Search results for: supply demand model
19532 Performance Validation of Model Predictive Control for Electrical Power Converters of a Grid Integrated Oscillating Water Column
Authors: G. Rajapakse, S. Jayasinghe, A. Fleming
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This paper aims to experimentally validate the control strategy used for electrical power converters in grid integrated oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converter (WEC). The particular OWC’s unidirectional air turbine-generator output power results in discrete large power pulses. Therefore, the system requires power conditioning prior to integrating to the grid. This is achieved by using a back to back power converter with an energy storage system. A Li-Ion battery energy storage is connected to the dc-link of the back-to-back converter using a bidirectional dc-dc converter. This arrangement decouples the system dynamics and mitigates the mismatch between supply and demand powers. All three electrical power converters used in the arrangement are controlled using finite control set-model predictive control (FCS-MPC) strategy. The rectifier controller is to regulate the speed of the turbine at a set rotational speed to uphold the air turbine at a desirable speed range under varying wave conditions. The inverter controller is to maintain the output power to the grid adhering to grid codes. The dc-dc bidirectional converter controller is to set the dc-link voltage at its reference value. The software modeling of the OWC system and FCS-MPC is carried out in the MATLAB/Simulink software using actual data and parameters obtained from a prototype unidirectional air-turbine OWC developed at Australian Maritime College (AMC). The hardware development and experimental validations are being carried out at AMC Electronic laboratory. The designed FCS-MPC for the power converters are separately coded in Code Composer Studio V8 and downloaded into separate Texas Instrument’s TIVA C Series EK-TM4C123GXL Launchpad Evaluation Boards with TM4C123GH6PMI microcontrollers (real-time control processors). Each microcontroller is used to drive 2kW 3-phase STEVAL-IHM028V2 evaluation board with an intelligent power module (STGIPS20C60). The power module consists of a 3-phase inverter bridge with 600V insulated gate bipolar transistors. Delta standard (ASDA-B2 series) servo drive/motor coupled to a 2kW permanent magnet synchronous generator is served as the turbine-generator. This lab-scale setup is used to obtain experimental results. The validation of the FCS-MPC is done by comparing these experimental results to the results obtained by MATLAB/Simulink software results in similar scenarios. The results show that under the proposed control scheme, the regulated variables follow their references accurately. This research confirms that FCS-MPC fits well into the power converter control of the OWC-WEC system with a Li-Ion battery energy storage.Keywords: dc-dc bidirectional converter, finite control set-model predictive control, Li-ion battery energy storage, oscillating water column, wave energy converter
Procedia PDF Downloads 11319531 Freshwater Pinch Analysis for Optimal Design of the Photovoltaic Powered-Pumping System
Authors: Iman Janghorban Esfahani
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Due to the increased use of irrigation in agriculture, the importance and need for highly reliable water pumping systems have significantly increased. The pumping of the groundwater is essential to provide water for both drip and furrow irrigation to increase the agricultural yield, especially in arid regions that suffer from scarcities of surface water. The most common irrigation pumping systems (IPS) consume conventional energies through the use of electric motors and generators or connecting to the electricity grid. Due to the shortage and transportation difficulties of fossil fuels, and unreliable access to the electricity grid, especially in the rural areas, and the adverse environmental impacts of fossil fuel usage, such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the need for renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic systems (PVS) as an alternative way of powering irrigation pumping systems is urgent. Integration of the photovoltaic systems with irrigation pumping systems as the Photovoltaic Powered-Irrigation Pumping System (PVP-IPS) can avoid fossil fuel dependency and the subsequent greenhouse gas emissions, as well as ultimately lower energy costs and improve efficiency, which made PVP-IPS systems as an environmentally and economically efficient solution for agriculture irrigation in every region. The greatest problem faced by integration of PVP with IPS systems is matching the intermittence of the energy supply with the dynamic water demand. The best solution to overcome the intermittence is to incorporate a storage system into the PVP-IPS to provide water-on-demand as a highly reliable stand-alone irrigation pumping system. The water storage tank (WST) is the most common storage device for PVP-IPS systems. In the integrated PVP-IPS with a water storage tank (PVP-IPS-WST), a water storage tank stores the water pumped by the IPS in excess of the water demand and then delivers it when demands are high. The Freshwater pinch analysis (FWaPA) as an alternative to mathematical modeling was used by other researchers for retrofitting the off-grid battery less photovoltaic-powered reverse osmosis system. However, the Freshwater pinch analysis has not been used to integrate the photovoltaic systems with irrigation pumping system with water storage tanks. In this study, FWaPA graphical and numerical tools were used for retrofitting an existing PVP-IPS system located in Salahadin, Republic of Iraq. The plant includes a 5 kW submersible water pump and 7.5 kW solar PV system. The Freshwater Composite Curve as the graphical tool and Freashwater Storage Cascade Table as the numerical tool were constructed to determine the minimum required outsourced water during operation, optimal amount of delivered electricity to the water pump, and optimal size of the water storage tank for one-year operation data. The results of implementing the FWaPA on the case study show that the PVP-IPS system with a WST as the reliable system can reduce outsourced water by 95.41% compare to the PVP-IPS system without storage tank.Keywords: irrigation, photovoltaic, pinch analysis, pumping, solar energy
Procedia PDF Downloads 13819530 Forecast Based on an Empirical Probability Function with an Adjusted Error Using Propagation of Error
Authors: Oscar Javier Herrera, Manuel Angel Camacho
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This paper addresses a cutting edge method of business demand forecasting, based on an empirical probability function when the historical behavior of the data is random. Additionally, it presents error determination based on the numerical method technique ‘propagation of errors’. The methodology was conducted characterization and process diagnostics demand planning as part of the production management, then new ways to predict its value through techniques of probability and to calculate their mistake investigated, it was tools used numerical methods. All this based on the behavior of the data. This analysis was determined considering the specific business circumstances of a company in the sector of communications, located in the city of Bogota, Colombia. In conclusion, using this application it was possible to obtain the adequate stock of the products required by the company to provide its services, helping the company reduce its service time, increase the client satisfaction rate, reduce stock which has not been in rotation for a long time, code its inventory, and plan reorder points for the replenishment of stock.Keywords: demand forecasting, empirical distribution, propagation of error, Bogota
Procedia PDF Downloads 63019529 Assessment and Optimisation of Building Services Electrical Loads for Off-Grid or Hybrid Operation
Authors: Desmond Young
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In building services electrical design, a key element of any project will be assessing the electrical load requirements. This needs to be done early in the design process to allow the selection of infrastructure that would be required to meet the electrical needs of the type of building. The type of building will define the type of assessment made, and the values applied in defining the maximum demand for the building, and ultimately the size of supply or infrastructure required, and the application that needs to be made to the distribution network operator, or alternatively to an independent network operator. The fact that this assessment needs to be undertaken early in the design process provides limits on the type of assessment that can be used, as different methods require different types of information, and sometimes this information is not available until the latter stages of a project. A common method applied in the earlier design stages of a project, typically during stages 1,2 & 3, is the use of benchmarks. It is a possibility that some of the benchmarks applied are excessive in relation to the current loads that exist in a modern installation. This lack of accuracy is based on information which does not correspond to the actual equipment loads that are used. This includes lighting and small power loads, where the use of more efficient equipment and lighting has reduced the maximum demand required. The electrical load can be used as part of the process to assess the heat generated from the equipment, with the heat gains from other sources, this feeds into the sizing of the infrastructure required to cool the building. Any overestimation of the loads would contribute to the increase in the design load for the heating and ventilation systems. Finally, with the new policies driving the industry to decarbonise buildings, a prime example being the recently introduced London Plan, loads are potentially going to increase. In addition, with the advent of the pandemic and changes to working practices, and the adoption of electric heating and vehicles, a better understanding of the loads that should be applied will aid in ensuring that infrastructure is not oversized, as a cost to the client, or undersized to the detriment of the building. In addition, more accurate benchmarks and methods will allow assessments to be made for the incorporation of energy storage and renewable technologies as these technologies become more common in buildings new or refurbished.Keywords: energy, ADMD, electrical load assessment, energy benchmarks
Procedia PDF Downloads 11219528 Green Supply Chain Management: A Revolutionary and Robust Innovation in the Field of Efficient Environmental Development and Regulation
Authors: Jinesh Kumar Jain, Faishal Pathan
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The concept of sustainable development and effective environmental regulation has led to the emergence of a new field of study and practise that is the Green Supply Chain Management. GSCM has become a subject of great importance for both the developed and developing countries to achieve the desired and much-awaited goals of the firm within the environmental and sustainable framework. Its merits are comprised of good financial pay off and competitiveness to the firms in a long lasting and sustainable manner. The purpose of the paper is to briefly review the recent literature of the GSCM and also determines the new direction area of this emerging field. A detailed study has helped to enlighten the minute details and develop the research direction of the study. The GSCM has gained popularity with both academic and practitioners. The items for the study were developed based on the extent literature. Here we found that the state of adoption of GSCM practices by Indian Firms was still in its infancy, the awareness of environmental sustainability was quite low among consumers and the regulatory frameworks were also lacking in terms promoting environmental sustainability. The present paper is an attempt to emphasize much attention on the above-mentioned issues and present a conclusive summary to make its use widespread and for reaching.Keywords: environmental management, environmental performance, financial performance, green supply chain management
Procedia PDF Downloads 21519527 Solid Waste Management Challenges and Possible Solution in Kabul City
Authors: Ghulam Haider Haidaree, Nsenda Lukumwena
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Most developing nations face energy production and supply problems. This is also the case of Afghanistan whose generating capacity does not meet its energy demand. This is due in part to high security and risk caused by war which deters foreign investments and insufficient internal revenue. To address the issue above, this paper would like to suggest an alternative and affordable way to deal with the energy problem. That is by converting Solid Waste to energy. As a result, this approach tackles the municipal solid waste issue (potential cause of several diseases), contributes to the improvement of the quality of life, local economy, and so on. While addressing the solid waste problem in general, this paper samples specifically one municipality which is District-12, one of the 22 districts of Kabul city. Using geographic information system (GIS) technology, District-12 is divided into nine different zones whose municipal solid waste is respectively collected, processed, and converted into electricity and distributed to the closest area. It is important to mention that GIS has been used to estimate the amount of electricity to be distributed and to optimally position the production plant.Keywords: energy problem, estimation of electricity, GIS zones, solid waste management system
Procedia PDF Downloads 33619526 Assessment of Land Suitability for Tea Cultivation Using Geoinformatics in the Mansehra and Abbottabad District, Pakistan
Authors: Nasir Ashraf, Sajid Rahid Ahmad, Adeel Ahmad
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Pakistan is a major tea consumer country and ranked as the third largest importer of tea worldwide. Out of all beverage consumed in Pakistan, tea is the one with most demand for which tea import is inevitable. Being an agrarian country, Pakistan should cultivate its own tea and save the millions of dollars cost from tea import. So the need is to identify the most suitable areas with favorable weather condition and suitable soils where tea can be planted. This research is conducted over District Mansehra and District Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwah Province of Pakistan where the most favorable conditions for tea cultivation already exist and National Tea Research Institute has done successful experiments to cultivate high quality tea. High tech approach is adopted to meet the objectives of this research by using the remotely sensed data i.e. Aster DEM, Landsat8 Imagery. The Remote Sensing data was processed in Erdas Imagine, Envi and further analyzed in ESRI ArcGIS spatial analyst for final results and representation of result data in map layouts. Integration of remote sensing data with GIS provided the perfect suitability analysis. The results showed that out of all study area, 13.4% area is highly suitable while 33.44% area is suitable for tea plantation. The result of this research is an impressive GIS based outcome and structured format of data for the agriculture planners and Tea growers. Identification of suitable tea growing areas by using remotely sensed data and GIS techniques is a pressing need for the country. Analysis of this research lets the planners to address variety of action plans in an economical and scientific manner which can lead tea production in Pakistan to meet demand. This geomatics based model and approach may be used to identify more areas for tea cultivation to meet our demand which we can reduce by planting our own tea, and our country can be independent in tea production.Keywords: agrarian country, GIS, geoinformatics, suitability analysis, remote sensing
Procedia PDF Downloads 38819525 IOT Based Automated Production and Control System for Clean Water Filtration Through Solar Energy Operated by Submersible Water Pump
Authors: Musse Mohamud Ahmed, Tina Linda Achilles, Mohammad Kamrul Hasan
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Deterioration of the mother nature is evident these day with clear danger of human catastrophe emanating from greenhouses (GHG) with increasing CO2 emissions to the environment. PV technology can help to reduce the dependency on fossil fuel, decreasing air pollution and slowing down the rate of global warming. The objective of this paper is to propose, develop and design the production of clean water supply to rural communities using an appropriate technology such as Internet of Things (IOT) that does not create any CO2 emissions. Additionally, maximization of solar energy power output and reciprocally minimizing the natural characteristics of solar sources intermittences during less presence of the sun itself is another goal to achieve in this work. The paper presents the development of critical automated control system for solar energy power output optimization using several new techniques. water pumping system is developed to supply clean water with the application of IOT-renewable energy. This system is effective to provide clean water supply to remote and off-grid areas using Photovoltaics (PV) technology that collects energy generated from the sunlight. The focus of this work is to design and develop a submersible solar water pumping system that applies an IOT implementation. Thus, this system has been executed and programmed using Arduino Software (IDE), proteus, Maltab and C++ programming language. The mechanism of this system is that it pumps water from water reservoir that is powered up by solar energy and clean water production was also incorporated using filtration system through the submersible solar water pumping system. The filtering system is an additional application platform which is intended to provide a clean water supply to any households in Sarawak State, Malaysia.Keywords: IOT, automated production and control system, water filtration, automated submersible water pump, solar energy
Procedia PDF Downloads 8819524 Culture and Commodification: A Study of William Gibson's the Bridge Trilogy
Authors: Aruna Bhat
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Culture can be placed within the social structure that embodies both the creation of social groups, and the manner in which they interact with each other. As many critics have pointed out, culture in the Postmodern context has often been considered a commodity, and indeed it shares many attributes with commercial products. Popular culture follows many patterns of behavior derived from Economics, from the simple principle of supply and demand, to the creation of marketable demographics which fit certain criterion. This trend is exemplary visible in contemporary fiction, especially in contemporary science fiction; Cyberpunk fiction in particular which is an off shoot of pure science fiction. William Gibson is one such author who in his works portrays such a scenario, and in his The Bridge Trilogy he adds another level of interpretation to this state of affairs, by describing a world that is centered on industrialization of a new kind – that focuses around data in the cyberspace. In this new world, data has become the most important commodity, and man has become nothing but a nodal point in a vast ocean of raw data resulting into commodification of each thing including Culture. This paper will attempt to study the presence of above mentioned elements in William Gibson’s The Bridge Trilogy. The theories applied will be Postmodernism and Cultural studies.Keywords: culture, commodity, cyberpunk, data, postmodern
Procedia PDF Downloads 50419523 An Integrated Modular Approach Based Simulation of Cold Heavy Oil Production
Authors: Hamidreza Sahaleh
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In this paper, the authors display an incorporated secluded way to deal with quantitatively foresee volumetric sand generation and improved oil recuperation. This model is in light of blend hypothesis with erosion mechanics, in which multiphase hydrodynamics and geo-mechanics are coupled in a predictable way by means of principal unknowns, for example, saturation, pressure, porosity, and formation displacements. Foamy oil is demonstrated as a scattering of gas bubbles caught in the oil, where these gas air bubbles keep up a higher repository weight. A secluded methodology is then received to adequately exploit the current propelled standard supply and stress-strain codes. The model is actualized into three coordinated computational modules, i.e. erosion module, store module, and geo-mechanics module. The stress, stream and erosion mathematical statements are understood independently for every time addition, and the coupling terms (porosity, penetrability, plastic shear strain, and so on) are gone among them and iterated until certain union is accomplished on a period step premise. The framework is capable regarding its abilities, yet practical in terms of computer requirements and maintenance. Numerical results of field studies are displayed to show the capacities of the model. The impacts of foamy oil stream and sand generation are additionally inspected to exhibit their effect on the upgraded hydrocarbon recuperation.Keywords: oil recuperation, erosion mechanics, foamy oil, erosion module.
Procedia PDF Downloads 26819522 Describing Professional Purchasers' Performance Applying the 'Big Five Inventory': Findings from a Survey in Austria
Authors: Volker Koch, Sigrid Swobodnik, Bernd M. Zunk
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The success of companies on globalized markets is significantly influenced by the performance of purchasing departments and, of course, the individuals employed as professional purchasers. Nonetheless, this is generally accepted in practice, in literature as well as in empirical research, only insufficient attention was given to the assessment of this relationship between the personality of professional purchasers and their individual performance. This paper aims to describe the relationship against the background of the 'Big Five Inventory'. Based on the five dimensions of a personality (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) a research model was designed. The research model divides the individual performance of professional purchasers into two major dimensions: operational and strategic. The operational dimension consists of the items 'cost', 'quality delivery' and 'flexibility'; the strategic dimension comprises the positions 'innovation', 'supplier satisfaction' as wells as 'purchasing and supply management integration in the organization'. To test the research model, a survey study was performed, and an online questionnaire was sent out to purchasing professionals in Austrian companies. The data collected from 78 responses was used to test the research model applying a group comparison. The comparison points out that there is (i) an influence of the purchasers’ personality on the individual performance of professional purchasers and (ii) a link between purchasers’ personality to a high or a low individual performance of professional purchasers. The findings of this study may help human resource managers during staff recruitment processes to identify the 'right performing personality' for an operational and/or a strategic position in purchasing departments.Keywords: big five inventory, individual performance, personality, purchasing professionals
Procedia PDF Downloads 17019521 Trade Outcomes of Agri-Environmental Regulations’ Heterogeneity: New Evidence from a Gravity Model
Authors: Najla Kamergi
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In a world context of increasing interest in environmental issues, this paper investigates the effect of agri-environmental regulations heterogeneity on the volume of crop commodities’ exports using a theoretically justified gravity model of Anderson and van Wincoop (2003) for the 2003–2013 period. Our findings show that the difference in exporter and importer environmental regulations is more relevant to agricultural trade than trade agreements. In fact, the environmental gap between the two partners is decreasing slightly but significantly crop commodities’ exports according to our results. We also note that the sector of fruit and vegetables is more sensitive to this determinant, unlike cereals that remain relatively less affected. Furthermore, high-income countries have more tendency to trade with countries characterized by similar environmental stringency. Further results show that the BRICS are clearly importing from developed countries where the environmental difference is relatively important. It is likely that emerging countries are witnessing a growing demand for high-quality and “green” crop commodities captured by high-income exporters. Surprisingly, our results suggest that low and middle-income countries with the same level of environmental stringency are more likely to trade crop commodities.Keywords: agricultural trade, environment, gravity model, food crops, agri-environmental efficiency, DEA
Procedia PDF Downloads 13619520 Sub-Saharan Africa: Role of Global Fashion System in Turbo-Charging Growth of Apparel Industry
Authors: Rajkishore Nayak, Tarun Panwar, Majo George
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The study focuses on investigating the factors that influence the growth of fashion and textile manufacturing in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. This paper endeavours to identify, analyse and evaluate the critical factors associated with the growth of fashion and textile manufacturing in SSA countries. This research has done a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) analysis based on the available literature and the knowledge of authors in garment manufacturing and export. It was found that the SSA countries have shown little growth in fashion and textile manufacturing and export from the starting of the year 2000. Unlike the developing countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, the total export to the US, the EU and other parts of the world has declined. On the other hand, the total supply of fashion and textiles to the domestic market has been in rise. However, the local communities still need to rely on other countries to meet their demand. Availability of cheaper imported clothes from other countries such as Bangladesh, China and Vietnam have made it difficult for the local manufacturers to produce at a cheaper price.Keywords: Sub-Saharan Africa, developing countries, apparel industry, fashion and textile, sustainable fashion
Procedia PDF Downloads 11919519 Food Traceability System: Current State and Future Needs of the Nigerian Poultry and Poultry Product Supply Chain
Authors: Hadiza Kabir Bako, Munir Abba Dandago
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The fright of food-borne diseases as a result of animal health across the globe is creating the need for origin confirmation, safety of food and method of identification of food produce within the supply chain. In this paper, we investigated two commercial and one backyard poultry farm; live poultry, poultry meat and egg. We propose various implementation options for the poultry traceability system with respect to trace and track, and food recall and withdrawal requirements. With the intention that farmers, Investors or Regulatory agencies would find it useful for the Nigerian poultry sector and we highlight the future needs and challenges that lie ahead in the two most significant system of poultry production in Nigeria: the commercial poultry and backyard breeding.Keywords: farm, food safety, food traceability, poultry
Procedia PDF Downloads 19219518 Established Novel Approach for Chemical Oxygen Demand Concentrations Measurement Based Mach-Zehner Interferometer Sensor
Authors: Su Sin Chong, Abdul Aziz Abdul Raman, Sulaiman Wadi Harun, Hamzah Arof
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Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) plays a vital role determination of an appropriate strategy for wastewater treatment including the control of the quality of an effluent. In this study, a new sensing method was introduced for the first time and developed to investigate chemical oxygen demand (COD) using a Mach-Zehner Interferometer (MZI)-based dye sensor. The sensor is constructed by bridging two single mode fibres (SMF1 and SMF2) with a short section (~20 mm) of multimode fibre (MMF) and was formed by tapering the MMF to generate evanescent field which is sensitive to perturbation of sensing medium. When the COD concentration increase takes effect will induce changes in output intensity and effective refractive index between the microfiber and the sensing medium. The adequacy of decisions based on COD values relies on the quality of the measurements. Therefore, the dual output response can be applied to the analytical procedure enhance measurement quality. This work presents a detailed assessment of the determination of COD values in synthetic wastewaters. Detailed models of the measurement performance, including sensitivity, reversibility, stability, and uncertainty were successfully validated by proficiency tests where supported on sound and objective criteria. Comparison of the standard method with the new proposed method was also conducted. This proposed sensor is compact, reliable and feasible to investigate the COD value.Keywords: chemical oxygen demand, environmental sensing, Mach-Zehnder interferometer sensor, online monitoring
Procedia PDF Downloads 49419517 Green Crypto Mining: A Quantitative Analysis of the Profitability of Bitcoin Mining Using Excess Wind Energy
Authors: John Dorrell, Matthew Ambrosia, Abilash
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This paper employs econometric analysis to quantify the potential profit wind farms can receive by allocating excess wind energy to power bitcoin mining machines. Cryptocurrency mining consumes a substantial amount of electricity worldwide, and wind energy produces a significant amount of energy that is lost because of the intermittent nature of the resource. Supply does not always match consumer demand. By combining the weaknesses of these two technologies, we can improve efficiency and a sustainable path to mine cryptocurrencies. This paper uses historical wind energy from the ERCOT network in Texas and cryptocurrency data from 2000-2021, to create 4-year return on investment projections. Our research model incorporates the price of bitcoin, the price of the miner, the hash rate of the miner relative to the network hash rate, the block reward, the bitcoin transaction fees awarded to the miners, the mining pool fees, the cost of the electricity and the percentage of time the miner will be running to demonstrate that wind farms generate enough excess energy to mine bitcoin profitably. Excess wind energy can be used as a financial battery, which can utilize wasted electricity by changing it into economic energy. The findings of our research determine that wind energy producers can earn profit while not taking away much if any, electricity from the grid. According to our results, Bitcoin mining could give as much as 1347% and 805% return on investment with the starting dates of November 1, 2021, and November 1, 2022, respectively, using wind farm curtailment. This paper is helpful to policymakers and investors in determining efficient and sustainable ways to power our economic future. This paper proposes a practical solution for the problem of crypto mining energy consumption and creates a more sustainable energy future for Bitcoin.Keywords: bitcoin, mining, economics, energy
Procedia PDF Downloads 3319516 Market Acceptance of a Murabaha-Based Finance Structure within a Social Network of Non-Islamic Small and Medium Enterprise Owners in African Procurement
Authors: Craig M. Allen
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Twenty two African entrepreneurs with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in a single social network centered around a non-Muslim population in a smaller African country, selected an Islamic financing structure, a form of Murabaha, based solely on market rationale. These entrepreneurs had all won procurement contracts from major purchasers of goods within their country and faced difficulty arranging traditional bank financing to support their supply-chain needs. The Murabaha-based structure satisfied their market-driven demand and provided an attractive alternative to the traditional bank-offered lending products. The Murabaha-styled trade-financing structure was not promoted with any religious implications, but solely as a market solution to the existing problems associated with bank-related financing. This indicates the strong market forces that draw SMEs to financing structures that are traditionally considered within the framework of Islamic finance.Keywords: Africa, entrepreneurs, Islamic finance, market acceptance, Murabaha, SMEs
Procedia PDF Downloads 18119515 Sustainability Management Control Adoption and Sustainable Performance of Healthcare Supply Chains in Times of Crisis
Authors: Edward Nartey
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Although sustainability management control (SMC) systems provide information that enhances corporate sustainability decisions, reviews on the SMC implications for sustainable supply chains (SCs) demonstrate a wide research gap, particularly the sustainability performance of healthcare SCs in unusual times. This study provides preliminary empirical evidence on the level of SMC adoption and the decision-making implications for the Tripple Bottom Line (TBL) principles of SC sustainability of Ghanaian public healthcare institutions (PHIs). Using a sample of 226 public health managers, the results show that sustainable formal control has a positive and significant impact on economic sustainability but an insignificant effect on social and environmental sustainability. In addition, a positive relationship was established between informal controls and economic and environmental sustainability but an insignificant relationship with social sustainability. Although the findings highlight the prevalence of the SMC system being prioritized over regular MCS in crisis situations, the MCSs are inadequate in promoting PHIs' sustainable behaviours in SCs. It also provides little empirical evidence on the effective enhancement of the TBL principle of SC sustainability perhaps because the SMC is in misalignment with the TBL principle in crisis situations. Thus, in crisis situations, PHIs need to redesign their MCSs to support the integration of sustainability issues in SCs.Keywords: sustainability management control, informal control, formal control, sustainable supply chain performance
Procedia PDF Downloads 6119514 Hybrid Energy System for the German Mining Industry: An Optimized Model
Authors: Kateryna Zharan, Jan C. Bongaerts
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In recent years, economic attractiveness of renewable energy (RE) for the mining industry, especially for off-grid mines, and a negative environmental impact of fossil energy are stimulating to use RE for mining needs. Being that remote area mines have higher energy expenses than mines connected to a grid, integration of RE may give a mine economic benefits. Regarding the literature review, there is a lack of business models for adopting of RE at mine. The main aim of this paper is to develop an optimized model of RE integration into the German mining industry (GMI). Hereby, the GMI with amount of around 800 mill. t. annually extracted resources is included in the list of the 15 major mining country in the world. Accordingly, the mining potential of Germany is evaluated in this paper as a perspective market for RE implementation. The GMI has been classified in order to find out the location of resources, quantity and types of the mines, amount of extracted resources, and access of the mines to the energy resources. Additionally, weather conditions have been analyzed in order to figure out where wind and solar generation technologies can be integrated into a mine with the highest efficiency. Despite the fact that the electricity demand of the GMI is almost completely covered by a grid connection, the hybrid energy system (HES) based on a mix of RE and fossil energy is developed due to show environmental and economic benefits. The HES for the GMI consolidates a combination of wind turbine, solar PV, battery and diesel generation. The model has been calculated using the HOMER software. Furthermore, the demonstrated HES contains a forecasting model that predicts solar and wind generation in advance. The main result from the HES such as CO2 emission reduction is estimated in order to make the mining processing more environmental friendly.Keywords: diesel generation, German mining industry, hybrid energy system, hybrid optimization model for electric renewables, optimized model, renewable energy
Procedia PDF Downloads 34319513 Estimation of Microbial-N Supply to Small Intestine in Angora Goats Fed by Different Roughage Sources
Authors: Nurcan Cetinkaya
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The aim of the study was to estimate the microbial-N flow to small intestine based on daily urinary purine derivatives(PD) mainly xanthine, hypoxanthine, uric acid and allantoin excretion in Angora goats fed by grass hay and concentrate (Period I); barley straw and concentrate (Period II). Daily urine samples were collected during last 3 days of each period from 10 individually penned Angora bucks( LW 30-35 Kg, 2-3 years old) receiving ad libitum grass hay or barley straw and 300 g/d concentrate. Fresh water was always available. 4N H2SO4 was added to collected daily urine .samples to keep pH under 3 to avoid of uric acid precipitation. Diluted urine samples were stored at -20°C until analysis. Urine samples were analyzed for xanthine, hypoxanthine, uric acid, allantoin and creatinine by High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Method (HPLC). Urine was diluted 1:15 in ratio with water and duplicate samples were prepared for HPLC analysis. Calculated mean levels (n=60) for urinary xanthine, hypoxanthine, uric acid, allantoin, total PD and creatinine excretion were 0.39±0.02 , 0.26±0.03, 0.59±0.06, 5.91±0.50, 7.15±0.57 and 3.75±0.40 mmol/L for Period I respectively; 0.35±0.03, 0.21±0.02, 0.55±0.05, 5.60±0.47, 6.71±0.46 and 3.73±0.41 mmol/L for Period II respectively.Mean values of Period I and II were significantly different (P< 0.05) except creatinine excretion. Estimated mean microbial-N supply to the small intestine for Period I and II in Angora goats were 5.72±0.46 and 5.41±0.61 g N/d respectively. The effects of grass hay and barley straw feeding on microbial-N supply to small intestine were found significantly different (P< 0.05). In conclusion, grass hay showed a better effect on the ruminal microbial protein synthesis compared to barley straw, therefore; grass hay is suggested as roughage source in Angora goat feeding.Keywords: angora goat, HPLC method, microbial-N supply to small intestine, urinary purine derivatives
Procedia PDF Downloads 22319512 Research on Land Use Pattern and Employment-Housing Space of Coastal Industrial Town Based on the Investigation of Liaoning Province, China
Authors: Fei Chen, Wei Lu, Jun Cai
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During the Twelve Five period, China promulgated industrial policies promoting the relocation of energy-intensive industries to coastal areas in order to utilize marine shipping resources. Consequently, some major state-owned steel and gas enterprises have relocated and resulted in a large-scale coastal area development. However, some land may have been over-exploited with seamless coastline projects. To balance between employment and housing, new industrial coastal towns were constructed to support the industrial-led development. In this paper, we adopt a case-study approach to closely examine the development of several new industrial coastal towns of Liaoning Province situated in the Bohai Bay area, which is currently under rapid economic growth. Our investigations reflect the common phenomenon of long distance commuting and a massive amount of vacant residences. More specifically, large plant relocation caused hundreds of kilometers of daily commute and enterprises had to provide housing subsidies and education incentives to motivate employees to relocate to coastal areas. Nonetheless, many employees still refuse to relocate due to job stability, diverse needs of family members and access to convenient services. These employees averaged 4 hours of commute daily and some who lived further had to reside in temporary industrial housing units and subject to long-term family separation. As a result, only a small portion of employees purchase new coastal residences but mostly for investment and retirement purposes, leading to massive vacancy and ghost-town phenomenon. In contrast to the low demand, coastal areas tend to develop large amount of residences prior to industrial relocation, which may be directly related to local government finances. Some local governments have sold residential land to developers to general revenue to support the subsequent industrial development. Subject to the strong preference of ocean-view, residential housing developers tend to select coast-line land to construct new residential towns, which further reduces the access of marine resources for major industrial enterprises. This violates the original intent of developing industrial coastal towns and drastically limits the availability of marine resources. Lastly, we analyze the co-existence of over-exploiting residential areas and massive vacancies in reference to the demand and supply of land, as well as the demand of residential housing units with the choice criteria of enterprise employees.Keywords: coastal industry town, commuter traffic, employment-housing space, outer suburb industrial area
Procedia PDF Downloads 22119511 Shaped Crystal Growth of Fe-Ga and Fe-Al Alloy Plates by the Micro Pulling down Method
Authors: Kei Kamada, Rikito Murakami, Masahiko Ito, Mototaka Arakawa, Yasuhiro Shoji, Toshiyuki Ueno, Masao Yoshino, Akihiro Yamaji, Shunsuke Kurosawa, Yuui Yokota, Yuji Ohashi, Akira Yoshikawa
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Techniques of energy harvesting y have been widely developed in recent years, due to high demand on the power supply for ‘Internet of things’ devices such as wireless sensor nodes. In these applications, conversion technique of mechanical vibration energy into electrical energy using magnetostrictive materials n have been brought to attention. Among the magnetostrictive materials, Fe-Ga and Fe-Al alloys are attractive materials due to the figure of merits such price, mechanical strength, high magnetostrictive constant. Up to now, bulk crystals of these alloys are produced by the Bridgman–Stockbarger method or the Czochralski method. Using these method big bulk crystal up to 2~3 inch diameter can be grown. However, non-uniformity of chemical composition along to the crystal growth direction cannot be avoid, which results in non-uniformity of magnetostriction constant and reduction of the production yield. The micro-pulling down (μ-PD) method has been developed as a shaped crystal growth technique. Our group have reported shaped crystal growth of oxide, fluoride single crystals with different shape such rod, plate tube, thin fiber, etc. Advantages of this method is low segregation due to high growth rate and small diffusion of melt at the solid-liquid interface, and small kerf loss due to near net shape crystal. In this presentation, we report the shaped long plate crystal growth of Fe-Ga and Fe-Al alloys using the μ-PD method. Alloy crystals were grown by the μ-PD method using calcium oxide crucible and induction heating system under the nitrogen atmosphere. The bottom hole of crucibles was 5 x 1mm² size. A <100> oriented iron-based alloy was used as a seed crystal. 5 x 1 x 320 mm³ alloy crystal plates were successfully grown. The results of crystal growth, chemical composition analysis, magnetostrictive properties and a prototype vibration energy harvester are reported. Furthermore, continuous crystal growth using powder supply system will be reported to minimize the chemical composition non-uniformity along the growth direction.Keywords: crystal growth, micro-pulling-down method, Fe-Ga, Fe-Al
Procedia PDF Downloads 33419510 The Prototype of the Solar Energy Utilization for the Finding Sustainable Conditions in the Future: The Solar Community with 4000 Dwellers 960 Families, equal to 480 Solar Dwelling Houses and 32 Mansion Buildings (480 Dwellers)
Authors: Kunihisa Kakumoto
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This technical paper is for the prototype of solar energy utilization for finding sustainable conditions. This model has been simulated under the climate conditions in Japan. At the beginning of the study, the solar model house was built up on site. And the concerned data was collected in this model house for several years. On the basis of these collected data, the concept on the solar community was built up. For the finding sustainable conditions, the amount of the solar energy generation and its reduction of carbon dioxide and the reduction of carbon dioxide by the green planting and the amount of carbon dioxide according to the normal daily life in the solar community and the amount of the necessary water for the daily life in the solar community and the amount of the water supply by the rainfall on-site were calculated. These all values were taken into consideration. The relations between each calculated result are shown in the expression of inequality. This solar community and its consideration for finding sustainable conditions can be one prototype to do the feasibility study for our life in the futureKeywords: carbon dioxide, green planting, smart city, solar community, sustainable condition, water activity
Procedia PDF Downloads 28719509 The Importance of Training in Supply Chain Management on Personnel Differentiation and Business Performance
Authors: Arawati Agus, Rahmah Ismail
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An effective training has been increasingly recognized as critical factors in enhancing the skills and knowledge of employee or personnel in the organization. More and more manufacturing companies in Malaysia are increasingly incorporating training as an important element in supply chain management (SCM) to improve their employee skills and knowledge and ultimately organizational performances. In order to understand the connection of training in SCM and the performance of an organization, this paper considers of many arguments from various research papers. This paper presents the findings of a research which examines the relationship between training in SCM, personnel differentiation and business performance of manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The study measures perception of senior management regarding the incorporation of training in SCM and the level of personnel differentiation and business performance measurements in their companies. The associations between training in SCM, personnel differentiation and business performance dimensions are analyzed through methods such as Pearson’s correlations and Smart partial least squares (smart PLS) using 126 respondents’ data. The correlation results demonstrate that training in SCM has significant correlations with personnel differentiation determinants (comprises of variables namely employee differentiation and service differentiation). The findings also suggest that training in SCM has significant correlations with business performance determinants (comprises of indicators, namely market share, profitability, ROA and ROS). Specifically, both personnel differentiation and business performance have high correlations with training in SCM, namely ‘Employee training on production skills’, ‘On the job production employee training’ and ‘Management training on supply chain effectiveness’ and ‘Employee training on supply chain technologies’. The smart PLS result also reveals that training in SCM exhibits significant impact on both personnel differentiation (directly) and business performance (indirectly mediated by personnel differentiation). The findings of the study provide a demonstration of the importance of training in SCM in enhancing competitive performances in Malaysian manufacturing companies.Keywords: training in SCM, personnel differentiation, business performance, Pearson’s correlation, Smart PLS
Procedia PDF Downloads 32419508 Determination of the Oxidative Potential of Organic Materials: Method Development
Authors: Jui Afrin, Akhtarul Islam
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In this paper, the solution of glucose, yeast and glucose yeast mixture are being used as sample solution for determining the chemical oxygen demand (COD). In general COD determination method used to determine the different rang of oxidative potential. But in this work has shown to determine the definite oxidative potential for different concentration for known COD value and wanted to see the difference between experimental value and the theoretical value for evaluating the method drawbacks. In this study, made the values of oxidative potential like 400 mg/L, 500 mg/L, 600 mg/L, 700 mg/L and 800mg/L for various sample solutions and determined the oxidative potential according to our developed method. Plotting the experimental COD values vs. sample solutions of various concentrations in mg/L to draw the curve. From these curves see that the curves for glucose solution is not linear; its deviate from linearity for the lower concentration and the reason for this deviation is unknown. If these drawback can be removed this method can be effectively used to determine Oxidative Potential of Industrial wastewater (such as: Leather industry wastewater, Municipal wastewater, Food industry wastewater, Textile wastewater, Pharmaceuticals waste water) that’s why more experiment and study required.Keywords: bod (biological oxygen demand), cod (chemical oxygen demand), oxidative potential, titration, waste water, development
Procedia PDF Downloads 22919507 On Virtual Coordination Protocol towards 5G Interference Mitigation: Modelling and Performance Analysis
Authors: Bohli Afef
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The fifth-generation (5G) wireless systems is featured by extreme densities of cell stations to overcome the higher future demand. Hence, interference management is a crucial challenge in 5G ultra-dense cellular networks. In contrast to the classical inter-cell interference coordination approach, which is no longer fit for the high density of cell-tiers, this paper proposes a novel virtual coordination based on the dynamic common cognitive monitor channel protocol to deal with the inter-cell interference issue. A tractable and flexible model for the coverage probability of a typical user is developed through the use of the stochastic geometry model. The analyses of the performance of the suggested protocol are illustrated both analytically and numerically in terms of coverage probability.Keywords: ultra dense heterogeneous networks, dynamic common channel protocol, cognitive radio, stochastic geometry, coverage probability
Procedia PDF Downloads 32519506 Dwelling in the Built Environment: The Resilience by Design in Modular Thinking toward an Adaptive Alternatives
Authors: Tzen-Ying Ling
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Recently, the resilience of dwellings in urban areas has been deliberated, as to accommodate the growing demand for changing the demography and rapid urbanization. The need to incorporate sustainability and cleaner production thinking have intensified to mitigate climate risks and satisfy the demand for housing. The modular thinking satisfies both the pressing call for fast-tracked housing stocks; while meeting the goal of more sustainable production. In the other side, the importance of the dwelling as a podium for well-being and social connectedness are sought to explore the key human/environment design thinking for the modular system in dwelling. We argue the best practice incorporates the concept of systemic components thinking. The fieldwork reported in this paper illustrates the process of the case study in a modular dwelling unit prototype development; focusing on the systemic frame system design process and adjustment recommendation hereafter. Using a case study method, the study identified that: (1) inclusive human dimensional factoring through systemic design thinking results in affordable implementations possibilities. (2) The environmental dimension encourages the place-based solution suited for the locality and the increasing demand for dwelling in the urban system. (3) Prototype design consideration avails module system component as dwelling construction alternative. (4) Building code often acts as an inhibitor for such dwelling units by the restriction in lot sizes and units placement. The demand for fast-track dwelling construction and cleaner production decisively outweighs the code inhibition; we further underscored the sustainability implication of the alternative prototype as the core of this study. The research suggests that modular thinking results in a resilient solution suited for the locality and the increasing demand for dwelling in the urban system.Keywords: system prototype, urban resilience, human/environment dimension, modular thinking, dwelling alternative
Procedia PDF Downloads 17419505 Two Efficient Heuristic Algorithms for the Integrated Production Planning and Warehouse Layout Problem
Authors: Mohammad Pourmohammadi Fallah, Maziar Salahi
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In the literature, a mixed-integer linear programming model for the integrated production planning and warehouse layout problem is proposed. To solve the model, the authors proposed a Lagrangian relax-and-fix heuristic that takes a significant amount of time to stop with gaps above 5$\%$ for large-scale instances. Here, we present two heuristic algorithms to solve the problem. In the first one, we use a greedy approach by allocating warehouse locations with less reservation costs and also less transportation costs from the production area to locations and from locations to the output point to items with higher demands. Then a smaller model is solved. In the second heuristic, first, we sort items in descending order according to the fraction of the sum of the demands for that item in the time horizon plus the maximum demand for that item in the time horizon and the sum of all its demands in the time horizon. Then we categorize the sorted items into groups of 3, 4, or 5 and solve a small-scale optimization problem for each group, hoping to improve the solution of the first heuristic. Our preliminary numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed heuristics.Keywords: capacitated lot-sizing, warehouse layout, mixed-integer linear programming, heuristics algorithm
Procedia PDF Downloads 19519504 The Driving Force for Taiwan Social Innovation Business Model Transformation: A Case Study of Social Innovation Internet Celebrity Training Project
Authors: Shih-Jie Ma, Jui-Hsu Hsiao, Ming-Ying Hsieh, Shin-Yan Yang, Chun-Han Yeh, Kuo-Chun Su
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In Taiwan, social enterprises and non-profit organizations (NPOs) are not familiar with innovative business models, such as live streaming. In 2019, a brand new course called internet celebrity training project is introduced to them by the Social Innovation Lab. The Goal of this paper is to evaluate the effect of this project, to explore the role of new technology (internet live stream) in business process management (BPM), and to analyze how live stream programs can assist social enterprises in creating new business models. Social Innovation, with the purpose to solve social issues in innovative ways, is one of the most popular topics in the world. Social Innovation Lab was established in 2017 by Executive Yuan in Taiwan. The vision of Social Innovation Lab is to exploit technology, innovation and experimental methods to solve social issues, and to maximize the benefits from government investment. Social Innovation Lab aims at creating a platform for both supply and demand sides of social issues, to make social enterprises and start-ups communicate with each other, and to build an eco-system in which stakeholders can make a social impact. Social Innovation Lab keeps helping social enterprises and NPOs to gain better publicity and to enhance competitiveness by facilitating digital transformation. In this project, Social Innovation Lab exerted the influence of social media such as YouTube and Facebook, to make social enterprises and start-ups adjust their business models by using the live stream of social media, which becomes one of the tools to expand their market and diversify their sales channels. Internet live stream training courses were delivered in different regions of Taiwan in 2019, including Taitung, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien. Through these courses, potential groups and enterprises were cultivated to become so-called internet celebrities. With their concern about social issues in mind, these internet celebrities know how to manipulate social media to make a social impact in different fields, such as aboriginal people, food and agriculture, LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability), environmental protection and senior citizens. Participants of live stream training courses in Taiwan are selected to take in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys. Results indicate that the digital transformation process of social enterprises and NPOs can be successful by implementing business process reengineering, a significant change made by social innovation internet celebrities. Therefore, this project can be the new driving force to facilitate the business model transformation in Taiwan.Keywords: business process management, digital transformation, live stream, social innovation
Procedia PDF Downloads 14619503 Characterization of Aquifer Systems and Identification of Potential Groundwater Recharge Zones Using Geospatial Data and Arc GIS in Kagandi Water Supply System Well Field
Authors: Aijuka Nicholas
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A research study was undertaken to characterize the aquifers and identify the potential groundwater recharge zones in the Kagandi district. Quantitative characterization of hydraulic conductivities of aquifers is of fundamental importance to the study of groundwater flow and contaminant transport in aquifers. A conditional approach is used to represent the spatial variability of hydraulic conductivity. Briefly, it involves using qualitative and quantitative geologic borehole-log data to generate a three-dimensional (3D) hydraulic conductivity distribution, which is then adjusted through calibration of a 3D groundwater flow model using pumping-test data and historic hydraulic data. The approach consists of several steps. The study area was divided into five sub-watersheds on the basis of artificial drainage divides. A digital terrain model (DTM) was developed using Arc GIS to determine the general drainage pattern of Kagandi watershed. Hydrologic characterization involved the determination of the various hydraulic properties of the aquifers. Potential groundwater recharge zones were identified by integrating various thematic maps pertaining to the digital elevation model, land use, and drainage pattern in Arc GIS and Sufer golden software. The study demonstrates the potential of GIS in delineating groundwater recharge zones and that the developed methodology will be applicable to other watersheds in Uganda.Keywords: aquifers, Arc GIS, groundwater recharge, recharge zones
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