Search results for: hybrid sol-gel coatings
890 Electric Vehicles Charging Stations: Strategies and Algorithms Integrated in a Power-Sharing Model
Authors: Riccardo Loggia, Francesca Pizzimenti, Francesco Lelli, Luigi Martirano
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Recent air emission regulations point toward the complete electrification of road vehicles. An increasing number of users are beginning to prefer full electric or hybrid, plug-in vehicle solutions, incentivized by government subsidies and the lower cost of electricity compared to gasoline or diesel. However, it is necessary to optimize charging stations so that they can simultaneously satisfy as many users as possible. The purpose of this paper is to present optimization algorithms that enable simultaneous charging of multiple electric vehicles while ensuring maximum performance in relation to the type of charging station.Keywords: electric vehicles, charging stations, sharing model, fast charging, car park, power profiles
Procedia PDF Downloads 147889 Optimal Voltage and Frequency Control of a Microgrid Using the Harmony Search Algorithm
Authors: Hossein Abbasi
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The stability is an important topic to plan and manage the energy in the microgrids as the same as the conventional power systems. The voltage and frequency stability is one of the most important issues recently studied in microgrids. The objectives of this paper are the modelling and designing of the components and optimal controllers for the voltage and frequency control of the AC/DC hybrid microgrid under the different disturbances. Since the PI controllers have the advantages of simple structure and easy implementation, so they are designed and modeled in this paper. The harmony search (HS) algorithm is used to optimize the controllers’ parameters. According to the achieved results, the PI controllers have a good performance in voltage and frequency control of the microgrid.Keywords: frequency control, HS algorithm, microgrid, PI controller, voltage control
Procedia PDF Downloads 383888 Synthesis of an Organic-Inorganic Salt of (C2H5NO2) 2H4SiW12O40 and Investigation of Its Anti-Viral Effect on the Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV)
Authors: Mahboobeh Mohadeszadeh, Majid Saghi
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Polyoxometalates (POMs) are important inorganic compounds that have been considered specifically in recent years due to abundant attributes and applications. Those POMs that have one central tetrahedral atom called keggin. The binding Amino-acid groups to keggin structure give the antivirus effect to these compounds. A new organic-inorganic hybrid structure, with formula (Gly)2H4SiW12O40 was synthesized. Investigation on Anti-viral effect of this compound showed the (Gly)2H4SiW12O40 prevents infection of Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) on the Nicotianatabacum plants.Keywords: Polyoxometalate, Keggin, Organic-inorganic salt, TMV
Procedia PDF Downloads 282887 Synthesis of an Organic- Inorganic Salt of (C2H5NO2)2H4SiW12O40 and Investigation of Its Anti-Viral Effect on the Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV)
Authors: Mahboobeh Mohadeszadeh, Majid Saghi
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Polyoxometalates (POMs) are important inorganic compounds that have been considered specifically in recent years due to abundant attributes and applications. Those POMs that have one central tetrahedral atom called keggin. The binding Amino-acid groups to keggin structure give the antivirus effect to these compounds. A new organic-inorganic hybrid structure, with formula (Gly)2H4SiW12O40 was synthesized. Investigation on Anti-viral effect of this compound showed the (Gly)2H4SiW12O40 prevents infection of Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) on the Nicotianatabacum plants.Keywords: polyoxometalate, keggin, organic-inorganic salt, TMV
Procedia PDF Downloads 415886 Kinematic Modelling and Task-Based Synthesis of a Passive Architecture for an Upper Limb Rehabilitation Exoskeleton
Authors: Sakshi Gupta, Anupam Agrawal, Ekta Singla
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An exoskeleton design for rehabilitation purpose encounters many challenges, including ergonomically acceptable wearing technology, architectural design human-motion compatibility, actuation type, human-robot interaction, etc. In this paper, a passive architecture for upper limb exoskeleton is proposed for assisting in rehabilitation tasks. Kinematic modelling is detailed for task-based kinematic synthesis of the wearable exoskeleton for self-feeding tasks. The exoskeleton architecture possesses expansion and torsional springs which are able to store and redistribute energy over the human arm joints. The elastic characteristics of the springs have been optimized to minimize the mechanical work of the human arm joints. The concept of hybrid combination of a 4-bar parallelogram linkage and a serial linkage were chosen, where the 4-bar parallelogram linkage with expansion spring acts as a rigid structure which is used to provide the rotational degree-of-freedom (DOF) required for lowering and raising of the arm. The single linkage with torsional spring allows for the rotational DOF required for elbow movement. The focus of the paper is kinematic modelling, analysis and task-based synthesis framework for the proposed architecture, keeping in considerations the essential tasks of self-feeding and self-exercising during rehabilitation of partially healthy person. Rehabilitation of primary functional movements (activities of daily life, i.e., ADL) is routine activities that people tend to every day such as cleaning, dressing, feeding. We are focusing on the feeding process to make people independent in respect of the feeding tasks. The tasks are focused to post-surgery patients under rehabilitation with less than 40% weakness. The challenges addressed in work are ensuring to emulate the natural movement of the human arm. Human motion data is extracted through motion-sensors for targeted tasks of feeding and specific exercises. Task-based synthesis procedure framework will be discussed for the proposed architecture. The results include the simulation of the architectural concept for tracking the human-arm movements while displaying the kinematic and static study parameters for standard human weight. D-H parameters are used for kinematic modelling of the hybrid-mechanism, and the model is used while performing task-based optimal synthesis utilizing evolutionary algorithm.Keywords: passive mechanism, task-based synthesis, emulating human-motion, exoskeleton
Procedia PDF Downloads 130885 On Multiobjective Optimization to Improve the Scalability of Fog Application Deployments Using Fogtorch
Authors: Suleiman Aliyu
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Integrating IoT applications with Fog systems presents challenges in optimization due to diverse environments and conflicting objectives. This study explores achieving Pareto optimal deployments for Fog-based IoT systems to address growing QoS demands. We introduce Pareto optimality to balance competing performance metrics. Using the FogTorch optimization framework, we propose a hybrid approach (Backtracking search with branch and bound) for scalable IoT deployments. Our research highlights the advantages of Pareto optimality over single-objective methods and emphasizes the role of FogTorch in this context. Initial results show improvements in IoT deployment cost in Fog systems, promoting resource-efficient strategies.Keywords: pareto optimality, fog application deployment, resource allocation, internet of things
Procedia PDF Downloads 72884 Security in Resource Constraints: Network Energy Efficient Encryption
Authors: Mona Almansoori, Ahmed Mustafa, Ahmad Elshamy
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Wireless nodes in a sensor network gather and process critical information designed to process and communicate, information flooding through such network is critical for decision making and data processing, the integrity of such data is one of the most critical factors in wireless security without compromising the processing and transmission capability of the network. This paper presents mechanism to securely transmit data over a chain of sensor nodes without compromising the throughput of the network utilizing available battery resources available at the sensor node.Keywords: hybrid protocol, data integrity, lightweight encryption, neighbor based key sharing, sensor node data processing, Z-MAC
Procedia PDF Downloads 139883 Synthesis of an Organic-Inorganic Salt of 12-Silicotungstate, (C2H5NO2)2H4SiW12O40 and Investigation of Its Anti-Viral Effect on the Tobacco Mosaic Virus
Authors: Mahboobeh Mohadeszadeh, Majid Saghi
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Polyoxometalates (POMs) are important inorganic compounds that have been considered specifically in recent years due to abundant attributes and applications. Those POMs that have one central tetrahedral atom called keggin. The binding Amino-acid groups to keggin structure give the antivirus effect to these compounds. A new organic-inorganic hybrid structure, with formula (Gly)2H4SiW12O40, was synthesized. Investigation on the anti-viral effect of this compound showed the (Gly)2H4SiW12O40 prevents infection of Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) on the Nicotianatabacum plants.Keywords: polyoxometalate, keggin, organic-inorganic salt, TMV
Procedia PDF Downloads 282882 Impact of Hybrid Optical Amplifiers on 16 Channel Wavelength Division Multiplexed System
Authors: Inderpreet Kaur, Ravinder Pal Singh, Kamal Kant Sharma
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This paper addresses the different configurations used of optical amplifiers with 16 channels in Wavelength Division Multiplexed system. The systems with 16 channels have been simulated for evaluation of various parameters; Bit Error Rate, Quality Factor, for threshold values for a range of wavelength from 1471 nm to 1611 nm. Comparison of various combination of configurations have been analyzed with EDFA and FRA but EDFA-FRA configuration performance has been found satisfactory in terms of performance indices and stable region. The paper also compared various parameters quantized with different configurations individually. It has been found that Q factor has high value with less value of BER and high resolution for EDFA-FRA configuration.Keywords: EDFA, FRA, WDM, Q factor, BER
Procedia PDF Downloads 348881 The Influence of Microscopic Features on the Self-Cleaning Ability of Developed 3D Printed Fabric-Like Structures Using Different Printing Parameters
Authors: Ayat Adnan Atwah, Muhammad A. Khan
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Self-cleaning surfaces are getting significant attention in industrial fields. Especially for textile fabrics, it is observed that self-cleaning textile fabric surfaces are created by manipulating the surface features with the help of coatings and nanoparticles, which are considered costly and far more complicated. However, controlling the fabrication parameters of textile fabrics at the microscopic level by exploring the potential for self-cleaning has not been addressed. This study aimed to establish the context of self-cleaning textile fabrics by controlling the fabrication parameters of the textile fabric at the microscopic level. Therefore, 3D-printed textile fabrics were fabricated using the low-cost fused filament fabrication (FFF) technique. The printing parameters, such as orientation angle (O), layer height (LH), and extruder width (EW), were used to control the microscopic features of the printed fabrics. The combination of three printing parameters was created to provide the best self-cleaning textile fabric surface: (LH) (0.15, 0.13, 0.10 mm) and (EW) (0.5, 0.4, 0.3 mm) along with two different (O) of (45º and 90º). Three different thermoplastic flexible filament materials were used: (TPU 98A), (TPE felaflex), and (TPC flex45). The printing parameters were optimised to get the optimum self-cleaning ability of the printed specimens. Furthermore, the impact of these characteristics on mechanical strength at the fabric-woven structure level was investigated. The study revealed that the printing parameters significantly affect the self-cleaning properties after adjusting the selected combination of layer height, extruder width, and printing orientation. A linear regression model was effectively developed to demonstrate the association between 3D printing parameters (layer height, extruder width, and orientation). According to the experimental results, (TPE felaflex) has a better self-cleaning ability than the other two materials.Keywords: 3D printing, self-cleaning fabric, microscopic features, printing parameters, fabrication
Procedia PDF Downloads 79880 New Hybrid Process for Converting Small Structural Parts from Metal to CFRP
Authors: Yannick Willemin
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Carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) offers outstanding value. However, like all materials, CFRP also has its challenges. Many forming processes are largely manual and hard to automate, making it challenging to control repeatability and reproducibility (R&R); they generate significant scrap and are too slow for high-series production; fibre costs are relatively high and subject to supply and cost fluctuations; the supply chain is fragmented; many forms of CFRP are not recyclable, and many materials have yet to be fully characterized for accurate simulation; shelf life and outlife limitations add cost; continuous-fibre forms have design limitations; many materials are brittle; and small and/or thick parts are costly to produce and difficult to automate. A majority of small structural parts are metal due to high CFRP fabrication costs for the small-size class. The fact that CFRP manufacturing processes that produce the highest performance parts also tend to be the slowest and least automated is another reason CFRP parts are generally higher in cost than comparably performing metal parts, which are easier to produce. Fortunately, business is in the midst of a major manufacturing evolution—Industry 4.0— one technology seeing rapid growth is additive manufacturing/3D printing, thanks to new processes and materials, plus an ability to harness Industry 4.0 tools. No longer limited to just prototype parts, metal-additive technologies are used to produce tooling and mold components for high-volume manufacturing, and polymer-additive technologies can incorporate fibres to produce true composites and be used to produce end-use parts with high aesthetics, unmatched complexity, mass customization opportunities, and high mechanical performance. A new hybrid manufacturing process combines the best capabilities of additive—high complexity, low energy usage and waste, 100% traceability, faster to market—and post-consolidation—tight tolerances, high R&R, established materials, and supply chains—technologies. The platform was developed by Zürich-based 9T Labs AG and is called Additive Fusion Technology (AFT). It consists of a design software offering the possibility to determine optimal fibre layup, then exports files back to check predicted performance—plus two pieces of equipment: a 3d-printer—which lays up (near)-net-shape preforms using neat thermoplastic filaments and slit, roll-formed unidirectional carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic tapes—and a post-consolidation module—which consolidates then shapes preforms into final parts using a compact compression press fitted with a heating unit and matched metal molds. Matrices—currently including PEKK, PEEK, PA12, and PPS, although nearly any high-quality commercial thermoplastic tapes and filaments can be used—are matched between filaments and tapes to assure excellent bonding. Since thermoplastics are used exclusively, larger assemblies can be produced by bonding or welding together smaller components, and end-of-life parts can be recycled. By combining compression molding with 3D printing, higher part quality with very-low voids and excellent surface finish on A and B sides can be produced. Tight tolerances (min. section thickness=1.5mm, min. section height=0.6mm, min. fibre radius=1.5mm) with high R&R can be cost-competitively held in production volumes of 100 to 10,000 parts/year on a single set of machines.Keywords: additive manufacturing, composites, thermoplastic, hybrid manufacturing
Procedia PDF Downloads 91879 Some Quality Parameters of Selected Maize Hybrids from Serbia for the Production of Starch, Bioethanol and Animal Feed
Authors: Marija Milašinović-Šeremešić, Valentina Semenčenko, Milica Radosavljević, Dušanka Terzić, Ljiljana Mojović, Ljubica Dokić
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Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereal crops, and as such, one of the most significant naturally renewable carbohydrate raw materials for the production of energy and multitude of different products. The main goal of the present study was to investigate a suitability of selected maize hybrids of different genetic background produced in Maize Research Institute ‘Zemun Polje’, Belgrade, Serbia, for starch, bioethanol and animal feed production. All the hybrids are commercial and their detailed characterization is important for the expansion of their different uses. The starches were isolated by using a 100-g laboratory maize wet-milling procedure. Hydrolysis experiments were done in two steps (liquefaction with Termamyl SC, and saccharification with SAN Extra L). Starch hydrolysates obtained by the two-step hydrolysis of the corn flour starch were subjected to fermentation by S. cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus under semi-anaerobic conditions. The digestibility based on enzymatic solubility was performed by the Aufréré method. All investigated ZP maize hybrids had very different physical characteristics and chemical composition which could allow various possibilities of their use. The amount of hard (vitreous) and soft (floury) endosperm in kernel is considered one of the most important parameters that can influence the starch and bioethanol yields. Hybrids with a lower test weight and density and a greater proportion of soft endosperm fraction had a higher yield, recovery and purity of starch. Among the chemical composition parameters only starch content significantly affected the starch yield. Starch yields of studied maize hybrids ranged from 58.8% in ZP 633 to 69.0% in ZP 808. The lowest bioethanol yield of 7.25% w/w was obtained for hybrid ZP 611k and the highest by hybrid ZP 434 (8.96% w/w). A very significant correlation was determined between kernel starch content and the bioethanol yield, as well as volumetric productivity (48h) (r=0.66). Obtained results showed that the NDF, ADF and ADL contents in the whole maize plant of the observed ZP maize hybrids varied from 40.0% to 60.1%, 18.6% to 32.1%, and 1.4% to 3.1%, respectively. The difference in the digestibility of the dry matter of the whole plant among hybrids (ZP 735 and ZP 560) amounted to 18.1%. Moreover, the differences in the contents of the lignocelluloses fraction affected the differences in dry matter digestibility. From the results it can be concluded that genetic background of the selected maize hybrids plays an important part in estimation of the technological value of maize hybrids for various purposes. Obtained results are of an exceptional importance for the breeding programs and selection of potentially most suitable maize hybrids for starch, bioethanol and animal feed production.Keywords: bioethanol, biomass quality, maize, starch
Procedia PDF Downloads 217878 Packaging Improvement for Unit Cell Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (V-RFB)
Authors: A. C. Khor, M. R. Mohamed, M. H. Sulaiman, M. R. Daud
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Packaging for vanadium redox flow battery is one of the key elements for successful implementation of flow battery in the electrical energy storage system. Usually the bulky battery size and low energy densities make this technology not available for mobility application. Therefore RFB with improved packaging size and energy capacity are highly desirable. This paper focuses on the study of packaging improvement for unit cell V-RFB to the application on Series Hybrid Electric Vehicle. Two different designs of 25 cm2 and 100 cm2 unit cell V-RFB at same current density are used for the sample in this investigation. Further suggestions on packaging improvement are highlighted.Keywords: electric vehicle, redox flow battery, packaging, vanadium
Procedia PDF Downloads 426877 Oxygen Transfer in Viscous Non-Newtonian Liquid in a Hybrid Bioreactor
Authors: Sérgio S. de Jesus, Aline Santana, Rubens Maciel Filho
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Global oxygen transfer coefficient (kLa) was characterized in a mechanically agitated airlift bio reactor. The experiments were carried out in an airlift bio reactor (3.2 L) with internal re circulation (a concentric draft-tube airlift vessel device); the agitation is carried out through a turbine Rushton impeller located along with the gas sparger in the region comprised in the riser. The experiments were conducted using xanthan gum (0.6%) at 250 C and a constant rotation velocity of 0 and 800 rpm, as well as in the absence of agitation (airlift mode); the superficial gas velocity varied from 0.0157 to 0.0262 ms-1. The volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient dependence of the rotational speed revealed that the presence of agitation increased up to two times the kLa value.Keywords: aeration, mass transfer, non-Newtonian fluids, stirred airlift bioreactor
Procedia PDF Downloads 454876 Informational Habits and Ideology as Predictors for Political Efficacy: A Survey Study of the Brazilian Political Context
Authors: Pedro Cardoso Alves, Ana Lucia Galinkin, José Carlos Ribeiro
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Political participation, can be a somewhat tricky subject to define, not in small part due to the constant changes in the concept fruit of the effort to include new forms of participatory behavior that go beyond traditional institutional channels. With the advent of the internet and mobile technologies, defining political participation has become an even more complicated endeavor, given de amplitude of politicized behaviors that are expressed throughout these mediums, be it in the very organization of social movements, in the propagation of politicized texts, videos and images, or in the micropolitical behaviors that are expressed in daily interaction. In fact, the very frontiers that delimit physical and digital spaces have become ever more diluted due to technological advancements, leading to a hybrid existence that is simultaneously physical and digital, not limited, as it once was, to the temporal limitations of classic communications. Moving away from those institutionalized actions of traditional political behavior, an idea of constant and fluid participation, which occurs in our daily lives through conversations, posts, tweets and other digital forms of expression, is discussed. This discussion focuses on the factors that precede more direct forms of political participation, interpreting the relation between informational habits, ideology, and political efficacy. Though some of the informational habits can be considered political participation, by some authors, a distinction is made to establish a logical flow of behaviors leading to participation, that is, one must gather and process information before acting on it. To reach this objective, a quantitative survey is currently being applied in Brazilian social media, evaluating feelings of political efficacy, social and economic issue-based ideological stances and informational habits pertaining to collection, fact-checking, and diversity of sources and ideological positions present in the participant’s political information network. The measure being used for informational habits relies strongly on a mix of information literacy and political sophistication concepts, bringing a more up-to-date understanding of information and knowledge production and processing in contemporary hybrid (physical-digital) environments. Though data is still being collected, preliminary analysis point towards a strong correlation between information habits and political efficacy, while ideology shows a weaker influence over efficacy. Moreover, social ideology and economic ideology seem to have a strong correlation in the sample, such intermingling between social and economic ideals is generally considered a red flag for political polarization.Keywords: political efficacy, ideology, information literacy, cyberpolitics
Procedia PDF Downloads 230875 Magnetohydrodynamic Flow of Viscoelastic Nanofluid and Heat Transfer over a Stretching Surface with Non-Uniform Heat Source/Sink and Non-Linear Radiation
Authors: Md. S. Ansari, S. S. Motsa
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In this paper, an analysis has been made on the flow of non-Newtonian viscoelastic nanofluid over a linearly stretching sheet under the influence of uniform magnetic field. Heat transfer characteristics is analyzed taking into the effect of nonlinear radiation and non-uniform heat source/sink. Transport equations contain the simultaneous effects of Brownian motion and thermophoretic diffusion of nanoparticles. The relevant partial differential equations are non-dimensionalized and transformed into ordinary differential equations by using appropriate similarity transformations. The transformed, highly nonlinear, ordinary differential equations are solved by spectral local linearisation method. The numerical convergence, error and stability analysis of iteration schemes are presented. The effects of different controlling parameters, namely, radiation, space and temperature-dependent heat source/sink, Brownian motion, thermophoresis, viscoelastic, Lewis number and the magnetic force parameter on the flow field, heat transfer characteristics and nanoparticles concentration are examined. The present investigation has many industrial and engineering applications in the fields of coatings and suspensions, cooling of metallic plates, oils and grease, paper production, coal water or coal–oil slurries, heat exchangers’ technology, and materials’ processing and exploiting.Keywords: magnetic field, nonlinear radiation, non-uniform heat source/sink, similar solution, spectral local linearisation method, Rosseland diffusion approximation
Procedia PDF Downloads 371874 Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Heat Transfer and Internal Loads at Insulating Glass Units
Authors: Nina Penkova, Kalin Krumov, Liliana Zashcova, Ivan Kassabov
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The insulating glass units (IGU) are widely used in the advanced and renovated buildings in order to reduce the energy for heating and cooling. Rules for the choice of IGU to ensure energy efficiency and thermal comfort in the indoor space are well known. The existing of internal loads - gage or vacuum pressure in the hermetized gas space, requires additional attention at the design of the facades. The internal loads appear at variations of the altitude, meteorological pressure and gas temperature according to the same at the process of sealing. The gas temperature depends on the presence of coatings, coating position in the transparent multi-layer system, IGU geometry and space orientation, its fixing on the facades and varies with the climate conditions. An algorithm for modeling and numerical simulation of thermal fields and internal pressure in the gas cavity at insulating glass units as function of the meteorological conditions is developed. It includes models of the radiation heat transfer in solar and infrared wave length, indoor and outdoor convection heat transfer and free convection in the hermetized gas space, assuming the gas as compressible. The algorithm allows prediction of temperature and pressure stratification in the gas domain of the IGU at different fixing system. The models are validated by comparison of the numerical results with experimental data obtained by Hot-box testing. Numerical calculations and estimation of 3D temperature, fluid flow fields, thermal performances and internal loads at IGU in window system are implemented.Keywords: insulating glass units, thermal loads, internal pressure, CFD analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 267873 Mode of Action of Surface Bound Antimicrobial Peptides Melimine and Mel4 against Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Authors: Muhammad Yasir, Debarun Dutta, Mark Willcox
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Biomaterial-associated infections are a multi-billion dollar burden globally. Antimicrobial peptide-based coatings may be able to prevent such infections. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of action surface bound peptides (AMPs) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa 6294. Melimine and Mel4 were covalently attached to glass coverslips using azido-benzoic acid. Attachment was confirmed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. P. aeruginosa was allowed to attach to AMP-coated glass for up to 6 hours. The effect of the surface-bound AMPs on bacterial cell membranes was evaluated using the dyes DiSC3-(5), Sytox green, SYTO 9 and propidium iodide with fluorescence microscopy. Release of cytoplasmic materials ATP and DNA/RNA were determined in the surrounding fluid. The amount of cell death was estimated by agar plate counts. The AMPs were successfully covalently bound to the glass as demonstrated by increases in %nitrogen of 3.6% (melimine) and 2.3% (Mel4) compared to controls. Immobilized peptides disrupted the cytoplasmic membrane potential of P. aeruginosa within 10 min. This was followed by the release of ATP after 2 h. Membrane permeabilization started at 3 h of contact with glass coated AMPs. There was a significant number of bacteria (59% for melimine; 36% for Mel-4) with damaged membranes after 4 h of contact. At the 6 h time point, release of DNA occurred with melimine releasing 2 times the amount of DNA/RNA than Mel4 surfaces (p < 0.05). Surface bound AMPs were able to disrupt cell membranes with subsequent release of cytoplasmic materials, and ultimately resulting in bacterial death.Keywords: biomaterials, immobilized antimicrobial peptides, P. aeruginosa, mode of action
Procedia PDF Downloads 133872 Hybrid Model of Strategic and Contextual Leadership in Pluralistic Organizations- A Qualitative Multiple Case Study
Authors: Ergham Al Bachir
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This study adopts strategic leadership (Upper Echelons) as the core theory and contextual leadership theory as the research lens. This research asks how the external context impacts strategic leadership effectiveness to achieve the outcomes in pluralistic organizations (PO). The study explores how the context influences the selection of CEOs, top management teams (TMT), and their leadership effectiveness. POs are characterized by the multiple objectives of their top management teams, divergent objectives, multiple strategies, and multiple governing authorities. The research question is explored by means of a qualitative multiple-case study focusing on healthcare, real estate, and financial services organizations. The data sources are semi-structured interviews, documents, and direct observations. The data analysis strategy is inductive and deploys thematic analysis and cross-case synthesis. The findings differentiate between national and international CEOs' delegation of authority and relationship with the Board of Directors. The findings identify the elements of the dynamic context that influence TMT and PO outcomes. The emergent hybrid strategic and contextual leadership framework shows how the different contextual factors influence strategic direction, PO context, selection of CEOs and TMT, and the outcomes in four pluralistic organizations. The study offers seven theoretical contributions to Upper Echelons, strategic leadership, and contextual leadership research. (1) The integration of two theories revealed how CEO’s impact on the organization is complementary to the contextual impact. (2) Conducting this study in the Middle East contributes to strategic leadership and contextual leadership research. (3) The demonstration of the significant contextual effects on the selection of CEOs. (4 and 5) Two contributions revealed new links between the context, the Board role, internal versus external CEOs, and national versus international CEOs. (6 and 7) This study offered two definitions: what accounts for CEO leadership effectiveness and organizational outcomes. Two methodological contributions were also identified: (1) Previous strategic leadership and Upper Echelons research are mainly quantitative, while this study adopts qualitative multiple-case research with face-to-face interviews. (2) The extrication of the CEO from the TMT advanced the data analysis in strategic leadership research. Four contributions are offered to practice: (1) The CEO's leadership effectiveness inside and outside the organization. (2) Rapid turnover of predecessor CEOs signifies the need for a strategic and contextual approach to CEOs' succession. (3) TMT composition and education impact on TMT-CEO and TMT-TMT interface. (4) Multilevel strategic contextual leadership development framework.Keywords: strategic leadership, contextual leadership, upper echelons, pluralistic organizations, cross-cultural leadership
Procedia PDF Downloads 79871 Undeserving Hybrids: The Enduring Legacy of Eugenics in Conservation
Authors: Maria-Vittoria Carminati
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Conservations laws do not protect hybrids. From the United States’ Endangered Species Act to the European Union’s conservation policies to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List, hybrids don’t get the benefit of human preservation efforts. This paper tests the hypothesis that this practice is a byproduct of the co-birth of eugenics and conservation as twin fields and that while the first has been discredited and abandoned, the latter still bears the marks of its unfortunate primordial association. The research explores historical perspectives from so-called conservation luminaries such as Madison Grant, Ernst Mayr, and Charles Davenport and sheds light on how these influences continue to shape contemporary conservation approaches. The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the implications of these factors on biodiversity conservation and the ethical considerations surrounding hybrid species protection.Keywords: conservation, hybridization, eugenics, speciation, evolution
Procedia PDF Downloads 84870 Performance Comparison of Reactive, Proactive and Hybrid Routing Protocols in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks
Authors: Kumar Manoj, Ramesh Kumar, Kumari Arti, Kumar Prashant
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Routing protocols have a central role in any mobile ad hoc network (MANET). There are many routing protocols that exhibit different performance levels in different scenarios. In this paper we compare AODV, DSDV, DSR and ZRP routing protocol in mobile ad hoc networks to determine the best operational conditions for each protocol. We analyses these routing protocols by extensive simulations in OPNET simulator and show that how pause time and the number of nodes affect their performance. In this study, performance is measured in terms of control traffic received, control traffic sent, data traffic received, data traffic sent, throughput, retransmission attempts.Keywords: MANET, AODV, DSDV, DSR, ZRP
Procedia PDF Downloads 670869 Role of Self-Concept in the Relationship between Emotional Abuse and Mental Health of Employees in the North West Province, South Africa
Authors: L. Matlawe, E. S. Idemudia
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The stability is an important topic to plan and manage the energy in the microgrids as the same as the conventional power systems. The voltage and frequency stability is one of the most important issues recently studied in microgrids. The objectives of this paper are the modeling and designing of the components and optimal controllers for the voltage and frequency control of the AC/DC hybrid microgrid under the different disturbances. Since the PI controllers have the advantages of simple structure and easy implementation, so they were designed and modeled in this paper. The harmony search (HS) algorithm is used to optimize the controllers’ parameters. According to the achieved results, the PI controllers have a good performance in voltage and frequency control of the microgrid.Keywords: emotional abuse, employees, mental health, self-concept
Procedia PDF Downloads 245868 Wear Resistance and Thermal Stability of Tungsten Boride Layers Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering
Authors: Justyna Chrzanowska, Jacek Hoffman, Dariusz Garbiec, Łukasz Kurpaska, Piotr Denis, Tomasz Moscicki, Zygmunt Szymanski
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Tungsten and boron compounds belong to the group of superhard materials and its hardness could exceed 40 GPa. In this study, the properties of the tungsten boride (WB) layers deposited in magnetron sputtering process are investigated. The sputtering process occurred from specially prepared targets that were composed of boron and tungsten mixed in molar ratio of 2.5 or 4.5 and sintered in spark plasma sintering process. WB layers were deposited on silicon (100) and stainless steel 304 substrates at room temperature (RT) or in 570 °C. Layers deposited in RT and in elevated temperature varied considerably. Layers deposited in RT are amorphous and have low adhesion. In contrast, the layers deposited in 570 °C are crystalline and have good adhesion. All deposited layers have a hardness about 40 GPa. Moreover, the friction coefficient of crystalline layers is 0.22 and wear rate is about 0.67•10-6 mm3N-1m-1. After material characterization the WB layers were annealed in argon atmosphere in 1000 °C for 1 hour. On the basis of X-Ray Diffraction analysis, it has been noted that the crystalline layers are thermally stable and do not change their phase composition, whereas the amorphous layers change their phase composition. Moreover, after annealing, on the surface of WB layers some cracks were observed. It is probably connected with the differences of the thermal expansion between the layer and the substrate. Despite of the presence of cracks, the wear resistance of annealed layers is still higher than the wear resistance of uncoated substrate. The analysis of the structure and properties of tungsten boride layers lead to the discussion about the application area of this material.Keywords: hard coatings, hard materials, magnetron sputtering, mechanical properties, tungsten boride
Procedia PDF Downloads 285867 Investigation of the Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Vertical Take-Off and Landing Mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Configuration
Authors: Amir Abdelqodus, Mario Shehata
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The purpose of the paper is to model and evaluate the aerodynamic coefficients and stability derivatives of a Vertical, Take-off and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle configuration (VTOL UAV), which is a fixed wing UAV and a quad-copter hybrid capable of both vertical and conventional take-off and/or landing. The aerodynamic analysis of this configuration was carried out using CFD commercial package Ansys Fluent. Also, the aerodynamic coefficients for the case of the UAV without the quad-copter is carried out analytically using MATLAB programmed codes, and the resulting data is verified using Lifting Line Theory and potential method programs. The two results are then compared to understand the effect of adding the quad-copter on the aerodynamic performance of the UAV.Keywords: aerodynamics, CFD, potential flow, UAV, VTOL
Procedia PDF Downloads 433866 Integrated Two Stage Processing of Biomass Conversion to Hydroxymethylfurfural Esters Using Ionic Liquid as Green Solvent and Catalyst: Synthesis of Mono Esters
Authors: Komal Kumar, Sreedevi Upadhyayula
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In this study, a two-stage process was established for the synthesis of HMF esters using ionic liquid acid catalyst. Ionic liquid catalyst with different strength of the Bronsted acidity was prepared in the laboratory and characterized using 1H NMR, FT-IR, and 13C NMR spectroscopy. Solid acid catalyst from the ionic liquid catalyst was prepared using the immobilization method. The acidity of the synthesized acid catalyst was measured using Hammett function and titration method. Catalytic performance was evaluated for the biomass conversion to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) and levulinic acid (LA) in methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK)-water biphasic system. A good yield of 5-HMF and LA was found at the different composition of MIBK: Water. In the case of MIBK: Water ratio 10:1, good yield of 5-HMF was observed at ambient temperature 150˚C. Upgrading of 5-HMF into monoesters from the reaction of 5-HMF and reactants using biomass-derived monoacid were performed. Ionic liquid catalyst with -SO₃H functional group was found to be best efficient in comparative of a solid acid catalyst for the esterification reaction and biomass conversion. A good yield of 5-HMF esters with high 5-HMF conversion was found to be at 105˚C using the best active catalyst. In this process, process A was the hydrothermal conversion of cellulose and monomer into 5-HMF and LA using acid catalyst. And the process B was the esterification followed by using similar acid catalyst. All monoesters of 5-HMF synthesized here can be used in chemical, cross linker for adhesive or coatings and pharmaceutical industry. A theoretical density functional theory (DFT) study for the optimization of the ionic liquid structure was performed using the Gaussian 09 program to find out the minimum energy configuration of ionic liquid catalyst.Keywords: biomass conversion, 5-HMF, Ionic liquid, HMF ester
Procedia PDF Downloads 242865 Enhancement of coupler-based delay line filters modulation techniques using optical wireless channel and amplifiers at 100 Gbit/s
Authors: Divya Sisodiya, Deepika Sipal
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Optical wireless communication (OWC) is a relatively new technology in optical communication systems that allows for high-speed wireless optical communication. This research focuses on developing a cost-effective OWC system using a hybrid configuration of optical amplifiers. In addition to using EDFA amplifiers, a comparison study was conducted to determine which modulation technique is more effective for communication. This research examines the performance of an OWC system based on ASK and PSK modulation techniques by varying OWC parameters under various atmospheric conditions such as rain, mist, haze, and snow. Finally, the simulation results are discussed and analyzed.Keywords: OWC, bit error rate, amplitude shift keying, phase shift keying, attenuation, amplifiers
Procedia PDF Downloads 124864 Offering a Model for Selecting the Most Suitable Type of Thinking for Managers
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The purpose of this paper is to design an applied framework for strategic thinking which can be applied in all managerial levels and all types of organizational environments. No special applied frame has been presented for this thinking. This paper presents a theoretical framework for the thinking type of a manager by making a historical research and studying the scientific documents about thinking of a strategist. In the new theoretical framework it has been tried to suggest the best type of thinking for a strategist after analyzing the environment of his decisions. So, in this framework, the traditional viewpoint about strategic thinking, which has considered it as a special type of right-brain thinking against other types of right-brain thinking and suggested it for a strategist, was put aside and suggests that the strategist should use a suitable type of thinking under different conditions.Keywords: strategic thinking, systemic thinking, lateral thinking, intuitive thinking, hybrid thinking
Procedia PDF Downloads 325863 Atomic Layer Deposition of Metal Oxides on Si/C Materials for the Improved Cycling Stability of High-Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries
Authors: Philipp Stehle, Dragoljub Vrankovic, Montaha Anjass
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Due to its high availability and extremely high specific capacity, silicon (Si) is the most promising anode material for next generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, Si anodes are suffering from high volume changes during cycling causing unstable solid-electrolyte interface (SEI). One approach for mitigation of these effects is to embed Si particles into a carbon matrix to create silicon/carbon composites (Si/C). These typically show more stable electrochemical performance than bare silicon materials. Nevertheless, the same failure mechanisms mentioned earlier appear in a less pronounced form. In this work, we further improved the cycling performance of two commercially available Si/C materials by coating thin metal oxide films of different thicknesses on the powders via Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). The coated powders were analyzed via ICP-OES and AFM measurements. Si/C-graphite anodes with automotive-relevant loadings (~3.5 mAh/cm2) were processed out of the materials and tested in half coin cells (HCCs) and full pouch cells (FPCs). During long-term cycling in FPCs, a significant improvement was observed for some of the ALD-coated materials. After 500 cycles, the capacity retention was already up to 10% higher compared to the pristine materials. Cycling of the FPCs continued until they reached a state of health (SOH) of 80%. By this point, up to the triple number of cycles were achieved by ALD-coated compared to pristine anodes. Post-mortem analysis via various methods was carried out to evaluate the differences in SEI formation and thicknesses.Keywords: silicon anodes, li-ion batteries, atomic layer deposition, silicon-carbon composites, surface coatings
Procedia PDF Downloads 114862 Evaluation of Interspecific Pollination of Elaeis guineensis and Elaeis oleifera Carried Out in the Ucayali Region-Peru
Authors: Victor Sotero, Cindy Castro, Ena Velazco, Ursula Monteiro, Dora Garcia
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The aim of this study is to carry out the evaluation of the artificial pollination of the female flowers of E. oleifera with pollen of E. guineensis, to obtain the hybrid Palma OXG, which presents two characteristics of interest, such as high resistance to the disease of spear rot and high concentration of oleic acid. The works were carried out with matrices from the experimental fields and INIA in the Province of Colonel Portillo in the Ucayali Region-Peru. From the pollination of five species of E. oleifera, fruits were obtained in two of them, called O7 and O68, with a percentage of 23.6% and 18.6% of fertile fruits. When germination was carried out in a controlled environment of temperature, air, and humidity, only the O17 species were germinated with a yield of 68.7%.Keywords: Elaeis oleífera, Elaeis guineensis, palm OXG, pollination
Procedia PDF Downloads 133861 The Current And Prospective Legal Regime of Non-Orbital Flights
Authors: Olga Koutsika
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The paper deals primarily with the question of the legal framework of non-orbital flights. The submission is based upon two pillars, starting with the ill-defined current legal regime and proceeding to further recommendations for the prospective legal regime for non-orbital flights. For this reason, the paper focuses on certain key legal aspects of the topic, including among other things liability, responsibility, jurisdiction, registration and authorisation. Furthermore, taking into consideration the hybrid nature of both the craft conducting non-orbital flights and of the flights themselves, which exit airspace but do not enter an orbit in outer space, the paper addresses each legal question from the perspective of both air law and space law and concludes to a number of recommendations regarding the applicability of each legal regime for each legal question individually.Keywords: current regime, legal framework, non-orbital flights, prospective regime
Procedia PDF Downloads 377