Search results for: energy demand model

Authors: David Lynch, Jake Madden

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There exists a body of literature that reports on the many benefits of partnerships between universities and schools, especially in terms of teaching improvement and school reform. This is because such partnerships can build significant teaching capital, by deepening and expanding the skillsets and mindsets needed to create the connections that support ongoing and embedded teacher professional development and career goals. At the same time, this literature is critical of such initiatives when the partnership outcomes are short- term or one-sided, misaligned to fundamental problems, and not expressly focused on building the desired teaching capabilities. In response to this situation, research conducted by Professor David Lynch and his TeachLab research team, has begun to shed light on the strengths and limitations of school/university partnerships, via the identification of key conceptual elements that appear to act as critical partnership success factors. These elements are theorised as an inter-play between professional knowledge acquisition, readiness, talent management and organisational structure. However, knowledge of how these elements are established, and how they manifest within the school and its teaching workforce as an overall system, remains incomplete. Therefore, research designed to more clearly delineate these elements in relation to their impact on school/university partnerships is thus required. It is within this context that this paper reports on the development and testing of a Professional Learning (PL) model for schools and their teachers that incorporates school-university research partnering within a systematic, whole-of-school PL strategy that is underpinned and structured by a micro-credentialing (MC) regime. MC involves learning a narrow-focused certificate (a micro-credential) in a specific topic area (e.g., 'How to Differentiate Instruction for English as a second language Students') and embedded in the teacher’s day-to-day teaching work. The use of MC is viewed as important to the efficacy and sustainability of teacher PL because it (1) provides an evidence-based framework for teacher learning, (2) has the ability to promote teacher social capital and (3) engender lifelong learning in keeping professional skills current in an embedded and seamless to work manner. The associated research is centred on a primary school in Australia (P-6) that acted as an arena to co-develop, test/investigate and report on outcomes for teacher PL that uses MC to support a whole-of-school partnership with a university.

Keywords: teaching improvement, teacher professional learning, talent management, education partnerships, school-university research

Procedia PDF Downloads 85

Authors: Marouen Hamdi, Johannes A. Poulis

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This study investigates the impact of UV/ozone treatment on the adhesion of ethylene propylene diene methylene (EPDM) rubber, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) materials. The experimental tests consist of contact angle measurements, standardized adhesion tests, and spectroscopic and microscopic observations. Also, commonly-used surface free energy models were applied to characterize the wettability of the materials. Preliminary results show that the treatment enhances the wettability of the examined polymers. Also, it considerably improved the adhesion strength of PVC and ABS and shifted their failure modes from adhesive to cohesive, without a significant effect on EPDM. Spectroscopic characterization showed significant oxidation-induced changes in the chemical structures of treated PVC and ABS surfaces. Also, new morphological changes (microcracks, micro-holes, and wrinkles) were observed on these two materials using the SEM. These chemical and morphological changes on treated PVC and ABS promote more reactivity and mechanical interlocking with the adhesive, which explains the improvement in their adhesion strength. After characterizing the adhesion strength of the systems, accelerated ageing tests in controlled environment chambers will be conducted to determine the effect of temperature, moisture, and UV radiation on the performance of the polymeric bonded joints.

Keywords: accelerated tests, adhesion strength, ageing of polymers, UV/ozone treatment

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Authors: Cecile Meier, Drago Diaz Aleman, Itahisa Perez Conesa, Jose Luis Saorin Perez, Jorge De La Torre Cantero

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In this work, two ways of creating small-sized metal sculptures are proposed: the first by means of microcasting and the second by electroforming from models printed in 3D using an FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling‎) printer or using a DLP (Digital Light Processing) printer. It is viable to replace the wax in the processes of the artistic foundry with 3D printed objects. In this technique, the digital models are manufactured with resin using a low-cost 3D FDM printer in polylactic acid (PLA). This material is used, because its properties make it a viable substitute to wax, within the processes of artistic casting with the technique of lost wax through Ceramic Shell casting. This technique consists of covering a sculpture of wax or in this case PLA with several layers of thermoresistant material. This material is heated to melt the PLA, obtaining an empty mold that is later filled with the molten metal. It is verified that the PLA models reduce the cost and time compared with the hand modeling of the wax. In addition, one can manufacture parts with 3D printing that are not possible to create with manual techniques. However, the sculptures created with this technique have a size limit. The problem is that when printed pieces with PLA are very small, they lose detail, and the laminar texture hides the shape of the piece. DLP type printer allows obtaining more detailed and smaller pieces than the FDM. Such small models are quite difficult and complex to melt using the lost wax technique of Ceramic Shell casting. But, as an alternative, there are microcasting and electroforming, which are specialized in creating small metal pieces such as jewelry ones. The microcasting is a variant of the lost wax that consists of introducing the model in a cylinder in which the refractory material is also poured. The molds are heated in an oven to melt the model and cook them. Finally, the metal is poured into the still hot cylinders that rotate in a machine at high speed to properly distribute all the metal. Because microcasting requires expensive material and machinery to melt a piece of metal, electroforming is an alternative for this process. The electroforming uses models in different materials; for this study, micro-sculptures printed in 3D are used. These are subjected to an electroforming bath that covers the pieces with a very thin layer of metal. This work will investigate the recommended size to use 3D printers, both with PLA and resin and first tests are being done to validate use the electroforming process of microsculptures, which are printed in resin using a DLP printer.

Keywords: sculptures, DLP 3D printer, microcasting, electroforming, fused deposition modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Mariam Mojally, Randa Abdou, Wisal Bokhari, Sultan Sab, Mohammed Dawoud, Amjad Albohy

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Secondary metabolites produced by endophytes are an excellent source of biologically active compounds. In our current study, we evaluated terezine E and 14-hydroxyterezine D for binding to the active site of histone deacetylase (PDB ID: 4CBT) and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (PDB ID: 4H3X) by molecular docking using AutoDock Vina software after having tested their cytotoxic activities on three cell lines (human ductal breast epithelial tumor cells (T47D)-HCC1937), human hepatocarcinoma cell line (HepG2)-HB8065), and human colorectal carcinoma cells (HCT-116)-TCP1006, purchased from ATCC, USA)). Additionally, their antimicrobial activities were investigated, and their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were determined against P. notatum and S. aureus by the broth microdilution method. Higher cytotoxicity was observed for terezine E against all tested cell lines compared to 14-hydroxyterezine D. Molecular docking results supported the high cytotoxicity of terezine E and showed higher binding affinity with 4CBT with an energy score of 9 kcal/mol. Terezine E showed higher antibacterial and antifungal activities than 14-hydroxyrerezine D: MIC values were 15.45 and 21.73 mg/mL against S. aureus and 8.61 and 11.54 mg/mL against P. notatum, respectively

Keywords: Terezine E, 14-Hydroxyterezine D, cytotoxicity, antimicrobial activity, molecular docking

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Authors: Rohit Lall

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The adoption of Micro Irrigation (MI) technologies in India has helped in achieving higher cropping and irrigation intensity with significant savings on resource savings such as labour, fertilizer and improved crop yields. These technologies have received considerable attention from policymakers, growers and researchers over the years for its perceived ability to contribute towards agricultural productivity and economic growth with the well-being of the growers of the country. Keeping the pace with untapped theoretical potential to cover government had launched flagship programs/centre sector schemes with earmarked budget to capture the potential under these waters saving techniques envisaged under these technologies by way of providing financial assistance to the beneficiaries for adopting these technologies. Micro Irrigation technologies have been in the special attention of the policymakers over the years. India being an agrarian economy having engaged 75% of the population directly or indirectly having skilled, semi-skilled and entrepreneurs in the sector with focused attention and financial allocations from the government under these technologies in covering the untapped potential under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) 'Per Drop More Crop component.' During the year 2004, a Taskforce on Micro Irrigation was constituted to estimate the potential of these technologies in India which was estimated 69.5 million hectares by the Task Force Report on MI however only 10.49 million hectares have been achieved so far. Technology collaborations by leading manufacturing companies in overseas have proved to a stepping stone in technology advancement and product up gradation with increased efficiencies. Joint ventures by the leading MI companies have added huge business volumes which have not only accelerated the momentum of achieving the desired goal but in terms of area coverage but had also generated opportunities for the polymer manufacturers in the country. To provide products matching the global standards Bureau of Indian Standards have constituted a sectional technical committee under the Food and Agriculture Department (FAD)-17 to formulated/devise and revise standards pertaining to MI technologies. The research lobby has also contributed at large by developing in-situ analysis proving MI technologies a boon for farming community of the country with resource conservation of which water is of paramount importance. Thus, Micro Irrigation technologies have proved to be the key tool for feeding the grueling demand of food basket of the growing population besides maintaining soil health and have been contributing towards doubling of farmers’ income.

Keywords: task force on MI, standards, per drop more crop, doubling farmers’ income

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Authors: Gaelle Candel, David Naccache

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t-SNE is an embedding method that the data science community has widely used. It helps two main tasks: to display results by coloring items according to the item class or feature value; and for forensic, giving a first overview of the dataset distribution. Two interesting characteristics of t-SNE are the structure preservation property and the answer to the crowding problem, where all neighbors in high dimensional space cannot be represented correctly in low dimensional space. t-SNE preserves the local neighborhood, and similar items are nicely spaced by adjusting to the local density. These two characteristics produce a meaningful representation, where the cluster area is proportional to its size in number, and relationships between clusters are materialized by closeness on the embedding. This algorithm is non-parametric. The transformation from a high to low dimensional space is described but not learned. Two initializations of the algorithm would lead to two different embeddings. In a forensic approach, analysts would like to compare two or more datasets using their embedding. A naive approach would be to embed all datasets together. However, this process is costly as the complexity of t-SNE is quadratic and would be infeasible for too many datasets. Another approach would be to learn a parametric model over an embedding built with a subset of data. While this approach is highly scalable, points could be mapped at the same exact position, making them indistinguishable. This type of model would be unable to adapt to new outliers nor concept drift. This paper presents a methodology to reuse an embedding to create a new one, where cluster positions are preserved. The optimization process minimizes two costs, one relative to the embedding shape and the second relative to the support embedding’ match. The embedding with the support process can be repeated more than once, with the newly obtained embedding. The successive embedding can be used to study the impact of one variable over the dataset distribution or monitor changes over time. This method has the same complexity as t-SNE per embedding, and memory requirements are only doubled. For a dataset of n elements sorted and split into k subsets, the total embedding complexity would be reduced from O(n²) to O(n²=k), and the memory requirement from n² to 2(n=k)², which enables computation on recent laptops. The method showed promising results on a real-world dataset, allowing to observe the birth, evolution, and death of clusters. The proposed approach facilitates identifying significant trends and changes, which empowers the monitoring high dimensional datasets’ dynamics.

Keywords: concept drift, data visualization, dimension reduction, embedding, monitoring, reusability, t-SNE, unsupervised learning

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Authors: Boris M. Fedorov, Liudmila P. Goncharenko, Sergey A. Sybachin, Natalia A. Mamedova, Ekaterina V. Makarenkova, Saule Rakhimova

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In modern economic conditions, the question of the possibility of correct recognition of a signature on digital documents in order to verify the expression of will or confirm a certain operation is relevant. The additional complexity of processing lies in the dynamic variability of the signature for each individual, as well as in the way information is processed because the signature refers to biometric data. The article discusses the issues of using artificial intelligence models in order to improve the quality of signature confirmation in document recognition. The analysis of several possible options for using the model is carried out. The results of the study are given, in which it is possible to correctly determine the authenticity of the signature on small samples.

Keywords: signature recognition, biometric data, artificial intelligence, neural networks

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Authors: Emiliano Matta

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Passive resonant vibration absorbers are among the most widely used dynamic control systems in civil engineering. They typically consist in a single-degree-of-freedom mechanical appendage of the main structure, tuned to one structural target mode through frequency and damping optimization. One classical scheme is the pendulum absorber, whose mass is constrained to move along a curved trajectory and is damped by viscous dashpots. Even though the principle is well known, the search for improved arrangements is still under way. In recent years this investigation inspired a type of bidirectional pendulum absorber (BPA), consisting of a mass constrained to move along an optimal three-dimensional (3D) concave surface. For such a BPA, the surface principal curvatures are designed to ensure a bidirectional tuning of the absorber to both principal modes of the main structure, while damping is produced either by horizontal viscous dashpots or by vertical friction dashpots, connecting the BPA to the main structure. In this paper, a variant of BPA is proposed, where damping originates from the variable tangential friction force which develops between the pendulum mass and the 3D surface as a result of a spatially-varying friction coefficient pattern. Namely, a friction coefficient is proposed that varies along the pendulum surface in proportion to the modulus of the 3D surface gradient. With such an assumption, the dissipative model of the absorber can be proven to be nonlinear homogeneous in the small displacement domain. The resulting homogeneous BPA (HBPA) has a fundamental advantage over conventional friction-type absorbers, because its equivalent damping ratio results independent on the amplitude of oscillations, and therefore its optimal performance does not depend on the excitation level. On the other hand, the HBPA is more compact than viscously damped BPAs because it does not need the installation of dampers. This paper presents the analytical model of the HBPA and an optimal methodology for its design. Numerical simulations of single- and multi-story building structures under wind and earthquake loads are presented to compare the HBPA with classical viscously damped BPAs. It is shown that the HBPA is a promising alternative to existing BPA types and that homogeneous tangential friction is an effective means to realize systems provided with amplitude-independent damping.

Keywords: amplitude-independent damping, homogeneous friction, pendulum nonlinear dynamics, structural control, vibration resonant absorbers

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Authors: Vijayakumar Kunche

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Waste heat recovery from Pre Heater exhaust gases and Clinker cooler vent gases is now common place in Cement Industry. Most common practice is to use Steam Rankine cycle for heat to power conversion. In this process, waste heat from the flue gas is recovered through a Heat Recovery steam generator where steam is generated and fed to a conventional Steam turbine generator. However steam Rankine cycle tends to have lesser efficiency for smaller power plants with less than 5MW capacity and where the steam temperature at the inlet of the turbine is less than 350 deg C. further a steam Rankine cycle needs treated water and maintenance intensive. These problems can be overcome by using Thermodynamic cycle using Cyclopentane vapour in place of steam. This innovative cycle is best suited for Heat recovery in cement plants and results in best possible heat to power conversion efficiency. This paper discusses about Heat Recovery Power generation using innovative thermal cycle which uses Cyclopentane vapour in place of water- steam. And how this technology has been adopted for a Clinker cooler hot gas from mid-tap.

Keywords: clinker cooler, energy efficiency, organic rankine cycle, waste heat recovery

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Authors: Shreyansh Adesara, Sneha Pandiya

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The mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is an important and open area research for the examination and determination of the performance evolution. Temporary ordered routing algorithm (TORA) is adaptable and distributed MANET routing algorithm which is totally dependent on internet MANET Encapsulation protocol (IMEP) for the detection of the link and sensing of the link. If IMEP detect the wrong link failure then the network suffer from congestion and unnecessary route maintenance. Thus, the improvement in link detection method of TORA is introduced by various methods on IMEP by different perspective from different person. There are also different reactive routing protocols like AODV, TORA and DSR has been compared for the knowledge of the routing scenario for different parameter and using different model.

Keywords: IMEP, mobile ad-hoc network, protocol, TORA

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Authors: Daisy Owomugasho Ndikuno

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The paper explores the extent to which mindset change has been critical in the community rural development in Uganda. It is descriptive research with The Parish Development Model as a case study. The results show that rural community development is possible and its success largely depends on harnessing local resources and knowledge; leveraging education, empowerment and awareness; creating sustainable livelihoods and encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation; access to financial resources; and building collaborative networks and partnerships. In all these, the role of mindset change is critical. By instilling a positive, collaborative and innovative mindset, rural communities can overcome challenges and chat a path towards sustainable development.

Keywords: community, development, mindset, change

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Authors: Astrid Tannert, Anuradha Ramoji, Christina Ebert, Frederike Gladigau, Lorena Tuchscherr, Jürgen Popp, Ute Neugebauer

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Staphylococcus aureus is a facultative intracellular pathogen, which by entering host cells may evade immunologic host response as well as antimicrobial treatment. In that way, S. aureus can cause persistent intracellular infections which are difficult to treat. Depending on the strain, S. aureus may persist at different intracellular locations like the phagolysosome. The first barrier invading pathogens from the blood stream that they have to cross are the endothelial cells lining the inner surface of blood and lymphatic vessels. Upon proceeding from an acute to a chronic infection, intracellular pathogens undergo certain biochemical and structural changes including a deceleration of metabolic processes to adopt for long-term intracellular survival and the development of a special phenotype designated as small colony variant. In this study, the endothelial cell line Ea.hy 926 was used as a model for acute and chronic S. aureus infection. To this end, Ea.hy 926 cells were cultured on QIAscout™ Microraft Arrays, a special graded cell culture substrate that contains around 12,000 microrafts of 200 µm edge length. After attachment to the substrate, the endothelial cells were infected with GFP-expressing S. aureus for 3 weeks. The acute infection and the development of persistent bacteria was followed by confocal laser scanning microscopy, scanning the whole Microraft Array for the presence and for detailed determination of the intracellular location of fluorescent intracellular bacteria every second day. After three weeks of infection representative microrafts containing infected cells, cells with protruded infections and cells that did never show any infection were isolated and fixed for Raman micro-spectroscopic investigation. For comparison, also microrafts with acute infection were isolated. The acquired Raman spectra are correlated with the fluorescence microscopic images to give hints about a) the molecular alterations in endothelial cells during acute and chronic infection compared to non-infected cells, and b) metabolic and structural changes within the pathogen when entering a mode of persistence within host cells. We thank Dr. Ruth Kläver from QIAGEN GmbH for her support regarding QIAscout technology. Financial support by the BMBF via the CSCC (FKZ 01EO1502) and from the DFG via the Jena Biophotonic and Imaging Laboratory (JBIL, FKZ PO 633/29-1, BA 1601/10-1) is highly acknowledged.

Keywords: correlative image analysis, intracellular infection, pathogen-host adaption, Raman micro-spectroscopy

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Authors: Gassem Alfaleh

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In Strict liability, a person can be held liable for any harm resulting from certain actions or activities without any mistake. The liability is strict because a person can be liable when he or she commits any harm with or without his intention. The duty owed is the duty to avoid causing the plaintiff any harm. However, “strict liability is imposed at the International level by two types of treaties, namely those limited to giving internal effect to treaty provisions and those that impose responsibilities on states. The basic principle of strict liability is that there is a liability on the operator or the state (when the act concerned is attributable to the state) for damage inflicted without there being a need to prove unlawful behavior”. In international human rights law, strict liability can exist when a defendant is in legal jeopardy by virtue of an internationally wrongful act, without any accompanying intent or mental state. When the defendant engages in an abnormally dangerous activity against the environment, he will be held liable for any harm it causes, even if he was not at fault. The paper will focus on these activities under international human rights law. First, the paper will define important terms in the first section of the paper. Second, it will focus on state and non-state actors in terms of strict liability. Then, the paper will cover three major areas in which states should be liable for hazardous activities: (1) nuclear energy, (2) maritime pollution, (3) Space Law, and (4) other hazardous activities which damage the environment.

Keywords: human rights, law, legal, absolute

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Hee Soo Kim, Ha Young Kyung

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Happiness and pleasure are a result of dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphin levels in the body. In order to increase the four neurochemical levels, it is important to associate daily activities with its corresponding neurochemical releases. This includes setting goals, maintaining social relationships, laughing frequently, and exercising regularly. The likelihood of experiencing happiness increases when all four neurochemicals are released at the optimal level. The achievement of happiness is important because it increases healthiness, productivity, and the ability to overcome adversity. To process emotions, electrical brain waves, brain structure, and neurochemicals must be analyzed. This research uses Chemcraft and Avogadro to determine the theoretical and chemical properties of the four neurochemical molecules. Each neurochemical molecule’s thermodynamic stability is calculated to observe the efficiency of the molecules. The study found that among dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, alpha-, beta-, and gamma-endorphin, beta-endorphin has the lowest optimized energy of 388.510 kJ/mol. Beta-endorphin, a neurotransmitter involved in mitigating pain and stress, is the most thermodynamically stable and efficient molecule that is involved in the process of happiness. Through examining such properties of happiness neurotransmitters, the science of happiness is better understood.

Keywords: happiness, neurotransmitters, positive psychology, dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins

Procedia PDF Downloads 158

Authors: Rebecca Bach, Evgenia Kanli, Nihat Kiziltoprak, Linda Hildebrand, Ulrich Knaack, Jens Schneider

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The building industry has a high demand for resources and at the same time is responsible for a significant amount of waste created worldwide. Today's building components need to contribute to the protection of natural resources without creating waste. This is defined in the product development phase and impacts the product’s degree of being cycle-oriented. Paper-based materials show advantage due to their renewable origin and their ability to incorporate different functions. Besides the ecological aspects like renewable origin and recyclability the main advantages of paper materials are its light-weight but stiff structure, the optimized production processes and good insulation values. The main deficits from building technology’s perspective are the material's vulnerability to humidity and water as well as inflammability. On material level, those problems can be solved by coatings or through material modification. On construction level intelligent setup and layering of a building component can improve and also solve these issues. The target of the present work is to provide an overview of developed building components and construction typologies mainly made from paper materials. The research is structured in four parts: (1) functions and requirements, (2) preselection of paper-based materials, (3) development of building components and (4) evaluation. As part of the research methodology at first the needs of the building sector are analyzed with the aim to define the main areas of application and consequently the requirements. Various paper materials are tested in order to identify to what extent the requirements are satisfied and determine potential optimizations or modifications, also in combination with other construction materials. By making use of the material’s potentials and solving the deficits on material and on construction level, building components and construction typologies are developed. The evaluation and the calculation of the structural mechanics and structural principals will show that different construction typologies can be derived. Profiles like paper tubes can be used at best for skeleton constructions. Massive structures on the other hand can be formed by plate-shaped elements like solid board or honeycomb. For insulation purposes corrugated cardboard or cellulose flakes have the best properties, while layered solid board can be applied to prevent inner condensation. Enhancing these properties by material combinations for instance with mineral coatings functional constructions mainly out of paper materials were developed. In summary paper materials offer a huge variety of possible applications in the building sector. By these studies a general base of knowledge about how to build with paper was developed and is to be reinforced by further research.

Keywords: construction typologies, cycle-oriented construction, innovative building material, paper materials, renewable resources

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Authors: M. Abdullah, Al-Wadud

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Sensor-based activity recognition systems usually accounts which sensors have been activated to perform an activity. The system then combines the conditional probabilities of those sensors to represent different activities and takes the decision based on that. However, the information about the sensors which are not activated may also be of great help in deciding which activity has been performed. This paper proposes an approach where the sensory data related to both usage and non-usage of objects are utilized to make the classification of activities. Experimental results also show the promising performance of the proposed method.

Keywords: Naïve Bayesian, based classification, activity recognition, sensor data, object-usage model

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Authors: Maria Areias, Diogo Simões, Ana Figueiredo, Anishur Rahman, Filipa Figueiredo, João Nunes

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It is expected that close to 7 billion people will live in urban areas by 2050. In order to improve the sustainability of the territories and its transition towards circular economy, it’s necessary to understand its metabolism and promote and guide the entrepreneurship answer. The study of a macroeconomic metabolism involves the quantification of the inputs, outputs and storage of energy, water, materials and wastes for an urban region. This quantification and analysis representing one opportunity for the promotion of green entrepreneurship. There are several methods to assess the environmental impacts of an urban territory, such as human and environmental risk assessment (HERA), life cycle assessment (LCA), ecological footprint assessment (EF), material flow analysis (MFA), physical input-output table (PIOT), ecological network analysis (ENA), multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) among others. However, no consensus exists about which of those assessment methods are best to analyze the sustainability of these complex systems. Taking into account the weaknesses and needs identified, the CiiM - Circular Innovation Inter-Municipality project aims to define an uniform and globally accepted methodology through the integration of various methodologies and dynamic approaches to increase the efficiency of macroeconomic metabolisms and promoting entrepreneurship in a circular economy. The pilot territory considered in CiiM project has a total area of 969,428 ha, comprising a total of 897,256 inhabitants (about 41% of the population of the Center Region). The main economic activities in the pilot territory, which contribute to a gross domestic product of 14.4 billion euros, are: social support activities for the elderly; construction of buildings; road transport of goods, retailing in supermarkets and hypermarkets; mass production of other garments; inpatient health facilities; and the manufacture of other components and accessories for motor vehicles. The region's business network is mostly constituted of micro and small companies (similar to the Central Region of Portugal), with a total of 53,708 companies identified in the CIM Region of Coimbra (39 large companies), 28,146 in the CIM Viseu Dão Lafões (22 large companies) and 24,953 in CIM Beiras and Serra da Estrela (13 large companies). For the construction of the database was taking into account data available at the National Institute of Statistics (INE), General Directorate of Energy and Geology (DGEG), Eurostat, Pordata, Strategy and Planning Office (GEP), Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), Commission for Coordination and Regional Development (CCDR) and Inter-municipal Community (CIM), as well as dedicated databases. In addition to the collection of statistical data, it was necessary to identify and characterize the different stakeholder groups in the pilot territory that are relevant to the different metabolism components under analysis. The CIIM project also adds the potential of a Geographic Information System (GIS) so that it is be possible to obtain geospatial results of the territorial metabolisms (rural and urban) of the pilot region. This platform will be a powerful visualization tool of flows of products/services that occur within the region and will support the stakeholders, improving their circular performance and identifying new business ideas and symbiotic partnerships.

Keywords: circular economy tools, life cycle assessment macroeconomic metabolism, multicriteria decision analysis, decision support tools, circular entrepreneurship, industrial and regional symbiosis

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Authors: S. Yun, M. Kwak

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This study is about an aerodynamic brake device for a high-speed train. In order to apply an aerodynamic brake device, an influence of the aerodynamic brake device on a high-speed train was studied aerodynamically, acoustically and dynamically. Wind tunnel test was conducted to predict an effect of braking distance reduction with a scale model of 1/30. Aerodynamic drag increases by 244% with a brake panel of a 90 degree angle. Braking distance for an emergency state was predicted to decrease by 13%.

Keywords: aerodynamic brake, braking distance, drag coefficient, high-speed train, wind-tunnel test

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Authors: Madhujit Deb, G. R. K. Sastry, R. S. Panua, Rahul Banerjee, P. K. Bose

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The present work attempts to investigate the combustion, performance and emission characteristics of an existing single-cylinder four-stroke compression-ignition engine operated in dual-fuel mode with hydrogen as an alternative fuel. Environmental concerns and limited amount of petroleum fuels have caused interests in the development of alternative fuels like hydrogen for internal combustion (IC) engines. In this experimental investigation, a diesel engine is made to run using hydrogen in dual fuel mode with diesel, where hydrogen is introduced into the intake manifold using an LPG-CNG injector and pilot diesel is injected using diesel injectors. A Timed Manifold Injection (TMI) system has been developed to vary the injection strategies. The optimized timing for the injection of hydrogen was 100 CA after top dead center (ATDC). From the study it was observed that with increasing hydrogen rate, enhancement in brake thermal efficiency (BTHE) of the engine has been observed with reduction in brake specific energy consumption (BSEC). Furthermore, Soot contents decrease with an increase in indicated specific NOx emissions with the enhancement of hydrogen flow rate.

Keywords: diesel engine, hydrogen, BTHE, BSEC, soot, NOx

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Authors: Sai Sudarshan, Harsh Vyas, Riddhiman Sherlekar

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The oil and gas industry has been unwilling to adopt stochastic definition of reserves. Nevertheless, Monte Carlo simulation methods have gained acceptance by engineers, geoscientists and other professionals who want to evaluate prospects or otherwise analyze problems that involve uncertainty. One of the common applications of Monte Carlo simulation is the estimation of recoverable hydrocarbon from a reservoir.Monte Carlo Simulation makes use of random samples of parameters or inputs to explore the behavior of a complex system or process. It finds application whenever one needs to make an estimate, forecast or decision where there is significant uncertainty. First, the project focuses on performing Monte-Carlo Simulation on a given data set using U. S Department of Energy’s MonteCarlo Software, which is a freeware e&p tool. Further, an algorithm for simulation has been developed for MATLAB and program performs simulation by prompting user for input distributions and parameters associated with each distribution (i.e. mean, st.dev, min., max., most likely, etc.). It also prompts user for desired probability for which reserves are to be calculated. The algorithm so developed and tested in MATLAB further finds implementation in Python where existing libraries on statistics and graph plotting have been imported to generate better outcome. With PyQt designer, codes for a simple graphical user interface have also been written. The graph so plotted is then validated with already available results from U.S DOE MonteCarlo Software.

Keywords: simulation, probability, confidence interval, sensitivity analysis

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Authors: H. Abbasi, K. Sennah

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A Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) is a structural element contains of foam insulation core sandwiched between two oriented-strand boards (OSB), plywood boards, steel sheets or fibre cement boards. Superior insulation, exceptional strength and fast insulation are the specifications of a SIP-based structure. There are also many other benefits such as less total construction costs, speed of construction, less expensive HVAC equipment required, favourable energy-efficient mortgages comparing to wood-framed houses. This paper presents the experimental analysis on selected foam-timber SIPs to study their structural behaviour when used as walls in residential construction under lateral loading. The experimental program has also taken several stud panels in order to compare the performance of SIP with conventional wood-frame system. The results of lateral tests performed in this study established a database that can be used further to develop design tables of SIP wall subjected to lateral loading caused by wind or earthquake. A design table for walls subjected to lateral loading was developed. Experimental results proved that the tested SIPs are ‘as good as’ the conventional wood-frame system.

Keywords: structural insulated panel, experimental study, lateral load, design tables

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Authors: Win Nee Phong, Tau Chuan Ling, Pau Loke Show

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From an industrial perspective, the exploitation of microalgae for protein source is of great economical and commercial interest due to numerous attractive characteristics. Nonetheless, the release of protein from microalgae is limited by the multiple layers of the rigid thick cell wall that generally contain a large proportion of cellulose. Thus an efficient cell disruption process is required to rupture the cell wall. The conventional downstream processing methods which typically involve several unit operational steps such as disruption, isolation, extraction, concentration and purification are energy-intensive and costly. To reduce the overall cost and establish a feasible technology for the success of the large-scale production, microalgal industry today demands a more cost-effective and eco-friendly technique in downstream processing. One of the main challenges to extract the proteins from microalgae is the presence of rigid cell wall. This study aims to provide some guidance on the selection of the efficient solvent to facilitate the proteins released during the cell disruption process. The effects of solvent types such as methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol and water in rupturing the microalgae cell wall were studied. It is interesting to know that water is the most effective solvent to recover proteins from microalgae and the cost is cheapest among all other solvents.

Keywords: green, microalgae, protein, solvents

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: Fawaz Abdulmalek

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The two-stage flowshop assembly scheduling problem is considered in this paper. There are more than one parallel machines at stage one and an assembly machine at stage two. The jobs will be processed into the flowshop based on Johnson rule and two extensions of Johnson rule. A simulation model of the two-stage flowshop is constructed where both machines at stage one are subject to random failures. Three simulation experiments will be conducted to test the effect of the three job ranking rules on the makespan. Johnson Largest heuristic outperformed both Johnson rule and Johnson Smallest heuristic for two performed experiments for all scenarios where each experiments having five scenarios.

Keywords: flowshop scheduling, random failures, johnson rule, simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 343

Authors: Padma Chutoo, Elena Kulinskaya, Ilyas Bakbergenuly, Nicholas Steel, Dmitri Pchejetski

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Transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs) are warning signs for future strokes. TIA patients are at increased risk of stroke and cardio-vascular events after a first episode. A majority of studies on TIA focused on the occurrence of these ancillary events after a TIA. Long-term mortality after TIA received only limited attention. We undertook this study to determine the long-term hazards of all-cause mortality following a first episode of a TIA using anonymised electronic health records (EHRs). We used a retrospective case-control study using electronic primary health care records from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database. Patients born prior to or in year 1960, resident in England, with a first diagnosis of TIA between January 1986 and January 2017 were matched to three controls on age, sex and general medical practice. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. The hazards of all-cause mortality were estimated using a time-varying Weibull-Cox survival model which included both scale and shape effects and a random frailty effect of GP practice. 20,633 cases and 58,634 controls were included. Cases aged 39 to 60 years at the first TIA event had the highest hazard ratio (HR) of mortality compared to matched controls (HR = 3.04, 95% CI (2.91 - 3.18)). The HRs for cases aged 61-70 years, 71-76 years and 77+ years were 1.98 (1.55 - 2.30), 1.79 (1.20 - 2.07) and 1.52 (1.15 - 1.97) compared to matched controls. Aspirin provided long-term survival benefits to cases. Cases aged 39-60 years on aspirin had HR of 0.93 (0.84 - 1.00), 0.90 (0.82 - 0.98) and 0.88 (0.80 - 0.96) at 5 years, 10 years and 15 years, respectively, compared to cases in the same age group who were not on antiplatelets. Similar beneficial effects of aspirin were observed in other age groups. There were no significant survival benefits with other antiplatelet options. No survival benefits of antiplatelet drugs were observed in controls. Our study highlights the excess long-term risk of death of TIA patients and cautions that TIA should not be treated as a benign condition. The study further recommends aspirin as the better option for secondary prevention for TIA patients compared to clopidogrel recommended by NICE guidelines. Management of risk factors and treatment strategies should be important challenges to reduce the burden of disease.

Keywords: dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT), General Practice, Multiple Imputation, The Health Improvement Network(THIN), hazard ratio (HR), Weibull-Cox model

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Authors: Rahma Amri, Narjès Bellamine Ben Saoud

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Sustainable development or sustainability is one of the most urgent issues in actual debate in almost domains. Particularly the significant way the software pervades our live should make it in the center of sustainability concerns. The social aspects of sustainability haven’t been well studied in the context of software systems and still immature research field that needs more interest among researchers’ community. This paper presents a Goal-Question-Metric based approach to assess social sustainability of software systems. The approach is based on a generic social sustainability model taken from Social sciences.

Keywords: software assessment approach, social sustainability, goal-question-metric paradigm, software project metrics

Procedia PDF Downloads 401

Authors: Linda Richter

Abstract:

Background and Significance: The influence of parents on their children’s attitudes and behaviors is immense, even as children grow out of what one might assume to be their most impressionable years and into teenagers. This study specifically examines the potential that parents have to prevent or reduce the risk of adolescent substance use, even in the face of considerable environmental influences to use nicotine, alcohol, or drugs. Methodology: The findings presented are based on a nationally representative survey of 1,014 teens aged 12-17 living in the United States. Data were collected using an online platform in early 2018. About half the sample was female (51%), 49% was aged 12-14, and 51% was aged 15-17. The margin of error was +/- 3.5%. Demographic data on the teens and their families were available through the survey platform. Survey items explored adolescent respondents’ exposure to addictive substances; the extent to which their sources of information about these substances are reliable or credible; friends’ and peers’ substance use; their own intentions to try substances in the future; and their relationship with their parents. Key Findings: Exposure to nicotine, alcohol, or other drugs and misinformation about these substances were associated with a greater likelihood that adolescents have friends who use drugs and that they have intentions to try substances in the future, which are known to directly predict actual teen substance use. In addition, teens who reported a positive relationship with their parents and having parents who are involved in their lives had a lower likelihood of having friends who use drugs and of having intentions to try substances in the future. This relationship appears to be mediated by parents’ ability to reduce the extent to which their children are exposed to substances in their environment and to misinformation about them. Indeed, the findings indicated that teens who reported a good relationship with their parents and those who reported higher levels of parental monitoring had significantly higher odds of reporting a lower number of risk factors than teens with a less positive relationship with parents or less monitoring. There also were significantly greater risk factors associated with substance use among older teens relative to younger teens. This shift appears to coincide directly with the tendency of parents to pull back in their monitoring and their involvement in their adolescent children’s lives. Conclusion: The survey findings underscore the importance of resisting the urge to completely pull back as teens age and demand more independence since that is exactly when the risks for teen substance use spike and young people need their parents and other trusted adults to be involved more than ever. Particularly through the cultivation of a healthy, positive, and open relationship, parents can help teens receive accurate and credible information about substance use and also monitor their whereabouts and exposure to addictive substances. These findings, which come directly from teens themselves, demonstrate the importance of continued parental engagement throughout children’s lives, regardless of their age and the disincentives to remaining involved and connected.

Keywords: adolescent, parental monitoring, prevention, substance use

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: Kh. Alaa, Sh. Sarah, J. Khowlah, S. Liyakathunsia

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Education has become very important nowadays and with the rapidly increasing number of student, taking the attendance manually is getting very difficult and time wasting. In order to solve this problem, an automated solution is required. An effective automated system can be implemented to manage student attendance in different ways. This research will discuss a unique class attendance system which integrates both Face Recognition and RFID technique. This system focuses on reducing the time spent on submitting of the lecture and the wastage of time on submitting and getting approval for the absence excuse and sick leaves. As a result, the suggested solution will enhance not only the time, also it will also be helpful in eliminating fake attendance.

Keywords: attendance system, face recognition, RFID, process model, cost, time

Procedia PDF Downloads 381

Authors: Simone B. K. Aires, Cinthia O. de A. Freitas, Luiz E. S. Oliveira

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This paper contributes to the CBIR systems applied to trademark retrieval. The proposed model includes aspects from visual perception of the shapes, by means of feature extractor associated to a non-symmetrical perceptual zoning mechanism based on the Principles of Gestalt. Thus, the feature set were performed using Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT). We carried out experiments using four different zonings strategies (Z = 4, 5H, 5V, 7) for matching and retrieval tasks. Our proposal method achieved the normalized recall (Rn) equal to 0.84. Experiments show that the non-symmetrical zoning could be considered as a tool to build more reliable trademark retrieval systems.

Keywords: CBIR, Gestalt, matching, non-symmetrical zoning, SIFT

Procedia PDF Downloads 318

Authors: Kanate Pantusavase, Jaramporn Hassamontr

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This research aims to develop an algorithm to generate a schedule of multiple cranes that will maximize load throughputs in anodizing operation. The algorithm proposed utilizes an enumerative strategy to search for constant time between successive loads and crane covering range over baths. The computer program developed is able to generate a near-optimal crane schedule within reasonable times, i.e. within 10 minutes. Its results are compared with existing solutions from an aluminum extrusion industry. The program can be used to generate crane schedules for mixed products, thus allowing mixed-model line balancing to improve overall cycle times.

Keywords: crane scheduling, anodizing operations, cycle time minimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 467

Authors: V. Geza, J. Vencels, G. Zageris, S. Pavlovs

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One of the most perspective methods to produce SoG-Si is refinement via metallurgical route. The most critical part of this route is refinement from boron and phosphorus. Therefore, a new approach could address this problem. We propose an approach of creating surface waves on silicon melt’s surface in order to enlarge its area and accelerate removal of boron via chemical reactions and evaporation of phosphorus. A two dimensional numerical model is created which includes coupling of electromagnetic and fluid dynamic simulations with free surface dynamics. First results show behaviour similar to experimental results from literature.

Keywords: numerical modelling, silicon refinement, surface waves, VOF method

Procedia PDF Downloads 258