Search results for: web application.

Authors: Mukhtiar Singh, Sumeet Nagar

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Vehicle routing problem (VRP) is a combinatorial optimization and nonlinear programming problem aiming to optimize decisions regarding given set of routes for a fleet of vehicles in order to provide cost-effective and efficient delivery of both services and goods to the intended customers. This paper proposes the application of integrated particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic optimization algorithm (GA) to address the Vehicle routing problem in sugarcane industry in India. Suger industry is very prominent agro-based industry in India due to its impacts on rural livelihood and estimated to be employing around 5 lakhs workers directly in sugar mills. Due to various inadequacies, inefficiencies and inappropriateness associated with the current vehicle routing model it costs huge money loss to the industry which needs to be addressed in proper context. The proposed algorithm utilizes the crossover operation that originally appears in genetic algorithm (GA) to improve its flexibility and manipulation more readily and avoid being trapped in local optimum, and simultaneously for improving the convergence speed of the algorithm, level set theory is also added to it. We employ the hybrid approach to an example of VRP and compare its result with those generated by PSO, GA, and parallel PSO algorithms. The experimental comparison results indicate that the performance of hybrid algorithm is superior to others, and it will become an effective approach for solving discrete combinatory problems.

Keywords: fuzzy logic, genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, vehicle routing problem

Procedia PDF Downloads 393

Authors: Yaseen Muhammad, Zhenxia Zhao, Zhangfa Tong

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A key problem with hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process of fuel oils is the application of severe operating conditions. In this study, we proposed the catalytic HDS of dibenzothiophene (DBT) integrated with ionic liquids (ILs) application at mild temperature and pressure over low loaded (0.5 wt.%) Pd promoted Co-Mo@Al₂O₃ and Ni-Mo@Al₂O₃ catalysts. Among the thirteen ILs tested, [BMIM]BF₄, [(CH₃)₄N]Cl, [EMIM]AlCl₄, and [(C₈H₁₇)(C₃H₇)₃P]Br enhanced the catalytic HDS efficiency while the latest ranked the top of activity list as confirmed by DFT studies as well. Experimental results revealed that Pd incorporation greatly enhanced the HDS activity of classical Co or Ni based catalysts. At mild optimized experimental conditions of 1 MPa H₂ pressure, 120 oC, IL:oil ratio of 1:3 and 4 h reaction time, the % DBT conversion (21 %) by Ni-Mo@Al₂O₃ was enhanced to 69 % (over Pd-Ni-Mo@ Al₂O₃) using [(C₈H₁₇) (C₃H₇)₃P]Br. The fresh and spent catalysts were characterized for textural properties using XPS, SEM, EDX, XRD and BET surface area techniques. An overall catalytic HDS activity followed the order of: Pd-Ni-Mo@Al₂O₃ > Pd-Co-Mo@Al₂O₃ > Ni-Mo@Al₂O₃ > Co-Mo@Al₂O₃. [(C₈H₁₇) (C₃H₇)₃P]Br.could be recycled four times with minimal decrease in HDS activity. Reaction products were analyzed by GC-MS which helped in proposing reaction mechanism for the IL coupled HDS process. The present approach attributed to its cost-effective nature, ease of operation with less mechanical requirements in terms of mild operating conditions, and high efficiency could be deemed as an alternative approach for the HDS of DBT on industrial level applications.

Keywords: DFT simulation, GC-MS and reaction mechanism, Ionic liquid coupled HDS of DBT, low Pd loaded catalyst, mild operating condition

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Jéssica F. Rodrigues, Amanda C. Andrade, Sabrina C. Bastos, Sandra B. Coelho, Ana Carla M. Pinheiro

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Currently, there is a great demand for the use of natural sweeteners due to the harmful effects of the high sugar and artificial sweeteners consumption on the health. Miracle fruit, which is known for its unique ability to modify the sour taste in sweet taste, has been shown to be a good alternative sweetener. However, it has a high production cost, being important to optimize lower contents to be used. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of different miracle fruit contents on the temporal (Time-intensity - TI and Temporal Dominance of Sensations - TDS) sensory profile and overall linking of lemonade, to determine the better content to be used as a natural sweetener in sour beverages. TI and TDS results showed that the concentrations of 150 mg, 300 mg and 600 mg miracle fruit were effective in reducing the acidity and promoting the sweet perception in lemonade. Furthermore, the concentrations of 300 mg and 600 mg obtained similar profiles. Through the acceptance test, the concentration of 300 mg miracle fruit was shown to be an efficient substitute for sucrose and sucralose in lemonade, once they had similar hedonic values between ‘I liked it slightly’ and ‘I liked it moderately’. Therefore, 300mg miracle fruit consists in an adequate content to be used as a natural sweetener of lemonade. The results of this work will help the food industry on the efficient application of a new natural sweetener- the Miracle fruit extract in sour beverages, reducing costs and providing a product that meets the consumer desires.

Keywords: acceptance, natural sweetener, temporal dominance of sensations, time-intensity

Procedia PDF Downloads 248

Authors: Sara ElElimy, Samir Moustafa

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Mobile network operators start to face many challenges in the digital era, especially with high demands from customers. Since mobile network operators are considered a source of big data, traditional techniques are not effective with new era of big data, Internet of things (IoT) and 5G; as a result, handling effectively different big datasets becomes a vital task for operators with the continuous growth of data and moving from long term evolution (LTE) to 5G. So, there is an urgent need for effective Big data analytics to predict future demands, traffic, and network performance to full fill the requirements of the fifth generation of mobile network technology. In this paper, we introduce data science techniques using machine learning and deep learning algorithms: the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), Bayesian-based curve fitting, and recurrent neural network (RNN) are employed for a data-driven application to mobile network operators. The main framework included in models are identification parameters of each model, estimation, prediction, and final data-driven application of this prediction from business and network performance applications. These models are applied to Telecom Italia Big Data challenge call detail records (CDRs) datasets. The performance of these models is found out using a specific well-known evaluation criteria shows that ARIMA (machine learning-based model) is more accurate as a predictive model in such a dataset than the RNN (deep learning model).

Keywords: big data analytics, machine learning, CDRs, 5G

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Arnab Adhikari, Arnab Bisi

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Since the inception, the fashion apparel supply chain is facing the problem of high demand uncertainty. Often the demand volatility compels the corresponding supply chain member to incur substantial holding cost and opportunity cost in case of the overproduction and the underproduction scenario, respectively. It leads to an uncoordinated fashion apparel supply chain. There exist several scholarly works to achieve coordination in the fashion apparel supply chain by employing the different contracts such as the buyback contract, the revenue sharing contract, the option contract, and so on. Specially, the application of option contract in the apparel industry becomes prevalent with the changing global scenario. Exploration of existing literature related to the option contract reveals that most of the research works concentrate on the one direction demand adjustment i.e. either to match the demand upwards or downwards. Here, we present a holistic approach to coordinate a dyadic fashion apparel supply chain comprising one manufacturer and one retailer with the help of bidirectional option contract. We show a combination of wholesale price contract and bidirectional option contract can coordinate the under expanded supply chain. We also propose a framework that captures the variation of the apparel retailer’s order quantity and the apparel manufacturer’s production quantity with the changing exercise price for the different ranges of the option price. We analytically explore that corresponding cost parameters of the supply chain members along with the nature of demand distribution play an instrumental role in the coordination as well as the retailer’s ordering decision.

Keywords: fashion apparel supply chain, supply chain coordination, wholesale price contract, bidirectional option contract

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Authors: Rui Liu, Klaus Greve

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The navigation information is a kind of dynamic geographic information, and the navigation information system is a kind of special geographic information system. At present, there are many researches on the application of centralized management and cross-integration application of basic geographic information. However, the idea of information integration and sharing is not deeply applied into the research of navigation information service. And the imperfection of navigation target coordination and navigation information sharing mechanism under certain navigation tasks has greatly affected the reliability and scientificity of navigation service such as path planning. Considering this, the project intends to study the multi-source information fusion and multi-objective united navigation information interaction mechanism: first of all, investigate the actual needs of navigation users in different areas, and establish the preliminary navigation information classification and importance level model; and then analyze the characteristics of the remote sensing and GIS vector data, and design the fusion algorithm from the aspect of improving the positioning accuracy and extracting the navigation environment data. At last, the project intends to analyze the feature of navigation information of the land, sea and air navigation targets, and design the united navigation data standard and navigation information sharing model under certain navigation tasks, and establish a test navigation system for united navigation simulation experiment. The aim of this study is to explore the theory of united navigation service and optimize the navigation information service model, which will lay the theory and technology foundation for the united navigation of land, sea and air targets.

Keywords: information fusion, united navigation, dynamic path planning, navigation information visualization

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Jenny Radeva, Anke-Gundula Roth, Christian Goebbert, Robert Niestroj-Pahl, Lars Daehne, Axel Wolfram, Juergen Wiese

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The technological advantages of ceramic filtration elements were combined with polyelectrolyte films in the development process of hybrid membrane for the elimination of pharmaceuticals from Aquarius solutions. Previously extruded alumina ceramic membranes were coated with nanosized polyelectrolyte films using Layer-by-Layer technology. The polyelectrolyte chains form a network with nano-pores on the ceramic surface and promote the retention of small molecules like pharmaceuticals and microplastics, which cannot be eliminated using standard ultrafiltration methods. Additionally, the polyelectrolyte coat contributes with its adjustable (based on application) Zeta Potential for repulsion of contaminant molecules with opposite charges. Properties like permeability, bubble point, pore size distribution and Zeta Potential of ceramic and hybrid membranes were characterized using various laboratory and pilot tests and compared with each other. The most significant role for the membrane characterization played the filtration behavior investigation, during which retention against widely used pharmaceuticals like Diclofenac, Ibuprofen and Sulfamethoxazol was subjected to series of filtration tests. The presented study offers a new perspective on nanosized molecules removal from aqueous solutions and shows the importance of combined techniques application for the elimination of pharmaceutical contaminants from drinking water.

Keywords: water treatment, hybrid membranes, layer-by-layer coating, filtration, polyelectrolytes

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Authors: Shereen Kamel

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This study explores the recent application of bilingual education in Egyptian public schools. It aims to provide an overall picture of bilingual education programs globally and examine its adequacy to the Egyptian social and cultural context. The study also assesses the current application process of teaching English as a Second Language in public schools from the early childhood education stage and onwards, instead of starting it from middle school; as a strategy that promotes English language proficiency and equity among students. The theoretical framework is based on Jim Cummins’ bilingual education theories and on recent trends adopting different developmental theories and perspectives, like Stephen Crashen’s theory of Second Language Acquisition that calls for communicative and meaningful interaction rather than memorization of grammatical rules. The question posed here is whether bilingual education, with its peculiar nature, could be a good chance to reach out to all Egyptian students and prepare them to become global citizens. In addition to this, a more specific question is related to the extent to which social and cultural variables can affect the young learners’ second language acquisition. This exploratory analytical study uses mixed-methods research design to examine the application of bilingual education in Egyptian public schools. The study uses a cluster sample of schools in Egypt from different social and cultural backgrounds to assess the determining variables. The qualitative emphasis is on interviewing teachers and reviewing students’ achievement documents. The quantitative aspect is based on observations of in-class activities through tally sheets and checklists. Having access to schools and documents is authorized by governmental and institutional research bodies. Data sources will comprise achievement records, students’ portfolios, parents’ feedback and teachers’ viewpoints. Triangulation and SPSS will be used for analysis. Based on the gathered data, new curricula have been assigned for elementary grades and teachers have been required to teach the newly developed materials all of a sudden without any prior training. Due to shortage in the teaching force, many assigned teachers have not been proficient in the English language. Hence, teachers’ incompetency and unpreparedness to teach this grade specific curriculum constitute a great challenge in the implementation phase. Nevertheless, the young learners themselves as well as their parents seem to be enthusiastic about the idea itself. According to the findings of this research study, teaching English as a Second Language to children in public schools can be applicable and is culturally relevant to the Egyptian context. However, there might be some social and cultural differences and constraints when it comes to application in addition to various aspects regarding teacher preparation. Therefore, a new mechanism should be incorporated to overcome these challenges for better results. Moreover, a new paradigm shift in these teacher development programs is direly needed. Furthermore, ongoing support and follow up are crucial to help both teachers and students realize the desired outcomes.

Keywords: bilingual education, communicative approach, early childhood education, language and culture, second language acquisition

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Udeh Nneka Evelyn

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The shortcoming of traditional costing system in terms of validity, accuracy, consistency, and Relevance increased the need for modern management accounting system. Activity –Based Costing (ABC) can be used as a modern tool for planning, Control and decision making for management. Past studies on ABC system have focused on manufacturing firms thereby making the studies on service firms scanty to some extent. This paper reviewed the application and relevance of activity-based costing technique in service oriented business organizations by employing a qualitative research method which relied heavily on literature review of past and current relevant articles focusing on ABC. Findings suggest that ABC is not only appropriate for use in a manufacturing environment; it is also most appropriate for service organizations such as financial institutions, the healthcare industry and government organization. In fact, some banking and financial institutions have been applying the concept for years under other names. One of them is unit costing, which is used to calculate the cost of banking services by determining the cost and consumption of each unit of output of functions required to deliver the service. ABC in very basic terms may provide very good payback for businesses. Some of the benefits that relate directly to the financial services industry are: identification the most profitable customers: more accurate product and service pricing: increase product profitability: Well organized process costs.

Keywords: business, costing, organizations, planning, techniques

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: H. Arzani, Z. Arzani

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Every piece of rangeland has a different set of physical and biological characteristics. This requires the manager to synthesis various information for regular monitoring to define changes trend to get wright decision for sustainable management. So range managers need to use computerized technologies to monitor rangeland, and select. The best management practices. There are four examples of computerized technologies that can benefit sustainable management: (1) Photographic method for cover measurement: The method was tested in different vegetation communities in semi humid and arid regions. Interpretation of pictures of quadrats was done using Arc View software. Data analysis was done by SPSS software using paired t test. Based on the results, generally, photographic method can be used to measure ground cover in most vegetation communities. (2) GPS application for corresponding ground samples and satellite pixels: In two provinces of Tehran and Markazi, six reference points were selected and in each point, eight GPS models were tested. Significant relation among GPS model, time and location with accuracy of estimated coordinates was found. After selection of suitable method, in Markazi province coordinates of plots along four transects in each 6 sites of rangelands was recorded. The best time of GPS application was in the morning hours, Etrex Vista had less error than other models, and a significant relation among GPS model, time and location with accuracy of estimated coordinates was found. (3) Application of satellite data for rangeland monitoring: Focusing on the long term variation of vegetation parameters such as vegetation cover and production is essential. Our study in grass and shrub lands showed that there were significant correlations between quantitative vegetation characteristics and satellite data. So it is possible to monitor rangeland vegetation using digital data for sustainable utilization. (4) Rangeland suitability classification with GIS: Range suitability assessment can facilitate sustainable management planning. Three sub-models of sensitivity to erosion, water suitability and forage production out puts were entered to final range suitability classification model. GIS was facilitate classification of range suitability and produced suitability maps for sheep grazing. Generally digital computers assist range managers to interpret, modify, calibrate or integrating information for correct management.

Keywords: computer, GPS, GIS, remote sensing, photographic method, monitoring, rangeland ecosystem, management, suitability, sheep grazing

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Authors: Korbinian Schmidtner, Rudolf Sailer, Perry Bartelt, Wolfgang Fellin, Jan-Thomas Fischer, Matthias Granig

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This study focuses on the evaluation of snow avalanche simulations, based on a survey that has been carried out among avalanche experts. In the last decades, the application of avalanche simulation tools has gained recognition within the realm of hazard management. Traditionally, avalanche runout models were used to predict extreme avalanche runout and prepare avalanche maps. This has changed rather dramatically with the application of numerical models. For safety regulations such as road safety simulation tools are now being coupled with real-time meteorological measurements to predict frequent avalanche hazard. That places new demands on model accuracy and requires the simulation of physical processes that previously could be ignored. These simulation tools are based on a deterministic description of the avalanche movement allowing to predict certain quantities (e.g. pressure, velocities, flow heights, runout lengths etc.) of the avalanche flow. Because of the highly variable regimes of the flowing snow, no uniform rheological law describing the motion of an avalanche is known. Therefore, analogies to fluid dynamical laws of other materials are stated. To transfer these constitutional laws to snow flows, certain assumptions and adjustments have to be imposed. Besides these limitations, there exist high uncertainties regarding the initial and boundary conditions. Further challenges arise when implementing the underlying flow model equations into an algorithm executable by a computer. This implementation is constrained by the choice of adequate numerical methods and their computational feasibility. Hence, the model development is compelled to introduce further simplifications and the related uncertainties. In the light of these issues many questions arise on avalanche simulations, on their assets and drawbacks, on potentials for improvements as well as their application in practice. To address these questions a survey among experts in the field of avalanche science (e.g. researchers, practitioners, engineers) from various countries has been conducted. In the questionnaire, special attention is drawn on the expert’s opinion regarding the influence of certain variables on the simulation result, their uncertainty and the reliability of the results. Furthermore, it was tested to which degree a simulation result influences the decision making for a hazard assessment. A discrepancy could be found between a large uncertainty of the simulation input parameters as compared to a relatively high reliability of the results. This contradiction can be explained taking into account how the experts employ the simulations. The credibility of the simulations is the result of a rather thoroughly simulation study, where different assumptions are tested, comparing the results of different flow models along with the use of supplemental data such as chronicles, field observation, silent witnesses i.a. which are regarded as essential for the hazard assessment and for sanctioning simulation results. As the importance of avalanche simulations grows within the hazard management along with their further development studies focusing on the modeling fashion could contribute to a better understanding how knowledge of the avalanche process can be gained by running simulations.

Keywords: expert interview, hazard management, modeling, simulation, snow avalanche

Procedia PDF Downloads 324

Authors: S. K. Ashiquer Rahman

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A cutting-edge online knowledge mediation system called "ePLANETe" provides a framework for building knowledge, tools and methods for all education, research and sustainable practices and elsewhere, as well as the deliberative assessment support of sustainability, biodiversity, and stakeholder involvement issues of the territorial development sector, e.g., agriculture.The purpose is to present, as sectorial and institutional perception, the 'ePLANETe' concept and functionalities as an experimental online platform for contributing the sustainability assessment, biodiversity, and stakeholder involvement. In the upshot, the concept of 'ePLANETe'isan investigation of the challenges of "online things, technology and application". The new digital technologies are exploited to facilitate collaborative technology and application to territorial development issues, e.g., agriculture. In order to investigate the dealing capacity (Qualitative and Quantitative) of sustainability, biodiversity, and stakeholder involvement of the agriculture sector through the stakeholder-based integrated assessment "Deliberation Support Tools (DST) and INTEGRAAL method" of collective resources. Specifically, this paper focuses on integrating system methodologies with deliberation tools for collective assessment and decision-making in implementing regional plans of agriculture. The aim of this report is to identify effective knowledge and tools and to enable deliberation methodologies regarding practices on the sustainability of agriculture and biodiversity issues, societal responsibilities, and regional planning that will create the scope for qualitative and quantitative assessments of sustainability as a new landmark of the agriculture sector.

Keywords: sustainability, biodiversity, stakeholder, dst, integraal

Procedia PDF Downloads 116

Authors: Dharmit Viroja, Prerakkumar Shah, Rajanikant Gajera, Ruchit Shah

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With present scenario of aging oil and gas fields with high water cuts, volatile oil prices and increasing greenhouse gas emission, the need for alleviating such issues has necessitated for oil and gas industry to make the maximum out of available assets, infrastructure and reserves in mother Earth. Study undertaken emphasizes on utilizing Geothermal Energy under specific reservoir conditions for Enhanced oil Recovery (EOR) to boost up production. Allied benefits of this process include mitigation of electricity problem in remote fields and controlled CO-emission. Utilization of this energy for EOR and increasing economic life of field could surely be rewarding. A new way to value oil lands would be considered if geothermal co-production is integrated in the field development program. Temperature profile of co-produced fluid across its journey is a pivotal issue which has been studied. Geo pressured reservoirs resulting from trapped brine under an impermeable bed is also a frontier for exploitation. Hot geothermal fluid is a by-product of large number of oil and gas wells, historically this hot water has been seen as an inconvenience; however, it can be looked at as a useful resource. The production of hot fluids from abandoned and co-production of hot fluids from producing wells has potential to prolong life of oil and gas fields. The study encompasses various factors which are required for use of this technology and application of this process across various phases of oil and gas value chain. Interdisciplinary approach in oil and gas value chain has shown potential for economic production of estimated oil and gas reserves.

Keywords: enhanced oil recovery, geo-pressured reservoirs, geothermal energy, oil and gas value chain

Procedia PDF Downloads 339

Authors: H. Jalahi, A. Yazdanpanah Nozari

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Background and Purpose: Assessment of learners’ performance is an important factors in teaching-learning process. When a factor is sensitive and has high influence on life, their assessment should be done precisely. Thinking dispositions are very important factors in medical education because of its specific condition. In this study a model is designed for fostering thinking dispositions of learners in which authentic assessment is an important element. Materials and Methods: Objective based research is developmental, and such a model was not designed for curricula. Data collection and comparing approaches about assessment and analyzing current assessments offered applied proposals. Results: Based on research findings, the current assessments are response-based, that is students instead of product of response, only offers the specific response which the teachers expects; but authentic assessment is a form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-word tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills. Conclusion: Because of the difficulties and unexpected problems in life and individuals needs to lifelong learning and conditions in medical course that require decision making in specific times, we must pay attention to reach thinking dispositions and it should be included in curriculum. Authentic assessment as an important aspect of curriculum can help fostering thinking dispositions of learners. Using this kind of assessments which focus on application of information and skills to solve real-word tasks have more important role in medical courses.

Keywords: assessment, authentic, medical courses, developmental

Procedia PDF Downloads 364

Authors: Hamsini Pulugurtha, V.S. Lakshmi Jagadmaba Paluri

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Distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) is one altogether the top-rated cyber threats presently. It runs down the victim server resources like a system of measurement and buffer size by obstructing the server to supply resources to legitimate shoppers. Throughout this text, we tend to tend to propose a mathematical model of DDoS attack; we discuss its relevancy to the choices like inter-arrival time or rate of arrival of the assault customers accessing the server. We tend to tend to further analyze the attack model in context to the exhausting system of measurement and buffer size of the victim server. The projected technique uses an associate in nursing unattended learning technique, self-organizing map, to make the clusters of identical choices. Lastly, the abstract applies mathematical correlation and so the standard likelihood distribution on the clusters and analyses their behaviors to look at a DDoS attack. These systems not exclusively interconnect very little devices exchanging personal data, but to boot essential infrastructures news standing of nuclear facilities. Although this interconnection brings many edges and blessings, it to boot creates new vulnerabilities and threats which might be conversant in mount attacks. In such sophisticated interconnected systems, the power to look at attacks as early as accomplishable is of paramount importance.

Keywords: application attack, bandwidth, buffer correlation, DDoS distribution flooding intrusion layer, normal prevention probability size

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Authors: F. C. Amadi, G. C. Enyi, G. Nasr

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Relative permeabilities are practical factors that are used to correct the single phase Darcy’s law for application to multiphase flow. For effective characterisation of large-scale multiphase flow in hydrocarbon recovery, relative permeability and capillary pressures are used. These parameters are acquired via special core flooding experiments. Special core analysis (SCAL) module of reservoir simulation is applied by engineers for the evaluation of these parameters. But, core flooding experiments in shale core sample are expensive and time consuming before various flow assumptions are achieved for instance Darcy’s law. This makes it imperative for the application of coreflooding simulations in which various analysis of relative permeabilities and capillary pressures of multiphase flow can be carried out efficiently and effectively at a relative pace. This paper presents a Sendra software simulation of core flooding to achieve to relative permeabilities and capillary pressures using different correlations. The approach used in this study was three steps. The first step, the basic petrophysical parameters of Marcellus shale sample such as porosity was determined using laboratory techniques. Secondly, core flooding was simulated for particular scenario of injection using different correlations. And thirdly the best fit correlations for the estimation of relative permeability and capillary pressure was obtained. This research approach saves cost and time and very reliable in the computation of relative permeability and capillary pressures at steady or unsteady state, drainage or imbibition processes in oil and gas industry when compared to other methods.

Keywords: relative permeabilty, porosity, 1-D black oil simulator, capillary pressures

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Authors: Michael J. Haslip

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Character strength application improves performance and well-being in adults across industries, but the potential impact of character strength training among early childhood educators is mostly unknown. To explore how character strengths are applied by early childhood educators at work, a qualitative study was completed alongside professional development provided to a group of in-service teachers of children ages 0-5 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Study participants (n=17) were all female. The majority of participants were non-white, in full-time lead or assistant teacher roles, had at least ten years of experience and a bachelor’s degree. Teachers were attending professional development weekly for 2 hours over a 10-week period on the topic of social and emotional learning and child guidance. Related to this training were modules and sessions on identifying a teacher’s character strength profile using the Values in Action classification of 24 strengths (e.g., humility, perseverance) that have a scientific basis. Teachers were then asked to apply their character strengths to help resolve current workplace challenges. This study identifies which character strengths the teachers reported using most frequently and the nature of the workplace challenges being resolved in this context. The study also reports how difficult these challenges were to the teachers and their success rate at resolving workplace challenges using a character strength application plan. The study also documents how teachers’ own use of character strengths relates to their modeling of these same traits (e.g., kindness, teamwork) for children, especially when the nature of the workplace challenge directly involves the children, such as when addressing issues of classroom management and behavior. Data were collected on action plans (reflective templates) which teachers wrote to explain the work challenge they were facing, the character strengths they used to address the challenge, their plan for applying strengths to the challenge, and subsequent results. Content analysis and thematic analysis were used to investigate the research questions using approaches that included classifying, connecting, describing, and interpreting data reported by educators. Findings reveal that teachers most frequently use kindness, leadership, fairness, hope, and love to address a range of workplace challenges, ranging from low to high difficulty, involving children, coworkers, parents, and for self-management. Teachers reported a 71% success rate at fully or mostly resolving workplace challenges using the action plan method introduced during professional development. Teachers matched character strengths to challenges in different ways, with certain strengths being used mostly when the challenge involved children (love, forgiveness), others mostly with adults (bravery, teamwork), and others universally (leadership, kindness). Furthermore, teacher’s application of character strengths at work involved directly modeling character for children in 31% of reported cases. The application of character strengths among early childhood educators may play a significant role in improving teacher well-being, reducing job stress, and improving efforts to model character for young children.

Keywords: character strengths, positive psychology, professional development, social-emotional learning

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Authors: Rohit Gupta, Ravinder Agarwal

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Surface electromyographic (sEMG) signal has the potential to identify the human activities and intention. This potential is further exploited to control the artificial limbs using the sEMG signal from residual limbs of amputees. The paper deals with the development of multichannel cost efficient sEMG signal interface for research application, along with evaluation of proposed class dependent statistical approach of the feature selection method. The sEMG signal acquisition interface was developed using ADS1298 of Texas Instruments, which is a front-end interface integrated circuit for ECG application. Further, the sEMG signal is recorded from two lower limb muscles for three locomotions namely: Plane Walk (PW), Stair Ascending (SA), Stair Descending (SD). A class dependent statistical approach is proposed for feature selection and also its performance is compared with 12 preexisting feature vectors. To make the study more extensive, performance of five different types of classifiers are compared. The outcome of the current piece of work proves the suitability of the proposed feature selection algorithm for locomotion recognition, as compared to other existing feature vectors. The SVM Classifier is found as the outperformed classifier among compared classifiers with an average recognition accuracy of 97.40%. Feature vector selection emerges as the most dominant factor affecting the classification performance as it holds 51.51% of the total variance in classification accuracy. The results demonstrate the potentials of the developed sEMG signal acquisition interface along with the proposed feature selection algorithm.

Keywords: classifiers, feature selection, locomotion, sEMG

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Authors: Lei Zhu, Nan Li

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Cold stamping has been widely applied in the automotive industry for the mass production of a great range of automotive panels. Predicting the springback to ensure the dimensional accuracy of the cold-stamped components is a critical step. The main approaches for the prediction and compensation of springback in cold stamping include running Finite Element (FE) simulations and conducting experiments, which require forming process expertise and can be time-consuming and expensive for the design of cold stamping tools. Machine learning technologies have been proven and successfully applied in learning complex system behaviours using presentative samples. These technologies exhibit the promising potential to be used as supporting design tools for metal forming technologies. This study, for the first time, presents a novel application of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based surrogate model to predict the springback fields for variable U-shape cold bending geometries. A dataset is created based on the U-shape cold bending geometries and the corresponding FE simulations results. The dataset is then applied to train the CNN surrogate model. The result shows that the surrogate model can achieve near indistinguishable full-field predictions in real-time when compared with the FE simulation results. The application of CNN in efficient springback prediction can be adopted in industrial settings to aid both conceptual and final component designs for designers without having manufacturing knowledge.

Keywords: springback, cold stamping, convolutional neural networks, machine learning

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Authors: Tiago Sampaio, André Vasconcelos, Bruno Fragoso

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The Normalized Systems Theory, which is designed to be applied to software architectures, provides a set of theorems, elements and rules, with the purpose of enabling evolution in Information Systems, as well as ensuring that they are ready for change. In order to make that possible, this work’s solution is to apply the Normalized Systems Theory to the domain of enterprise architectures, using Archimate. This application is achieved through the adaptation of the elements of this theory, making them artifacts of the modeling language. The theorems are applied through the identification of the viewpoints to be used in the architectures, as well as the transformation of the theory’s encapsulation rules into architectural rules. This way, it is possible to create normalized enterprise architectures, thus fulfilling the needs and requirements of the business. This solution was demonstrated using the Portuguese Public Procurement System. The Portuguese government aims to make this system as fair as possible, allowing every organization to have the same business opportunities. The aim is for every economic operator to have access to all public tenders, which are published in any of the 6 existing platforms, independently of where they are registered. In order to make this possible, we applied our solution to the construction of two different architectures, which are able of fulfilling the requirements of the Portuguese government. One of those architectures, TO-BE A, has a Message Broker that performs the communication between the platforms. The other, TO-BE B, represents the scenario in which the platforms communicate with each other directly. Apart from these 2 architectures, we also represent the AS-IS architecture that demonstrates the current behavior of the Public Procurement Systems. Our evaluation is based on a comparison between the AS-IS and the TO-BE architectures, regarding the fulfillment of the rules and theorems of the Normalized Systems Theory and some quality metrics.

Keywords: archimate, architecture, broker, enterprise, evolvable systems, interoperability, normalized architectures, normalized systems, normalized systems theory, platforms

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Authors: Ikra Khan, Reenu Singh

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Composition is essential when designing the interiors of residential spaces. The ability to adopt a unique style of using design principles and design elements is another. This research report explores how the visual aesthetic within a space is achieved through the use of design principles and design elements while maintaining a signature style. It also observes the relationship between design styles and compositions that are achieved as a result of the implementation of the principles. Information collected from books and the internet helped to understand how a composition can be achieved in residential interiors by resorting to design principles and design elements as tools for achieving an aesthetic composition. It also helped determine the results of authentic representation of design ideas and how they make one’s work exceptional. A questionnaire survey was also conducted to understand the impact of a visually aesthetic residential interior of a signature style on the lifestyle of individuals residing in them. The findings denote a pattern in the application of design principles and design elements. Individual principles and elements or a combination of the same are used to achieve an aesthetically pleasing composition. This was supported by creating CAD illustrations of two different residential projects with varying approaches and design styles. These illustrations include mood boards, 3D models, and sectional elevations as rendered views to understand the concept design and its translation via these mediums. A direct relation is observed between the application of design principles and design elements to achieve visually aesthetic residential interiors that suit an individual’s taste. These practices can be applied when designing bespoke commercial as well as industrial interiors that are suited to specific aesthetic and functional needs.

Keywords: composition, design principles, elements, interiors, residential spaces

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Authors: Masoomeh Estaji, Ahdie Tahamtani

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Considering the necessity of conducting research and publishing academic papers during Master’s and Ph.D. programs, graduate students are in dire need of improving their writing skills through either writing courses or self-study planning. One key feature that could aid academic papers to look more sophisticated is the application of grammatical metaphors (GMs). These types of metaphors represent the ‘non-congruent’ and ‘implicit’ ways of decoding meaning through which one grammatical category is replaced by another, more implied counterpart, which can alter the readers’ understanding of the text as well. Although a number of studies have been conducted on the application of GMs across various disciplines, almost none has been devoted to the field of environmental management, and the scope of the previous studies has been relatively limited compared to the present work. In the current study, attempts were made to analyze different types of GMs used in academic papers published in top-tiered journals in the field of environmental management, and make a list of the most frequently used GMs based on their functions in this particular discipline to make the teaching of academic writing courses more explicit and the composition of academic texts more well-structured. To fulfill these purposes, a corpus-based analysis based on the two theoretical models of Martin et al. (1997) and Liardet (2014) was run. Through two stages of manual analysis and concordancers, ten recent academic articles entailing 132490 words published in two prestigious journals were precisely scrutinized. The results yielded that through the whole IMRaD sections of the articles, among all types of ideational GMs, material processes were the most frequent types. The second and the third ranks would apply to the relational and mental categories, respectively. Regarding the use of interpersonal GMs, objective expanding metaphors were the highest in number. In contrast, subjective interpersonal metaphors, either expanding or contracting, were the least significant. This would suggest that scholars in the field of Environmental Management tended to shift the focus on the main procedures and explain technical phenomenon in detail, rather than to compare and contrast other statements and subjective beliefs. Moreover, since no instances of verbal ideational metaphors were detected, it could be deduced that the act of ‘saying or articulating’ something might be against the standards of the academic genre. One other assumption would be that the application of ideational GMs is context-embedded and that the more technical they are, the least frequent they become. For further studies, it is suggested that the employment of GMs to be studied in a wider scope and other disciplines, and the third type of GMs known as ‘textual’ metaphors to be included as well.

Keywords: English for specific purposes, grammatical metaphor, academic texts, corpus-based analysis

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Authors: Mustapha Kamel Mihoubi, Mohamed Essadik Kerkar

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Probabilistic risk analysis models are used to provide a better understanding of the reliability and structural failure of works, including when calculating the stability of large structures to a major risk in the event of an accident or breakdown. This work is interested in the study of the probability of failure of concrete dams through the application of reliability analysis methods including the methods used in engineering. It is in our case, the use of level 2 methods via the study limit state. Hence, the probability of product failures is estimated by analytical methods of the type first order risk method (FORM) and the second order risk method (SORM). By way of comparison, a level three method was used which generates a full analysis of the problem and involves an integration of the probability density function of random variables extended to the field of security using the Monte Carlo simulation method. Taking into account the change in stress following load combinations: normal, exceptional and extreme acting on the dam, calculation of the results obtained have provided acceptable failure probability values which largely corroborate the theory, in fact, the probability of failure tends to increase with increasing load intensities, thus causing a significant decrease in strength, shear forces then induce a shift that threatens the reliability of the structure by intolerable values of the probability of product failures. Especially, in case the increase of uplift in a hypothetical default of the drainage system.

Keywords: dam, failure, limit-state, monte-carlo, reliability, probability, simulation, sliding, taylor

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Authors: Lingzhi Li, Jiankun Zhang, Tiantian Gu

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Hazard management that can prevent fatal accidents and property losses is a fundamental process during the buildings’ construction stage. However, due to lack of safety supervision resources and operational pressures, the conduction of hazard management is poor and ineffective in China. In order to improve the quality of construction safety management, it is critical to explore the use of information technologies to ensure that the process of hazard management is efficient and effective. After exploring the existing problems of construction hazard management in China, this paper develops the griddization management model for construction hazard management. First, following the knowledge grid infrastructure, the griddization computing infrastructure for construction hazards management is designed which includes five layers: resource entity layer, information management layer, task management layer, knowledge transformation layer and application layer. This infrastructure will be as the technical support for realizing grid management. Second, this study divides the construction hazards into grids through city level, district level and construction site level according to grid principles. Last, a griddization management process including hazard identification, assessment and control is developed. Meanwhile, all stakeholders of construction safety management, such as owners, contractors, supervision organizations and government departments, should take the corresponding responsibilities in this process. Finally, a case study based on actual construction hazard identification, assessment and control is used to validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed griddization management model. The advantage of this designed model is to realize information sharing and cooperative management between various safety management departments.

Keywords: construction hazard, griddization computing, grid management, process

Procedia PDF Downloads 273

Authors: Manjot Kaur, Harminder Singh, S. K. Jawandha

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The present investigations were carried out at Fruit Research Farm, Department of Fruit Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during the years 2016 and 2017, with the aim of assessing the effect of amino acids on fruit development, shoot growth and yield of peach. The six-year-old peach trees of cv. Florida Prince were sprayed with 0.25 % and 0.50 % concentrations of amino acids (Peptone P1 023), 7 and 14 days after full bloom and the sprays were repeated after 15 and 30 days. Experimental findings showed that all the amino acid treatments increased fruit growth, shoot growth, fruit retention and yield and decreased fruit drop as compared to control during both the years. Maximum fruit retention (89.29 %) and minimum fruit drop (10.71 %) was observed in T8 (2 sprays @ 0.50%). Highest mean shoot growth (113.89 cm) was recorded in T12 (3 sprays @ 0.50%) while the minimum was in control plants (88.23 cm). Fruit yield was also found to be maximum (53.92 kg/tree) under double spray treatment T8 (2 sprays @ 0.50%) of amino acids and minimum in plants sprayed with triple spray of amino acids. Fruit maturity was advanced by 3-4 days by double spray treatments of amino acids as compared to control. In brief, the application of double spray of amino acids @ 0.50% (applied 14 days after full bloom and 15 days later), was found to be best to improve the fruit growth, fruit retention and yield of Florida Prince peach under Punjab conditions.

Keywords: amino acids, fruit growth, maturity, peach, shoot growth

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: Dmitrii Starikov, Evgeny Rybakov, Denis Zhuravlev

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Plastic for 3D printing is very necessary material part for printers. But plastic production is technological process, which implies application of different control algorithms. Possible algorithms of providing set diameter of plastic fiber are proposed and described in the article. Results of research were proved by existing unit of filament production.

Keywords: ABS-plastic, automation, control system, extruder, filament, PID-algorithm

Procedia PDF Downloads 400

Authors: Ivana Scidà, Francesco Alotto, Anna Osello

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Due to the importance given today to innovation, the education sector is evolving thanks digital technologies. Virtual Reality (VR) can be a potential teaching tool offering many advantages in the field of training and education, as it allows to acquire theoretical knowledge and practical skills using an immersive experience in less time than the traditional educational process. These assumptions allow to lay the foundations for a new educational environment, involving and stimulating for students. Starting from the objective of strengthening the innovative teaching offer and the learning processes, the case study of the research concerns the digitalization of MastrLAB, High Quality Laboratory (HQL) belonging to the Department of Structural, Building and Geotechnical Engineering (DISEG) of the Polytechnic of Turin, a center specialized in experimental mechanical tests on traditional and innovative building materials and on the structures made with them. The MastrLAB-VR has been developed, a revolutionary innovative training tool designed with the aim of educating the class in total safety on the techniques of use of machinery, thus reducing the dangers arising from the performance of potentially dangerous activities. The virtual laboratory, dedicated to the students of the Building and Civil Engineering Courses of the Polytechnic of Turin, has been projected to simulate in an absolutely realistic way the experimental approach to the structural tests foreseen in their courses of study: from the tensile tests to the relaxation tests, from the steel qualification tests to the resilience tests on elements at environmental conditions or at characterizing temperatures. The research work proposes a methodology for the virtualization of technical laboratories through the application of Building Information Modelling (BIM), starting from the creation of a digital model. The process includes the creation of an independent application, which with Oculus Rift technology will allow the user to explore the environment and interact with objects through the use of joypads. The application has been tested in prototype way on volunteers, obtaining results related to the acquisition of the educational notions exposed in the experience through a virtual quiz with multiple answers, achieving an overall evaluation report. The results have shown that MastrLAB-VR is suitable for both beginners and experts and will be adopted experimentally for other laboratories of the University departments.

Keywords: building information modelling, digital learning, education, virtual laboratory, virtual reality

Procedia PDF Downloads 130

Authors: Divyanka Sontakke, Arpit Thakre, D. K Shinde, Sujata Parmeshwaran

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Electrospinning is the most widely utilized method to create nanofibers because of the direct setup, the capacity to mass-deliver consistent nanofibers from different polymers, and the ability to produce ultrathin fibers with controllable diameters. Smooth and much arranged ultrafine Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers with diameters going from submicron to nanometer were delivered utilizing Electrospinning technique. PAN powder was used as a precursor to prepare the solution utilized as a part of this process. At the point when the electrostatic repulsion contradicted surface tension, a charged stream of polymer solution was shot out from the head of the spinneret and along these lines ultrathin nonwoven fibers were created. The effect of electrospinning parameter such as applied voltage, feed rate, concentration of polymer solution and tip to collector distance on the morphology of electrospun PAN nanofibers were investigated. The nanofibers were heat treated for carbonization to examine the changes in properties and composition to make for electrical application. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was performed before and after carbonization to study electrical conductivity and morphological characterization. The SEM images have shown the uniform fiber diameter and no beads formation. The average diameter of the PAN fiber observed 365nm and 280nm for flat plat and rotating drum collector respectively. The four probe strategy was utilized to inspect the electrical conductivity of the nanofibers and the electrical conductivity is significantly improved with increase in oxidation temperature exposed.

Keywords: electrospinning, polyacrylonitrile carbon nanofibres, heat treatment, electrical conductivity

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Eda Cagli, Irem Erel Goktepe

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Externally triggered and effective release of therapeutics from polymer nanoplatforms is one of the key issues in cancer treatment. In this study, we aim to prepare polymer multilayer films which are stable at physiological conditions (little or no drug release) but release drug molecules at acidic pH and via application of AC magnetic field. First, novel stimuli responsive diblock copolymers composed of pH- and temperature-responsive blocks were synthesized. Then, block copolymer micelles with pH-responsive core and temperature responsive coronae will be obtained via pH-induced self-assembly of these block copolymers in aqueous environment. A model anticancer drug, e.g. Doxorubicin will be loaded in the micellar cores. Second, superparamagnetic nanoparticles will be synthesized. Magnetic nanoparticles and drug loaded block copolymer micelles will be used as building blocks to construct the multilayers. To mimic the acidic nature of the tumor tissues, Doxorubicin release from the micellar cores will be induced at acidic conditions. Moreover, Doxorubicin release from the multilayers will be facilitated via magnetothermal trigger. Application of AC magnetic field will induce the heating of magnetic nanoparticles resulting in an increase in the temperature of the polymer platform. This increase in temperature is expected to trigger conformational changes on the temperature-responsive micelle coronae and facilitate the release of Doxorubicin from the surface. Such polymer platform may find use in biomedical applications.

Keywords: layer-by-layer films, magnetothermal trigger, smart polymers, stimuli responsive

Procedia PDF Downloads 362

Authors: Abdool Qaiyum Mohabuth, Syed Munir Ahmad

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Assessment enables students to focus on their learning, assessment. It engages them to work hard and motivates them in devoting time to their studies. Student learning is directly influenced by the type of assessment involved in the programme. Summative Assessment aims at providing measurement of student understanding. In fact, it is argued that summative assessment is used for reporting and reviewing, besides providing an overall judgement of achievement. While summative assessment is a well defined process for learning that takes place in the classroom environment, its application within the practice environment is still being researched. This paper discusses findings from a mixed-method study for exploring the effectiveness of summative assessment in practice learning. A survey questionnaire was designed for exploring the perceptions of mentors and students about summative assessment in practice learning. The questionnaire was administered to the University of Mauritius students and mentors who supervised students for their Work-Based Learning (WBL) practice at the respective placement settings. Some students, having undertaken their WBL practice, were interviewed, for capturing their views and experiences about the application of summative assessment in practice learning. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with three experienced mentors who have assessed students on practice learning. The findings reveal that though learning in the workplace is entirely different from learning at the University, most students had positive experiences about their summative assessments in practice learning. They felt comfortable and confident to be assessed by their mentors in their placement settings and wished that the effort and time that they devoted to their learning be recognised and valued. Mentors on their side confirmed that the summative assessment is valid and reliable, enabling them to better monitor and coach students to achieve the expected learning outcomes.

Keywords: practice learning, judgement, summative assessment, knowledge, skills, workplace

Procedia PDF Downloads 339