Search results for: Degree of cooling

Authors: A. Wahid Uddin

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Obstetric anal sphincter injury carries significant morbidity for a woman and affects the quality of life to the extent of permanent damage to anal sphincter musculature. The study was undertaken in a district general hospital by retrospectively reviewing random 63 case notes of patients diagnosed with a significant third or fourth-degree perineal tear admitted between the year of 2015 to 2018. The observations were collected by a pre-designed questionnaire. All variables were expressed as percentages. The major risk factors noted were nulliparity (37%), instrumental delivery (25%), and birth weight of more than 4 kg (14%). Forceps delivery with or without episiotomy was the major contributing factor (75%). In the majority of the cases (71%), no record of any perineal protection measures undertaken. The study concluded that recommended perineal protection measures should be adopted as a routine practise.

Keywords: forceps, obstetrics, perineal, sphincter

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Rama Bhargava, Surabhi Nishad

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The infusion of nanofluids has dramatically enhanced the heat-carrying capacity of the fluids, applicable to many engineering and medical process where the temperature below freezing is required. Cryosurgery is an efficient therapy for the treatment of cancer, but sometimes the excessive cooling may harm the nearby healthy cells. Efforts are therefore done to develop a model which can cause to generate the low temperature as required. In the present study, a mathematical model is developed based on the bioheat transfer equation to simulate the heat transfer from the probe on a tumor (with irregular domain) using the hybrid technique consisting of element free Galerkin method with αα-family of approximation. The probe is loaded will nano-particles. The effects of different nanoparticles, namely Al₂O₃, Fe₃O₄, Au on the heat-producing rate, is obtained. It is observed that the temperature can be brought to (60°C)-(-30°C) at a faster freezing rate on the infusion of different nanoparticles. Besides increasing the freezing rate, the volume of the nanoparticle can also control the size and growth of ice crystals formed during the freezing process. The study is also made to find the time required to achieve the desired temperature. The problem is further extended for multi tumors of different shapes and sizes. The irregular shape of the frozen domain and the direction of ice growth are very sensitive issues, posing a challenge for simulation. The Meshfree method has been one of the accurate methods in such problems as a domain is naturally irregular. The discretization is done using the nodes only. MLS approximation is taken in order to generate the shape functions. Sufficiently accurate results are obtained.

Keywords: cryosurgery, EFGM, hybrid, nanoparticles

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Authors: Dahmani Aziz, Mekdad Yousra

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The intellectual capital is an important source of profitability and the main supporter of the competitive where this study examines the contribution of expenditure on intellectual capital in the performance of industrial enterprises Algerian, and through a case study Sonatrach as the most important industrial enterprises in Algeria and the driving force of the Algerian economy. It has been the use of value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) in measuring the contribution of intellectual capital and analyzing data Sonatrach during the period from the year 2001 until the year 2012, and test the validity of hypotheses using Stepwise Regression model through the SPSS statistical software, and the study has proved the existence of a positive relationship between spending on human capital and financial performance and a stronger degree relationship between the structural capital and economic performance.

Keywords: industrial enterprise, intellectual capital, performance, economy of Algeria, spending

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Authors: Sherine Farrag

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) presents safety hazards, with the general physical environment. The principal hazard of the MRI is the presence of static magnetic fields. Proper architectural design of MRI’s room ensure environment and health care staff safety. This research paper presents an easy approach for numerical computation of fringe static magnetic fields. Iso-gauss line of different MR intensities (0.3, 0.5, 1, 1.5 Tesla) was mapped and a polynomial function of the 7th degree was generated and tested. Matlab script was successfully applied for MRI SMF mapping. This method can be valid for any kind of commercial scanner because it requires only the knowledge of the MR scanner room map with iso-gauss lines. Results help to develop guidelines to guide healthcare architects to design of a safer Magnetic resonance imaging suite.

Keywords: designing MRI suite, MRI safety, radiology occupational exposure, static magnetic fields

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Authors: Shoroog Alraddadi

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In this study, the effect of gamma irradiation on the structural and transport properties of Bismuth Telluride (Bi₂Te₃) thin films was investigated. Bi₂Te₃ thin films with thicknesses varying from 100 nm to 500 nm were grown using thermal evaporation in vacuum 10⁻⁵ Torr. The films were irradiated by Gamma radiation with different doses (50, 200, and 500 kGy). The crystal structure of Bi₂Te₃ thin films was studied by XRD diffraction. It was showed that the degree of crystallinity of films increases as the doses increase. Furthermore, it was found that the electrical conductivity of Bi₂Te₃ increase as the doses increase. From these results, it can be concluding that the effect of radiation on the structural and transport properties was positive at the levels of irradiation used.

Keywords: bismuth telluride, gamma irradiation, thin film, transport properties

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Authors: V. T. Ngo, D. M. Xie

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Frequently, in the design of machines, some of parameters that directly affect the rotor dynamics of the machines are not accurately known. In particular, bearing stiffness support is one such parameter. One of the most basic principles to grasp in rotor dynamics is the influence of the bearing stiffness on the critical speeds and mode shapes associated with a rotor-bearing system. Taking a rig shafting as an example, this paper studies the lateral vibration of the rotor with multi-degree-of-freedom by using Finite Element Method (FEM). The FEM model is created and the eigenvalues and eigenvectors are calculated and analyzed to find natural frequencies, critical speeds, mode shapes. Then critical speeds and mode shapes are analyzed by set bearing stiffness changes. The model permitted to identify the critical speeds and bearings that have an important influence on the vibration behavior.

Keywords: lateral vibration, finite element method, rig shafting, critical speed

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Authors: Bahram Soltani, Louai Ghazieh

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Following the high profile financial scandals of 2007-2008, corporate management has been faced with strong pressures resulting from more regulatory requirements, as well as the increasing expectations of various groups of stakeholders. The responsibility acquired a big importance in front of this financial crisis. This responsibility requires more transparency and communication, inside the company with the collaborators and outside of the company with the society, while companies try to improve the degree of control and to authorize managers to realize the objectives of the company. The objective of this paper is to present the concept of the responsibility generally and the various types of manager’s responsibility in private individual within the company, as well as the explanatory theories of this responsibility through the various perspectives such as: economic, political, social and behavioral. This study should have academic and practical contributions particularly for regulators seeking to improve the companies’ practices and organizational functioning within capital market economy.

Keywords: manager, accountability, corporate performance, financial crisis, behavior

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Authors: Boukary Lam, Sebastien Deon, Patrick Fievet, Nadia Crini, Gregorio Crini

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Treatment of heavy metal-contaminated industrial wastewater has become a major challenge over the last decades. Conventional processes for the treatment of metal-containing effluents do not always simultaneously satisfy both legislative and economic criteria. In this context, coupling of processes can then be a promising alternative to the conventional approaches used by industry. The polymer-assisted ultrafiltration (PAUF) process is one of these coupling processes. Its principle is based on a sequence of steps with reaction (e.g., complexation) between metal ions and a polymer and a step involving the rejection of the formed species by means of a UF membrane. Unlike free ions, which can cross the UF membrane due to their small size, the polymer/ion species, the size of which is larger than pore size, are rejected. The PAUF process was deeply investigated herein in the case of removal of nickel ions by adding chitosan and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). Experiments were conducted with synthetic solutions containing 1 to 100 ppm of nickel ions with or without the presence of NaCl (0.05 to 0.2 M), and an industrial discharge water (containing several metal ions) with and without polymer. Chitosan with a molecular weight of 1.8×105 g mol⁻¹ and a degree of acetylation close to 15% was used. CMC with a degree of substitution of 0.7 and a molecular weight of 9×105 g mol⁻¹ was employed. Filtration experiments were performed under cross-flow conditions with a filtration cell equipped with a polyamide thin film composite flat-sheet membrane (3.5 kDa). Without the step of polymer addition, it was found that nickel rejection decreases from 80 to 0% with increasing metal ion concentration and salt concentration. This behavior agrees qualitatively with the Donnan exclusion principle: the increase in the electrolyte concentration screens the electrostatic interaction between ions and the membrane fixed the charge, which decreases their rejection. It was shown that addition of a sufficient amount of polymer (greater than 10⁻² M of monomer unit) can offset this decrease and allow good metal removal. However, the permeation flux was found to be somewhat reduced due to the increase in osmotic pressure and viscosity. It was also highlighted that the increase in pH (from 3 to 9) has a strong influence on removal performances: the higher pH value, the better removal performance. The two polymers have shown similar performance enhancement at natural pH. However, chitosan has proved more efficient in slightly basic conditions (above its pKa) whereas CMC has demonstrated very weak rejection performances when pH is below its pKa. In terms of metal rejection, chitosan is thus probably the better option for basic or strongly acid (pH < 4) conditions. Nevertheless, CMC should probably be preferred to chitosan in natural conditions (5 < pH < 8) since its impact on the permeation flux is less significant. Finally, ultrafiltration of an industrial discharge water has shown that the increase in metal ion rejection induced by the polymer addition is very low due to the competing phenomenon between the various ions present in the complex mixture.

Keywords: carboxymethyl cellulose, chitosan, heavy metals, nickel ion, polymer-assisted ultrafiltration

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Authors: Elke Mackensen

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Systems Engineering plays a key role during industrial product development of complex technical systems. The need for systems engineers in industry is growing. However, there is a gap between the industrial need and the academic education. Normally the academic education is focused on the domain specific design, implementation and testing of technical systems. Necessary systems engineering expertise like knowledge about requirements analysis, product cost estimation, management or social skills are poorly taught. Thus, there is the need of new academic concepts for teaching systems engineering skills. This paper presents a project-orientated training concept to prepare students from different technical degree programs for systems engineering activities. The training concept has been initially implemented and applied in the industrial engineering master program of the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg.

Keywords: educational systems engineering training, requirements analysis, system modelling, SysML

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Authors: F. Z. Abir, M. Mesnaoui, Y. Abouliatim, L. Nibou, Y. El Hafiane, A. Smith

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The cement industry has been taking significant steps for years to reduce its carbon footprint by opting for an eco-friendly alternative such as Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cements (CSA). These binders, compared to Ordinary Portland Cements (OPC), have two advantages: reduction of the CO2 emissions and energy-saving because the sintering temperature of CSA cements is between 1250 and 1350 °C, which means 100 to 200 °C less than OPC. The aim of this work is to study the impurities effect, such as iron oxide, on the formation of the ye'elimite phase, which represents the main phase of Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cements and the consequence on its hydration. Several elaborations and characterization techniques were used to study the structure and microstructure of ye'elimite, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), thermal analysis, specific surface area measurement, and electrical conductivity of diluted solutions. This study details the protocol for the solid-state synthesis of ye'elimite containing increasing amounts of iron (general formula: Ca4Al(6-2x)Fe2xSO16 with x = 0.00 to 1.13). Ye'elimite is formed by solid-state reactions between Al2O3, CaO and CaSO4 and the maximum ye'elimite content is reached at a sintering temperature of 1300 °C. The presence of iron promotes the formation of cubic ye'elimite at the expense of the orthorhombic phase. The total incorporation of iron in ye'elimite structure is possible when x < 0.12. Beyond this content, the ferritic phase (CaO)2(Al2O3,Fe2O3) appears as a minor phase and develops two different morphologies during cooling: dendritic crystals and melt morphology. The formation of the ferrous liquid phase affects the evolution of grain size of the ye’elimite and calcium aluminates.

Keywords: calcium sulfoaluminate cement, ferritic phase, sintering, solid-state synthesis, ye’elimite

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Authors: Y. Sefir, Z. Aziz, S. Cherid, Z. F. Meghoufel, F. Bendahama, S. Terkhi, B. Bouadjemi. A. Zitouni S. Bentata

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This work is to study the effect of the variation of structural parameters on the band structure in the quasiperiodic Fibonacci superlattices AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs using the formalism of the transfer matrix and Airy function. Our results show that increasing the width of Fibonacci’s wells of allows to the confinement of subminibands with a widening of minigaps, this causes a consistent and coherent fragmentation. The barrier thickness of Fibonacci bf acts on the width of subminibands by controlling the interaction force between neighboring eigenstates. Its increase gives rise to singularly extended states. The barrier height Fibonacci Vf permit to control the degree of structural disorder in these structures. The variation of these parameters permits the design of laser with modulated wavelength.

Keywords: transmission coefficient – Quasiperiodic superlattices- singularly localized and extended states- structural parameters- Laser with modulated wavelength

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Authors: Suzan Odabasi

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Suicide attempts and mental health problems among immigrants have been increasing and have become important public health concerns during the last century. Immigrants may face more difficulties in society because of social conflict, language barriers, inadequate social support, socioeconomic problems, and delay in accessing help. The limited number of research has shown that: first-generation migrants may be at higher risk of mental disorders and a higher prevalence of suicide attempts. The main aim of the proposed work is to identify to what degree each of these pressures is causing higher suicides currently observed. In addition, a comparison will be conducted between females and males and also rural and urban areas for which recent data are available. Specifically, this study investigates how accessing mental health services, the uninsured population rate, socioeconomic factors, and being an immigrant affect Turkish immigrants’ mental health and suicide attempts.

Keywords: access to healthcare, immigration, health economics, mental health economics

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Authors: J. Castaño, S. Rodriguez, C. M. L. Franco

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Starch isolated from non-edible A. hippocastanum seeds was characterized and used for preparing starch-based materials. The apparent amylose content of the isolated starch was 33.1%. The size of starch granules ranged from 0.7 to 35µm, and correlated with the shape of granules (spherical, oval and irregular). The chain length distribution profile of amylopectin showed two peaks, at polymerization degree (DP) of 12 and 41-43. Around 53% of branch unit chains had DP in the range of 11-20. A. hippocastanum starch displayed a typical C-type pattern and the maximum decomposition temperature was 317°C. Thermoplastic starch (TPS) prepared from A. hippocastanum with glycerol and processed by melt blending exhibited adequate mechanical and thermal properties. In contrast, plasticized TPS with glycerol:malic acid (1:1) showed lower thermal stability and a pasty and sticky behavior, indicating that malic acid accelerates degradation of starch during processing.

Keywords: Aesculus hippocastanum L., amylopectin structure, thermoplastic starch, non-edible source

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Authors: Delaram Hosseinioun

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In their collections, Shirin Neshat, Mitra Tabrizian, Gohar Dashti and Newsha Tavakolian adopt a hybrid form of narrative to confront the restrictions imposed on women in hegemonic public and private spaces. Focusing on motives such as social marginalisation, crisis of belonging, as well as lack of agency for women, the artists depict the regression of women’s rights in their respective generations. Based on the ideas of Michael Bakhtin, namely his concept of polyphony or the plurality of contradictory voices, the views of Judith Butler on giving an account to oneself and Henri Leverbre’s theories on social space, this study illustrates the artists’ concept of identity in crisis through time and space. The research explores how the artists took their art as a novel dimension to depict and confront the hardships imposed on Iranian women. Henri Lefebvre makes a distinction between complex social structures through which individuals situate, perceive and represent themselves. By adding Bakhtin’s polyphonic view to Lefebvre’s concepts of perceived and lived spaces, the study explores the sense of social fragmentation in the works of Dashti and Tavakolian. One argument is that as the representatives of the contemporary generation of female artists who spend their lives in Iran and faced a higher degree of restrictions, their hyperbolic and theatrical styles stand as a symbolic act of confrontation against restrictive socio-cultural norms imposed on women. Further, the research explores the possibility of reclaiming one's voice and sense of agency through art, corresponding with the Bakhtinian sense of polyphony and Butler’s concept of giving an account to oneself. Works of Neshat and Tabrizian as the representatives of the previous generation who faced exile and diaspora, encompass a higher degree of misplacement, violence and decay of women’s presence. In Their works, the women’s body encompasses Lefebvre’s dismantled temporal and special setting. Notably, the ongoing social conviction and gender-based dogma imposed on women frame some of the concurrent motives among the selected collections of the four artists. By applying an interdisciplinary lens and integrating the conducted interviews with the artists, the study illustrates how the artists seek a transcultural account for themselves and women in their generations. Further, the selected collections manifest the urgency for an authentic and liberal voice and setting for women, resonating with the concurrent Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran.

Keywords: persian modern female photographers, transcultural studies, shirin neshat, mitra tabrizian, gohar dashti, newsha tavakolian, butler, bakhtin, lefebvre

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Authors: Teewin Plangsrinont, Wasawat Nakkiew

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In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was utilized to simulate and predict the path of water from water soot blower through an ambient flow field in 300-megawatt tangentially burned pulverized coal boiler that utilizes a water soot blower as a cleaning device. To predict the position of the impact of water on the opposite side of the water soot blower under identical conditions, the nozzle size and water flow rate were fixed in this investigation. The simulation findings demonstrated a high degree of accuracy in predicting the direction of water flow to the boiler's water wall tube, which was validated by comparison to experimental data. Results show maximum deviation value of the water jet trajectory is 10.2 percent.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, tangentially fired boiler, thermal power plant, water soot blower

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Authors: Agung Rizki Perdana, Asrofi Mursalin, Adniwan Shubhi Banuzaki, M. Indra Novian

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The understanding about sediment-derived plastiglomerate has a wide-range of merit in the academic realm. It can cover discussions about the Anthropocene Epoch in the scope of geoscience knowledge to even provide a solution for the environmental problem of plastic waste. Albeit its importance, very few research has been done regarding this issue. This research aims to create a classification as a pioneer for the study of sediment-derived plastiglomerate. This research was done in Bantul Regency, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta Province as an analogue of plastic debris sedimentation process. Observation is carried out in five observation points that shows three different depositional environments, which are terrestrial, fluvial, and transitional environment. The resulting classification uses three parameters and forms in a taxonomical manner. These parameters are composition, degree of lithification, and abundance of matrix respectively in advancing order. There is also a compositional ternary diagram which should be followed before entering the plastiglomerate nomenclature classification.

Keywords: plastiglomerate, classification, sedimentary mechanism, microplastic

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Authors: Jianguo Chen, Fenggang Zang, Yu Yang, Liangang Zheng

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Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) is an important security barrier in nuclear power plant. Crack like defects may be produced on RPV during the whole operation lifetime due to the harsh operation condition and irradiation embrittlement. During the severe loss of coolant accident, thermal shock happened as the injection of emergency cooling water into RPV, which results in re-pressurization of the vessel and very high tension stress on the vessel wall, this event called Pressurized Thermal Shock (PTS). Crack on the vessel wall may propagate even penetrate the vessel, so the safety of the RPV would undergo great challenge. Many assumptions in structure integrity evaluation make the result of deterministic fracture mechanics very conservative, which affect the operation lifetime of the plant. Actually, many parameters in the evaluation process, such as fracture toughness and nil-ductility transition temperature, have statistical distribution characteristics. So it is necessary to assess the structural integrity of RPV subjected to PTS event by means of Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics (PFM). Structure integrity evaluation methods of RPV subjected to PTS event are summarized firstly, then evaluation method based on probabilistic fracture mechanics are presented by considering the probabilistic characteristics of material and structure parameters. A comprehensive analysis example is carried out at last. The results show that the probability of crack penetrates through wall increases gradually with the growth of fast neutron irradiation flux. The results give advice for reactor life extension.

Keywords: fracture toughness, integrity evaluation, pressurized thermal shock, probabilistic fracture mechanics, reactor pressure vessel

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Authors: Ipek Goktepe, Israa Elnemr, Hammad Asim, Hao Feng, Mosbah Kushad, Hee Park, Sheikha Alzeyara, Mohammad Alhajri

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Food safety management in Qatar is under the shared oversight of multiple agencies in two government ministries (Ministry of Public Health and Ministry of Municipality and Environment). Despite the increasing number and diversity of the food service establishments, no systematic food surveillance system is in place in the country, which creates a gap in terms of determining the food safety attitudes and practices applied in the food service operations. Therefore, this study seeks to partially address this gap through determination of food safety knowledge among food handlers, specifically with respect to food preparation and handling practices, and sanitation methods applied in food service providers (FSPs) and a major market in Doha, Qatar. The study covered a sample of 53 FSPs randomly selected out of 200 FSPs. Face-to-face interviews with managers at participating FSPs were conducted using a 40-questions survey. Additionally, 120 produce handlers who are in direct contact with fresh produce at the major produce market in Doha were surveyed using a questionnaire containing 21 questions. A written informed consent was obtained from each survey participant. The survey data were analyzed using the chi-square test and correlation test. The significance was evaluated at p ˂ 0.05. The results from the FSPs surveys indicated that the average age of FSPs was 11 years, with the oldest and newest being established in 1982 and 2015, respectively. Most managers (66%) had college degree and 68% of them were trained on the food safety management system known as HACCP. These surveys revealed that FSP managers’ training and education level were highly correlated with the probability of their employees receiving food safety training while managers with lower education level had no formal training on food safety for themselves nor for their employees. Casual sit-in and fine dine-in restaurants consistently kept records (100%), followed by fast food (36%), and catering establishments (14%). The produce handlers’ survey results showed that none of the workers had any training on safe produce handling practices. The majority of the workers were in the age range of 31-40 years (37%) and only 38% of them had high-school degree. Over 64% of produce handlers claimed to wash their hands 4-5 times per day but field observations pointed limited handwashing as there was soap in the settings. This observation suggests potential food safety risks since a significant correlation (p ˂ 0.01) between the educational level and the hand-washing practices was determined. This assessment on food safety culture through determination of food and produce handlers' level of knowledge and practices, the first of its kind in Qatar, demonstrated that training and education are important factors which directly impact the food safety culture in FSPs and produce markets. These findings should help in identifying the need for on-site training of food handlers for effective food safety practices in food establishments in Qatar.

Keywords: food safety, food safety culture, food service providers, food handlers

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Authors: D. Muley, H. S. Al-Mandhari

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This paper evaluates the performance of a multi-lane four-legged modern roundabout operating in Muscat using SIDRA model. The performance measures include Degree of Saturation (DOS), average delay, and queue lengths. The geometric and traffic data were used for model preparation. Gap acceptance parameters, critical gap, and follow-up headway were used for calibration of SIDRA model. The results from the analysis showed that currently the roundabout is experiencing delays up to 610 seconds with DOS 1.67 during peak hour. Further, sensitivity analysis for general and roundabout parameters was performed, amongst lane width, cruise speed, inscribed diameter, entry radius, and entry angle showed that inscribed diameter is the most crucial factor affecting delay and DOS. Upgradation of the roundabout to the fully signalized junction was found as the suitable solution which will serve for future years with LOS C for design year having DOS of 0.9 with average control delay of 51.9 seconds per vehicle.

Keywords: performance analysis, roundabout, sensitivity analysis, SIDRA

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Authors: Astghik R. Sukiasyan

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The semidental sweet maize of Armenian population under drought stress and pollution by some heavy metals (HMs) in sites along the river Debet was studied. Accordingly, the objective of this work was to investigate the antioxidant status of maize plant in order to identify simple and reliable criteria for assessing the degree of adaptation of plants to abiotic stress of drought and HMs. It was found that in the case of removal from the mainstream of the river, the antioxidant status of the plant varies. As parameters, the antioxidant status of the plant has been determined by the activity of malondialdehyde (MDA) and Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma (FRAP), taking into account the characteristics of natural drought of this region. The possibility of using some indicators which characterized the antioxidant status of the plant was concluded. The criteria for assessing the extent of environmental pollution could be HMs. This fact can be used for the early diagnosis of diseases in the population who lives in these areas and uses corn as the main food.

Keywords: antioxidant status, maize corn, drought stress, heavy metal

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Authors: Vera Jancurova

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People are, in general, exposed to behavioral biases, however, the degree and impact are affected by experience, knowledge, and other characteristics. The purpose of this article is to study two of defined behavioral biases, the overconfidence and self-attribution bias, and its impact on economic and non-economic students at different stage of the study. The research method used for the purpose of this study is a controlled field study that contains questions on perception of own confidence and self-attribution and estimation of limits to analyse actual abilities. The results of the research show that economic students seem to be more overconfident than their non–economic colleagues, which seems to be caused by the fact the questionnaire was asking for predicting economic indexes and own knowledge and abilities in financial environment. Surprisingly, the most overconfidence was detected by the students at the beginning of their study (1st-semester students). However, the estimations of real numbers do not point out, that economic students have better results by the prediction itself. The study confirmed the presence of self-attribution bias at all of the respondents.

Keywords: behavioral finance, overconfidence, self-attribution, heuristics and biases

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Authors: Yulia A. Kononova, Znang X. Ning

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Nowadays, architectural development is getting faster and faster. Nevertheless, modern architecture often does not meet all the points, which could help our planet to get better. As we know, people are spending an enormous amount of energy every day of their lives. Because of the uncontrolled energy usage, people have to increase energy production. As energy production process demands a lot of fuel sources, it courses a lot of problems such as climate changes, environment pollution, animals’ distinction, and lack of energy sources also. Nevertheless, nowadays humanity has all the opportunities to change this situation. Architecture is one of the most popular fields where it is possible to apply new methods of saving energy or even creating it. Nowadays we have kinds of buildings, which can meet new willing. One of them is energy effective buildings, which can save or even produce energy, combining several energy-saving principles. The main aim of this research is to provide information that helps to apply energy-saving methods while designing an environment-friendly building. The research methodology requires gathering relevant information from literature, building guidelines documents and previous research works in order to analyze it and sum up into a material that can be applied to energy-efficient building design. To mark results it should be noted that the usage of all the energy-saving methods applied to a design project of building results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling. As a conclusion it can be stated that developing methods of passive house design can decrease the need of energy production, which is an important issue that has to be solved in order to save planet sources and decrease environment pollution.

Keywords: accumulation, energy-efficient building, storage, superinsulation, passive house

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Authors: Teng lin, Li Yuxing, Han Hui, Zhao Pengfei, Zhang Datong

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With the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS), the flow assurance of CO2 transportation becomes more important, particularly for supercritical CO2 pipelines. The relieving system using the choke valve is applied to control the pressure in CO2 pipeline. However, the temperature of fluid would drop rapidly because of Joule-Thomson cooling (JTC), which may cause solid CO2 form and block the pipe. In this paper, a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model, using the modified Lagrangian method, Reynold's Stress Transport model (RSM) for turbulence and stochastic tracking model (STM) for particle trajectory, was developed to predict the deposition characteristic of solid carbon dioxide. The model predictions were in good agreement with the experiment data published in the literature. It can be observed that the particle distribution affected the deposition behavior. In the region of the sudden expansion, the smaller particles accumulated tightly on the wall were dominant for pipe blockage. On the contrary, the size of solid CO2 particles deposited near the outlet usually was bigger and the stacked structure was looser. According to the calculation results, the movement of the particles can be regarded as the main four types: turbulent motion close to the sudden expansion structure, balanced motion at sudden expansion-middle region, inertial motion near the outlet and the escape. Furthermore the particle deposits accumulated primarily in the sudden expansion region, reattachment region and outlet region because of the four type of motion. Also the Stokes number had an effect on the deposition ratio and it is recommended for Stokes number to avoid 3-8St.

Keywords: carbon capture and storage, carbon dioxide pipeline, gas-particle flow, deposition

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Authors: Mehmet Ali Avcı, Medine Çopur Doğrusöz

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This study has been carried out in the Selcuk University, Department of Fields Crops Research and Application Greenhouse. 4 different grass genotypes (1 Lolium perenne L., 1 Poa trivialis L., 1 Festuca ovina L., and 1 Festuca arundinacea Scheb.) have been used in the application. It has been done with four repetition according to design of random parcel test. The research have been started with the implementation of 3 clones to each pot of each kind on 07.12.2009. It has been processed normally. When the plants have filled % 80 of the pot and have grown to the height of 7-10 cm, 5 cm has cut. After the first cutting, there have been applied 4 cutting frequency within the periods of 5, 10, 15, 20 days. Number of tillers, the degree of filling the bottom, the height of plant, the length of leaf and the width of the leaf have been measured. This procedure have been repeated in once a-five-day-periods, once a-ten-day-periods, once a-fifteen-day-periods, once a-twenty-day-periods, the data have been taken, and it has completed in 60 days. All the plants in the pots have been reaped from the 5cm height on 16.08.2010. The first measures have been taken for each quality. It is aimed to set the effects of different cutting frequency on the some grass kinds’ some plant characteristics.

Keywords: cutting frequency, Festuca, Lolium, Poa

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Authors: Mehmet Bozca

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Singular value decomposition based optimisation of geometric design parameters of a 5-speed gearbox is studied. During the optimisation, a four-degree-of freedom torsional vibration model of the pinion gear-wheel gear system is obtained and the minimum singular value of the transfer matrix is considered as the objective functions. The computational cost of the associated singular value problems is quite low for the objective function, because it is only necessary to compute the largest and smallest singular values (µmax and µmin) that can be achieved by using selective eigenvalue solvers; the other singular values are not needed. The design parameters are optimised under several constraints that include bending stress, contact stress and constant distance between gear centres. Thus, by optimising the geometric parameters of the gearbox such as, the module, number of teeth and face width it is possible to obtain a light-weight-gearbox structure. It is concluded that the all optimised geometric design parameters also satisfy all constraints.

Keywords: Singular value, optimisation, gearbox, torsional vibration

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Authors: Carine Enow-Ayor Tarkang, Victorine Neh Akenji, Dmitri Rouwet, Jodephine Njdma, Andrew Ako Ako, Franco Tassi, Jules Remy Ngoupayou Ndam

Abstract:

Groundwater is the major water resource in the whole of Bafia used for drinking, domestic, poultry and agricultural purposes, and being an area of intense agriculture, there is a great necessity to do a quality assessment. Bafia is one of the main food suppliers in the Centre region of Cameroon, and so to meet their demands, the farmers make use of fertilizers and other agrochemicals to increase their yield. Less than 20% of the population in Bafia has access to piped-borne water due to the national shortage, according to the authors best knowledge very limited studies have been carried out in the area to increase awareness of the groundwater resources. The aim of this study was to assess heavy metal contamination levels in ground and surface waters and to evaluate the effects of agricultural inputs on water quality in the Bafia area. 57 water samples (including 31 wells, 20 boreholes, 4 rivers and 2 springs) were analyzed for their physicochemical parameters, while collected samples were filtered, acidified with HNO3 and analyzed by ICP-MS for their heavy metal content (Fe, Ti, Sr, Al, Mn). Results showed that most of the water samples are acidic to slightly neutral and moderately mineralized. Ti concentration was significantly high in the area (mean value 130µg/L), suggesting another Ti source besides the natural input from Titanium oxides. The high amounts of Mn and Al in some cases also pointed to additional input, probably from fertilizers that are used in the farmlands. Most of the water samples were found to be significantly contaminated with heavy metals exceeding the WHO allowable limits (Ti-94.7%, Al-19.3%, Mn-14%, Fe-5.2% and Sr-3.5% above limits), especially around farmlands and topographic low areas. The heavy metal concentration was evaluated using the heavy metal pollution index (HPI), heavy metal evaluation index (HEI) and degree of contamination (Cd), while the Ficklin diagram was used for the water based on changes in metal content and pH. The high mean values of HPI and Cd (741 and 5, respectively), which exceeded the critical limit, indicate that the water samples are highly contaminated, with intense pollution from Ti, Al and Mn. Based on the HPI and Cd, 93% and 35% of the samples, respectively, are unacceptable for drinking purposes. The lowest HPI value point also had the lowest EC (50 µS/cm), indicating lower mineralization and less anthropogenic influence. According to the Ficklin diagram, 89% of the samples fell within the near-neutral low-metal domain, while 9% fell in the near-neutral extreme-metal domain. Two significant factors were extracted from the PCA, explaining 70.6% of the total variance. The first factor revealed intense anthropogenic activity (especially from fertilizers), while the second factor revealed water-rock interactions. Agricultural activities thus have an impact on the heavy metal content of groundwater in the area; hence, much attention should be given to the affected areas in order to protect human health/life and thus sustainably manage this precious resource.

Keywords: Bafia, contamination, degree of contamination, groundwater, heavy metal pollution index

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Nor Sahida Ibrahim, Ruhaila Maskat, Aishah Ahmad

Abstract:

Almost all tertiary-level students will undergo some form of training in organisations prior to their graduation. This practice provides the necessary exposure and experience to allow students to cope with actual working environment and culture in the future. Nevertheless, a particular degree of “matching” between what is expected and what can be offered between students and organisations underpins how effective and enriching the experience is. This matching of students and organisations is challenging when preferences from both parties must be satisfied. This work developed a web-based system, namely the OrganisationMatcher, which leverage on the use of preference weights to score each organisation and rank them based on “suitability”. OrganisationMatcher has been implemented on a relational database, designed using object-oriented methods and developed using PHP programming language for browser front-end access. We outline the challenges and limitations of our system and discuss future improvements to the system, specifically in the utilisation of intelligent methods.

Keywords: student industrial placement, information system, web-based, ranking

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Mei-Feng, Yude-Fan, Min-Zhu

Abstract:

Based on PLC and kingview, this paper proposed a method that designed a set of the automatic control system according to the craft flow and demands for granulation product line. There were the main station and subordinate stations in PLC which were communicated by PROFIBUS network. PLC and computer were communicated by Ethernet network. The conversation function between human and machine was realized by kingview software, including actual time craft flows, historic report curves and product report forms. The construction of the control system, hardware collocation and software design were introduced. Besides these, PROFIBUS network frequency conversion control, the difficult points and configuration software design were elaborated. The running results showed that there were several advantages in the control system. They were high automatic degree, perfect function, perfect steady and convenient operation.

Keywords: PLC, PROFIBUS, configuration, frequency

Procedia PDF Downloads 402

Authors: N. F. F. Ebecken, G. C. Pereira

Abstract:

Ecological systems are exposed and are influenced by various natural and anthropogenic disturbances. They produce various effects and states seeking response symmetry to a state of global phase coherence or stability and balance of their food webs. This research project addresses the development of a computational methodology for modeling plankton food webs. The use of algorithms to establish connections, the generation of representative fuzzy multigraphs and application of technical analysis of complex networks provide a set of tools for defining, analyzing and evaluating community structure of coastal aquatic ecosystems, beyond the estimate of possible external impacts to the networks. Thus, this study aims to develop computational systems and data models to assess how these ecological networks are structurally and functionally organized, to analyze the types and degree of compartmentalization and synchronization between oscillatory and interconnected elements network and the influence of disturbances on the overall pattern of rhythmicity of the system.

Keywords: ecological networks, plankton food webs, fuzzy multigraphs, dynamic of networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 299

Authors: Elijah Cavan

Abstract:

In Major League Sports (MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL), it is the Front Office Staff (FOS) who make decisions about who plays for their respective team. The FOS bear the brunt of the responsibility for acquiring players through drafting, trading and signing players in free agency while typically contesting with maximum roster salary constraints. The players themselves are volatile assets of these teams- their value fluctuates with age and performance. A simple comparison can be made when viewing players as assets. The problem here is similar to that of optimizing your investment portfolio. The The goal is ultimately to maximize your periodic returns while tolerating a fixed risk (degree of uncertainty/ potential loss). Each franchise may value assets differently, and some may only tolerate lower risk levels- these are examples of factors that introduce additional constraints into the model. In this talk, we will detail the mathematical formulation of this problem as a constrained optimization problem- which can be solved with classical machine learning methods but is also well posed as a problem to be solved on quantum computers

Keywords: optimization, financial mathematics, sports analytics, simulated annealing

Procedia PDF Downloads 122