Search results for: diversity and business performance
3408 Caecotrophy Behaviour of the Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
Authors: Awadhesh Kishore
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One of the most unique characteristics of rabbit feeding behaviour is caecotrophy, which involves the excretion and immediate consumption of specific faeces known as soft faeces. Caecotrophy in rabbits is the instinctual behaviour of eating soft faeces; reduced caecotrophy decreases rabbit growth and lipid synthesis in the liver. Caecotroph ingestion is highest when rabbits are fed a diet high in indigestible fibre. The colon produces two types of waste: hard and soft pellets. The hard pellets are expelled, but the soft pellets are re-ingested by the rabbit directly upon being expelled from the anus by twisting itself around and sucking in those pellets as they emerge from the anus. The type of alfalfa hay in the feed of the rabbits does not affect volatile fatty acid concentration, the pattern of fermentation, or pH in the faeces. The cecal content and the soft faeces contain significant amounts of retinoids and carotenoids, while in the tissues (blood, liver, and kidney), these pigments do not occur in substantial amounts. Preventing caecotrophy reduced growth and altered lipid metabolism, depressing the development of new approaches for rabbit feeding and production. Relative abundance is depressed for genes related to metabolic pathways such as vitamin C and sugar metabolism, vitamin B2 metabolism, and bile secretion. The key microorganisms that regulate the rapid growth performance of rabbits may provide useful references for future research and the development of microecological preparations.Keywords: caecocolonic microorganisms, caecotrophy, fasting caecotrophy, rabbits, soft pellets
Procedia PDF Downloads 423407 Adolescent and Adult Hip Dysplasia on Plain Radiographs. Analysis of Measurements and Attempt for Optimization of Diagnostic and Performance Approaches for Patients with Periacetabular Osteotomy (PAO).
Authors: Naum Simanovsky MD, Michael Zaidman MD, Vladimir Goldman MD.
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105 plain AP radiographs of normal adult pelvises (210 hips) were evaluated. Different measurements of normal and dysplastic hip joints in 45 patients were analyzed. Attempt was made to establish reproducible, easy applicable in practice approach for evaluation and follow up of patients with hip dysplasia. The youngest of our patients was 11 years and the oldest was 47 years. Only one of our patients needed conversion to total hip replacement (THR) during ten years of follow-up. It was emphasized that selected set of measurements was built for purpose to serve, especially those who’s scheduled or undergone PAO. This approach was based on concept of acetabulum-femoral head complex and importance of reliable reference points of measurements. Comparative analysis of measured parameters between normal and dysplastic hips was performed. Among 10 selected parameters, we use already well established such as lateral center edge angle and head extrusion index, but to serve specific group of patients with PAO, new parameters were considered such as complex lateralization and complex proximal migration. By our opinion proposed approach is easy applicable in busy clinical practice, satisfactorily delineate hip pathology and give to surgeon who’s going to perform PAO guidelines in condensed form. It is also useful tools for postoperative follow up after PAO.Keywords: periacetabular osteotomy, plain radiograph’s measurements, adolescents, adult
Procedia PDF Downloads 603406 Aquatic Intervention Research for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Authors: Mehmet Yanardag, Ilker Yilmaz
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Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) enjoy and success the aquatic-based exercise and play skills in a pool instead of land-based exercise in a gym. Some authors also observed that many children with ASD experience more success in attaining movement skills in aquatic environment. Properties of the water and hydrodynamic principles cause buoyancy of the water and decrease effects of gravity and it leads to allow a child to practice important aquatic skills with limited motor skills. Also, some authors experience that parents liked the effects of the aquatic intervention program on children with ASD such as improving motor performance, movement capacity and learning basic swimming skills. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of aquatic exercise training on water orientation and underwater working capacity were measured in the pool. This study included in four male children between 5 and 7 years old with ASD and 6.25±0.5 years old. Aquatic exercise skills were applied by using one of the error less teaching which is called the 'most to least prompt' procedure during 12-week, three times a week and 60 minutes a day. The findings of this study indicated that there were improvements test results both water orientation skill and underwater working capacity of children with ASD after 12-weeks exercise training. It was seen that the aquatic exercise intervention would be affected to improve working capacity and orientation skills with the special education approaches applying children with ASD in multidisciplinary team-works.Keywords: aquatic, autism, orientation, ASD, children
Procedia PDF Downloads 4253405 Impact of Climate on Sugarcane Yield Over Belagavi District, Karnataka Using Statistical Mode
Authors: Girish Chavadappanavar
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The impact of climate on agriculture could result in problems with food security and may threaten the livelihood activities upon which much of the population depends. In the present study, the development of a statistical yield forecast model has been carried out for sugarcane production over Belagavi district, Karnataka using weather variables of crop growing season and past observed yield data for the period of 1971 to 2010. The study shows that this type of statistical yield forecast model could efficiently forecast yield 5 weeks and even 10 weeks in advance of the harvest for sugarcane within an acceptable limit of error. The performance of the model in predicting yields at the district level for sugarcane crops is found quite satisfactory for both validation (2007 and 2008) as well as forecasting (2009 and 2010).In addition to the above study, the climate variability of the area has also been studied, and hence, the data series was tested for Mann Kendall Rank Statistical Test. The maximum and minimum temperatures were found to be significant with opposite trends (decreasing trend in maximum and increasing in minimum temperature), while the other three are found in significant with different trends (rainfall and evening time relative humidity with increasing trend and morning time relative humidity with decreasing trend).Keywords: climate impact, regression analysis, yield and forecast model, sugar models
Procedia PDF Downloads 643404 D3Advert: Data-Driven Decision Making for Ad Personalization through Personality Analysis Using BiLSTM Network
Authors: Sandesh Achar
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Personalized advertising holds greater potential for higher conversion rates compared to generic advertisements. However, its widespread application in the retail industry faces challenges due to complex implementation processes. These complexities impede the swift adoption of personalized advertisement on a large scale. Personalized advertisement, being a data-driven approach, necessitates consumer-related data, adding to its complexity. This paper introduces an innovative data-driven decision-making framework, D3Advert, which personalizes advertisements by analyzing personalities using a BiLSTM network. The framework utilizes the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) dataset for development. The employed BiLSTM network, specifically designed and optimized for D3Advert, classifies user personalities into one of the sixteen MBTI categories based on their social media posts. The classification accuracy is 86.42%, with precision, recall, and F1-Score values of 85.11%, 84.14%, and 83.89%, respectively. The D3Advert framework personalizes advertisements based on these personality classifications. Experimental implementation and performance analysis of D3Advert demonstrate a 40% improvement in impressions. D3Advert’s innovative and straightforward approach has the potential to transform personalized advertising and foster widespread personalized advertisement adoption in marketing.Keywords: personalized advertisement, deep Learning, MBTI dataset, BiLSTM network, NLP.
Procedia PDF Downloads 373403 Potential Use of Local Materials as Synthesizing One Part Geopolymer Cement
Authors: Areej Almalkawi, Sameer Hamadna, Parviz Soroushian, Nalin Darsana
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The work on indigenous binders in this paper focused on the following indigenous raw materials: red clay, red lava and pumice (as primary aluminosilicate precursors), wood ash and gypsum (as supplementary minerals), and sodium sulfate and lime (as alkali activators). The experimental methods used for evaluation of these indigenous raw materials included laser granulometry, x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, and chemical reactivity. Formulations were devised for transforming these raw materials into alkali aluminosilicate-based hydraulic cements. These formulations were processed into hydraulic cements via simple heating and milling actions to render thermal activation, mechanochemical and size reduction effects. The resulting hydraulic cements were subjected to laser granulometry, heat of hydration and reactivity tests. These cements were also used to prepare mortar mixtures, which were evaluated via performance of compressive strength tests. The measured values of strength were correlated with the reactivity, size distribution and microstructural features of raw materials. Some of the indigenous hydraulic cements produced in this reporting period yielded viable levels of compressive strength. The correlation trends established in this work are being evaluated for development of simple and thorough methods of qualifying indigenous raw materials for use in production of indigenous hydraulic cements.Keywords: one-part geopolymer cement, aluminosilicate precursors, thermal activation, mechanochemical
Procedia PDF Downloads 3103402 A Cross-Sectional Study on the Nutritional Status of School Going Children From Urban and Rural Populations of Pakistan
Authors: Aftab Ahmed, Farhan Saeed, Muhammad Afzaal, Shinawar Waseem Ali, Ali Imran, Sadaf Munir
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Malnutrition is a globally increasing public health concern among children; it affects number of school children influencing their growth, development and academic performance. The tenet of the current cross sectional study was to assess the nutritional biomarkers of school going children of age 12-15 years resulting in stunting, underweight, overweight, bone deformities and other health disparities in nutritionally deprived urban and rural populations of Pakistan. A sample size comprising of 180 school going children was stipulated from the targeted urban and rural populations. The fallouts of investigation unveiled that both rural and urban populations were experiencing nutritional challenges however; on account of awareness paucity the rustic population was nutritionally more compromised. Hematological tests elucidated 16.7% and 7.8% cases for high glucose level, 35.6% and 27.8% cases for low hemoglobin levels, 14.4% and 15.6% cases for low calcium indices, 12.2% and 4.4% high white blood cell count (WBC), 20% and 14.4% low red blood cell count, 76.7% and 74.4% low hematocrit (HCT) values, among the rural and urban populations respectively. The above mentioned outcomes can serve as a way forward for policy and law maker institutions to curb the possible barricades in the way of healthy nutritional status in these areasKeywords: malnutrition, hematological study, child nutrition, bone mineral density, calcium, RBC
Procedia PDF Downloads 753401 Social Enterprises in India: Conceptualization and Challenges
Authors: Prajakta Khare
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There is a huge number of social enterprises operating in India, across all enterprise sizes and forms addressing diverse social issues. Some cases such as such as Aravind eye care, Narayana Hridalaya, SEWA have been studied extensively in management literature and are known cases in social entrepreneurship. But there are several smaller social enterprises in India that are not called so per se due to the lack of understanding of the concept. There is a lack of academic research on social entrepreneurship in India and the term ‘social entrepreneurship’ is not yet widely known in the country, even by people working in this field as was found by this study. The present study aims to identify the most prominent form of social enterprises in India, the profile of the entrepreneurs, challenges faced, the lessons (theory and practices) emerging from their functioning and finally the factors contributing to the enterprises’ success. This is a preliminary exploratory study using primary data from 30 social enterprises in India. The study used snow ball sampling and a qualitative analysis. Data was collected from founders of social enterprises through written structured questionnaires, open-ended interviews and field visits to enterprises. The sample covered enterprises across sectors such as environment, affordable education, children’s rights, rain water harvesting, women empowerment etc. The interview questions focused on founder’s background and motivation, qualifications, funding, challenges, founder’s understanding and perspectives on social entrepreneurship, government support, linkages with other organizations etc. apart from several others. The interviews were conducted across 3 languages - Hindi, Marathi, English and were then translated and transcribed. 50% of founders were women and 65% of the total founders were highly qualified with a MBA, PhD or MBBS. The most important challenge faced by these entrepreneurs is recruiting skilled people. When asked about their understanding of the term, founders had diverse perspectives. Also, their understandings about the term social enterprise and social entrepreneur were extremely varied. Some founders identified the terms with doing something good for the society, some thought that every business can be called a social enterprise. 35% of the founders were not aware of the term social entrepreneur/ social entrepreneurship. They said that they could identify themselves as social entrepreneurs after discussions with the researcher. The general perception in India is that ‘NGOs are corrupt’- fighting against this perception to secure funds is also another problem as pointed out by some founders. There are unique challenges that social entrepreneurs in India face, as the political, social, economic environment around them is rapidly changing; and getting adequate support from the government is a problem. The research in its subsequent stages aims to clarify existing, missing and new definitions of the term to provide deeper insights in the terminology and issues relating to Social Entrepreneurship in India.Keywords: challenges, India, social entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurs
Procedia PDF Downloads 4633400 Comparative Analysis of Classification Methods in Determining Non-Active Student Characteristics in Indonesia Open University
Authors: Dewi Juliah Ratnaningsih, Imas Sukaesih Sitanggang
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Classification is one of data mining techniques that aims to discover a model from training data that distinguishes records into the appropriate category or class. Data mining classification methods can be applied in education, for example, to determine the classification of non-active students in Indonesia Open University. This paper presents a comparison of three methods of classification: Naïve Bayes, Bagging, and C.45. The criteria used to evaluate the performance of three methods of classification are stratified cross-validation, confusion matrix, the value of the area under the ROC Curve (AUC), Recall, Precision, and F-measure. The data used for this paper are from the non-active Indonesia Open University students in registration period of 2004.1 to 2012.2. Target analysis requires that non-active students were divided into 3 groups: C1, C2, and C3. Data analyzed are as many as 4173 students. Results of the study show: (1) Bagging method gave a high degree of classification accuracy than Naïve Bayes and C.45, (2) the Bagging classification accuracy rate is 82.99 %, while the Naïve Bayes and C.45 are 80.04 % and 82.74 % respectively, (3) the result of Bagging classification tree method has a large number of nodes, so it is quite difficult in decision making, (4) classification of non-active Indonesia Open University student characteristics uses algorithms C.45, (5) based on the algorithm C.45, there are 5 interesting rules which can describe the characteristics of non-active Indonesia Open University students.Keywords: comparative analysis, data mining, clasiffication, Bagging, Naïve Bayes, C.45, non-active students, Indonesia Open University
Procedia PDF Downloads 3083399 Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in the Eye of Private Law with Special Regards to Intellectual Property and Liability Issues
Authors: Barna Arnold Keserű
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In the last few years (what is called by many scholars the big data era) artificial intelligence (hereinafter AI) get more and more attention from the public and from the different branches of sciences as well. What previously was a mere science-fiction, now starts to become reality. AI and robotics often walk hand in hand, what changes not only the business and industrial life, but also has a serious impact on the legal system. The main research of the author focuses on these impacts in the field of private law, with special regards to liability and intellectual property issues. Many questions arise in these areas connecting to AI and robotics, where the boundaries are not sufficiently clear, and different needs are articulated by the different stakeholders. Recognizing the urgent need of thinking the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament adopted a Motion for a European Parliament Resolution A8-0005/2017 (of January 27th, 2017) in order to take some recommendations to the Commission on civil law rules on robotics and AI. This document defines some crucial usage of AI and/or robotics, e.g. the field of autonomous vehicles, the human job replacement in the industry or smart applications and machines. It aims to give recommendations to the safe and beneficial use of AI and robotics. However – as the document says – there are no legal provisions that specifically apply to robotics or AI in IP law, but that existing legal regimes and doctrines can be readily applied to robotics, although some aspects appear to call for specific consideration, calls on the Commission to support a horizontal and technologically neutral approach to intellectual property applicable to the various sectors in which robotics could be employed. AI can generate some content what worth copyright protection, but the question came up: who is the author, and the owner of copyright? The AI itself can’t be deemed author because it would mean that it is legally equal with the human persons. But there is the programmer who created the basic code of the AI, or the undertaking who sells the AI as a product, or the user who gives the inputs to the AI in order to create something new. Or AI generated contents are so far from humans, that there isn’t any human author, so these contents belong to public domain. The same questions could be asked connecting to patents. The research aims to answer these questions within the current legal framework and tries to enlighten future possibilities to adapt these frames to the socio-economical needs. In this part, the proper license agreements in the multilevel-chain from the programmer to the end-user become very important, because AI is an intellectual property in itself what creates further intellectual property. This could collide with data-protection and property rules as well. The problems are similar in the field of liability. We can use different existing forms of liability in the case when AI or AI led robotics cause damages, but it is unsure that the result complies with economical and developmental interests.Keywords: artificial intelligence, intellectual property, liability, robotics
Procedia PDF Downloads 1933398 Working Towards More Sustainable Food Waste: A Circularity Perspective
Authors: Rocío González-Sánchez, Sara Alonso-Muñoz
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Food waste implies an inefficient management of the final stages in the food supply chain. Referring to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by United Nations, the SDG 12.3 proposes to halve per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level and to reduce food losses. In the linear system, food waste is disposed and, to a lesser extent, recovery or reused after consumption. With the negative effect on stocks, the current food consumption system is based on ‘produce, take and dispose’ which put huge pressure on raw materials and energy resources. Therefore, greater focus on the circular management of food waste will mitigate the environmental, economic, and social impact, following a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach and consequently the SDGs fulfilment. A mixed methodology is used. A total sample of 311 publications from Web of Science database were retrieved. Firstly, it is performed a bibliometric analysis by SciMat and VOSviewer software to visualise scientific maps about co-occurrence analysis of keywords and co-citation analysis of journals. This allows for the understanding of the knowledge structure about this field, and to detect research issues. Secondly, a systematic literature review is conducted regarding the most influential articles in years 2020 and 2021, coinciding with the most representative period under study. Thirdly, to support the development of this field it is proposed an agenda according to the research gaps identified about circular economy and food waste management. Results reveal that the main topics are related to waste valorisation, the application of waste-to-energy circular model and the anaerobic digestion process towards fossil fuels replacement. It is underlined that the use of food as a source of clean energy is receiving greater attention in the literature. There is a lack of studies about stakeholders’ awareness and training. In addition, available data would facilitate the implementation of circular principles for food waste recovery, management, and valorisation. The research agenda suggests that circularity networks with suppliers and customers need to be deepened. Technological tools for the implementation of sustainable business models, and greater emphasis on social aspects through educational campaigns are also required. This paper contributes on the application of circularity to food waste management by abandoning inefficient linear models. Shedding light about trending topics in the field guiding to scholars for future research opportunities.Keywords: bibliometric analysis, circular economy, food waste management, future research lines
Procedia PDF Downloads 1013397 Analysis of Spectral Radiative Entropy Generation in a Non-Gray Participating Medium with Heat Source (Furnaces)
Authors: Asadollah Bahrami
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In the present study, spectral radiative entropy generation is analyzed in a furnace filled with a mixture of H₂O, CO₂ and soot at radiative equilibrium. For the angular and spatial discretization of the radiative transfer equation and radiative entropy generation equations, the discrete ordinates method and the finite volume method are used, respectively. Spectral radiative properties are obtained using the correlated-k (CK) non-gray model with updated parameters based on the HITEMP2010 high-resolution database. In order to evaluate the effects of the location of the heat source, boundary condition and wall emissivity on radiative entropy generation, five cases are considered with different conditions. The spectral and total radiative entropy generation in the system are calculated for all cases and the effects of mentioned parameters on radiative entropy generation are attentively analyzed and finally, the optimum condition is especially presented. The most important results can be stated as follows: Results demonstrate that the wall emissivity has a considerable effect on the radiative entropy generation. Also, irreversible radiative transfer at the wall with lower temperatures is the main source of radiative entropy generation in the furnaces. In addition, the effect of the location of the heat source on total radiative entropy generation is less than other factors. Eventually, it can be said that characterizing the effective parameters of radiative entropy generation provides an approach to minimizing the radiative entropy generation and enhancing the furnace's performance practicality.Keywords: spectral radiative entropy generation, non-gray medium, correlated k(CK) model, heat source
Procedia PDF Downloads 903396 An Improved Parallel Algorithm of Decision Tree
Authors: Jiameng Wang, Yunfei Yin, Xiyu Deng
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Parallel optimization is one of the important research topics of data mining at this stage. Taking Classification and Regression Tree (CART) parallelization as an example, this paper proposes a parallel data mining algorithm based on SSP-OGini-PCCP. Aiming at the problem of choosing the best CART segmentation point, this paper designs an S-SP model without data association; and in order to calculate the Gini index efficiently, a parallel OGini calculation method is designed. In addition, in order to improve the efficiency of the pruning algorithm, a synchronous PCCP pruning strategy is proposed in this paper. In this paper, the optimal segmentation calculation, Gini index calculation, and pruning algorithm are studied in depth. These are important components of parallel data mining. By constructing a distributed cluster simulation system based on SPARK, data mining methods based on SSP-OGini-PCCP are tested. Experimental results show that this method can increase the search efficiency of the best segmentation point by an average of 89%, increase the search efficiency of the Gini segmentation index by 3853%, and increase the pruning efficiency by 146% on average; and as the size of the data set increases, the performance of the algorithm remains stable, which meets the requirements of contemporary massive data processing.Keywords: classification, Gini index, parallel data mining, pruning ahead
Procedia PDF Downloads 1163395 Patient Scheduling Improvement in a Cancer Treatment Clinic Using Optimization Techniques
Authors: Maryam Haghi, Ivan Contreras, Nadia Bhuiyan
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Chemotherapy is one of the most popular and effective cancer treatments offered to patients in outpatient oncology centers. In such clinics, patients first consult with an oncologist and the oncologist may prescribe a chemotherapy treatment plan for the patient based on the blood test results and the examination of the health status. Then, when the plan is determined, a set of chemotherapy and consultation appointments should be scheduled for the patient. In this work, a comprehensive mathematical formulation for planning and scheduling different types of chemotherapy patients over a planning horizon considering blood test, consultation, pharmacy and treatment stages has been proposed. To be more realistic and to provide an applicable model, this study is focused on a case study related to a major outpatient cancer treatment clinic in Montreal, Canada. Comparing the results of the proposed model with the current practice of the clinic under study shows significant improvements regarding different performance measures. These major improvements in the patients’ schedules reveal that using optimization techniques in planning and scheduling of patients in such highly demanded cancer treatment clinics is an essential step to provide a good coordination between different involved stages which ultimately increases the efficiency of the entire system and promotes the staff and patients' satisfaction.Keywords: chemotherapy patients scheduling, integer programming, integrated scheduling, staff balancing
Procedia PDF Downloads 1723394 Semi-Analytic Method in Fast Evaluation of Thermal Management Solution in Energy Storage System
Authors: Ya Lv
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This article presents the application of the semi-analytic method (SAM) in the thermal management solution (TMS) of the energy storage system (ESS). The TMS studied in this work is fluid cooling. In fluid cooling, both effective heat conduction and heat convection are indispensable due to the heat transfer from solid to fluid. Correspondingly, an efficient TMS requires a design investigation of the following parameters: fluid inlet temperature, ESS initial temperature, fluid flow rate, working c rate, continuous working time, and materials properties. Their variation induces a change of thermal performance in the battery module, which is usually evaluated by numerical simulation. Compared to complicated computation resources and long computation time in simulation, the SAM is developed in this article to predict the thermal influence within a few seconds. In SAM, a fast prediction model is reckoned by combining numerical simulation with theoretical/empirical equations. The SAM can explore the thermal effect of boundary parameters in both steady-state and transient heat transfer scenarios within a short time. Therefore, the SAM developed in this work can simplify the design cycle of TMS and inspire more possibilities in TMS design.Keywords: semi-analytic method, fast prediction model, thermal influence of boundary parameters, energy storage system
Procedia PDF Downloads 1413393 Transnational Higher Education: Developing a Transnational Student Success Signature for Clinical Medical Students an Action Research Project
Authors: Wendy Maddison
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This paper describes an Action Research project which was undertaken to inform professional practice in order to develop a newly created Centre for Student Success in the specific context of transnational medical and nursing education in the Middle East. The objectives were to enhance the academic performance, persistence, integration and personal and professional development of a multinational study body, in particular in relation to preclinical medical students, and to establish a comfortable, friendly and student-driven environment within an Irish medical university recently established in Bahrain. Expatriating a new part of itself into a corner of the world and within a context which could be perceived as the antithesis of itself, in particular in terms of traditional cultural and organisational values, the university has had to innovate in the range of services, programmes and other offerings which engages and supports the academic success of medical and nursing students as they “encounter the world in the classroom” in the context of an Arab Islamic culture but within a European institution of transnational education, engaging with a global learning environment locally. The outcomes of the project resulted in the development of a specific student success ‘signature’ for this particular transnational higher education context.Keywords: transnational higher education, medical education, action research, student success, Middle Eastern context, student persistence in the global-local, student support mechanisms
Procedia PDF Downloads 6913392 Impacts on the Modification of a Two-Blade Mobile on the Agitation of Newtonian Fluids
Authors: Abderrahim Sidi Mohammed Nekrouf, Sarra Youcefi
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Fluid mixing plays a crucial role in numerous industries as it has a significant impact on the final product quality and performance. In certain cases, the circulation of viscous fluids presents challenges, leading to the formation of stagnant zones. To overcome this issue, stirring devices are employed for fluid mixing. This study focuses on a numerical analysis aimed at understanding the behavior of Newtonian fluids when agitated by a two-blade agitator in a cylindrical vessel. We investigate the influence of the agitator shape on fluid motion. Bi-blade agitators of this type are commonly used in the food, cosmetic, and chemical industries to agitate both viscous and non-viscous liquids. Numerical simulations were conducted using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software to obtain velocity profiles, streamlines, velocity contours, and the associated power number. The obtained results were compared with experimental data available in the literature, validating the accuracy of our numerical approach. The results clearly demonstrate that modifying the agitator shape has a significant impact on fluid motion. This modification generates an axial flow that enhances the efficiency of the fluid flow. The various velocity results convincingly reveal that the fluid is more uniformly agitated with this modification, resulting in improved circulation and a substantial reduction in stagnant zones.Keywords: Newtonian fluids, numerical modeling, two blade., CFD
Procedia PDF Downloads 693391 Large-Capacity Image Information Reduction Based on Single-Cue Saliency Map for Retinal Prosthesis System
Authors: Yili Chen, Xiaokun Liang, Zhicheng Zhang, Yaoqin Xie
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In an effort to restore visual perception in retinal diseases, an electronic retinal prosthesis with thousands of electrodes has been developed. The image processing strategies of retinal prosthesis system converts the original images from the camera to the stimulus pattern which can be interpreted by the brain. Practically, the original images are with more high resolution (256x256) than that of the stimulus pattern (such as 25x25), which causes a technical image processing challenge to do large-capacity image information reduction. In this paper, we focus on developing an efficient image processing stimulus pattern extraction algorithm by using a single cue saliency map for extracting salient objects in the image with an optimal trimming threshold. Experimental results showed that the proposed stimulus pattern extraction algorithm performs quite well for different scenes in terms of the stimulus pattern. In the algorithm performance experiment, our proposed SCSPE algorithm have almost five times of the score compared with Boyle’s algorithm. Through experiment s we suggested that when there are salient objects in the scene (such as the blind meet people or talking with people), the trimming threshold should be set around 0.4max, in other situations, the trimming threshold values can be set between 0.2max-0.4max to give the satisfied stimulus pattern.Keywords: retinal prosthesis, image processing, region of interest, saliency map, trimming threshold selection
Procedia PDF Downloads 2393390 A Numerical Investigation of Total Temperature Probes Measurement Performance
Authors: Erdem Meriç
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Measuring total temperature of air flow accurately is a very important requirement in the development phases of many industrial products, including gas turbines and rockets. Thermocouples are very practical devices to measure temperature in such cases, but in high speed and high temperature flows, the temperature of thermocouple junction may deviate considerably from real flow total temperature due to the effects of heat transfer mechanisms of convection, conduction, and radiation. To avoid errors in total temperature measurement, special probe designs which are experimentally characterized are used. In this study, a validation case which is an experimental characterization of a specific class of total temperature probes is selected from the literature to develop a numerical conjugate heat transfer analysis methodology to study the total temperature probe flow field and solid temperature distribution. Validated conjugate heat transfer methodology is used to investigate flow structures inside and around the probe and effects of probe design parameters like the ratio between inlet and outlet hole areas and prob tip geometry on measurement accuracy. Lastly, a thermal model is constructed to account for errors in total temperature measurement for a specific class of probes in different operating conditions. Outcomes of this work can guide experimentalists to design a very accurate total temperature probe and quantify the possible error for their specific case.Keywords: conjugate heat transfer, recovery factor, thermocouples, total temperature probes
Procedia PDF Downloads 1253389 Defect Identification in Partial Discharge Patterns of Gas Insulated Switchgear and Straight Cable Joint
Authors: Chien-Kuo Chang, Yu-Hsiang Lin, Yi-Yun Tang, Min-Chiu Wu
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With the trend of technological advancement, the harm caused by power outages is substantial, mostly due to problems in the power grid. This highlights the necessity for further improvement in the reliability of the power system. In the power system, gas-insulated switches (GIS) and power cables play a crucial role. Long-term operation under high voltage can cause insulation materials in the equipment to crack, potentially leading to partial discharges. If these partial discharges (PD) can be analyzed, preventative maintenance and replacement of equipment can be carried out, there by improving the reliability of the power grid. This research will diagnose defects by identifying three different defects in GIS and three different defects in straight cable joints, for a total of six types of defects. The partial discharge data measured will be converted through phase analysis diagrams and pulse sequence analysis. Discharge features will be extracted using convolutional image processing, and three different deep learning models, CNN, ResNet18, and MobileNet, will be used for training and evaluation. Class Activation Mapping will be utilized to interpret the black-box problem of deep learning models, with each model achieving an accuracy rate of over 95%. Lastly, the overall model performance will be enhanced through an ensemble learning voting method.Keywords: partial discharge, gas-insulated switches, straight cable joint, defect identification, deep learning, ensemble learning
Procedia PDF Downloads 713388 Enhancements to the Coupled Hydro-Mechanical Hypoplastic Model for Unsaturated Soils
Authors: Shanujah Mathuranayagam, William Fuentes, Samanthika Liyanapathirana
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This paper introduces an enhanced version of the coupled hydro-mechanical hypoplastic model. The model is able to simulate volumetric collapse upon wetting and incorporates suction effects on stiffness and strength. Its mechanical constitutive equation links Bishop’s effective stress with strain and suction, featuring a normal consolidation line (NCL) with a compression index (λ) presenting a non-linear dependency with the degree of saturation. The Bulk modulus has been modified to ensure that under rapid volumetric collapse, the stress state remains at the NCL. The coupled model comprises eighteen parameters, with nine for the hydraulic component and nine for the mechanical component. Hydraulic parameters are calibrated with the use of water retention curves (IWRC) across varied soil densities, while mechanical parameters undergo calibration using isotropic and triaxial tests on both unsaturated and saturated samples. The model's performance is analyzed through the back-calculation of two experimental studies: (i) wetting under different vertical stresses for Lower Cromer Till and (ii) isotropic loading and triaxial loading for undisturbed loess. The results confirm that the proposed model is able to predict the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils.Keywords: hypoplastic model, volumetric collapse, normal consolidation line, compression index (λ), degree of saturation, soil suction
Procedia PDF Downloads 543387 A Posteriori Trading-Inspired Model-Free Time Series Segmentation
Authors: Plessen Mogens Graf
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Within the context of multivariate time series segmentation, this paper proposes a method inspired by a posteriori optimal trading. After a normalization step, time series are treated channelwise as surrogate stock prices that can be traded optimally a posteriori in a virtual portfolio holding either stock or cash. Linear transaction costs are interpreted as hyperparameters for noise filtering. Trading signals, as well as trading signals obtained on the reversed time series, are used for unsupervised channelwise labeling before a consensus over all channels is reached that determines the final segmentation time instants. The method is model-free such that no model prescriptions for segments are made. Benefits of proposed approach include simplicity, computational efficiency, and adaptability to a wide range of different shapes of time series. Performance is demonstrated on synthetic and real-world data, including a large-scale dataset comprising a multivariate time series of dimension 1000 and length 2709. Proposed method is compared to a popular model-based bottom-up approach fitting piecewise affine models and to a recent model-based top-down approach fitting Gaussian models and found to be consistently faster while producing more intuitive results in the sense of segmenting time series at peaks and valleys.Keywords: time series segmentation, model-free, trading-inspired, multivariate data
Procedia PDF Downloads 1283386 A Study on Design for Parallel Test Based on Embedded System
Authors: Zheng Sun, Weiwei Cui, Xiaodong Ma, Hongxin Jin, Dongpao Hong, Jinsong Yang, Jingyi Sun
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With the improvement of the performance and complexity of modern equipment, automatic test system (ATS) becomes widely used for condition monitoring and fault diagnosis. However, the conventional ATS mainly works in a serial mode, and lacks the ability of testing several equipments at the same time. That leads to low test efficiency and ATS redundancy. Especially for a large majority of equipment under test, the conventional ATS cannot meet the requirement of efficient testing. To reduce the support resource and increase test efficiency, we propose a method of design for the parallel test based on the embedded system in this paper. Firstly, we put forward the general framework of the parallel test system, and the system contains a central management system (CMS) and several distributed test subsystems (DTS). Then we give a detailed design of the system. For the hardware of the system, we use embedded architecture to design DTS. For the software of the system, we use test program set to improve the test adaption. By deploying the parallel test system, the time to test five devices is now equal to the time to test one device in the past. Compared with the conventional test system, the proposed test system reduces the size and improves testing efficiency. This is of great significance for equipment to be put into operation swiftly. Finally, we take an industrial control system as an example to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The result shows that the method is reasonable, and the efficiency is improved up to 500%.Keywords: parallel test, embedded system, automatic test system, automatic test system (ATS), central management system, central management system (CMS), distributed test subsystems, distributed test subsystems (DTS)
Procedia PDF Downloads 2933385 Development and Verification of the Idom Shielding Optimization Tool
Authors: Omar Bouhassoun, Cristian Garrido, César Hueso
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The radiation shielding design is an optimization problem with multiple -constrained- objective functions (radiation dose, weight, price, etc.) that depend on several parameters (material, thickness, position, etc.). The classical approach for shielding design consists of a brute force trial-and-error process subject to previous designer experience. Therefore, the result is an empirical solution but not optimal, which can degrade the overall performance of the shielding. In order to automate the shielding design procedure, the IDOM Shielding Optimization Tool (ISOT) has been developed. This software combines optimization algorithms with the capabilities to read/write input files, run calculations, as well as parse output files for different radiation transport codes. In the first stage, the software was established to adjust the input files for two well-known Monte Carlo codes (MCNP and Serpent) and optimize the result (weight, volume, price, dose rate) using multi-objective genetic algorithms. Nevertheless, its modular implementation easily allows the inclusion of more radiation transport codes and optimization algorithms. The work related to the development of ISOT and its verification on a simple 3D multi-layer shielding problem using both MCNP and Serpent will be presented. ISOT looks very promising for achieving an optimal solution to complex shielding problems.Keywords: optimization, shielding, nuclear, genetic algorithm
Procedia PDF Downloads 1033384 Preparation of Activated Carbon Fibers (ACF) Impregnated with Ionic Silver Particles from Cotton Woven Waste and Its Performance as Antibacterial Agent
Authors: Jonathan Andres Pullas Navarrete, Ernesto Hale de la Torre Chauvin
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In this work, the antibacterial effect of activated carbon fibers (ACF) impregnated with ionic silver particles was studied. ACF were prepared from samples of cotton woven wastes (cotton based fabrics 5x10 cm) by applying a chemical activation procedure with H3PO4. This treatment was performed using several H3PO4: Cotton based fabrics weight ratios (1:2–2:1), temperatures (600–900 ºC) and activation times (0.5–2 h). The ACF obtained under the best activation conditions showed BET surface area of 1103 m2/g; this result along with iodine index demonstrated the microporous nature of the fibers herein obtained. Then, the obtained fibers were impregnated with ionic silver particles by immersion in 0.1 and 0.5 M AgNO3 solutions followed by drying and thermal decomposition in order to fix the silver particles in the structure of ACF. It was determined that the presence of Ag ions lowered the BET surface area of the ACF in approximately 17 % due to the obstruction of the porosities along the carbonized structure. Finally, the antibacterial effect of the ACF impregnated with silver was studied through direct counting method for coliforms. The antibacterial activity of the impregnated fibers was demonstrated, and it was attributed to the strongly inhibition of bacteria growth because of chemical properties of the particles of silver inside the ACF. This behavior was demonstrated at concentrations of silver as low as 0.035 % w/w.Keywords: activated carbon, adsorption, antibacterial activity, coliforms, surface area
Procedia PDF Downloads 2743383 Drivers of Farmers' Contract Compliance Behaviour: Evidence from a Case Study of Dangote Tomato Processing Plant in Northern Nigeria.
Authors: Umar Shehu Umar
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Contract farming is a viable strategy agribusinesses rely on to strengthen vertical coordination. However, low contract compliance remains a significant setback to agribusinesses' contract performance. The present study aims to understand what drives smallholder farmers’ contract compliance behaviour. Qualitative information was collected through Focus Group Discussions to enrich the design of the survey questionnaire administered on a sample of 300 randomly selected farmers contracted by the Dangote Tomato Processing Plant (DTPP) in four regions of northern Nigeria. Novel transaction level data of tomato sales covering one season were collected in addition to socio-economic information of the sampled farmers. Binary logistic model results revealed that open fresh market tomato prices and payment delays negatively affect farmers' compliance behaviour while quantity harvested, education level and input provision correlated positively with compliance. The study suggests that contract compliance will increase if contracting firms devise a reliable and timely payment plan (e.g., digital payment), continue input and service provisions (e.g., improved seeds, extension services) and incentives (e.g., loyalty rewards, bonuses) in the contract.Keywords: contract farming, compliance, farmers and processors., smallholder
Procedia PDF Downloads 433382 Employee Happiness: The Influence of Providing Consumers with an Experience versus an Object
Authors: Wilson Bastos, Sigal G. Barsade
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Much of what happens in the marketplace revolves around the provision and consumption of goods. Recent research has advanced a useful categorization of these goods—as experiential versus material—and shown that, from the consumers’ perspective, experiences (e.g., a theater performance) are superior to objects (e.g., an electronic gadget) in offering various social and psychological benefits. A common finding in this growing research stream is that consumers gain more happiness from the experiences they have than the objects they own. By focusing solely on those acquiring the experiential or material goods (the consumers), prior research has remained silent regarding another important group of individuals—those providing the goods (the employees). Do employees whose jobs are primarily focused on offering consumers an experience (vs. object) also gain more happiness from their occupation? We report evidence from four experiments supporting an experiential-employee advantage. Further, we use mediation and moderation tests to unearth the mechanism responsible for this effect. Results reveal that work meaningfulness is the primary driver of the experiential-employee advantage. Overall, our findings suggest that employees find it more meaningful to provide people with an experience as compared to a material object, which in turn shapes the happiness they derive from their jobs. We expect this finding to have implications on human development, and to be of relevance to researchers and practitioners interested in how to advance human condition in the workplace.Keywords: employee happiness, experiential versus material jobs, work meaningfulness
Procedia PDF Downloads 2613381 Air Quality Forecast Based on Principal Component Analysis-Genetic Algorithm and Back Propagation Model
Authors: Bin Mu, Site Li, Shijin Yuan
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Under the circumstance of environment deterioration, people are increasingly concerned about the quality of the environment, especially air quality. As a result, it is of great value to give accurate and timely forecast of AQI (air quality index). In order to simplify influencing factors of air quality in a city, and forecast the city’s AQI tomorrow, this study used MATLAB software and adopted the method of constructing a mathematic model of PCA-GABP to provide a solution. To be specific, this study firstly made principal component analysis (PCA) of influencing factors of AQI tomorrow including aspects of weather, industry waste gas and IAQI data today. Then, we used the back propagation neural network model (BP), which is optimized by genetic algorithm (GA), to give forecast of AQI tomorrow. In order to verify validity and accuracy of PCA-GABP model’s forecast capability. The study uses two statistical indices to evaluate AQI forecast results (normalized mean square error and fractional bias). Eventually, this study reduces mean square error by optimizing individual gene structure in genetic algorithm and adjusting the parameters of back propagation model. To conclude, the performance of the model to forecast AQI is comparatively convincing and the model is expected to take positive effect in AQI forecast in the future.Keywords: AQI forecast, principal component analysis, genetic algorithm, back propagation neural network model
Procedia PDF Downloads 2183380 Phthalates Exposure in Children with Central Precocious Puberty (CPP) or Constitutional Delays in Growth
Authors: Yen-An Tsai, Ching-Ling Lin, Jia-Woei Hou, Mei-Lien Chen
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Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) adversely affect the endocrine system. Phthalates, also called phthalic acid esters (PAEs), are manmade chemicals that are used as stabilizing agents in personal care products such as perfumes, lotions, and cosmetics. The aim was to explore whether PAEs exposure was associated with central precocious puberty (CPP) or constitutional delays in growth (CDGP). This case-control study included 48 female with CPP, 37 male with constitutional delays in growth, and 127 normal children and was conducted from December 2011 to August 2014. All participants completed a structured questionnaire regarding socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, and secondary sexual characteristics. The analytical method was based on ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) with isotope dilution for the quantitative detection of several phthalate metabolites in human urine. The risk of CPP with mep, mnbp, LMW >50th percentile were higher than those with 50th percentile were higher than those with <50 percentile in model 2. In model 1, we only found higher CDGP risk in mep, mnbp, and ΣPAEs. It shows that high phthalate exposure may associate with CDGP. In this case-control study, we found PAEs exposure was associated with central precocious puberty (CPP) or constitutional delays in growth.Keywords: phthalates, puberty, delays, growth
Procedia PDF Downloads 1783379 Investigation of Night Cooling Event, Experimental Radiator
Authors: Fatemeh Karampour
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In the hot climate countries, especially those countries with great desert area, such as Iran, a considerable part of the energy is consumed due to cooling and air conditioning system in a hot season. So it is important to find a renewable energy supply for cooling systems. Although, there are few consistent researches in this field of renewable energy in compare with other fields. This research is presenting a study on performance of a night cooling radiator and working fluid storage for night time operation and day time resting periods. In these experiments, we didn’t expose any heating load but focused only on the possibility of system combination and its potential cooling effect. A very simple radiator has been designed in south of Iran, Shiraz, in order to perform this study. The radiator has been insulated with polystyrene foam and bubbled plastic sheets have been used as top cover. Using a single bubbled plastic sheet, the radiator temperature reached 0°C which is 20°C lower than minimum ambient temperature. Putting a small storage tank in the line increased the radiator’s minimum temperature at night; however, provided some cool fluid source for hot days of Shiraz that easily reaches 40°C. The results have shown very good cooling potential without heating load and acceptable temperature increasing during hot day with a small, short term storage tank. Future studies can make the system more effective and applicable.Keywords: night cooling, experimental set up, cooling radiator, chill storage
Procedia PDF Downloads 143