Search results for: distributed sources

Authors: Shipra Shukla, Gaurav Chaudhary, S. K. Tewari, Mahesh Pal, D. K. Upreti

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Cassia tora L. is widely distributed in tropical Asian countries, commonly known as sickle pod. Various parts of the plant are reported for their medicinal value due to presence of anthraquinones, phenolic compounds, emodin, β-sitosterol, and chrysophanol. Therefore a sensitive analytical procedure using UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS was developed and validated for simultaneous quantification of five phenolic compounds in leaf, stem and root extracts of Cassia tora. Rapid chromatographic separation of compounds was achieved on Acquity UHPLC BEH C18 column (50 mm×2.1 mm id, 1.7µm) column in 2.5 min. Quantification was carried out using negative electrospray ionization in multiple-reaction monitoring mode. The method was validated as per ICH guidelines and showed good linearity (r2 ≥ 0.9985) over the concentration range of 0.5-200 ng/mL. The intra- and inter-day precisions and accuracy were within RSDs ≤ 1.93% and ≤ 1.90%, respectively. The developed method was applied to investigate variation of five phenolic compounds in the three geographical collections. Results indicated significant variation among analyzed samples collected from different locations in India.

Keywords: Cassia tora, phenolic compounds, quantification, UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS

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Authors: N. Ourabia, M. Boubaker Ourabia

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An approach for modeling and numerical simulation of passive planar structures using the edge line concept is developed. With this method, we develop an efficient modeling technique for microstrip discontinuities. The technique obtains closed form expressions for the equivalent circuits which are used to model these discontinuities. Then, it would be easy to handle and to characterize complicated structures like T and Y junctions, truncated junctions, arbitrarily shaped junctions, cascading junctions and more generally planar multiport junctions. Another advantage of this method is that the edge line concept for arbitrary shape junctions operates with real parameters circuits. The validity of the method was further confirmed by comparing our results for various discontinuities (bend, filters) with those from HFSS as well as from other published sources.

Keywords: optimization, CAD analysis, microwave circuits, S-parameters

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Authors: Velly Anatasia

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The worldwide annual expenditure for cosmetics is estimated at U.S. $18 billion and many players in the field are competing aggressively to capture more and more markets. Players in the cosmetics industry strive to be the foremost by establish customer loyalty. Furthermore, customer loyalty is portrayed by brand loyalty. Therefore, brand loyalty is the key determine of winning the competition in tight market. This study examines the influence of brand loyalty on cosmetics buying behavior of female consumers in Jakarta as capital of Indonesia. The seven factors of brand loyalty are brand name, Product quality, price, design, promotion, servicesquality and store environment. The paper adopted descriptive analysis, factor loading and multiple regression approach to test the hypotheses. The data has been collected by using questionnaires which were distributed and self-administered to 125female respondents accustomed using cosmetics. The findings of this study indicated that promotion has shown strong correlation with brand loyalty. The research results showed that there is positive and significant relationship between factors of brand loyalty (brand name, product quality, price, design, promotion, services quality and store environment) with cosmetics brand loyalty.

Keywords: brand loyalty, brand name, product quality, service quality, promotion

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Authors: Ahmed Elsayed, Andrew Shea, Nicolas Kelly, John Allison

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In northern European climates, domestic space heating and hot water represents a significant proportion of total primary total primary energy use and meeting these demands from a national electricity grid network supplied by renewable energy sources provides an opportunity for a significant reduction in EU CO₂ emissions. However, in order to adapt to the intermittent nature of renewable energy generation and to avoid co-incident peak electricity usage from consumers that may exceed current capacity, the demand for heat must be decoupled from its generation. Storage of heat within the fabric of dwellings for use some hours, or days, later provides a route to complete decoupling of demand from supply and facilitates the greatly increased use of renewable energy generation into a local or national electricity network. The integration of thermal energy storage into the building fabric for retrieval at a later time requires much evaluation of the many competing thermal, physical, and practical considerations such as the profile and magnitude of heat demand, the duration of storage, charging and discharging rate, storage media, space allocation, etc. In this paper, the authors report investigations of thermal storage in building fabric using concrete material and present an evaluation of several factors that impact upon performance including heating pipe layout, heating fluid flow velocity, storage geometry, thermo-physical material properties, and also present an investigation of alternative storage materials and alternative heat transfer fluids. Reducing the heating pipe spacing from 200 mm to 100 mm enhances the stored energy by 25% and high-performance Vacuum Insulation results in heat loss flux of less than 3 W/m², compared to 22 W/m² for the more conventional EPS insulation. Dense concrete achieved the greatest storage capacity, relative to medium and light-weight alternatives, although a material thickness of 100 mm required more than 5 hours to charge fully. Layers of 25 mm and 50 mm thickness can be charged in 2 hours, or less, facilitating a fast response that could, aggregated across multiple dwellings, provide significant and valuable reduction in demand from grid-generated electricity in expected periods of high demand and potentially eliminate the need for additional new generating capacity from conventional sources such as gas, coal, or nuclear.

Keywords: fabric integrated thermal storage, FITS, demand side management, energy storage, load shifting, renewable energy integration

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Authors: H. Parveen Begam, M. A. Maluk Mohamed

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Grid computing is an environment that allows sharing and coordinated use of diverse resources in dynamic, heterogeneous and distributed environment using Virtual Organization (VO). Security is a critical issue due to the open nature of the wireless channels in the grid computing which requires three fundamental services: authentication, authorization, and encryption. The privacy and anonymity are considered as an important factor while communicating over publicly spanned network like web. To ensure a high level of security we explored an extension of onion routing, which has been used with dynamic token exchange along with protection of privacy and anonymity of individual identity. To improve the performance of encrypting the layers, the elliptic curve cryptography is used. Compared to traditional cryptosystems like RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adelman), ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem) offers equivalent security with smaller key sizes which result in faster computations, lower power consumption, as well as memory and bandwidth savings. This paper presents the estimation of the performance improvements of onion routing using ECC as well as the comparison graph between performance level of RSA and ECC.

Keywords: grid computing, privacy, anonymity, onion routing, ECC, RSA

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Authors: Henrry Vicente Rojas Asuero, Holger Manuel Benavides Muñoz

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Approximately 80% of the energy consumed worldwide is generated from fossil sources, which are responsible for the emission of a large volume of greenhouse gases. For this reason, the global trend, at present, is the widespread use of energy produced from renewable sources. This seeks safety and diversification of energy supply, based on social cohesion, economic feasibility and environmental protection. In this scenario, small hydropower systems (P ≤ 10MW) stand out due to their high efficiency, economic competitiveness and low environmental impact. Small hydropower systems, along with wind and solar energy, are expected to represent a significant percentage of the world's energy matrix in the near term. Among the various technologies present in the state of the art, relating to small hydropower systems, is the Gravitational Water Vortex Power Plant, a recent technology that excels because of its versatility of operation, since it can operate with jumps in the range of 0.70 m-2.00 m and flow rates from 1 m3/s to 20 m3/s. Its operating system is based on the utilization of the energy of rotation contained within a large water vortex artificially induced. This paper presents the study and experimental design of an optimal hydraulic structure with the capacity to induce the artificial formation of a gravitational water vortex trough a system of easy application and high efficiency, able to operate in conditions of very low head and minimum flow. The proposed structure consists of a channel, with variable base, vortex inductor, tangential flow generator, coupled to a circular tank with a conical transition bottom hole. In the laboratory test, the angular velocity of the water vortex was related to the geometric characteristics of the inductor channel, as well as the influence of the conical transition bottom hole on the physical characteristics of the water vortex. The results show angular velocity values of greater magnitude as a function of depth, in addition the presence of the conical transition in the bottom hole of the circular tank improves the water vortex formation conditions while increasing the angular velocity values. Thus, the proposed system is a sustainable solution for the energy supply of rural areas near to watercourses.

Keywords: experimental model, gravitational water vortex power plant, renewable energy, small hydropower

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Authors: Ainia Nurul Aqida

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Lead is one of the sources of air pollution. The use of lead on motor vehicle fuels resulted in the increasing contamination of lead in the air. The polluted air that has been inhaled by many people, especially guards and sellers of retail gasoline filling stations. The impact is increased levels of lead in blood. One result is an increase in blood pressure that causes hypertension. This research would like to know the relationship between blood lead levels in the incidence of hypertension in Indonesia. The method used in this study is a systematic review of the three journals have been published in the year 2007 to the year 2010 with the total sample is 312 samples. Odd ratio values obtained in the first article was OR = 6.50 pvalue = 0.000, CI = 95 % (2.89 to 14.60), and the second article was obtained OR 2.619 (95 % CI: 0.944 to 7.625) pvalue = 0.028, and the third article was obtained 0.002 r = 0.324 R2 = 10.5 %. Over all, there is a relationship between blood lead levels with the incidence of hypertension in Indonesia.

Keywords: lead, blood, air pollution, hypertension

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Authors: Hamed Mohamed Haggag

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Prior to 12 November 1955, no earthquakes have been reported from the Abu Dabbab area in the International Seismological Center catalogue (ISC). The largest earthquake in Abu Dabbab area occurred on November 12, 1955 with magnitude Mb 6.0. The closest station from the epicenter was at Helwan (about 700 km to the north), so the depth of this event is not constrained and no foreshocks or aftershocks were recorded. Two other earthquakes of magnitude Mb 4.5 and 5.2 took place in the same area on March 02, 1982 and July 02, 1984, respectively. Since the installation of Aswan Seismic Network stations in 1982, (250-300 km to the south-west of Abu Dabbab area) then the Egyptian Natoinal Seismic Network stations, it was possible to record some activity from Abu Dabbab area. The recorded earthquakes at Abu Dabbab area as recorded from 1982 to 2014 shows that the earthquake epicenters are distributed in the same direction of the main trends of the faults in the area, which is parallel to the Red Sea coast. The spectral analysis was made for some earthquakes. The source parameters, seismic moment (Mo), source dimension (r), stress drop (Δδ), and apparent stress (δ) are determined for these events. The spectral analysis technique was completed using MAG software program.

Keywords: Abu Dabbab, seismicity, seismic moment, source parameter

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Authors: Hafiz Usama Imad, Muhammad Akram Akhund, Tauha Hussain Ali, Ali Raza Khoso, Fida Hussain Siddiqui

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Construction industry plays a significant role in fulfilling the major requirements of the human being. It is one of the major constituents of every developed country. Although the construction industry of both the developing and developed countries encompasses a major part of the economy, and millions of rupees are utilized every year on various kinds of construction projects. But, this industry is facing numerous hurdles in terms of its budget and timely completion. Construction projects generally consist of several phases like planning, designing, execution, and finishing. This research study aims to determine the significant factors of time overrun in pre-construction planning (PCP) phase of construction projects in Pakistan. Questionnaires were distributed by various means and responses of respondents were compiled and collected data were then analyzed through a statistical technique using SPSS version 24. Major causes of time overrun in pre-construction planning phase; which is an extremely important phase of construction projects, were revealed. The research conclusion will provide a pathway for stakeholders to pay attention to the mentioned causes to overcome the major issue of time overrun.

Keywords: construction industry, Pakistan, pre-construction planning phase, time overrun

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Authors: Bina Gupta, Rashmi Singh, Harshit Mahandra

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Molybdenum is a strategic metal and finds applications in petroleum refining, thermocouples, X-ray tubes and in making of steel alloy owing to its high melting temperature and tensile strength. The growing significance and economic value of molybdenum has increased interest in the development of efficient processes aiming its recovery from secondary sources. Main secondary sources of Mo are molybdenum catalysts which are used for hydrodesulphurisation process in petrochemical refineries. The activity of these catalysts gradually decreases with time during the desulphurisation process as the catalysts get contaminated with toxic material and are dumped as waste which leads to environmental issues. In this scenario, recovery of molybdenum from spent catalyst is significant from both economic and environmental point of view. Recently ionic liquids have gained prominence due to their low vapour pressure, high thermal stability, good extraction efficiency and recycling capacity. The present study reports recovery of molybdenum from Mo-Co spent leach liquor using Cyphos IL 102[trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium bromide] as an extractant. Spent catalyst was leached with 3.0 mol/L HCl, and the leach liquor containing Mo-870 ppm, Co-341 ppm, Al-508 ppm and Fe-42 ppm was subjected to extraction step. The effect of extractant concentration on the leach liquor was investigated and almost 85% extraction of Mo was achieved with 0.05 mol/L Cyphos IL 102. Results of stripping studies revealed that 2.0 mol/L HNO3 can effectively strip 94% of the extracted Mo from the loaded organic phase. McCabe- Thiele diagrams were constructed to determine the number of stages required for quantitative extraction and stripping of molybdenum and were confirmed by countercurrent simulation studies. According to McCabe- Thiele extraction and stripping isotherms, two stages are required for quantitative extraction and stripping of molybdenum at A/O= 1:1. Around 95.4% extraction of molybdenum was achieved in two-stage counter current at A/O= 1:1 with the negligible extraction of Co and Al. However, iron was coextracted and removed from the loaded organic phase by scrubbing with 0.01 mol/L HCl. Quantitative stripping (~99.5 %) of molybdenum was achieved with 2.0 mol/L HNO₃ in two stages at O/A=1:1. Overall ~95.0% molybdenum with 99 % purity was recovered from Mo-Co spent catalyst. From the strip solution, MoO₃ was obtained by crystallization followed by thermal decomposition. The product obtained after thermal decomposition was characterized by XRD, FE-SEM and EDX techniques. XRD peaks of MoO₃ correspond to molybdite Syn-MoO₃ structure. FE-SEM depicts the rod-like morphology of synthesized MoO₃. EDX analysis of MoO₃ shows 1:3 atomic percentage of molybdenum and oxygen. The synthesised MoO₃ can find application in gas sensors, electrodes of batteries, display devices, smart windows, lubricants and as a catalyst.

Keywords: cyphos Il 102, extraction, spent mo-co catalyst, recovery

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Authors: Igor Jerkovic

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Biodiversity of flora provides many different nectar sources for the bees. Unifloral honeys possess distinctive flavours, mainly derived from their nectar sources (characteristic volatile organic components (VOCs)). Specific or nonspecific VOCs (chemical markers) could be used for unifloral honey characterisation as addition to the melissopalynologycal analysis. The main honey volatiles belong, in general, to three principal categories: terpenes, norisoprenoids, and benzene derivatives. Some of these substances have been described as characteristics of the floral source, and other compounds, like several alcohols, branched aldehydes, and furan derivatives, may be related to the microbial purity of honey processing and storage conditions. Selection of the extraction method for the honey volatiles profiling should consider that heating of the honey produce different artefacts and therefore conventional methods of VOCs isolation (such as hydrodistillation) cannot be applied for the honey. Two-way approach for the isolation of the honey VOCs was applied using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and ultrasonic solvent extraction (USE). The extracts were analysed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). HS-SPME (with the fibers of different polarity such as polydimethylsiloxane/ divinylbenzene (PDMS/DVB) or divinylbenzene/carboxene/ polydimethylsiloxane (DVB/CAR/PDMS)) enabled isolation of high volatile headspace VOCs of the honey samples. Among them, some characteristic or specific compounds can be found such as 3,4-dihydro-3-oxoedulan (in Centaurea cyanus L. honey) or 1H-indole, methyl anthranilate, and cis-jasmone (in Citrus unshiu Marc. honey). USE with different solvents (mainly dichloromethane or the mixture pentane : diethyl ether 1 : 2 v/v) enabled isolation of less volatile and semi-volatile VOCs of the honey samples. Characteristic compounds from C. unshiu honey extracts were caffeine, 1H-indole, 1,3-dihydro-2H-indol-2-one, methyl anthranilate, and phenylacetonitrile. Sometimes, the selection of solvent sequence was useful for more complete profiling such as sequence I: pentane → diethyl ether or sequence II: pentane → pentane/diethyl ether (1:2, v/v) → dichloromethane). The extracts with diethyl ether contained hydroquinone and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid as the major compounds, while (E)-4-(r-1’,t-2’,c-4’-trihydroxy-2’,6’,6’-trimethylcyclo-hexyl)but-3-en-2-one predominated in dichloromethane extracts of Allium ursinum L. honey. With this two-way approach, it was possible to obtain a more detailed insight into the honey volatile and semi-volatile compounds and to minimize the risks of compound discrimination due to their partial extraction that is of significant importance for the complete honey profiling and identification of the chemical biomarkers that can complement the pollen analysis.

Keywords: honey chemical biomarkers, honey volatile compounds profiling, headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME), ultrasonic solvent extraction (USE)

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Authors: Benjamin Sonnenreich

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Brittle fracture failure probability is best described using a stochastic approach which is based on the 'weakest link concept' and the connection between a microstructure and macroscopic fracture scale. A general theoretical and experimental framework is presented to predict the uniaxial strength distribution according to independent uniaxial test data. The framework takes as input the applied stresses, the geometry, the materials, the defect distributions and the relevant random variables from uniaxial test results and gives as output an overall failure probability that can be used to improve the reliability of practical designs. Additionally, the method facilitates comparisons of strength data from several sources, uniaxial tests, and sample geometries.

Keywords: brittle fracture, strength distribution, uniaxial, weakest link concept

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Authors: Frantisek Kalenda

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With the ultimate triumph of the republican movement in 1889 in Brazil and adoption of constitution promoting religious freedom, formerly dominant Roman Catholic Church entered a long period of struggle to recover its lost position, fighting both liberal and secular character of the new regime and rising competition on the “market of faith”. Spiritism in its originally Brazilian form proved to be one if its key adversaries during the First (1889-1930) and Second Republic (1930-1937), provoking significant attempt within official Church to discredit and destroy the movement. This paper explores this effort through Catholic portrayal of Spiritism in its official media, focusing, on the creation of stereotypes and both theological and “scientific” arguments used against it. Its core is based on primary sources’ analysis, mainly influential A Ordem and Mensageiro da Fé.

Keywords: Catholic Church, media, other, spiritism, stereotype

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Authors: Changyin Zhou

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Verb-argument relation is a very important aspect of syntax-semantics interaction in sentence processing. Previous ERP (event related potentials) studies in this field mainly concentrated on the relation between the verb and its core arguments. The present study aims to reveal the ERP pattern of Chinese pseudo-object structures (SOSs), in which a peripheral argument is promoted to occupy the position of the patient object, as compared with the patient object structures (POSs). The ERP data were collected when participants were asked to perform acceptability judgments about Chinese phrases. Our result shows that, similar to the previous studies of number-of-argument violations, Chinese SOSs show a bilaterally distributed N400 effect. But different from all the previous studies of verb-argument relations, Chinese SOSs demonstrate a sustained anterior positivity (SAP). This SAP, which is the first report related to complexity of argument structure operation, reflects the integration difficulty of the newly promoted arguments and the progressive nature of well-formedness checking in the processing of Chinese SOSs.

Keywords: Chinese pseudo-object structures, ERP, sustained anterior positivity, verb-argument relation

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Authors: Mohammad Maruf Hasan

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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been increased at a remarkable position around the globe in which emerging economies are getting more FDI compared to industrialized economies. This study aims to examine the determinants of inward FDI flows in Bangladesh. To estimate the long and short-run impact of the FDI determinants for 1996-2020, we employed the Autoregressive-Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. Results show that: (1) macroeconomic determinants, such as economic growth, infrastructure, and market size, have a significant and strong positive effect.(2) Inflation exchange rate shows insignificant effects, while trade openness has mixed (short-run negative, long-run positive) effects on FDI inflows in both the long and short run. (3) Current institutional determinants rule of law has a positive effect on FDI inflows but is statistically insignificant, political stability has a negative, and the rule of law has a considerable beneficial impact on inflows of FDI. (4) The macroeconomic factors have been determined to impact Bangladesh's FDI inflows. Finally, a stable macroeconomic climate is more effective at luring FDI, as this study confirms. From a policy perspective, this study will help the government and policymakers to make a new investment policy.

Keywords: determinants, FDI, ARDL, Bangladesh

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Authors: Jung Hyun Kim, Gyo Woo Lee

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In this study, the enhancement of the heat release performance of an extruded-type heat sink to prepare the large-capacity solar inverter thru the flow holes in the base plate near the heat sources was investigated. Optimal location and number of the holes in the baseplate were determined by using a commercial computation program. The heat release performance of the shape-modified heat sink was measured experimentally and compared with that of the simulation. The heat sink with 12 flow holes in the 18-mm-thick base plate has a 8.1% wider heat transfer area, a 2.5% more mass flow of air, and a 2.7% higher heat release rate than those of the original heat sink. Also, the surface temperature of the base plate was lowered 1.5°C by the holes.

Keywords: heat sink, forced convection, heat transfer, performance evaluation, flow holes

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Authors: Wooyoung Jung, Ghang Lee

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This paper paper reports the worldwide status of building information modeling (BIM) adoption from the perspectives of the engagement level, the Hype Cycle model, the technology diffusion model, and BIM-uses. An online survey was distributed, and 156 experts from six continents responded. Overall, North America was the most advanced continent, followed by Oceania and Europe. Countries in Asia perceived their phase mainly as slope of enlightenment (mature) in the Hype Cycle model. In the technology diffusion model, the main BIM-users worldwide were “early majority” (third phase), but those in the Middle East/Africa and South America were “early adopters” (second phase). In addition, the more advanced the country, the more number of BIM services employed in general. In summary, North America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia were advancing rapidly toward the mature stage of BIM, whereas the Middle East/Africa and South America were still in the early phase. The simple indexes used in this study may be used to track the worldwide status of BIM adoption in long-term surveys.

Keywords: BIM adoption, BIM services, hype cycle model, technology diffusion model

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Authors: R. Nasrin, M. Ferdows

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Among the renewable energy sources, photovoltaic (PV) is a high potential, effective, and sustainable system. Irradiation intensity from 200 W/m2 to 1000 W/m2 has been considered to observe the performance of PV module. Generally, this module converts only about 15% - 20% of incident irradiation into electrical energy and the rest part is converted into heat energy. Finite element method has been used to solve the problem numerically. Simulation has been performed by considering the ambient temperature 30°C. Higher irradiation increase solar cell temperature and electrical power. The electrical efficiency of PV module decreases with the variation of solar radiation. The efficiency of PV module can be increased if cell temperature is reduced. Thus the effect of irradiation is significant to enhance the efficiency of PV module if the solar cell temperature is kept at a certain level.

Keywords: PV module, solar radiation, efficiency, cell temperature

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Authors: Abdulsamad Qadir Hussien

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The development of new technology in recent years has offered ordinary people various online digital platform tools and internet access to provide news stories, information, and subjects of public interest in the Kurdistan Region Government-Iraq (KRI). This shifting aspect has offered more chances for ordinary people to engage with other individuals on many issues in order to discuss and argue matters relating to their everyday lives. The key purpose of this research project will examine the role of citizen journalism in the increase of public awareness in the Kurdish community in the KRi; particularly, citizen journalism provides a new opportunity for ordinary people to raise their voices about problems and public matters in the KRI. The sample of this research project encompasses ordinary people who use social media platforms as sources of information and news concerning the KRI government policy. In the research project, the focus is on the ordinary people who are interacting with the blogs, posts, and footage that are produced by citizen journalism. The questionnaire was sent to more than 1,000 participants in the Kurdish community; this aspect produces statistically acceptable numbers to obtain a significant result for this research project. The sampling process is mainly based on the survey method in this study. The online questionnaire form includes many sections, which are divided into four key sections. The first section contains socio-demographic questions, including gender, age, and level of education. The research project applied the survey method in order to gather data and information surrounding the role of citizen journalism in increasing awareness of individuals in the Kurdish community. For this purpose, the researcher designed a questionnaire as the primary tool for the data collection process from ordinary people who use social media as a source of news and information. During the research project, online questionnaires were mailed in two ways – via Facebook and email – to participants in the Kurdish community, and this questionnaire looked for answers to questions from ordinary people, such as to what extent citizen journalism helps users to obtain information and news about public affairs and government policy. The research project found that citizen journalism has an essential role in increasing awareness of the Kurdish community, especially mainstream journalism has helped ordinary people to raise their voices in the KRI. Furthermore, citizen journalism carries more advantages as digital sources of news, footage, and information related to public affairs. This study provides useful tools to fore the news stories that are unreachable to professional journalists in the KRI.

Keywords: citizen journalism, public awareness, demonstration and democracy, social media news

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Authors: Julien Romieux, Fabio Verdicchio

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Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), which sense environmental data with battery-powered nodes, require multi-hop communication. This power-demanding task adds an extra workload that is unfairly distributed across the network. As a result, nodes run out of battery at different times: this requires an impractical individual node maintenance scheme. Therefore we investigate a new Cooperative Sensing approach that extends the WSN operational life and allows a more practical network maintenance scheme (where all nodes deplete their batteries almost at the same time). We propose a novel cooperative algorithm that derives a piecewise representation of the sensed signal while controlling approximation accuracy. Simulations show that our algorithm increases WSN operational life and spreads communication workload evenly. Results convey a counterintuitive conclusion: distributing workload fairly amongst nodes may not decrease the network power consumption and yet extend the WSN operational life. This is achieved as our cooperative approach decreases the workload of the most burdened cluster in the network.

Keywords: cooperative signal processing, signal representation and approximation, power management, wireless sensor networks

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Authors: Onuchukwu Chika Christian, Chukwude Augustine Ejike

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We carried out a statistical analyse of microglitches events on a sample of radio pulsars. The distribution of microglitch events in frequency (ν) and first frequency derivatives ν˙ indicates that the size of a microglitch and sign combinations of events in ν and ν˙ are purely randomized. Assuming that the probability of a given size of a microglitch event occurring scales inversely as the absolute size of the event in both ν and ν˙, we constructed a cumulative distribution function (CDF) for the absolute sizes of microglitches. In most of the pulsars, the theoretical CDF matched the observed values. This is an indication that microglitches in pulsar may be interpreted as an avalanche process in which angular momentum is transferred erratically from the flywheel-like superfliud interior to the slowly decelerating solid crust. Analysis of the waiting time indicates that it is purely Poisson distributed with mean microglitch rate <γ> ∼ 0.98year^−1 for all the pulsars in our sample and <γ> / <∆T> ∼ 1. Correlation analysis, showed that the relative absolute size of microglitch event strongly with the rotation period of the pulsar with correlation coefficient r ∼ 0.7 and r ∼ 0.5 respectively for events in ν and ν˙. The mean glitch rate and number of microglitches (Ng) showed some dependence on spin down rate (r ∼ −0.6) and the characteristic age of the pulsar (τ) with (r ∼ −0.4/− 0.5).

Keywords: method-data analysis, star, neutron-pulsar, general

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Authors: Daniil Chernov

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In the modern world, the number of conventional interstate wars is declining while the number of military interventions is rising. States no longer initiate conflicts by declaring war but actively intervene in existing military confrontations, often using a comparable number of coercive means. According to existing scholarly understanding, the decision to use force in international relations (in any form) is influenced by roughly the same set of factors: the dynamics of domestic political processes, national interests, international law, and ethical considerations. In the database on armed intervention to be presented in the report, the multifactor model of decision-making is developed. The database describes more than 200 different parameters for armed interventions between 1992 and 2022. The report will present the structure of the database, descriptive statistics, and its key advantages over other sources.

Keywords: conflict resolution, international relations, military intervention, database

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Authors: Alexander P. Vazhenin, Mikhail M. Lavrentiev, Alexey A. Romanenko, Pavel V. Tatarintsev

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One of the problems obstructing effective tsunami modelling is the lack of information about initial wave shape at source. The existing methods; geological, sea radars, satellite images, contain an important part of uncertainty. Therefore, direct measurement of tsunami waves obtained at the deep water bottom peruse recorders is also used. In this paper we propose a new method to reconstruct the initial sea surface displacement at tsunami source by the measured signal (marigram) approximation with the help of linear combination of synthetic marigrams from the selected set of unit sources, calculated in advance. This method has demonstrated good precision and very high performance. The mathematical model and results of numerical tests are here described.

Keywords: numerical tests, orthogonal decomposition, Tsunami Initial Sea Surface Displacement

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Authors: Bina Gupta, Rashmi Singh, Harshit Mahandra

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Molybdenum is a strategic metal and finds applications in petroleum refining, thermocouples, X-ray tubes and in making of steel alloy owing to its high melting temperature and tensile strength. The growing significance and economic value of molybdenum have increased interest in the development of efficient processes aiming its recovery from secondary sources. Main secondary sources of Mo are molybdenum catalysts which are used for hydrodesulphurisation process in petrochemical refineries. The activity of these catalysts gradually decreases with time during the desulphurisation process as the catalysts get contaminated with toxic material and are dumped as waste which leads to environmental issues. In this scenario, recovery of molybdenum from spent catalyst is significant from both economic and environmental point of view. Recently ionic liquids have gained prominence due to their low vapour pressure, high thermal stability, good extraction efficiency and recycling capacity. Present study reports recovery of molybdenum from Mo-Co spent leach liquor using Cyphos IL 102[trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium bromide] as an extractant. Spent catalyst was leached with 3 mol/L HCl and the leach liquor containing Mo-870 ppm, Co-341 ppm, Al-508 ppm and Fe-42 ppm was subjected to extraction step. The effect of extractant concentration on the leach liquor was investigated and almost 85% extraction of Mo was achieved with 0.05 mol/L Cyphos IL 102. Results of stripping studies revealed that 2 mol/L HNO3 can effectively strip 94% of the extracted Mo from the loaded organic phase. McCabe-Thiele diagrams were constructed to determine the number of stages required for quantitative extraction and stripping of molybdenum and were confirmed by counter current simulation studies. According to McCabe-Thiele extraction and stripping isotherms, two stages are required for quantitative extraction and stripping of molybdenum at A/O= 1:1. Around 95.4% extraction of molybdenum was achieved in two stage counter current at A/O= 1:1 with negligible extraction of Co and Al. However, iron was coextracted and removed from the loaded organic phase by scrubbing with 0.01 mol/L HCl. Quantitative stripping (~99.5 %) of molybdenum was achieved with 2.0 mol/L HNO3 in two stages at O/A=1:1. Overall ~95.0% molybdenum with 99 % purity was recovered from Mo-Co spent catalyst. From the strip solution, MoO3 was obtained by crystallization followed by thermal decomposition. The product obtained after thermal decomposition was characterized by XRD, FE-SEM and EDX techniques. XRD peaks of MoO3correspond to molybdite Syn-MoO3 structure. FE-SEM depicts the rod like morphology of synthesized MoO3. EDX analysis of MoO3 shows 1:3 atomic percentage of molybdenum and oxygen. The synthesised MoO3 can find application in gas sensors, electrodes of batteries, display devices, smart windows, lubricants and as catalyst.

Keywords: cyphos IL 102, extraction, Mo-Co spent catalyst, recovery

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Authors: Oluwatosin Samuel Adeoye

Abstract:

Ekiti State is an agrarian state located in south western part of Nigeria. The injected power to the Ado-Ekiti and the entire state are 25MW and 37.6 MW respectively. The estimated power demand for Ado Ekiti and Ekiti state were 29.01MW and 224.116MW respectively. The distributed power to the consumers is characterized with shortcomings which include: in-adequate supply, poor voltage regulation, improper usage, illiteracy and wastage. The power generation in Nigeria is presently 1680.60MW which does not match the estimated power demand of 15,000MW with a population of over 170 million citizens. This paper evaluates the energy utilization in Ado Ekiti metropolis, the wastage and its economic implication as well as effective means of its management. The use of direct interviews, administration of questionnaires, measurements of current and voltage with clamp multimeter, and simple mathematical approach were used for the purpose of evaluation. Recommendations were made with the view of reducing energy waste from mean value of 10.84% to 2% in order to reduce the cost implication such that the huge financial waste can be injected to other parts of the economy as well as the management of energy in Ekiti state.

Keywords: consumers, demand, energy, management, power supply, waste

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Authors: Swati Tyagi, Syed Abbas

Abstract:

Fractional-order Hopfield neural networks are generally used to model the information processing among the interacting neurons. To show the constancy of the processed information, it is required to analyze the stability of these systems. In this work, we perform Mittag-Leffler stability for the corresponding Caputo fractional-order bidirectional associative memory (BAM) neural networks with various time-delays. We derive sufficient conditions to ensure the existence and uniqueness of the equilibrium point by using the theory of topological degree theory. By applying the fractional Lyapunov method and Mittag-Leffler functions, we derive sufficient conditions for the global Mittag-Leffler stability, which further imply the global asymptotic stability of the network equilibrium. Finally, we present two suitable examples to show the effectiveness of the obtained results.

Keywords: bidirectional associative memory neural network, existence and uniqueness, fractional-order, Lyapunov function, Mittag-Leffler stability

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Authors: Gabriel Dwomoh, Williams Kwasi Boachie, Kofi Kwarteng

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The study looked at the relationship between organizations’ acquired knowledge, skills, abilities, and shareholders wealth with training playing the mediating role. The sample of the study consisted of organizations that spent 10% or more of its annual budget on training and those whose training budget is less than 10% of the organization’s annual budget. A total of 620 questionnaires were distributed to employees working in various organizations out of which 580 representing 93.5% were retrieved. The respondents that constitute the sample were drawn using convenience sampling. The researchers used regression models for their analyses with the help of SPSS 16.0. Analyzing multiple models, it was discovered that organizations training investment plays a considerable indirect and direct effect with partial mediation between organizations acquired skills, knowledge, abilities, and shareholders wealth. Shareholders should allow their agents to invest part of their holdings to develop the human capital of the organization but this should be done with caution since shareholders returns do not depend much on how much organizations spend in developing its human resource capital.

Keywords: skills, knowledge, abilities, shareholders wealth, training investment

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Authors: Pratik Gandhi, Kavitha Chandra, Charles Thompson

Abstract:

A computational model of the acoustic room impulse response between transmitters and receivers located in an enclosed cavity under the influence of frequency-dependent reflection coefficients of the walls is presented. The characteristic features of the impulse responses that differentiate these results from frequency-independent reflecting surfaces are discussed. The image-source model is derived from the first principle solution to Green's function of the acoustic wave equation. The post-processing of the computed impulse response with a band-pass filter to better represents the response of a loud-speaker is demonstrated.

Keywords: acoustic room impulse response, frequency dependent reflection coefficients, Green's function, image model

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Authors: Irene Doosuur Mngutyo

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The preliminary stages in the development of human communities are the formation of a correct understanding of people’s needs. However, perception of human needs is highly subjective and difficult to aggregate. Quality of life measurements are an appropriate means for achieving an understanding of Human needs. Hence this study endeavors to measure quality of life in Makurdi using subjective indices to measure three aspects of subjective wellbeing. A sample of 400 respondents achieved by applying the Taro Yamane formula to Makurdi’s projected population. Questionnaires were randomly distributed to residents of nine wards in Makurdi. Findings from a pilot study( N=100) demonstrated that among the 2 aspects of overall quality of life investigated,22% had a mean low overall assessment of quality of life now being3on the scale and an even poorer assessment for projected quality in the next five years by 17%(3)although an equal percentage are hopeful for a better life(10)in the next five years.60% of the respondents record very rare positive feelings while only 10% have positive feelings always on the eudaimonic scale69%strongly agree that they have a purposeful and meaningful life. Findings indicate good social ties as a strong indicator for perceived good feelings and even though quality of life is perceived as low there is optimism for the future.

Keywords: quality of life, subjective indicators, development, urban planning

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Authors: Wissame Gouigah, Amina Medellel, Mahmoud Trachi, Djedjiga Benamara, Salem Benamara

Abstract:

The purpose of this work is to investigate, by UV/VIS spectrophotometry, the distribution of L-dopa, known as precursor of dopamine which is used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, in broad beans (Vicia faba) (Vf) and chickpea (Cicer aritinum L.) (CA). In the case of Vf, the different organs were analyzed separately: 1) First, in the fresh state: pod (GF), cotyledons (CF), green shell (EF) and placenta (PF) which is the organ through which the seed is attached to the pod, 2) in the dry state (S): peel of the dry seed (ES) and cotyledons (CS), and 3) in the germinated state: peel (EGe), cotyledons (CGe) and germ (GeVf). Results showed that the content of L-dopa is unevenly distributed between different parts of fresh Vf. But the most important result concerns the predominance of L-dopa in placenta with an L-dopa content (~ 60 mg/g of wet weight, ww) sometimes 7-fold higher (p≤0.05) than those of other considered parts of fresh Vf. In the case of CA, the L-dopa concentration in germinated gains was higher than those found in all analyzed Vf organs, excepted PF.

Keywords: broad bean (Vicia faba L.), chickpea (Cicer aritinum L.), L-dopa, Parkinson disease, placenta

Procedia PDF Downloads 349