Search results for: financial performance evaluates fish culture

Authors: Shabnam Najafi, Metin Turkay

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Network design problem (NDP) is used to determine the set of optimal values for certain pre-specified decision variables such as capacity expansion of nodes and links by optimizing various system performance measures including safety, congestion, and accessibility. The designed transportation network should improve objective functions defined for the system by considering the route choice behaviors of network users at the same time. The NDP studies mostly investigated the random demand and route selection constraints separately due to computational challenges. In this work, we consider both random demand and route selection constraints simultaneously. This work presents a nonlinear stochastic model for land use and road network design problem to address the development of different functional zones in urban areas by considering both cost function and air pollution. This model minimizes cost function and air pollution simultaneously with random demand and stochastic route selection constraint that aims to optimize network performance via road capacity expansion. The Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) link impedance function is used to determine the travel time function in each link. We consider a city with origin and destination nodes which can be residential or employment or both. There are set of existing paths between origin-destination (O-D) pairs. Case of increasing employed population is analyzed to determine amount of roads and origin zones simultaneously. Minimizing travel and expansion cost of routes and origin zones in one side and minimizing CO emission in the other side is considered in this analysis at the same time. In this work demand between O-D pairs is random and also the network flow pattern is subject to stochastic user equilibrium, specifically logit route choice model. Considering both demand and route choice, random is more applicable to design urban network programs. Epsilon-constraint is one of the methods to solve both linear and nonlinear multi-objective problems. In this work epsilon-constraint method is used to solve the problem. The problem was solved by keeping first objective (cost function) as the objective function of the problem and second objective as a constraint that should be less than an epsilon, where epsilon is an upper bound of the emission function. The value of epsilon should change from the worst to the best value of the emission function to generate the family of solutions representing Pareto set. A numerical example with 2 origin zones and 2 destination zones and 7 links is solved by GAMS and the set of Pareto points is obtained. There are 15 efficient solutions. According to these solutions as cost function value increases, emission function value decreases and vice versa.

Keywords: epsilon-constraint, multi-objective, network design, stochastic

Procedia PDF Downloads 637

Authors: Ramon Sancibrian, Carlos Redondo-Figuero, Maria C. Gutierrez-Diez, Esther G. Sarabia, Maria A. Benito-Gonzalez, Jose C. Manuel-Palazuelos

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In this paper, the design and evaluation of a handle for laparoscopic surgery is presented. The design of the handle is based on ergonomic principles and tries to avoid awkward postures for surgeons. The handle combines the so-called power-grip and accurate-grip in order to provide strength and accuracy in the performance of surgery. The handle is tested using both objective and subjective approaches. The objective approach uses motion capture techniques to obtain the angles of forearm, arm, wrist and hand. The muscular effort is obtained with electromyography electrodes. On the other hand, a subjective survey has been carried out using questionnaires. Results confirm that the handle is preferred by the majority of the surgeons.

Keywords: laparoscopic surgery, ergonomics, mechanical design, biomechanics

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Authors: Muhammad Umair Shahid, Abdul Rehman, Mudassir Mukhtar, Muhammad Nauman

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The smart antenna is the prominent technology that has become known in recent years to meet the growing demands of wireless communications. In an overcrowded atmosphere, its application is growing gradually. A methodical evaluation of the performance of Fixed Beamforming algorithms for smart antennas such as Multiple Sidelobe Canceller (MSC), Maximum Signal-to-interference ratio (MSIR) and minimum variance (MVDR) has been comprehensively presented in this paper. Simulation results show that beamforming is helpful in providing optimized response towards desired directions. MVDR beamformer provides the most optimal solution.

Keywords: fixed weight beamforming, array pattern, signal to interference ratio, power efficiency, element spacing, array elements, optimum weight vector

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Authors: İsmail Seçer

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Although depression and anxiety disorders are considered to be adult disorders, the evidence obtained from several studies conducted recently shows that the roots of depression and anxiety disorders go back to childhood years. Thus, it is thought that analyzing depressive symptoms and anxiety disorders observed in the childhood is an important necessity. In the direction of the problem status of the study, the purpose of this study is to adapt anxiety and depression questionnaire for children into Turkish culture and analyze the psychometric characteristics of it on clinical and nonclinical samples separately. The study is a descriptive survey research. The study was conducted on two different sample groups, clinical and nonclinical. The clinical sample is formed of 205 individuals and the nonclinical sample is formed of 630 individuals. Through the study, anxiety and depression questionnaire for children, anxiety sensitivity index and obsessive compulsive disorder questionnaire for children were used. Experts’ opinions were asked to provide language validity of the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis and criterion-related validity to analyze construct validity and internal consistency and split-half reliability analyses were done for reliability. In the direction of experts’ opinions, construct validity of the scale was analyzed with simple confirmatory factor analysis and it was determined that the model fit of the two-factor structure of the scale gives good fit on both the clinical and nonclinical samples after determining that the language validity of the scale is provided. In criterion-related validity, it was determined that there are positive and significant relations between anxiety and depression questionnaire for children and anxiety sensitivity and obsessive compulsive disorder. The results of internal consistency and half-split reliability analyses also show that the scale has adequate reliability value. It can be said that depression and anxiety questionnaire for children which was adapted to determine depressive symptoms and anxiety disorders observed in childhood has adequate reliability and validity values and it can be used in future studies. It can be recommended that the psychometric characteristics of the scale can be analyzed and reported on new samples in the future studies.

Keywords: scale adapting, construct validity, confirmatory factor analysis, childhood depression

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Authors: Sadeq Al Yaari, Ayman Al Yaari, Adham Al Yaari, Montaha Al Yaari, Aayah Al Yaari, Sajedah Al Yaari

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Objective: The aim of the study is to examine the relationship between visual agnosia and learning delay in Yemeni children. Method: A total of 80 subjects (experimental group= 60, 30 males and 30 females and control group= 20, 10 males and 10 females) in two institutions (old and new). The age of all subjects at hand ranges between 6- and 12 years old. Pre and post-tests were administered. Results: Outline results show severe effects on the performance of the children due to visual agnosia this effect was benign in the group that received the treatment, and this can be clearly seen in their results in the post-test compared to the other group that did not receive the treatment and outcomes in general can be better understood in light of the control group.

Keywords: visual, agnosia, linguistics, abilities, effects, psychoneurolinguistics

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Authors: Milad Kaboli

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A new CMOS low voltage current-mode four-quadrant analog multiplier based on the squarer circuit with voltage output is presented. The proposed circuit is composed of a pair of current subtractors, a pair differential-input V-I converters and a pair of voltage squarers. The circuit was simulated using HSPICE simulator in standard 0.18 μm CMOS level 49 MOSIS (BSIM3 V3.2 SPICE-based). Simulation results show the performance of the proposed circuit and experimental results are given to confirm the operation. This topology of multiplier results in a high-frequency capability with low power consumption. The multiplier operates for a power supply ±1.2V. The simulation results of analog multiplier demonstrate a THD of 0.65% in 10MHz, a −3dB bandwidth of 1.39GHz, and a maximum power consumption of 7.1mW.

Keywords: analog processing circuit, WTA, LTA, low voltage

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Authors: Hyung Jun Ahn

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With the growing importance of social media, it is imperative to analyze it to understand the users. Users share useful information and their experience through social media, where much of what is shared is in the form of texts. This study focused on blogs and aimed to test whether the psycho-linguistic characteristics of blog texts vary with the subject or the type of experience of the texts. For this goal, blog texts about four different types of experience, Go, skiing, reading, and musical were collected through the search API of the Tistory blog service. The analysis of the texts showed that various psycholinguistic characteristics of the texts are different across the four categories of the texts. Moreover, the machine learning experiment using the characteristics for automatic text classification showed significant performance. Specifically, the ensemble method, based on functional tree and bagging appeared to be most effective in classification.

Keywords: blog, social media, text analysis, psycholinguistics

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Authors: Gaurav Gupta, Jitendra Mahakud

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This study focuses on the significance of internal financing constraints on the determination of corporate fixed investments in the case of Indian manufacturing companies. Financing constraints companies which have less internal fund or retained earnings face more transaction and borrowing costs due to imperfections in the capital market. The period of study is 1999-2000 to 2013-2014 and we consider 618 manufacturing companies for which the continuous data is available throughout the study period. The data is collected from PROWESS data base maintained by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd. Panel data methods like fixed effect and random effect methods are used for the analysis. The Likelihood Ratio test, Lagrange Multiplier test, and Hausman test results conclude the suitability of the fixed effect model for the estimation. The cash flow and liquidity of the company have been used as the proxies for the internal financial constraints. In accordance with various theories of corporate investments, we consider other firm specific variable like firm age, firm size, profitability, sales and leverage as the control variables in the model. From the econometric analysis, we find internal cash flow and liquidity have the significant and positive impact on the corporate investments. The variables like cost of capital, sales growth and growth opportunities are found to be significantly determining the corporate investments in India, which is consistent with the neoclassical, accelerator and Tobin’s q theory of corporate investment. To check the robustness of results, we divided the sample on the basis of cash flow and liquidity. Firms having cash flow greater than zero are put under one group, and firms with cash flow less than zero are put under another group. Also, the firms are divided on the basis of liquidity following the same approach. We find that the results are robust to both types of companies having positive and negative cash flow and liquidity. The results for other variables are also in the same line as we find for the whole sample. These findings confirm that internal financing constraints play a significant role for determination of corporate investment in India. The findings of this study have the implications for the corporate managers to focus on the projects having higher expected cash inflows to avoid the financing constraints. Apart from that, they should also maintain adequate liquidity to minimize the external financing costs.

Keywords: cash flow, corporate investment, financing constraints, panel data method

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Authors: Kittipong Tissayakorn, Fumio Akagi, Yu Song

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Logistics is the integrated management of all of the activities required to move products through the supply chain. For a typical product, this supply chain extends from a raw material source through the production and distribution system to the point of consumption and the associated reverse logistics. The logistical activities are comprised of freight transport, storage, inventory management, materials handling and all related information processing. This paper analyzes the green management system of logistics enterprise for Thailand and advances the concept of Green Logistics, which should be held by the public. In addition, it proposes that the government should strengthen its supervision and support for green logistics, and companies should construct self-disciplined green logistics management systems and corresponding processes, a reverse logistics management system and a modern green logistics information collection and management system.

Keywords: logistics, green logistics, management system, ecological economics

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Authors: Semira Zeru Haileslassie

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Lack of awareness and practices of PEP treatment were observed among respondents, but they had a better attitude towards PEP. To this end, a formal training for all respondents regarding PEP for HIV prior to their clinical attachments is of utmost importance. The training ought to incorporate a brief clarification with respect to the unpleasant impact of non-adherence that essentially incorporate destitute treatment result and most prominent hazard of resistance and few given as a major cause for non-compliance to PEP, common transient side-effects of PEP and its administrations ought to be cloister educated healthcare specialists to diminish its effect on adherence. Besides, the propensity of detailing needle adhere harm was destitute that needs endeavors to progress. Progressing the culture of detailing and making the detailing handle simple is very necessary. In reality, announcing such wounds as early as conceivable will educate others not to commit same issue once more and, for the most part, will empower stakeholders to intercede the issue sometime prior to it re-occur. At long last, as distant as get up and go utilize has cleared out with so numerous bothers, risk decrease is the foremost choice. With this, taking the increased significance of protective barriers so as to decrease the hazard of exposure to HIV, distinctive stakeholders (the healing center hardware supply chain director, the HIV/ Helps clinic, the clinic chief, hardware and supply quality confirmation group, and other authoritative bodies) ought to work together in co-ordination to secure the supply and guarantee the quality of those crucial protective barriers and to advance demand health laborers to continuously wear protective barriers when exposed to HIV hazard components as well as to dispose appropriately once done. At long last, we prescribe future examiners to conduct planned multicenter studies with extra goals (counting indicator investigation) for way better generalization and result. In spite of satisfactory information and favorable state of mind towards PEP for HIV in most of the respondents, this study uncovered that there were delays in starting, low utilization, and fragmented use of the prescribed PEP. So, health care staff need to progress their practice on PEP of HIV through diverse training program related to PEP of HIV.

Keywords: HIV infection, prophylaxis, knowledge, attitude

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Authors: Nino Damenia

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The agricultural sector plays an important role in the development of Georgia's economy, it contributes to employment and food security. It faces various types of risks that may lead to heavy financial losses. Agricultural insurance is one of the means of combating agricultural risks. The paper discusses the agricultural insurance experience of those countries (European countries and the USA) that have successfully implemented the agricultural insurance program. Analysis of international cases shows that a well-designed and implemented agri-insurance system can bring significant benefits to farmers, insurance companies and the economy as a whole. In the background of all this, the Government of Georgia recognized the importance of agro-insurance and took important steps for its development. In 2014, in cooperation with insurance companies, an agro-insurance program was introduced, the purpose of which is to increase the availability of insurance for farmers and stimulate the agro-insurance market. Despite such a step forward, challenges remain such as awareness of farmers, insufficient infrastructure for data collection and risk assessment, involvement of insurance companies and other important factors. With the support of the government and stakeholders, it is possible to overcome the existing challenges and establish a strong and effective agro-insurance system. Objectives. The purpose of the research is to analyze the development trends of the agricultural insurance market, to identify the main factors affecting its growth, and to further develop recommendations for development prospects for Georgia. Methodologies. The research uses mixed methods, which combine qualitative and quantitative research techniques. The qualitative method includes the study of the literature of Georgian and foreign economists, which allows us to get acquainted with the challenges, opportunities, legislative and regulatory frameworks of agricultural insurance. Quantitative analysis involves collecting data from stakeholders and then analyzing it. The paper also uses the methods of synthesis, comparison and statistical analysis of the agricultural insurance market in Georgia, Europe and the USA. Conclusions. As the main results of the research, we can consider that the analysis of the insurance market has been made and its main functions have been identified; The essence, features and functions of agricultural insurance are analyzed; European and US agricultural insurance market is researched; The stages of formation and development of the agricultural insurance market of Georgia are studied, its importance for the agricultural sector of Georgia is determined; The role of the state for the development of agro-insurance is analyzed and development prospects are established based on the study of the current trends of the agro-insurance market of Georgia.

Keywords: agricultural insurance, agriculture, agricultural insurance program, risk

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Authors: D. Korsacilar, C. Atas

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In this study, first thermoplastic composite materials/plates that have high ballistic impact resistance were produced. For this purpose, the thermoplastic prepreg and the vacuum bagging technique were used to produce a composite material. Thermoplastic prepregs (resin-impregnated fiber) that are supplied ready to be used, namely high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was chosen as matrix and unidirectional glass fiber was used as reinforcement. In order to compare the fiber configuration effect on mechanical properties, unidirectional and biaxial prepregs were used. Then the microstructural properties of the composites were investigated with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Impact properties of the composites were examined by Charpy impact test and tensile mechanical tests and then the effects of ultraviolet irradiation were investigated on mechanical performance.

Keywords: ballistic, composite, thermoplastic, prepreg

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Authors: Deisy Becerra, Edwar Perez, Nicolas Rios, Miguel Asuaje

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Progressing Cavity Pump (PCP) is a type of positive displacement pump that is being awarded greater importance as capable artificial lift equipment in the heavy oil field. The most commonly PCP used is driven single lobe pump that consists of a single external helical rotor turning eccentrically inside a double internal helical stator. This type of pump was analyzed by the experimental and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) approach from the DCAB031 model located in a closed-loop arrangement. Experimental measurements were taken to determine the pressure rise and flow rate with a flow control valve installed at the outlet of the pump. The flowrate handled was measured by a FLOMEC-OM025 oval gear flowmeter. For each flowrate considered, the pump’s rotational speed and power input were controlled using an Invertek Optidrive E3 frequency driver. Once a steady-state operation was attained, pressure rise measurements were taken with a Sper Scientific wide range digital pressure meter. In this study, water and three Newtonian oils of different viscosities were tested at different rotational speeds. The CFD model implementation was developed on Star- CCM+ using an Overset Mesh that includes the relative motion between rotor and stator, which is one of the main contributions of the present work. The simulations are capable of providing detailed information about the pressure and velocity fields inside the device in laminar and unsteady regimens. The simulations have a good agreement with the experimental data due to Mean Squared Error (MSE) in under 21%, and the Grid Convergence Index (GCI) was calculated for the validation of the mesh, obtaining a value of 2.5%. In this case, three different rotational speeds were evaluated (200, 300, 400 rpm), and it is possible to show a directly proportional relationship between the rotational speed of the rotor and the flow rate calculated. The maximum production rates for the different speeds for water were 3.8 GPM, 4.3 GPM, and 6.1 GPM; also, for the oil tested were 1.8 GPM, 2.5 GPM, 3.8 GPM, respectively. Likewise, an inversely proportional relationship between the viscosity of the fluid and pump performance was observed, since the viscous oils showed the lowest pressure increase and the lowest volumetric flow pumped, with a degradation around of 30% of the pressure rise, between performance curves. Finally, the Productivity Index (PI) remained approximately constant for the different speeds evaluated; however, between fluids exist a diminution due to the viscosity.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamic, CFD, Newtonian fluids, overset mesh, PCP pressure rise

Procedia PDF Downloads 123

Authors: Xiaoxin Zhao

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Because of the long-time dual structure development in urban and rural areas, the rapid urbanization in China devours the rural resources and causes the unbalanced development of cities and the countryside. On one side, the urban sprawl is swallowing the villages in the peripheral area of cities and forms the ‘urban village’. On the other side, people from traditional and vernacular villages immigrate to the metropolis that their homeland becomes the ‘hollowed village’. In 2005, the national state council noticed the significance of rural development and promoted the ‘beautiful countryside’ project when Minsu was rising. In the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (2017), president Xi Jinping announces the importance of ‘rural revitalization’ and states that the relationship between urban and rural areas should be an integrated development model. However, most Minsu projects in China was invested and managed by individual or group investors and focused on the profits but not the vernacular culture and rural development, and enhanced the urban-rural distinction. This paper introduces two Minsu projects in China designed by star-architects and advertised by social network media as case studies through photos and public comments collections. Architects as the servant to the investors, designed fancy houses, brings the urban life mode but expelled the real vernacular lifestyle as a cultural experience in rural areas. Moreover, to advertise the Minsu hotel, the social media propagates a distorted value that ‘luxury is good taste’ and motivates the vanity of people. Lastly, to maximize the profits, the investors set a high price that caused another unbalanced development in rural area since the price for one night in the Minsu hotel may exceed the monthly income of a local inhabitant. With these material, the author discusses the problems in Chinese Minsu industry and argues that the media, architects and investors play the negative role in the separation between Minsu cultural tourism and rural population. As a result, the author points out the significance of rural population participation that sharing the profits with them if we take Minsu industry as a method for rural revitalization in China.

Keywords: Minsu, vernacular, rural development, rural population participation

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Authors: Dan Zhu, Jie Shi

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This study explores the relationship between solar potential and block typology and density by analyzing sixteen existing typical street blocks with different topologies and densities in Shanghai, a representative high-density urban in China. Several indicators are proposed to quantify, and a methodology is conducted to evaluate and compare the solar potential both on façade and roof across various selected urban forms. 1) The importance of appropriate solar energy indicators and geometric parameters to be used in comparative studies, and 2) the relationship between urban typology, density, and solar performance are discussed. In this way, the results reveal the key design attributes contributing to increasing solar potential.

Keywords: block typology, geometric parameters, high-density urban, solar potential

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Authors: Tendü H. Göktuğ, Gönül T. İçemer, Bülent Deniz

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National parks, which are rich in natural and cultural resources values are protected in the context of the idea to develop sustainability, are among the most important recreated areas demanding with each passing day. Increasing recreational use or unplanned use forms negatively affect the resource values and visitor satisfaction. The intent of national parks management is to protect the natural and cultural resource values and to provide the visitors with a quality of recreational experience, as well. In this context, the current studies to improve the appropriate tourism and recreation planning and visitor management, approach have focused on recreational carrying capacity analysis. The aim of this study is to analyze recreational carrying capacity of Çıralı Coast in the Bey Mountains Coastal National Park to compare the analyze results with the current usage format and to develop alternative management strategies. In the first phase of the study, the annual and daily visitations, geographic, bio-physical, and managerial characteristics of the park and the type of recreational usage and the recreational areas were analyzed. In addition to these, ecological observations were carried out in order to determine recreational-based pressures on the ecosystems. On-site questionnaires were administrated to a sample of 284 respondents in the August 2015 - 2016 to collect data concerning the demographics and visit characteristics. The second phase of the study, the coastal area separated into four different usage zones and the methodology proposed by Cifuentes (1992) was used for capacity analyses. This method supplies the calculation of physical, real and effective carrying capacities by using environmental, ecological, climatic and managerial parameters in a formulation. Expected numbers which estimated three levels of carrying capacities were compared to current numbers of national parks’ visitors. In the study, it was determined that the current recreational uses in the north of the beach were caused by ecological pressures, and the current numbers in the south of beach much more than estimated numbers of visitors. Based on these results management strategies were defined and the appropriate management tools were developed in accordance with these strategies. The authors are grateful for the financial support of this project by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (No: 114O344)

Keywords: Çıralı Coast, national parks, recreational carrying capacity, visitor management

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Authors: Ahmed Saeed Mohamed, Sadok Sassi, Mohammad Roshun Paurobally

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Gears are important machine components that are widely used to transmit power and change speed in many rotating machines. Any breakdown of these vital components may cause severe disturbance to production and incur heavy financial losses. One of the most common causes of gear failure is the tooth fatigue crack. Early detection of teeth cracks is still a challenging task for engineers and maintenance personnel. So far, to analyze the vibration behavior of gears, different approaches have been tried based on theoretical developments, numerical simulations, or experimental investigations. The objective of this study was to develop a numerical model that could be used to simulate the effect of teeth cracks on the resulting vibrations and hence to permit early fault detection for gear transmission systems. Unlike the majority of published papers, where only one single crack has been considered, this work is more realistic, since it incorporates the possibility of multiple simultaneous cracks with different lengths. As cracks significantly alter the gear mesh stiffness, we performed a finite element analysis using SolidWorks software to determine the stiffness variation with respect to the angular position for different combinations of crack lengths. A simplified six degrees of freedom non-linear lumped parameter model of a one-stage gear system is proposed to study the vibration of a pair of spur gears, with and without tooth cracks. The model takes several physical properties into account, including variable gear mesh stiffness and the effect of friction, but ignores the lubrication effect. The vibration simulation results of the gearbox were obtained via Matlab and Simulink. The results were found to be consistent with the results from previously published works. The effect of one crack with different levels was studied and very similar changes in the total mesh stiffness and the vibration response, both were observed and compared to what has been found in previous studies. The effect of the crack length on various statistical time domain parameters was considered and the results show that these parameters were not equally sensitive to the crack percentage. Multiple cracks are introduced at different locations and the vibration response and the statistical parameters were obtained.

Keywords: dynamic simulation, gear mesh stiffness, simultaneous tooth cracks, spur gear, vibration-based fault detection

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Authors: Abdallah Ghoul, Bachir Ouamri, Ismail Khalil Bousserhane

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In this paper, we have developed a sliding mode controller for PUMA 600 manipulator robot, to control the remote robot a teleoperation system was developed. This system includes two sites, local and remote. The sliding mode controller is installed at the remote site. The client asks for a position through an interface and receives the real positions after running of the task by the remote robot. Both sites are interconnected via the Internet. In order to verify the effectiveness of the sliding mode controller, that is compared with a classic PID controller. The developed approach is tested on a virtual robot. The results confirmed the high performance of this approach.

Keywords: internet, manipulator robot, PID controller, remote control, sliding mode, teleoperation

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Authors: Alice V. Brown, Patrick Egan, Dorothy Bagshaw, Jackie Oakley, Emma Vieira, Louise Southalan, Duc Dau, Lucy Spanswick, Lindey Andrews, Mandy Wilson, Jocelyn Jones

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Western Australia has recently adopted a 10-year plan to end homelessness across its State, with sections of the plan focused particularly on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. In 2022, we engaged with 70-90 Aboriginal people experiencing homelessness in Perth, Western Australia, through qualitative interviews and creative methods, listening to their experiences of homelessness and their views on how services, State plans, and policies could better support them. This research was driven by the Aboriginal community through a Community Ownership Group of 16 Aboriginal Elders, elected by Elders’ groups, from across the Perth metropolitan area. The Community Ownership Group met every six weeks across the 15-month project timeline to guide the research team, endorse methods chosen, and provide richer context to research findings to ensure they adequately represent the experiences of Aboriginal people. These meetings were audio-recorded when possible and documented through meeting notes, verbal and visual minutes, and film, providing insights into homelessness from the perspective of Aboriginal Elders. In this paper, we compare the views of those experiencing homelessness with the views of the Aboriginal Elders -many of whom have experienced homelessness firsthand- and literature regarding how those experiencing homelessness can be better supported. We detail the ‘survival-directed thinking’ of those we engaged with who was in the throes of homelessness, leading them to focus more on immediate solutions such as food and housing. We then compare these narratives to Elders’ views that have been more regularly focused on connection to culture and long-term plans for healing homelessness, alongside immediate outreach -views also reflected in the literature. Through these comparisons, we highlight the importance of engaging both with those currently experiencing homelessness as well as with Aboriginal Elders as important cultural caretakers and authorities. We demonstrate how these varied voices uncover both long and short-term perspectives on how homelessness can be better managed in policy and service provision. We also highlight the potential role Aboriginal Elders can play in supporting the Aboriginal homeless community and their transition into housing.

Keywords: Aboriginal and Torres strait islander peoples, aboriginal elders, homelessness, community-led research

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Authors: Feras Hanandeh, Izzat Alsmadi, Muhammad M. Kwafha

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Prefix trees or tries are data structures that are used to store data or index of data. The goal is to be able to store and retrieve data by executing queries in quick and reliable manners. In principle, the structure of the trie depends on having letters in nodes at the different levels to point to the actual words in the leafs. However, the exact structure of the trie may vary based on several aspects. In this paper, we evaluated different structures for building tries. Using datasets of words of different sizes, we evaluated the different forms of trie structures. Results showed that some characteristics may impact significantly, positively or negatively, the size and the performance of the trie. We investigated different forms and structures for the trie. Results showed that using an array of pointers in each level to represent the different alphabet letters is the best choice.

Keywords: data structures, indexing, tree structure, trie, information retrieval

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Authors: Ayako Hasegawa, Ken Ubukata

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The purpose of this study is to investigate whether corrective feedback has any significant effect on Japanese low-intermediate EFL learners’ performance on a specific set of linguistic features. The subjects are Japanese college students majoring in English. They have studied English for about 7 years, but their inter-language seems to fossilize because non-target like errors is frequently observed in traditional deductive teacher-fronted approach. It has been reported that corrective feedback plays an important role in diminishing or overcoming inter-language fossilization and achieving TL competency. Therefore, it was examined how the corrective feedback (the focus of this study was metalinguistic feedback) and self-correction raised the students’ awareness and helped them notice the gaps between their inter-language and the TL.

Keywords: written corrective feedback, fossilized error, grammar teaching, language teaching

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Authors: Muhammad Abid

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Utilization of renewable energy resources for energy conservation, pollution prevention, resource efficiency and systems integration is very important for sustainable development. In this study, we perform energy and exergy analyses of a wind turbine, located on the roof of Mechanical Engineering Department, King Saud University, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The turbine is part of a hybrid photovoltaic (PV)-wind system with hydrogen storage. The power output from this turbine varies between 1.5 and 5.5 kW with a rated wind speed of 12 m/s and a cut-in wind speed of 2.4 m/s. We utilize a wide range of experimental data in the analysis and assessment. We determine energy and exergy efficiencies. The energy efficiency changes between 0% to 45% while the exergy efficiency varies between 0% and 31.3%. We also determined some of the exergoeconomic parameters that are the ratios of energy and exergy loss rates to the capital cost (R en and R ex), respectively. (R en) changes between 0.96% and 59.03% for different values of velocity while R ex has a maximum value of 53.62% for the highest wind speed.

Keywords: exergy, efficiency, performance evaluation, wind energy

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Authors: Nihal Kartaltepe Behram, Göksel Ataman, Dila Okçu

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With the development of foreign direct investments, the social, cultural, political and economic interactions between countries and institutions have become visible and they have become determining factors for the strategic structuring and market goals. In this context the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of cultural distance and institutions on foreign direct investment choices in terms of location and investment model. For international establishments, the concept of culture, as well as the concept of cultural distance, is taken specifically into consideration, especially in the selection of methods for entering the market. In the researches and empirical studies conducted, a direct relationship between cultural distance and foreign direct investments is set and institutions and effective variable factors are examined at the level of defining the investment types. When the detailed calculation strategies and empirical researches and studies are taken into consideration, the most common methods for determining the direct investment model, considering the cultural distances, are full-ownership enterprises and joint ventures. Also, when all of the factors affecting the investments are taken into consideration, it was seen that the effect of institutions such as Government Intervention, Intellectual Property Rights, Corruption and Contract Enforcements is very important. Furthermore agglomeration is more intense and effective on the investment, compared to other factors. China has been selected as the target country, due to its effectiveness in world economy and its contributions to developing countries, which has commercial relationships with. Qualitative research methods are used for this study conducted, to measure the effects of determinative variable factors in the hypotheses of study, on the direct foreign investors and to evaluate the findings. In this study in-depth interview is used as a data collection method and the data analysis is made through descriptive analysis. Foreign Direct Investments are so reactive to institutions and cultural distance is identified by all interviews and analysis. On the other hand, agglomeration is the most strong determiner factor on foreign direct investors in Chinese Market. The reason of this factors, which comprise the sectorial aggregate, are not the strongest factors as agglomeration that the most important finding. We expect that this study became a beneficial guideline for developed and developing countries and local and national institutions’ strategic plans.

Keywords: China, cultural distance, Foreign Direct Investments, institutions

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Authors: Ali Ganoun, Wesam Algablawi, Wasim BenAnaif

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Video based traffic surveillance based on License Plate Recognition (LPR) system is an essential part for any intelligent traffic management system. The LPR system utilizes computer vision and pattern recognition technologies to obtain traffic and road information by detecting and recognizing vehicles based on their license plates. Generally, the video based LPR system is a challenging area of research due to the variety of environmental conditions. The LPR systems used in a wide range of commercial applications such as collision warning systems, finding stolen cars, controlling access to car parks and automatic congestion charge systems. This paper presents an automatic LPR system of Libyan license plate. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated with three video sequences.

Keywords: license plate recognition, localization, segmentation, recognition

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Authors: Fouzia Brihmat

Abstract:

Economic planning models, which are used to build microgrids and distributed energy resources, are the current norm for expressing such confidence (DER). These models often decide both short-term DER dispatch and long-term DER investments. This research investigates the most cost-effective hybrid (photovoltaic-diesel) renewable energy system (HRES) based on Total Net Present Cost (TNPC) in an Algerian Saharan area, which has a high potential for solar irradiation and has a production capacity of 1GW/h. Lead-acid batteries have been around much longer and are easier to understand, but have limited storage capacity. Lithium-ion batteries last longer, are lighter, but generally more expensive. By combining the advantages of each chemistry, we produce cost-effective high-capacity battery banks that operate solely on AC coupling. The financial implications of this research describe the corrosion process that occurs at the interface between the active material and grid material of the positive plate of a lead-acid battery. The best cost study for the HRES is completed with the assistance of the HOMER Pro MATLAB Link. Additionally, during the course of the project's 20 years, the system is simulated for each time step. In this model, which takes into consideration decline in solar efficiency, changes in battery storage levels over time, and rises in fuel prices above the rate of inflation. The trade-off is that the model is more accurate, but it took longer to compute. As a consequence, the model is more precise, but the computation takes longer. We initially utilized the Optimizer to run the model without MultiYear in order to discover the best system architecture. The optimal system for the single-year scenario is the Danvest generator, which has 760 kW, 200 kWh of the necessary quantity of lead-acid storage, and a somewhat lower COE of $0.309/kWh. Different scenarios that account for fluctuations in the gasified biomass generator's production of electricity have been simulated, and various strategies to guarantee the balance between generation and consumption have been investigated. The technological optimization of the same system has been finished and is being reviewed in a recent paper study.

Keywords: battery, corrosion, diesel, economic planning optimization, hybrid energy system, lead-acid battery, multi-year planning, microgrid, price forecast, PV, total net present cost

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Authors: Marielle Hanley, Brandon Takahashi, Gerry Hanley, Gabriella Hancock

Abstract:

Safety harnesses and their protocols are very common within the construction industry, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has provided extensive guidelines with protocols being constantly updated to ensure the highest level of safety within construction sites. There is also extensive research on harnesses that are meant to keep people in place in moving vehicles, such as seatbelts. Though this research is comprehensive in these areas, the findings and recommendations are not generally applicable to other industry sectors where harnesses are used, such as the entertainment industry. The focus of this case study is on the design and use of harnesses used by theme park employees wearing elaborate costumes in parades and performances. The key factors of posture, kinesthetic factors, and harness engineering interact in significantly different ways when the user is performing repetitive choreography with 20 to 40 lbs. of apparatus connected to harnesses that need to be hidden from the audience’s view. Human factors and ergonomic analysis take into account the required performers’ behaviors, the physical and mental preparation and posture of the performer, the design of the harness-embedded costume, and the environmental conditions during the performance (e.g., wind) that can determine the physical stresses placed on the harness and performer. The uniqueness and expense of elaborate costumes frequently result in one or two costumes created for production, and a variety of different performers need to fit into the same costume. Consequently, the harnesses should be adjustable if they are to minimize the physical and cognitive loads on the performer, but they are frequently more a “one-size fits all”. The complexity of human and technology interactions produces a range of detrimental outcomes, from muscle strains to nerve damage, mental and physical fatigue, and reduced motivation to perform at peak levels. Based on observations conducted over four years for this case study, a number of recommendations to institutionalize the human factors and ergonomic analyses can significantly improve the safety, reliability, and quality of performances with harness-embedded costumes in the entertainment industry. Human factors and ergonomic analyses can be integrated into the engineering design of the performance costumes with embedded harnesses, the conditioning and training of the performers using the costumes, the choreography of the performances within the staged setting and the maintenance of the harness-embedded costumes. By applying human factors and ergonomic methodologies in the entertainment industry, the industry management and support staff can significantly reduce the risks of injury, improve the longevity of unique performers, increase the longevity of the harness-embedded costumes, and produce the desired entertainment value for audiences.

Keywords: ergonomics in entertainment industry, harness-embedded costumes, performer safety, injury prevention

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Authors: O. Y. Yurieva, O. V. Yurieva, O. V. Kiselkina, A. V. Kamaseva

Abstract:

Since the early 2000s, there are some innovative changes in the civil service in Russia due to administrative reform. Perspectives of the reform of the civil service include a fundamental change in the personnel component, increasing the level of professionalism of officials, increasing their capacity for self-organization and self-regulation. In order to achieve this, the civil service must be able to continuously change. Organizational changes have long become the subject of scientific understanding; problems of research in the field of organizational change is presented by topics focused on the study of the methodological aspects of the implementation of the changes, the specifics of changes in different types of organizations (business, government, and so on), design changes in the organization, including based on the change in organizational culture. In this case, the organizational changes in the civil service are the least studied areas; research of problems of its transformation is carried out in fragments. According to the theory of resistance of Herbert Simon, the root of the opposition and rejection of change is in the person who will resist any change, if it threatens to undermine the degree of satisfaction as a member of the organization (regardless of the reasons for this change). Thus, the condition for successful adaptation to changes in the organization is the ability of its staff to perceive innovation. As part of the problem, the study sought to identify the innovation civil servants, to determine readiness for the development of proposals for the implementation of organizational change in the public service. To identify the relationship to organizational changes case study carried out by the method of "Attitudes to organizational change" of I. Motovilina, which allowed predicting the type of resistance to changes, to reveal the contradictions and hidden results. The advantage of the method of I. Motovilina is its brevity, simplicity, the analysis of the responses to each question, the use of "overlapping" issues potentially conflicting factors. Based on the study made by the authors, it was found that respondents have a positive attitude to change more local than those that take place in reality, such as "increase opportunities for professional growth", "increase the requirements for the level of professionalism of", "the emergence of possible manifestations initiatives from below". Implemented by the authors diagnostics related to organizational changes in the public service showed the presence of specific problem areas, with roots in the lack of understanding of the importance of innovation personnel in the process of bureaucratization of innovation in public service organizations.

Keywords: innovative changes, self-organization, self-regulation, civil service

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Authors: Grace karimi Muriithi, Behnaz Papari, Ali Arsalan, Christopher Shannon Edrington

Abstract:

Complexity and nonlinearity of the control system design is increasing for DC microgrid applications when the cyber concept associated with the technology constraints will added to the picture. Controllers’ functionality during the critical operation mode is required to guaranteed specifically for a high profile applications such as NAVY DC ship power system (SPS) as an small-scaled DC microgrid. Thus, SPS is susceptible to cyber-attacks and, accordingly, can provide the disastrous effects. In this study, a machine learning (ML) approach is demonstrated to offer the promising performance of SPS for developing an effective and robust functionality over attacks time. Simulation results analysis demonstrate that the proposed method can improve the controllability successfully.

Keywords: controlability, cyber attacks, distribute control, machine learning

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Authors: Gilda Santos, Rita Marques, Francisca Marques, João Ribeiro, André Fonseca, João M. Miranda, João B. L. M. Campos, Soraia F. Neves

Abstract:

Every year, an unacceptable number of firefighters are seriously burned during firefighting operations, with some of them eventually losing their life. Although thermal protective clothing research and development has been searching solutions to minimize firefighters heat load and skin burns, currently commercially available solutions focus in solving isolated problems, for example, radiant heat or water-vapor resistance. Therefore, episodes of severe burns and heat strokes are still frequent. Taking this into account, a consortium composed by Portuguese entities has joined synergies to develop an innovative protective clothing system by following a procedure based on the application of numerical models to optimize the design and using a combinationof protective clothing components disposed in different layers. Recently, it has been shown that Phase Change Materials (PCMs) can contribute to the reduction of potential heat hazards in fire extinguish operations, and consequently, their incorporation into firefighting protective clothing has advantages. The greatest challenge is to integrate these materials without compromising garments ergonomics and, at the same time, accomplishing the International Standard of protective clothing for firefighters – laboratory test methods and performance requirements for wildland firefighting clothing. The incorporation of PCMs into the firefighter's protective jacket will result in the absorption of heat from the fire and consequently increase the time that the firefighter can be exposed to it. According to the project studies and developments, to favor a higher use of the PCM storage capacityand to take advantage of its high thermal inertia more efficiently, the PCM layer should be closer to the external heat source. Therefore, in this stage, to integrate PCMs in firefighting clothing, a mock-up of a vest specially designed to protect the torso (back, chest and abdomen) and to be worn over a fire-resistant jacketwas envisaged. Different configurations of PCMs, as well as multilayer approaches, were studied using suitable joining technologies such as bonding, ultrasound, and radiofrequency. Concerning firefighter’s protective clothing, it is important to balance heat protection and flame resistance with comfort parameters, namely, thermaland water-vapor resistances. The impact of the most promising solutions regarding thermal comfort was evaluated to refine the performance of the global solutions. Results obtained with experimental bench scale model and numerical simulation regarding the integration of PCMs in a vest designed as protective clothing for firefighters will be presented.

Keywords: firefighters, multilayer system, phase change material, thermal protective clothing

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Authors: Daniel Y. Abebe, Jeonghyun Jang, Jaehyouk Choi

Abstract:

This study aims to evaluate the effective size, section and structural characteristics of circular hollow steel (CHS) damper. CHS damper is among steel dampers which are used widely for seismic energy dissipation because they are easy to install, maintain and are inexpensive. CHS damper dissipates seismic energy through metallic deformation due to the geometrical elasticity of circular shape and fatigue resistance around connection part. After calculating the effective size, which is found to be height to diameter ratio of √("3"), nonlinear FE analyses were carried out to evaluate the structural characteristics and effective section (diameter-to-ratio).

Keywords: circular hollow steel damper, structural characteristics, effective size, effective section, large deformation, FE analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 359