Search results for: language learning model
9769 Optimization of Assembly and Welding of Complex 3D Structures on the Base of Modeling with Use of Finite Elements Method
Authors: M. N. Zelenin, V. S. Mikhailov, R. P. Zhivotovsky
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It is known that residual welding deformations give negative effect to processability and operational quality of welded structures, complicating their assembly and reducing strength. Therefore, selection of optimal technology, ensuring minimum welding deformations, is one of the main goals in developing a technology for manufacturing of welded structures. Through years, JSC SSTC has been developing a theory for estimation of welding deformations and practical activities for reducing and compensating such deformations during welding process. During long time a methodology was used, based on analytic dependence. This methodology allowed defining volumetric changes of metal due to welding heating and subsequent cooling. However, dependences for definition of structures deformations, arising as a result of volumetric changes of metal in the weld area, allowed performing calculations only for simple structures, such as units, flat sections and sections with small curvature. In case of complex 3D structures, estimations on the base of analytic dependences gave significant errors. To eliminate this shortage, it was suggested to use finite elements method for resolving of deformation problem. Here, one shall first calculate volumes of longitudinal and transversal shortenings of welding joints using method of analytic dependences and further, with obtained shortenings, calculate forces, which action is equivalent to the action of active welding stresses. Further, a finite-elements model of the structure is developed and equivalent forces are added to this model. Having results of calculations, an optimal sequence of assembly and welding is selected and special measures to reduce and compensate welding deformations are developed and taken.Keywords: residual welding deformations, longitudinal and transverse shortenings of welding joints, method of analytic dependences, finite elements method
Procedia PDF Downloads 4039768 Relation of Cad/Cam Zirconia Dental Implant Abutments with Periodontal Health and Final Aesthetic Aspects; A Systematic Review
Authors: Amin Davoudi
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Aim: New approaches have been introduced to improve soft tissue indices of the dental implants. This systematic review aimed to investigate the effect of computer-aided design and computer-assisted manufacture (CAD/CAM) zirconia (Zr) implant abutments on periodontal aspects. Materials and Methods: Five electronic databases were searched thoroughly based on prior defined MeSH and non-MeSH keywords. Clinical studies were collected via hand searches in English language journals up to September 2020. Interproximal papilla stability, papilla recession, pink and white esthetic score (PES, WES), bone and gingival margin levels, color, and contour of soft tissue were reviewed. Results: The initial literature search yielded 412 articles. After the evaluation of abstracts and full texts, six studies were eligible to be screened. The study design of the included studies was a prospective cohort (n=3) and randomized clinical trial (n=3). The outcome was found to be significantly better for Zr than titanium abutments, however, the studies did not show significant differences between stock and CAD/CAM abutments. Conclusion: Papilla fill, WES, PES, and the distance from the contact point to dental crest bone of adjacent tooth and inter-tooth–implant distance were not significantly different between Zr CAD/CAM and Zr stock abutments. However, soft tissue stability and recession index were better in Zr CAD/CAM abutments.Keywords: zirconia, CADCAM, periodental, implant
Procedia PDF Downloads 989767 Modeling Average Paths Traveled by Ferry Vessels Using AIS Data
Authors: Devin Simmons
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At the USDOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, a biannual census of ferry operators in the U.S. is conducted, with results such as route mileage used to determine federal funding levels for operators. AIS data allows for the possibility of using GIS software and geographical methods to confirm operator-reported mileage for individual ferry routes. As part of the USDOT’s work on the ferry census, an algorithm was developed that uses AIS data for ferry vessels in conjunction with known ferry terminal locations to model the average route travelled for use as both a cartographic product and confirmation of operator-reported mileage. AIS data from each vessel is first analyzed to determine individual journeys based on the vessel’s velocity, and changes in velocity over time. These trips are then converted to geographic linestring objects. Using the terminal locations, the algorithm then determines whether the trip represented a known ferry route. Given a large enough dataset, routes will be represented by multiple trip linestrings, which are then filtered by DBSCAN spatial clustering to remove outliers. Finally, these remaining trips are ready to be averaged into one route. The algorithm interpolates the point on each trip linestring that represents the start point. From these start points, a centroid is calculated, and the first point of the average route is determined. Each trip is interpolated again to find the point that represents one percent of the journey’s completion, and the centroid of those points is used as the next point in the average route, and so on until 100 points have been calculated. Routes created using this algorithm have shown demonstrable improvement over previous methods, which included the implementation of a LOESS model. Additionally, the algorithm greatly reduces the amount of manual digitizing needed to visualize ferry activity.Keywords: ferry vessels, transportation, modeling, AIS data
Procedia PDF Downloads 1649766 Influence of Geologic and Geotechnical Dataset Resolution on Regional Liquefaction Assessment of the Lower Wairau Plains
Authors: Omer Altaf, Liam Wotherspoon, Rolando Orense
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The Wairau Plains are located in the northeast of the South Island of New Zealand, with alluvial deposits of fine-grained silts and sands combined with low-lying topography suggesting the presence of liquefiable deposits over significant portions of the region. Liquefaction manifestations were observed in past earthquakes, including the 1848 Marlborough and 1855 Wairarapa earthquakes, and more recently during the 2013 Lake Grassmere and 2016 Kaikōura earthquakes. Therefore, a good understanding of the deposits that may be susceptible to liquefaction is important for land use planning in the region and to allow developers and asset owners to appropriately address their risk. For this purpose, multiple approaches have been employed to develop regional-scale maps showing the liquefaction vulnerability categories for the region. After applying semi-qualitative criteria linked to geologic age and deposit type, the higher resolution surface mapping of geomorphologic characteristics encompassing the Wairau River and the Opaoa River was used for screening. A detailed basin geologic model developed for groundwater modelling was analysed to provide a higher level of resolution than the surface-geology based classification. This is used to identify the thickness of near-surface gravel deposits, providing an improved understanding of the presence or lack of potentially non-liquefiable crust deposits. This paper describes the methodology adopted for this project and focuses on the influence of geomorphic characteristics and analysis of the detailed geologic basin model on the liquefaction classification of the Lower Wairau Plains.Keywords: liquefaction, earthquake, cone penetration test, mapping, liquefaction-induced damage
Procedia PDF Downloads 1699765 A Combined CFD Simulation of Plateau Borders including Films and Transitional Areas of Liquid Foams
Authors: Abdolhamid Anazadehsayed, Jamal Naser
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An integrated computational fluid dynamics model is developed for a combined simulation of Plateau borders, films, and transitional areas between the film and the Plateau borders to reduce the simplifications and shortcomings of available models for foam drainage in micro-scale. Additionally, the counter-flow related to the Marangoni effect in the transitional area is investigated. The results of this combined model show the contribution of the films, the exterior Plateau borders, and Marangoni flow in the drainage process more accurately since the inter-influence of foam's elements is included in this study. The exterior Plateau borders flow rate can be four times larger than the interior ones. The exterior bubbles can be more prominent in the drainage process in cases where the number of the exterior Plateau borders increases due to the geometry of container. The ratio of the Marangoni counter-flow to the Plateau border flow increases drastically with an increase in the mobility of air-liquid interface. However, the exterior bubbles follow the same trend with much less intensity since typically, the flow is less dependent on the interface of air-liquid in the exterior bubbles. Moreover, the Marangoni counter-flow in a near-wall transition area is less important than an internal one. The influence of air-liquid interface mobility on the average velocity of interior foams is attained with more accuracy with more realistic boundary condition. Then it has been compared with other numerical and analytical results. The contribution of films in the drainage is significant for the mobile foams as the velocity of flow in the film has the same order of magnitude as the velocity in the Plateau border. Nevertheless, for foams with rigid interfaces, film's contribution in foam drainage is insignificant, particularly for the films near the wall of the container.Keywords: foam, plateau border, film, Marangoni, CFD, bubble
Procedia PDF Downloads 3399764 Energy Consumption Estimation for Hybrid Marine Power Systems: Comparing Modeling Methodologies
Authors: Kamyar Maleki Bagherabadi, Torstein Aarseth Bø, Truls Flatberg, Olve Mo
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Hydrogen fuel cells and batteries are one of the promising solutions aligned with carbon emission reduction goals for the marine sector. However, the higher installation and operation costs of hydrogen-based systems compared to conventional diesel gensets raise questions about the appropriate hydrogen tank size, energy, and fuel consumption estimations. Ship designers need methodologies and tools to calculate energy and fuel consumption for different component sizes to facilitate decision-making regarding feasibility and performance for retrofits and design cases. The aim of this work is to compare three alternative modeling approaches for the estimation of energy and fuel consumption with various hydrogen tank sizes, battery capacities, and load-sharing strategies. A fishery vessel is selected as an example, using logged load demand data over a year of operations. The modeled power system consists of a PEM fuel cell, a diesel genset, and a battery. The methodologies used are: first, an energy-based model; second, considering load variations during the time domain with a rule-based Power Management System (PMS); and third, a load variations model and dynamic PMS strategy based on optimization with perfect foresight. The errors and potentials of the methods are discussed, and design sensitivity studies for this case are conducted. The results show that the energy-based method can estimate fuel and energy consumption with acceptable accuracy. However, models that consider time variation of the load provide more realistic estimations of energy and fuel consumption regarding hydrogen tank and battery size, still within low computational time.Keywords: fuel cell, battery, hydrogen, hybrid power system, power management system
Procedia PDF Downloads 229763 Flashsonar or Echolocation Education: Expanding the Function of Hearing and Changing the Meaning of Blindness
Authors: Thomas, Daniel Tajo, Kish
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Sight is primarily associated with the function of gathering and processing near and extended spatial information which is largely used to support self-determined interaction with the environment through self-directed movement and navigation. By contrast, hearing is primarily associated with the function of gathering and processing sequential information which may typically be used to support self-determined communication through the self-directed use of music and language. Blindness or the lack of vision is traditionally characterized by a lack of capacity to access spatial information which, in turn, is presumed to result in a lack of capacity for self-determined interaction with the environment due to limitations in self-directed movement and navigation. However, through a specific protocol of FlashSonar education developed by World Access for the Blind, the function of hearing can be expanded in blind people to carry out some of the functions normally associated with sight, that is to access and process near and extended spatial information to construct three-dimensional acoustic images of the environment. This perceptual education protocol results in a significant restoration in blind people of self-determined environmental interaction, movement, and navigational capacities normally attributed to vision - a new way to see. Thus, by expanding the function of hearing to process spatial information to restore self-determined movement, we are not only changing the meaning of blindness, and what it means to be blind, but we are also recasting the meaning of vision and what it is to see.Keywords: echolocation, changing, sensory, function
Procedia PDF Downloads 1509762 High Cycle Fatigue Analysis of a Lower Hopper Knuckle Connection of a Large Bulk Carrier under Dynamic Loading
Authors: Vaso K. Kapnopoulou, Piero Caridis
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The fatigue of ship structural details is of major concern in the maritime industry as it can generate fracture issues that may compromise structural integrity. In the present study, a fatigue analysis of the lower hopper knuckle connection of a bulk carrier was conducted using the Finite Element Method by means of ABAQUS/CAE software. The fatigue life was calculated using Miner’s Rule and the long-term distribution of stress range by the use of the two-parameter Weibull distribution. The cumulative damage ratio was estimated using the fatigue damage resulting from the stress range occurring at each load condition. For this purpose, a cargo hold model was first generated, which extends over the length of two holds (the mid-hold and half of each of the adjacent holds) and transversely over the full breadth of the hull girder. Following that, a submodel of the area of interest was extracted in order to calculate the hot spot stress of the connection and to estimate the fatigue life of the structural detail. Two hot spot locations were identified; one at the top layer of the inner bottom plate and one at the top layer of the hopper plate. The IACS Common Structural Rules (CSR) require that specific dynamic load cases for each loading condition are assessed. Following this, the dynamic load case that causes the highest stress range at each loading condition should be used in the fatigue analysis for the calculation of the cumulative fatigue damage ratio. Each load case has a different effect on ship hull response. Of main concern, when assessing the fatigue strength of the lower hopper knuckle connection, was the determination of the maximum, i.e. the critical value of the stress range, which acts in a direction normal to the weld toe line. This acts in the transverse direction, that is, perpendicularly to the ship's centerline axis. The load cases were explored both theoretically and numerically in order to establish the one that causes the highest damage to the location examined. The most severe one was identified to be the load case induced by beam sea condition where the encountered wave comes from the starboard. At the level of the cargo hold model, the model was assumed to be simply supported at its ends. A coarse mesh was generated in order to represent the overall stiffness of the structure. The elements employed were quadrilateral shell elements, each having four integration points. A linear elastic analysis was performed because linear elastic material behavior can be presumed, since only localized yielding is allowed by most design codes. At the submodel level, the displacements of the analysis of the cargo hold model to the outer region nodes of the submodel acted as boundary conditions and applied loading for the submodel. In order to calculate the hot spot stress at the hot spot locations, a very fine mesh zone was generated and used. The fatigue life of the detail was found to be 16.4 years which is lower than the design fatigue life of the structure (25 years), making this location vulnerable to fatigue fracture issues. Moreover, the loading conditions that induce the most damage to the location were found to be the various ballasting conditions.Keywords: dynamic load cases, finite element method, high cycle fatigue, lower hopper knuckle
Procedia PDF Downloads 4139761 Combat Plastic Entering in Kanpur City, Uttar Pradesh, India Marine Environment
Authors: Arvind Kumar
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The city of Kanpur is located in the terrestrial plain area on the bank of the river Ganges and is the second largest city in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The city generates approximately 1400-1600 tons per day of MSW. Kanpur has been known as a major point and non-points-based pollution hotspot for the river Ganges. The city has a major industrial hub, probably the largest in the state, catering to the manufacturing and recycling of plastic and other dry waste streams. There are 4 to 5 major drains flowing across the city, which receive a significant quantity of waste leakage, which subsequently adds to the Ganges flow and is carried to the Bay of Bengal. A river-to-sea flow approach has been established to account for leaked waste into urban drains, leading to the build-up of marine litter. Throughout its journey, the river accumulates plastic – macro, meso, and micro, from various sources and transports it towards the sea. The Ganges network forms the second-largest plastic-polluting catchment in the world, with over 0.12 million tonnes of plastic discharged into marine ecosystems per year and is among 14 continental rivers into which over a quarter of global waste is discarded 3.150 Kilo tons of plastic waste is generated in Kanpur, out of which 10%-13% of plastic is leaked into the local drains and water flow systems. With the Support of Kanpur Municipal Corporation, 1TPD capacity MRF for drain waste management was established at Krishna Nagar, Kanpur & A German startup- Plastic Fisher, was identified for providing a solution to capture the drain waste and achieve its recycling in a sustainable manner with a circular economy approach. The team at Plastic Fisher conducted joint surveys and identified locations on 3 drains at Kanpur using GIS maps developed during the survey. It suggested putting floating 'Boom Barriers' across the drains with a low-cost material, which reduced their cost to only 2000 INR per barrier. The project was built upon the self-sustaining financial model. The project includes activities where a cost-efficient model is developed and adopted for a socially self-inclusive model. The project has recommended the use of low-cost floating boom barriers for capturing waste from drains. This involves a one-time time cost and has no operational cost. Manpower is engaged in fishing and capturing immobilized waste, whose salaries are paid by the Plastic Fisher. The captured material is sun-dried and transported to the designated place, where the shed and power connection, which act as MRF, are provided by the city Municipal corporation. Material aggregation, baling, and transportation costs to end-users are borne by Plastic Fisher as well.Keywords: Kanpur, marine environment, drain waste management, plastic fisher
Procedia PDF Downloads 649760 Understanding and Explaining Urban Resilience and Vulnerability: A Framework for Analyzing the Complex Adaptive Nature of Cities
Authors: Richard Wolfel, Amy Richmond
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Urban resilience and vulnerability are critical concepts in the modern city due to the increased sociocultural, political, economic, demographic, and environmental stressors that influence current urban dynamics. Urban scholars need help explaining urban resilience and vulnerability. First, cities are dominated by people, which is challenging to model, both from an explanatory and a predictive perspective. Second, urban regions are highly recursive in nature, meaning they not only influence human action, but the structures of cities are constantly changing due to human actions. As a result, explanatory frameworks must continuously evolve as humans influence and are influenced by the urban environment in which they operate. Finally, modern cities have populations, sociocultural characteristics, economic flows, and environmental impacts on order of magnitude well beyond the cities of the past. As a result, the frameworks that seek to explain the various functions of a city that influence urban resilience and vulnerability must address the complex adaptive nature of cities and the interaction of many distinct factors that influence resilience and vulnerability in the city. This project develops a taxonomy and framework for organizing and explaining urban vulnerability. The framework is built on a well-established political development model that includes six critical classes of urban dynamics: political presence, political legitimacy, political participation, identity, production, and allocation. In addition, the framework explores how environmental security and technology influence and are influenced by the six elements of political development. The framework aims to identify key tipping points in society that act as influential agents of urban vulnerability in a region. This will help analysts and scholars predict and explain the influence of both physical and human geographical stressors in a dense urban area.Keywords: urban resilience, vulnerability, sociocultural stressors, political stressors
Procedia PDF Downloads 1089759 Secure Optimized Ingress Filtering in Future Internet Communication
Authors: Bander Alzahrani, Mohammed Alreshoodi
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Information-centric networking (ICN) using architectures such as the Publish-Subscribe Internet Technology (PURSUIT) has been proposed as a new networking model that aims at replacing the current used end-centric networking model of the Internet. This emerged model focuses on what is being exchanged rather than which network entities are exchanging information, which gives the control plane functions such as routing and host location the ability to be specified according to the content items. The forwarding plane of the PURSUIT ICN architecture uses a simple and light mechanism based on Bloom filter technologies to forward the packets. Although this forwarding scheme solve many problems of the today’s Internet such as the growth of the routing table and the scalability issues, it is vulnerable to brute force attacks which are starting point to distributed- denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. In this work, we design and analyze a novel source-routing and information delivery technique that keeps the simplicity of using Bloom filter-based forwarding while being able to deter different attacks such as denial of service attacks at the ingress of the network. To achieve this, special forwarding nodes called Edge-FW are directly attached to end user nodes and used to perform a security test for malicious injected random packets at the ingress of the path to prevent any possible attack brute force attacks at early stage. In this technique, a core entity of the PURSUIT ICN architecture called topology manager, that is responsible for finding shortest path and creating a forwarding identifiers (FId), uses a cryptographically secure hash function to create a 64-bit hash, h, over the formed FId for authentication purpose to be included in the packet. Our proposal restricts the attacker from injecting packets carrying random FIds with a high amount of filling factor ρ, by optimizing and reducing the maximum allowed filling factor ρm in the network. We optimize the FId to the minimum possible filling factor where ρ ≤ ρm, while it supports longer delivery trees, so the network scalability is not affected by the chosen ρm. With this scheme, the filling factor of any legitimate FId never exceeds the ρm while the filling factor of illegitimate FIds cannot exceed the chosen small value of ρm. Therefore, injecting a packet containing an FId with a large value of filling factor, to achieve higher attack probability, is not possible anymore. The preliminary analysis of this proposal indicates that with the designed scheme, the forwarding function can detect and prevent malicious activities such DDoS attacks at early stage and with very high probability.Keywords: forwarding identifier, filling factor, information centric network, topology manager
Procedia PDF Downloads 1449758 Angiopermissive Foamed and Fibrillar Scaffolds for Vascular Graft Applications
Authors: Deon Bezuidenhout
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Pre-seeding with autologous endothelial cells improves the long-term patency of synthetic vascular grafts levels obtained with autografts, but is limited to a single centre due to resource, time and other constraints. Spontaneous in vivo endothelialization would obviate the need for pre-seeding, but has been shown to be absent in man due to limited transanastomotic and fallout healing, and the lack of transmural ingrowth due to insufficient porosity. Two types of graft scaffolds with increased interconnected porosity for improved tissue ingrowth and healing are thus proposed and described. Foam-type polyurethane (PU) scaffolds with small, medium and large, interconnected pores were made by phase inversion and spherical porogen extraction, with and without additional surface modification with covalently attached heparin and subsequent loading with and delivery of growth factors. Fibrillar scaffolds were made either by standard electrospinning using degradable PU (Degrapol®), or by dual electrospinning using non-degradable PU. The latter process involves sacrificial fibres that are co-spun with structural fibres and subsequently removed to increased porosity and pore size. Degrapol samples were subjected to in vitro degradation, and all scaffold types were evaluated in vivo for tissue ingrowth and vascularization using rat subcutaneous model. The foam scaffolds were additionally evaluated in a circulatory (rat infrarenal aortic interposition) model that allows for the grafts to be anastomotically and/or ablumenally isolated to discern and determine endothelialization mode. Foam-type grafts with large (150 µm) pores showed improved subcutaneous healing in terms of vascularization and inflammatory response over smaller pore sizes (60 and 90µm), and vascularization of the large porosity scaffolds was significantly increased by more than 70% by heparin modification alone, and by 150% to 400% when combined with growth factors. In the circulatory model, extensive transmural endothelialization (95±10% at 12 w) was achieved. Fallout healing was shown to be sporadic and limited in groups that were ablumenally isolated to prevent transmural ingrowth (16±30% wrapped vs. 80±20% control; p<0.002). Heparinization and GF delivery improved both mural vascularization and lumenal endothelialization. Degrapol electrospun scaffolds showed decrease in molecular mass and corresponding tensile strength over the first 2 weeks, but very little decrease in mass over the 4w test period. Studies on the effect of tissue ingrowth with and without concomitant degradation of the scaffolds, are being used to develop material models for the finite element modelling. In the case of the dual-spun scaffolds, the PU fibre fraction could be controlled shown to vary linearly with porosity (P = −0.18FF +93.5, r2=0.91), which in turn showed inverse linear correlation with tensile strength and elastic modulus (r2 > 0.96). Calculated compliance and burst pressures of the scaffolds increased with fibre fraction, and compliances matching the human popliteal artery (5-10 %/100 mmHg), and high burst pressures (> 2000 mmHg) could be achieved. Increasing porosity (76 to 82 and 90%) resulted in increased tissue ingrowth from 33±7 to 77±20 and 98±1% after 28d. Transmural endothelialization of highly porous foamed grafts is achievable in a circulatory model, and the enhancement of porosity and tissue ingrowth may hold the key the development of spontaneously endothelializing electrospun grafts.Keywords: electrospinning, endothelialization, porosity, scaffold, vascular graft
Procedia PDF Downloads 2929757 Practice Based Approach to the Development of Family Medicine Residents’ Educational Environment
Authors: Lazzat M. Zhamaliyeva, Nurgul A. Abenova, Gauhar S. Dilmagambetova, Ziyash Zh. Tanbetova, Moldir B. Ahmetzhanova, Tatyana P. Ostretcova, Aliya A. Yegemberdiyeva
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Introduction: There are many reasons for the weak training of family doctors in Kazakhstan: the unified national educational program is not focused on competencies, the role of a general practitioner (GP) is not clear, poor funding for the health care and education system, outdated teaching and assessment methods, inefficient management. We highlight two issues in particular. Firstly, academic teachers of family medicine (FM) in Kazakhstan do not practice as family doctors; most of them are narrow specialists (pediatricians, therapists, surgeons, etc.); they usually hold one-time consultations; clinical mentors from practical healthcare (non-academic teachers) do not have the teaching competences, and the vast majority of them are also narrow specialists. Secondly, clinical sites (polyclinics) are unprepared for general practice and do not follow the principles of family medicine; residents do not like to be in primary health care (PHC) settings due to the chaos that is happening there, as well as due to the lack of the necessary equipment for mastering and consolidating practical skills. Aim: We present the concept of the family physicians’ training office (FPTO), which is being created as a friendly learning environment for young general practitioners and for the involvement of academic teachers of family medicine in the practical work and innovative development of PHC. Methodology: In developing the conceptual framework and identifying practical activities, we drew on literature and expert input, and interviews. Results: The goal of the FPTO is to create a favorable educational and clinical environment for the development of the FM residents’ competencies, in which the residents with academic teachers and clinical mentors could understand and accept the principles of family medicine, improve clinical knowledge and skills, and gain experience in improving the quality of their practice in scientific basis. Three main areas of office activity are providing primary care to the patients, improving educational services for FM residents and other medical workers, and promoting research in PHC and innovations. The office arranges for residents to see outpatients at least 50% of the time, and teachers of FM departments at least 1/4 of their working time conduct general medical appointments next to residents. Taking into account the educational and scientific workload, the number of attached population for one GP does not exceed 500 persons. The equipment of the office allows FPTO workers to perform invasive and other manipulations without being sent to other clinics. In the office, training for residents is focused on their needs and aimed at achieving the required level of competence. International methodologies and assessment tools are adapted to local conditions and evaluated for their effectiveness and acceptability. Residents and their faculty actively conduct research in the field of family medicine. Conclusions: We propose to change the learning environment in order to create teams of like-minded people, to unite residents and teachers even more for the development of family medicine. The offices will also invest resources in developing and maintaining young doctors' interest in family medicine.Keywords: educational environment, family medicine residents, family physicians’ training office, primary care research
Procedia PDF Downloads 1309756 Influence of Footing Offset over Stability of Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Abutments with Variable Facing under Lateral Excitation
Authors: Ashutosh Verma, Satyendra MIttal
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The loss of strength at the facing-reinforcement interface brought on by the seasonal thermal expansion/contraction of the bridge deck has been responsible for several geosynthetic reinforced soil abutment failures over the years. This results in excessive settlement below the bridge seat, which results in bridge bumps along the approach road and shortens abutment's design life. There are surely a wide variety of facing configurations available to designers when choosing the sort of facade. These layouts can generally be categorised into three groups: continuous, full height rigid (FHR) and modular (panels/block). The current work aims to experimentally explore the behavior of these three facing categories using 1g physical model testing under serviceable cyclic lateral displacements. With configurable facing arrangements to represent these three facing categories, a field instrumented GRS abutment prototype was modelled into a N scaled down 1g physical model (N = 5) to reproduce field behavior. Peak earth pressure coefficient (K) on the facing and vertical settlement of the footing (s/B) for footing offset (x/H) as 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 at 100 cycles have been measured for cyclic lateral displacement of top of facing at loading rate of 1mm/min. Three types of cyclic displacements have been carried out to replicate active condition (CA), passive condition (CP), and active-passive condition (CAP) for each footing offset. The results demonstrated that a significant decrease in the earth pressure over the facing occurs when footing offset increases. It is worth noticing that the highest rate of increment in earth pressure and footing settlement were observed for each facing configuration at the nearest footing offset. Interestingly, for the farthest footing offset, similar responses of each facing type were observed, which indicates that the upon reaching a critical offset point presumably beyond the active region in the backfill, the lateral responses become independent of the stresses from the external footing load. Evidently, the footing load complements the stresses developed due to lateral excitation resulting in significant footing settlements for nearer footing offsets. The modular facing proved inefficient in resisting footing settlement due to significant buckling along the depth of facing. Instead of relative displacement along the depth of facing, continuous facing rotates around the base when it fails, especially for nearer footing offset causing significant depressions in the backfill area surrounding the footing. FHR facing, on the other hand, have been successful in confining the stresses in the soil domain itself reducing the footing settlement. It may be suitably concluded that increasing the footing offset may render stability to the GRS abutment with any facing configuration even for higher cycles of excitation.Keywords: GRS abutments, 1g physical model, footing offset, cyclic lateral displacement
Procedia PDF Downloads 769755 Life Cycle Datasets for the Ornamental Stone Sector
Authors: Isabella Bianco, Gian Andrea Blengini
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The environmental impact related to ornamental stones (such as marbles and granites) is largely debated. Starting from the industrial revolution, continuous improvements of machineries led to a higher exploitation of this natural resource and to a more international interaction between markets. As a consequence, the environmental impact of the extraction and processing of stones has increased. Nevertheless, if compared with other building materials, ornamental stones are generally more durable, natural, and recyclable. From the scientific point of view, studies on stone life cycle sustainability have been carried out, but these are often partial or not very significant because of the high percentage of approximations and assumptions in calculations. This is due to the lack, in life cycle databases (e.g. Ecoinvent, Thinkstep, and ELCD), of datasets about the specific technologies employed in the stone production chain. For example, databases do not contain information about diamond wires, chains or explosives, materials commonly used in quarries and transformation plants. The project presented in this paper aims to populate the life cycle databases with specific data of specific stone processes. To this goal, the methodology follows the standardized approach of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), according to the requirements of UNI 14040-14044 and to the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook guidelines of the European Commission. The study analyses the processes of the entire production chain (from-cradle-to-gate system boundaries), including the extraction of benches, the cutting of blocks into slabs/tiles and the surface finishing. Primary data have been collected in Italian quarries and transformation plants which use technologies representative of the current state-of-the-art. Since the technologies vary according to the hardness of the stone, the case studies comprehend both soft stones (marbles) and hard stones (gneiss). In particular, data about energy, materials and emissions were collected in marble basins of Carrara and in Beola and Serizzo basins located in the province of Verbano Cusio Ossola. Data were then elaborated through an appropriate software to build a life cycle model. The model was realized setting free parameters that allow an easy adaptation to specific productions. Through this model, the study aims to boost the direct participation of stone companies and encourage the use of LCA tool to assess and improve the stone sector environmental sustainability. At the same time, the realization of accurate Life Cycle Inventory data aims at making available, to researchers and stone experts, ILCD compliant datasets of the most significant processes and technologies related to the ornamental stone sector.Keywords: life cycle assessment, LCA datasets, ornamental stone, stone environmental impact
Procedia PDF Downloads 2269754 Urban Refugees and Education in Developing Countries
Authors: Sheraz Akhtar
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In recent years, a massive influx of refugees into developing countries has placed significant constraints on the host government’s capacities to provide social services, including education, to all. As a result, the refugee communities often find themselves deprived of their rights to education in these host countries, particularly for those who to live outside camps in urban locations. While previous research has examined the educational experiences of refugees who have resettled in developed nations, there remains a dearth of research on the educational experiences of urban refugees in developing nations. This study examines this issue through a case study of Pakistani Christian refugees living in urban settings in Thailand. Using a combination of observations within community learning centres set up by international non-government organisations (INGOs) working with these communities, and interviews with young Pakistani Christian refugees and their families, the research aims to give greater voice to the Pakistani Christian refugee community living in Thailand, and better understand their educational aspirations.Keywords: Education, Developing Countries , INGOs, Urban Refugees
Procedia PDF Downloads 1189753 Collapse Analysis of Planar Composite Frame under Impact Loads
Authors: Lian Song, Shao-Bo Kang, Bo Yang
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Concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) structure has been widely used in construction practices due to its superior performances under various loading conditions. However, limited studies are available when this type of structure is subjected to impact or explosive loads. Current methods in relevant design codes are not specific for preventing progressive collapse of CFST structures. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out numerical simulations on CFST structure under impact loads. In this study, finite element analyses are conducted on the mechanical behaviour of composite frames which composed of CFST columns and steel beams subject to impact loading. In the model, CFST columns are simulated using finite element software ABAQUS. The model is verified by test results of solid and hollow CFST columns under lateral impacts, and reasonably good agreement is obtained through comparisons. Thereafter, a multi-scale finite element modelling technique is developed to evaluate the behaviour of a five-storey three-span planar composite frame. Alternate path method and direct simulation method are adopted to perform the dynamic response of the frame when a supporting column is removed suddenly. In the former method, the reason for column removal is not considered and only the remaining frame is simulated, whereas in the latter, a specific impact load is applied to the frame to take account of the column failure induced by vehicle impact. Comparisons are made between these two methods in terms of displacement history and internal force redistribution, and design recommendations are provided for the design of CFST structures under impact loads.Keywords: planar composite frame, collapse analysis, impact loading, direct simulation method, alternate path method
Procedia PDF Downloads 5109752 Factors Determining Intention to Pursue Genetic Testing for People in Taiwan
Authors: Ju-Chun Chien
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The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion proposed that the role of health services should shift the focus from cure to prevention. Nowadays, besides having physical examinations, people could also conduct genetic tests to provide important information for diagnosing, treating, and/or preventing illnesses. However, because of the incompletion of the Chinese Genetic Database, people in Taiwan were still unfamiliar with genetic testing. The purposes of the present study were to: (1) Figure out people’s attitudes towards genetic testing. (2) Examine factors that influence people’s intention to pursue genetic testing by means of the Health Belief Model (HBM). A pilot study was conducted on 249 Taiwanese in 2017 to test the feasibility of the self-developed instrument. The reliability and construct validity of scores on the self-developed questionnaire revealed that this HBM-based questionnaire with 40 items was a well-developed instrument. A total of 542 participants were recruited and the valid participants were 535 (99%) between the ages of 20 and 86. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, two-way contingency table analysis, Pearson’s correlation, and stepwise multiple regression analysis were used in this study. The main results were that only 32 participants (6%) had already undergone genetic testing; moreover, their attitude towards genetic testing was more positive than those who did not have the experience. Compared with people who never underwent genetic tests, those who had gone for genetic testing had higher self-efficacy, greater intention to pursue genetic testing, had academic majors in health-related fields, had chronic and genetic diseases, possessed Catastrophic Illness Cards, and all of them had heard about genetic testing. The variables that best predicted people’s intention to pursue genetic testing were cues to action, self-efficacy, and perceived benefits (the three variables all correlated with one another positively at high magnitudes). To sum up, the HBM could be effective in designing and identifying the needs and priorities of the target population to pursue genetic testing.Keywords: genetic testing, knowledge of GT, people in Taiwan, the health belief model
Procedia PDF Downloads 3049751 Analyzing Temperature and Pressure Performance of a Natural Air-Circulation System
Authors: Emma S. Bowers
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Perturbations in global environments and temperatures have heightened the urgency of creating cost-efficient, energy-neutral building techniques. Structural responses to this thermal crisis have included designs (including those of the building standard PassivHaus) with airtightness, window placement, insulation, solar orientation, shading, and heat-exchange ventilators as potential solutions or interventions. Limitations in the predictability of the circulation of cooled air through the ambient temperature gradients throughout a structure are one of the major obstacles facing these enhanced building methods. A diverse range of air-cooling devices utilizing varying technologies is implemented around the world. Many of them worsen the problem of climate change by consuming energy. Using natural ventilation principles of air buoyancy and density to circulate fresh air throughout a building with no energy input can combat these obstacles. A unique prototype of an energy-neutral air-circulation system was constructed in order to investigate potential temperature and pressure gradients related to the stack effect (updraft of air through a building due to changes in air pressure). The stack effect principle maintains that since warmer air rises, it will leave an area of low pressure that cooler air will rush in to fill. The result is that warmer air will be expelled from the top of the building as cooler air is directed through the bottom, creating an updraft. Stack effect can be amplified by cooling the air near the bottom of a building and heating the air near the top. Using readily available, mostly recyclable or biodegradable materials, an insulated building module was constructed. A tri-part construction model was utilized: a subterranean earth-tube heat exchanger constructed of PVC pipe and placed in a horizontally oriented trench, an insulated, airtight cube aboveground to represent a building, and a solar chimney (painted black to increase heat in the out-going air). Pressure and temperature sensors were placed at four different heights within the module as well as outside, and data was collected for a period of 21 days. The air pressures and temperatures over the course of the experiment were compared and averaged. The promise of this design is that it represents a novel approach which directly addresses the obstacles of air flow and expense, using the physical principle of stack effect to draw a continuous supply of fresh air through the structure, using low-cost and readily available materials (and zero manufactured energy). This design serves as a model for novel approaches to creating temperature controlled buildings using zero energy and opens the door for future research into the effects of increasing module scale, increasing length and depth of the earth tube, and shading the building. (Model can be provided).Keywords: air circulation, PassivHaus, stack effect, thermal gradient
Procedia PDF Downloads 1529750 Experimental Analysis for the Inlet of the Brazilian Aerospace Vehicle 14-X B
Authors: João F. A. Martos, Felipe J. Costa, Sergio N. P. Laiton, Bruno C. Lima, Israel S. Rêgo, Paulo P. G. Toro
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Nowadays, the scramjet is a topic that has attracted the attention of several scientific communities (USA, Australia, Germany, France, Japan, India, China, Russia), that are investing in this in this type of propulsion system due its interest to facilitate access to space and reach hypersonic speed, who have invested in this type of propulsion due to the interest in facilitating access to space. The Brazilian hypersonic scramjet aerospace vehicle 14-X B is a technological demonstrator of a hypersonic airbreathing propulsion system based on the supersonic combustion (scramjet) intended to be tested in flight into the Earth's atmosphere at 30 km altitude and Mach number 7. The 14-X B has been designed at the Prof. Henry T. Nagamatsu Laboratory of Aerothermodynamics and Hypersonics of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IEAv) in Brazil. The IEAv Hypersonic Shock Tunnel, named T3, is a ground-test facility able to reproduce the flight conditions as the Mach number as well as pressure and temperature in the test section close to those encountered during the test flight of the vehicle 14-X B into design conditions. A 1-m long stainless steel 14-X B model was experimentally investigated at T3 Hypersonic Shock Tunnel, for freestream Mach number 7. Static pressure measurements along the lower surface of the 14-X B model, along with high-speed schlieren photographs taken from the 5.5° leading edge and the 14.5° deflection compression ramp, provided experimental data that were compared to the analytical-theoretical solutions and the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The results show a good qualitative agreement, and in consequence demonstrating the importance of these methods in the project of the 14-X B hypersonic aerospace vehicle.Keywords: 14-X, CFD, hypersonic, hypersonic shock tunnel, scramjet
Procedia PDF Downloads 3499749 Prototype Development of ARM-7 Based Embedded Controller for Packaging Machine
Authors: Jeelka Ray
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Survey of the papers revealed that there is no practical design available for packaging machine based on Embedded system, so the need arose for the development of the prototype model. In this paper, author has worked on the development of an ARM7 based Embedded Controller for controlling the sequence of packaging machine. The unit is made user friendly with TFT and Touch Screen implementing human machine interface (HMI). The different system components are briefly discussed, followed by a description of the overall design. The major functions which involve bag forming, sealing temperature control, fault detection, alarm, animated view on the home screen when the machine is working as per different parameters set makes the machine performance more successful. LPC2478 ARM 7 Embedded Microcontroller controls the coordination of individual control function modules. In back gone days, these machines were manufactured with mechanical fittings. Later on, the electronic system replaced them. With the help of ongoing technologies, these mechanical systems were controlled electronically using Microprocessors. These became the backbone of the system which became a cause for the updating technologies in which the control was handed over to the Microcontrollers with Servo drives for accurate positioning of the material. This helped to maintain the quality of the products. Including all, RS 485 MODBUS Communication technology is used for synchronizing AC Drive & Servo Drive. These all concepts are operated either manually or through a Graphical User Interface. Automatic tuning of heaters, sealers and their temperature is controlled using Proportional, Integral and Derivation loops. In the upcoming latest technological world, the practical implementation of the above mentioned concepts is really important to be in the user friendly environment. Real time model is implemented and tested on the actual machine and received fruitful results.Keywords: packaging machine, embedded system, ARM 7, micro controller, HMI, TFT, touch screen, PID
Procedia PDF Downloads 2669748 Top-Down, Middle-Out, Bottom-Up: A Design Approach to Transforming Prison
Authors: Roland F. Karthaus, Rachel S. O'Brien
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Over the past decade, the authors have undertaken applied research aimed at enabling transformation within the prison service to improve conditions and outcomes for those living, working and visiting in prisons in the UK and the communities they serve. The research has taken place against a context of reducing resources and public discontent at increasing levels of violence, deteriorating conditions and persistently high levels of re-offending. Top-down governmental policies have mainly been ineffectual and in some cases counter-productive. The prison service is characterised by hierarchical organisation, and the research has applied design thinking at multiple levels to challenge and precipitate change: top-down, middle-out and bottom-up. The research employs three distinct but related approaches, system design (top-down): working at the national policy level to analyse the changing policy context, identifying opportunities and challenges; engaging with the Ministry of Justice commissioners and sector organisations to facilitate debate, introducing new evidence and provoking creative thinking, place-based design (middle-out): working with individual prison establishments as pilots to illustrate and test the potential for local empowerment, creative change, and improved architecture within place-specific contexts and organisational hierarchies, everyday design (bottom-up): working with individuals in the system to explore the potential for localised, significant, demonstrator changes; including collaborative design, capacity building and empowerment in skills, employment, communication, training, and other activities. The research spans a series of projects, through which the methodological approach has developed responsively. The projects include a place-based model for the re-purposing of Ministry of Justice land assets for the purposes of rehabilitation; an evidence-based guide to improve prison design for health and well-being; capacity-based employment, skills and self-build project as a template for future open prisons. The overarching research has enabled knowledge to be developed and disseminated through policy and academic networks. Whilst the research remains live and continuing; key findings are emerging as a basis for a new methodological approach to effecting change in the UK prison service. An interdisciplinary approach is necessary to overcome the barriers between distinct areas of the prison service. Sometimes referred to as total environments, prisons encompass entire social and physical environments which themselves are orchestrated by institutional arms of government, resulting in complex systems that cannot be meaningfully engaged through narrow disciplinary lenses. A scalar approach is necessary to connect strategic policies with individual experiences and potential, through the medium of individual prison establishments, operating as discrete entities within the system. A reflexive process is necessary to connect research with action in a responsive mode, learning to adapt as the system itself is changing. The role of individuals in the system, their latent knowledge and experience and their ability to engage and become agents of change are essential. Whilst the specific characteristics of the UK prison system are unique, the approach is internationally applicable.Keywords: architecture, design, policy, prison, system, transformation
Procedia PDF Downloads 1299747 Direct Approach in Modeling Particle Breakage Using Discrete Element Method
Authors: Ebrahim Ghasemi Ardi, Ai Bing Yu, Run Yu Yang
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Current study is aimed to develop an available in-house discrete element method (DEM) code and link it with direct breakage event. So, it became possible to determine the particle breakage and then its fragments size distribution, simultaneous with DEM simulation. It directly applies the particle breakage inside the DEM computation algorithm and if any breakage happens the original particle is replaced with daughters. In this way, the calculation will be followed based on a new updated particles list which is very similar to the real grinding environment. To validate developed model, a grinding ball impacting an unconfined particle bed was simulated. Since considering an entire ball mill would be too computationally demanding, this method provided a simplified environment to test the model. Accordingly, a representative volume of the ball mill was simulated inside a box, which could emulate media (ball)–powder bed impacts in a ball mill and during particle bed impact tests. Mono, binary and ternary particle beds were simulated to determine the effects of granular composition on breakage kinetics. The results obtained from the DEM simulations showed a reduction in the specific breakage rate for coarse particles in binary mixtures. The origin of this phenomenon, commonly known as cushioning or decelerated breakage in dry milling processes, was explained by the DEM simulations. Fine particles in a particle bed increase mechanical energy loss, and reduce and distribute interparticle forces thereby inhibiting the breakage of the coarse component. On the other hand, the specific breakage rate of fine particles increased due to contacts associated with coarse particles. Such phenomenon, known as acceleration, was shown to be less significant, but should be considered in future attempts to accurately quantify non-linear breakage kinetics in the modeling of dry milling processes.Keywords: particle bed, breakage models, breakage kinetic, discrete element method
Procedia PDF Downloads 1949746 Design & Development of a Static-Thrust Test-Bench for Aviation/UAV Based Piston Engines
Authors: Syed Muhammad Basit Ali, Usama Saleem, Irtiza Ali
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Internal combustion engines have been pioneers in the aviation industry, use of piston engines for aircraft propulsion, from propeller-driven bi-planes to turbo-prop, commercial, and cargo airliners. To provide an adequate amount of thrust piston engine rotates the propeller at a specific rpm, allowing enough mass airflow. Thrust is the only forward-acting force of an aircraft that helps heavier than air bodies to fly, depending on the mathematical model and variables included in that with the correct measurement. Test-benches have been a bench-mark in the aerospace industry to analyse the results before a flight, having paramount significance in reliability and safety engineering, depending on the mathematical model and variables included in that with the correct measurement. Calculation of thrust from a piston engine also depends on environmental changes, the diameter of the propeller, and the density of air. The project would be centered on piston engines used in the aviation industry for light aircraft and UAVs. A static thrust test bench involves various units, each performing a designed purpose to monitor and display. Static thrust tests are performed on the ground, and safety concerns hold paramount importance. The execution of this study involves research, design, manufacturing, and results based on reverse engineering initiating from virtual design, analytical analysis, and simulations. The final evaluation of results gathered from various methods such as co-relation between conventional mass-spring and digital loadcell. On average, we received 17.5kg of thrust (25+ engine run-ups – around 40 hours of engine run), only 10% deviation from analytically calculated thrust –providing 90% accuracy.Keywords: aviation, aeronautics, static thrust, test bench, aircraft maintenance
Procedia PDF Downloads 3919745 Knowledge and Attitude: Challenges for Continuing Education in Health
Authors: André M. Senna, Mary L. G. S. Senna, Rosa M. Machado-de-Sena
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One of the great challenges presented in educational practice is how to ensure the students not only acquire knowledge of training courses throughout their academic life, but also how to apply it in their current professional activities. Consequently, aiming to incite changes in the education system of healthcare professionals noticed the inadequacy of the training providers to solve the social problems related to health, the education related to these procedures should initiate in the earliest years of process. Following that idea, there is another question that needs an answer: If the change in the education should start sooner, in the period of basic training of healthcare professionals, what guidelines should a permanent education program incorporate to promote changes in an already established system? For this reason, the objective of this paper is to present different views of the teaching-learning process, with the purpose of better understanding the behavior adopted by healthcare professionals, through bibliographic study. The conclusion was that more than imparting knowledge to the individual, a larger approach is necessary on permanent education programs concerning the performance of professional health services in order to foment significant changes in education.Keywords: Health Education, continuing education, training, behavior
Procedia PDF Downloads 2599744 Smallholder Farmers’ Adaptation Strategies and Socioeconomic Determinants of Climate Variability in Boset District, Oromia, Ethiopia
Authors: Hurgesa Hundera, Samuel Shibeshibikeko, Tarike Daba, Tesfaye Ganamo
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The study aimed at examining the ongoing adaptation strategies used by smallholder farmers in response to climate variability in Boset district. It also assessed the socioeconomic factors that influence the choice of adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers to climate variability risk. For attaining the objectives of the study, both primary and secondary sources of data were employed. The primary data were obtained through a household questionnaire, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and observations, while secondary data were acquired through desk review. Questionnaires were distributed and filled by 328 respondents, and they were identified through systematic random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression model were applied in this study as the main analytical methods. The findings of the study reveal that the sample households have utilized multiple adaptation strategies in response to climate variability, such as cropping early mature crops, planting drought resistant crops, growing mixed crops on the same farm lands, and others. The results of the binary logistic model revealed that education, sex, age, family size, off farm income, farm experience, access to climate information, access to farm input, and farm size were significant and key factors determining farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies to climate variability in the study area. To enable effective adaptation measures, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resource, with its regional bureaus and offices and concerned non–governmental organizations, should consider climate variability in their planning and budgeting in all levels of decision making.Keywords: adaptation strategies, boset district, climate variability, smallholder farmers
Procedia PDF Downloads 839743 Commercialization of Smallholder Rice Producers and Its Determinants in Ethiopia
Authors: Abebaw Assaye, Seiichi Sakurai, Marutama Atsush, Dawit Alemu
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Rice is considered as a strategic agricultural commodity targeting national food security and import substitution in Ethiopia and diverse measures are put in place a number of initiatives to ensure the growth and development of rice sector in the country. This study assessed factors that influence smallholder farmers' level of rice commercialization in Ethiopia. The required data were generated from 594 randomly sampled rice producers using multi-stage sampling techniques from four major rice-producing regional states. Both descriptive and econometric methods were used to analyze the data. We adopted the ordered probit model to analyze factors determining output commercialization in the rice market. The ordered probit model result showed that the sex of the household head, educational status of the household head, credit use, proportion of irrigated land cultivated, membership in social groups, and land dedicated to rice production were found to influence significantly and positively the probability of being commercial-oriented. Conversely, the age of the household, total cultivated land, and distance to the main market were found to influence negatively. These findings suggest that promoting productivity-increasing technologies, development of irrigation facilities, strengthening of social institutions, and facilitating access to credit are crucial for enhancing the commercialization of rice in the study area. Since agricultural lands are limited, intensified farming through promoting improved rice technologies and mechanized farming could be an option to enhance marketable surplus and increase level of rice market particicpation.Keywords: rice, commercialization, Tobit, ordered probit, Ethiopia
Procedia PDF Downloads 769742 Model Evaluation of Thermal Effects Created by Cell Membrane Electroporation
Authors: Jiahui Song
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The use of very high electric fields (~ 100kV/cm or higher) with pulse durations in the nanosecond range has been a recent development. The electric pulses have been used as tools to generate electroporation which has many biomedical applications. Most of the studies of electroporation have ignored possible thermal effects because of the small duration of the applied voltage pulses. However, it has been predicted membrane temperature gradients ranging from 0.2×109 to 109 K/m. This research focuses on thermal gradients that drives for electroporative enhancements, even though the actual temperature values might not have changed appreciably from their equilibrium levels. The dynamics of pore formation with the application of an externally applied electric field is studied on the basis of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using the GROMACS package. Different temperatures are assigned to various regions to simulate the appropriate temperature gradients. The GROMACS provides the force fields for the lipid membranes, which is taken to comprise of dipalmitoyl-phosphatidyl-choline (DPPC) molecules. The water model mimicks the aqueous environment surrounding the membrane. Velocities of water and membrane molecules are generated randomly at each simulation run according to a Maxwellian distribution. For statistical significance, a total of eight MD simulations are carried out with different starting molecular velocities for each simulation. MD simulation shows no pore is formed in a 10-ns snapshot for a DPPC membrane set at a uniform temperature of 295 K after a 0.4 V/nm electric field is applied. A nano-sized pore is clearly seen in a 10-ns snapshot on the same geometry but with the top and bottom membrane surfaces kept at temperatures of 300 and 295 K, respectively. For the same applied electric field, the formation of nanopores is clearly demonstrated, but only in the presence of a temperature gradient. MD simulation results show enhanced electroporative effects arising from thermal gradients. The study suggests the temperature gradient is a secondary driver, with the electric field being the primary cause for electroporation.Keywords: nanosecond, electroporation, thermal effects, molecular dynamics
Procedia PDF Downloads 749741 Water Re-Use Optimization in a Sugar Platform Biorefinery Using Municipal Solid Waste
Authors: Leo Paul Vaurs, Sonia Heaven, Charles Banks
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Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a virtually unlimited source of lignocellulosic material in the form of a waste paper/cardboard mixture which can be converted into fermentable sugars via cellulolytic enzyme hydrolysis in a biorefinery. The extraction of the lignocellulosic fraction and its preparation, however, are energy and water demanding processes. The waste water generated is a rich organic liquor with a high Chemical Oxygen Demand that can be partially cleaned while generating biogas in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket bioreactor and be further re-used in the process. In this work, an experiment was designed to determine the critical contaminant concentrations in water affecting either anaerobic digestion or enzymatic hydrolysis by simulating multiple water re-circulations. It was found that re-using more than 16.5 times the same water could decrease the hydrolysis yield by up to 65 % and led to a complete granules desegregation. Due to the complexity of the water stream, the contaminant(s) responsible for the performance decrease could not be identified but it was suspected to be caused by sodium, potassium, lipid accumulation for the anaerobic digestion (AD) process and heavy metal build-up for enzymatic hydrolysis. The experimental data were incorporated into a Water Pinch technology based model that was used to optimize the water re-utilization in the modelled system to reduce fresh water requirement and wastewater generation while ensuring all processes performed at optimal level. Multiple scenarios were modelled in which sub-process requirements were evaluated in term of importance, operational costs and impact on the CAPEX. The best compromise between water usage, AD and enzymatic hydrolysis yield was determined for each assumed contaminant degradations by anaerobic granules. Results from the model will be used to build the first MSW based biorefinery in the USA.Keywords: anaerobic digestion, enzymatic hydrolysis, municipal solid waste, water optimization
Procedia PDF Downloads 3139740 Sensitivity Analysis and Solitary Wave Solutions to the (2+1)-Dimensional Boussinesq Equation in Dispersive Media
Authors: Naila Nasreen, Dianchen Lu
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This paper explores the dynamical behavior of the (2+1)-dimensional Boussinesq equation, which is a nonlinear water wave equation and is used to model wave packets in dispersive media with weak nonlinearity. This equation depicts how long wave made in shallow water propagates due to the influence of gravity. The (2+1)- dimensional Boussinesq equation combines the two-way propagation of the classical Boussinesq equation with the dependence on a second spatial variable, as that occurs in the two-dimensional Kadomstev- Petviashvili equation. This equation provides a description of head- on collision of oblique waves and it possesses some interesting properties. The governing model is discussed by the assistance of Ricatti equation mapping method, a relatively integration tool. The solutions have been extracted in different forms the solitary wave solutions as well as hyperbolic and periodic solutions. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis is demonstrated for the designed dynamical structural system’s wave profiles, where the soliton wave velocity and wave number parameters regulate the water wave singularity. In addition to being helpful for elucidating nonlinear partial differential equations, the method in use gives previously extracted solutions and extracts fresh exact solutions. Assuming the right values for the parameters, various graph in different shapes are sketched to provide information about the visual format of the earned results. This paper’s findings support the efficacy of the approach taken in enhancing nonlinear dynamical behavior. We believe this research will be of interest to a wide variety of engineers that work with engineering models. Findings show the effectiveness simplicity, and generalizability of the chosen computational approach, even when applied to complicated systems in a variety of fields, especially in ocean engineering.Keywords: (2+1)-dimensional Boussinesq equation, solitary wave solutions, Ricatti equation mapping approach, nonlinear phenomena
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