Search results for: minimum grain purchase price

Authors: Hind Alshoubaki

Abstract:

The world is now confronting a widespread urban phenomenon: refugee camps, which have mostly been established in ‘rushing mode,’ pointing toward affording temporary settlements for refugees that provide them with minimum levels of safety, security and protection from harsh weather conditions within a very short time period. In fact, those emergency settlements are transforming into permanent ones since time is a decisive factor in terms of construction and camps’ age. These play an essential role in transforming their temporary character into a permanent one that generates deep modifications to the city’s territorial structure, shaping a new identity and creating a contentious change in the city’s form and history. To achieve a better understanding for the transformation of refugee camps, this study is based on a mixed-methods approach: the qualitative approach explores different refugee camps and analyzes their transformation process in terms of population density and the changes to the city’s territorial structure and urban features. The quantitative approach employs a statistical regression analysis as a reliable prediction of refugees’ satisfaction within the Zaatari camp in order to predict its future transformation. Obviously, refugees’ perceptions of their current conditions will affect their satisfaction, which plays an essential role in transforming emergency settlements into permanent cities over time. The test basically discusses five main themes: the access and readiness of schools, the dispersion of clinics and shopping centers; the camp infrastructure, the construction materials, and the street networks. The statistical analysis showed that Syrian refugees were not satisfied with their current conditions inside the Zaatari refugee camp and that they had started implementing changes according to their needs, desires, and aspirations because they are conscious about the fact of their prolonged stay in this settlement. Also, the case study analyses showed that neglecting the fact that construction takes time leads settlements being created with below-minimum standards that are deteriorating and creating ‘slums,’ which lead to increased crime rates, suicide, drug use and diseases and deeply affect cities’ urban tissues. For this reason, recognizing the ‘temporary-eternal’ character of those settlements is the fundamental concept to consider refugee camps from the beginning as definite permanent cities. This is the key factor to minimize the trauma of displacement on both refugees and the hosting countries. Since providing emergency settlements within a short time period does not mean using temporary materials, having a provisional character or creating ‘makeshift cities.’

Keywords: refugee, refugee camp, temporary, Zaatari

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Authors: Sylvain Caillol

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Uncertainty in terms of price and availability of petroleum, in addition to global political and institutional tendencies toward the principles of sustainable development, urge chemical industry to a sustainable chemistry and particularly the use of renewable resources in order to synthesize biobased chemicals and products. We propose a platform approach for the synthesis of various building blocks from cardanol in one or two-steps syntheses. Cardanol, which is a natural phenol, is issued from Cashew Nutshell Liquid (CNSL), a non-edible renewable resource, co-produced from cashew industry in large commercial volumes. Cardanol is particularly interesting to replace fossil aromatic groups in polymers and materials. Our team studied various routes for the synthesis of cardanol-derived biobased building blocks used after that in polymer syntheses. For example, we used phenolation to dimerize/oligomerize cardanol to propose increase functionality of cardanol. Thio-ene was used to synthesize new reactive amines. Epoxidation and (meth)acrylation were also used to insert oxirane or (meth)acrylate groups in order to synthesize polymers and materials.

Keywords: cardanol, cashew nutshell liquid, epoxy, vinyl ester, latex, emulsion

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Authors: Siran Offman, Hermes Pacule, Teofilo Nhamuhuco

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Marine invertebrates are very important for the livelihood of coastal communities, particularly in Pemba City. The study was conducted From June 2011 to March 2012. The aim of this study is to determine the socioeconomic impact of collecting marine invertebrates in communities and Chuiba Maringanha. Data were collected biweekly during the spring tide ebb in the intertidal zone, and through structured surveys, the confrontation of data was done through direct observation in the neighborhoods. In total 40 collectors was surveyed and it was found that activity of collecting marine invertebrates is practiced by women 57.2% and men 42.5%. Their ages ranged from 9 to 45 years, and the range was 25-32 dominant with 30.5% and collection practice 5-7 times per week they spend about 4-6 hours a day. The collection methods are direct harvesting by hand aided by knives, sharp irons, and transport use pots, buckets, basins, shawls. Were identified in total 8 marketable species namely: Octopus vulgaris 8.6 Kg, Cyprea Tigers 7 units, Cypraea annulus 48 kg, 40 kg holuturias, Cyprea bully, Atrina vexilium 10 kg, Modiulus philiphinarum and lambis lambis. The species with the greatest economic value are sea cucumber (3 Usd/ kg) and Octopus vulgaris ( 2.5 Usd/ kg) more commercialized. The socio-economic impacts on communities of collectors the average income of collectors varies from 0.5 to 5 Usd/ day and the money are intended to purchase food and agricultural instruments. The other socioeconomics impacts are illiteracy with 36% dropout, and 28% have never studied 87% of unemployed collectors, a high number of family members, weak economic power, poor housing made the basis of local materials and relies on community wells to access water, and most do not have electric power.

Keywords: socio-economic, impacts, collecting marine invertebrates, communities

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Authors: Rajkishore Nayak, Tarun Panwar, Majo George

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The study focuses on investigating the factors that influence the growth of fashion and textile manufacturing in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. This paper endeavours to identify, analyse and evaluate the critical factors associated with the growth of fashion and textile manufacturing in SSA countries. This research has done a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) analysis based on the available literature and the knowledge of authors in garment manufacturing and export. It was found that the SSA countries have shown little growth in fashion and textile manufacturing and export from the starting of the year 2000. Unlike the developing countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, the total export to the US, the EU and other parts of the world has declined. On the other hand, the total supply of fashion and textiles to the domestic market has been in rise. However, the local communities still need to rely on other countries to meet their demand. Availability of cheaper imported clothes from other countries such as Bangladesh, China and Vietnam have made it difficult for the local manufacturers to produce at a cheaper price.

Keywords: Sub-Saharan Africa, developing countries, apparel industry, fashion and textile, sustainable fashion

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Authors: Hyunki Kang, Hi Won Jeong

Abstract:

The gas turbine operates for a long period of time under harsh, cyclic conditions of high temperature and pressure, where high turbine inlet temperature (TIT) can range from 1273 to 1873K. Therefore, Ni-base superalloys such as IN738, IN939, Rene 45, Rene 71, Rene 80, Mar M 247, CM 247, and CMSX-4 with excellent mechanical properties and resistance to creep, corrosion and oxidation at high temperatures are indeed used. Among the alloying additions for these alloys, aluminum (Al) and titanium (Ti) form gamma prime and enhance the high-temperature properties. However, when crack-damaged high-temperature turbine components such as blade and vane are repaired by fusion welding, they cause cracks. For example, when arc welding is applied to certain superalloys that contain Al and Ti with more than 3 wt.% and T3.5 wt%, respectively, such as IN738, IN939, Rene 80, Mar M 247, and CM 247, aging cracks occur. Therefore, repair technologies using diffusion brazing, which has less heat input into the base material, are being developed. Analysis of microstructural evolution of the brazed joints with a base metal of IN 939 Ni-base superalloy using brazing different filler metals was also carried out using X-ray diffraction, OEM, SEM-EDS, and EPMA. Stress rupture and high-temperature tensile strength properties were also measured to analyze the effects of different brazing heat cycles. The boron amount in the diffusion-affected zone (DAZ) was decreased towards the base metal and the formation of borides at grain boundaries was detected through EPMA.

Keywords: gas turbine, diffusion brazing, superalloy, gas turbine repair

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Authors: Ritula Thakur, Babankumar S. Bansod, Puneet Mehta, S. Chatterji

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Moisture plays an important role in storage, harvesting and processing of food grains and related agricultural products. It is an important characteristic of most agricultural products for maintenance of quality. Accurate knowledge of the moisture content can be of significant value in maintaining quality and preventing contamination of cereal grains. The present work reports the design and development of microcontroller based low cost non-destructive moisture meter, which uses complex impedance measurement method for moisture measurement of wheat using parallel plate capacitor arrangement. Moisture can conveniently be sensed by measuring the complex impedance using a small parallel-plate capacitor sensor filled with the kernels in-between the two plates of sensor, exciting the sensor at 30 KHz and 100 KHz frequencies. The effects of density and temperature variations were compensated by providing suitable compensations in the developed algorithm. The results were compared with standard dry oven technique and the developed method was found to be highly accurate with less than 1% error. The developed moisture meter is low cost, highly accurate, non-destructible method for determining the moisture of grains utilizing the fast computing capabilities of microcontroller.

Keywords: complex impedance, moisture content, electrical properties, safety of food

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Authors: Masoumeh Ali Pouri, Hamid Haj Seyyed Javadi

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Nowadays, cloud processing is one of the important issues in information technology. Since scheduling of tasks graph is an NP-hard problem, considering approaches based on undeterminisitic methods such as evolutionary processing, mostly genetic and cuckoo algorithms, will be effective. Therefore, an efficient algorithm has been proposed for scheduling of tasks graph to obtain an appropriate scheduling with minimum time. In this algorithm, the new approach is based on making the length of the critical path shorter and reducing the cost of communication. Finally, the results obtained from the implementation of the presented method show that this algorithm acts the same as other algorithms when it faces graphs without communication cost. It performs quicker and better than some algorithms like DSC and MCP algorithms when it faces the graphs involving communication cost.

Keywords: cloud computing, scheduling, tasks graph, chakoos algorithm

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Authors: Pongsawee Supanonth

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This study aims to investigate the consumer behavior and marketing mixed factor affect on consumer decision making for independent movies presented in Lido cinema. The research method will use quantitative research, data was collected by questionnaires distributed to the audience in the Lido cinema for 400 sample by accidental sampling technique. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistic including percentage, mean, standard deviation and inferential statistic including independent t-test for hypothesis testing. The results showed that marketing mixed factors affecting consumer decision-making for Independent movies presented in Lido cinema by gender as different as less than the 0.05 significance level, it was found that the kind of movie ,quality of theater ,price of ticket, facility of watching movies, staff services and promotion of Lido cinema respectively had a vital influence on their attention and response which makes the advertisement more attractive is in harmony with the research hypotheses also.

Keywords: consumer behavior, marketing mixed factor, resonance, consumer decision making, Lido cinema

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Authors: Pius Agbebi Alaba

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The study emphasized on the effects of contemporary and prospect trends on the development of Hospitality and Tourism in Nigeria. Specifically, the study examined globalization, safety and security, diversity, service, technology, demographic changes and price–value as contemporary trends while prospect trends such as green and Eco-lodgings, Development of mega hotels, Boutique hotels, Intelligent hotels with advanced technology using the guest’s virtual fingerprint in order to perform all the operations, increasing employee salaries in order retain the existing Staff, More emphasis on the internet and technology, Guests’ virtual and physical social network were equally examined. The methodology for the study involved review of existing related study, books, journal and internet. The findings emanated from the exercise showed clearly that the impact of both trends on the development of Hospitality and Tourism in Nigeria would bring about rapid positive transformation of her socio-economic, political and cultural environment. The implication of the study is that it will prepare both private and corporate individuals in hospitality and tourism business for the challenges inherent in both trends.

Keywords: hospitality and tourism, Nigeria's centenary, trends, implications

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Authors: Bonginkosi A. Thango, Jacobus A. Jordaan, Agha F. Nnachi

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In this day and age, there is a proliferate concern from all governments across the globe to barricade the environment from greenhouse gases, which absorb infrared radiation. As a result, solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity has been an expeditiously growing renewable energy source and will eventually undertake a prominent role in the global energy generation. The selection and purchasing of energy-efficient transformers that meet the operational requirements of the solar photovoltaic energy generation plants then become a part of the Independent Power Producers (IPP’s) investment plan of action. Taking these into account, this paper proposes a procedure that put into effect the intricate financial analysis necessitated to precisely evaluate the transformer service lifetime no-load and load loss factors. This procedure correctly set forth the transformer service lifetime loss factors as a result of a solar PV plant’s sporadic generation profile and related levelized costs of electricity into the computation of the transformer’s total ownership cost. The results are then critically compared with the conventional transformer total ownership cost unaccompanied by the emission costs, and demonstrate the significance of the sporadic energy generation nature of the solar PV plant on the total ownership cost. The findings indicate that the latter play a crucial role for developers and Independent Power Producers (IPP’s) in making the purchase decision during a tender bid where competing offers from different transformer manufactures are evaluated. Additionally, the susceptibility analysis of different factors engrossed in the transformer service lifetime cost is carried out; factors including the levelized cost of electricity, solar PV plant’s generation modes, and the loading profile are examined.

Keywords: solar photovoltaic plant, transformer, total ownership cost, loss factors

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Authors: Flordeliza L. Mercado, Teresito G. Aguinaldo, Helen F. Gavino, Victorino T. Taylan

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Most fruits and vegetables are available in large quantities during peak season which are oftentimes marketed at low price and left to rot or fed to farm animals. The lack of efficient storage facilities, and the additional cost and unavailability of small machinery for food processing, results to low price and wastage. Incidentally, processed fresh fruits and vegetables are gaining importance nowadays and health conscious people are also into ‘juicing’. One way to reduce wastage and ensure an all-season availability of crop juices at reasonable costs is to develop equipment for effective extraction of juice. The study was conducted to design, fabricate and evaluate a multi-juice extractor using locally available materials, making it relatively cheaper and affordable for medium-scale enterprises. The study was also conducted to formulate juice blends using extracted juices and calamansi juice at different blending percentage, and evaluate its chemical properties and sensory attributes. Furthermore, the chemical properties of extracted meals were evaluated for future applications. The multi-juice extractor has an overall dimension of 963mm x 300mm x 995mm, a gross weight of 82kg and 5 major components namely; feeding hopper, extracting chamber, juice and meal outlet, transmission assembly, and frame. The machine performance was evaluated based on juice recovery, extraction efficiency, extraction rate, extraction recovery, and extraction loss considering type of crop as apple and carrot with three replications each and was analyzed using T-test. The formulated juice blends were subjected to sensory evaluation and data gathered were analyzed using Analysis of Variance appropriate for Complete Randomized Design. Results showed that the machine’s juice recovery (73.39%), extraction rate (16.40li/hr), and extraction efficiency (88.11%) for apple were significantly higher than for carrot while extraction recovery (99.88%) was higher for apple than for carrot. Extraction loss (0.12%) was lower for apple than for carrot, but was not significantly affected by crop. Based on adding percentage mark-up on extraction cost (Php 2.75/kg), the breakeven weight and payback period for a 35% mark-up is 4,710.69kg and 1.22 years, respectively and for a 50% mark-up, the breakeven weight is 3,492.41kg and the payback period is 0.86 year (10.32 months). Results on the sensory evaluation of juice blends showed that the type of juice significantly influenced all the sensory parameters while the blending percentage including their respective interaction, had no significant effect on all sensory parameters, making the apple-calamansi juice blend more preferred than the carrot-calamansi juice blend in terms of all the sensory parameter. The machine’s performance is higher for apple than for carrot and the cost analysis on the use of the machine revealed that it is financially viable with a payback period of 1.22 years (35% mark-up) and 0.86 year (50% mark-up) for machine cost, generating an income of Php 23,961.60 and Php 34,444.80 per year using 35% and 50% mark-up, respectively. The juice blends were of good qualities based on the values obtained in the chemical analysis and the extracted meal could also be used to produce another product based on the values obtained from proximate analysis.

Keywords: food processing, fruits and vegetables, juice extraction, multi-juice extractor

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Authors: Haiping Zhu

Abstract:

The purpose of this work-in-progress paper is to explore how the Chinese philosophic-religious tradition of Taoism impacts on the consumption behaviour of contemporary Chinese consumers. Although much cultural research has been conducted on Chinese consumption behaviours, most studies have approached the subject from Western perspectives. Examination of the limited literature indicates a gap in the knowledge of the relationship of traditional Chinese Taoism philosophy and Chinese consumption behaviour. To bridge this gap, this study examines Chinese consumption behaviour at a Taoist-related Chinese religious festival - the DuanWu festival - in order to seek some understanding of how the Taoism philosophic-religious tradition influences Chinese consumption behaviour from the point of view of the individuals involved. It focuses attention on their expression of Taoism cultural values, purchasing experience and subsequent consumption behaviours. This study undertook multiple methods for Taoist case study data collection: accompanied shopping with Taoists before DuanWu Festival; participant observations during DuanWu Festival; and in-depth interviews in order to explore Taoists consumption behaviours at the end of the Festival. Specifically, the finding from the Taoist case study corroborates and details the influence of the Taoism doctrine: man–nature orientation, Fenshui, ecological effect, and ecological knowledge, on their attitudes toward green purchasing behaviour. Findings from this Taoist case study - one of a series of three Chinese philosophic religious tradition case studies - contribute to the deeper understanding of contemporary Chinese consumers from a non-Western viewpoint and offer initial insights for global marketers to differentiate consumer needs and develop effective marketing strategies.

Keywords: consumer behaviour, culture values, green purchase behaviour, Taoism

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Authors: Waleed M. Al-Othman, Hamid Bayati, Abdullah Al-Shahrani, Haitham Al-Jabr

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Pearlite bands commonly form parallel to the surface of the hot rolled steel and have significant influence on the properties of the steel. This study investigated the correlation between segregation pattern of Mn, Si, C and formation of the pearlite bands in hot rolled Gr 60 steel plate. Microstructural study indicated formation of a distinguished thick band at centerline of the plate with number of parallel bands through thickness of the steel plate. The thickness, frequency, and continuity of the bands are reduced from mid-thickness toward external surface of the steel plate. Analysis showed a noticeable increase of C, Si and Mn levels within the bands. Such alloying segregation takes place during metal solidification. EDS analysis verified presence of particles rich in Ti, Nb, Mn, C, N, within the bands. Texture analysis by Electron Backscatter Detector (EBSD) indicated the grains size/misorientation can noticeably change within the bands. Effect of banding on through-thickness properties of the steel was examined by carrying out microhardness, toughness and tensile tests. Results suggest the Mn and C contents are changed in sinusoidal pattern through thickness of the hot rolled plate and pearlite bands are formed at the peaks of this sinusoidal segregation pattern. Changes in grain size/misorientation, formation of highly alloyed particles, and pearlite within these bands, facilitate crack formation along boundaries of these bands.

Keywords: pearlite band, alloying segregation, hot rolling, Ti, Nb, N, C

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Amira Yousef Mahrous Yousef

Abstract:

This paper includes fast fashion verses sustainable fashion or slow fashion Indian based consumers. The expression ‘Fast fashion’ is generally referred to low-cost clothing collections that considered first hand copy of luxury brands, sometime interchangeably used with ‘mass fashion’. Whereas slow fashion or limited fashion which are consider to be more organic or eco-friendly. "Sustainable fashion is ethical fashion and here the consumer is just not design conscious but also social-environment conscious". Paper will deal with desire of young Indian consumer towards such luxury brands present in India, and their understanding of sustainable fashion, how to maintain the equilibrium between never newer fashion, style, and fashion sustainability. The green fashion market is growing rapidly as eco-friendly consumers are willing to expand their organic lifestyle to include clothing. With an increasing share of fashion consumers globally, Indian consumers are observed to consider the social and environmental ethics while making purchasing decisions. While some research clearly identifies the efforts of responsible consumers towards green fashion, some argue that fashion-orientated consumers who are sensitive towards environment do not actively participate towards supporting green fashion. This study aims to analyze the current perception of green fashion among Indian consumers. A small-scale exploratory study is conducted where consumers’ perception of green fashion is examined followed by an analysis of translation of this perception into purchase decision making. This research paper gives insight into consumer awareness on green fashion and provides scope towards the expansion of ethical fashion consumption .

Keywords: inclusions, temperature gradient, HPHT synthetic fibers, polyamide fibers, fiber volume, compressive strength. gold nano clusters, copper ions, wool keratin, fluorescence

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Authors: Yoke-Mui Lim, Yahaya Ahmad

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Conservation works in Malaysia that is procured by public organisation usually follow the traditional approach where the works are tendered based on Bills of Quantities (BQ). One of the purposes of tendering is to enable the selection of a competent contractor that offers a competitive price. While competency of the contractors are assessed by their technical knowledge, experience and track records, the assessment of pricing will be dependent on the tender amount. However, the issue currently faced by the conservation works sector is the difficulty in assessing the competitiveness and reasonableness of the tender amount due to the high variance between the tenders amount. Thus, this paper discusses the factors that cause difficulty to the tenderers in pricing competitively in a bidding exercise for conservation tenders. Data on tendering is collected from interviews with conservation works contractors to gain in-depth understanding of the barriers faced in pricing tenders of conservation works. Findings from the study lent support to the contention that the variance of tender amount is very high amongst tenderers. The factors identified in the survey are the format of BQ, hidden works, experience and labour and material costs.

Keywords: building conservation, Malaysia, bill of quantities, tender

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Authors: Sangeeta Yadav, Mantosh Biswas

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In this paper, we proposed an improved color based K-mean algorithm for clustering of satellite Image (SAR). Our method comprises of two stages. The first step is an interactive selection process where users are required to input the number of colors (ncolor), number of clusters, and then they are prompted to select the points in each color cluster. In the second step these points are given as input to K-mean clustering algorithm that clusters the image based on color and Minimum Square Euclidean distance. The proposed method reduces the mixed pixel problem to a great extent.

Keywords: cluster, ncolor method, K-mean method, interactive selection process

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Authors: Chimezie P. Nnanwa, Thomas C. Urama, Patrick O. Ezepue

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In this paper we use Random Matrix Theory to analyze the eigen-structure of the empirical correlations of 82 stocks which are consistently traded in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) over a 4-year study period 3 August 2009 to 26 August 2013. We apply the Marchenko-Pastur distribution of eigenvalues of a purely random matrix to investigate the presence of investment-pertinent information contained in the empirical correlation matrix of the selected stocks. We use hypothesised standard normal distribution of eigenvector components from RMT to assess deviations of the empirical eigenvectors to this distribution for different eigenvalues. We also use the Inverse Participation Ratio to measure the deviation of eigenvectors of the empirical correlation matrix from RMT results. These preliminary results on the dynamics of asset price correlations in the NSE are important for improving risk-return trade-offs associated with Markowitz’s portfolio optimization in the stock exchange, which is pursued in future work.

Keywords: correlation matrix, eigenvalue and eigenvector, inverse participation ratio, portfolio optimization, random matrix theory

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Authors: Dongkyu Lee, Thanh Banh Thien, Soomi Shin

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In the present study, the isogeometric topology optimization is proposed for cracked structures through using Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP) as a design model. Design density variables defined in the variable space are used to approximate the element analysis density by the bivariate B-spline basis functions. The mathematical formulation of topology optimization problem solving minimum structural compliance is an alternating active-phase algorithm with the Gauss-Seidel version as an optimization model of optimality criteria. Stiffness and adjoint sensitivity formulations linked to strain energy of cracked structure are proposed in terms of design density variables. Numerical examples demonstrate interactions of topology optimization to structures design with cracks.

Keywords: topology optimization, isogeometric, NURBS, design

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Authors: Tew Leh Ghee

Abstract:

The study's goal is to determine how celebrity endorsement affects Malaysian consumers' attitudes and intentions to buy skincare products. Since customers now largely rely on celebrity endorsement to influence purchasing decisions in almost every business, celebrity endorsement is not, in reality, a new phenomenon. Even though the market for skincare products has a vast potential to be exploited, corporations have yet to seize this niche via celebrity endorsement. Basically, there hasn't been much study done to recognize the significance of celebrity endorsement in this industry. This research combined descriptive and quantitative methods with a self-administered survey as the primary data-gathering tool. All of the characteristics under study were measured using a 5-point Likert scale, and the questionnaire was written in English. A convenience sample method was used to choose respondents, and 360 sets of valid questionnaires were gathered for the study's statistical analysis. Preliminary statistical analyses were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). The backdrop of the respondents' demographics was examined using descriptive analysis. All concept assessments' validity and reliability were examined using exploratory factor analysis, item-total statistics, and reliability statistics. Pearson correlation and regression analysis were used, respectively, to assess relationships and impacts between the variables under study. The research showed that, apart from competence, celebrity endorsements of skincare products in Malaysia had a favorable impact on attitudes and purchase intentions as evaluated by attractiveness and dependability. The research indicated that the most significant element influencing attitude and buy intention was the credibility of a celebrity endorsement. The study offered implications in order to provide potential improvements of celebrity endorsement in skincare goods in Malaysia. The study's last portion includes its limits and ideas for the future.

Keywords: trustworthiness, influential, phenomenon, celebrity emdorsement

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Authors: R. A. Abdel Rahman, A. E. Abdel Wahab, E. A. Goghneimy, H. F. Mohamed, E. M. Salama

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Infectious diseases are a major cause of death worldwide. The treatment of infections continues to be problematic in modern time because of the severe side effects of some drugs and the growing resistance to antimicrobial agents. Hence, the search for newer, safer and more potent antimicrobials is a pressing need. Herbal medicines have received much attention as a source of new antibacterial drugs since they are considered time-tested and comparatively safe both for human use and the environment. In the present study, the antimicrobial activity of marjoram (Origanum majorana L.) essential oil on some gram positive and gram negative reference bacteria, as well as some hospital resistant microbes, was tested. Marjoram oil was extracted and the oil chemical constituents were identified using GC/MS analysis. Staphylococcus aureas ATCC 6923, Pseudomonus auregonosa ATCC 9027, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, E. coli ATCC 8736 and two hospital resistant microbes isolates 16 and 21 were used. The two isolates were identified by biochemical tests and 16s rRNA as proteus spp. and Enterococcus facielus. The effect of different concentrations of essential oils on bacterial growth was tested using agar disk diffusion assay method to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations and using micro dilution method to determine the minimum bactericidal concentrations. Marjoram oil was found to be effective against both reference and hospital resistance strains. Hospital strains were more resistant to marjoram oil than reference strains. P. auregonosa growth was completely inhibited at a low concentration of oil (4µl/ml). The other reference strains showed sensitivity to marjoram oil at concentrations ranged from 5 to 7µl/ml. The two hospital strains showed sensitivity at media containing 10 and 15µl/ml oil. The major components of oil were terpineol, cis-beta (23.5%), 1,6 – octadien –3-ol,3,7-dimethyl, 2 aminobenzoate (10.9%), alpha terpieol (8.6%) and linalool (6.3%). Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis were used to determine the difference between treated and untreated hospital strains. SEM results showed that treated cells were smaller in size than control cells. TEM data showed that cell lysis has occurred to treated cells. Treated cells have ruptured cell wall and appeared empty of cytoplasm compared to control cells which shown to be intact with normal volume of cytoplasm. The results indicated that marjoram oil has a positive antimicrobial effect on hospital resistance microbes. Natural crude extracts can be perfect resources for new antimicrobial drugs.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, essential oil, hospital resistance microbes, marjoram

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Authors: A. El-S. Makled, M. K. Al-Tamimi

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A mathematical model to predict the performance parameters (thrusts, chamber pressures, fuel mass flow rates, mixture ratios, and regression rates during firing time) of hybrid rocket motor (HRM) is evaluated. The internal ballistic (IB) hybrid combustion model assumes that the solid fuel surface regression rate is controlled only by heat transfer (convective and radiative) from flame zone to solid fuel burning surface. A laboratory HRM is designed, manufactured, and tested for low thrust profile space missions (10-15 N) and for validating the mathematical model (computer program). The polymer material and gaseous oxidizer which are selected for this experimental work are polymethyle-methacrylate (PMMA) and polyethylene (PE) as solid fuel grain and gaseous oxygen (GO₂) as oxidizer. The variation of various operational parameters with time is determined systematically and experimentally in firing of up to 20 seconds, and an average combustion efficiency of 95% of theory is achieved, which was the goal of these experiments. The comparison between recording fire data and predicting analytical parameters shows good agreement with the error that does not exceed 4.5% during all firing time. The current mathematical (computer) code can be used as a powerful tool for HRM analytical design parameters.

Keywords: hybrid combustion, internal ballistics, hybrid rocket motor, performance parameters

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Authors: Felib Ayman Shawky Salem

Abstract:

This paper includes fast fashion verses sustainable fashion or slow fashion Indian based consumers. The expression ‘Fast fashion’ is generally referred to low-cost clothing collections that considered first hand copy of luxury brands, sometime interchangeably used with ‘mass fashion’. Whereas slow fashion or limited fashion which are consider to be more organic or eco-friendly. "Sustainable fashion is ethical fashion and here the consumer is just not design conscious but also social-environment conscious". Paper will deal with desire of young Indian consumer towards such luxury brands present in India, and their understanding of sustainable fashion, how to maintain the equilibrium between never newer fashion, style, and fashion sustainability. The green fashion market is growing rapidly as eco-friendly consumers are willing to expand their organic lifestyle to include clothing. With an increasing share of fashion consumers globally, Indian consumers are observed to consider the social and environmental ethics while making purchasing decisions. While some research clearly identifies the efforts of responsible consumers towards green fashion, some argue that fashion-orientated consumers who are sensitive towards environment do not actively participate towards supporting green fashion. This study aims to analyze the current perception of green fashion among Indian consumers. A small-scale exploratory study is conducted where consumers’ perception of green fashion is examined followed by an analysis of translation of this perception into purchase decision making. This research paper gives insight into consumer awareness on green fashion and provides scope towards the expansion of ethical fashion consumption

Keywords: diamond, inclusions, temperature gradient, HPHT synthetic fibers, polyamide fibers, fiber volume, compressive strength. gold nano clusters, copper ions, wool keratin, fluorescence

Procedia PDF Downloads 26

Authors: Jaskirat Singh, Roshan Lal Virdi, Khushdeep Goyal

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to perform a microstructural analysis of Friction Stir Welded joints of aluminum alloys 6063 and 5083, also to check the properties of the weld zone by SEM analysis. FSW experiments were carried on CNC Vertical milling machine. The tools used for welding were the round cylindrical pin shape and square pin shape. It is found that Microstructure shows the uniformly distributed material with minimum heat affected zone and dense welded zone without any defect. Microstructures indicate that the weld material is defect free. The SEM shows the diffusion of material with base metal with proper bonding without any defect.

Keywords: friction stir welding, aluminum alloy, microstructure, SEM analysis

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Authors: A. Iqbal Banauaji, Muchamad Sholikun

Abstract:

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolism disorder that tends to increase its prevalence in the world, including in Indonesia. The development of DM type 2 can cause oxidative stress characterized by an imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants in the body Increased oxidative stress causes type 2 diabetes mellitus to require intake of exogenous antioxidants in large quantities to inhibit oxidative damage in the body. Bran can be defined as a functional food because it consists of 11.39% fiberand 28.7% antioxidants and the purple yam consists of anthocyanin which functions as an antioxidant. With abundant amount and low price, purple yam and bran can be used for analog rice as the effort to diversify functional food. The antioxidant’s activity of analog rice from purple yam and bran which is measured by using DPPH’s method is 12,963%. The rough fiber’s level on the analog rice from purple yam is 2.985%. The water amount of analog rice from purple yam and bran is 8.726%. Analog rice from purple yam and bran has the similar texture as the usual rice, tasted slightly sweet, light purple colored, and smelled like bran.

Keywords: antioxidant, analog rice, functional food, diabetes mellitus

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Authors: Wenjun Hou, Marek Perkowski

Abstract:

The Traveling Salesman problem is famous in computing and graph theory. In short, it asks for the Hamiltonian cycle of the least total weight in a given graph with N nodes. All variations on this problem, such as those with K-bounded-degree nodes, are classified as NP-complete in classical computing. Although several papers propose theoretical high-level designs of quantum algorithms for the Traveling Salesman Problem, no quantum circuit implementation of these algorithms has been created up to our best knowledge. In contrast to previous papers, the goal of this paper is not to optimize some abstract complexity measures based on the number of oracle iterations, but to be able to evaluate the real circuit and time costs of the quantum computer. Using the emerging quantum programming language Q# developed by Microsoft, which runs quantum circuits in a quantum computer simulation, an implementation of the bounded-degree problem and its respective quantum circuit were created. To apply Grover’s algorithm to this problem, a quantum oracle was designed, evaluating the cost of a particular set of edges in the graph as well as its validity as a Hamiltonian cycle. Repeating the Grover algorithm with an oracle that finds successively lower cost each time allows to transform the decision problem to an optimization problem, finding the minimum cost of Hamiltonian cycles. N log₂ K qubits are put into an equiprobablistic superposition by applying the Hadamard gate on each qubit. Within these N log₂ K qubits, the method uses an encoding in which every node is mapped to a set of its encoded edges. The oracle consists of several blocks of circuits: a custom-written edge weight adder, node index calculator, uniqueness checker, and comparator, which were all created using only quantum Toffoli gates, including its special forms, which are Feynman and Pauli X. The oracle begins by using the edge encodings specified by the qubits to calculate each node that this path visits and adding up the edge weights along the way. Next, the oracle uses the calculated nodes from the previous step and check that all the nodes are unique. Finally, the oracle checks that the calculated cost is less than the previously-calculated cost. By performing the oracle an optimal number of times, a correct answer can be generated with very high probability. The oracle of the Grover Algorithm is modified using the recalculated minimum cost value, and this procedure is repeated until the cost cannot be further reduced. This algorithm and circuit design have been verified, using several datasets, to generate correct outputs.

Keywords: quantum computing, quantum circuit optimization, quantum algorithms, hybrid quantum algorithms, quantum programming, Grover’s algorithm, traveling salesman problem, bounded-degree TSP, minimal cost, Q# language

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Muhammad Umair Shahid, Abdul Rehman, Mudassir Mukhtar, Muhammad Nauman

Abstract:

The smart antenna is the prominent technology that has become known in recent years to meet the growing demands of wireless communications. In an overcrowded atmosphere, its application is growing gradually. A methodical evaluation of the performance of Fixed Beamforming algorithms for smart antennas such as Multiple Sidelobe Canceller (MSC), Maximum Signal-to-interference ratio (MSIR) and minimum variance (MVDR) has been comprehensively presented in this paper. Simulation results show that beamforming is helpful in providing optimized response towards desired directions. MVDR beamformer provides the most optimal solution.

Keywords: fixed weight beamforming, array pattern, signal to interference ratio, power efficiency, element spacing, array elements, optimum weight vector

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: Dan Geneau, Mary Claire Geneau, Seth Lenetsky, Ming -Chang Tsai, Marc Klimstra

Abstract:

Introduction— Horizontal force-velocity profiling (HFVP) involves modeling an athletes linear sprint kinematics to estimate valuable maximum force and velocity metrics. This approach to performance modeling has been used in field-based team sports and has recently been introduced to ice-hockey as a forward skating performance assessment. While preliminary data has been collected on ice, distance constraints of the on-ice test restrict the ability of the athletes to reach their maximal velocity which result in limits of the model to effectively estimate athlete performance. This is especially true of more elite athletes. This report explores whether athletes on-ice are able to reach a velocity plateau similar to what has been seen in overground trials. Fourteen male Major Junior ice-hockey players (BW= 83.87 +/- 7.30 kg, height = 188 ± 3.4cm cm, age = 18 ± 1.2 years n = 14) were recruited. For on-ice sprints, participants completed a standardized warm-up consisting of skating and dynamic stretching and a progression of three skating efforts from 50% to 95%. Following the warm-up, participants completed three on ice 45m sprints, with three minutes of rest in between each trial. For overground sprints, participants completed a similar dynamic warm-up to that of on-ice trials. Following the warm-up participants completed three 40m overground sprint trials. For each trial (on-ice and overground), radar was used to collect instantaneous velocity (Stalker ATS II, Texas, USA) aimed at the participant’s waist. Sprint velocities were modelled using custom Python (version 3.2) script using a mono-exponential function, similar to previous work. To determine if on-ice tirals were achieving a maximum velocity (plateau), minimum acceleration values of the modeled data at the end of the sprint were compared (using paired t-test) between on-ice and overground trials. Significant differences (P<0.001) between overground and on-ice minimum accelerations were observed. It was found that on-ice trials consistently reported higher final acceleration values, indicating a maximum maintained velocity (plateau) had not been reached. Based on these preliminary findings, it is suggested that reliable HFVP metrics cannot yet be collected from all ice-hockey populations using current methods. Elite male populations were not able to achieve a velocity plateau similar to what has been seen in overground trials, indicating the absence of a maximum velocity measure. With current velocity and acceleration modeling techniques, including a dependency of a velocity plateau, these results indicate the potential for error in on-ice HFVP measures. Therefore, these findings suggest that a greater on-ice sprint distance may be required or the need for other velocity modeling techniques, where maximal velocity is not required for a complete profile.   

Keywords: ice-hockey, sprint, skating, power

Procedia PDF Downloads 97

Authors: Poonsuck Thatchaopas, Nik Kamariah Nik Mat, Nattakarn Eakuru

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“One College One Product” OCOP business model is launched by the Vocational Education Commission to encourage college students to choose at least one product for business venture. However, the number of successful OCOP projects is still minimal. The objective of this paper is to identify the critical success factors needed to be a successful OCOP business entrepreneur. This study uses qualitative method by interviewing business partners of an OCOP business called Crispy Roti Krua Acheeva Brand (CRKAB). This project was initiated by three female alumni students of the CRKAB. The finding shows that the main critical success factors are self-confidence, creativity or innovativeness, knowledge, skills and perseverance. Additionally, they reiterated that the keys to business success are product quality, perceived price, promotion, branding, new packaging to increase sales and continuous developments. The results implies for a business SME to be successful, the company should have credible partners and effective marketing plan.

Keywords: new entrepreneurship student model, business incubator, food industry, Pattani Province, Thailand

Procedia PDF Downloads 373

Authors: Mojtaba Rezaei, Elham Heydari

Abstract:

This paper highlights the empirical results of analyzing the correlation between accounting information and systematic risk. This association is analyzed among financial ratios and systematic risk by considering the financial statement of 39 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) for five years (2014-2018). Financial ratios have been categorized into four groups and to describe the special features, as representative of accounting information we selected: Return on Asset (ROA), Debt Ratio (Total Debt to Total Asset), Current Ratio (current assets to current debt), Asset Turnover (Net sales to Total assets), and Total Assets. The hypotheses were tested through simple and multiple linear regression and T-student test. The findings illustrate that there is no significant relationship between accounting information and market risk. This indicates that in the selected sample, historical accounting information does not fully reflect the price of stocks.

Keywords: accounting information, market risk, systematic risk, stock return, efficient market hypothesis, EMH, Tehran stock exchange, TSE

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Bhrigu Rishi Mishra, Sreerag Sundaram, Nithin Jo Varghese, Karthik Sasihithlu

Abstract:

We have designed a TiO2/PDMS coating with 94% solar reflection, 96% IR emission, and 81.8 W/m2 cooling power for passive daytime radiative cooling using Kubelka Munk theory and CST microwave studio. To reduce solar absorption loss in 0.3-0.39 m wavelength region, a TiO2 thin film on top of the coating is used. Simulation using Ansys Lumerical shows that for a 20 m thick TiO2/PDMS coating, a TiO2 thin film of 84 nm increases the coating's reflectivity by 11% in the solar region.

Keywords: passive daytime radiative cooling, disordered metamaterial, Kudelka Munk theory, solar reflectivity

Procedia PDF Downloads 124