Search results for: critical chain project management methodology
3638 A Neural Network Based Clustering Approach for Imputing Multivariate Values in Big Data
Authors: S. Nickolas, Shobha K.
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The treatment of incomplete data is an important step in the data pre-processing. Missing values creates a noisy environment in all applications and it is an unavoidable problem in big data management and analysis. Numerous techniques likes discarding rows with missing values, mean imputation, expectation maximization, neural networks with evolutionary algorithms or optimized techniques and hot deck imputation have been introduced by researchers for handling missing data. Among these, imputation techniques plays a positive role in filling missing values when it is necessary to use all records in the data and not to discard records with missing values. In this paper we propose a novel artificial neural network based clustering algorithm, Adaptive Resonance Theory-2(ART2) for imputation of missing values in mixed attribute data sets. The process of ART2 can recognize learned models fast and be adapted to new objects rapidly. It carries out model-based clustering by using competitive learning and self-steady mechanism in dynamic environment without supervision. The proposed approach not only imputes the missing values but also provides information about handling the outliers.Keywords: ART2, data imputation, clustering, missing data, neural network, pre-processing
Procedia PDF Downloads 2743637 Self-Weight Reduction of Tall Structures by Taper Cladding System
Authors: Divya Dharshini Omprakash, Anjali Subramani
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Most of the tall structures are constructed using shear walls and tube systems in the recent decades. This makes the structure heavy and less resistant to lateral effects as the height of the structure goes up. This paper aims in the reduction of self-weight in tall structures by the use of Taper Cladding System (TCS) and also enumerates the construction techniques used in TCS. TCS has a tapering clad either fixed at the top or bottom of the structural core at the tapered end. This system eliminates the use of RC structural elements on the exterior of the structure and uses fewer columns only on the interior part to take up the gravity loads in order to reduce the self-weight of the structure. The self-weight reduction by TCS is 50% more compared to the present structural systems. The lateral loads on the hull will be taken care of by the tapered steel frame. Analysis were done to study the structural behaviour of taper cladded buildings subjected to lateral loads. TCS has a great impact in the construction of tall structures in seismic and dense urban areas. An effective construction management can be done by the use of Taper Cladding System. In this paper, sustainability, design considerations and implications of the system has also been discussed.Keywords: Lateral Loads Resistance, reduction of self-weight, sustainable, taper clads
Procedia PDF Downloads 2893636 Assessment of Taiwan Railway Occurrences Investigations Using Causal Factor Analysis System and Bayesian Network Modeling Method
Authors: Lee Yan Nian
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Safety investigation is different from an administrative investigation in that the former is conducted by an independent agency and the purpose of such investigation is to prevent accidents in the future and not to apportion blame or determine liability. Before October 2018, Taiwan railway occurrences were investigated by local supervisory authority. Characteristics of this kind of investigation are that enforcement actions, such as administrative penalty, are usually imposed on those persons or units involved in occurrence. On October 21, 2018, due to a Taiwan Railway accident, which caused 18 fatalities and injured another 267, establishing an agency to independently investigate this catastrophic railway accident was quickly decided. The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) was then established on August 1, 2019 to take charge of investigating major aviation, marine, railway and highway occurrences. The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of safety investigations conducted by the TTSB. In this study, the major railway occurrence investigation reports published by the TTSB are used for modeling and analysis. According to the classification of railway occurrences investigated by the TTSB, accident types of Taiwan railway occurrences can be categorized into: derailment, fire, Signal Passed at Danger and others. A Causal Factor Analysis System (CFAS) developed by the TTSB is used to identify the influencing causal factors and their causal relationships in the investigation reports. All terminologies used in the CFAS are equivalent to the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) terminologies, except for “Technical Events” which was added to classify causal factors resulting from mechanical failure. Accordingly, the Bayesian network structure of each occurrence category is established based on the identified causal factors in the CFAS. In the Bayesian networks, the prior probabilities of identified causal factors are obtained from the number of times in the investigation reports. Conditional Probability Table of each parent node is determined from domain experts’ experience and judgement. The resulting networks are quantitatively assessed under different scenarios to evaluate their forward predictions and backward diagnostic capabilities. Finally, the established Bayesian network of derailment is assessed using investigation reports of the same accident which was investigated by the TTSB and the local supervisory authority respectively. Based on the assessment results, findings of the administrative investigation is more closely tied to errors of front line personnel than to organizational related factors. Safety investigation can identify not only unsafe acts of individual but also in-depth causal factors of organizational influences. The results show that the proposed methodology can identify differences between safety investigation and administrative investigation. Therefore, effective intervention strategies in associated areas can be better addressed for safety improvement and future accident prevention through safety investigation.Keywords: administrative investigation, bayesian network, causal factor analysis system, safety investigation
Procedia PDF Downloads 1233635 Carbon Footprint Assessment Initiative and Trees: Role in Reducing Emissions
Authors: Omar Alelweet
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Carbon emissions are quantified in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents, generated through a specific activity or accumulated throughout the life stages of a product or service. Given the growing concern about climate change and the role of carbon dioxide emissions in global warming, this initiative aims to create awareness and understanding of the impact of human activities and identify potential areas for improvement regarding the management of the carbon footprint on campus. Given that trees play a vital role in reducing carbon emissions by absorbing CO₂ during the photosynthesis process, this paper evaluated the contribution of each tree to reducing those emissions. Collecting data over an extended period of time is essential to monitoring carbon dioxide levels. This will help capture changes at different times and identify any patterns or trends in the data. By linking the data to specific activities, events, or environmental factors, it is possible to identify sources of emissions and areas where carbon dioxide levels are rising. Analyzing the collected data can provide valuable insights into ways to reduce emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change.Keywords: sustainability, green building, environmental impact, CO₂
Procedia PDF Downloads 693634 Production of Bacillus Lipopeptides for Biocontrol of Postharvest Crops
Authors: Vivek Rangarajan, Kim G. Klarke
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With overpopulation threatening the world’s ability to feed itself, food production and protection has become a major issue, especially in developing countries. Almost one-third of the food produced for human consumption, around 1.3 billion tonnes, is either wasted or lost annually. Postharvest decay in particular constitutes a major cause of crop loss with about 20% of fruits and vegetables produced lost during postharvest storage, mainly due to fungal disease. Some of the major phytopathogenic fungi affecting postharvest fruit crops in South Africa include Aspergillus, Botrytis, Penicillium, Alternaria and Sclerotinia spp. To date control of fungal phytopathogens has primarily been dependent on synthetic chemical fungicides, but these chemicals pose a significant threat to the environment, mainly due to their xenobiotic properties and tendency to generate resistance in the phytopathogens. Here, an environmentally benign alternative approach to control postharvest fungal phytopathogens in perishable fruit crops has been presented, namely the application of a bio-fungicide in the form of lipopeptide molecules. Lipopeptides are biosurfactants produced by Bacillus spp. which have been established as green, nontoxic and biodegradable molecules with antimicrobial properties. However, since the Bacillus are capable of producing a large number of lipopeptide homologues with differing efficacies against distinct target organisms, the lipopeptide production conditions and strategy are critical to produce the maximum lipopeptide concentration with homologue ratios to specification for optimum bio-fungicide efficacy. Process conditions, and their impact on Bacillus lipopeptide production, were evaluated in fully instrumented laboratory scale bioreactors under well-regulated controlled and defined environments. Factors such as the oxygen availability and trace element and nitrate concentrations had profound influences on lipopeptide yield, productivity and selectivity. Lipopeptide yield and homologue selectivity were enhanced in cultures where the oxygen in the sparge gas was increased from 21 to 30 mole%. The addition of trace elements, particularly Fe2+, increased the total concentration of lipopeptides and a nitrate concentration equivalent to 8 g/L ammonium nitrate resulted in optimum lipopeptide yield and homologue selectivity. Efficacy studies of the culture supernatant containing the crude lipopeptide mixture were conducted using phytopathogens isolated from fruit in the field, identified using genetic sequencing. The supernatant exhibited antifungal activity against all the test-isolates, namely Lewia, Botrytis, Penicillium, Alternaria and Sclerotinia spp., even in this crude form. Thus the lipopeptide product efficacy has been confirmed to control the main diseases, even in the basic crude form. Future studies will be directed towards purification of the lipopeptide product and enhancement of efficacy.Keywords: antifungal efficacy, biocontrol, lipopeptide production, perishable crops
Procedia PDF Downloads 4043633 ‘Only Amharic or Leave Quick!’: Linguistic Genocide in the Western Tigray Region of Ethiopia
Authors: Merih Welay Welesilassie
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Language is a potent instrument that does not only serve the purpose of communication but also plays a pivotal role in shaping our cultural practices and identities. The right to choose one's language is a fundamental human right that helps to safeguard the integrity of both personal and communal identities. Language holds immense significance in Ethiopia, a nation with a diverse linguistic landscape that extends beyond mere communication to delineate administrative boundaries. Consequently, depriving Ethiopians of their linguistic rights represents a multifaceted punishment, more complex than food embargoes. In the aftermath of the civil war that shook Ethiopia in November 2020, displacing millions and resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, concerns have been raised about the preservation of the indigenous Tigrayan language and culture. This is particularly true following the annexation of western Tigray into the Amhara region and the implementation of an Amharic-only language and culture education policy. This scholarly inquiry explores the intricacies surrounding the Amhara regional state's prohibition of Tigrayans' indigenous language and culture and the subsequent adoption of a monolingual and monocultural Amhara language and culture in western Tigray. The study adopts the linguistic genocide conceptual framework as an analytical tool to gain a deeper insight into the factors that contributed to and facilitated this significant linguistic and cultural shift. The research was conducted by interviewing ten teachers selected through a snowball sampling. Additionally, document analysis was performed to support the findings. The findings revealed that the push for linguistic and cultural assimilation was driven by various political and economic factors and the desire to promote a single language and culture policy. This process, often referred to as ‘Amharanization,’ aimed to homogenize the culture and language of the society. The Amhara authorities have enacted several measures in pursuit of their objectives, including the outlawing of the Tigrigna language, punishment for speaking Tigrigna, imposition of the Amhara language and culture, mandatory relocation, and even committing heinous acts that have inflicted immense physical and emotional suffering upon members of the Tigrayan community. Upon conducting a comprehensive analysis of the contextual factors, actions, intentions, and consequences, it has been posited that there may be instances of linguistic genocide taking place in the Western Tigray region. The present study sheds light on the severe consequences that could arise because of implementing monolingual and monocultural policies in multilingual areas. Through thoroughly scrutinizing the implications of such policies, this study provides insightful recommendations and directions for future research in this critical area.Keywords: linguistic genocide, linguistic human right, mother tongue, Western Tigray
Procedia PDF Downloads 653632 Pivoting to Fortify our Digital Self: Revealing the Need for Personal Cyber Insurance
Authors: Richard McGregor, Carmen Reaiche, Stephen Boyle
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Cyber threats are a relatively recent phenomenon and offer cyber insurers a dynamic and intelligent peril. As individuals en mass become increasingly digitally dependent, Personal Cyber Insurance (PCI) offers an attractive option to mitigate cyber risk at a personal level. This abstract proposes a literature review that conceptualises a framework for siting Personal Cyber Insurance (PCI) within the context of cyberspace. The lack of empirical research within this domain demonstrates an immediate need to define the scope of PCI to allow cyber insurers to understand personal cyber risk threats and vectors, customer awareness, capabilities, and their associated needs. Additionally, this will allow cyber insurers to conceptualise appropriate frameworks allowing effective management and distribution of PCI products and services within a landscape often in-congruent with risk attributes commonly associated with traditional personal line insurance products. Cyberspace has provided significant improvement to the quality of social connectivity and productivity during past decades and allowed enormous capability uplift of information sharing and communication between people and communities. Conversely, personal digital dependency furnish ample opportunities for adverse cyber events such as data breaches and cyber-attacksthus introducing a continuous and insidious threat of omnipresent cyber risk–particularly since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and wide-spread adoption of ‘work-from-home’ practices. Recognition of escalating inter-dependencies, vulnerabilities and inadequate personal cyber behaviours have prompted efforts by businesses and individuals alike to investigate strategies and tactics to mitigate cyber risk – of which cyber insurance is a viable, cost-effective option. It is argued that, ceteris parabus, the nature of cyberspace intrinsically provides characteristic peculiarities that pose significant and bespoke challenges to cyber insurers, often in-congruent with risk attributes commonly associated with traditional personal line insurance products. These challenges include (inter alia) a paucity of historical claim/loss data for underwriting and pricing purposes, interdependencies of cyber architecture promoting high correlation of cyber risk, difficulties in evaluating cyber risk, intangibility of risk assets (such as data, reputation), lack of standardisation across the industry, high and undetermined tail risks, and moral hazard among others. This study proposes a thematic overview of the literature deemed necessary to conceptualise the challenges to issuing personal cyber coverage. There is an evident absence of empirical research appertaining to PCI and the design of operational business models for this business domain, especially qualitative initiatives that (1) attempt to define the scope of the peril, (2) secure an understanding of the needs of both cyber insurer and customer, and (3) to identify elements pivotal to effective management and profitable distribution of PCI - leading to an argument proposed by the author that postulates that the traditional general insurance customer journey and business model are ill-suited for the lineaments of cyberspace. The findings of the review confirm significant gaps in contemporary research within the domain of personal cyber insurance.Keywords: cyberspace, personal cyber risk, personal cyber insurance, customer journey, business model
Procedia PDF Downloads 1033631 Augmenting Navigational Aids: The Development of an Assistive Maritime Navigation Application
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On the bridge of a ship the officers are looking for visual aids to guide navigation in order to reconcile the outside world with the position communicated by the digital navigation system. Aids to navigation include: Lighthouses, lightships, sector lights, beacons, buoys, and others. They are designed to help navigators calculate their position, establish their course or avoid dangers. In poor visibility and dense traffic areas, it can be very difficult to identify these critical aids to guide navigation. The paper presents the usage of Augmented Reality (AR) as a means to present digital information about these aids to support navigation. To date, nautical navigation related mobile AR applications have been limited to the leisure industry. If proved viable, this prototype can facilitate the creation of other similar applications that could help commercial officers with navigation. While adopting a user centered design approach, the team has developed the prototype based on insights from initial research carried on board of several ships. The prototype, built on Nexus 9 tablet and Wikitude, features a head-up display of the navigational aids (lights) in the area, presented in AR and a bird’s eye view mode presented on a simplified map. The application employs the aids to navigation data managed by Hydrographic Offices and the tablet’s sensors: GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, compass and camera. Sea trials on board of a Navy and a commercial ship revealed the end-users’ interest in using the application and further possibility of other data to be presented in AR. The application calculates the GPS position of the ship, the bearing and distance to the navigational aids; all within a high level of accuracy. However, during testing several issues were highlighted which need to be resolved as the prototype is developed further. The prototype stretched the capabilities of Wikitude, loading over 500 objects during tests in a major port. This overloaded the display and required over 45 seconds to load the data. Therefore, extra filters for the navigational aids are being considered in order to declutter the screen. At night, the camera is not powerful enough to distinguish all the lights in the area. Also, magnetic interference with the bridge of the ship generated a continuous compass error of the AR display that varied between 5 and 12 degrees. The deviation of the compass was consistent over the whole testing durations so the team is now looking at the possibility of allowing users to manually calibrate the compass. It is expected that for the usage of AR in professional maritime contexts, further development of existing AR tools and hardware is needed. Designers will also need to implement a user-centered design approach in order to create better interfaces and display technologies for enhanced solutions to aid navigation.Keywords: compass error, GPS, maritime navigation, mobile augmented reality
Procedia PDF Downloads 3303630 Keypoints Extraction for Markerless Tracking in Augmented Reality Applications: A Case Study in Dar As-Saraya Museum
Authors: Jafar W. Al-Badarneh, Abdalkareem R. Al-Hawary, Abdulmalik M. Morghem, Mostafa Z. Ali, Rami S. Al-Gharaibeh
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Archeological heritage is at the heart of each country’s national glory. Moreover, it could develop into a source of national income. Heritage management requires socially-responsible marketing that achieves high visitor satisfaction while maintaining high site conservation. We have developed an Augmented Reality (AR) experience for heritage and cultural reservation at Dar-As-Saraya museum in Jordan. Our application of this notion relied on markerless-based tracking approach. This approach uses keypoints extraction technique where features of the environment are identified and defined into the system as keypoints. A set of these keypoints forms a tracker for an augmented object to be displayed and overlaid with a real scene at Dar As-Saraya museum. We tested and compared several techniques for markerless tracking and then applied the best technique to complete a mosaic artifact with AR content. The successful results from our application open the door for applications in open archeological sites where markerless tracking is mostly needed.Keywords: augmented reality, cultural heritage, keypoints extraction, virtual recreation
Procedia PDF Downloads 3373629 Using Convolutional Neural Networks to Distinguish Different Sign Language Alphanumerics
Authors: Stephen L. Green, Alexander N. Gorban, Ivan Y. Tyukin
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Within the past decade, using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN)’s to create Deep Learning systems capable of translating Sign Language into text has been a breakthrough in breaking the communication barrier for deaf-mute people. Conventional research on this subject has been concerned with training the network to recognize the fingerspelling gestures of a given language and produce their corresponding alphanumerics. One of the problems with the current developing technology is that images are scarce, with little variations in the gestures being presented to the recognition program, often skewed towards single skin tones and hand sizes that makes a percentage of the population’s fingerspelling harder to detect. Along with this, current gesture detection programs are only trained on one finger spelling language despite there being one hundred and forty-two known variants so far. All of this presents a limitation for traditional exploitation for the state of current technologies such as CNN’s, due to their large number of required parameters. This work aims to present a technology that aims to resolve this issue by combining a pretrained legacy AI system for a generic object recognition task with a corrector method to uptrain the legacy network. This is a computationally efficient procedure that does not require large volumes of data even when covering a broad range of sign languages such as American Sign Language, British Sign Language and Chinese Sign Language (Pinyin). Implementing recent results on method concentration, namely the stochastic separation theorem, an AI system is supposed as an operate mapping an input present in the set of images u ∈ U to an output that exists in a set of predicted class labels q ∈ Q of the alphanumeric that q represents and the language it comes from. These inputs and outputs, along with the interval variables z ∈ Z represent the system’s current state which implies a mapping that assigns an element x ∈ ℝⁿ to the triple (u, z, q). As all xi are i.i.d vectors drawn from a product mean distribution, over a period of time the AI generates a large set of measurements xi called S that are grouped into two categories: the correct predictions M and the incorrect predictions Y. Once the network has made its predictions, a corrector can then be applied through centering S and Y by subtracting their means. The data is then regularized by applying the Kaiser rule to the resulting eigenmatrix and then whitened before being split into pairwise, positively correlated clusters. Each of these clusters produces a unique hyperplane and if any element x falls outside the region bounded by these lines then it is reported as an error. As a result of this methodology, a self-correcting recognition process is created that can identify fingerspelling from a variety of sign language and successfully identify the corresponding alphanumeric and what language the gesture originates from which no other neural network has been able to replicate.Keywords: convolutional neural networks, deep learning, shallow correctors, sign language
Procedia PDF Downloads 1003628 Analyzing Global User Sentiments on Laptop Features: A Comparative Study of Preferences Across Economic Contexts
Authors: Mohammadreza Bakhtiari, Mehrdad Maghsoudi, Hamidreza Bakhtiari
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The widespread adoption of laptops has become essential to modern lifestyles, supporting work, education, and entertainment. Social media platforms have emerged as key spaces where users share real-time feedback on laptop performance, providing a valuable source of data for understanding consumer preferences. This study leverages aspect-based sentiment analysis (ABSA) on 1.5 million tweets to examine how users from developed and developing countries perceive and prioritize 16 key laptop features. The analysis reveals that consumers in developing countries express higher satisfaction overall, emphasizing affordability, durability, and reliability. Conversely, users in developed countries demonstrate more critical attitudes, especially toward performance-related aspects such as cooling systems, battery life, and chargers. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining ABSA using the PyABSA framework with expert insights gathered through a Delphi panel of ten industry professionals. Data preprocessing included cleaning, filtering, and aspect extraction from tweets. Universal issues such as battery efficiency and fan performance were identified, reflecting shared challenges across markets. However, priorities diverge between regions, while users in developed countries demand high-performance models with advanced features, those in developing countries seek products that offer strong value for money and long-term durability. The findings suggest that laptop manufacturers should adopt a market-specific strategy by developing differentiated product lines. For developed markets, the focus should be on cutting-edge technologies, enhanced cooling solutions, and comprehensive warranty services. In developing markets, emphasis should be placed on affordability, versatile port options, and robust designs. Additionally, the study highlights the importance of universal charging solutions and continuous sentiment monitoring to adapt to evolving consumer needs. This research offers practical insights for manufacturers seeking to optimize product development and marketing strategies for global markets, ensuring enhanced user satisfaction and long-term competitiveness. Future studies could explore multi-source data integration and conduct longitudinal analyses to capture changing trends over time.Keywords: consumer behavior, durability, laptop industry, sentiment analysis, social media analytics
Procedia PDF Downloads 153627 Changing New York Financial Clusters in the 2000s: Modeling the Impact and Policy Implication of the Global Financial Crisis
Authors: Silvia Lorenzo, Hongmian Gong
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With the influx of research assessing the economic impact of the global financial crisis of 2007-8, a spatial analysis based on empirical data is needed to better understand the spatial significance of the financial crisis in New York, a key international financial center also considered the origin of the crisis. Using spatial statistics, the existence of financial clusters specializing in credit and securities throughout the New York metropolitan area are identified for 2000 and 2010, the time period before and after the height of the global financial crisis. Geographically Weighted Regressions are then used to examine processes underlying the formation and movement of financial geographies across state, county and ZIP codes of the New York metropolitan area throughout the 2000s with specific attention to tax regimes, employment, household income, technology, and transportation hubs. This analysis provides useful inputs for financial risk management and public policy initiatives aimed at addressing regional economic sustainability across state boundaries, while also developing the groundwork for further research on a spatial analysis of the global financial crisis.Keywords: financial clusters, New York, global financial crisis, geographically weighted regression
Procedia PDF Downloads 3093626 Corporate Social Responsibility and Students’ Job Performance: A Case Study of Silpakorn University’s Internship Program
Authors: Naritphol Boonyakiat
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This research attempts to investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility and students’ job performance of the Silpakorn University’s internship program within various organizations. The goal of this study is to fill the literature gap by gaining an understanding of corporate social responsibility that fundamentally relate to students’ job performance within the organizations. Thus, this study will focus on the outcomes that derive from selected employers’ qualitative assessment and evaluation forms from various companies. The results represent the perceptions of students towards the corporate social responsibility aspects and their job performance evaluation from the employers in various organizations. The findings indicate that corporate social responsibility has significant effects on students’ job performance. This study may assist us in gaining a better understanding of the integrated aspects of university and workplace environments to discover how to allocate optimally university’s resources and management approaches to gain benefits from corporate social responsibility practices toward students’ job performance within an organizational setting. Therefore, there is good reason to believe that the findings can contribute to research in the area of CSR and students’ job performance as an essential aspect of long-term success sustainability.Keywords: corporate social responsibility, job performance, university students, internship program
Procedia PDF Downloads 3773625 Experimental Measurement of Equatorial Ring Current Generated by Magnetoplasma Sail in Three-Dimensional Spatial Coordinate
Authors: Masato Koizumi, Yuya Oshio, Ikkoh Funaki
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Magnetoplasma Sail (MPS) is a future spacecraft propulsion that generates high levels of thrust by inducing an artificial magnetosphere to capture and deflect solar wind charged particles in order to transfer momentum to the spacecraft. By injecting plasma in the spacecraft’s magnetic field region, the ring current azimuthally drifts on the equatorial plane about the dipole magnetic field generated by the current flowing through the solenoid attached on board the spacecraft. This ring current results in magnetosphere inflation which improves the thrust performance of MPS spacecraft. In this present study, the ring current was experimentally measured using three Rogowski Current Probes positioned in a circular array about the laboratory model of MPS spacecraft. This investigation aims to determine the detailed structure of ring current through physical experimentation performed under two different magnetic field strengths engendered by varying the applied voltage on the solenoid with 300 V and 600 V. The expected outcome was that the three current probes would detect the same current since all three probes were positioned at equal radial distance of 63 mm from the center of the solenoid. Although experimental results were numerically implausible due to probable procedural error, the trends of the results revealed three pieces of perceptive evidence of the ring current behavior. The first aspect is that the drift direction of the ring current depended on the strength of the applied magnetic field. The second aspect is that the diamagnetic current developed at a radial distance not occupied by the three current probes under the presence of solar wind. The third aspect is that the ring current distribution varied along the circumferential path about the spacecraft’s magnetic field. Although this study yielded experimental evidence that differed from the original hypothesis, the three key findings of this study have informed two critical MPS design solutions that will potentially improve thrust performance. The first design solution is the positioning of the plasma injection point. Based on the implication of the first of the three aspects of ring current behavior, the plasma injection point must be located at a distance instead of at close proximity from the MPS Solenoid for the ring current to drift in the direction that will result in magnetosphere inflation. The second design solution, predicated by the third aspect of ring current behavior, is the symmetrical configuration of plasma injection points. In this study, an asymmetrical configuration of plasma injection points using one plasma source resulted in a non-uniform distribution of ring current along the azimuthal path. This distorts the geometry of the inflated magnetosphere which minimizes the deflection area for the solar wind. Therefore, to realize a ring current that best provides the maximum possible inflated magnetosphere, multiple plasma sources must be spaced evenly apart for the plasma to be injected evenly along its azimuthal path.Keywords: Magnetoplasma Sail, magnetosphere inflation, ring current, spacecraft propulsion
Procedia PDF Downloads 3103624 Techno-Economic Assessment of Aluminum Waste Management
Authors: Hamad Almohamadi, Abdulrahman AlKassem, Majed Alamoudi
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Dumping Aluminum (Al) waste into landfills causes several health and environmental problems. The pyrolysis process could treat Al waste to produce AlCl₃ and H₂. Using the Aspen Plus software, a techno-economic and feasibility assessment has been performed for Al waste pyrolysis. The Aspen Plus simulation was employed to estimate the plant's mass and energy balance, which was assumed to process 100 dry metric tons of Al waste per day. This study looked at two cases of Al waste treatment. The first case produces 355 tons of AlCl₃ per day and 9 tons of H₂ per day without recycling. The conversion rate must be greater than 50% in case 1 to make a profit. In this case, the MSP for AlCl₃ is $768/ton. The plant would generate $25 million annually if the AlCl₃ were sold at $1000 per ton. In case 2 with recycling, the conversion has less impact on the plant's profitability than in case 1. Moreover, compared to case 1, the MSP of AlCl₃ has no significant influence on process profitability. In this scenario, if AlCl₃ were sold at $1000/ton, the process profit would be $58 million annually. Case 2 is better than case 1 because recycling Al generates a higher yield than converting it to AlCl₃ and H₂.Keywords: aluminum waste, aspen plus, process modelling, fast pyrolysis, techno-economic assessment
Procedia PDF Downloads 933623 Impact Location From Instrumented Mouthguard Kinematic Data In Rugby
Authors: Jazim Sohail, Filipe Teixeira-Dias
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Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) within non-helmeted contact sports is a growing concern due to the serious risk of potential injury. Extensive research is being conducted looking into head kinematics in non-helmeted contact sports utilizing instrumented mouthguards that allow researchers to record accelerations and velocities of the head during and after an impact. This does not, however, allow the location of the impact on the head, and its magnitude and orientation, to be determined. This research proposes and validates two methods to quantify impact locations from instrumented mouthguard kinematic data, one using rigid body dynamics, the other utilizing machine learning. The rigid body dynamics technique focuses on establishing and matching moments from Euler’s and torque equations in order to find the impact location on the head. The methodology is validated with impact data collected from a lab test with the dummy head fitted with an instrumented mouthguard. Additionally, a Hybrid III Dummy head finite element model was utilized to create synthetic kinematic data sets for impacts from varying locations to validate the impact location algorithm. The algorithm calculates accurate impact locations; however, it will require preprocessing of live data, which is currently being done by cross-referencing data timestamps to video footage. The machine learning technique focuses on eliminating the preprocessing aspect by establishing trends within time-series signals from instrumented mouthguards to determine the impact location on the head. An unsupervised learning technique is used to cluster together impacts within similar regions from an entire time-series signal. The kinematic signals established from mouthguards are converted to the frequency domain before using a clustering algorithm to cluster together similar signals within a time series that may span the length of a game. Impacts are clustered within predetermined location bins. The same Hybrid III Dummy finite element model is used to create impacts that closely replicate on-field impacts in order to create synthetic time-series datasets consisting of impacts in varying locations. These time-series data sets are used to validate the machine learning technique. The rigid body dynamics technique provides a good method to establish accurate impact location of impact signals that have already been labeled as true impacts and filtered out of the entire time series. However, the machine learning technique provides a method that can be implemented with long time series signal data but will provide impact location within predetermined regions on the head. Additionally, the machine learning technique can be used to eliminate false impacts captured by sensors saving additional time for data scientists using instrumented mouthguard kinematic data as validating true impacts with video footage would not be required.Keywords: head impacts, impact location, instrumented mouthguard, machine learning, mTBI
Procedia PDF Downloads 2173622 Gender Stereotypes in the Media Content as an Obstacle for Elimination of Discrimination against Women in the Republic of Serbia
Authors: Mirjana Dokmanovic
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The main topic of this paper is the analysis of the presence of gender stereotypes in the media content in the Republic of Serbia with respect to the state commitments to eliminate discrimination against women. The research methodology included the analysis of the media content of six daily newspapers and two magazines on the date of 28 December 2015 and the analysis of the reality TV show programs in 2015 from gender perspective. The methods of the research has also included a desk research and a qualitative analysis of the available data, statistics, policy papers, studies, and reports produced by the government, the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media, the Press Council, the associations of media professionals, the independent human rights bodies, and civil society organizations (CSOs). As a State Signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Republic of Serbia has adopted numerous measures in this field, including the Law on Equality between Sexes and the national gender equality strategies. Special attention has been paid to eliminating gender stereotypes and prejudices in the media content and portraying of women. This practice has been forbidden by the Law on Electronic Media, the Law on Public Information and Media, the Law on Public Service Broadcasting and the Bylaw on the Protection of Human Rights in the Provision of Media Services. Despite these commitments, there has not been achieved progress regarding eliminating gender stereotypes in the media content. The research indicates that the media perpetuate traditional gender roles and patriarchal patterns. Female politicians, entrepreneurs, academics, scientists, and engineers have been very rarely portrayed in the media. On the other side, women are in their focus as celebrities, singers, and actresses. Women are underrepresented in the pages related to politics and economy, while they are mostly present in the cover stories related to show-business, health care, family and household matters. Women are three times more than men identified on the basis of their family status, as mothers, wives, daughters, etc. Hate speech, misogyny, and violence against women are often present in the reality TV shows. The abuse of women and their bodies in advertising is still widely present. The cases of domestic violence are still presented with sensationalism, although there has been achieved progress in portraying victims of domestic violence with respect and dignity. The issues related to gender equality and the position of the vulnerable groups of women, such as Roma women or rural women, are not visible in the media. This research, as well as warnings of women’s CSOs and independent human rights bodies, indicates the necessity to implement legal and policy measures in this field consistently and with due diligence. The aim of the paper is to contribute eliminating gender stereotypes in the media content and advancing gender equality.Keywords: discrimination against women, gender roles, gender stereotypes, media, misogyny, portraying women in the media, prejudices against women, Republic of Serbia
Procedia PDF Downloads 2043621 The Brain’s Attenuation Coefficient as a Potential Estimator of Temperature Elevation during Intracranial High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Procedures
Authors: Daniel Dahis, Haim Azhari
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Noninvasive image-guided intracranial treatments using high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) are on the course of translation into clinical applications. They include, among others, tumor ablation, hyperthermia, and blood-brain-barrier (BBB) penetration. Since many of these procedures are associated with local temperature elevation, thermal monitoring is essential. MRI constitutes an imaging method with high spatial resolution and thermal mapping capacity. It is the currently leading modality for temperature guidance, commonly under the name MRgHIFU (magnetic-resonance guided HIFU). Nevertheless, MRI is a very expensive non-portable modality which jeopardizes its accessibility. Ultrasonic thermal monitoring, on the other hand, could provide a modular, cost-effective alternative with higher temporal resolution and accessibility. In order to assess the feasibility of ultrasonic brain thermal monitoring, this study investigated the usage of brain tissue attenuation coefficient (AC) temporal changes as potential estimators of thermal changes. Newton's law of cooling describes a temporal exponential decay behavior for the temperature of a heated object immersed in a relatively cold surrounding. Similarly, in the case of cerebral HIFU treatments, the temperature in the region of interest, i.e., focal zone, is suggested to follow the same law. Thus, it was hypothesized that the AC of the irradiated tissue may follow a temporal exponential behavior during cool down regime. Three ex-vivo bovine brain tissue specimens were inserted into plastic containers along with four thermocouple probes in each sample. The containers were placed inside a specially built ultrasonic tomograph and scanned at room temperature. The corresponding pixel-averaged AC was acquired for each specimen and used as a reference. Subsequently, the containers were placed in a beaker containing hot water and gradually heated to about 45ᵒC. They were then repeatedly rescanned during cool down using ultrasonic through-transmission raster trajectory until reaching about 30ᵒC. From the obtained images, the normalized AC and its temporal derivative as a function of temperature and time were registered. The results have demonstrated high correlation (R² > 0.92) between both the brain AC and its temporal derivative to temperature. This indicates the validity of the hypothesis and the possibility of obtaining brain tissue temperature estimation from the temporal AC thermal changes. It is important to note that each brain yielded different AC values and slopes. This implies that a calibration step is required for each specimen. Thus, for a practical acoustic monitoring of the brain, two steps are suggested. The first step consists of simply measuring the AC at normal body temperature. The second step entails measuring the AC after small temperature elevation. In face of the urging need for a more accessible thermal monitoring technique for brain treatments, the proposed methodology enables a cost-effective high temporal resolution acoustical temperature estimation during HIFU treatments.Keywords: attenuation coefficient, brain, HIFU, image-guidance, temperature
Procedia PDF Downloads 1613620 Analysis of Lesotho Wool Production and Quality Trends 2008-2018
Authors: Papali Maqalika
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Lesotho farmers produce significant quantities of Merino wool of a quality competitive on the global market and make a substantial impact on the economy of Lesotho. However, even with the economic contribution, the production and quality information and trends of this fibre has been recognised nor documented. This is a sombre shortcoming as Lesotho wool is unknown on international markets. The situation is worsened by the fact that Lesotho wool is auction together with South African wool, trading and benchmarking Lesotho wool are difficult not to mention attempts to advance its production and quality. Based on the information above, available data on Lesotho wool for 10 years were collected and analysed for trends to used in benchmarking where applicable. The fibre properties analysed include fibre diameter (fineness), vegetable matter and yield, application and price. These were selected because they are fundamental in determining fibre quality and price. Production of wool in Lesotho has increased slightly over the ten years covered by this study. It also became apparent that production and quality trends of Lesotho wool are greatly influenced by the farming practices, breed of sheep and climatic conditions. Greater adoption of the merino sheep breed, sheds/barns and sheep coats are suggested as ways to reduce mortality rate (due to extremely cold temperatures), to reduce the vegetable matter on the fibre thus improving the quality and increase yield per sheep and production as a whole. Some farming practices such as the lack of barns, supplementary feeding and veterinary care present constraints in wool production. The districts in the Highlands region were found to have the highest production of mostly wool, this being ascribed to better pastures, climatic, social and other conditions conducive to wool production. The production of Lesotho wool and its quality can be improved further, possibly because of the interventions the Ministry of Agriculture introduced through the Small Agricultural and Development Project (SADP) and other appropriate initiatives by the National Wool and Mohair Growers Association (NWMGA). The challenge however, remains the lack of direct involvement of the wool growers (farmers) in decisions making and policy development, this potentially influences and may lead to the reluctance to adopt the strategies. In some cases, the wool growers do not receive the benefits associated with the interventions immediately. Based on these discoveries; it is recommended that the relevant educators and researchers in wool and textile science, as well as the local wool farmers in Lesotho, be represented in policy and other decision making forums relating to these interventions. In this way, educational campaigns and training workshops will be demand driven with a better chance of adoption and success. This is because the direct beneficiaries will have been involved at inception and they will have a sense of ownership as well as intent to see them through successfully.Keywords: lesotho wool, wool quality, wool production, lesotho economy, global market, apparel wool, database, textile science, exports, animal farming practices, intimate apparel, interventions
Procedia PDF Downloads 903619 An Analysis of Institutional Audits: Basis for Teaching, Learning and Assessment Framework and Principles
Authors: Nabil El Kadhi, Minerva M. Bunagan
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The dynamism in education, particularly in the area of teaching, learning and assessment has caused Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worldwide to seek for ways to continuously improve their educational processes. HEIs use outcomes of institutional audits, assessments and accreditations, for improvement. In this study, the published institutional audit reports of HEIs in the Sultanate of Oman were analyzed to produce features of good practice; identify challenges along Teaching, Learning Assessment (TLA); and propose a framework that puts major emphasis in having a quality-assured TLA, including a set of principles that can be used as basis in succeeding an institutional visit. The TLA framework, which shows the TLA components, characteristics of the components, related expectation, including implementation tool/ strategy and pitfalls can be used by HEIs to have an adequate understanding of the scope of audit and be able to satisfy institutional audit requirements. The scope of this study can be widened by exploring the other requirements of the Institutional Audits in the Sultanate of Oman, particularly the area on Governance and Management and Student Support Services.Keywords: accreditation, audit, teaching, learning and assessment, quality assurance
Procedia PDF Downloads 3043618 Clinical Pathway for Postoperative Organ Transplants
Authors: Tahsien Okasha
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Transplantation medicine is one of the most challenging and complex areas of modern medicine. Some of the key areas for medical management are the problems of transplant rejection, during which the body has an immune response to the transplanted organ, possibly leading to transplant failure and the need to immediately remove the organ from the recipient. When possible, transplant rejection can be reduced through serotyping to determine the most appropriate donor-recipient match and through the use of immunosuppressant drugs. Postoperative care actually begins before the surgery in terms of education, discharge planning, nutrition, pulmonary rehabilitation, and patient/family education. This also allows for expectations to be managed. A multidisciplinary approach is the key, and collaborative team meetings are essential to ensuring that all team members are "on the same page.". The following clinical pathway map and guidelines with the aim to decrease alteration in clinical practice and are intended for those healthcare professionals who look after organ transplant patients. They are also intended to be useful to both medical and surgical trainees as well as nurse specialists and other associated healthcare professionals involved in the care of organ transplant patients. This pathway is general pathway include the general guidelines that can be applicable for all types of organ transplant with special considerations to each organ.Keywords: organ transplant, clinical pathway, postoperative care, same page
Procedia PDF Downloads 4373617 Sustainability as a Criterion in the Reconstruction of Libya’s Public Transport Infrastructure
Authors: Haitam Emhemad, Brian Agnew, David Greenwood
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Amongst the many priorities facing Libya following the 2011 uprising is the provision of a transport infrastructure that will meet the nation’s needs and not undermine its prospects for economic prosperity as with many developing economies non-technical issues such as management, planning and financing are the major barriers to the efficient and effective provision of transport infrastructure. This is particularly true in the case of the effective incorporation of sustainability criteria, and the research upon which this paper is based involves the examination of alternative ways of approaching this problem. It is probably fair to say that criteria that relate to sustainability have not, historically, featured strongly in Libya’s approach to the development of its transport infrastructure. However, the current reappraisal of how best to redevelop the country’s transport infrastructure that has been afforded by recent events may offer the opportunity to alter this. The research examines recent case studies from a number of countries to explore ways in which sustainability has been included as a criterion for planning and procurement decisions. There will also be an in-depth investigation into the Libyan planning and legislative context to examine the feasibility of the introduction of such sustainability criteria into the process of planning and procurement of Libya’s transport infrastructure.Keywords: Libya reconstruction, sustainability criteria, transport infrastructure, public transport
Procedia PDF Downloads 3443616 Nature of HR Practices in the Micro Informal Enterprises: Case Study of Pakistan
Authors: Aamar Ilyas
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Value of firm does not only depend upon its financial and material resources rather human resource is also a significant contributor in success of organizations by achieving competitive advantage. Human resource is an important asset so it is the main responsibility of employers to get the best use of this resource. Hence, this paper will explore the human resource practices used by entrepreneurs in the informal economy in Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab, Pakistan. In this study three major sectors are randomly selected. Snowball sampling technique was applied to collect data. Survey was conducted through interviews of 45 respondents working in the informal sector. The results show that informal sector in Pakistan is not using any formal human resource practices as done by formal enterprises. Findings suggest that there should be the implementation of the human resource practices that help the firm to increase its productivity and ensure the betterment of the employees. The main limitation of the study was short time period to cater all sectors of informal economy of Pakistan which limits the extent of its generalizability. The rationale behind this study is to uncover the facts regarding management practices of human capital in the informal sector.Keywords: HR practices, informal economy, working condition, recruitment, training, employee motivation, welfare
Procedia PDF Downloads 3783615 Hydraulic Resources Management under Imperfect Competition with Thermal Plants in the Wholesale Electricity Market
Authors: Abdessalem Abbassi, Ahlem Dakhlaoui, Lota D. Tamini
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In this paper, we analyze infinite discrete-time games between hydraulic and thermal power operators in the wholesale electricity market under Cournot competition. We consider a deregulated electrical industry where certain demand is satisfied by hydraulic and thermal technologies. The hydraulic operator decides the production in each season of each period that maximizes the sum of expected profits from power generation with respect to the stochastic dynamic constraint on the water stored in the dam, the environmental constraint and the non-negative output constraint. In contrast, the thermal plant is operated with quadratic cost function, with respect to the capacity production constraint and the non-negativity output constraint. We show that under imperfect competition, the hydraulic operator has a strategic storage of water in the peak season. Then, we quantify the strategic inter-annual and intra-annual water transfer and compare the numerical results. Finally, we show that the thermal operator can restrict the hydraulic output without compensation.Keywords: asymmetric risk aversion, electricity wholesale market, hydropower dams, imperfect competition
Procedia PDF Downloads 3593614 Appropriate Nutrient Management for Wheat Production in Afghanistan
Authors: Azizurahman Sakhizadah, Tsugiyuki Masunaga
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The use of sulfur fertilizer by Afghanistan farmers for wheat production has never been practiced, although sulfur deficiency has been expected for wheat production. A field experiment was conducted at Poza e Ishan Research Station Farm, Baghlan province, Afghanistan to examine the effect of sulfur fertilizer on growth and yield components of wheat. The experiment was laid out in randomize complete block design (RCBD), having three replications and eight treatments. The initial soil of experiment was alkaline (pH8.4), with textural class of sandy clay loam, available sulfur (40.8) mg kg-1, and Olsen-P (28.8) mg kg-1. Wheat variety, Kabul 013 was cultivated from November 2015 to June 2016. The recommended doses of nitrogen and Phosphors (Urea and DAP at 250 and 125 kg ha-1) were applied by broadcasting except control plot. Sulfur was applied by foliar spray (K2 SO4) at the rate of 10, 20, and 30 kg ha-1, split at tillering and flowering stages. The results demonstrated that sulfur application positively influenced on growth and yield of wheat crop with combination of nitrogen. Plant did not respond to sole sulfur application. Plant height, spike length, spikelet's number spike-1, were increased and yield g m-2 was also increased by 1.2, 19.1 and 25.1 % for 10, 20 and 30 kg sulfur ha-1 application.Keywords: sulfur, nitrogen, wheat, foliar
Procedia PDF Downloads 1473613 Optimization of Agricultural Water Demand Using a Hybrid Model of Dynamic Programming and Neural Networks: A Case Study of Algeria
Authors: M. Boudjerda, B. Touaibia, M. K. Mihoubi
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In Algeria agricultural irrigation is the primary water consuming sector followed by the domestic and industrial sectors. Economic development in the last decade has weighed heavily on water resources which are relatively limited and gradually decreasing to the detriment of agriculture. The research presented in this paper focuses on the optimization of irrigation water demand. Dynamic Programming-Neural Network (DPNN) method is applied to investigate reservoir optimization. The optimal operation rule is formulated to minimize the gap between water release and water irrigation demand. As a case study, Foum El-Gherza dam’s reservoir system in south of Algeria has been selected to examine our proposed optimization model. The application of DPNN method allowed increasing the satisfaction rate (SR) from 12.32% to 55%. In addition, the operation rule generated showed more reliable and resilience operation for the examined case study.Keywords: water management, agricultural demand, dam and reservoir operation, Foum el-Gherza dam, dynamic programming, artificial neural network
Procedia PDF Downloads 1153612 Tall Building Transit-Oriented Development (TB-TOD) and Energy Efficiency in Suburbia: Case Studies, Sydney, Toronto, and Washington D.C.
Authors: Narjes Abbasabadi
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As the world continues to urbanize and suburbanize, where suburbanization associated with mass sprawl has been the dominant form of this expansion, sustainable development challenges will be more concerned. Sprawling, characterized by low density and automobile dependency, presents significant environmental issues regarding energy consumption and Co2 emissions. This paper examines the vertical expansion of suburbs integrated into mass transit nodes as a planning strategy for boosting density, intensification of land use, conversion of single family homes to multifamily dwellings or mixed use buildings and development of viable alternative transportation choices. It analyzes the spatial patterns of tall building transit-oriented development (TB-TOD) of suburban regions in Sydney (Australia), Toronto (Canada), and Washington D.C. (United States). The main objectives of this research seek to understand the effect of the new morphology of suburban tall, the physical dimensions of individual buildings and their arrangement at a larger scale with energy efficiency. This study aims to answer these questions: 1) why and how can the potential phenomenon of vertical expansion or high-rise development be integrated into suburb settings? 2) How can this phenomenon contribute to an overall denser development of suburbs? 3) Which spatial pattern or typologies/ sub-typologies of the TB-TOD model do have the greatest energy efficiency? It addresses these questions by focusing on 1) energy, heat energy demand (excluding cooling and lighting) related to design issues at two levels: macro, urban scale and micro, individual buildings—physical dimension, height, morphology, spatial pattern of tall buildings and their relationship with each other and transport infrastructure; 2) Examining TB-TOD to provide more evidence of how the model works regarding ridership. The findings of the research show that the TB-TOD model can be identified as the most appropriate spatial patterns of tall buildings in suburban settings. And among the TB-TOD typologies/ sub-typologies, compact tall building blocks can be the most energy efficient one. This model is associated with much lower energy demands in buildings at the neighborhood level as well as lower transport needs in an urban scale while detached suburban high rise or low rise suburban housing will have the lowest energy efficiency. The research methodology is based on quantitative study through applying the available literature and static data as well as mapping and visual documentations of urban regions such as Google Earth, Microsoft Bing Bird View and Streetview. It will examine each suburb within each city through the satellite imagery and explore the typologies/ sub-typologies which are morphologically distinct. The study quantifies heat energy efficiency of different spatial patterns through simulation via GIS software.Keywords: energy efficiency, spatial pattern, suburb, tall building transit-oriented development (TB-TOD)
Procedia PDF Downloads 2603611 Using Jumping Particle Swarm Optimization for Optimal Operation of Pump in Water Distribution Networks
Authors: R. Rajabpour, N. Talebbeydokhti, M. H. Ahmadi
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Carefully scheduling the operations of pumps can be resulted to significant energy savings. Schedules can be defined either implicit, in terms of other elements of the network such as tank levels, or explicit by specifying the time during which each pump is on/off. In this study, two new explicit representations based on time-controlled triggers were analyzed, where the maximum number of pump switches was established beforehand, and the schedule may contain fewer switches than the maximum. The optimal operation of pumping stations was determined using a Jumping Particle Swarm Optimization (JPSO) algorithm to achieve the minimum energy cost. The model integrates JPSO optimizer and EPANET hydraulic network solver. The optimal pump operation schedule of VanZyl water distribution system was determined using the proposed model and compared with those from Genetic and Ant Colony algorithms. The results indicate that the proposed model utilizing the JPSP algorithm outperformed the others and is a versatile management model for the operation of real-world water distribution system.Keywords: JPSO, operation, optimization, water distribution system
Procedia PDF Downloads 2453610 Sustainable Reinforcement: Investigating the Mechanical Properties of Concrete with Recycled Aggregates and Sisal Fibers
Authors: Salahaldein Alsadey, Issa Amaish
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Recycled aggregates (RA) have the potential to compromise concrete performance, contributing to issues such as reduced strength and increased susceptibility to cracking. This study investigates the impact of sisal fiber (SF) on the mechanical properties of concrete, with the objective of utilizing sisal fibers as a reinforcing element in concrete compositions containing natural aggregate and varying percentages (25%, 50%, and 75%) of coarse recycled aggregate replacement. The investigation aims to discern the positive and negative effects on compressive and flexural strength, thereby assessing the viability of sisal fiber-reinforced recycled concrete in comparison to conventional concrete composed of natural aggregate without sisal fiber. Test results revealed that concrete samples incorporating sisal fiber exhibited elevated compressive and flexural strength. Comparative analysis of these strength values was conducted with reference to samples devoid of sisal fiber.Keywords: sustainable construction, construction materials, recycled aggregate, sisal fibers, compressive strength, flexural strength, eco-friendly concrete, natural fiber composites, recycled materials, construction waste management
Procedia PDF Downloads 733609 Dyadic Video Evidence on How Emotions in Parent Verbal Bids Affect Child Compliance in a British Sample
Authors: Iris Sirirada Pattara-Angkoon, Rory Devine, Anja Lindberg, Wendy Browne, Sarah Foley, Gabrielle McHarg, Claire Hughes
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Introduction: The “Terrible Twos” is a phrase used to describe toddlers 18-30 months old. It characterizes a transition from high dependency to their caregivers in infancy to more autonomy and mastery of the body and environment. Toddlers at this age may also show more willfulness and stubbornness that could predict a future trajectory leading to conduct disorders. Thus, an important goal for this age group is to promote responsiveness to their caregivers (i.e., compliance). Existing literature tends to focus on praise to increase desirable child behavior. However, this relationship is not always straightforward as some studies have found no or negative association between praise and child compliance. Research suggests positive emotions and affection showed through body language (e.g., smiles) and actions (e.g., hugs, kisses) along with positive parent-child relationship can strengthen the praise and child compliance association. Nonetheless, few studies have examined the influences of positive emotionality within the speech. This is important as implementing verbal positive emotionality is easier than physical adjustments. The literature also tends not to include fathers in the study sample as mothers were traditionally the primary caregiver. However, as child-caring duties are increasing shared equally between mothers and fathers, it is important to include fathers within the study as studies have frequently found differences between female and male caregiver characteristics. Thus, the study will address the literary gap in two ways: 1. explore the influences of positive emotionality in parental speech and 2. include an equal sample of mothers and fathers. Positive emotionality is expected to positively correlate with and predict child compliance. Methodology: This study analyzed toddlers (18-24 months) in their dyadic interactions with mothers and fathers. A Duplo (block) task was used where parents had to work with their children to build the Duplo according to the given photo for four minutes. Then, they would be told to clean up the blocks. Parental positive emotionality in different speech types (e.g., bids, praises, affirmations) and child compliance were measured. Results: The study found that mothers (M = 28.92, SD = 12.01) were significantly more likely than fathers (M = 23.01, SD = 12.28) to use positive verbal emotionality in their speech, t(105) = 4.35, p< .001. High positive emotionality in bids during Duplo task and Clean Up was positively correlated with more child compliance in each task, r(273) = .35, p< .001 and r(264) = .58, p< .001, respectively. Overall, parental positive emotionality in speech significantly predicted child compliance, F(6, 218) = 13.33, p< .001, R² = .27) with emotionality in verbal bids (t = 6.20, p< .001) and affirmations (t = 3.12, p = .002) being significant predictors. Conclusion: Positive verbal emotions may be useful for increasing compliance in toddlers. This can be beneficial for compliance interventions as well as to the parent-child relationship quality through reduction of conflict and child defiance. As this study is correlational in nature, it will be important for future research to test the directional influence of positive emotionality within speech.Keywords: child temperament, compliance, positive emotion, toddler, verbal bids
Procedia PDF Downloads 183