Search results for: electrical power system security

Authors: Sunita Kumari, Abhishek Thakur

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Focusing on female migrant domestic workers from Jharkhand, this study looks at their life before and after migration in Mumbai city. Girls coming from the marginalised communities migrate through different means and organizations like placement agencies, religious institutions such as church, with the help of group of friends or relatives and so forth. Most of them due to low educational attainment get into the unorganized sector jobs such as domestic work. In this backdrop, the paper tries to understand the socio-economic condition of tribal migrant women engaged as the domestic workers in the M ward of Mumbai city. The paper tries to investigate the early life of migrant women domestic workers, explores the reasons behind their migration and also examines the changes in their status after their engagement as domestic workers. The paper argues that though the economic and political reasons are quite explicit but the role of social institutions is also significant in the process of migration of women domestic workers. The study was qualitative in nature where fifteen in depth interviews were conducted and to develop a profound understanding one Focus Group Discussion was carried out at M ward of Mumbai Municipal Corporation (Chembur East). To substantiate the findings, the secondary data was taken from the available resources. The findings of the study shows that situation in the family, lack of education, non availability of better economic opportunities and other factors forced them to migrate. The factors such as income in form of cash rather than in kind, attraction towards the Mumbai city and so on was also the reason behind migration. Finally, this study gives the ample opportunity to look at the lives of the women who are the part of the unorganised sector of our country. It further unbolts exploration in terms of social security legislation at the national level.

Keywords: paid domestic work, women, migration, Mumbai city

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Authors: Abolfazl Hosseinpour, Javad Marzbanrad

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In this research, the topology and shape optimization of a Macpherson control arm has been accomplished to achieve lighter weight. Present automotive market demands low cost and light weight component to meet the need of fuel efficient and cost effective vehicle. This in turn gives the rise to more effective use of materials for automotive parts which can reduce the mass of vehicle. Since automotive components are under dynamic loads which cause fatigue damage, considering fatigue criteria seems to be essential in designing automotive components. At first, in order to create severe loading condition for control arm, some rough roads are generated through power spectral density. Then, the most critical loading conditions are obtained through multibody dynamics analysis of a full vehicle model. Then, the topology optimization is performed based on fatigue life criterion using HyperMesh software, which resulted to 50 percent mass reduction. In the next step a CAD model is created using CATIA software and shape optimization is performed to achieve accurate dimensions with less mass.

Keywords: topology optimization, shape optimization, fatigue life, MacPherson control arm

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Authors: M. Dyah Ayu Yuli, S. Faisal Dhio, P. Johandi, P. Muhammad Sofyan

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Pulp and paper mills generate various quantities of energy-rich biomass as wastes, depending on technological level, pulp and paper grades and wood quality. These wastes are produced in all stages of the process: wood preparation, pulp and paper manufacture, chemical recovery, recycled paper processing, waste water treatment. Energy recovery from wastes of different origin has become a generally accepted alternative to their disposal. Pulp and paper industry expresses an interest in adapting and integrating advanced biomass energy conversion technologies into its mill operations using Fluidized Bed Combustion. Industrial adoption of these new technologies has the potential for higher efficiency, lower capital cost, and safer operation than conventional operations that burn fossil fuels for energy. Incineration with energy recovery has the advantage of hygienic disposal, volume reduction, and the recovery of thermal energy by means of steam or super heated water that can be used for heating and power generation.

Keywords: biomass, fluidized bed combustion, pulp and paper mills, waste

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Authors: Rami Georg Johann

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Against the background of the current geopolitical constellations, the author looks at various empire models, which are discussed and compared with each other with regard to their stability and functioning. The focus is on the fifth concept as a possible new world order in the 21st century. These will be discussed and compared to one another according to their stability and functioning. All empires to be designed will be conceptualised based on one, two, three, four, and five worlds. All worlds are made up of a different constellation of states and relating coalitions. All systems will be discussed in detail. The one-world-system, the“Western Empire,” will be presented as a possible solution to a new world order in the 21st century (fifth concept). The term “Western” in “Western Empire” describes the Western concept after World War II. This Western concept was the result of two horrible world wars in the 20th century.” With this in mind, the fifth concept forms a stable empire system, the “Western Empire,” by political measures tied to two issues. Thus, this world order provides a significantly higher long-term stability in contrast to all other empire models (comprising five, four, three, or two worlds). Confrontations and threats of war are reduced to a minimum. The two issues mentioned are “merger” and “competition.” These are the main differences in forming an empire compared to all empires and realms in the history of mankind. The fifth concept of this theory, the “Western Empire,” acts explicitly as a counter model. The Western Empire (fifth concept) is formed by the merger of world powers without war. Thus, a world order without competition is created. This merged entity secures long-term peace, stability, democratic values, freedom, human rights, equality, and justice in the new world order.

Keywords: empire formation, theory of international relations, Western Empire, world order

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Authors: Malak M. Shatnawi

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Infrastructure is the fundamental facility that plays an important part in socio-economic development for modern societies, if such sector is well planned, managed by decision makers in a way that is compatible with the population growth, safety, and national security needs; it will enrich progress, prosperity, awareness, social and economic welfare for any country. Infrastructure is the most important aspect of life because it can provide materials, products, and services that will improve and facilitate living conditions and maintain sustainability at the same time, and in order to study critical infrastructure, in general, we must think sustainability. Otherwise there will be a significant gap. The planning processes for sustainability include urban infrastructure and public transportation are considered the most important sectors for economic development for both developed and developing countries as they are linked to the civilizational and urban development, meanwhile, choosing the appropriate transportation mode that will provide a good level of service, and increase the satisfaction of the potential users is a difficult task. This research paper tries to assess where is Jordan located vs. each transportation sustainability dimensions in aspects related to social, economic and environmental dimensions based on (Zietsman et al. 2006) adopted model for sustainability transportation infrastructure. Measures of performance indicators for each dimensional goal were traced and supported with needed data, figures and statistical findings. The study uses analytical, descriptive style and methodology based on different references and previous studies from secondary data sources to support the case. Recommendations for enhancing sustainability were concluded, and future reform directions were proposed which can be applied to Jordan and generalized for other developing countries with similar circumstances.

Keywords: infrastructure transportation sustainability, economic, social, environmental

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Authors: Laura Norfolk, Georgina Zimbitas, Jan Sefcik, Sarah Staniland

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Magnetite nanoparticles (MNP) have been an area of increasing research interest due to their extensive applications in industry, such as in carbon capture, water purification, and crucially, the biomedical industry. The use of MNP in the biomedical industry is rising, with studies on their effect as Magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents, drug delivery systems, and as hyperthermic cancer treatments becoming prevalent in the nanomaterial research community. Particles used for biomedical purposes must meet stringent criteria; the particles must have consistent shape and size between particles. Variation between particle morphology can drastically alter the effective surface area of the material, making it difficult to correctly dose particles that are not homogeneous. Particles of defined shape such as octahedral and cubic have been shown to outperform irregular shaped particles in some applications, leading to the need to synthesize particles of defined shape. In nature, highly homogeneous MNP are found within magnetotactic bacteria, a unique bacteria capable of producing magnetite nanoparticles internally under ambient conditions. Biomineralisation proteins control the properties of the MNPs, enhancing their homogeneity. One of these proteins, Mms6, has been successfully isolated and used in vitro as an additive in room-temperature co-precipitation reactions (RTCP) to produce particles of defined mono-dispersed size & morphology. When considering future industrial scale-up it is crucial to consider the costs and feasibility of an additive, as an additive that is not readily available or easily synthesized at a competitive price will not be sustainable. As such, additives selected for this research are inspired by the functional groups of biomineralisation proteins, but cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and compatible with scale-up. Diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylenetetramine (TETA), tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA), and pentaethylenehexamine (PEHA) have been successfully used in RTCP to modulate the properties of particles synthesized, leading to the formation of octahedral nanoparticles with no use of organic solvents, heating, or toxic precursors. By extending this principle to a fluidic system, ongoing research will reveal whether the amine additives can also exert morphological control in an environment which is suited toward higher particle yield. Two fluidic systems have been employed; a peristaltic turbulent flow mixing system suitable for the rapid production of MNP, and a macrofluidic system for the synthesis of tailored nanomaterials under a laminar flow regime. The presence of the amine additives in the turbulent flow system in initial results appears to offer similar morphological control as observed under RTCP conditions, with higher proportions of octahedral particles formed. This is a proof of concept which may pave the way to green synthesis of tailored MNP on an industrial scale. Mms6 and amine additives have been used in the macrofluidic system, with Mms6 allowing magnetite to be synthesized at unfavourable ferric ratios, but no longer influencing particle size. This suggests this synthetic technique while still benefiting from the addition of additives, may not allow additives to fully influence the particles formed due to the faster timescale of reaction. The amine additives have been tested at various concentrations, the results of which will be discussed in this paper.

Keywords: bioinspired, green synthesis, fluidic, magnetite, morphological control, scale-up

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Authors: Nikita Koradia

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Hyundai Motor Company, which started off as a small fish in a big sea, paved its way out successfully and established itself as an independent group from the conglomerate. Hyundai, with its officious power across the globe and particularly in South Korea in the automobile industry, has one the most complex yet fascinating governance structure. Being the second largest contributor to the Gross Domestic Product of South Korea after Samsung and having a market share of 51.3% domestically in automobile industry, Hyundai has faced its part of criticism owing to its anti-labor union approach and owing to its internalization of supply chain management. The censure has been coming from across jurisdictions like China, India, Canada, the EU, etc. The paper focuses on the growth of Hyundai and its inward and outward investment structure. The paper questions the ability of Hyundai to become a mini-state in itself by focusing on its governance structure. The paper further elaborates on its compliance and disclosure regime in the field of Corporate social responsibility and explores how far the business structure adopted by Hyundai works in its favor to become one of the leading automobile contenders in the market.

Keywords: compliance regime, disclosure regime, Hyundai motor company, supply-chain management

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Authors: Mingxin Li, Liya Ni

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Autonomous parking is a valuable feature applicable to many robotics applications such as tour guide robots, UV sanitizing robots, food delivery robots, and warehouse robots. With auto-parking, the robot will be able to park at the charging zone and charge itself without human intervention. As compared to self-driving vehicles, auto-parking is more challenging for a small-scale mobile robot only equipped with a front camera due to the camera view limited by the robot’s height and the narrow Field of View (FOV) of the inexpensive camera. In this research, auto-parking of a small-scale mobile robot with a front camera only was achieved in a four-step process: Firstly, transfer learning was performed on the AlexNet, a popular pre-trained convolutional neural network (CNN). It was trained with 150 pictures of empty parking slots and 150 pictures of occupied parking slots from the view angle of a small-scale robot. The dataset of images was divided into a group of 70% images for training and the remaining 30% images for validation. An average success rate of 95% was achieved. Secondly, the image of detected empty parking space was processed with edge detection followed by the computation of parametric representations of the boundary lines using the Hough Transform algorithm. Thirdly, the positions of the entrance point and center of available parking space were predicted based on the robot kinematic model as the robot was driving closer to the parking space because the boundary lines disappeared partially or completely from its camera view due to the height and FOV limitations. The robot used its wheel speeds to compute the positions of the parking space with respect to its changing local frame as it moved along, based on its kinematic model. Lastly, the predicted entrance point of the parking space was used as the reference for the motion control of the robot until it was replaced by the actual center when it became visible again by the robot. The linear and angular velocities of the robot chassis center were computed based on the error between the current chassis center and the reference point. Then the left and right wheel speeds were obtained using inverse kinematics and sent to the motor driver. The above-mentioned four subtasks were all successfully accomplished, with the transformed learning, image processing, and target prediction performed in MATLAB, while the motion control and image capture conducted on a self-built small scale differential drive mobile robot. The small-scale robot employs a Raspberry Pi board, a Pi camera, an L298N dual H-bridge motor driver, a USB power module, a power bank, four wheels, and a chassis. Future research includes three areas: the integration of all four subsystems into one hardware/software platform with the upgrade to an Nvidia Jetson Nano board that provides superior performance for deep learning and image processing; more testing and validation on the identification of available parking space and its boundary lines; improvement of performance after the hardware/software integration is completed.

Keywords: autonomous parking, convolutional neural network, image processing, kinematics-based prediction, transfer learning

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Authors: Gergely G. Karacsony

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Fundamental rights are the result of thousand years’ progress of legislation, adjudication and legal practice. They serve as the framework of peaceful cohabitation of people, protecting the individual from any abuse by the government or violation by other people. Artificial intelligence, however, is the development of the very recent past, being one of the most important prospects to the future. Artificial intelligence is now capable of communicating and performing actions the same way as humans; such acts are sometimes impossible to tell from actions performed by flesh-and-blood people. In a world, where human-robot interactions are more and more common, a new framework of peaceful cohabitation is to be found. Artificial intelligence, being able to take part in almost any kind of interaction where personal presence is not necessary without being recognized as a non-human actor, is now able to break the law, violate people’s rights, and disturb social peace in many other ways. Therefore, a code of peaceful coexistence is to be found or created. We should consider the issue, whether human rights can serve as the code of ethical and rightful conduct in the new era of artificial intelligence and human coexistence. In this paper, we will examine the applicability of fundamental rights to human-robot interactions as well as to the actions of artificial intelligence performed without human interaction whatsoever. Robot ethics has been a topic of discussion and debate of philosophy, ethics, computing, legal sciences and science fiction writing long before the first functional artificial intelligence has been introduced. Legal science and legislation have approached artificial intelligence from different angles, regulating different areas (e.g. data protection, telecommunications, copyright issues), but they are only chipping away at the mountain of legal issues concerning robotics. For a widely acceptable and permanent solution, a more general set of rules would be preferred to the detailed regulation of specific issues. We argue that human rights as recognized worldwide are able to be adapted to serve as a guideline and a common basis of coexistence of robots and humans. This solution has many virtues: people don’t need to adjust to a completely unknown set of standards, the system has proved itself to withstand the trials of time, legislation is easier, and the actions of non-human entities are more easily adjudicated within their own framework. In this paper we will examine the system of fundamental rights (as defined in the most widely accepted source, the 1966 UN Convention on Human Rights), and try to adapt each individual right to the actions of artificial intelligence actors; in each case we will examine the possible effects on the legal system and the society of such an approach, finally we also examine its effect on the IT industry.

Keywords: human rights, robot ethics, artificial intelligence and law, human-robot interaction

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Authors: Abobaker Mohammed Qasem Farhan, Shangming Yang, Mohammed Al-Nehari

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Pneumonia is a kind of lung disease that creates congestion in the chest. Such pneumonic conditions lead to loss of life of the severity of high congestion. Pneumonic lung disease is caused by viral pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia, or Covidi-19 induced pneumonia. The early prediction and classification of such lung diseases help to reduce the mortality rate. We propose the automatic Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) system in this paper using the deep learning approach. The proposed CAD system takes input from raw computerized tomography (CT) scans of the patient's chest and automatically predicts disease classification. We designed the Hybrid Deep Learning Algorithm (HDLA) to improve accuracy and reduce processing requirements. The raw CT scans have pre-processed first to enhance their quality for further analysis. We then applied a hybrid model that consists of automatic feature extraction and classification. We propose the robust 2D Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model to extract the automatic features from the pre-processed CT image. This CNN model assures feature learning with extremely effective 1D feature extraction for each input CT image. The outcome of the 2D CNN model is then normalized using the Min-Max technique. The second step of the proposed hybrid model is related to training and classification using different classifiers. The simulation outcomes using the publically available dataset prove the robustness and efficiency of the proposed model compared to state-of-art algorithms.

Keywords: CT scan, Covid-19, deep learning, image processing, lung disease classification

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Authors: Wei-Ju Huang, Hung-Pin Hsu

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[Background] In congestive heart failure (CHF), it has always been the principle of clinical treatment to control the water retention mechanism in the body to prevent excessive fluid retention. Early control of sympathetic nerves, Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone system (RAA system, RAAS), or strengthening of Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) was the point. In RAA system, related hormones, such as angiotensin, or enzymes in the pathway, such as ACE-I, can be used with corresponding inhibitors to reduce water content.[Aim] In recent years, clinical studies have pointed out that if different mechanisms are combined, the control effect seems to be better. For example, recent studies showed that ENTRESTO, a combination of Sacubitril and Valsartan, is a good new drug for CHF. Sacubitril is a prodrug. After activation, it can inhibit neprilysin and act as a neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) to reduce the breakdown of natriuretic peptides(ANP). Valsartan is a kind of angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB), both of which are used to treat heart failure at the same time, have excellent curative effects.[Materials and Methods] Considering the side effects of this drug, coughing and a few cases of diarrhea were observed. However, the effect of this drug on the patient's intestinal tract has not been confirmed. On the other hand, studies have pointed out that ANP supplement can improve the CHF and increase the inhibitory effect on cancer cells. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to use a special microbial detection method to prove that whether oral drugs have an effect on microorganisms.The experimental method uses Nissui Compact Dry to observe the situation in different types of microorganisms. After the drug is dissolved in water, it is implanted in a petri dish, and the presence of different microorganisms is detected through different antibody reactions to confirm whether the drug has some toxicology in the gut.[Results and Discussion]From the above experimental results, it can be known that among the effects of Sacubitril and Valsartan on the basic microbial flora of the human body, low doses had no significant effect on Escherichia coli or intestinal bacteria. If Sacubitril or Valsartan with a high concentration of 3mg/ml is used alone or under the stimulation of a high concentration of the two drugs, it has a significant inhibitory effect on Escherichia coli. However, in terms of the effect on intestinal bacteria, high concentration of Sacubitril has a more significant inhibitory effect on intestinal bacteria, while high concentration of Valsartan has a less significant inhibitory effect on intestinal bacteria. The inhibitory effect of the combination of the two drugs on intestinal bacteria is also less significant.[Conclusion]The results of this study can be used as a further reference for the possible side effects of the clinical use of Sacubitril and Valsartan on the intestinal tract of patients,

Keywords: sacubitril, valsartan, entresto, congestive heart failure (CHF)

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Authors: Baguma Charles Abwooli

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Whereas they profess to be comrades in the fight to save souls, Born Again Churches in Uganda are shooting each other in the foot over yet to be understood reasons. For a long time, churches have sustained a bitter divide among themselves. The country has witnessed pastoral scandals, including church leaders dragging each other to court, setting each other’s churches ablaze, and even plotting assassination against each her. The most dreadful was when one pastor called a chest-thumping press conference at the demise of another. There is even an emergence of church-owned radio stations purposed to fuel this conflict. Worse still, the division among pastors has been transferred to their congregations to extent that at the first meeting, congregants ask each other where they pray from perhaps to know how to deal with each other. This has caused the born-again to maintain factions among themselves and keeping ready to fight in case there is a battle. This is quite a risk to peace and stability in the country. This kind of belligerence not only defeats the very existence of churches but is a threat to national peace and security, especially as the churches mushroom across the country. It is feared that the vice could spread to the rest of Eastern Africa and beyond, given the connectivity. There is already evidence to this. One Pastor was heard to call the late Ghanaian Pastor T. B. Joshua, a witch who has been training witches in Uganda. He said this at his demise while referring to pastors that subscribe to T. B. Joshua’s approach to preaching the Gospel. This is an abomination, especially in Africa! There is, therefore, an urgent need to understand the roots of this conflict and design measures to decisively manageit. The present study employs tools based on conflict resolution theory to conduct a deep qualitative analysis of the origin and progression of the Born-Againconflict in Uganda with intend to make recommendations of appropriate measures to resolve it.

Keywords: uganda, shooting, pulpit, born again churches

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Authors: B. Sudhakara Reddy

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The transition to a clean and green energy system is an economic and social transformation that is exciting as well as challenging. The world today faces a formidable challenge in transforming its economy from being driven primarily by fossil fuels, which are non-renewable and a major source of global pollution, to becoming an economy that can function effectively using renewable energy sources and by achieving high energy efficiency levels. In the present study, a green economy scenario is developed for India using a bottom-up approach. The results show that the penetration rate of renewable energy resources will reduce the total primary energy demand by 23% under GE. Improvements in energy efficiency (e.g. households, industrial and commercial sectors) will result in reduced demand to the tune of 318 MTOE. The volume of energy-related CO2 emissions decline to 2,218 Mt in 2030 from 3,440 under the BAU scenario and the per capita emissions will reduce by about 35% (from 2.22 to 1.45) under the GE scenario. The reduction in fossil fuel demand and focus on clean energy will reduce the energy intensity to 0.21 (TOE/US$ of GDP) and carbon intensity to 0.42 (ton/US$ of GDP) under the GE scenario. total import bill (coal and oil) will amount to US$ 334 billion by 2030 (at 2010/11 prices), but as per the GE scenario, it would be US$ 194.2 billion, a saving of about US$ 140 billion. The building of a green energy economy can also serve another purpose: to develop new ‘pathways out of poverty’ by creating more than 10 million jobs and thus raise the standard of living of low-income people. The differences between the baseline and green energy scenarios are not so much the consequence of the diffusion of various technologies. It is the result of the active roles of different actors and the drivers that become dominant.

Keywords: emissions, green energy, fossil fuels, green jobs, renewables, scenario

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Authors: Kimberly Samaha

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The Bio-Hub Ecosystem model was developed to address a critical area of concern within the global energy market regarding biomass as a feedstock for power plants. Yet the lack of an economically-viable business model for bioenergy facilities has resulted in the continuation of idled and decommissioned plants. This study analyzed data and submittals to the Born Global Maine Innovation Challenge. The Innovation Challenge was a global innovation challenge to identify process innovations that could address a ‘whole-tree’ approach of maximizing the products, byproducts, energy value and process slip-streams into a circular zero-waste design. Participating companies were at various stages of developing bioproducts and included biofuels, lignin-based products, carbon capture platforms and biochar used as both a filtration medium and as a soil amendment product. This case study shows the QCA (Qualitative Comparative Analysis) methodology of the prequalification process and the resulting techno-economic model that was developed for the maximizing profitability of the Bio-Hub Ecosystem through continuous expansion of system waste streams into valuable process inputs for co-hosts. A full site plan for the integration of co-hosts (biorefinery, land-based shrimp and salmon aquaculture farms, a tomato green-house and a hops farm) at an operating forestry-based biomass to energy plant in West Enfield, Maine USA. This model and process for evaluating the profitability not only proposes models for integration of forestry, aquaculture and agriculture in cradle-to-cradle linkages of what have typically been linear systems, but the proposal also allows for the early measurement of the circularity and impact of resource use and investment risk mitigation, for these systems. In this particular study, profitability is assessed at two levels CAPEX (Capital Expenditures) and in OPEX (Operating Expenditures). Given that these projects start with repurposing facilities where the industrial level infrastructure is already built, permitted and interconnected to the grid, the addition of co-hosts first realizes a dramatic reduction in permitting, development times and costs. In addition, using the biomass energy plant’s waste streams such as heat, hot water, CO₂ and fly ash as valuable inputs to their operations and a significant decrease in the OPEX costs, increasing overall profitability to each of the co-hosts bottom line. This case study utilizes a proprietary techno-economic model to demonstrate how utilizing waste streams of a biomass energy plant and/or biorefinery, results in significant reduction in OPEX for both the biomass plants and the agriculture and aquaculture co-hosts. Economically viable Bio-Hubs with favorable environmental and community impacts may prove critical in garnering local and federal government support for pilot programs and more wide-scale adoption, especially for those living in severely economically depressed rural areas where aging industrial sites have been shuttered and local economies devastated.

Keywords: bio-economy, biomass energy, financing, zero-waste

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Authors: Ahmed Noor Al-qayyim, Barlas Özden Çağlayan

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Structural failure is caused mainly by damage that often occurs on structures. Many researchers focus on obtaining very efficient tools to detect the damage in structures in the early state. In the past decades, a subject that has received considerable attention in literature is the damage detection as determined by variations in the dynamic characteristics or response of structures. This study presents a new damage identification technique. The technique detects the damage location for the incomplete structure system using output data only. The method indicates the damage based on the free vibration test data by using “Two Points - Condensation (TPC) technique”. This method creates a set of matrices by reducing the structural system to two degrees of freedom systems. The current stiffness matrices are obtained from optimization of the equation of motion using the measured test data. The current stiffness matrices are compared with original (undamaged) stiffness matrices. High percentage changes in matrices’ coefficients lead to the location of the damage. TPC technique is applied to the experimental data of a simply supported steel beam model structure after inducing thickness change in one element. Where two cases are considered, the method detects the damage and determines its location accurately in both cases. In addition, the results illustrate that these changes in stiffness matrix can be a useful tool for continuous monitoring of structural safety using ambient vibration data. Furthermore, its efficiency proves that this technique can also be used for big structures.

Keywords: damage detection, optimization, signals processing, structural health monitoring, two points–condensation

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Authors: Mamouni Mohammed Dhiya Eddine

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This work aims at studying the exploitation of high-speed networks of clusters for distributed storage. Parallel applications running on clusters require both high-performance communications between nodes and efficient access to the storage system. Many studies on network technologies led to the design of dedicated architectures for clusters with very fast communications between computing nodes. Efficient distributed storage in clusters has been essentially developed by adding parallelization mechanisms so that the server(s) may sustain an increased workload. In this work, we propose to improve the performance of distributed storage systems in clusters by efficiently using the underlying high-performance network to access distant storage systems. The main question we are addressing is: do high-speed networks of clusters fit the requirements of a transparent, efficient and high-performance access to remote storage? We show that storage requirements are very different from those of parallel computation. High-speed networks of clusters were designed to optimize communications between different nodes of a parallel application. We study their utilization in a very different context, storage in clusters, where client-server models are generally used to access remote storage (for instance NFS, PVFS or LUSTRE). Our experimental study based on the usage of the GM programming interface of MYRINET high-speed networks for distributed storage raised several interesting problems. Firstly, the specific memory utilization in the storage access system layers does not easily fit the traditional memory model of high-speed networks. Secondly, client-server models that are used for distributed storage have specific requirements on message control and event processing, which are not handled by existing interfaces. We propose different solutions to solve communication control problems at the filesystem level. We show that a modification of the network programming interface is required. Data transfer issues need an adaptation of the operating system. We detail several propositions for network programming interfaces which make their utilization easier in the context of distributed storage. The integration of a flexible processing of data transfer in the new programming interface MYRINET/MX is finally presented. Performance evaluations show that its usage in the context of both storage and other types of applications is easy and efficient.

Keywords: distributed storage, remote file access, cluster, high-speed network, MYRINET, zero-copy, memory registration, communication control, event notification, application programming interface

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Authors: Eduwin Eko Franjaya, Andi Gunawan, Wahju Qamara Mugnisjah

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Sustainable agriculture in the form of integrated farming with its LEISA (Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture) concept has brought a positive impact on agriculture development and ambient amelioration. But, most of the small farmers in Indonesia did not know how to put the concept of it and how to combine agricultural commodities on the site effectively and efficiently. This research has an aim to promote integrated farming (agrofisheries, etc) to the farmers by designing the agricultural landscape to become integrated farming landscape as medium of education for the farmers. The method used in this research is closely related with the rule of design in the landscape architecture science. The first step is inventarization for the existing condition on the research site. The second step is analysis. Then, the third step is concept-making that consists of base concept, design concept, and developing concept. The base concept used in this research is sustainable agriculture with LEISA. The concept design is related with activity base on site. The developing concept consists of space concept, circulation, vegetation and commodity, production system, etc. The fourth step as the final step is planning and design. This step produces site plan of integrated farming based on LEISA. The result of this research is site plan of integrated farming with its explanation, including the energy flow of integrated farming system on site and the production calendar of integrated farming commodities for education and agri-tourism opportunity. This research become the right way to promote the integrated farming and also as a medium for the farmers to learn and to develop it.

Keywords: integrated farming, LEISA, planning and design, site plan

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Authors: Soumeya Krimat, Tahar Dob, Mohamed Toumi, Aicha Kesouri, Hafidha Metidji, Chelghoum Chabane

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Lavandula antineae Maire is an endemic medicinal plant of Algeria which is traditionally used for the treatment of chills, bruises, oedema and rheumatism. The present study was designed to investigate the phytochemical screening, total phenolic and antioxidant activity of Lavandula antineae Maire for the first time. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of different kind of chemical groups (anthraquinones, terpenes, saponins, flavonoids, tannins, O-heterosides, C-heterosides, phenolic acids). The amounts of total phenolics in the extracts (hydromethanolic and ethyl acetate extract) were determined spectrometrically. From the analyses, ethyl acetate extract had the highest total phenolic content (262.35 mg GA/g extract) and antioxidant activity (IC50=7.10 µg/ml) using DPPH method. The ethyl acetate extract was also more potent on reducing power compared to hydromethanolic extract. The results suggested that L. antineae could be considered as a new potential source of natural antioxidant for pharmaceuticals and food preservation.

Keywords: Lavandula antineae, antioxidant activity, phytochemical screening, total phenolics

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Authors: Stefano Zappacosta, Cristiano Bove, Maria Carmela Marinelli, Paola di Lauro, Katarina Spasenovic, Lorenzo Ostano, Giuseppe Aiello, Marco Pietrosanto

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This paper proposes a novel neural network approach for assessing flood hazard mapping. The core of the model is a machine learning component fed by frequency ratios, namely statistical correlations between flood event occurrences and a selected number of topographic properties. The proposed hybrid model can be used to classify four different increasing levels of hazard. The classification capability was compared with the flood hazard mapping River Basin Plans (PAI) designed by the Italian Institute for Environmental Research and Defence, ISPRA (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale). The study area of Piemonte, an Italian region, has been considered without loss of generality. The frequency ratios may be used as a standalone block to model the flood hazard mapping. Nevertheless, the mixture with a neural network improves the classification power of several percentage points, and may be proposed as a basic tool to model the flood hazard map in a wider scope.

Keywords: flood modeling, hazard map, neural networks, hydrogeological risk, flood risk assessment

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Authors: V. A. Dubovsky, V. V. Savchenko, A. A. Baryskevich

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The current trend in the automotive industry towards automatic vehicles is creating new challenges related to human factors. This occurs due to the fact that the driver is increasingly relieved of the need to be constantly involved in driving the vehicle, which can negatively impact his/her situation awareness when manual control is required, and decrease driving skills and abilities. These new problems need to be studied in order to provide road safety during the transition towards self-driving vehicles. For this purpose, it is important to develop an appropriate conceptual model of the interaction between the driver and the automated vehicle, which could serve as a theoretical basis for the development of mathematical and simulation models to explore different aspects of driver behaviour in different road situations. Well-known driver behaviour models describe the impact of different stages of the driver's cognitive process on driving performance but do not describe how the driver controls and adjusts his actions. A more complete description of the driver's cognitive process, including the evaluation of the results of his/her actions, will make it possible to more accurately model various aspects of the human factor in different road situations. This paper presents a conceptual model of the 'driver – highly automated vehicle' system based on the P.K. Anokhin's theory of functional systems, which is a theoretical framework for describing internal processes in purposeful living systems based on such notions as goal, desired and actual results of the purposeful activity. A central feature of the proposed model is a dynamic coupling mechanism between the decision-making of a driver to perform a particular action and changes of road conditions due to driver’s actions. This mechanism is based on the stage by stage evaluation of the deviations of the actual values of the driver’s action results parameters from the expected values. The overall functional structure of the highly automated vehicle in the proposed model includes a driver/vehicle/environment state analyzer to coordinate the interaction between driver and vehicle. The proposed conceptual model can be used as a framework to investigate different aspects of human factors in transitions between automated and manual driving for future improvements in driving safety, and for understanding how driver-vehicle interface must be designed for comfort and safety. A major finding of this study is the demonstration that the theory of functional systems is promising and has the potential to describe the interaction of the driver with the vehicle and the environment.

Keywords: automated vehicle, driver behavior, human factors, human-machine system

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Authors: Kateryna Zharan, Jan C. Bongaerts

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Mining operations are energy intensive, and the share of energy costs in total costs is often quoted in the range of 40 %. Saving on energy costs is, therefore, a key element of any mine operator. With the improving reliability and security of renewable energy (RE) sources, and requirements to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, perspectives for using RE in mining operations emerge. These aspects are stimulating the mining companies to search for ways to substitute fossil energy with RE. Hereby, the main purpose of this study is to present the survey research assessment in matter of finding out the key issues related to the integration of RE into mining activities, based on the mining and renewable energy experts’ opinion. The purpose of the paper is to present the outcomes of a survey conducted among mining and renewable energy experts about the feasibility of RE in mining operations. The survey research has been developed taking into consideration the following categories: first of all, the mining and renewable energy experts were chosen based on the specific criteria. Secondly, they were offered a questionnaire to gather their knowledge and opinions on incentives for mining operators to turn to RE, barriers and challenges to be expected, environmental effects, appropriate business models and the overall impact of RE on mining operations. The outcomes of the survey allow for the identification of factors which favor and disfavor decision-making on the use of RE in mining operations. It concludes with a set of recommendations for further study. One of them relates to a deeper analysis of benefits for mining operators when using RE, and another one suggests that appropriate business models considering economic and environmental issues need to be studied and developed. The results of the paper will be used for developing a hybrid optimized model which might be adopted at mines according to their operation processes as well as economic and environmental perspectives.

Keywords: carbon dioxide emissions, mining industry, photovoltaic, renewable energy, survey research, wind generation

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Authors: Vandana T. Gawande, Kailash G. Bothara, Chandani O. Satija

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The present research work was aimed to determine stability of cefprozil monohydrate (CEFZ) as per various stress degradation conditions recommended by International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guideline Q1A (R2). Forced degradation studies were carried out for hydrolytic, oxidative, photolytic and thermal stress conditions. The drug was found susceptible for degradation under all stress conditions. Separation was carried out by using High Performance Thin Layer Chromatographic System (HPTLC). Aluminum plates pre-coated with silica gel 60F254 were used as the stationary phase. The mobile phase consisted of ethyl acetate: acetone: methanol: water: glacial acetic acid (7.5:2.5:2.5:1.5:0.5v/v). Densitometric analysis was carried out at 280 nm. The system was found to give compact spot for cefprozil monohydrate (0.45 Rf). The linear regression analysis data showed good linear relationship in the concentration range 200-5.000 ng/band for cefprozil monohydrate. Percent recovery for the drug was found to be in the range of 98.78-101.24. Method was found to be reproducible with % relative standard deviation (%RSD) for intra- and inter-day precision to be < 1.5% over the said concentration range. The method was validated for precision, accuracy, specificity and robustness. The method has been successfully applied in the analysis of drug in tablet dosage form. Three unknown degradation products formed under various stress conditions were isolated by preparative HPTLC and characterized by mass spectroscopic studies.

Keywords: cefprozil monohydrate, degradation products, HPTLC, stress study, stability indicating method

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Authors: Ankita Sharma, Reenu Singh

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In order to conserve the ecology and the environment, there is a need to focus on sustainable lighting solutions such as LED bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs, candle-powered lamps, self-cooling smart bulbs, and many more, that are both eco-friendly and practical. This paper focuses on such sustainable solutions to lighting, which will have a major positive impact on the environment in the coming future. A questionnaire survey was conducted to note the responses of people living in high-rise buildings in metropolitan cities with regards to such sustainable lighting choices in their homes. The result of such questionnaire survey has helped to design parameters which are used to ideate design interventions in this field of sustainable lighting choices. This paper includes proposals to facilitate the reduction of electric power in interior lighting through various lighting accessory design interventions. Thus, such design interventions will allow us to design more sustainable interior spaces, and renewable energy strategies can be developed in the field of lighting, which will not only help to save energy but also positively affect other aspects of human well-being such as productivity, heritage conservation and economic well-being too!

Keywords: sustainable, interior lighting, lighting design, environmental impact, metropolitan cities

Procedia PDF Downloads 197

Authors: Irene Carmagnola, Valeria Chiono, Sandra Pacharra, Jochen Salber, Sean McMahon, Chris Lovell, Pooja Basnett, Barbara Lukasiewicz, Ipsita Roy, Xiang Zhang, Gianluca Ciardelli

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Thrombosis and restenosis after stenting procedure can be prevented by promoting fast stent wall endothelialisation. It is well known that surface functionalisation with antifouling molecules combining with extracellular matrix proteins is a promising strategy to design biomimetic surfaces able to promote fast endothelialization. In particular, REDV has gained much attention for the ability to enhance rapid endothelialization due to its specific affinity with endothelial cells (ECs). In this work, a two-step plasma treatment was performed to polymerize a thin layer of acrylic acid, used to subsequently graft PEGylated-REDV and polyethylene glycol (PEG) at different molar ratio with the aim to selectively promote endothelial cell adhesion avoiding platelet activation. PEGylate-REDV was provided by Biomatik and it is formed by 6 PEG monomer repetitions (Chempep Inc.), with an NH2 terminal group. PEG polymers were purchased from Chempep Inc. with two different chain lengths: m-PEG6-NH2 (295.4 Da) with 6 monomer repetitions and m-PEG12-NH2 (559.7 Da) with 12 monomer repetitions. Plasma activation was obtained by operating at 50W power, 5 min of treatment and at an Ar flow rate of 20 sccm. Pure acrylic acid (99%, AAc) vapors were diluted in Ar (flow = 20 sccm) and polymerized by a pulsed plasma discharge applying a discharge RF power of 200 W, a duty cycle of 10% (on time = 10 ms, off time = 90 ms) for 10 min. After plasma treatment, samples were dipped into an 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3- ethylcarbodiimide (EDC)/N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) solution (ratio 4:1, pH 5.5) for 1 h at 4°C and subsequently dipped in PEGylate-REDV and PEGylate-REDV:PEG solutions at different molar ratio (100 μg/mL in PBS) for 20 h at room temperature. Surface modification was characterized through physico-chemical analyses and in vitro cell tests. PEGylated-REDV peptide and PEG were successfully bound to the carboxylic groups that are formed on the polymer surface after plasma reaction. FTIR-ATR spectroscopy, X -ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle measurement gave a clear indication of the presence of the grafted molecules. The use of PEG as a spacer allowed for an increase in wettability of the surface, and the effect was more evident by increasing the amount of PEG. Endothelial cells adhered and spread well on the surfaces functionalized with the REDV sequence. In conclusion, a selective coating able to promote a new endothelial cell layer on polymeric stent surface was developed. In particular, a thin AAc film was polymerised on the polymeric surface in order to expose –COOH groups, and PEGylate-REDV and PEG were successful grafted on the polymeric substrates. The REDV peptide demonstrated to encourage cell adhesion with a consequent, expected improvement of the hemocompatibility of these polymeric surfaces in vivo. Acknowledgements— This work was funded by the European Commission 7th Framework Programme under grant agreement number 604251- ReBioStent (Reinforced Bioresorbable Biomaterials for Therapeutic Drug Eluting Stents). The authors thank all the ReBioStent partners for their support in this work.

Keywords: endothelialisation, plasma treatment, stent, surface functionalisation

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Authors: Halil Ibrahim Demir, Caner Erden, Mumtaz Ipek, Ozer Uygun

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Traditionally, the three important manufacturing functions, which are process planning, scheduling and due-date assignment, are performed separately and sequentially. For couple of decades, hundreds of studies are done on integrated process planning and scheduling problems and numerous researches are performed on scheduling with due date assignment problem, but unfortunately the integration of these three important functions are not adequately addressed. Here, the integration of these three important functions is studied by using genetic, random-genetic hybrid, simulated annealing, random-simulated annealing hybrid and random search techniques. As well, the importance of the integration of these three functions and the power of meta-heuristics and of hybrid heuristics are studied.

Keywords: process planning, weighted scheduling, weighted due-date assignment, genetic search, simulated annealing, hybrid meta-heuristics

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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

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Authors: Mahmoud Y. Shokry, Rami M. El-Sherbiny

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This paper aims to highlight the role of some parameters that may be of a noticeable impact on numerical analysis/design of embankments. It presents the results of a three-dimensional (3-D) finite element analysis of a monitored earth embankment that was constructed on soft clay formation stabilized by cast in-situ piles using software PLAXIS 3D. A comparison between the predicted and the monitored responses is presented to assess the adequacy of the adopted numerical model. The model was used in the targeted parametric study. Moreover, a comparison was performed between the results of the 3-D analyses and the analytical solutions. This paper concluded that the effect of using mono pile caps led to decrease both the total and differential settlement and increased the efficiency of the piled embankment system. The study of using geogrids revealed that it can contribute in decreasing the settlement and maximizing the part of the embankment load transferred to piles. Moreover, it was found that increasing the stiffness of the geogrids provides higher values of tensile forces and hence has more effective influence on embankment load carried by piles rather than using multi-number of layers with low values of geogrid stiffness. The efficiency of the piled embankments system was also found to be greater when higher embankments are used rather than the low height embankments. The comparison between the numerical 3-D model and the theoretical design methods revealed that many analytical solutions are conservative and non-accurate rather than the 3-D finite element numerical models.

Keywords: efficiency, embankment, geogrids, soft clay

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Authors: Chong-Yang Qiao

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Mobile augmented reality (MAR) tracking targets from the surroundings and aids operators for interactive data and procedures visualization, potential equipment and system understandably. Operators remotely communicate and coordinate with each other for the continuous tasks, information and data exchange between control room and work-site. In the routine work, distributed control system (DCS) monitoring and work-site manipulation require operators interact in real-time manners. The critical question is the improvement of user experience in cooperative works through applying Augmented Reality in the traditional industrial field. The purpose of this exploratory study is to find the cognitive model for the multiple task performance by MAR. In particular, the focus will be on the comparison between different tasks and environment factors which influence information processing. Three experiments use interface and interaction design, the content of start-up, maintenance and stop embedded in the mobile application. With the evaluation criteria of time demands and human errors, and analysis of the mental process and the behavior action during the multiple tasks, heuristic evaluation was used to find the operators performance with different situation factors, and record the information processing in recognition, interpretation, judgment and reasoning. The research will find the functional properties of MAR and constrain the development of the cognitive model. Conclusions can be drawn that suggest MAR is easy to use and useful for operators in the remote collaborative works.

Keywords: mobile augmented reality, remote collaboration, user experience, cognition model

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Authors: M. Lghoul, N. El Goumi, M. Guernouche

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In order to predict the structural and tectonic framework of the Bahira basin and to have a 3D geological modeling of the basin, an integrated multidisciplinary work has been conducted using gravity, magnetic and geological data. The objective of the current study is delineating the subsurfacefeatures, faults, and geological limits, using airborne magnetic and gravity data analysis of the Bahira basin. To achieve our goal, we have applied different enhanced techniques on magnetic and gravity data: power spectral analysis techniques, reduction to pole (RTP), upward continuation, analytical signal, tilt derivative, total horizontal derivative, 3D Euler deconvolutionand source parameter imagining. The major lineaments/faults trend are: NE–SW, NW-SE, ENE–WSW, and WNW–ESE. The 3D Euler deconvolution analysis highlighted a number of fault trend, mainly in the ENE-WSW, WNW-ESE directions. The depth tothe top of the basement sources in the study area ranges between 200 m, in the southern and northern part of the Bahira basin, to 5000 m located in the Eastern part of the basin.

Keywords: magnetic, gravity, structural trend, depth to basement

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Bongs Lainjo

Abstract:

The evolution and escalation of bike-sharing programs (BSP) continue unabated. Since the sixties, many countries have introduced different models and strategies of BSP. These include variations ranging from dockless models to electronic real-time monitoring systems. Reasons for using this BSP include recreation, errands, work, etc. And there is all indication that complex, and more innovative rider-friendly systems are yet to be introduced. The objective of this paper is to analyze current variables established by different operators and streamline them identifying the most compelling ones using analytics. Given the contents of available databases, there is a lack of uniformity and common standard on what is required and what is not. Two factors appear to be common: user type (registered and unregistered, and duration of each trip). This article uses historical data provided by one operator based in the greater Washington, District of Columbia, USA area. Several variables including categorical and continuous data types were screened. Eight out of 18 were considered acceptable and significantly contribute to determining a useful and reliable predictive model. Bike-sharing systems have become popular in recent years all around the world. Although this trend has resulted in many studies on public cycling systems, there have been few previous studies on the factors influencing public bicycle travel behavior. A bike-sharing system is a computer-controlled system in which individuals can borrow bikes for a fee or free for a limited period. This study has identified unprecedented useful, and pragmatic parameters required in improving BSP ridership dynamics.

Keywords: sharing program, historical data, parameters, ridership dynamics, trip duration

Procedia PDF Downloads 126