Search results for: continuous cycle industrial technological processes

Authors: Fanny Guay

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Building resilience, sustainable buildings, urbanization, climate change, resilient cities, are just a few examples of where the focus of research has been in the last few years. It is obvious that there is a need to rethink how we are building our cities and how we are renovating our existing buildings. However, the question remaining is how can we assure that we are building sustainable yet resilient cities? There are many aspects one can touch upon when discussing resilience in cities, but after the event of Grenfell in June 2017, it has become clear that fire resilience must be a priority. We define resilience as a holistic approach including communities, society and systems, focusing not only on resisting the effects of a disaster, but also how it will cope and recover from it. Cities are an example of such a system, where components such as buildings have an important role to play. A building on fire will have an impact on the community, the economy, the environment, and so the entire system. Therefore, we believe that fire and resilience go hand in hand when we discuss building resilient cities. This article aims at discussing the current state of the concept of fire resilience and suggests actions to support the built of more fire resilient buildings. Using the case of Grenfell and the fire safety regulations in the UK, we will briefly compare the fire regulations in other European countries, more precisely France, Germany and Denmark, to underline the difference and make some suggestions to increase fire resilience via regulation. For this research, we will also include other types of resilience such as technological resilience, discussing the structure of buildings itself, as well as community resilience, considering the role of communities in building resilience. Our findings demonstrate that to increase fire resilience, amending existing regulations might be necessary, for example, how we performed reaction to fire tests and how we classify building products. However, as we are looking at national regulations, we are only able to make general suggestions for improvement. Another finding of this research is that the capacity of the community to recover and adapt after a fire is also an essential factor. Fundamentally, fire resilience, technological resilience and community resilience are closely connected. Building resilient cities is not only about sustainable buildings or energy efficiency; it is about assuring that all the aspects of resilience are included when building or renovating buildings. We must ask ourselves questions as: Who are the users of this building? Where is the building located? What are the components of the building, how was it designed and which construction products have been used? If we want to have resilient cities, we must answer these basic questions and assure that basic factors such as fire resilience are included in our assessment.

Keywords: buildings, cities, fire, resilience

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Authors: Robin Molinier

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Industrial symbiosis (I.S) deals with the exchange of waste materials, fatal energy and utilities as resources for production. While it brings environmental benefits from resource conservation its economic profitability is one of the main barriers to its implementation. I.S involves several actors with their own objectives and resources so that each actor must be satisfied by ex-ante arrangements to commit toward investments and transactions. Regarding I.S Transaction cost economics helps to identify hybrid forms of governance for transactions governance due to I.S projects specificities induced by the need for customization (asset specificity, non-homogeneity). Thus we propose a framework to analyze the best contractual practices tailored to address I.S specific risks that we identified as threefold (load profiles and quality mismatch, value fluctuations). Schemes from cooperative game theory and contracting management are integrated to analyze value flows between actors. Contractual guidelines are then proposed to address the identified risks and to split the value for a set of I.S archetypes drawn from actual experiences.

Keywords: contracts, economics, industrial symbiosis, risks

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Authors: Emanuele A. Solagna, Ricardo S, Tozetto, Roberto dos S. Rabello

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Nowadays, physical processes are becoming digitized by the evolution of communication, sensing and storage technologies which promote the development of smart cities. The evolution of this technology has generated multiple challenges related to the generation of big data and the active participation of electronic devices in society. Thus, devices can send information that is captured and processed over large areas, but there is no guarantee that all the obtained data amount will be effectively stored and correctly persisted. Because, depending on the technology which is used, there are parameters that has huge influence on the full delivery of information. This article aims to characterize the project, currently under development, of a platform that based on data science will perform a performance and effectiveness evaluation of an industrial network that implements LoRaWAN technology considering its main parameters configuration relating these parameters to the information loss.

Keywords: Internet of Things, LoRa, LoRaWAN, smart cities

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Authors: Judyta Pawliszko

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The study draws on the theoretical framework of translanguaging. It investigates translanguaging patterns and how meaning-making processes among bilingual children in preschool are affected by using two different languages, 8 months of observation and 200 hours of vocal recordings of children (3-6 years old) provide data on bilingual children’s linguistic repertoire why children translanguage, and how they achieve understanding with the strategic use of the two languages. The data gathered point to translanguaging as a practice that maximizes meaning-making processes among preschool bilingual children.

Keywords: translanguaging, bilingualism, preschool, polish-english bilingual children

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Authors: M. Emmanouilidou

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The Internet of Things (IoT) is a disruptive technological paradigm that is at the center of the digital evolution by integrating physical and virtual worlds leading to the creation of extended interconnected ecosystems that are characterized as smart environments. The concept of the IoT has a broad range of applications in different industries including the healthcare sector. The Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT), a branch of the IoT, is expected to bring promising benefits to all involved stakeholders and accelerate the revolution of the healthcare sector through a transition towards preventive and personalized medicine. The socio-economic challenges that the healthcare sector is facing further emphasize the need for a radical transformation of healthcare systems in both developed and developing countries with the role of pervasive technological innovations, such as IoHT, recognized as key to counteract the relevant challenges. Besides the number of potential opportunities that IoHT presents, there are fundamental ethical concerns that need to be considered and addressed in relation to the application of IoHT. This paper contributes to the discussion of the emerging topic of IoHT by providing an overview of the role and potential of IoHT, highlighting the characteristics of the current and future healthcare landscape, reporting on the up-to-date status of IoHT in Europe and reflecting upon existing research in the ethics of IoHT by incorporating additional ethical dimensions that have been ignored which can provide pathways for future research in the field.

Keywords: ethics, Europe, healthcare, Internet of Things

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Authors: Muhammad Javed Bhatti, Tariq Ali, Muazz Ali

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Due to growing environmental awareness in Pakistan, the researchers are increasingly turning to assess and analyze properties of industrial waste and finding solutions on using industrial waste as secondary material. Due to industrialization, enormous by-products are produced and to utilize these by-products is the main challenge faced in Pakistan. Induction furnace slag is one of the industrial by-products from the iron and steel making industries. This paper highlights the true utilization of induction furnace slag as partial replacement of fine aggregate. For the experimental investigation, mixes were prepared with fine aggregate replacement using 0 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent, 25 percent, 30 percent, 35 percent and 40 percent induction furnace slag to evaluate the workability, compaction factor, compressive strength, flexural strength, modulus of elasticity.

Keywords: compressive strength, deflection, induction furnace slag, workability

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Authors: Charles Akinola Imolehin

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According to the news on world population record, over 6.6 billion people on earth, and almost a quarter million added each day, the scale of human activity and environmental impact is unprecedented. Soaring human population growth over the past century has created a visible challenge to earth’s life support systems. Critical natural resources such as clean ground water, fertile topsoil, and biodiversity are diminishing at an exponential rate, orders of magnitude above that at which they can be regenerated. In addition, the world faces an onslaught of other environmental threats including degenerated global climate change, global warming, intensified acid rain, stratospheric ozone depletion and health threatening pollution. Overpopulation and the use of deleterious technologies combine to increase the scale of human activities to a level that underlies these entire problems. These intensifying trends cannot continue indefinitely, hopefully, through increased understanding and valuation of ecosystems and their services, earth’s basic life-support system will be protected for the future. To say the fact, human civilization is now the dominant cause of change in the global environment. Now that human relationship to the earth has change so utterly, there is need to see to that change and understand its implication. These are two aspects to the challenges which all should believe. The first is to realize that human activity has power to harm the earth and can indeed have global and even permanent effects. Second is to realize that the only way to understand human new role as a co-architect of nature is to see human activities as part of a complex system that does operate according to the same simple rules of cause and effect commonly used to. So, understanding the physical/biological dimension of earth system is an important precondition for making sensible policy to protect our environment. Because believing in Sustainable Development is a matter of reconciling respect for the environment, social equity, and economic profitability. Also, there is strong believe that environmental protection is naturally about reducing air and water pollution, but it also includes the improvement of the environmental performance of existing process. That is why is important to always have it at the heart of business policy that the environmental problem is not our effect on the environment so much as the relationship of production activities on the environment. There should be this positive thinking in all operation to always be environmentally friendly especially in projection and considering Sustainable ALL awareness in all sites of operation.

Keywords: earth's ocean, marine animals life under treat, flooding, ctritical natiural resouces polluted

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Authors: Weixing Tan

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Production of nutraceuticals from microalgae—a virtually untapped natural phyto-based source of which there are 200,000 to 1,000,000 species—offers a sustainable and healthy alternative to conventionally sourced nutraceuticals for the market. Microalgae can be grown organically using only natural sunlight, water and nutrients at an extremely fast rate, e.g. 10-100 times more efficiently than crops or trees. However, the commercial success of microalgae products at scale remains limited largely due to the lack of economically viable technologies. There are two major microalgae production systems or technologies currently available: 1) the open system as represented by open pond technology and 2) the closed system such as photobioreactors (PBR). Each carries its own unique features and challenges. Although an open system requires a lower initial capital investment relative to a PBR, it conveys many unavoidable drawbacks; for example, much lower productivity, difficulty in contamination control/cleaning, inconsistent product quality, inconvenience in automation, restriction in location selection, and unsuitability for cold areas – all directly linked to the system openness and flat underground design. On the other hand, a PBR system has characteristics almost entirely opposite to the open system, such as higher initial capital investment, better productivity, better contamination and environmental control, wider suitability in different climates, ease in automation, higher and consistent product quality, higher energy demand (particularly if using artificial lights), and variable operational expenses if not automated. Although closed systems like PBRs are not highly competitive yet in current nutraceutical supply market, technological advances can be made, in particular for the PBR technology, to narrow the gap significantly. One example is a readily scalable P2P Microalgae PBR Technology at Grande Prairie Regional College, Canada, developed over 11 years considering return on investment (ROI) for key production processes. The P2P PBR system is approaching economic viability at a pre-commercial stage due to five ROI-integrated major components. They include: (1) optimum use of free sunlight through attenuation (patented); (2) simple, economical, and chemical-free harvesting (patent ready to file); (3) optimum pH- and nutrient-balanced culture medium (published), (4) reliable water and nutrient recycling system (trade secret); and (5) low-cost automated system design (trade secret). These innovations have allowed P2P Microalgae Technology to increase daily yield to 106 g/m2/day of Chlorella vulgaris, which contains 50% proteins and 2-3% omega-3. Based on the current market prices and scale-up factors, this P2P PBR system presents as a promising microalgae technology for market competitive nutraceutical supply.

Keywords: microalgae technology, nutraceuticals, open pond, photobioreactor PBR, return on investment ROI, technological advances

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Authors: Kotaro Sasai, Daijiro Mizutani, Kiyoyuki Kaito

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Expressways in Japan have been built in an accelerating manner since the 1960s with the aid of rapid economic growth. About 40 percent in length of expressways in Japan is now 30 years and older and has become superannuated. Time-related deterioration has therefore reached to a degree that administrators, from a standpoint of operation and maintenance, are forced to take prompt measures on a large scale aiming at repairing inner damage deep in pavements. These measures have already been performed for bridge management in Japan and are also expected to be embodied for pavement management. Thus, planning methods for the measures are increasingly demanded. Deterioration of layers around road surface such as surface course and binder course is brought about at the early stages of whole pavement deterioration process, around 10 to 30 years after construction. These layers have been repaired primarily because inner damage usually becomes significant after outer damage, and because surveys for measuring inner damage such as Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) survey and open-cut survey are costly and time-consuming process, which has made it difficult for administrators to focus on inner damage as much as they have been supposed to. As expressways today have serious time-related deterioration within them deriving from the long time span since they started to be used, it is obvious the idea of repairing layers deep in pavements such as base course and subgrade must be taken into consideration when planning maintenance on a large scale. This sort of maintenance requires precisely predicting degrees of deterioration as well as grasping the present situations of pavements. Methods for predicting deterioration are determined to be either mechanical or statistical. While few mechanical models have been presented, as far as the authors know of, previous studies have presented statistical methods for predicting deterioration in pavements. One describes deterioration process by estimating Markov deterioration hazard model, while another study illustrates it by estimating Proportional deterioration hazard model. Both of the studies analyze deflection data obtained from FWD surveys and present statistical methods for predicting deterioration process of layers around road surface. However, layers of base course and subgrade remain unanalyzed. In this study, data collected from FWD surveys are analyzed to predict deterioration process of layers deep in pavements in addition to surface layers by a means of estimating a deterioration hazard model using continuous indexes. This model can prevent the loss of information of data when setting rating categories in Markov deterioration hazard model when evaluating degrees of deterioration in roadbeds and subgrades. As a result of portraying continuous indexes, the model can predict deterioration in each layer of pavements and evaluate it quantitatively. Additionally, as the model can also depict probability distribution of the indexes at an arbitrary point and establish a risk control level arbitrarily, it is expected that this study will provide knowledge like life cycle cost and informative content during decision making process referring to where to do maintenance on as well as when.

Keywords: deterioration hazard model, falling weight deflectometer, inner damage, load bearing capacity, pavement

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Authors: Joana Almeida, Kendall Reid, Jonas Bengtsson

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Pallets are devices that are used for moving and storing freight and are nearly omnipresent in supply chains. The market is dominated by timber pallets, with plastic being a common alternative. Either option underpins the use of important resources (oil, land, timber), the emission of greenhouse gases and additional waste generation in most supply chains. This study uses a dynamic approach to the life cycle assessment (LCA) of pallets. It demonstrates that what ultimately defines the environmental burden of pallets in the supply chain is how often the length of its lifespan, which depends on the durability of the material and on how pallets are utilized. This study proposes a life cycle assessment (LCA) of pallets in supply chains supported by an algorithm that estimates pallet durability in function of material resilience and of logistics. The LCA runs from cradle-to-grave, including raw material provision, manufacture, transport and end of life. The scope is representative of timber and plastic pallets in the Australian and South-East Asia markets. The materials included in this analysis are: -tropical mixed hardwood, unsustainably harvested in SE Asia; -certified softwood, sustainably harvested; -conventional plastic, a mix of virgin and scrap plastic; -recycled plastic pallets, 100% mixed plastic scrap, which are being pioneered by Re > Pal. The logistical model purports that more complex supply chains and rougher handling subject pallets to higher stress loads. More stress shortens the lifespan of pallets in function of their composition. Timber pallets can be repaired, extending their lifespan, while plastic pallets cannot. At the factory gate, softwood pallets have the lowest carbon footprint. Re > pal follows closely due to its burden-free feedstock. Tropical mixed hardwood and plastic pallets have the highest footprints. Harvesting tropical mixed hardwood in SE Asia often leads to deforestation, leading to emissions from land use change. The higher footprint of plastic pallets is due to the production of virgin plastic. Our findings show that manufacture alone does not determine the sustainability of pallets. Even though certified softwood pallets have lower carbon footprint and their lifespan can be extended by repair, the need for re-supply of materials and disposal of waste timber offsets this advantage. It also leads to most waste being generated among all pallets. In a supply chain context, Re > Pal pallets have the lowest footprint due to lower replacement and disposal needs. In addition, Re > Pal are nearly ‘waste neutral’, because the waste that is generated throughout their life cycle is almost totally offset by the scrap uptake for production. The absolute results of this study can be confirmed by progressing the logistics model, improving data quality, expanding the range of materials and utilization practices. Still, this LCA demonstrates that considering logistics, raw materials and material durability is central for sustainable decision-making on pallet purchasing, management and disposal.

Keywords: carbon footprint, life cycle assessment, recycled plastic, waste

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Authors: Jiri Barta

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This paper deals with the prevention and management of emergencies. It focuses on the protection of assets of the critical infrastructure entities that are important to preventing, preparing for and management of emergencies and crisis situations. The paper defines assets and specifies their use and place in the process of crisis management and planning. Critical assets that are protected from the negative effects of emergency or crisis situation we can use in crisis management and response. This basic rule applies mainly to the substantial assets used in the protection of critical infrastructure processes.

Keywords: asset, continuity, critical infrastructure, crisis management process

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Authors: Omaima A. Sharaf, Wafaa M. Abd El-Rahim, Hassan Moawad, Michael J. Sadowsky

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Textile industry is one of the important industries in the worldwide. It is known that the eco-friendly industrial and agricultural activities are significant for socio-economic stability of all countries. The absence of appropriate industrial waste water treatments is essential barrier for sustainable development in food and agricultural sectors especially in developing country like Egypt. Thus, the development of enzymatic bioremediation technology for textile dye removal will enhance the collaboration between scientists who develop the technology and industry where this technology will be implemented towards the safe disposal of the textile dye wastes. Highly efficient microorganisms are of most importance in developing and using highly effective biological treatment processes. Bacterial degradation of azo dyes is generally initiated by an enzymatic step that involves cleavage of azo linkages, usually with the aid of an azoreductase as electron donor. Thus, expanding the spectrum of microorganisms with high enzymatic activities as azoreductases and discovering novel azo-dye degrading enzymes, with enhanced stability and superior catalytic properties, are necessary for many environmental and industrial applications. Consequently, the use of molecular tools has become increasingly integrated into the understanding of enzyme properties and characterization. Researchers have utilized a gene cloning and expression methods as a tool to produce recombinant protein for decolorizing dyes more efficiently. Thus, presumptive evidence for the presence of genes encoding azoreductases in the genomes of selected local, and most potent azo-degrading strains were obtained by using specific oligonucleotides primers. These potent strains have been isolated from textile industrial wastewater in Egypt and identified using 16S rRNA sequence analysis as 'Lysinibacillus macrolidesB8, Brevibacillus parabrevisB11, Bacillus coagulansB7, and B. cereusB5'. PCR products of two full length genes designated as (AZO1;621bp and AZO2;534bp) were detected. BLASTx results indicated that AZO1 gene was corresponding to predicted azoreductase from of Bacillus sp. ABP14, complete genome, multispecies azoreductase [Bacillus], It was submitted to the gene bank by an accession no., BankIt2085371 AZO1 MG923210 (621bp; 207 amino acids). AZO1 was generated from the DNA of our identified strains Lysinibacillus macrolidesB8. On the other hand, AZO2 gene was corresponding to a predicted azoreductase from Bacillus cereus strain S2-8. Gene bank accession no. was BankIt2085839 AZO2 MG932081 (534bp;178 amino acids) and it was amplified from our Bacillus coagulansB7. Both genes were successfully cloned into pCR2.1TOPO (Invitrogen) and in pET28b+ vectors, then they transformed into E. coli DH5α and BL21(DE3) cells for heterologous expression studies. Our recombinant azoreductases (AZO1&AZO2) exhibited potential enzyme activity and efficiently decolorized an azo dye (Direct violet). They exhibited pH stability between 6 and 8 with optimum temperature up to 60°C and 37 °C after induction by 1mM and 1.5mM IPTG, for both AZO1 &AZO2, respectively. These results suggested that further optimization and purification of these recombinant proteins by using different heterologous expression systems will give great potential for the sustainable utilization of these recombinant enzymes in several industrial applications especially in wastewater treatments.

Keywords: azoreductases, decolorization, enzyme activity, gene cloning and expression

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Authors: Odoh Ben Uruchi

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Information Technology is an outcome of the nexus between the computer technology and the communication technology which has grown as silver fiber in Nigeria. Information Technology represents the fourth generation of human communication after sight, oral and written communications. The internet, as with all path-breaking technological developments gives us all the ample privileges to act as a global community; advertise and operate across all frontiers; over boarders and beyond the control of any government. The security concerns, computer abuse and the side effects of this technology have moved to the forefront of the consciousness of law enforcement agencies. Unfortunately, Nigeria is one of the very few countries in the world to have not legislated Cyber Laws, although several unsuccessful attempts have been made in recent times at providing the legal framework for regulating the activities in Nigerian cyberspace. Traditional legal systems have led to great difficulty in keeping pace with the rapid growth of the internet and its impact throughout Nigeria. The only existing legal frameworks are constantly being challenged by technological advancement. This has created a need to constantly update and adapt the way in which we organize ourselves as Legal Practitioners in order to maintain overall control of its domestic and national interests. This paper seeks to appraise the challenges facing the legal profession in Nigeria because of want of Cyber Laws. In doing this, the paper shall highlight the loopholes in the existing laws and recommends the way forward.

Keywords: information technology, challenges, legal profession, Nigeria

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Authors: Alan (Avi) Kirschenbaum, Carmit Rapaport

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The behavior of bystanders in emergencies and disasters have been examined for over 50 years. Such acts have been cited as contributing to saving lives in terms of providing first responder help until official emergency units can arrive. Several reasons have been suggested for this type of behavior but most focused on a broad segment of individual psychological decision-making processes. Recent theoretical evidence suggests that the external factors for such bystander decisions, mainly disaster community based social contexts factors, are also important. We aim to test these competing arguments. Specifically, we examine alternative explanatory perspectives by focusing on self-efficacy as a proxy for the accepted individual psychological case and contrast it with potential bystander characteristics of the individual as well factors as embedded in the social context of the disaster community. To do so, we will utilize a random sampling of the population from a field study of an urban community in Israel that experienced five years of continuous terror attacks. The results strongly suggest that self-efficacy, as well as external factors: preparedness and having skills for intervention during emergencies along with gender best, predict potential helping behaviors. These results broaden our view of bystander behavior and open a window for enhancing this phenomenon as another element in disaster and crisis management.

Keywords: bystander behavior, disasters emergencies, psychological motivation to help, social context for helping

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Authors: Rodrigo Guimarães Santos

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The quality of public transport services has been considered as a critical factor by their users and also by users of individual transport. Thus, this dissertation aims to adapt a model that assesses the quality of public transport and determines its level of service based on the views of its users. The methodology is widely used by marketers and allows measuring the quality of services by assessing the perceptions and expectations of users. The adapted SERVQUAL was tested with users of public transport service users and car in Brasília-DF, city of Brazil. This research involved 241 questionnaires answered by people living in the various administrative regions of Brasília-DF. The analysis of the determinants pointed out that the quality of the public transport service offered in the city is low and users of public transport and cars have a high degree of expectations for improvement in all tested determinants. This method enabled the identification of the most critical determinants and those needing strategic actions for continuous improvement of quality. Adapting the SERVQUAL for a public transport service was satisfactory and demonstrated applicability to internal and external services, including measuring the public transport services in other cities with the opinion of the users.

Keywords: transportation services, quality services, servqual scale and marketing services

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Authors: Ashutosh Verma, Satyendra Mittal

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Numerous geosynthetic reinforced soil (GRS) abutment failures over the years have been attributed to the loss of strength at the facing-reinforcement interface due to seasonal thermal expansion/contraction of the bridge deck. This causes excessive settlement below the bridge seat, causing bridge bumps along the approach road which reduces the design life of any abutment. Before designers while choosing the type of facing, a broad range of facing configurations are undoubtedly available. Generally speaking, these configurations can be divided into three groups: modular (panels/block), continuous, and full height rigid (FHR). The purpose of the current study is to use 1g physical model tests under serviceable cyclic lateral displacements to experimentally investigate the behaviour of these three facing classifications. To simulate field behaviour, a field instrumented GRS abutment prototype was modeled into a N scaled down 1g physical model (N = 5) with adjustable facing arrangements to represent these three facing classifications. For cyclic lateral displacement (d/H) of top facing at loading rate of 1mm/min, the peak earth pressure coefficient (K) on the facing and vertical settlement of the footing (s/B) at 25, 50, 75 and 100 cycles have been measured. For a constant footing offset of x/H = 0.1, three forms of cyclic displacements have been performed to simulate active condition (CA), passive condition (CP), and active-passive condition (CAP). The findings showed that when reinforcements are integrated into the wall along with presence of gravel gabions i.e. FHR design, a rather substantial earth pressure occurs over the facing. Despite this, the FHR facing's continuous nature works in conjunction with the reinforcements' membrane resilience to reduce footing settlement. On the other hand, the pressure over the wall is released upon lateral excitation by the relative displacement between the panels in modular facing reducing the connection strength at the interface and leading to greater settlements below footing. On the contrary, continuous facing do not exhibit relative displacement along the depth of facing rather fails through rotation about the base, which extends the zone of active failure in the backfill leading to large depressions in the backfill region around the bridge seat. Conservatively, FHR facing shows relatively stable responses under lateral cyclic excitations as compared to modular or continuous type of abutment facing.

Keywords: GRS abutments, 1g physical model, full height rigid, cyclic lateral displacement

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Authors: Takashi Mitsuishi

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Fuzzy logic has gained acceptance in the recent years in the fields of social sciences and humanities such as psychology and linguistics because it can manage the fuzziness of words and human subjectivity in a logical manner. However, the major field of application of the fuzzy logic is control engineering as it is a part of the set theory and mathematical logic. Mamdani method, which is the most popular technique for approximate reasoning in the field of fuzzy control, is one of the ways to numerically represent the control afforded by human language and sensitivity and has been applied in various practical control plants. Fuzzy logic has been gradually developing as an artificial intelligence in different applications such as neural networks, expert systems, and operations research. The objects of inference vary for different application fields. Some of these include time, angle, color, symptom and medical condition whose fuzzy membership function is a periodic function. In the defuzzification stage, the domain of the membership function should be unique to obtain uniqueness its defuzzified value. However, if the domain of the periodic membership function is determined as unique, an unintuitive defuzzified value may be obtained as the inference result using the center of gravity method. Therefore, the authors propose a method of circular-polar-coordinates transformation and defuzzification of the periodic membership functions in this study. The transformation to circular polar coordinates simplifies the domain of the periodic membership function. Defuzzified value in circular polar coordinates is an argument. Furthermore, it is required that the argument is calculated from a closed plane figure which is a periodic membership function on the circular polar coordinates. If the closed plane figure is continuous with the continuity of the membership function, a significant amount of computation is required. Therefore, to simplify the practice example and significantly reduce the computational complexity, we have discretized the continuous interval and the membership function in this study. In this study, the following three methods are proposed to decide the argument from the discrete polygon which the continuous plane figure is transformed into. The first method provides an argument of a straight line passing through the origin and through the coordinate of the arithmetic mean of each coordinate of the polygon (physical center of gravity). The second one provides an argument of a straight line passing through the origin and the coordinate of the geometric center of gravity of the polygon. The third one provides an argument of a straight line passing through the origin bisecting the perimeter of the polygon (or the closed continuous plane figure).

Keywords: defuzzification, fuzzy membership function, periodic function, polar coordinates transformation

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Authors: Y. Yang, Dian Ming Xing, Qiu Hua Du

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Based on the Motorized Momentum Exchange Tether (MMET), with the principle of momentum exchange, the three dimension flexible dynamics of continuous cislunar payloads transferring system (CCPTS) is built by Lagrange method and its numerical solution is solved by Mathematica software. In the derivation precession of potential energy, this paper uses the Tylor expansion method to simplify the Lagrange equation. Furthermore, the tension coming from the centripetal load is considered in the elastic potential energy. The comparison simulation results between the 3D rigid model and 3D flexible model of CCPTS shows that the tether flexibility has important influence on CCPTS’s orbital parameters (such as radius of CCPTS’s COM and the true anomaly) and the tether’s rotational movement, the relative deviation of radius and the true anomaly between the two dynamic models is about 0.00678% and 0.00259%, the relative deviation of the angle of tether-span and local gravity gradient is about 3.55%. Additionally, the external torque has an apparent influence on the tether’s axial vibration.

Keywords: cislunar transfer, dynamics, momentum exchange, tether

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Authors: Ibrahim Cil, Onur Kurtcu, H. Ibrahim Demir, Furkan Yener, Yusuf. S. Turkan, Muharrem Unver, Ramazan Evren

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Fuzzy AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) method is decision-making way at the end of integrating the current AHP method with fuzzy structure. In this study, the processes of production planning, inventory management and purchasing department of a system were analysed and were requested to decide the performance criteria of each area. At this point, the current work processes were analysed by various decision-makers and comparing each criteria by giving points according to 1-9 scale were completed. The criteria were listed in order to their weights by using Fuzzy AHP approach and top three performance criteria of each department were determined. After that, the performance criteria of supply chain consisting of three departments were asked to determine. The processes of each department were compared by decision-makers at the point of building the supply chain performance system and getting the performance criteria. According to the results, the criteria of performance system of supply chain by using Fuzzy AHP were determined for which will be used in the supply chain performance system in the future.

Keywords: AHP, fuzzy, performance evaluation, supply chain

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Authors: Yan Wang, Guowei Chen, Gang Wang

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Soil microbial diversity is one of the important parameters to assess the soil fertility and soil health, even stability of the ecosystem. In this paper, we aim to reveal the soil microbial difference in rhizosphere and root zone, even to pick the special biomarkers influenced by the long term tillage practices, which included four treatments of no-tillage, ridge tillage, continuous cropping with corn and crop rotation with corn and soybean. Here, high-throughput sequencing was performed to investigate the difference of bacteria in rhizosphere and root zone. The results showed a very significant difference of species richness between rhizosphere and root zone soil at the same crop rotation system (p < 0.01), and also significant difference of species richness was found between continuous cropping with corn and corn-soybean rotation treatment in the rhizosphere statement, no-tillage and ridge tillage in root zone soils. Implied by further beta diversity analysis, both tillage methods and crop rotation systems influence the soil microbial diversity and community structure in varying degree. The composition and community structure of microbes in rhizosphere and root zone soils were clustered distinctly by the beta diversity (p < 0.05). Linear discriminant analysis coupled with effect size (LEfSe) analysis of total taxa in rhizosphere picked more than 100 bacterial taxa, which were significantly more abundant than that in root zone soils, whereas the number of biomarkers was lower between the continuous cropping with corn and crop rotation treatment, the same pattern was found at no-tillage and ridge tillage treatment. Bacterial communities were greatly influenced by main environmental factors in large scale, which is the result of biological adaptation and acclimation, hence it is beneficial for optimizing agricultural practices.

Keywords: tillage methods, biomarker, biodiversity, rhizosphere

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Authors: Muhammet Erbay

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The phenomenon of communication that has been studied by different disciplines has social, political and economical aspects. The scope of communication has extended from a traditional content to the modern world which is under the control of mass media. Nowadays, thanks to globalization and technological facilities, many companies, public or international institutions take advantage of new communication technologies and overhaul their policies. European Union (EU) is one of the effective institutions in this sphere. It aims to harmonize the communication infrastructure and policies of member countries which have gone through the process of political unification. It is a significant problem for the unification of EU to have legal restrictions or critical differences in communication facilities among countries while technology stands at the center of economic and social life. Therefore, EU institutions place a particular importance to their communication policies. Besides, communication processes have a vital importance in creating a European public opinion in the process of political integration. Based on the evaluation above, the aim of this paper is to analyze the cohesion process of Turkey that tries to take an active role in EU communication policies and has on-going negotiations. This article does not only confine itself to the technical details of communication policies but also aims to evaluate socio-political dimension of the process. Therefore, a corporate review has been featured in the study and Turkey's compliance process in communication policies on European Union has been evaluated by the means of deduction method. Some problematic areas have been identified in compliance process on communication policies such as human rights and minority rights, whereas compliance process on communication infrastructure and technology proceeds effectively.

Keywords: communication policies, European Union, integration, Turkey

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Authors: C. Fortin, D. Tokmeninova, O. Ushakova

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Among 500 Russian universities Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) is one of the youngest (established in 2011), quite small and vastly international, comprising 20 percent of international students and 70 percent of faculty with significant academic experience at top-100 universities (QS, THE). The institute has emerged from close collaboration with MIT and leading Russian universities. Skoltech is an entirely English speaking environment. Skoltech curriculum plans of ten Master programs are based on the CDIO learning outcomes model. However, despite the Institute’s unique focus on industrial innovations and startups, one of the main challenges has become an evident large proportion of nearly half of MSc graduates entering PhD programs at Skoltech or other universities rather than industry or entrepreneurship. In order to increase the share of students joining the industrial sector after graduation, Skoltech started implementing a number of unique practices with a focus on employers’ expectations incorporated into the curriculum redesign. In this sense, extended knowledge exchange with industrial partners via collaboration in learning activities, industrial projects and assessments became essential for students’ headway into industrial and entrepreneurship pathways. Current academic curriculum includes the following types of components based on extended knowledge exchange with industrial partners: innovation workshop, industrial immersion, special industrial tracks, MSc defenses. Innovation workshop is a 4 week full time diving into the Skoltech vibrant ecosystem designed to foster innovators, focuses on teamwork, group projects, and sparks entrepreneurial instincts from the very first days of study. From 2019 the number of mentors from industry and startups significantly increased to guide students across these sectors’ demands. Industrial immersion is an exclusive part of Skoltech curriculum where students after the first year of study spend 8 weeks in an industrial company carrying out an individual or team project and are guided jointly by both Skoltech and company supervisors. The aim of the industrial immersion is to familiarize students with relevant needs of Russian industry and to prepare graduates for job placement. During the immersion a company plays the role of a challenge provider for students. Skoltech has started a special industrial track comprising deep collaboration with IPG Photonics – a leading R&D company and manufacturer of high-performance fiber lasers and amplifiers for diverse applications. The track is aimed to train a new cohort of engineers and includes a variety of activities for students within the “Photonics” MSc program. It is expected to be a successful story and used as an example for similar initiatives with other Russian high-tech companies. One of the pathways of extended knowledge exchange with industrial partners is an active involvement of potential employers in MSc Defense Committees to review and assess MSc thesis projects and to participate in defense procedures. The paper will evaluate the effect and results of the above undertaken measures.

Keywords: Curriculum redesign, knowledge exchange model, learning outcomes framework, stakeholder engagement

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Authors: Andrew Gennett

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Designing for fungal development means embracing the symbiotic relationship between the living system and built environment. The potential of mycelium post-colonization is explored for the fabrication of advanced pure mycelium products, going beyond the conventional methods of aggregating materials. Fruiting induction imparts desired material properties such as enhanced environmental resistance. Production approach allows for simultaneous generation of multiple products while scaling up raw materials supply suitable for architectural applications. The following work explores the integration of fungal environmental perception with computational design of built fruiting chambers. Polyporales, are classified by their porous reproductive tissues supported by a wood-like context tissue covered by a hard waterproofing coat of hydrobpobins. Persisting for years in the wild, these species represent material properties that would be highly desired in moving beyond flat sheets of arial mycelium as with leather or bacon applications. Understanding the inherent environmental perception of fungi has become the basis for working with and inducing desired hyphal differentiation. Working within the native signal interpretation of a mycelium mass during fruiting induction provides the means to apply textures and color to the final finishing coat. A delicate interplay between meeting human-centered goals while designing around natural processes of living systems represents a blend of art and science. Architecturally, physical simulations inform model design for simple modular fruiting chambers that change as fungal growth progresses, while biological life science principles describe the internal computations occurring within the fungal hyphae. First, a form filling phase of growth is controlled by growth chamber environment. Second, an initiation phase of growth forms the final exterior finishing texture. Hyphal densification induces cellular cascades, in turn producing the classical hardened cuticle, UV protective molecule production, as well, as waterproofing finish. Upon fruiting process completion, the fully colonized spent substrate holds considerable value and is not considered waste. Instead, it becomes a valuable resource in the next cycle of production scale-up. However, the acquisition of new substrate resources poses a critical question, particularly as these resources become increasingly scarce. Pursuing a regenerative design paradigm from the environmental perspective, the usage of “agricultural waste” for architectural materials would prove a continuation of the destructive practices established by the previous industrial regime. For these residues from fields and forests serve a vital ecological role protecting the soil surface in combating erosion while reducing evaporation and fostering a biologically diverse food web. Instead, urban centers have been identified as abundant sources of new substrate material. Diverting the waste from secondary locations such as food processing centers, papers mills, and recycling facilities not only reduces landfill burden but leverages the latent value of these waste steams as precious resources for mycelium cultivation. In conclusion, working with living systems through innovative built environments for fungal development, provides the needed gain of function and resilience of mycelium products. The next generation of sustainable fungal products will go beyond the current binding process, with a focus upon reducing landfill burden from urban centers. In final considerations, biophilic material builds to an ecologically regenerative recycling production cycle.

Keywords: regenerative agriculture, mycelium fabrication, growth chamber design, sustainable resource acquisition, fungal morphogenesis, soil fertility

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Authors: N. Boutaghane, F. Z. Tounsi

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Many physical and technological factors degrade the SPECT images, both qualitatively and quantitatively. For this, it is not always put into leading technological advances to improve the performance of tomographic gamma camera in terms of detection, collimation, reconstruction and correction of tomographic images methods. We have to master firstly the choice of various acquisition and reconstruction parameters, accessible to clinical cases and using the attenuation and scatter correction methods to always optimize quality image and minimized to the maximum dose received by the patient. In this work, an evaluation of qualitative and quantitative tomographic images is performed based on the acquisition parameters (counts per projection) and reconstruction parameters (filter type, associated cutoff frequency). In addition, methods for correcting physical effects such as attenuation and scatter degrading the image quality and preventing precise quantitative of the reconstructed slices are also presented. Two approaches of attenuation and scatter correction are implemented: the attenuation correction by CHANG method with a filtered back projection reconstruction algorithm and scatter correction by the subtraction JASZCZAK method. Our results are considered as such recommandation, which permits to determine the origin of the different artifacts observed both in quality control tests and in clinical images.

Keywords: attenuation, scatter, reconstruction filter, image quality, acquisition and reconstruction parameters, SPECT

Procedia PDF Downloads 437

Authors: Andrii Biloshchytskyi, Serik Omirbayev, Alexandr Neftissov, Sapar Toxanov, Svitlana Biloshchytska, Adil Faizullin

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Kazakhstan has adopted a carbon neutrality strategy until 2060. In accordance with this strategy, it is necessary to introduce various tools to maintain the environmental safety of the environment. The use of IoT, in combination with the characteristics and requirements of Kazakhstan's environmental legislation, makes it possible to develop a modern environmental monitoring system. The article proposes a solution for developing an example of an automated system for the continuous collection of data on the concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere based on an open architecture. The Audino-based device acts as a microcontroller. It should be noted that the transmission of measured values is carried out via an open wireless communication protocol. The architecture of the system, which was used to build a prototype based on sensors, an Arduino microcontroller, and a wireless data transmission module, is presented. The selection of elementary components may change depending on the requirements of the system; the introduction of new units is limited by the number of ports. The openness of solutions allows you to change the configuration depending on the conditions. The advantages of the solutions are openness, low cost, versatility and mobility. However, there is no comparison of the working processes of the proposed solution with traditional ones.

Keywords: environmental monitoring, greenhouse gases emissions, environmental pollution, Industry 4.0, IoT, microcontroller, automated monitoring system.

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Authors: Nasser M. Amaitik, Ngwan F. Elsagzli

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The Lean technique is very important in the service and industrial fields. It is defined as an effective tool to eliminate the wastes. In lean the wastes are defined as anything which does not add value to the end product. There are wastes that can be avoided, but some are unavoidable to many reasons. The present study aims to apply the principles of lean in two different sectors, healthcare, and industry. Two case studies have been selected to apply the experimental work. The first case was Al-Jalaa Hospital while the second case study was the Technical Company of Aluminum Sections in Benghazi, Libya. In both case studies the Value Stream Map (VSM) of the current state has been constructed. The proposed plans have been implemented by merging or eliminating procedures or processes. The results obtained from both case studies showed improvement in capacity, idle time and utilized time.

Keywords: healthcare service delivery, idle time, lean principles, utilized time, value stream mapping, wastes

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Solanki Ravirajsinh, Kudo Kuniaki, Sharma Ankit, Devi Sherine, Kuboshima Misaki, Tachi Shuntaro

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In software development life cycles, the absence of scalable CI/CD significantly impacts organizations, leading to increased overall maintenance costs, prolonged release delivery times, heightened manual efforts, and difficulties in meeting tight deadlines. Implementing CI/CD with standard serverless technologies using cloud services overcomes all the above-mentioned issues and helps organizations improve efficiency and faster delivery without the need to manage server maintenance and capacity. By integrating scalable CI/CD with scalable automation testing, productivity, quality, and agility are enhanced while reducing the need for repetitive work and manual efforts. Implementing scalable CI/CD for development using cloud services like ECS (Container Management Service), AWS Fargate, ECR (to store Docker images with all dependencies), Serverless Computing (serverless virtual machines), Cloud Log (for monitoring errors and logs), Security Groups (for inside/outside access to the application), Docker Containerization (Docker-based images and container techniques), Jenkins (CI/CD build management tool), and code management tools (GitHub, Bitbucket, AWS CodeCommit) can efficiently handle the demands of diverse development environments and are capable of accommodating dynamic workloads, increasing efficiency for faster delivery with good quality. CI/CD pipelines encourage collaboration among development, operations, and quality assurance teams by providing a centralized platform for automated testing, deployment, and monitoring. Scalable CI/CD streamlines the development process by automatically fetching the latest code from the repository every time the process starts, building the application based on the branches, testing the application using a scalable automation testing framework, and deploying the builds. Developers can focus more on writing code and less on managing infrastructure as it scales based on the need. Serverless CI/CD eliminates the need to manage and maintain traditional CI/CD infrastructure, such as servers and build agents, reducing operational overhead and allowing teams to allocate resources more efficiently. Scalable CI/CD adjusts the application's scale according to usage, thereby alleviating concerns about scalability, maintenance costs, and resource needs. Creating scalable automation testing using cloud services (ECR, ECS Fargate, Docker, EFS, Serverless Computing) helps organizations run more than 500 test cases in parallel, aiding in the detection of race conditions, performance issues, and reducing execution time. Scalable CI/CD offers flexibility, dynamically adjusting to varying workloads and demands, allowing teams to scale resources up or down as needed. It optimizes costs by only paying for the resources as they are used and increases reliability. Scalable CI/CD pipelines employ automated testing and validation processes to detect and prevent errors early in the development cycle.

Keywords: achieve parallel execution, cloud services, scalable automation testing, scalable continuous integration and deployment

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Authors: Ahuja Ashish, Nain Prabhdeep Singh

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Introduction: Polycystic ovarian syndrome(PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder among women of reproductive age.Pcos encompasses a broad spectrum of signs&symptoms of ovary dysfunction,obesity,blood pressure,insulin resistance & infertility. Bariatric Surgery can be an effective means of weight loss in Pcos & curing infertility. Materials and Methods: 15 female patients were enrolled in the study from 2012-2014.66%(n=10) were in age group of 20-25 years,33%(n=5) were in age group of 25-33 years who underwent. Bariatric surgery in form of Laproscopic sleeve Gastrectomy(LSG)& Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. LSG 73%(n=11), RYGB26% (n=4). Results: There was a significant improvement in obesity (60% excess weight loss)over 1 year after bariatric surgery, in 12 patients there was gross improvement in restoration of menstrual cycle who had irregular menstrual cycle. In 80% patients the serum insulin level showed normal value. Over two years 8 patients become pregnant. Conclusions: 1)Obese women with Pcos maybe able to conceive after Bariatric Surgery. 2) Women with Pcos should only consider bariatric surgery if they were already considering it for other reasons to treat obesity, blood pressure & other co-morbid conditions.

Keywords: obesity, bariatric surgery, polycystic ovarian syndrome, infertility

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Fatma Ünal, Hasancan Okutan

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Increasing worldwide population and technological requirements lead to an increase in energy demand every year. The demand has been mainly supplied from fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum due to insufficient natural gas resources. In recent years, the amount of coal reserves has reached almost 21 billion tons in Türkiye. These are mostly lignite (%92,7), that contains high levels of moisture and sulfur components. Underground coal gasification technology is one of the most suitable methods in comparison with direct combustion techniques for the evaluation of such coal types. In this study, the applicability of the underground coal gasification process is investigated in the Eskişehir-Alpu lignite reserve as a pilot region, both technologically and economically. It is assumed that the electricity is produced from the obtained synthesis gas in an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC). Firstly, an equilibrium model has been developed by using the thermodynamic properties of the gasification reactions. The effect of the type of oxidizing gas, the sulfur content of coal, the rate of water vapor/air, and the pressure of the system have been investigated to find optimum process conditions. Secondly, the parallel and linear controlled recreation and injection point (CRIP) models were implemented as drilling methods, and costs were calculated under the different oxidizing agents (air and high-purity O2). In Parallel CRIP (P-CRIP), drilling cost is found to be lower than the linear CRIP (L-CRIP) since two coal beds simultaneously are gasified. It is seen that CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) technology was the most effective unit on the total cost in both models. The cost of the synthesis gas produced varies between 0,02 $/Mcal and 0,09 $/Mcal. This is the promising result when considering the selling price of Türkiye natural gas for Q1-2023 (0.103 $ /Mcal).

Keywords: energy, lignite reserve, techno-economic analysis, underground coal gasification.

Procedia PDF Downloads 61

Authors: Torsten Hermanns, You Wang, Stefan Janssen, Markus Niessen, Christoph Schoeler, Ulrich Thombansen, Wolfgang Schulz

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In long pulse laser drilling of metals, it can be demonstrated that the ablation shape approaches a so-called asymptotic shape such that it changes only slightly or not at all with further irradiation. These findings are already known from ultra short pulse (USP) ablation of dielectric and semiconducting materials. The explanation for the occurrence of an asymptotic shape in long pulse drilling of metals is identified, a model for the description of the asymptotic hole shape numerically implemented, tested and clearly confirmed by comparison with experimental data. The model assumes a robust process in that way that the characteristics of the melt flow inside the arising melt film does not change qualitatively by changing the laser or processing parameters. Only robust processes are technically controllable and thus of industrial interest. The condition for a robust process is identified by a threshold for the mass flow density of the assist gas at the hole entrance which has to be exceeded. Within a robust process regime the melt flow characteristics can be captured by only one model parameter, namely the intensity threshold. In analogy to USP ablation (where it is already known for a long time that the resulting hole shape results from a threshold for the absorbed laser fluency) it is demonstrated that in the case of robust long pulse ablation the asymptotic shape forms in that way that along the whole contour the absorbed heat flux density is equal to the intensity threshold. The intensity threshold depends on the special material and radiation properties and has to be calibrated be one reference experiment. The model is implemented in a numerical simulation which is called AsymptoticDrill and requires such a few amount of resources that it can run on common desktop PCs, laptops or even smart devices. Resulting hole shapes can be calculated within seconds what depicts a clear advantage over other simulations presented in literature in the context of industrial every day usage. Against this background the software additionally is equipped with a user-friendly GUI which allows an intuitive usage. Individual parameters can be adjusted using sliders while the simulation result appears immediately in an adjacent window. A platform independent development allow a flexible usage: the operator can use the tool to adjust the process in a very convenient manner on a tablet during the developer can execute the tool in his office in order to design new processes. Furthermore, at the best knowledge of the authors AsymptoticDrill is the first simulation which allows the import of measured real beam distributions and thus calculates the asymptotic hole shape on the basis of the real state of the specific manufacturing system. In this paper the emphasis is placed on the investigation of the effect of multiple reflections on the asymptotic hole shape which gain in importance when drilling holes with large aspect ratios.

Keywords: asymptotic hole shape, intensity threshold, long pulse laser drilling, robust process

Procedia PDF Downloads 207