Search results for: triangular fuzzy number (TFN)

Authors: Ani Bajrami

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The birth of traditional medicine is related to plant diversity in a region, and the knowledge regarding them has been used and culturally transmitted over generations by members of a certain society. In this context, Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) concerning the use of plants for medicinal purposes had survival value and was adaptive for people living in different habitats around the world. Albanian flora has a high considerably number of medicinal plants, and they have been extensively used albeit expressed in folk medicinal knowledge and practices. Over the past decades, a number of ethnobotanical studies and extensive fieldwork has been conducted in Albania both by local and foreign scientists. In addition, ethnobotany is experiencing a theoretical and conceptual diversification. This article is a historical review of ethnobotanical studies conducted in Albania after the Second World War and provides theoretical considerations on how these studies should be conducted in the future.

Keywords: medicinal plants, traditional ecological knowledge, historical ethnobotany, theory, albania

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Wenjie Qin, Kewei Lv

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In 1996, Boneh and Venkatesan proposed the Hidden Number Problem (HNP) and proved the most significant bits (MSB) of computational Diffie-Hellman key exchange scheme and related schemes are unpredictable bits. They also gave a method which is a lattice rounding technique to solve HNP in non-uniform model. In this paper, we put forward a new concept that is Schnorr-MSB-HNP. We also reduce the problem of solving Schnorr signature private key with a few consecutive most significant bits of random nonce (used at each signature generation) to Schnorr-MSB-HNP, then we use the rounding technique to solve the Schnorr-MSB-HNP. We have come to the conclusion that if there is a ‘miraculous box’ which inputs the random nonce and outputs 2loglogq (q is a prime number) most significant bits of nonce, the signature private key will be obtained by choosing 2logq signature messages randomly. Thus we get an attack on the Schnorr signature private key.

Keywords: rounding technique, most significant bits, Schnorr signature algorithm, nonce, Schnorr-MSB-HNP

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Authors: Paul Buchana, Patrick E. Mc Sharry

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In 2017 there will be about 38 wind farms in the North Sea belonging to 5 different countries. The North Sea is ideal for offshore wind power generation and is thus attractive to offshore wind energy developers and investors. With concerns about the potential for offshore wind turbines to sustain substantial damage as a result of extreme weather conditions, particularly windstorms, this poses a unique challenge to insurers and reinsurers as to adequately quantify the risk and offer appropriate insurance cover for these assets. The need to manage this risk also concerns regulators, who provide the oversight needed to ensure that if a windstorm or a series of storms occur in this area over a one-year time frame, the insurers of these assets in the EU remain solvent even after meeting consequent damage costs. In this paper, using available European windstorm data for the past 33 years and actual wind farm locations together with information pertaining to each of the wind farms (number of turbines, total capacity and financial value), we present a Monte Carlo simulation approach to assess the number of turbines that would be buckled in each of the wind farms using maximum wind speeds reaching each of them. These wind speeds are drawn from historical windstorm data. From the number of turbines buckled, associated financial loss and output capacity can be deduced. The results presented in this paper are targeted towards offshore wind energy developers, insurance and reinsurance companies and regulators.

Keywords: catastrophe modeling, North Sea wind farms, offshore wind power, risk analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Hari Pulapaka

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This paper defines and develops the notion of a traceability index for food and may be used by any consumer (restaurant, distributor, average consumer etc.). The concept is then extended to a region's food system as a way to measure how well a regional food system utilizes its own bounty or at least, is connected to its food sources. With increasing emphases on the sustainability of aspects of regional and ultimately, the global food system, it is reasonable to accept that if we know how close (in relative terms) an end-user of a set of ingredients (as they traverse through the maze of supply chains) is from the sources, we may be better equipped to evaluate the quality of the set as measured by any number of qualitative and quantitative criteria. We propose a mathematical model which may be adapted to a number of contexts and sizes. Two hypothetical cases of different scope are presented which highlight how the model works as an evaluator of steps between an end-user and the source(s) of the ingredients they consume. The variables in the model are flexible enough to be adapted to other applications beyond food systems.

Keywords: food, traceability, supply chain, mathematical model

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: Najla Althuniyan

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Online discussions take place across different platforms. These discussions have the potential to extract crowd wisdom and capture the collective intelligence from a different perspective. However, certain phenomena, such as controversy, often appear in online argumentation that makes the discussion between participants heated. Heated discussions can be used to extract new knowledge. Therefore, detecting the presence of controversy is an essential task to determine if collective intelligence can be extracted from online discussions. This paper uses existing measures for estimating controversy quantitatively in cyber-argumentation. First, it defines controversy in different fields, and then it identifies the attributes of controversy in online discussions. The distributions of user opinions and the distance between opinions are used to calculate the controversial degree of a discussion. Finally, the results from each controversy measure are discussed and analyzed using an empirical study generated by a cyber-argumentation tool. This is an improvement over the existing measurements because it does not require ground-truth data or specific settings and can be adapted to distribution-based or distance-based opinions.

Keywords: online argumentation, controversy, collective intelligence, agreement analysis, collaborative decision-making, fuzzy logic

Procedia PDF Downloads 107

Authors: Eisa Y. Adam, Anas A. Fadlelmula, Ali E. Ali

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Sorghum head bug is a key insect pest of sorghum, and it is important to pay attention to the peak time of the pest abundance. The objective of this study was to study the effect of planting date on head bugs population. Field experiment was conducted during 2007/08 – 2008/09 and 2013/14 - 2014/15 cropping seasons at the Damazine Research Station Farm, Blue Nile State to determine sorghum head bugs incidence and abundance through the sowing date. Different sowing dates (early, mid and late sowing) and a susceptible sorghum variety known as Wad Ahmed variety were used the experiment. The experimental design used was randomized complete block design (RCBD). Data were collected on the number of head bug adults and nymphs/panicle, damage percent, coloration and a puncture due to bug feeding and oviposition, 1000 seeds weight and yield. The results showed that significantly (P<0.05) higher number of bugs and damage percent were recorded on the late sowing date for the four seasons followed by the mid sowing, while the early sowing gave low number of bugs, damage percent and high1000 weight. There were significant differences between protected and unprotected heads. The late sowing (August) is a critical sorghum planting time because it coincided with highest numbers of the head bugs.

Keywords: abundance, damage, headbugs, panicle

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: Sandeep Santosh, O. P. Sahu

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We simulate an efficient multiple wideband and nonstationary source localization algorithm by exploiting both the non-stationarity of the signals and the array geometric information.This algorithm is based on joint diagonalization structure (JDS) of a set of short time power spectrum matrices at different time instants of each frequency bin. JDS can be used for quick and accurate multiple non-stationary source localization. The JDS algorithm is a one stage process i.e it directly searches the Direction of arrivals (DOAs) over the continuous location parameter space. The JDS method requires that the number of sensors is not less than the number of sources. By observing the simulation results, one can conclude that the JDS method can localize two sources when their difference is not less than 7 degree but the Wideband MUSIC is able to localize two sources for difference of 18 degree.

Keywords: joint diagonalization structure (JDS), wideband direction of arrival (DOA), wideband MUSIC

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Authors: Jongchul Park, Chan Byon

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In this study, the thermal performance of radial heat sinks for LED applications is investigated numerically and experimentally. The effect of geometrical parameters such as inner radius, fin height, fin length, and fin spacing, as well as the Elenbaas number, is considered. In addition, the effects of augmentation of concentric ring, perforation, and duct are extensively explored in order to enhance the thermal performance of conventional radial heat sink. The results indicate that the Elenbaas number and the fin radius have a significant effect on the thermal performance of the heat sink. The concentric ring affects the performance much, but the degree of affection is highly dependent on the orientation. The perforation always brings about higher thermal performance. The duct can effectively prevent the bypass of the natural convection flow, which in turn reduces the thermal resistance of the radial heat sink significantly.

Keywords: heat transfer, radial heat sink, LED, Elenbaas

Procedia PDF Downloads 390

Authors: Nour-Elhouda Lecheheb

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Despite substantial tourism potentials, the Algerian tourism industry has faced a number of challenges, including the government heavy dependence on the energy sector, negative perception in the West, and a lack of effective resource management and marketing. This paper attempts to discuss the challenges hindering the development of the Algerian tourism industry from the perspective of the official tourism suppliers in Algeria both in the public and private sectors. A total of 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted during a field-trip to Algiers, Algeria, in September 2019. From the analysis of the interviews, it is evident that the Algerian tourism suppliers face a number of challenges mainly the country’s negative image in the West and a significant lack of political and financial support to contest this negative image effectively and sufficiently.

Keywords: Algerian tourism, destination development, destination image, tourism suppliers

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: M. Kharroubi, Y. Rady, F. Bellali, S. Himmi

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The global objective of this study is to upgrade the sardine oil processed in Morocco by using enzymatic solutions. The specific objective of this part of study is to optimize the various parameters involved in enzymatic deacidification of fish oil processed in Morocco: pressure, ratio of oil/novozymes 435, ratio of oil/glycerol, temperature. The best deacidification yields were obtained with: -A temperature of 70 °C; -A ratio -Oil/Glycerol: 2% (% P); -A ratio -Oil/Novozyme 435: 1% (% P); -A pressure: 15 to 25 mbar. On the other hand, the study of the effect of initial oil acidity showed that whatever the acidity of the oil studied (very acidic, or low acidic), the final yields are high. Acidity does not reduce the reaction efficiency. From an industrial point of view, this represents a competitive advantage to consider. This eco-friend enzymatic solution may allows Moroccan fish oil producers to achieve acid number values that meet the standard.

Keywords: sardine oil, enzymatic esterfication, desacidification, acid number

Procedia PDF Downloads 371

Authors: Bingxi Huang, Yiqing Li, Marek Morzynski, Bernd R. Noack

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We propose a Kriging-based global optimization method for active flow control with multiple actuation parameters. This method is designed to converge quickly and avoid getting trapped into local minima. We follow the model-free explorative gradient method (EGM) to alternate between explorative and exploitive steps. This facilitates a convergence similar to a gradient-based method and the parallel exploration of potentially better minima. In contrast to EGM, both kinds of steps are performed with Kriging surrogate model from the available data. The explorative step maximizes the expected improvement, i.e., favors regions of large uncertainty. The exploitive step identifies the best location of the cost function from the Kriging surrogate model for a subsequent weight-biased linear-gradient descent search method. To verify the effectiveness and robustness of the improved Kriging-based optimization method, we have examined several comparative test problems of varying dimensions with limited evaluation budgets. The results show that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms some model-free optimization algorithms like genetic algorithm and differential evolution algorithm with a quicker convergence for a given budget. We have also performed direct numerical simulations of the fluidic pinball (N. Deng et al. 2020 J. Fluid Mech.) on three circular cylinders in equilateral-triangular arrangement immersed in an incoming flow at Re=100. The optimal cylinder rotations lead to 44.0% net drag power saving with 85.8% drag reduction and 41.8% actuation power. The optimal results for active flow control based on this configuration have achieved boat-tailing mechanism by employing Coanda forcing and wake stabilization by delaying separation and minimizing the wake region.

Keywords: direct numerical simulations, flow control, kriging, stochastic optimization, wake stabilization

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Authors: Zhidong Zhang, Zhi-Chao Zhang, Georgianna Duarte

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The social problems of early adolescents in Northeast China were examined with the instrument of Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA). In this study, the data consisted of 2532 early adolescents. The relevant variables such as sports activities, hobbies, chores and the number of close friends, as independent variables have been included in this study. The stratified sampling method was used to collect data from 2532 participants. The analysis results indicated that sports activities, hobbies, chores and the number of close friends, as predictors can be used in a predictive model, which significantly predict the social problem T-score.

Keywords: social problems, ASEBA, early adolescents, predictive Model

Procedia PDF Downloads 330

Authors: Yafri Hazbi, Zaenal Bachruddin, Nafiatul Umami, Lies Mira Yusiati

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The objective of this study was to identify the benefits of total mixture concentrate based on tofu waste silage (TMC-TWS) as ration containing lactic acid bacteria on performance of lambs. Fifteen weaning lambs (2-3 months old) were randomly divided into two treatment groups, treatment group I (TI) was fed with TMC-TWS as ration and treatment group II (TII) was fed with TMC-TWS fresh (without silage fermentation). The performance of lambs was evaluated on day 0, 15, and 30 to have data of body weight per day. Meanwhile, blood sampling and feces were made on the 30th day to get an analysis on the blood profile (erythrocytes (mill/ml), hemoglobin (g/dL), packed cell volume (%), and leukocytes (mill/ml)) and the number of worm eggs in feces. The results of this study showed no significant difference between the effect of different feed on the blood profile (erythrocytes (mill/ml), hemoglobin (g/dL), packed cell volume (%), as well as the number of worm eggs in the feces. However the results showed significant differences if it is low (P<0.05) due to the treatment group based on sex on body weight gain per day, feed conversion rate and the number of erythrocytes.

Keywords: lambs, total mixture concentrate, silage, acid lactid bacteria, blood profile, eggs worm in feces

Procedia PDF Downloads 162

Authors: Shiuh-Jer Huang, Su-Shean Chen, Sheam-Chyun Lin

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Two-wheel inverted pendulum robot (TWIPR) is designed with two-hub DC motors for human riding and motion control evaluation. In order to measure the tilt angle and angular velocity of the inverted pendulum robot, accelerometer and gyroscope sensors are chosen. The mobile robot’s moving position and velocity were estimated based on DC motor built in hall sensors. The control kernel of this electric mobile robot is designed with embedded Arduino Nano microprocessor. A handle bar was designed to work as steering mechanism. The intelligent model-free fuzzy sliding mode control (FSMC) was employed as the main control algorithm for this mobile robot motion monitoring with different control purpose adjustment. The intelligent controllers were designed for balance control, and moving speed control purposes of this robot under different operation conditions and the control performance were evaluated based on experimental results.

Keywords: balance control, speed control, intelligent controller, two wheel inverted pendulum

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Authors: Leila Angélica de O. Castro, Thiago R. Pereira

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The number of refugees currently is alarming, having overcome the numbers of World War II. The objective of this research will be to examine this refugee crisis the light of the main contemporary ethical theories, mainly by analyzing whether there is an ethical obligation to assist these refugees. Among the many existing theories like virtue ethics, Kantian ethics, utilitarian ethics, ethical egoism and psychological egoism, will be the ethical theories used to analyze the current refugee crisis. The ethics of virtue is the oldest of theories, an action can be considered correct if we are acting virtuously if we predisposition to act that virtuously, where the goal is always the eudaimonia, a good life, a happy life. The Kantian ethics of the works of the philosopher Immanuel Kant, where we apply the hypothetical and categorical imperatives to find universal truths, actions that we consider to be universally correct. Utilitarian ethics believes that action will be considered as correct to bring happiness to the greatest possible number of people, even if they somehow have to bring unhappiness to any number of people. Ethical egoism should be concerned first with our individual happiness, and then we can worry about the happiness of others, so long as it causes us some happiness. Thus, action is correct since it is causing us a greater degree of happiness than unhappiness. Finally, the psychological egoism does not seek to determine whether an action is right or not, but claims that all our actions, even if they seem altruistic, actually has another motivation, which will always be a selfish motivation, that is, concerned with the our well-being. From these initial concepts, the issue of refugees, especially the question of whether states and their citizens have or not any ethical obligation to help them and receive them in their territories will be analyzed .

Keywords: refugees, ethics, obligation to help, contemporary theories

Procedia PDF Downloads 350

Authors: Etleva Hamzaraj, Eva Kica, Anila Paparisto, Pranvera Lazo

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Worldwide demographic developments of recent decades have been associated with negative environmental consequences. For this reason, there is a growing interest in assessing the state of natural ecosystems or assessing human impact on them. In this respect, this study aims to evaluate the change in water quality of the Mat River for a period of about ten years to highlight human impact. In one year, period of study, several biological and environmental parameters are determined to evaluate river water quality, and the data collected are compared with those of a similar study in 2007. Samples are collected every month in five stations evenly distributed along the river. Total coliform bacteria, the number of heterotrophic bacteria in water, and benthic macroinvertebrates are used as biological parameters of water quality. The most probable number index is used for evaluation of total coliform bacteria in water, while the number of heterotrophic bacteria is determined by counting colonies on plates with Plate Count Agar, cultivated with 0.1 ml sample after series dilutions. Benthic macroinvertebrates are analyzed by the number of individuals per taxa, the value of biotic index, EPT Richness Index value and tolerance value. Environmental parameters like pH, temperature, and electrical conductivity are measured onsite. As expected, the bacterial load was higher near urban areas, and the pollution increased with the course of the river. The maximum concentration of fecal coliforms was 1100 MPN/100 ml in summer and near the most urbanized area of the river. The data collected during this study show that after about ten years, there is a change in water quality of Mat River. According to a similar study carried out in 2007, the water of Mat River was of ‘excellent’ quality. But, according to this study, the water was classified as of ‘excellent’ quality only in one sampling site, near river source, while in all other stations was of ‘good’ quality. This result is based on biological and environmental parameters measured. The human impact on the quality of water of Mat River is more than evident.

Keywords: water quality, coliform bacteria, MPN index, benthic macroinvertebrates, biotic index

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Authors: Branimir Jurun, Elza Jurun

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Focus of this paper is description and functioning manner of the instrument for wave pressure metering. Moreover, an essential component of this paper is the proposal of a metering unit for the direct wave pressure measurement determined by the shape and surface of the instrument including the number of sensors and angle between them. Namely, far applied instruments by means of height, length, direction, wave time period and other components determine wave pressure on a particular area. This instrument, allows the direct measurement i.e. measurement without additional calculation, of the wave pressure expressed in a standardized unit of measure. That way the instrument has a standardized form, surface, number of sensors and the angle between them. In addition, it is made with the status that follows the wave and always is on the water surface. Database quality which is listed by the instrument is made possible by using the Arduino chip. This chip is programmed for receiving by two data from each of the sensors each second. From these data by a pre-defined manner a unique representative value is estimated. By this procedure all relevant wave pressure measurement results are directly and immediately registered. Final goal of establishing such a rich database is a comprehensive statistical analysis that ranges from multi-criteria analysis across different modeling and parameters testing to hypothesis accepting relating to the widest variety of man-made activities such as filling of beaches, security cages for aquaculture, bridges construction.

Keywords: instrument, metering, water, waves

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: Mimoza Canga, Irene Malagnino, Vergjini Mulo, Alketa Qafmolla, Vito Antonio Malagnino

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Background: Dental caries is the most common dental disease and pregnancy represents a special process of physical, hormonal and metabolic changes in pregnant women, which is accompanied by an imbalance in the oral cavity. Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate caries reduction after dental visits, the scaling of teeth, fluoridated water, brushing of the teeth and using fluoride toothpaste before and during pregnancy. Materials and methods: This study was conducted in the time period March 2018- September 2021, the age range of the participants was: 18-41 years old. The sample taken under observation was composed of 84 pregnant women. The questionnaire included the demographic characteristics of the sample, such as age, women's education level was primary, secondary, and higher education. Based on women's education level, our analysis found that 25.9% of pregnant women had completed primary education, 35.2% of them had secondary education and 38.9% of pregnant women had higher education. The descriptive and analytical research analysis is formulated as a longitudinal study. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0. The significance level (α) was set at 0.05, whereas P-value and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. Results: In the present study, it was observed that there is a strong relationship between dental visits and the scaling of the teeth with the value of P˂ .0001. While the number of teeth with caries before pregnancy and fluoridated water have a P-value=0.002. If we compare the same factor with the number of teeth with dental caries during pregnancy, the correlation is P-value = 0.0001. The number of teeth with caries before pregnancy and carbohydrates consumption has a strong relation with P-value=0.05. According to the present research, the number of teeth with dental caries before pregnancy in relation to brushing the teeth has a P-value ˂ 0.05. Furthermore, in the actual research, it was established that using fluoride toothpaste doesn’t affect the number of teeth with caries before pregnancy with a P-value= .314. Conclusion: According to the results of the present study performed in Albania, it was found out that the periodical dental visits, scaling of the teeth, fluoridated water, brushing of the teeth influenced caries reduction before and during pregnancy. In comparison, the usage of fluoride toothpaste did not have any effect on dental caries reduction in the same time period. The recommendations are as follows: maintaining oral hygiene, using fluoridated water and brushing the teeth regularly. Healthcare providers should inform pregnant women about the importance of oral health and the implementation of measures to manage dental caries.

Keywords: brushing of the teeth, dental visits, dental scaling, fluoridated water, pregnancy

Procedia PDF Downloads 172

Authors: Helen Frialde-Dupale

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Critical thinking Index (CTI) of 150 third year college students from five State Colleges and Universities (SUCs) in Region I were determined. Only students with Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 2.0 from four general classification of degree courses, namely: Education, Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Agriculture were included. Specific problem No.1 dealt with the profile variables, namely: age, sex, degree course, monthly family income, number of siblings, high school graduated from, grade point average, personality type, highest educational attainment of parents, and occupation of parents. Problem No. 2 determined the critical thinking index among the respondents. Problem No. 3 investigated whether or not there are significant differences in the critical thinking index among the respondents across the profile variables. While problem No.4 determined whether or not there are significant relationship between the critical thinking index and selected profile variables, namely: age, monthly family income, number of siblings, and grade point average of the respondents. Finally, on problem No. 5, the critical thinking instrument which obtained the lowest rates, were used as basis for outlining an intervention program for enhancing critical thinking index (CTI) of students. The following null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance: there are no significant differences in the critical thinking index of the third college students across the profile variables; there are no significant relationships between the critical thinking index of the respondents and selected variables, namely: age, monthly family income, number of siblings, and grade point average.

Keywords: attitude as critical thinker, critical thinking applied, critical thinking index, self-perception as critical thinker

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Authors: Horea-Serban Raluca-Ioana, Istrate Marinela

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The first part of the paper analyzes the dynamics of the total fertility rate both at the national and regional level, pointing out the regional disparities in the distribution of this indicator. At the same time, we also focus on the collapse of the number of live births, on the changes in the fertility rate by birth rank, as well as on the failure of acquiring the desired number of children. The second part of the study centres upon a survey applied to urban families with 3 and more than 3 offspring. The preliminary analysis highlights the fact that an increased fertility (more than 3rd rank) is triggered by the parents’ above the average material condition and superior education. The current situation of Romania, which is still passing through a period of relatively rapid demographic changes, marked by numerous convulsions, requires a new approach, in compliance with the recent interpretations appropriate to a new post-transitional demographic regime.

Keywords: fertility rate, family size intention, third birth rank, regional disparities

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Authors: K. Roushanger, A. Soleymanzadeh

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Weirs are structures often used in irrigation techniques, sewer networks and flood protection. However, the hydraulic behavior of this type of weir is complex and difficult to predict accurately. An accurate flow prediction over a weir mainly depends on the proper estimation of discharge coefficient. In this study, the Genetic Expression Programming (GEP) approach was used for predicting trapezoidal and rectangular sharp-crested side weirs discharge coefficient. Three different performance indexes are used as comparing criteria for the evaluation of the model’s performances. The obtained results approved capability of GEP in prediction of trapezoidal and rectangular side weirs discharge coefficient. The results also revealed the influence of downstream Froude number for trapezoidal weir and upstream Froude number for rectangular weir in prediction of the discharge coefficient for both of side weirs.

Keywords: discharge coefficient, genetic expression programming, trapezoidal weir

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Authors: E. Tandis, E. Assareh

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Designing the optimal shape of MW wind turbine blades is provided in a number of cases through evolutionary algorithms associated with mathematical modeling (Blade Element Momentum Theory). Evolutionary algorithms, among the optimization methods, enjoy many advantages, particularly in stability. However, they usually need a large number of function evaluations. Since there are a large number of local extremes, the optimization method has to find the global extreme accurately. The present paper introduces a new population-based hybrid algorithm called Genetic-Based Bees Algorithm (GBBA). This algorithm is meant to design the optimal shape for MW wind turbine blades. The current method employs crossover and neighborhood searching operators taken from the respective Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Bees Algorithm (BA) to provide a method with good performance in accuracy and speed convergence. Different blade designs, twenty-one to be exact, were considered based on the chord length, twist angle and tip speed ratio using GA results. They were compared with BA and GBBA optimum design results targeting the power coefficient and solidity. The results suggest that the final shape, obtained by the proposed hybrid algorithm, performs better compared to either BA or GA. Furthermore, the accuracy and speed convergence increases when the GBBA is employed

Keywords: Blade Design, Optimization, Genetic Algorithm, Bees Algorithm, Genetic-Based Bees Algorithm, Large Wind Turbine

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Authors: Hamed Saremi, Suzan Taghavy, Seyed Mohammad Hanif Sanjari, Mostafa Kahali

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One of the challenges in manufacturing and service companies to provide a product or service is recognized Brand to consumers in target markets. They provide most of their processes under the same capacity. But the constant threat of devastating internal and external resources to prevent a rise Brands and more companies are recognizing the stages are bankrupt. This paper has tried to identify and analyze effective indicators of brand equity and focuses on indicators and presents a model of intelligent create a model to prevent possible damage. In this study, the identified indicators of brand equity are based on literature study and according to expert opinions, set of indicators By techniques DEMATEL Then to used Multi-Step Adaptive Neural-Fuzzy Inference system (ANFIS) to design a multi-stage intelligent system for assessment of brand equity.

Keywords: brand, cosmetic product, ANFIS, DEMATEL

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Authors: Thamer Alshuwaili, Yonglin Ren, Bob Du, Manjree Agarwal

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The warehouse beetle, Trogoderma variabile Ballion (Coleoptera: Dermestidae), is a major pest of packaged and processed stored products. Warehouse beetle is the common name which was given by Okumura (1972). This pest has been reported to infest 119 different commodities, and it is distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical parts of the world. Also, it is difficult to control because of the insect's ability to stay without food for long times, and it can survive for years under dry conditions and low-moisture food, and it has also developed resistance to many insecticides. The young larvae of these insects can cause damage to seeds, but older larvae prefer to feed on whole grains. The percentage of damage caused by these insects range between 30-70% in the storage. T. variabile is the species most responsible for causing significant damage in grain stores worldwide. Trogoderma spp. is a huge problem for cereal grains, and there are many countries, such as the USA, Australia, China, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania who have specific quarantine regulations against possible importation. Also, grain stocks can be almost completely destroyed because of the massive populations the insect may develop. However, the purpose of the current research was to optimize conditions to collect volatile organic compound from Trogoderma variabile at different life stages by using headspace solid phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and flame ionization detection (FID). Using SPME technique to extract volatile from insects is an efficient, straightforward and nondestructive method. Result of the study shows that 15 insects were optimal number for larvae and adults. Selection of the number of insects depend on the height of the peak area and the number of peaks. Sixteen hours were optimized as the best extraction time for larvae and 8 hours was the optimal number of adults.

Keywords: Trogoderma variabile, warehouse beetle , GC-MS, Solid phase microextraction

Procedia PDF Downloads 110

Authors: M. F. F. Ab Rashid, A. N. Mohd Rose, N. M. Z. Nik Mohamed, W. S. Wan Harun, S. A. Che Ghani

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Traveling salesman problem with precedence constraint (TSPPC) is one of the most complex problems in combinatorial optimization. The existing algorithms to solve TSPPC cost large computational time to find the optimal solution. The purpose of this paper is to present an efficient genetic algorithm that guarantees optimal solution with less number of generations and iterations time. Unlike the existing algorithm that generates priority factor as chromosome, the proposed algorithm directly generates sequence of solution as chromosome. As a result, the proposed algorithm is capable of generating optimal solution with smaller number of generations and iteration time compare to existing algorithm.

Keywords: traveling salesman problem, sequencing, genetic algorithm, precedence constraint

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Authors: Victoria Bila, Iryna Ventskivska, Oleksandra Zahorodnia

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The goal of the study: To study the distribution of patients of the Kiyv Perinatal Center according to the Robson system and compare it with world data. Materials and methods: a comparison of the distribution of patients of Kiyv Perinatal center according to the Robson system for 2 periods - the first quarter of 2019 and 2020. For each group, 3 indicators were analyzed - the share of this group in the overall structure of patients of the Perinatal Center for the reporting period, the frequency of abdominal delivery in this group, as well as the contribution of this group to the total number of abdominal delivery. Obtained data were compared with those of the WHO in the guidelines for the implementation of the Robson system in 2017. Results and its discussion: The distribution of patients of the Perinatal Center into groups in the Robson classification is not much different from that recommended by the author. So, among all women, patients of group 1 dominate; this indicator does not change in dynamics. A slight increase in the share of group 2 (6.7% in 2019 and 9.3% - 2020) was due to an increase in the number of labor induction. At the same time, the number of patients of groups 1 and 2 in the Perinatal Center is greater than in the world population, which is determined by the hospitalization of primiparous women with reproductive losses in the past. The Perinatal Center is distinguished from the world population and the proportion of women of group 5 - it was 5.4%, in the world - 7.6%. The frequency of caesarean section in the Perinatal Center is within limits typical for most countries (20.5-20.8%). Moreover, the dominant groups in the structure of caesarean sections are group 5 (21-23.3%) and group 2 (21.9-22.9%), which are the reserve for reducing the number of abdominal delivery. In group 2, certain results have already been achieved in this matter - the frequency of cesarean section in 2019 here amounted to 67.8%, in the first quarter of 2020 - 51.6%. This happened due to a change in the leading method of induction of labor. Thus, the Robson system is a convenient and affordable tool for assessing the structure of caesarean sections. The analysis showed that, in general, the structure of caesarean sections in the Perinatal Center is close to world data, and the identified deviations have explanations related to the specialization of the Center.

Keywords: cesarian section, Robson system, Kyiv Perinatal Center, labor induction

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Yasser Mahmoudi, Nader Karimi

Abstract:

The present work examines analytically the effect internal heat generation on temperature fields in a channel partially-filled with a porous under local thermal non-equilibrium condition. The Darcy-Brinkman model is used to represent the fluid transport through the porous material. Two fundamental models (models A and B) represent the thermal boundary conditions at the interface between the porous medium and the clear region. The governing equations of the problem are manipulated, and for each interface model, exact solutions for the solid and fluid temperature fields are developed. These solutions incorporate the porous material thickness, Biot number, fluid to solid thermal conductivity ratio Darcy number, as the non-dimensional energy terms in fluid and solid as parameters. Results show that considering any of the two models and under zero or negative heat generation (heat sink) and for any Darcy number, an increase in the porous thickness increases the amount of heat flux transferred to the porous region. The obtained results are applicable to the analysis of complex porous media incorporating internal heat generation, such as heat transfer enhancement (THE), tumor ablation in biological tissues and porous radiant burners (PRBs).

Keywords: porous media, local thermal non-equilibrium, forced convection, heat transfer, exact solution, internal heat generation

Procedia PDF Downloads 444

Authors: Michael Tilahun Mulugeta

Abstract:

Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users as they are more exposed to the risk of collusion. Pedestrian safety at road intersections still remains the most vital and yet unsolved issue in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. One of the critical points in pedestrian safety is the occurrence of conflict between turning vehicle and pedestrians at un-signalized intersection. However, a better understanding of the factors that affect the likelihood of the conflicts would help provide direction for countermeasures aimed at reducing the number of crashes. This paper has sorted to explore a model to describe the relation between traffic conflicts and influencing factors using Multiple Linear regression methodology. In this research the main focus is to study the interaction of turning (left & right) vehicle with pedestrian at unsignalized intersections. The specific objectives also to determine factors that affect the number of potential conflicts and develop a model of potential conflict.

Keywords: potential, regression analysis, pedestrian, conflicts

Procedia PDF Downloads 44

Authors: Sandra Landy

Abstract:

Traumatic experiences in youth are a major risk factor for future suicidality. With suicide steadily increasing over the last 20 years as one of the top three leading causes of death in children and adolescents, it is essential to examine the aspects of trauma that contribute to suicidality. A quantitative secondary data analysis of a prospective, multicenter 24-month observational study of youth who have experienced traumatic experiences was utilized to determine the relationship between bullying and suicide attempts, cyberbullying and suicide attempts, and number of traumas and suicide attempts. Data was analyzed with the Spearman-rank correlation test to determine the relationships. Findings supported past research establishing a relationship between bulling, including cyberbullying, and suicide attempts, as well as increasing number of traumatic experiences and suicide attempts. Further large scale studies may be beneficial to support these findings.

Keywords: adolescent(s), suicide, trauma, bullying, cyberbullying

Procedia PDF Downloads 22

Authors: Thomas Weber, Nina Strobel, Thomas Kohne, Eberhard Abele

Abstract:

In context of the energy transition in Germany, the importance of so-called virtual power plants in the energy supply continues to increase. The progressive dismantling of the large power plants and the ongoing construction of many new decentralized plants result in great potential for optimization through synergies between the individual plants. These potentials can be exploited by mathematical optimization algorithms to calculate the optimal application planning of decentralized power and heat generators and storage systems. This also includes linear or linear mixed integer optimization. In this paper, procedures for reducing the number of decision variables to be calculated are explained and validated. On the one hand, this includes combining n similar installation types into one aggregated unit. This aggregated unit is described by the same constraints and target function terms as a single plant. This reduces the number of decision variables per time step and the complexity of the problem to be solved by a factor of n. The exact operating mode of the individual plants can then be calculated in a second optimization in such a way that the output of the individual plants corresponds to the calculated output of the aggregated unit. Another way to reduce the number of decision variables in an optimization problem is to reduce the number of time steps to be calculated. This is useful if a high temporal resolution is not necessary for all time steps. For example, the volatility or the forecast quality of environmental parameters may justify a high or low temporal resolution of the optimization. Both approaches are examined for the resulting calculation time as well as for optimality. Several optimization models for virtual power plants (combined heat and power plants, heat storage, power storage, gas turbine) with different numbers of plants are used as a reference for the investigation of both processes with regard to calculation duration and optimality.

Keywords: CHP, Energy 4.0, energy storage, MILP, optimization, virtual power plant

Procedia PDF Downloads 157