Search results for: direct cost

Authors: Nauman Idrees

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Modeling and simulation during the conceptual design phase are the most effective means of system testing resulting in time and cost savings as compared to the testing of hardware prototypes, which are mostly not available during the conceptual design phase. This paper uses the model-based design (MBD) method in designing the fly-by-wire flight controls system of a fighter aircraft using Simulink. The process begins with system definition and layout where modeling requirements and system components were identified, followed by hierarchical system layout to identify the sequence of operation and interfaces of system with external environment as well as the internal interface between the components. In the second step, each component within the system architecture was modeled along with its physical and functional behavior. Finally, all modeled components were combined to form the fly-by-wire flight controls system of a fighter aircraft as per system architecture developed. The system model developed using this method can be simulated using any simulation software to ensure that desired requirements are met even without the development of a physical prototype resulting in time and cost savings.

Keywords: fly-by-wire, flight controls system, model based design, Simulink

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Authors: Adrizal, Irsan Ryanto, Sri Juwita, Adika Sugara, Tino Bapirco

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The objective of the research was to study the influence of the inclusion of the cabbage waste into a buffalo rations made of sugarcane waste on the feed formula and characteristic of complete feed silage. Research carried out a two-stage i.e. the feed formulation and experiment of making complete feed silage. Feed formulation is done by linear programming. Data input is the price of feed stuffs and their nutrient contents as well as requirements for rations, while the output is the use of each feed stuff and the price of complete feed. The experiment of complete feed silage was done by a completely random design 4 x 4. The treatments were 4 inclusion levels of the cabbage waste i.e. 0%,(T1) 5%(T2), 10%(T3) and 15% (T4), with 4 replications. The result of feed formulation for T1 was cabbage (0%), sugarcane top (17.9%), bagasse (33.3%), Molasses (5.0%), cabagge (0%), Thitonia sp (10.0%), rice brand (2.7%), palm kernel cake (20.0%), corn meal (9.1%), bond meal (1.5%) and salt (0.5%). The formula of T2 was cabagge (5%), sugarcane top (1.7%), bagasse (45.2%), Molasses (5.0%), , Thitonia sp (10.0%), rice brand (3.6%), palm kernel cake (20.0%), corn meal (7.5%), bond meal (1.5%) and salt (0.5%). The formula of T3 was cabbage (10%), sugarcane top (0%), bagasse (45.3%), Molasses (5.0%), Thitonia sp (10.0%), rice brand (3.8%), palm kernel cake (20.0%), corn meal (3.9%), bond meal (1.5%) and salt(0.5%). The formula of T4 was cabagge (15.0%), sugarcane top (0%), bagasse (44.1%), Molasses (5.0%), Thitonia sp (10.0%), rice brand (3.9%), palm kernel cake (20.0%), corn meal (0%), bond meal (1.5%) and salt (0.5%). An increase in the level of inclusion of the cabbage waste can decrease the cost of rations. The cost of rations (IDR/kg on DM basis) were 1442, 1367, 1333, and 1300 respectively. The rations formula were not significantly (P > 0.05) influent the on fungal colonies, smell, texture and color of the complete ration silage, but the pH increased significantly (P < 0.05). It concluded that inclusion of cabbage waste can minimize the cost of buffalo ration, without decreasing the silage quality of complete feed.

Keywords: buffalo, cabbage, complete feed, sillage characteristic, sugarcane waste

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Authors: John O. Akindoyo, M. D. H. Beg, Suriati Binti Ghazali, Nitthiyah Jeyaratnam

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Regeneration of bone due to the many health challenges arising from traumatic effects of bone loss, bone tumours and other bone infections is fast becoming indispensable. Over the period of time, some approaches have been undertaken to mitigate this challenge. This includes but not limited to xenografts, allografts, autografts as well as artificial substitutions like bioceramics, synthetic cements and metals. However, most of these techniques often come along with peculiar limitation and problems such as morbidity, availability, disease transmission, collateral site damage or absolute rejection by the body as the case may be. Hydroxyapatite (HA) is very compatible and suitable for this application. However, most of the common methods for HA synthesis are expensive and environmentally unfriendly. Extraction of HA from bio-wastes have been perceived not only to be cost effective, but also environment-friendly. In this research, HA was produced from bio-waste: namely bovine bones through a combination of hydrothermal chemical processes and ordinary calcination techniques. Structure and property of the HA was carried out through different characterization techniques (such as TGA, FTIR, DSC, XRD and BET). The synthesized HA was found to possess similar properties to stoichiometric HA with highly desirable thermal, degradation, structural and porous properties. This material is unique for its potential minimal cost, environmental friendliness and property controllability. It is also perceived to be suitable for tissue and bone engineering applications.

Keywords: biomaterial, biopolymer, bone, hydroxyapatite

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Authors: Riya Bose, Ashok Bera, Manas R. Parida, Anirudhha Adhikari, Basamat S. Shaheen, Erkki Alarousu, Jingya Sun, Tom Wu, Osman M. Bakr, Omar F. Mohammed

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This work reports visualization of charge carrier dynamics on the surface of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGSe) nanocrystals in real space and time using four-dimensional scanning ultrafast electron microscopy (4D S-UEM) and correlates it with the optoelectronic properties of the nanocrystals. The surface of the nanocrystals plays a key role in controlling their applicability for light emitting and light harvesting purposes. Typically for quaternary systems like CIGSe, which have many desirable attributes to be used for optoelectronic applications, relative abundance of surface trap states acting as non-radiative recombination centre for charge carriers remains as a major bottleneck preventing further advancements and commercial exploitation of these nanocrystals devices. Though ultrafast spectroscopic techniques allow determining the presence of picosecond carrier trapping channels, because of relative larger penetration depth of the laser beam, only information mainly from the bulk of the nanocrystals is obtained. Selective mapping of such ultrafast dynamical processes on the surfaces of nanocrystals remains as a key challenge, so far out of reach of purely optical probing time-resolved laser techniques. In S-UEM, the optical pulse generated from a femtosecond (fs) laser system is used to generate electron packets from the tip of the scanning electron microscope, instead of the continuous electron beam used in the conventional setup. This pulse is synchronized with another optical excitation pulse that initiates carrier dynamics in the sample. The principle of S-UEM is to detect the secondary electrons (SEs) generated in the sample, which is emitted from the first few nanometers of the top surface. Constructed at different time delays between the optical and electron pulses, these SE images give direct and precise information about the carrier dynamics on the surface of the material of interest. In this work, we report selective mapping of surface dynamics in real space and time of CIGSe nanocrystals applying 4D S-UEM. We show that the trap states can be considerably passivated by ZnS shelling of the nanocrystals, and the carrier dynamics can be significantly slowed down. We also compared and discussed the S-UEM kinetics with the carrier dynamics obtained from conventional ultrafast time-resolved techniques. Additionally, a direct effect of the state trap removal can be observed in the enhanced photoresponse of the nanocrystals after shelling. Direct observation of surface dynamics will not only provide a profound understanding of the photo-physical mechanisms on nanocrystals’ surfaces but also enable to unlock their full potential for light emitting and harvesting applications.

Keywords: 4D scanning ultrafast microscopy, charge carrier dynamics, nanocrystals, optoelectronics, surface passivation, trap states

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Authors: Mulusew G. Jebena, David Lindstrom, Tefera Belachew, Craig Hadley, Carl Lachat, Patrick Kolsteren

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Background: The biological and psychosocial consequence of food insecurity on physical health and nutritional status has been reported. But, its effect on mental health during adolescence remains unexplored. Thus, the main aim of this analysis is to examine the mechanism by which food insecurity is linked to mental health among adolescents living in Jimma, Southwest Ethiopia. Methods: We used data from third round observation of Jimma Longitudinal Family and Youth Survey (JLFSY). A total of 1,521 adolescents included for the main analysis. Food insecurity was measured using 5-items scale and The Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) was used to measure mental distress. Structural equation modeling analysis was done using maximum likelihood estimation method. Model diagnostics test was reported. All p values were two tailed and P value ≤ 0.05 was used to determine statistical significance. Results: The prevalence of mental distress was 20.8%, 95% CI: (18.8, 22.9). After adjusted for covariates, the final model depicts food insecurity was associated with adolescent mental distress (β=.324). This analysis showed 94.1% of the effect of food insecurity on mental distress is direct. By contrast, 5.9% of the food insecurity effect is mediated by physical health. In addition, Self-rated health (β=.356), socioeconomic status (β=-.078) parental educational (β= .170), living in urban (β= .193) and female headed household (β=.205) were associated with adolescent mental distress. Conclusions: This finding highlights the direct effect of food insecurity on adolescent mental distress. Therefore, any intervention aimed to improve mental distress of adolescents should consider strategies to improve access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. Beside this, prevention of underlying factors such as psychosomatic health illness and improving socio economic status is also very critical. Furthermore longitudinal relationship of the long term effect of food insecurity on mental health should be investigated.

Keywords: adolescent, Ethiopia, food insecurity, mental health

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Authors: Christian Rathgeber, Franz Winkler, Xiaoyu Kang, Steffen Müller

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In this contribution two approaches for calculating optimal trajectories for highly automated vehicles are presented and compared. The first one is based on a non-linear vehicle model, used for evaluation. The second one is based on a simplified model and can be implemented on a current ECU. In usual driving situations both approaches show very similar results.

Keywords: trajectory planning, direct method, indirect method, highly automated driving

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Authors: Hamidoddin Yousife

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Drilling optimization requires a prediction of drilling rate of penetration (ROP) since it provides a significant reduction in drilling costs. There are several factors that can have an impact on the ROP, both controllable and uncontrollable. Numerous drilling penetration rate models have been considered based on drilling parameters. This papers considered the effect of proper drilling parameter selection such as bit, Mud Type, applied weight on bit (WOB), Revolution per minutes (RPM), and flow rate on drilling optimization and drilling cost reduction. A predicted analysis is used in real-time drilling performance to determine the optimal drilling operation. As a result of these modeling studies, the real data collected from three directional wells at Azadegan oil fields, Iran, was verified and adjusted to determine the drillability of a specific formation. Simulation results and actual drilling results show significant improvements in inaccuracy. Once simulations had been validated, optimum drilling parameters and equipment specifications were determined by varying weight on bit (WOB), rotary speed (RPM), hydraulics (hydraulic pressure), and bit specification for each well until the highest drilling rate was achieved. To evaluate the potential operational and economic benefits of optimizing results, a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data was performed.

Keywords: drlling, cost, optimization, parameters

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Authors: Ringisai Abigail Mawondo-Dhliwayo, Kahilu Kajimo-Shakantu

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Due to financial challenges which governments in general face, it is becoming more difficult for many to continually use their limited resources to undertake infrastructural development. Governments increasingly now need other delivery approaches, in particular, the Public-Private Partnerships which make it possible for the public sector to achieve infrastructural development without incurring any/minimum cost. The literature reviewed outlined that benefits of PPPs include timely delivery of quality projects with cost limits. The methodology utilized for the empirical study comprised six interviews and sixty questionnaires which were undertaken and administered by construction consultants and government officials involved in PPPs projects. The results obtained showed that PPPs are not widely used in Zimbabwe although the need for their use exists. The study also found some challenges which prevent or derail the rate at which PPPs are utilized, of which the primary one was a political influence. It is concluded that despite limitations, PPPs remain the most effective and viable option for the delivery of government projects. The study recommends that policy and framework for the implementation of PPPs be developed. More useful information could have been obtained if final users of PPPs projects were included in the sample for data collection.

Keywords: construction projects, procurement, public private partnerships, public sector

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Authors: Badrane Nohayla, Bamousse Zineb

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Financial crises, exchange rate volatility, fluctuations in commodity prices, increased competitive pressures, and environmental issues are all threats that businesses face. In light of these diverse challenges, proactive, agile, and innovative cash management becomes an indispensable financial shield, allowing companies to thrive despite the adverse conditions of the global environment. In the same spirit, uncertainty, turbulence, volatility, and competitiveness continue to disrupt economic environments, compelling companies to swiftly master innovative breakthroughs that provide added value. In such a context, innovation emerges as a catalytic vector for performance, aiming to reduce costs, strengthen growth, and ultimately ensure the sustainability of Moroccan companies in the national arena. Moreover, innovation in treasury management promises to be one of the key pillars of financial stability, enabling companies to navigate the tumultuous waters of a globalized environment. Therefore, the objective of this study is to better understand the impact of innovative treasury management on cost optimization and, by extension, performance improvement. To elucidate this relationship, we conducted an exploratory qualitative study with 20 large Moroccan companies operating in the Casablanca-Settat region. The results highlight that innovation at the heart of treasury management is a guarantee of sustainability against the risks of failure and stands as a true pivot of the performance of Moroccan companies, an important parameter of their financial balance and a catalytic vector of their growth in the national economic landscape. In this regard, the present study aims to explore the extent to which innovation at the core of the treasury function serves as an indispensable tool for boosting performance while optimising costs in large Moroccan companies.

Keywords: innovative cash management, artificial intelligence, financial performance, risk management, cost savings

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Authors: Harun Aydilek, Asiye Aydilek, Ali Allahverdi

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The total tardiness is a widely used performance measure in the scheduling literature. This performance measure is particularly important in situations where there is a cost to complete a job beyond its due date. The cost of scheduling increases as the gap between a job's due date and its completion time increases. Such costs may also be penalty costs in contracts, loss of goodwill. This performance measure is important as the fulfillment of due dates of customers has to be taken into account while making scheduling decisions. The problem is addressed in the literature, however, it has been assumed zero setup times. Even though this assumption may be valid for some environments, it is not valid for some other scheduling environments. When setup times are treated as separate from processing times, it is possible to increase machine utilization and to reduce total tardiness. Therefore, non-zero setup times need to be considered as separate. A dominance relation is developed and several algorithms are proposed. The developed dominance relation is utilized in the proposed algorithms. Extensive computational experiments are conducted for the evaluation of the algorithms. The experiments indicated that the developed algorithms perform much better than the existing algorithms in the literature. More specifically, one of the newly proposed algorithms reduces the error of the best existing algorithm in the literature by 40 percent.

Keywords: algorithm, assembly flowshop, dominance relation, total tardiness

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Authors: Yazeed Al-Sheikh

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Pregnancy represents a risk factor in the occurrence of vulvovaginal candidiasis. To investigate the prevalence rate of vaginal carriage of Candida species in Saudi pregnant and non-pregnant women, high vaginal swab (HVS) specimens (707) were examined by direct microscopy (10% KOH and Giemsa staining) and parallel cultured on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) as well as on “CHROM agar Candida” medium. As expected, Candida-positive cultures were frequently observed in pregnant-test group (24%) than in non-pregnant group (17%). The frequency of culture positive was correlated to pregnancy (P=0.047), parity (P=0.001), use of contraceptive (P=0.146), or antibiotics (P=0.128), and diabetic-patients (P < 0.0001). Out of 707 HVS examined specimens, 157 specimens were yeast-positive culture (22%) on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar or “CHROM agar Candida”. In comparison, the sensitivities of the direct 10% KOH and the Giemsa stain microscopic examination methods were 84% (132/157) and 95% (149/157) respectively but both with 100% specificity. As for the identity of recovered 157 yeast isolates, based on API 20C biotype carbohydrate assimilation, germ tube and chlamydospore formation, C. albicansand C. glabrata constitute 80.3 and 12.7% respectively. Rates of C. tropicalis, C. kefyr, C. famata or C. utilis were 2.6, 1.3, and 0.6% respectively. Sachromyces cerevisiae and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa yeasts were also encountered at a frequency of 1.3 and 0.6% respectively. Finally, among all recovered 157 yeast-isolates, strains resistant to ketoconazole were not detected, whereas 5% of the C. albicans and as high as 55% of the non-albicans yeast isolates (majority C. glabrata) showed resistance to fluconazole. Our findings may prove helpful for continuous determination of the existing vaginal candidiasis causative species during pregnancy, its lab-diagnosis and/or control and possible measures to minimize the incidence of the disease-associated pre-term delivery.

Keywords: vaginal candidiasis, Candida spp., pregnancy, risk factors, API 20C-yeast biotypes, giemsa stain, antifungal agents

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Authors: Milica Z. Karadzic, Lidija R. Jevric, Sanja Podunavac-Kuzmanovic, Strahinja Z. Kovacevic, Anamarija I. Mandic, Katarina Penov-Gasi, Andrea R. Nikolic, Aleksandar M. Okljesa

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In this study, a set of 29 newly synthesized steroid derivatives were investigated using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) as a first step in preselection of drug candidates. This analysis presents an experimental determination of chromatographic lipophilicity, and it was conducted to obtain physicochemical characterization of these molecules. As the most widely used bonded phases in RP-HPLC, octadecyl (C18) and octyl (C8) were used. Binary mixtures of water and acetonitrile or methanol were used as mobile phases. Obtained results were expressed as retention factor values logk and they were correlated with logP values. The results showed that both columns provide good estimations of the chromatographic lipophilicity of the molecules included in this study. This analysis was conducted in order to characterize newly synthesized steroid derivatives for further investigation regarding their antiproliferative and antimicrobial activity. This article is based upon work from COST Action (CM1306), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

Keywords: antiproliferative activity, chromatographic lipophilicity, liquid chromatography, steroids

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Authors: Dina Alfreahat, Zoltan Sebestyen

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Safety is considered as one of the project’s success factors. Poor safety management may result in accidents that impact human, economic, and legal issues. Therefore, it is necessary to consider safety and health as a project success factor along with other project success factors, such as time, cost, and quality. Organizations have a knowledge deficit of the implementation of long-term safety practices, and due to cost control, safety problems tend to receive the least priority. They usually assume that safety management involves expenditures unrelated to production goals, thereby considering it unnecessary for profitability and competitiveness. The purpose of this study is to introduce, analysis and identify the correlation between the orientation of the public safety procedures of an organization and the public safety standards applied in the project. Therefore, the authors develop the process and collect the possible mathematical-statistical tools supporting the previously mentioned goal. The result shows that the adoption of management to safety is a major factor in implementing the safety standard in the project and thereby improving safety performance. It may take time and effort to adopt the mindset of safety orientation service development, but at the same time, the higher organizational investment in safety and health programs will contribute to the loyalty of staff to safety compliance.

Keywords: project management perspective, safety orientation, safety performance, safety standards

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Authors: Nimet Yildirim Tirgil, Ahmed Busnaina, April Z. Gu

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Environmental waters are monitored worldwide to protect people from infectious diseases primarily caused by enteric pathogens. All long, Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a good indicator for potential enteric pathogens in waters. Thus, a rapid and simple detection method for E. coli is very important to predict the pathogen contamination. In this study, to the best of our knowledge, as the first time we developed a rapid, direct and reusable SWCNTs (single walled carbon nanotubes) based biosensor system for sensitive and selective E. coli detection in water samples. We use a novel and newly developed flexible biosensor device which was fabricated by high-rate nanoscale offset printing process using directed assembly and transfer of SWCNTs. By simple directed assembly and non-covalent functionalization, aptamer (biorecognition element that specifically distinguish the E. coli O157:H7 strain from other pathogens) based SWCNTs biosensor system was designed and was further evaluated for environmental applications with simple and cost-effective steps. The two gold electrode terminals and SWCNTs-bridge between them allow continuous resistance response monitoring for the E. coli detection. The detection procedure is based on competitive mode detection. A known concentration of aptamer and E. coli cells were mixed and after a certain time filtered. The rest of free aptamers injected to the system. With hybridization of the free aptamers and their SWCNTs surface immobilized probe DNA (complementary-DNA for E. coli aptamer), we can monitor the resistance difference which is proportional to the amount of the E. coli. Thus, we can detect the E. coli without injecting it directly onto the sensing surface, and we could protect the electrode surface from the aggregation of target bacteria or other pollutants that may come from real wastewater samples. After optimization experiments, the linear detection range was determined from 2 cfu/ml to 10⁵ cfu/ml with higher than 0.98 R² value. The system was regenerated successfully with 5 % SDS solution over 100 times without any significant deterioration of the sensor performance. The developed system had high specificity towards E. coli (less than 20 % signal with other pathogens), and it could be applied to real water samples with 86 to 101 % recovery and 3 to 18 % cv values (n=3).

Keywords: aptamer, E. coli, environmental detection, nanobiosensor, SWCTs

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Authors: Andrey A. Chernousov, Ben Y. B. Chan

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The use of the low-cost paraffinic phase change material can be rather effective in smart building envelopes in the South China region. Particular attention has to be paid to the PCM optimization as an exploitation conditions and the envelope insulation changes its thermal characteristics. The studied smart building envelope consists of a reinforced aluminum exterior, polymeric insulation foam, phase change material and reinforced interior gypsum board. A prototype sample was tested to validate the numerical scheme using EnergryPlus software. Three scenarios of insulation thermal resistance loss (ΔR/R = 0%, 25%, 50%) were compared with the different PCM thicknesses (tP=0, 1, 2.5, 5 mm). The comparisons were carried out for a west facing enveloped office building (50 storey). PCM optimization was applied to find the maximum efficiency for the different ΔR/R cases. It was found, during the optimization, that the PCM is an important smart component, lowering the peak energy demand up to 2.7 times. The results are not influenced by the insulation aging in terms of ΔR/R during long-term exploitation. In hot and humid climates like Hong Kong, the insulation core of the smart systems is recommended to be laminated completely. This can be very helpful in achieving an acceptable payback period.

Keywords: smart building envelope, thermal performance, phase change material, energy efficiency, large-scale sandwich panel

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Authors: Futoshi Kakuta, Takashi Ishida

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Sewage sludge is a biomass resource that can create a solid fuel and electricity. Utilizing sewage sludge as a renewable energy can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gasses. In Japan, 'The National Plan for the Promotion of Biomass Utilization' and 'The Priority Plan for Social Infrastructure Development' were approved at cabinet meetings in December 2010 and August 2012, respectively, to promote the energy utilization of sewage sludge. This study investigated costs and greenhouse gas emission in different sewage sludge treatments with technologies for energy from sewage sludge. Costs were estimated on capital costs and O&M costs including energy consumption of solid fuel plants and biogas power generation plants for sewage sludge. Results showed that cost of sludge digestion treatment with solid fuel technologies was 8% lower than landfill disposal. Greenhouse gas emission of sludge digestion treatment with solid fuel technologies was also 6,390t as CO2 smaller than landfill disposal. Biogas power generation reduced the electricity of a wastewater treatment plant by 30% and the cost by 5%.

Keywords: global warming countermeasure, energy technology, solid fuel production, biogas

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Authors: John Kosmeh

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Introduction – For years, senior health care and skilled nursing facilities have been plagued with the dilemma of not having the necessary tools and equipment to adequately care for senior residents in their communities. This has led to high transport rates to emergency departments and high 30-day readmission rates, costing billions of unnecessary dollars each year, as well as quality assurance issues. Our Senior care telemedicine program is designed to solve this issue. Methods – We conducted a 1-year pilot program using our technology coupled with our 24/7 telemedicine program with skilled nursing facilities in different parts of the United States. We then compared transports rates and 30-day readmission rates to previous years before the use of our program, as well as transport rates of other communities of similar size not using our program. This data was able to give us a clear and concise look at the success rate of reducing unnecessary transport and readmissions as well as cost savings. Results – A 94% reduction nationally of unnecessary out-of-facility transports, and to date, complete elimination of 30-day readmissions. Our virtual platform allowed us to instruct facility staff on the utilization of our tools and system as well as deliver treatment by our ER-trained providers. Delay waiting for PCP callbacks was eliminated. We were able to obtain lung, heart, and abdominal ultrasound imaging, 12 lead EKG, blood labs, auscultate lung and heart sounds, and collect other diagnostic tests at the bedside within minutes, providing immediate care and allowing us to treat residents within the SNF. Are virtual capabilities allowed for loved ones, family members, and others who had medical power of attorney to virtually connect with us at the time of visit, to speak directly with the medical provider, providing increased confidence in the decision to treat the resident in-house. The decline in transports and readmissions will greatly reduce governmental cost burdens, as well as fines imposed on SNF for high 30-day readmissions, reduce the cost of Medicare A readmissions, and significantly impact the number of patients visiting overcrowded ERs. Discussion – By utilizing our program, SNF can effectively reduce the number of unnecessary transports of residents, as well as create significant savings from loss of day rates, transportation costs, and high CMS fines. The cost saving is in the thousands monthly, but more importantly, these facilities can create a higher quality of life and medical care for residents by providing definitive care instantly with ER-trained personnel.

Keywords: senior care, long term care, telemedicine, technology, senior care communities

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Authors: Saleh Alzahrani, Halim Boussabaine

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The Public Private Partnership (PPP) contracts are produced taking into account the reason that the configuration, development, operation, and financing of an open undertaking is to be recompensed to a private gathering inside a solitary contractual structure. PPP venture dangers are ordinarily connected with the improvement and development of another resource and in addition its operation for a considerable length of time. Without a doubt, the most genuine outcomes of dangers amid the development period are value and time overwhelms. These occasions are amongst the most extensively utilized situations as a part of worth for cash investigation dangers. The wellsprings of danger change over the life cycle of a PPP venture. In customary acquirement, the general population segment ordinarily needs to cover all value trouble from these dangers. At any rate there is bounty confirmation to recommend that cost pain is a standard in a percentage of the tasks that are conveyed under customary obtainment. This paper means to research the effect of endogenous dangers on expense overwhelm in KSA PPP ventures. The paper displays a brief writing survey on PPP danger evaluating systems, and after that presents an affiliation model between danger occasions and expense invade in KSA. The paper finishes up with considerations for future examination.

Keywords: PPP, risk pricing, impact of risk, Endogenous risks

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Authors: Pawan Kumar Sharma, J. Stephan Sampath Kumar, S. Anand, Chandana B. L.

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Protein is the major component for the success in culture of shrimp and fishes. Apparently, excess dietary protein is undesirable, as it not only enhances the production cost but also leads to water quality deterioration. A field survey was conducted with aqua farmers of Kerala, India, a leading state in coastal aquaculture, to assess the role of protein component in feed that can be efficiently and effectively managed for sustainable aquaculture. The study showed an average feed amount of 13.55 ± 2.16 tonnes per hectare was being used by the farmers of Kerala. The average feed cost percentage of Rs. 57.76 ± 13.46 /kg was invested for an average protein level of 36.26 % ± 0.082 in the feed and Rs.78.95 ± 3.086 per kilogram of feed was being paid by the farmers. Study revealed that replacement of fish meal and fish oil within shrimp aquafeeds with alternative protein, and lipid sources can only be achieved if changes are made in the basic shrimp culturing practices, such as closed farming system through water recycling or zero-water exchange, and by maximizing in-situ, floc and natural food production within the culture system. The upshot of such production systems is that imports of high-quality feed ingredients and aqua feeds can eventually be eliminated, and the utilization of locally available feed ingredients from agricultural by-products can be greatly improved and maximized. The promotion of closed shrimp production systems would also greatly reduce water use and increase shrimp production per unit area but would necessitate the continuous provision of electricity for aeration during production. Alternative energy sources such as solar power might be used, and resource poor farming communities should also explore wind energy for use. The study concluded that farm made feed and closed farming systems are essential for the sustainability and profitability of the aquaculture industry.

Keywords: aqua feeds, floc, fish meal, protein, zero-water exchange

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Authors: Beryl Rene R. Lopez, Lesley Anne M. Lipat, Rhogene Barbette C. Lirio, Laurice Joy H. Llanes, Karl Philippe M. Llapitan, Einstein James R. Lopez, Socorro S. GuanHing

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Background: Measles remain as one of the most common childhood diseases despite the availability of the vaccine that is safe and cost-effective. Because of morbidity and mortality associated with the recent measles outbreak in the Philippines, there is an increasing concern from the health care professionals. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the compliance of Filipino mothers to measles vaccination and their health beliefs when grouped according to the given socio-demographic factors using a researcher-made questionnaire. Research Methodology: This research utilized the descriptive-correlational research design. With the use of purposive sampling technique, the study involved 200 Filipino mothers aged 18 years old and above excluding those who are healthcare professionals with children aged 2-3 years old with either urban or rural as their settlements. Pre-testing was done prior to the actual data gathering. A questionnaire composed of 26 items involving socio-demographic, compliance, and health beliefs was distributed to the sample population. Statistical analysis was done with the use of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) for the first research question and Structural Equation Model (SEM) for the second research question. Results: Four dimensions were generated with the use of EFA namely: Vulnerability-Oriented Beliefs (VOB), Knowledge-Oriented Beliefs (KOB), Accessibility-Oriented Beliefs (AOB), and Outcomes-Oriented Beliefs (OOB). These were then correlated with the mothers’ socio-demographic factors (age, educational attainment, the area of residence, the number of children, and family income) and their compliance to the measles vaccination schedule. Results showed significant and direct relationships between area of residence and compliance, family income and compliance, KOB and compliance, education and KOB, KOB and VOB, KOB and OOB, AOB and KOB, AOB and OOB, AOB and VOB, and lastly, OOB and VOB. Conclusion: The Knowledge – Oriented Belief dimension greatly influence compliance to measles vaccination. Other determinants of compliance like the area of residence, educational attainment, and family income significantly increase the Filipino mothers’ likelihood of compliance to measles vaccination, which have implications to health education.

Keywords: socio-demographic, health beliefs, compliance, measles vaccination

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Authors: S. Hasan, I. Beshara

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Infrastructure maintenance is a great challenge facing sustainable development of infrastructure assets due to the high cost of passive implementation of a sustainable maintenance plan. An assessment model of sustainable maintenance for highway infrastructure projects in Egypt is developed in this paper. It helps in improving the implementation of sustainable maintenance criteria. Thus, this paper has applied the analytical hierarchy processes (AHP) to rank and explore the weight of 26 assessment indicators using three hierarchy levels containing the main sustainable categories and subcategories with related indicators. Overall combined weight of each indicator for sustainable maintenance evaluation has been calculated to sum up to a sustainable maintenance performance index (SMI). The results show that the factor "Preventive maintenance cost" has the highest relative contribution factor among others (13.5%), while two factors of environmental performance have the least weights (0.7%). The developed model aims to provide decision makers with information about current maintenance performance and support them in the decision-making process regarding future directions of maintenance activities. It can be used as an assessment performance tool during the operation and maintenance stage. The developed indicators can be considered during designing the maintenance plan. Practices for successful implementation of the model are also presented.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process, assessment performance Model, KPIs for sustainable maintenance, sustainable maintenance index

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Authors: Chandragouda R. Patil, K. S. Jagadeesh, S. D. Kalolgi

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Biofertilizers containing live microbial cells can mobilize one or more nutrients to plants when applied to either seed or rhizosphere. They form an integral part of nutrient management strategies for sustainable production of agricultural crops. Annually, about 22 tons of lignite-based biofertilizers are being produced and supplied to farmers at the Institute of Organic Farming, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka state India. Although carrier based biofertilizers are common, they have shorter shelf life, poor quality, high contamination, unpredictable field performance and high cost of solid carriers. Hence, liquid formulations are being developed to increase their efficacy and broaden field applicability. An attempt was made to develop liquid formulation of strains of Rhizobium NC-92 (Groundnut), Azospirillum ACD15 both nitrogen-fixing biofertilizers and Pseudomonas striata an efficient P-solubilizing bacteria (PSB). Different concentration of amendments such as additives (glycerol and polyethylene glycol), adjuvants (carboxyl methyl cellulose), gum arabica (GA), surfactant (polysorbate) and trehalose specifically for Azospirillum were found essential. Combinations of formulations of Rhizobium and PSB for groundnut and Azospirillum and PSB for maize were evaluated under field conditions to determine the optimum level of inoculum required. Each biofertilizer strain was inoculated at the rate of 2, 4, 8 ml per kg of seeds and the efficacy of each formulation both individually and in combinations was evaluated against the lignite-based formulation at the rate of 20 g each per kg seeds and a un-inoculated set was included to compare the inoculation effect. The field experiment had 17 treatments in three replicates and the best level of inoculum was decided based on net returns and cost: benefit ratio. In peanut, the combination of 4 ml of Rhizobium and 2 ml of PSB resulted in the highest net returns and higher cost to benefit ratio of 1:2.98 followed by treatment with a combination of 2 ml per kg each of Rhizobium and PSB with a B;C ratio of 1:2.84. The benefits in terms of net returns were to the extent of 16 percent due to inoculation with lignite based formulations while it was up to 48 percent due to the best combination of liquid biofertilizers. In maize combination of liquid formulations consisting of 4 ml of Azospirillum and 2 ml of PSB resulted in the highest net returns; about 53 percent higher than the un-inoculated control and 20 percent higher than the treatment with lignite based formulation. In both the crops inoculation with lignite based formulations significantly increased the net returns over un-inoculated control while levels higher or lesser than 4 ml of Rhizobium and Azospirillum and higher or lesser than 2 ml of PSB were not economical and hence not optimal for these two crops.

Keywords: Rhizobium, Azospirillum, phosphate solubilizing bacteria, liquid formulation, benefit-cost ratio

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Authors: Paffrath Meinhard, Zhou Yayun, Guo Yiqing, Ertl Harald

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Winding geometry design is an important part of power transformer electrical design. Conventionally, the winding geometry is designed manually, which is a time-consuming job because it involves many iteration steps in order to meet all cost, manufacturing and electrical requirements. Here a method is presented which automatically generates the winding geometry for given user parameters and allows the user to interactively set and change parameters. To achieve this goal, the winding problem is transferred to a mixed integer nonlinear optimization problem. The relevant geometrical design parameters are defined as optimization variables. The cost and other requirements are modeled as constraints. For the solution, a stochastic ant colony optimization algorithm is applied. It is well-known, that an optimizer can get stuck in a local minimum. For the winding problem, we present efficient strategies to come out of local minima, furthermore a reduced variable search range helps to accelerate the solution process. Numerical examples show that the optimization result is delivered within seconds such that the user can interactively change the variable search area and constraints to improve the design.

Keywords: ant colony optimization, mixed integer nonlinear programming, power transformer, winding design

Procedia PDF Downloads 375

Authors: L. Edirisinghe, Z. Jin, A. W. Wijeratne, R. Mudunkotuwa

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Empty container repositioning is a fundamental problem faced by the shipping industry. The virtual container yard is a novel strategy underpinning the container interchange between carriers that could substantially reduce this ever-increasing shipping cost. This paper evaluates the shipping industry perception of the virtual container yard using chi-square tests. It examines if the carriers perceive that the selected independent variables, namely culture, organization, decision, marketing, attitudes, legal, independent, complexity, and stakeholders of carriers, impact the efficiency and benefits of the virtual container yard. There are two major findings of the research. Firstly, carriers view that complexity, attitudes, and stakeholders may impact the effectiveness of container interchange and may influence the perceived benefits of the virtual container yard. Secondly, the three factors of legal, organization, and decision influence only the perceived benefits of the virtual container yard. Accordingly, the implementation of the virtual container yard will be influenced by six key factors, namely complexity, attitudes, stakeholders, legal, organization and decision. Since the virtual container yard could reduce overall shipping costs, it is vital to examine the carriers’ perception of this concept.

Keywords: virtual container yard, imbalance, management, inventory

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: Akim Borbuev, Francisco de León

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Economic and population growth in densely-populated urban areas introduce major challenges to distribution system operators, planers, and designers. To supply added loads, utilities are frequently forced to invest in new distribution feeders. However, this is becoming increasingly more challenging due to space limitations and rising installation costs in urban settings. This paper proposes the conversion of critical alternating current (ac) distribution feeders into direct current (dc) feeders to increase the power transfer capacity by a factor as high as four. Current trends suggest that the return of dc transmission, distribution, and utilization are inevitable. Since a total system-level transformation to dc operation is not possible in a short period of time due to the needed huge investments and utility unreadiness, this paper recommends that feeders that are expected to exceed their limits in near future are converted to dc. The increase in power transfer capacity is achieved through several key differences between ac and dc power transmission systems. First, it is shown that underground cables can be operated at higher dc voltage than the ac voltage for the same dielectric stress in the insulation. Second, cable sheath losses, due to induced voltages yielding circulation currents, that can be as high as phase conductor losses under ac operation, are not present under dc. Finally, skin and proximity effects in conductors and sheaths do not exist in dc cables. The paper demonstrates that in addition to the increased power transfer capacity utilities substituting ac feeders by dc feeders could benefit from significant lower costs and reduced losses. Installing dc feeders is less expensive than installing new ac feeders even when new trenches are not needed. Case studies using the IEEE 342-Node Low Voltage Networked Test System quantify the technical and economic benefits of dc feeders.

Keywords: DC power systems, distribution feeders, distribution networks, power transfer capacity

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Authors: David Whitehouse

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Some of the strengths of online teaching include flexibility, creativity, and comprehensiveness. A challenge can be motivation. How can an instructor repeating the same lessons over and over, day in and day out, year after year, maintain motivation? Enthusiasm? Does motivating the student and creating enthusiasm in class build the same things inside the instructor? The answers lie in the adoption of what I label EUQ—The Empathy and Understanding Quotient. In the online environment, students who are adults have many demands on their time: civilian careers, families (spouse, children, older parents), and sometimes even military service. Empathetic responses on the part of the instructor will lead to open and honest communication on the part of the student, which will lead to understanding on the part of the instructor and a rise in motivation in both parties. Understanding the demands can inform an instructor’s relationship with the student throughout the temporal parameters of classwork. In practicing EUQ, instructors can build motivation in their students and find internal motivation in an enhanced classroom dynamic. The presentation will look at what motivates a student to accomplish more than the minimum required and how that can lead to excellent results for an instructor’s own motivation. Through direct experience of having students give high marks on post-class surveys and via direct messaging, the presentation will focus on how applying EUQ in granting extra time, searching for intent while grading, communicating with students via Quick Notes, responses in Forums, comments in Assignments, and comments in grading areas - - - how applying these things infuses enthusiasm and energy in the instructor which drive creativity in teaching. Three primary ways of communicating with students will be given as examples. The positive response and negative response each for a Forum, an Assignment, and a Message will be explored. If there is time, participants will be invited to craft their own EUQ responses in a role playing exercise involving two common classroom scenarios—late work and plagiarism.

Keywords: education, instruction, motivation, online, teaching

Procedia PDF Downloads 168

Authors: Ahmad Haidar

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Modern economic systems are characterized by growing complexity, and addressing their challenges requires innovative approaches. This study examines the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) on unemployment in Europe from a macroeconomic perspective, employing data modeling techniques to understand the relationship between AI integration and labor market dynamics. To understand the AI-unemployment nexus comprehensively, this research considers factors such as sector-specific AI adoption, skill requirements, workforce demographics, and geographical disparities. The study utilizes a panel data model, incorporating data from European countries over the last two decades, to explore the potential short-term and long-term effects of AI implementation on unemployment rates. In addition to investigating the direct impact of AI on unemployment, the study also delves into the potential indirect effects and spillover consequences. It considers how AI-driven productivity improvements and cost reductions might influence economic growth and, in turn, labor market outcomes. Furthermore, it assesses the potential for AI-induced changes in industrial structures to affect job displacement and creation. The research also highlights the importance of policy responses in mitigating potential negative consequences of AI adoption on unemployment. It emphasizes the need for targeted interventions such as skill development programs, labor market regulations, and social safety nets to enable a smooth transition for workers affected by AI-related job displacement. Additionally, the study explores the potential role of AI in informing and transforming policy-making to ensure more effective and agile responses to labor market challenges. In conclusion, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of the macroeconomic implications of AI on unemployment in Europe, highlighting the importance of understanding the nuanced relationships between AI adoption, economic growth, and labor market outcomes. By shedding light on these relationships, the study contributes valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and researchers, enabling them to make informed decisions in navigating the complex landscape of AI-driven economic transformation.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, unemployment, macroeconomic analysis, european labor market

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Authors: Jeremy Moloney

Abstract:

A major oil and gas operator in western Canada producing approximately 50,000 BOE per day of sour fluids was experiencing increased water production along with decreased oil production over several years. The higher water volumes being produced meant an increase in the operator’s incumbent corrosion inhibitor (CI) chemical requirements but with reduced oil production revenues. Thus, a cost-effective corrosion inhibitor solution was sought to deliver enhanced corrosion mitigation of the carbon steel pipeline infrastructure but at reduced chemical injection dose rates. This paper presents the laboratory work conducted on the development of a corrosion inhibitor under the operator’s simulated sour operating conditions and then subsequent field testing of the product. The new CI not only provided extremely good levels of general and localized corrosion inhibition and outperformed the incumbent CI under the laboratory test conditions but did so at vastly lower concentrations. In turn, the novel CI product facilitated field chemical injection rates to be optimized and reduced by 40% compared with the incumbent whilst maintaining superior corrosion protection resulting in significant cost savings and associated sustainability benefits for the operator.

Keywords: carbon steel, sour gas, hydrogen sulphide, localized corrosion, pitting, corrosion inhibitor

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Authors: Mahdi Jalili

Abstract:

Functional connectivity in the human brain can be represented as a network using electroencephalography (EEG) signals. Network representation of EEG time series can be an efficient vehicle to understand the underlying mechanisms of brain function. Brain functional networks – whose nodes are brain regions and edges correspond to functional links between them – are characterized by neurobiologically meaningful graph theory metrics. This study investigates the degree to which graph theory metrics are sex dependent. To this end, EEGs from 24 healthy female subjects and 21 healthy male subjects were recorded in eyes-closed resting state conditions. The connectivity matrices were extracted using correlation analysis and were further binarized to obtain binary functional networks. Global and local efficiency measures – as graph theory metrics– were computed for the extracted networks. We found that male brains have a significantly greater global efficiency (i.e., global communicability of the network) across all frequency bands for a wide range of cost values in both hemispheres. Furthermore, for a range of cost values, female brains showed significantly greater right-hemispheric local efficiency (i.e., local connectivity) than male brains.

Keywords: EEG, brain, functional networks, network science, graph theory

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Authors: P. Jayashree, S. Rajkumar

Abstract:

With social networks and smart devices generating a multitude of data, effective data management is the need of the hour for networks and cloud applications. Some applications need effective storage while some other applications need effective communication over networks and data reduction comes as a handy solution to meet out both requirements. Most of the data compression techniques are based on data statistics and may result in either lossy or lossless data reductions. Though lossy reductions produce better compression ratios compared to lossless methods, many applications require data accuracy and miniature details to be preserved. A variety of data compression algorithms does exist in the literature for different forms of data like text, image, and multimedia data. In the proposed work, a generic progressive compression algorithm, based on probabilistic encoding, called PEINS is projected as an enhancement over irrational number stored coding technique to cater to storage issues of increasing data volumes as a cost effective solution, which also offers data security as a secondary outcome to some extent. The proposed work reveals cost effectiveness in terms of better compression ratio with no deterioration in compression time.

Keywords: compression ratio, generic compression, irrational number storage, probabilistic encoding

Procedia PDF Downloads 287