Search results for: combat performance

Authors: Young-Min Ko, Dong-Hyun Ha, Chang-Bin Ha, Hyoung-Kyu Song

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In recent years, a multi-antenna system is actively used to improve the performance of the communication. A MIMO-OFDM system can provide multiplexing gain or diversity gain. These gains are obtained in proportion to the increase of the number of antennas. In order to provide the optimal gain of the MIMO-OFDM system, various transmission and reception schemes are presented. This paper aims to propose a hybrid scheme that base station provides both diversity gain and multiplexing gain at the same time.

Keywords: DFE, diversity gain, hybrid, MIMO, multiplexing gain.

Procedia PDF Downloads 687

Authors: Alimshan Faizulayev, Eralp Bektas, Abdul Ghafar Ismail, Bezhan Rustamov

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This paper performs empirical analysis on determinants of profitability in Islamic and Conventional Banks. The main focus of this study is to evaluate and measure of financial performance of Islamic banking firms operating in Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Turkey, UAE in contrast to Conventional ones in those countries. To evaluate empirically performance of the banks, various financial ratios are employed. We measure performance in terms of liquidity, profitability, solvency, and efficiency. In this work, t-test, F-test, and OLS analysis are used to make hypothesis tests. Our findings reveal that there are similarities and differences in profitability determinants of Islamic and Conventional banking firms. The cost to revenue ratio has inverse relationship with profitability indicators in both banking systems. However, there are differences in financial performances between Conventional Banks and Islamic banks which are found in overall picture of all banks in terms of net income margin.

Keywords: Islamic banking, conventional banking, GDP growth, emerging market economies

Procedia PDF Downloads 398

Authors: Clorinda Hogan, Shaun Abbott, Mark Halaki, Marcela Torres Catiglioni, Goshi Yamauchi, Lachlan Mitchell, James Salter, Michael Romann, Stephen Cobley

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Introduction: Common annual age-group competition structures unintentionally introduce participation inequalities, performance (dis)advantages and selection biases due to the effect of maturational variation between youth swimmers. On this basis, there are implications for improving performance evaluation strategies. Therefore the aim was to: (1) To determine maturity timing distributions in female youth swimming; (2) quantify the relationship between maturation status and 100-m FC performance; (3) apply Maturational-based Corrective Adjustment Procedures (Mat-CAPs) for removal of maturational status performance influences. Methods: (1) Cross-sectional analysis of 663 female (10-15 years) swimmers who underwent assessment of anthropometrics (mass, height and sitting height) and estimations of maturity timing and offset. (2) 100-m front-crawl performance (seconds) was assessed at Australian regional, state, and national-level competitions between 2016-2020. To determine the relationship between maturation status and 100-m front-crawl performance, MO was plotted against 100-m FC performance time. The expected maturity status - performance relationship for females aged 10-15 years of age was obtained through a quadratic function (y = ax2 + bx + c) from unstandardized coefficients. The regression equation was subsequently used for Mat-CAPs. (3) Participants aged 10-13 years were categorised into maturity-offset categories. Maturity offset distributions for Raw (‘All’, ‘Top 50%’ & ‘Top 25%’) and Correctively Adjusted swim times were examined. Chi-square, Cramer’s V and ORs determined the occurrence of maturation biases for each age group and selection level. Results—: (1) Maturity timing distributions illustrated overrepresentation of ‘normative’ maturing swimmers (11.82 ± 0.40 years), with a descriptive shift toward the early maturing relative to the normative population. (2) A curvilinear relationship between maturity-offset and swim performance was identified (R2 = 0.53, P < 0.001) and subsequently utilised for Mat-CAPs. (3) Raw maturity offset categories identified partial maturation status skewing towards biologically older swimmers at 10/11 and 12 years, with effect magnitudes increasing in the ‘Top 50%’ and ‘25%’ of performance times. Following Mat-CAPs application, maturity offset biases were removed in similar age groups and selection levels. When adjusting performance times for maturity offset, Mat-CAPs was successful in mitigating against maturational biases until approximately 1-year post Peak Height Velocity. The overrepresentation of ‘normative’ maturing female swimmers contrasted with the substantial overrepresentation of ‘early’ maturing male swimmers found previously in 100-m front-crawl. These findings suggest early maturational timing is not advantageous in females, but findings associated with Aim 2, highlight how advanced maturational status remained beneficial to performance. Observed differences between female and male maturational biases may relate to the differential impact of physiological development during pubertal years. Females experience greater increases of fat mass and potentially differing changes in body shape which can negatively affect swim performance. Conclusions: Transient maturation status-based participation and performance advantages were apparent within a large sample of Australian female youth 100-m FC swimmers. By removing maturity status performance biases within female youth swimming, Mat-CAPs could help improve participation experiences and the accuracy of identifying genuinely skilled female youth swimmers.

Keywords: athlete development, long-term sport participation, performance evaluation, talent identification, youth competition

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Ayoola Doris Ayodele, Grace Oluwatoyin Tayo, Martha Dupe Olumide, Opeyemi Arinola Ajayi, Ayodeji Taofeek Ayo-Bello

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Antibiotics have been widely used in animal nutrition to improve growth performance and health worldwide for many decades. However, there are rising concerns on the negative impact of dependence on antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) to improve animal performance despite its tremendous use. The need to improve performance in poultry production creates demand for natural alternative sources. Phytogenic feed additives (PFA) are plant-derived natural bioactive compounds that could be incorporated into animal feed to enhance livestock productivity. The effect of Turmeric, clove and turmeric + clove as feed additive was evaluated on performance and intestinal morphology of egg type chickens. 504- fifteen day old Isa brown chicks were weighed and randomly distributed to nine dietary treatments by a 3 x 3 factorial arrangement (test ingredient x inclusion level) in a completely randomized design, with four replicates of 14 birds each. The birds were fed Chick starter diet containing (2800 kcal/kg ME; 20.8% CP). Dietary treatments were Group 1 (T1- basal diet with 0% Turmeric inclusion), (T2- basal diet with 1% Turmeric inclusion), (T3- basal diet with 2% Turmeric inclusion). Group 2 (T4- basal diet with 0% clove inclusion), (T5- basal diet with 1% clove inclusion), (T6- basal diet with 2% clove inclusion). Group 3, turmeric + clove combination on 1:1 ratio weight for weight (T7- basal diet with 0% turmeric + 0% clove inclusion), (T8- basal diet with 0.5% turmeric + 0.5 clove% inclusion), (T9- basal diet with 1% turmeric + 1% clove inclusion). Performance parameters were evaluated throughout the experiment. The experiment spanned from day 15 to 56. Data were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test with significance of P≤ 0.05. Significant differences (P>0.05) were not observed in final body weight, weight gain, feed intake and FCR among birds fed with diets containing across the treatments. However, birds fed with test ingredients showed higher numerical values in final body weight and weight gain when compared to the birds without additive. Birds on T8 had the highest final body weight value of 617.33 g and low values in all the control treatments (T1 -588 g, T4- 572 g and T7 -584 g). At day 56, intestinal samples were taken from the jejunum and ileum to evaluate the villus height, crypt depth and villus: crypt depth ratio. Addition of turmeric, clove and turmeric + clove in the diet produced significant (P< 0.05) effect on Jejunum and ileum of birds. Therefore, Turmeric and clove can be used as feed additives for pullet birds because they have a positive effect on growth performance and intestinal morphology of pullet chicks.

Keywords: clove, intestinal morphology, isa brown chicks, performance, turmeric

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Authors: Mutalubi Aremu Akintunde, John Isa

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The negative impact on the atmosphere, of chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants (CFC) radical changes and measures were put in place to replace them. This has led to search for alternative refrigerants over the past decades. This paper presents thermal conductivity, diffusivity and performance of two alternative refrigerants as replacement to R12, which has been a versatile refrigerant which had turned the refrigeration industries around for decades, but one of the offensive refrigerants. The new refrigerants were coded RA1 (50%R600a/50%R134a;) and RA2 (70%R600a/30%R134a). The diffusivities for RA1 and RA2 were estimated to be, 2.76384 X 10-8 m2/s and 2.74386 X 10-8 m2/s respectively, while that of R12 under the same experimental condition is 2.43772 X 10-8 m2/s. The performances of the two refrigerants in a refrigerator initially designed for R12, were very close to that of R12. Other thermodynamic parameters showed that R12 can be replaced with both RA1 and RA2.

Keywords: alternative refrigerants, conductivity, diffusivity, performance, refrigerants

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Authors: Zhuomin Zou, Thijs Van Landeghem, Elke Gruyaert

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Using supplementary cementitious materials, such as blast-furnace slag and limestone, to replace cement clinker is a promising method to reduce the carbon emissions from cement production. To efficiently use slag and limestone, it is necessary to carefully select the particle size distribution (PSD) of the binders. This study investigated the effects of the PSD of binders on the performance of slag-limestone ternary cement. The Portland cement (PC) was prepared by grinding 95% clinker + 5% gypsum. Based on the PSD parameters of the binders, three types of ternary cements with a similar overall PSD were designed, i.e., NO.1 fine slag, medium PC, and coarse limestone; NO.2 fine limestone, medium PC, and coarse slag; NO.3. fine PC, medium slag, and coarse limestone. The binder contents in the ternary cements were (a) 50 % PC, 40 % slag, and 10 % limestone (called high cement group) or (b) 35 % PC, 55 % slag, and 10 % limestone (called low cement group). The pure PC and binary cement with 50% slag and 50% PC prepared with the same binders as the ternary cement were considered as reference cements. All these cements were used to investigate the mortar performance in terms of workability, strength at 2, 7, 28, and 90 days, carbonation resistance, and non-steady state chloride migration resistance at 28 and 56 days. Results show that blending medium PC with fine slag could exhibit comparable performance to blending fine PC with medium/coarse slag in binary cement. For the three ternary cements in the high cement group, ternary cement with fine limestone (NO.2) shows the lowest strength, carbonation, and chloride migration performance. Ternary cements with fine slag (NO.1) and with fine PC (NO.3) show the highest flexural strength at early and late ages, respectively. In addition, compared with ternary cement with fine PC (NO.3), ternary cement with fine slag (NO.1) has a similar carbonation resistance and a better chloride migration resistance. For the low cement group, three ternary cements have a similar flexural and compressive strength before 7 days. After 28 days, ternary cement with fine limestone (NO.2) shows the highest flexural strength while fine PC (NO.3) has the highest compressive strength. In addition, ternary cement with fine slag (NO.1) shows a better chloride migration resistance but a lower carbonation resistance compared with the other two ternary cements. Moreover, the durability performance of ternary cement with fine PC (NO.3) is better than that of fine limestone (NO.2).

Keywords: limestone, particle size distribution, slag, ternary cement

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Authors: Krishna Mohana Rao Gurram, R. Padmini, P. Vamsi Krishna

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As a part of extensive research for ecologically safe and operator friendly cutting fluids, this paper presents the experimental investigations on the performance of eco-friendly vegetable oil based nanofluids in turning operation. In order to assess the quality of nano cutting fluids used during machining, cutting temperatures, cutting forces and surface roughness under constant cutting conditions are measured. The influence of two types of nanofluids prepared from nano boric acid and CNT particles mixed separately with coconut oil, on machining performance during turning operation is examined. Comparative analysis of the results obtained is done under dry and lubricant environments. Results obtained using cutting fluids prepared from vegetable oil based nanofluids are encouraging and more pronouncing by the application of CCCNT at machining zone. The extent of improvement in reduction of cutting temperatures, main cutting force, tool wear and surface roughness is tracked to be 13%, 37.5%, 44% and 40% respectively by the application of CCCNT compared to dry machining.

Keywords: nanoparticles, vegetable oil, machining, MQL, surface roughness

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Ali A. Al-Jazaairry, Tahsin T. Sabbagh

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The stability of a single model pile located adjacent to a continuous cavity was studied. This paper is an attempt to understand the behaviour of axially loaded single pile embedded in clayey soil with the presences of cavities. The performance of piles located in such soils was studied analytically. A verification analysis was carried out on available studies to assess the ability of analytical model to correctly interpret the system behaviour. The study was adopted by finite element program (PLAXIS). The study included many cases; in each case, there is a critical value in which the presence of cavities has shown minimum effect on the pile performance. Figures including the load carrying capacity of pile with the affecting factors are presented. These figures provide beneficial information for pile design constructed close to underground cavities. It was concluded that the load carrying capacity of the pile is reduced by the presence of the cavity within the soil mass. This reduction varies according to the size and location of cavity.

Keywords: axial load, cavity, clay, pile, ultimate capacity

Procedia PDF Downloads 271

Authors: Mohammad Bukhari, Oumar Barry

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In order to reduce the Aeolian vibration of overhead transmission lines, the Stockbridge damper is usually attached. The efficiency of Stockbridge damper depends on its location on the conductor and its resonant frequencies. When the Stockbridge damper is located on a vibration node, it becomes inefficient. Hence, the static damper should be subrogated by a dynamic one. In the present study, a proposed dynamic absorber for transmission lines is studied. Hamilton’s principle is used to derive the governing equations, then the system of ordinary differential equations is solved numerically. Parametric studies are conducted to determine how certain parameters affect the performance of the absorber. The results demonstrate that replacing the static absorber by a dynamic one enhance the absorber performance for wider range of frequencies. The results also indicate that the maximum displacement decreases as the absorber speed and the forcing frequency increase. However, this reduction in maximum displacement is accompanying with increasing in the steady state vibration displacement. It is also indicated that the energy dissipation in moving absorber covers higher range of frequencies.

Keywords: absorber performance, Aeolian vibration, Hamilton’s principle, stockbridge damper

Procedia PDF Downloads 270

Authors: Rahul Saraswat

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More recently, a focus is given on replacing machined stainless steel metal flow-fields with inexpensive wiremesh current collectors. The flow-fields are based on simple woven wiremesh screens of various stainless steels, which are sandwiched between a thin metal plate of the same material to create a bipolar plate/flow-field configuration for use in a stack. Major advantages of using stainless steel wire screens include the elimination of expensive raw materials as well as machining and/or other special fabrication costs. Objective of the project is to improve the performance of the passive direct methanol fuel cell without increasing the cost of the cell and to make it as compact and light as possible. From the literature survey, it was found that very little is done in this direction & the following methodology was used. 1.) The passive DMFC cell can be made more compact, lighter and less costly by changing the material used in its construction. 2.) Controlling the fuel diffusion rate through the cell improves the performance of the cell. A passive liquid feed direct methanol fuel cell ( DMFC ) was fabricated using given MEA( Membrane Electrode Assembly ) and tested for different current collector structure. Mesh current collectors of different mesh densities, along with different support structures, were used, and the performance was found to be better. Methanol concentration was also varied. Optimisation of mesh size, support structure and fuel concentration was achieved. Cost analysis was also performed hereby. From the performance analysis study of DMFC, we can conclude with the following points : Area specific resistance (ASR) of wiremesh current collectors is lower than ASR of stainless steel current collectors. Also, the power produced by wiremesh current collectors is always more than that produced by stainless steel current collectors. Low or moderate methanol concentrations should be used for better and stable DMFC performance. Wiremesh is a good substitute of stainless steel for current collector plates of passive DMFC because of lower cost( by about 27 %), flexibility and light in weight characteristics of wiremesh.

Keywords: direct methanol fuel cell, membrane electrode assembly, mesh, mesh size, methanol concentration and support structure

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Authors: Jim J. Catina, Jackee M. Gwynn, Jin S. Kang

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Additive manufacturing (AM) for hybrid rocket engines is becoming increasingly attractive due to its ability to create complex grain configurations with improved regression rates when compared to cast grains. However, the presence of microvoids in parts produced through the additive manufacturing method of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) results in a lower fuel density and is believed to cause a decrease in regression rate compared to ideal performance. In this experiment, FDM was used to create hybrid rocket fuel grains with a star configuration composed of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Testing was completed to determine the effect of heat treatment as a post-processing method to improve the combustion performance of hybrid rocket fuel grains manufactured by FDM. For control, three ABS star configuration grains were printed using FDM and hot fired using gaseous oxygen (GOX) as the oxidizer. Parameters such as thrust and mass flow rate were measured. Three identical grains were then heat treated to varying degrees and hot fired under the same conditions as the control grains. This paper will quantitatively describe the amount of improvement in engine performance as a result of heat treatment of the AM hybrid fuel grain. Engine performance is measured in this paper by specific impulse, which is determined from the thrust measurements collected in testing.

Keywords: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, additive manufacturing, fused deposition modeling, heat treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Benjamin Orimolade, Emily Draper

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The interest in all solid electrochromic devices (ECD) is ongoing. This is because these devices offer realistic applications of electrochromic materials in products such as sensors, windows and energy storage devices. The use of quasi-solid (gel) electrolytes for the construction of these ECDs is attractive because of their ease of preparation, availability, low cost, improved electrochromic performance, good ionic conductivity and prevention of leakages in ECDs. Herein, we developed a gel electrolyte consisting of polyacrylamide modified with succinonitrile for an ECD containing leucine-modified naphthalene diimide (NDI-L) as electrochromic material. The amount of succinonitrile in the gel was optimized, and the structure, surface morphology, and ionic conductivity of the electrolytes were assessed using microscopic techniques and electrochemical methods. The ECD fabricated with the gel electrolyte displayed good electrochromic performance with a fast switching response of up to 10 s and outstanding stability. These results add significant insight into understanding the inter- and intra-molecular interaction in succinonitrile gel electrolytes and provide a typical practicable high-performance gel electrolyte material for solid electrochromic devices.

Keywords: electrochromic device, gel electrolytes, naphthalene diimide, succinonitrile

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Authors: Gurkirat Kaur, Manoj Kumar, Manju Bala

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Ethernet is the most influential and widely used technology in the world. With the growing demand of low latency and high throughput technologies like InfiniBand and RoCE, unique features viz. RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) have evolved. RDMA is an effective technology which is used for reducing system load and improving performance. InfiniBand is a well known technology which provides high-bandwidth and low-latency and makes optimal use of in-built features like RDMA. With the rapid evolution of InfiniBand technology and Ethernet lacking the RDMA and zero copy protocol, the Ethernet community has came out with a new enhancements that bridges the gap between InfiniBand and Ethernet. By adding the RDMA and zero copy protocol to the Ethernet a new networking technology is evolved, called RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE). RoCE is a standard released by the IBTA standardization body to define RDMA protocol over Ethernet. With the emergence of lossless Ethernet, RoCE uses InfiniBand’s efficient transport to provide the platform for deploying RDMA technology in mainstream data centres over 10GigE, 40GigE and beyond. RoCE provide all of the InfiniBand benefits transport benefits and well established RDMA ecosystem combined with converged Ethernet. In this paper, we evaluate the heterogeneous Linux cluster, having multi nodes with fast interconnects i.e. gigabit Ethernet and Soft RoCE. This paper presents the heterogeneous Linux cluster configuration and evaluates its performance using Intel’s MPI Benchmarks. Our result shows that Soft RoCE is performing better than Ethernet in various performance metrics like bandwidth, latency and throughput.

Keywords: ethernet, InfiniBand, RoCE, RDMA, MPI, Soft RoCE

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Authors: Cinna Soltanpur, Mohammad Ghamari, Behzad Momahed Heravi, Fatemeh Zare

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Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have been shown to deliver capacity approaching performance; however, problematic graphical structures (e.g. trapping sets) in the Tanner graph of some LDPC codes can cause high error floors in bit-error-ratio (BER) performance under conventional sum-product algorithm (SPA). This paper presents a serial concatenation scheme to avoid the trapping sets and to lower the error floors of LDPC code. The outer code in the proposed concatenation is the LDPC, and the inner code is a high rate array code. This approach applies an interactive hybrid process between the BCJR decoding for the array code and the SPA for the LDPC code together with bit-pinning and bit-flipping techniques. Margulis code of size (2640, 1320) has been used for the simulation and it has been shown that the proposed concatenation and decoding scheme can considerably improve the error floor performance with minimal rate loss.

Keywords: concatenated coding, low–density parity–check codes, array code, error floors

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: Solomon Ngoako Mabapa, Selekane Ananias Motadi, Nteseng Mailula, Hlekani Vanessa Mbhatsani, Lindelani Fhumudzani Mushaphi

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Background: South Africa has indeed made good progress towards IDD elimination, as far as implementation of salt iodization and coverage of iodized salt are concerned, the education and promotion aspects of the iodized salt intervention are seriously lacking. Objective: To determine the iodine nutritional knowledge of food handlers at primary schools under the National School Nutrition Programme in Capricorn and Waterberg district. Design: This study included 300 food handlers recruited from 95 primary schools in Capricorn district and 105 primary schools in Waterberg district, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Primary schools and study participants where conveniently selected. The data was collected by means of a structured questionnaire. Information obtained was on the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, general knowledge on salt fortification and knowledge test. Results: The iodine knowledge for the food handlers in two districts was poor with the entire population’s iodine nutritional knowledge of 12% on the Lickert scale. The mean score on the Lickert scale for Capricorn and Waterberg districts was 17% and 8.6% respectively indicated poor iodine nutritional knowledge. Conclusion: The two districts had poor iodine nutritional knowledge. Giving nutrition education to the public on the importance of iodine and the consequences of iodine deficiency disorder (IDD) and continue advocacy on mass media on the iodine fortification as an intervention strategy to combat the escalating problem of micronutrient malnutrition control.

Keywords: food handlers, nutritional knowledge, iodine, National School Nutrition Programme

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Authors: Suyeb Ahmed Khan, Mahmood Mian

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Simulation plays an important role during all phases of the design and engineering of communications systems, from early stages of conceptual design through the various stages of implementation, testing, and fielding of the system. In the present paper, a simulation model has been constructed for the WCDMA system in order to evaluate the performance. This model describes multiusers effects and calculation of BER (Bit Error Rate) in 3G mobile systems using Simulink MATLAB 7.1. Gaussian Approximation defines the multi-user effect on system performance. BER has been analyzed with comparison between transmitting data and receiving data.

Keywords: WCDMA, simulations, BER, MATLAB

Procedia PDF Downloads 593

Authors: Jawad Zakir, Syed Irtiza Ali Shah, Rana Shaharyar, Sidra Mahmood

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Y-force equation comprises aerodynamic forces, drag and side force with side slip angle β and weight component along with the coupled roll (φ) and pitch angles (θ). This research deals with the linearization of Y-force equation using Small Disturbance theory assuming equilibrium flight conditions for different state variables of aircraft. By using assumptions of Small Disturbance theory in non-linear Y-force equation, finally reached at linearized lateral rigid body equation of motion; which says that in linearized Y-force equation, the lateral acceleration is dependent on the other different aerodynamic and propulsive forces like vertical tail, change in roll rate (Δp) from equilibrium, change in yaw rate (Δr) from equilibrium, change in lateral velocity due to side force, drag and side force components due to side slip, and the lateral equation from coupled rotating frame to decoupled rotating frame. This paper describes implementation of this lateral linearized equation for aircraft control systems. Another significant parameter considered on which y-force equation depends is ‘c’ which shows that any change bought in the weight of aircrafts wing will cause Δφ and cause lateral force i.e. Y_c. This simplification also leads to lateral static and dynamic stability. The linearization of equations is required because much of mathematics control system design for aircraft is based on linear equations. This technique is simple and eases the linearization of the rigid body equations of motion without using any high-speed computers.

Keywords: Y-force linearization, small disturbance theory, side slip, aerodynamic force drag, lateral rigid body equation of motion

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Authors: Said Elkassimi, Said Safi, B. Manaut

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This paper presented a study of three algorithms, the equalization algorithm to equalize the transmission channel with ZF and MMSE criteria, application of channel Bran A, and adaptive filtering algorithms LMS and RLS to estimate the parameters of the equalizer filter, i.e. move to the channel estimation and therefore reflect the temporal variations of the channel, and reduce the error in the transmitted signal. So far the performance of the algorithm equalizer with ZF and MMSE criteria both in the case without noise, a comparison of performance of the LMS and RLS algorithm.

Keywords: adaptive filtering second equalizer, LMS, RLS Bran A, Proakis (B) MMSE, ZF

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Authors: Chung-Kwei Wang, Kuo-Ying Lo

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The study is aimed to examine main and moderation effect of Chinese traditional social wisdom ‘Ren-qing Shi-kuon' the adjustment of social worker students during their practicum. Ren-qing Shi-ku as a social wisdom has been emphasized by collective-oriented Chinese society for thousand years. Based on interview and literature review, we operationalized the concept as four factors, including ‘harmonious interaction’, ‘understanding and tolerance’, ‘empathetic communication’ and ‘rule abiding’. We administer the scale to 96 social worker senior students before their summer practicums begins and collect their response on emotion labor, emotional exhaustion, work load, work satisfaction. We also ask their supervisors rated their performance on empathy, interpersonal relationships, performance on practicum and their Ren-qing Shi-ku performance. Results indicated that self-ratings of students on Ren-qing Shi-ku scale are correlated with rating from their supervisors. Students who have higher Ren-qing Shi-ku have better adjustment and higher ratings from their supervisor. Ren-qing Shi-ku also moderate effects of surface acting labor and work load on emotional exhaustion and work satisfaction. However, Ren-qing Shi-ku seems more beneficial under low work load situations. The finding of this study suggested traditional social skill training might be very effective for social service providers in a collective-oriented culture.

Keywords: emotion labor, ren-qing shi-ku, emotional exhaustion, work satisfaction and performance

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Authors: Aslı Yörük, Mevla Yahya, Banu Tavat

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It is well established that bilinguals outperform monolinguals on executive function tasks. However, the effects of bilingualism on prospective memory (PM), which also requires executive functions, have not been investigated vastly. This study aimed to compare bi and monolingual participants' PM performance in focal and non-focal PM tasks. Considering that bilinguals have greater executive function abilities than monolinguals, we predict that bilinguals’ PM performance would be higher than monolinguals on the non-focal PM task, which requires controlled monitoring processes. To investigate these predictions, we administered the focal and non-focal PM task and measured the PM and ongoing task performance. Forty-eight Turkish-English bilinguals residing in North Macedonia and forty-eight Turkish monolinguals living in Turkey between the ages of 18-30 participated in the study. They were instructed to remember responding to rarely appearing PM cues while engaged in an ongoing task, i.e., spatial working memory task. The focality of the task was manipulated by giving different instructions for PM cues. In the focal PM task, participants were asked to remember to press an enter key whenever a particular target stimulus appeared in the working memory task; in the non-focal PM task, instead of responding to a specific target shape, participants were asked to remember to press the enter key whenever the background color of the working memory trials changes to a specific color (yellow). To analyze data, we performed a 2 × 2 mixed factorial ANOVA with the task (focal versus non-focal) as a within-subject variable and language group (bilinguals versus monolinguals) as a between-subject variable. The results showed no direct evidence for a bilingual advantage in PM. That is, the group’s performance did not differ in PM accuracy and ongoing task accuracy. However, bilinguals were overall faster in the ongoing task, yet this was not specific to PM cue’s focality. Moreover, the results showed a reversed effect of PM cue's focality on the ongoing task performance. That is, both bi and monolinguals showed enhanced performance in the non-focal PM cue task. These findings raise skepticism about the literature's prevalent findings and theoretical explanations. Future studies should investigate possible alternative explanations.

Keywords: bilingualism, executive functions, focality, prospective memory

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Authors: Ankit Kumar Yadav, Nagendra R. Velaga

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Driving under the influence of alcohol impairs the driving performance and increases the crash risks worldwide. The present study investigated the effect of different Blood Alcohol Concentrations (BAC) on the accelerating and braking behaviour of drivers with the help of driving simulator experiments. Eighty-two licensed Indian drivers drove on the rural road environment designed in the driving simulator at BAC levels of 0.00%, 0.03%, 0.05%, and 0.08% respectively. Driving performance was analysed with the help of vehicle control performance indicators such as mean acceleration and mean brake pedal force of the participants. Preliminary analysis reported an increase in mean acceleration and mean brake pedal force with increasing BAC levels. Generalized linear mixed models were developed to quantify the effect of different alcohol levels and explanatory variables such as driver’s age, gender and other driver characteristic variables on the driving performance indicators. Alcohol use was reported as a significant factor affecting the accelerating and braking performance of the drivers. The acceleration model results indicated that mean acceleration of the drivers increased by 0.013 m/s², 0.026 m/s² and 0.027 m/s² for the BAC levels of 0.03%, 0.05% and 0.08% respectively. Results of the brake pedal force model reported that mean brake pedal force of the drivers increased by 1.09 N, 1.32 N and 1.44 N for the BAC levels of 0.03%, 0.05% and 0.08% respectively. Age was a significant factor in both the models where one year increase in drivers’ age resulted in 0.2% reduction in mean acceleration and 19% reduction in mean brake pedal force of the drivers. It shows that driving experience could compensate for the negative effects of alcohol to some extent while driving. Female drivers were found to accelerate slower and brake harder as compared to the male drivers which confirmed that female drivers are more conscious about their safety while driving. It was observed that drivers who were regular exercisers had better control on their accelerator pedal as compared to the non-regular exercisers during drunken driving. The findings of the present study revealed that drivers tend to be more aggressive and impulsive under the influence of alcohol which deteriorates their driving performance. Drunk driving state can be differentiated from sober driving state by observing the accelerating and braking behaviour of the drivers. The conclusions may provide reference in making countermeasures against drinking and driving and contribute to traffic safety.

Keywords: alcohol, acceleration, braking behaviour, driving simulator

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Authors: Tamer E. Yared

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The use of driving simulators has made laboratory testing easier. It has been proven to be valid for testing driving ability by many researchers. One benefit of using driving simulators is keeping the human subjects away from traffic hazards, which drivers usually face in a real driving environment while performing a driving experiment. In this study, a driving simulator was developed with a navigation system using a game development software (Unity 3D) and C-sharp codes to measure and evaluate driving performance, safety, and workload for different driving tasks. The driving simulator hardware included a gaming steering wheel and pedals as well as a monitor to view the driving tasks. Moreover, driver distraction was evaluated by utilizing an eye-tracking system working in conjunction with the driving simulator. Twenty subjects were recruited to evaluate driver distraction, workload, driving safety, and performance, as well as provide their feedback about the driving simulator. The subjects’ feedback was obtained by filling a survey after conducting several driving tasks. The main question of that survey was asking the subjects to compare driving on the driving simulator with real driving. Furthermore, other aspects of the driving simulator were evaluated by the subjects in the survey. The survey revealed that the recruited subjects gave an average score of 7.5 out of 10 to the driving simulator when compared to real driving, where the scores ranged between 6 and 8.5. This study is a preliminary effort that opens the door for more improvements to the driving simulator in terms of hardware and software development, which will contribute significantly to driving ability testing.

Keywords: driver distraction, driving performance, driving safety, driving simulator, driving workload, navigation system

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Authors: Sait Ali Uymaz, Gülay Tezel

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This paper presents the comparison results on the performance of the Cuckoo Search (CS) algorithm for constrained optimization problems. For constraint handling, CS algorithm uses penalty method. CS algorithm is tested on thirteen well-known test problems and the results obtained are compared to Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. Mean, best, median and worst values were employed for the analyses of performance.

Keywords: cuckoo search, particle swarm optimization, constrained optimization problems, penalty method

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Authors: Ram Sharan Mehta, Dina Khanal, Pushpa Parajuli, Gayanand Mandal, Bijaya Bartuala

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Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Adequate awareness of risk factors of CVD is the first step towards effective preventive strategies to combat the CVD burden in diabetes patients.This study aims to assess the awareness on risk factors of CVD among patients with diabetes mellitus attending diabetic clinic of BPKIHS and to find the association between awareness with their selected socio demographic variables. Methods and Material: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among 112 patients with diabetes in diabetic clinic of BPKIHS. Convenient sampling technique was used for data collection over duration of one month using interview schedule by HDFQ II tool. Data were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. (Chi square). Results: The mean age of respondents was 55.4±12.13 years. That mean HDFQ score was 14.31± 5.08. Only 33% of the respondents had adequate level of awareness whereas majority of the respondents (67%) had inadequate level of awareness. Majority of the respondent (83.9%) were aware about smoking, (78.6%) physical activity, (75%) increasing age, (75.9%) high blood pressure, (71.4%) overweight respectively. Whereas most of the respondents were not aware of high cholesterol, fatty diet, preventive strategies and association of diabetes with CVD. Awareness was statistically significant with (p=0.043) educational status, (p=0.025) monthly income, (p=0.05) residence, (p=0.006) CVD information received and (p=0.022) co morbid condition as a heart disease. Conclusion: The findings of this study concluded most of the respondents had an inadequate level of awareness on risk factors of CVD. So Effective education and appropriate preventive strategies of CVD are indeed important to reduce CVD burden in diabetes patients.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease, awareness, diabetes patients, risk

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Authors: Michael C. Nwaohia

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Whereas anecdotal evidence supports the notion that increase in information technology (IT) know-how may enhance output of professionals in the accounting sector, this has not been systematically explored in the Nigerian context. Against this background, this paper examines the correlation between knowledgeability of IT and level of performance at everyday auditing and accounting tasks. It utilizes primary and secondary data from selected business organizations in Lagos, Nigeria. Accounting staff were administered structured questionnaires which, amongst other things, sought to examine knowledge and exposure to information technology prior to joining the firms and current level of performance based on self-reporting and supervisor comments. In addition, exposure to on-the-job IT training and current level of performance was examined. The statistical analysis of the data was done using the SPSS package. The results strongly suggest that prior exposure to IT skills enabled accounting professionals to better flexibly fit into the dynamic environment in which contemporary business takes place. Ultimately, the paper attempts to explicate some of the implications of these findings for individuals and business firms.

Keywords: accounting, firms, information technology, professional behavior

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Authors: Ankitsinh Chauhan, Vimal Patel, A. D. Parekh, Ishant patil

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This study delves into the crucial influence of cooling tower fan operation on the performance of a chiller plant, with a specific focus on the Chiller Plant at SVNIT. Continuous operation of the chiller plant led to unexpected damage to the cooling tower's belt drive, rendering the cooling tower fan non-operational. Consequently, the efficiency of heat transfer in the condenser was significantly impaired. In response, we analyzed and calculated several vital parameters, including the Coefficient of Performance (COP), heat rejection in the condenser (Qc), work required for the compressor (Wc), and heat absorbed by the refrigerant in the evaporator (Qe). Our findings revealed that in the absence of the cooling tower fan, relying solely on natural convection, the COP of the chiller plant reached a minimum value of 5.49. However, after implementing a belt drive to facilitate forced convection for the cooling tower fan, the COP of the chiller plant experienced a noteworthy improvement, reaching approximately 6.27. Additionally, the utilization of forced convection resulted in an impressive reduction of 8.9% in compressor work, signifying enhanced energy efficiency. This study underscores the critical role of cooling tower fan operation in optimizing chiller plant performance, with practical implications for energy-efficient HVAC systems. It highlights the potential benefits of employing forced convection mechanisms, such as belt drives, to ensure efficient heat transfer in the condenser, ultimately contributing to improved energy utilization and reduced operational costs in cooling.

Keywords: cooling tower, chiller Plant, cooling tower fan, energy efficiency, VCRS.

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Authors: Jose Ramon Sanabria Navarro, Yahilina Silveira Perez, Valentin Molina Moreno, Digna Dionisia Perez Bravo

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The general objective of this research is to conceive a model of strategic direction for Latin American high-performance sports centers for the improvement of their results. The sample is 62 managers, 187 trainers, 2930 athletes and 62 expert researchers from centers in Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and Argentina, for 3241. The measurement instrument includes 12 key variables in the process of management strategies which are consolidated with the factorial analysis and the ANOVA of a factor through the SPSS 24.0. The reliability of the scale obtained an alpha higher than 0.7 in each sample. In this sense, a model is obtained that taxes the deficiencies detected in the diagnosis, based on the needs of the members of these organizations, considering criteria and theories of the strategic direction in the improvement of the organizational results. The validation of the model for high performance sports centers of the countries analyzed aims to develop joint strategies to generate synergies in their operational mode, which leads to enhance the sports organization.

Keywords: sports organization, information management, decision making, control

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Authors: Clemence Collon, Didier Poracchia

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The manipulation of sports competitions is a new type of sports integrity problem. While doping has become an organized, institutionalized struggle, the manipulation of sports competitions is gradually building up. This study aims to describe and understand how the soft Olympic and Paralympic law was gradually built. It also summarizes the legal tools for prevention, detection, and sanction developed by the international Olympic movement. Then, it analyzes the impact of this soft law on the law of the States, in particular in French law. This study is mainly based on an analysis of existing legal literature and non-binding law in the International Olympic and Paralympic movement and on the French National Olympic Committee. Interviews were carried out with experts from the Olympic movement or experts working on combating the manipulation of sports competitions; the answers are also used in this article. The International Olympic Committee has created a supranational legal base to fight against the manipulation of sports competitions. This legal basis must be respected by sports organizations. The Olympic Charter, the Olympic Code of Ethics, the Olympic Movement Code on the prevention of the manipulation of sports competitions, the rules of standards, the basic universal principles, the manuals, the declarations have been published in this perspective. This sports soft law has influences or repercussions in each state. Many states take this new form of integrity problem into account by creating state laws or measures in favor of the fight against sports manipulations. France has so far only a legal basis for manipulation related to betting on sports competitions through the infraction of sports corruption included in the penal code and also created a national platform with various actors to combat this cheating. This legal study highlights the progressive construction of the sports law rules of the Olympic movement in the fight against the manipulation of sports competitions linked to sports betting and their impact on the law of the states.

Keywords: integrity, law and ethics, manipulation of sports competitions, olympic, sports law

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Authors: Isyaka Abdulkadir, Egbe Ngu-Ntui Ogork

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This research aims to investigate the use of Scrap Tyre Steel Fibers (STSF) for the production of fiber reinforced high performance concrete. The Scrap Tyre Steel Fibers (STSF) were obtained from dealers that extracted the fibers by burning the scrap tyres and were characterized. The effect of STSF was investigated on grade 50 concrete of 1:1.28:1.92 with water cement ratio of 0.39 at additions of STSF of 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5% by volume of concrete. The fresh concrete was tested for slump while the hardened concrete was tested for compressive and splitting tensile strengths, respectively at curing ages of 3, 7, 28 and 56 days in accordance with standard procedure. The results indicate that slump decreased with increase in STSF, while compressive and splitting tensile strengths increased with increase in STSF up to 1.5% and reduction in strength with increase in STSF above 1.5%. 1.5% STSF was considered as the optimum dosage with a 28 days increase in compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of 12.3% and 43.8% respectively, of control.

Keywords: compressive strength, high performance concrete, scrap tyre steel fiber, splitting tensile strength

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Authors: Maxime Alex Junior Kuitche, Ruxandra Mihaela Botez, Jean-Chirstophe Maunand

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The evolution of aircraft is closely linked to the study and improvement of propulsion systems. Determining the propulsion performance is a real challenge in aircraft modeling and design. In addition to theoretical methodologies, experimental procedures are used to obtain a good estimation of the propulsion performances. For piston-propeller propulsion, the propeller needs several experimental tests which could be extremely demanding in terms of time and money. This paper presents a new procedure to estimate the performance of a propeller from a numerical approach using computational fluid dynamic analysis. The propeller was initially scanned, and then, its 3D model was represented using CATIA. A structured meshing and Shear Stress Transition k-ω turbulence model were applied to describe accurately the flow pattern around the propeller. Thus, the Partial Differential Equations were solved using ANSYS FLUENT software. The method was applied on the UAS-S45’s propeller designed and manufactured by Hydra Technologies in Mexico. An extensive investigation was performed for several flight conditions in terms of altitudes and airspeeds with the aim to determine thrust coefficients, power coefficients and efficiency of the propeller. The Computational Fluid Dynamics results were compared with experimental data acquired from wind tunnel tests performed at the LARCASE Price-Paidoussis wind tunnel. The results of this comparison have demonstrated that our approach was highly accurate.

Keywords: CFD analysis, propeller performance, unmanned aerial system propeller, UAS-S45

Procedia PDF Downloads 353