abstract:

The objective of this study is to analyse the success factors of entrepreneurs in the Malaysian SMEs in the urge to discover their entrepreneurial leadership characteristics. Data has been collected from top 50 SME award winning companies. The study has used the qualitative approach to data collection, where interviews are dispersed on these selected companies. From these 50 SMEs, only 25 accepted the interview request where one entrepreneur from each SME answered the questions. To successfully run this study, we administered some questions based on Hornaday 42 characteristics of an entrepreneurs, as well some structured questions to determine a successful of a company. The result shows that, entrepreneurs are confident, determine, diligent, flexible, responsive to challenges, responsible, foresight, courageous, aggressive, and committed. Consistent to this, several elements that makes the company successful includes (1) strong financial control, (2) continuous improvement, (3) product quality and product safety as top priority, (4) hard work and team work, and (5) eagerness in taking challenges. These results has deemed that entrepreneurs in many aspects are also leaders that are risk averse and determine, and are eager to work on continuous improvement in a financially strong company.

Keywords: characteristics of entrepreneurs, success of a company, key success factors, Malaysian SMEs

Procedia PDF Downloads 590

Authors: Samaila Bawa Muazu

Abstract:

Hydration process, crack potential and setting time of concrete grade C30, C40 and C50 were separately monitored using non-contact electrical resistivity apparatus, a novel plastic ring mould and penetration resistance method respectively. The results show highest resistivity of C30 at the beginning until reaching the acceleration point when C50 accelerated and overtaken the others, and this period corresponds to its final setting time range, from resistivity derivative curve, hydration process can be divided into dissolution, induction, acceleration and deceleration periods, restrained shrinkage crack and setting time tests demonstrated the earliest cracking and setting time of C50, therefore, this method conveniently and rapidly determines the concrete’s crack potential. The highest inflection time (ti), the final setting time (tf) were obtained and used with crack time in coming up with mathematical models for the prediction of concrete’s cracking age for the range being considered. Finally, ANSYS numerical simulations supports the experimental findings in terms of the earliest crack age of C50 and the crack location that, highest stress concentration is always beneath the artificially introduced expansion joint of C50.

Keywords: concrete hydration, electrical resistivity, restrained shrinkage crack, setting time, simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 210

Authors: Hesam Sedaghat Nejad, Navid Hosseini, Arash Nikvar Hassani

Abstract:

Determination of the optimum block size with high profitability is one of the significant parameters in designation of the building stone mines. The aim of this study was to determine the optimum dimensions of building stone blocks in Delichai travertine mine of Damavand in Tehran province through combining the effective parameters proven in determination of the optimum dimensions in building stones such as the spacing of joints and gaps, extraction tools constraints with the help of modeling by Gemcom software. To this end, following simulation of the topography of the mine, the block model was prepared and then in order to use spacing joints and discontinuities as a limiting factor, the existing joints set was added to the model. Since only one almost horizontal joint set with a slope of 5 degrees was available, this factor was effective only in determining the optimum height of the block, and thus to determine the longitudinal and transverse optimum dimensions of the extracted block, the power of available loader in the mine was considered as the secondary limiting factor. According to the aforementioned factors, the optimal block size in this mine was measured as 3.4×4×7 meter.

Keywords: building stone, optimum block size, Delichay travertine mine, loader power

Procedia PDF Downloads 365

Authors: Mohammad Ayub Khan

Abstract:

With increased market segmentation and competition in the hotel industry, a hotel’s ability to constantly renovate its services and amenities is a business practice that can be termed as an attitude that is not only flexible but also malleable as a result of which a hotel/property is continually poised to face the ever-changing nature of the hospitality industry and upgrades that keep the hotel or brand in competition with current competitors. One such challenge is to competitively and creatively market value-added amenities, upgraded technology, and marketing all of these as a package to not only stay relevant in the market but also to retain and enhance revenues to ensure the future financial health of a hotel. This delicate balance between staying relevant and financially viable is a crucial challenge that this poster will explore, analyze, and present by specifically looking at the ability of a hotel/brand to effectively translate its theoretical need and practice of constantly staying updated, including strategically renovating, upgrading, modifying its services, into a tangible business practice. In what ways do hotels face this challenge? In what areas of the hotel is this business concept/action most effective and profitable are just some questions that this paper will attempt to answer.

Keywords: hospitality theory, renovations, value-added amenities, strategic planning

Procedia PDF Downloads 367

Authors: Martin Alexander Eder, Sergei Semenov

Abstract:

Many glass-epoxy composite structures, such as large utility wind turbine rotor blades (WTBs), comprise of adhesive joints with typically thick bond lines used to connect the different components during assembly. Performance optimization of rotor blades to increase power output by simultaneously maintaining high stiffness-to-low-mass ratios entails intricate geometries in conjunction with complex anisotropic material behavior. Consequently, adhesive joints in WTBs are subject to multiaxial stress states with significant stress gradients depending on the local joint geometry. Moreover, the dynamic aero-elastic interaction of the WTB with the airflow generates non-proportional, variable amplitude stress histories in the material. Empiricism shows that a prominent failure type in WTBs is high cycle fatigue failure of adhesive bond line interfaces, which in fact over time developed into a design driver as WTB sizes increase rapidly. Structural optimization employed at an early design stage, therefore, sets high demands on computationally efficient interface fatigue models capable of predicting the critical locations prone for interface failure. The numerical stress-based interface fatigue model presented in this work uses the Drucker-Prager criterion to compute three different damage indices corresponding to the two interface shear tractions and the outward normal traction. The two-parameter Drucker-Prager model was chosen because of its ability to consider shear strength enhancement under compression and shear strength reduction under tension. The governing interface damage index is taken as the maximum of the triple. The damage indices are computed through the well-known linear Palmgren-Miner rule after separate rain flow-counting of the equivalent shear stress history and the equivalent pure normal stress history. The equivalent stress signals are obtained by self-similar scaling of the Drucker-Prager surface whose shape is defined by the uniaxial tensile strength and the shear strength such that it intersects with the stress point at every time step. This approach implicitly assumes that the damage caused by the prevailing multiaxial stress state is the same as the damage caused by an amplified equivalent uniaxial stress state in the three interface directions. The model was implemented as Python plug-in for the commercially available finite element code Abaqus for its use with solid elements. The model was used to predict the interface damage of an adhesively bonded, tapered glass-epoxy composite cantilever I-beam tested by LM Wind Power under constant amplitude compression-compression tip load in the high cycle fatigue regime. Results show that the model was able to predict the location of debonding in the adhesive interface between the webfoot and the cap. Moreover, with a set of two different constant life diagrams namely in shear and tension, it was possible to predict both the fatigue lifetime and the failure mode of the sub-component with reasonable accuracy. It can be concluded that the fidelity, robustness and computational efficiency of the proposed model make it especially suitable for rapid fatigue damage screening of large 3D finite element models subject to complex dynamic load histories.

Keywords: adhesive, fatigue, interface, multiaxial stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Peter Sabev, Katalina Grigorova

Abstract:

Test automation allows performing difficult and time consuming manual software testing tasks efficiently, quickly and repeatedly. However, development and maintenance of automated tests is expensive, so it needs a proper prioritization what to automate first. This paper describes a simple yet efficient approach for such prioritization of test cases based on the effort needed for both manual execution and software test automation. The suggested approach is very flexible because it allows working with a variety of assessment methods, and adding or removing new candidates at any time. The theoretical ideas presented in this article have been successfully applied in real world situations in several software companies by the authors and their colleagues including testing of real estate websites, cryptographic and authentication solutions, OSGi-based middleware framework that has been applied in various systems for smart homes, connected cars, production plants, sensors, home appliances, car head units and engine control units (ECU), vending machines, medical devices, industry equipment and other devices that either contain or are connected to an embedded service gateway.

Keywords: automated testing, manual testing, test automation, software testing, test prioritization

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Kim Quy Le, Duan Fei, Jia Wei Chew, Jun Zeng, Maria Fabiola Leyva

Abstract:

In line with the sustainable development goal, molded fiber products play important roles in reducing plastic-based packaging. To fabricate molded fiber products, besides using conventional meshing tools, 3D printing is employed to manufacture the molded fiber screen. 3D printing technique allows printing molded fiber screens with complex geometry, flexible in pore size and shape. The 3D printed molded fiber screens are in the progress of investigation to improve the de-watering efficiency, fiber collection, mechanical strength, etc. In addition, the fiber distribution on the screen is also necessary to access the quality of the screen. Besides using experimental methods to capture the fiber distribution on screen, simulation also offers using tools to access the uniformity of fiber. In this study, the fiber was simulated using the multi-sphere model to simulate the fibers. The interaction of the fibers was able to mimic by employing the discrete element method. The fiber distribution was captured and compared to the experiment. The simulation results were able to reveal the fiber deposition layer upon layer and explain the formation of uneven thickness on the tilted area of molded fiber screen.

Keywords: 3D printing, multi-jet fusion, molded fiber screen, discrete element method

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Siqi Qiu, Yijian Zheng, Xin Guo Ming

Abstract:

In many reliability and risk analysis, failures of components are supposed to be independent. However, in reality, the ignorance of failure dependencies among components may render the results of reliability and risk analysis incorrect. There are two principal ways to incorporate failure dependencies in system reliability and risk analysis: implicit and explicit methods. In the implicit method, failure dependencies can be modeled by joint probabilities, correlation values or conditional probabilities. In the explicit method, certain types of dependencies can be modeled in a fault tree as mutually independent basic events for specific component failures. In this paper, explicit and implicit methods based on BDD will be proposed to evaluate the reliability of systems considering failure dependencies. The obtained results prove the equivalence of the proposed implicit and explicit methods. It is found that the consideration of failure dependencies decreases the reliability of systems. This observation is intuitive, because more components fail due to failure dependencies. The consideration of failure dependencies helps designers to reduce the dependencies between components during the design phase to make the system more reliable.

Keywords: reliability assessment, risk assessment, failure dependencies, binary decision diagram

Procedia PDF Downloads 472

Authors: Amandeep Kaur, Manmeet Gill

Abstract:

The climacteric is a wide phenomenon. Women of the entire world go through it at their own level. It’s a topic on which women hesitate to talk openly. It includes breast tenderness, uterine bleeding, arthralgia, hemorrhage, changes in emotional level such as facing depression, emotional breakdown, irritability and others. Other than such emotional breakdown nausea, vomiting, headache, gaining or losing weight is common problem associated with the climacteric disorder. The purpose of the present study is to assess the Climacteric disorders among women such as during menopause whatever a woman or girl faces mentally or physically. This is mainly done in women when they reached the age of 12 to 48 worldwide. For completing the study two objectives have been taken. The first objective of the study is to analyze the symptoms which lead to Climacteric among women such as Vaginal problems, Breast changes, Behavioral problems, Weight gain, Problems in the urinary tract etc. and the second Objective is to identify the variables which affect Climacteric these are Physical variables (lack of energy, joint soreness, stiffness, back pain etc.), Psychological variables (anxiety, poor memory, inability to concentrate) and Vasomotor variables (hormone estrogen fall, etc). The secondary source of method or data is used to deal with the theme of paper. Sometimes the word climacteric is interchanged with the term menopause and all these changes are high during the period of menopause among women.

Keywords: climacteric and their symposiums, disorder, reviews, in middle age

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: T. Giansetto, E. Pierrot, P. Picavet, M. Lefebvre, S. Claeys, M. Balligand

Abstract:

Objective: To test the low sensitivity of the Allberg and Miles index to the stifle opening angle, to evaluate the displacement of the patella after a Modified Maquet Technique using this index, and to assess the incidence of patella luxation post-Modified Maquet Technique in dogs. Materials and methods: Medical records were reviewed from 2012 to 2017. Allberg Miles index was determined for each stifle pre and post-operatively, as well as the stifle joint opening of each case. The occurrence of patella luxation was recorded. Results: 137 stifles on 116 dogs were reviewed. The stifle opening angle did not influence the Allberg Miles index (p=0.41). Pre and post-operative index showed a distal displacement of the patella after a Modified Maquet Procedure, especially at a 90° of stifle opening angle. Only 1/137 cases demonstrated patella luxation after the surgery. Conclusion: The Allberg Miles radiographic index is largely independent of the stifle opening angle and can be used to assess the proximo-distal position of the patella in relation to the femoral trochlear groove. If patella baja is clearly induced by the Modified Maquet Technique, the latter does not seem to predispose patients to post-operative patella luxation in a large variety of dog breeds.

Keywords: rlca, modified Maquet technique, patella luxation, orthopedic

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Wu Xiaojun, Liu Ruiping, Yu Xingzhan, Wu Qian

Abstract:

In precision grinding, utilizing the elastic matrix ball has higher processing efficiency and better superficial quality than traditional grinding. The diversity of characteristics which elastic abrasive tool contact with bend surface results in irregular wear abrasion，and abrasive tool machining status get complicated. There is no theoretical interpretation that parameters affect the grinding accuracy.Aiming at corrosion resistance, wear resistance and other characteristics of M 300 material, it is often used as a material on aerospace precision components. The paper carried out grinding and polishing experiments by using material of M 300,to theoretically show the relationship between stress magnitude and grinding efficiency，and predict the optimal combination of grinding parameter for effective grinding, just for the high abrasion resistance features of M 300, analyzing the micro-contact of elastic ball abrasive tool (Whetstone), using mathematical methods deduce the functional relationship between residual peak removal rate and the main parameters which impact the grinding accuracy on the plane case.Thus laying the foundation for the study of elastic abrasive prediction and compensation.

Keywords: flexible abrasive tool, polishing parameters, Hertz theory, removal rate

Procedia PDF Downloads 545

Authors: Muhammad Afzal, Junaid Uzair Satti

Abstract:

The noise emanating from the ducting of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system is often attenuated by using the dissipative silencers. Such devices work well for the high-frequency noise but are less operative in the low-frequency noise range. The present study analyzes a reactive silencer comprising expansion chamber of the elastic membranes partitioned symmetrically by a rigid plate. The Mode-Matching scheme has been developed to solve the governing boundary value problem. The orthogonal and non-orthogonal duct modes of acoustic pressures and normal velocities are matched at interfaces. It enables to recast the differential system into the infinite system of linear algebraic of equations, which is, then truncated and inverted for the solution. The truncated solution is validated through the conservation of energy and reconstruction of matching conditions. The results for scattering energy flux and transmission loss are shown against frequency and the dimensions of the chamber. It is seen that the stop-band of the silencer can be shifted to the broadband by changing the dimensions of the chamber and the properties of the elastic membranes. The modeled reactive silencer is more efficient in low frequency regime where the passive devices are least effective.

Keywords: acoustic scattering, elastic membranes mode-matching, reactive silencer

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: C. A. C. Castro, D. C. Urashima, E. P. Silva, P. M. L. Silva

Abstract:

Since 1920, the industry has almost completely changed the rivets production techniques for the manufacture of permanent welding join production of structures and manufacture of other products. The welding arc is the process more widely used in industries. This is accomplished by the heat of an electric arc which melts the base metal while the molten metal droplets are transferred through the arc to the welding pool, protected from the atmosphere by a gas curtain. The GMAW (Gas metal arc welding) process is influenced by variables such as: Current, polarity, welding speed, electrode, extension, position, moving direction; type of joint, welder's ability, among others. It is remarkable that the knowledge and control of these variables are essential for obtaining satisfactory quality welds, knowing that are interconnected so that changes in one of them requiring changes in one or more of the other to produce the desired results. The optimum values are affected by the type of base metal, the electrode composition, the welding position and the quality requirements. Thus, this paper proposes a new methodology, adding the variable vibration through a mechanism developed for GMAW welding, in order to improve the mechanical and metallurgical properties which does not affect the ability of the welder and enables repeatability of the welds made. For confirmation metallographic analysis and mechanical tests were made.

Keywords: vibration, joining, weldability, GMAW

Procedia PDF Downloads 424

Authors: Ashagrie Getnet Flattie

Abstract:

Line-of-sight (LOS) information, data rates, good quality, and flexible network service are limited by the fact that, for the duration of any given connection, they experience severe variation in signal strength due to fading and path loss. Wireless system faces major challenges in achieving wide coverage and capacity without affecting the system performance and to access data everywhere, all the time. In this paper, the cell coverage and edge rate of different Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) schemes in 20 MHz Long Term Evolution (LTE) system under Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) platform are investigated. After some background on the enormous potential of UAV, MIMO, and LTE in wireless links, the paper highlights the presented system model which attempts to realize the various benefits of MIMO being incorporated into UAV platform. The performances of the three MIMO LTE schemes are compared with the performance of 4x4 MIMO LTE in UAV scheme carried out to evaluate the improvement in cell radius, BER, and data throughput of the system in different morphology. The results show that significant performance gains such as bit error rate (BER), data rate, and coverage can be achieved by using the presented scenario.

Keywords: LTE, MIMO, path loss, UAV

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Niloufar Khoshbakht, Peggi L. Clouston, Sanjay R. Arwade, Alexander C. Schreyer

Abstract:

Laminated veneer bamboo (LVB) is a structural engineered composite made from glued layers of bamboo. A relatively new building product, LVB is currently employed in similar sizes and applications as dimensional lumber. This study describes the results of a 3D elastic Finite Element model for halfhole specimens when loaded in compression parallel-to-grain per ASTM 5764. The model simulates LVB fracture initiation due to shear stresses in the dowel joint and predicts displacement at failure validated through comparison with experimental results. The material fails at 1mm displacement due to in-plane shear stresses. The paper clarifies the complex interactive state of in-plane shear, tension perpendicular-to-grain, and compression parallel-to-grain stresses that form different distributions in the critical zone beneath the bolt hole for half-hole specimens. These findings are instrumental in understanding key factors and fundamental failure mechanisms that occur in LVB dowel connections to help devise safe standards and further LVB product adoption and design.

Keywords: composite, dowel connection, embedment strength, failure behavior, finite element analysis, Moso bamboo

Procedia PDF Downloads 266

Authors: T. Häfele, J. Kaspar, M. Vielhaber, W. Calles, J. Griebsch

Abstract:

The demand for an increasing diversification of the product spectrum associated with the current huge customization desire and subsequently the decreasing unit quantities of each production lot is gaining more and more importance within a great variety of industrial branches, e.g. automotive industry. Nevertheless, traditional product development and production processes (molding, extrusion) are already reaching their limits or fail to address these trends of a flexible and digitized production in view of a product variability up to lot size one. Thus, upcoming innovative production concepts like the additive manufacturing technology basically create new opportunities with regard to extensive potentials in product development (constructive optimization) and manufacturing (economic individualization), but mostly suffer from insufficient strength regarding structural components. Therefore, this contribution presents an innovative technological and procedural conception of a hybrid additive manufacturing process (fiber-reinforced sandwich structures based on selective laser sintering technology) to overcome these current structural weaknesses, and consequently support the design of complex lightweight components.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP), hybrid design, lightweight design

Procedia PDF Downloads 297

Authors: Rungpansa Noichan, Bart Julian Dewancker

Abstract:

The conservation and regeneration of historical industrial building is one of the most important issues to be solved in today’s urban development in the world. There are growing numbers of industrial building in which promoting heritage conservation maybe a helpful tool for a sustainable city in social, urban restructuring, environmental and economic component. This paper identifies the key attributes of conservation and regeneration industrial building from the literature, were discussed by reviewing its development at home and abroad. The authors have investigated 93 industrial buildings, which were used as industrial building before and reused into buildings with another function afterward. The data to be discussed below were mainly collected from various publications but also from available internet sources. This study focuses on green transformation, historical culture heritage, transformation techniques, and urban regeneration based on the empirical researches on the historical industrial building and site. Moreover, we focus on social, urban environment and sustainable development. The implications of the study provide suggestions for future improvements in the conservation and regeneration of historical industrial building, and inspire new ways of use, so the building becomes flexible and can consequently be adaptable to changes in order to survive time. Therefore, the building does not take into account only its future impact in the environment and society. Instead, it focuses on its entire life cycle.

Keywords: industrial building, heritage conservation, green transformation, regeneration, sustainable development

Procedia PDF Downloads 370

Authors: V. B. Bastos, M. P. Lima, P. R. G. Kurka

Abstract:

This paper applies to the creation of virtual 3D environments for the study and development of mobile robot image based navigation algorithms and techniques, which need to operate robustly and efficiently. The test of these algorithms can be performed in a physical way, from conducting experiments on a prototype, or by numerical simulations. Current simulation platforms for robotic applications do not have flexible and updated models for image rendering, being unable to reproduce complex light effects and materials. Thus, it is necessary to create a test platform that integrates sophisticated simulated applications of real environments for navigation, with data and image processing. This work proposes the development of a high-level platform for building 3D model’s environments and the test of image-based navigation algorithms for mobile robots. Techniques were used for applying texture and lighting effects in order to accurately represent the generation of rendered images regarding the real world version. The application will integrate image processing scripts, trajectory control, dynamic modeling and simulation techniques for physics representation and picture rendering with the open source 3D creation suite - Blender.

Keywords: simulation, visual navigation, mobile robot, data visualization

Procedia PDF Downloads 255

Authors: Ni Komang Desy Arya Pinatih

Abstract:

Transnational crime is a crime with 'unique' feature because the activities benefit the lack of state monitoring on the borders so dealing with it cannot be based on conventional engagement but also need joint operation with other countries. On the other hand with the flow of globalization and the growth of information technology and transportation, states become more vulnerable to transnational crime threats especially human trafficking. This paper would examine transnational crime activities, especially human trafficking in Indonesia. With the case study on the mapping of human trafficking crime in East Java province, Indonesia, this paper would try to analyze how the difference in human trafficking crime trends at the national and sub-national levels. The findings of this research were first, there is difference in human trafficking crime trends whereas at the national level the trend is rising, while at sub-national (province) level the trend is declining. Second, regarding the decline of human trafficking number, it’s interesting to see how the method to decrease human trafficking crime in East Jawa Province in order to reduce transnational crime accounts in the region. These things are hopefully becoming a model for transnational crimes engagement in other regions to reduce human trafficking numbers as much as possible.

Keywords: transnational crime, human trafficking, southeast Asia, anticipation model on transnational crimes

Procedia PDF Downloads 304

Authors: Trupti Chavan, Ramachandra Guda, Kameshwar Rao

Abstract:

The lack of data is a pain problem in medical image analysis using a convolutional neural network (CNN). This work uses various spatial transformation techniques to address the medical image augmentation issue for knee detection and localization using an enhanced single shot detector (SSD) network. The spatial transforms like a negative, histogram equalization, power law, sharpening, averaging, gaussian blurring, etc. help to generate more samples, serve as pre-processing methods, and highlight the features of interest. The experimentation is done on the OpenKnee dataset which is a collection of knee images from the openly available online sources. The CNN called enhanced single shot detector (SSD) is utilized for the detection and localization of the knee joint from a given X-ray image. It is an enhanced version of the famous SSD network and is modified in such a way that it will reduce the number of prediction boxes at the output side. It consists of a classification network (VGGNET) and an auxiliary detection network. The performance is measured in mean average precision (mAP), and 99.96% mAP is achieved using the proposed enhanced SSD with spatial transformations. It is also seen that the localization boundary is comparatively more refined and closer to the ground truth in spatial augmentation and gives better detection and localization of knee joints.

Keywords: data augmentation, enhanced SSD, knee detection and localization, medical image analysis, openKnee, Spatial transformations

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Eduardo Rodrigues, Gisela Mendes, José M. Torres, José E. Sousa

Abstract:

In the sequence of the liberalisation of the electricity sector a progressive engagement of consumers has been considered and targeted by sector regulatory policies. With the objective of promoting market competition while protecting consumers interests, by transferring some of the upstream benefits to the end users while reaching a fair distribution of system costs, different market models to value consumers’ demand flexibility at the energy community level are envisioned. Local Energy and Flexibility Markets (LEFM) involve stakeholders interested in providing or procure local flexibility for community, services and markets’ value. Under the scope of DOMINOES, a European research project supported by Horizon 2020, the local market concept developed is expected to: • Enable consumers/prosumers empowerment, by allowing them to value their demand flexibility and Distributed Energy Resources (DER); • Value local liquid flexibility to support innovative distribution grid management, e.g., local balancing and congestion management, voltage control and grid restoration; • Ease the wholesale market uptake of DER, namely small-scale flexible loads aggregation as Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), facilitating Demand Response (DR) service provision; • Optimise the management and local sharing of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in Medium Voltage (MV) and Low Voltage (LV) grids, trough energy transactions within an energy community; • Enhance the development of energy markets through innovative business models, compatible with ongoing policy developments, that promote the easy access of retailers and other service providers to the local markets, allowing them to take advantage of communities’ flexibility to optimise their portfolio and subsequently their participation in external markets. The general concept proposed foresees a flow of market actions, technical validations, subsequent deliveries of energy and/or flexibility and balance settlements. Since the market operation should be dynamic and capable of addressing different requests, either prioritising balancing and prosumer services or system’s operation, direct procurement of flexibility within the local market must also be considered. This paper aims to highlight the research on the definition of suitable DR models to be used by the Distribution System Operator (DSO), in case of technical needs, and by the retailer, mainly for portfolio optimisation and solve unbalances. The models to be proposed and implemented within relevant smart distribution grid and microgrid validation environments, are focused on day-ahead and intraday operation scenarios, for predictive management and near-real-time control respectively under the DSO’s perspective. At local level, the DSO will be able to procure flexibility in advance to tackle different grid constrains (e.g., demand peaks, forecasted voltage and current problems and maintenance works), or during the operating day-to-day, to answer unpredictable constraints (e.g., outages, frequency deviations and voltage problems). Due to the inherent risks of their active market participation retailers may resort to DR models to manage their portfolio, by optimising their market actions and solve unbalances. The interaction among the market actors involved in the DR activation and in flexibility exchange is explained by a set of sequence diagrams for the DR modes of use from the DSO and the energy provider perspectives. • DR for DSO’s predictive management – before the operating day; • DR for DSO’s real-time control – during the operating day; • DR for retailer’s day-ahead operation; • DR for retailer’s intraday operation.

Keywords: demand response, energy communities, flexible demand, local energy and flexibility markets

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: M. M. Bagheri, G. Doudak, M. Gong

Abstract:

The in-plane rigidity of light frame diaphragms has been investigated by researchers due to the importance of this subsystem regarding lateral force distribution between the lateral force resisting system (LFRS). Where research has lacked is in evaluating the impact of out-of-plane raigidity of the diaphragm on the deflection of shear walls. This study aims at investigating the effect of the diaphragm on the behavior of wood light-frame shear walls, in particular its out-of-plane rigidity was simulated by modeling the floors as beam. The out of plane stiffness of the diaphragm was investigated for idealized (infinitely stiff or flexible) as well as “realistic”. The results showed reductions in the shear wall deflection in the magnitude of approximately 80% considering the out of plane rigidity of the diaphragm. It was also concluded that considering conservative estimates of out-of-plane stiffness might lead to a very significant reduction in deflection and that assuming the floor diaphragm to be infinitely rigid out of plan seems to be reasonable. For diaphragms supported on multiple panels, further reduction in the deflection was observed. More work, particularly at the experimental level, is needed to verify the finding obtained in the numerical investigation related to the effect of out of plane diaphragm stiffness.

Keywords: finite element analysis, lateral deflection, out-of-plane stiffness of the diaphragm, wood light-frame shear wall

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: Yuyang Cheng, Marcos Escobar-Anel

Abstract:

This paper introduces a multivariate 4/2 stochastic covariance process generalizing the one-dimensional counterparts presented in Grasselli (2017). Our construction permits stochastic correlation not only among stocks but also among volatilities, also known as co-volatility movements, both driven by more convenient 4/2 stochastic structures. The parametrization is flexible enough to separate these types of correlation, permitting their individual study. Conditions for proper changes of measure and closed-form characteristic functions under risk-neutral and historical measures are provided, allowing for applications of the model to risk management and derivative pricing. We apply the model to an expected utility theory problem in incomplete markets. Our analysis leads to closed-form solutions for the optimal allocation and value function. Conditions are provided for well-defined solutions together with a verification theorem. Our numerical analysis highlights and separates the impact of key statistics on equity portfolio decisions, in particular, volatility, correlation, and co-volatility movements, with the latter being the least important in an incomplete market.

Keywords: stochastic covariance process, 4/2 stochastic volatility model, stochastic co-volatility movements, characteristic function, expected utility theory, verication theorem

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: Shagufta Jahangir, Raisa Jahangir, Nadeemullah

Abstract:

In many societies sports is considered inappropriate for women. It traditionally associated with mascunity. The proposed study aims at undertaking a critical situation analysis of sports women in Pakistan from a gender perspective by examining various aspects of sports women by gender including wrong social values, unstable economical position, wrong religious perspective and the role of media towards women in sports, while sports can provide a channel for informing women about their social and legal rights as well as their health issues, productive health and others. A major concern of the study is to identify the basic causes which depriving Pakistani women from sports. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Joint Action Committee for People’s Rights organized a symbolic mini marathon on 21 May 2005 in Pakistan to challenge arbitrary curbs on women’s public participation in sport and to highlight rising violence against women. Historically, sport has engaged the perception of gender-hierarchy in order to reproduce the ideology of male superiority, a notion which is often translated into ‘usual superiority’ within the superior communal order. However, it is argued here that we are presently in a state of communal instability with esteem to women's participation in sport.

Keywords: mascunity, gender, productive health, inappropriate, rights

Procedia PDF Downloads 364

Authors: Samaila Muazu Bawa

Abstract:

Hydration process, crack potential and setting time of concrete grade C30, C40 and C50 were separately monitored using non-contact electrical resistivity apparatus, a plastic ring mould and penetration resistance method respectively. The results show highest resistivity of C30 at the beginning until reaching the acceleration point when C50 accelerated and overtaken the others, and this period corresponds to its final setting time range, from resistivity derivative curve, hydration process can be divided into dissolution, induction, acceleration and deceleration periods, restrained shrinkage crack and setting time tests demonstrated the earliest cracking and setting time of C50, therefore, this method conveniently and rapidly determines the concrete’s crack potential. The highest inflection time (ti), the final setting time (tf) were obtained and used with crack time in coming up with mathematical models for the prediction of concrete’s cracking age for the range being considered. Finally, ANSYS numerical simulations supports the experimental findings in terms of the earliest crack age of C50 and the crack location that, highest stress concentration is always beneath the artificially introduced expansion joint of C50.

Keywords: concrete hydration, electrical resistivity, restrained shrinkage crack, ANSYS simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 240