Search results for: degradation measure
2889 High Efficiency Electrolyte Lithium Battery and RF Characterization
Authors: Wei Quan, Liu Chao, Mohammed N. Afsar
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The dielectric properties and ionic conductivity of novel "ceramic state" polymer electrolytes for high capacity lithium battery are characterized by radio-frequency and Microwave methods in two broad frequency ranges from 50 Hz to 20 KHz and 4 GHz to 40 GHz. This innovative solid polymer electrolyte which is highly ionic conductive (10-3 S/cm at room temperature) from -40 oC to +150 oC and can be used in any battery application. Such polymer exhibits properties more like a ceramic rather than polymer. The various applied measurement methods produced accurate dielectric results for comprehensive analysis of electrochemical properties and ion transportation mechanism of this newly invented polymer electrolyte. Two techniques and instruments employing air gap measurement by capacitance bridge and inwave guide measurement by vector network analyzer are applied to measure the complex dielectric spectra. The complex dielectric spectra are used to determine the complex alternating current electrical conductivity and thus the ionic conductivity.Keywords: polymer electrolyte, dielectric permittivity, lithium battery, ionic relaxation, microwave measurement
Procedia PDF Downloads 4782888 Examining Macroeconomics Determinants of Inflation Rate in Somalia
Authors: Farhia Hassan Mohamed
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This study examined the macroeconomic factors that affect the inflation Rate in Somalia using quarterly time series data from 1991q1 to 2017q4 retired from World Development Indicators and SESRIC. It employed the vector error correction model (VECM) and Granger Causality method to measure the long-run and short-run causality of the GDP, inflation exchange rate, and unemployment. The study confirmed that there is one cointegration equation between GDP, exchange rate, inflation, and unemployment in Somalia. However, the VECM model's result indicates a long-run relationship among variables. The VEC Granger causality/Block Exogeneity Wald test result confirmed that all covariates are statistically significant at 5% and are Granger's cause of inflation in the short term. Finally, the impulse response result showed that inflation responds negatively to the shocks from the exchange rate and unemployment rate and positively to GDP and itself. Drawing from the empirical findings, the study makes several policy recommendations for both the monetary and Government sides.Keywords: CPI, OP, exchange rate, inflation ADF, Johansen, PP, VECM, impulse, ECT
Procedia PDF Downloads 452887 2D Fingerprint Performance for PubChem Chemical Database
Authors: Fatimah Zawani Abdullah, Shereena Mohd Arif, Nurul Malim
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The study of molecular similarity search in chemical database is increasingly widespread, especially in the area of drug discovery. Similarity search is an application in the field of Chemoinformatics to measure the similarity between the molecular structure which is known as the query and the structure of chemical compounds in the database. Similarity search is also one of the approaches in virtual screening which involves computational techniques and scoring the probabilities of activity. The main objective of this work is to determine the best fingerprint when compared to the other five fingerprints selected in this study using PubChem chemical dataset. This paper will discuss the similarity searching process conducted using 6 types of descriptors, which are ECFP4, ECFC4, FCFP4, FCFC4, SRECFC4 and SRFCFC4 on 15 activity classes of PubChem dataset using Tanimoto coefficient to calculate the similarity between the query structures and each of the database structure. The results suggest that ECFP4 performs the best to be used with Tanimoto coefficient in the PubChem dataset.Keywords: 2D fingerprints, Tanimoto, PubChem, similarity searching, chemoinformatics
Procedia PDF Downloads 2932886 Cavitating Jet Design for Enhanced Drilling Performance
Authors: Abdullah Ababtain, Mouhammad El Hassan, Hassan Assoum, Anas Sakout
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In this paper, a brief literature review on cavitation jets is presented in order to introduce the cavitation mechanism, strategies to assess when cavitation occurs, and the factors that influence cavitation in cavitating jets. The objectivity of the cavitation number often used to predict cavitation is also discussed. The results show that cavitation cannot be foreseen just using the cavitation number. Therefore, more efforts are needed to innovate and develop a self-resonating jet geometry that would be maintains the flow and the pressure in the cavitation condition just earlier than the flow acts on the target that would be used in such operating conditions. This study focused on a particular aspect related to improving drilling efficiency and the rate of penetration (ROP). In addition, a discussion on the methods used to measure cavitation and the factors that affect cavitation occurrence will be discussed. Two different types of cavitation nozzles were designed and tested. It has been shown that the self-resonating cavitation nozzle presents greater performance than standard non-resonating nozzle. It is thus concluded that a self-resonating cavitation jet present a high potential for improving drilling performance.Keywords: cavitating jet, erosion, cavitation number, rate of penetration (ROP)
Procedia PDF Downloads 1952885 Innovative Approaches to Water Resources Management: Addressing Challenges through Machine Learning and Remote Sensing
Authors: Abdelrahman Elsehsah, Abdelazim Negm, Eid Ashour, Mohamed Elsahabi
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Water resources management is a critical field that encompasses the planning, development, conservation, and allocation of water resources to meet societal needs while ensuring environmental sustainability. This paper reviews the key concepts and challenges in water resources management, emphasizing the significance of a holistic approach that integrates social, economic, and environmental factors. Traditional water management practices, characterized by supply-oriented strategies and centralized control, are increasingly inadequate in addressing contemporary challenges such as water scarcity, climate change impacts, and ecosystem degradation. Emerging technologies, particularly machine learning and remote sensing, offer innovative solutions to enhance decision-making processes in water management. Machine learning algorithms facilitate accurate water demand forecasting, quality monitoring, and leak detection, while remote sensing technologies provide vital data for assessing water availability and quality. This review highlights the need for integrated water management strategies that leverage these technologies to promote sustainable practices and foster resilience in water systems. Future research should focus on improving data quality, accessibility, and the integration of diverse datasets to optimize the benefits of these technological advancements.Keywords: water resources management, water scarcity, climate change, machine learning, remote sensing, water quality, water governance, sustainable practices, ecosystem management
Procedia PDF Downloads 62884 Radar Charts Analysis to Compare the Level of Innovation in Mexico with Most Innovative Countries in Triple Helix Schema Economic and Human Factor Dimension
Authors: M. Peña Aguilar Juan, Valencia Luis, Pastrana Alberto, Nava Estefany, A. Martinez, M. Vivanco, A. Castañeda
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This paper seeks to compare the innovation of Mexico from an economic and human perspective, with the seven most innovative countries according to the Global Innovation Index 2013, done by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The above analysis suggests nine dimensions: Expenditure on R & D, intellectual property, appropriate environment to conduct business, economic stability, and triple helix for R & D, ICT Infrastructure, education, human resources and quality of life. Each dimension is represented by an indicator which is later used to construct a radial graph that compares the innovative capacity of the countries analysed. As a result, it is proposed a new indicator of innovation called The Area of Innovation. Observations are made from the results, and finally as a conclusion, those items or dimensions in which Mexico suffers lag in innovation are identify.Keywords: dimension, measure, innovation level, economy, radar chart
Procedia PDF Downloads 4722883 Low Cost Technique for Measuring Luminance in Biological Systems
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In this work, the relationship between the melanin content in a tissue and subsequent absorption of light through that tissue was determined using a digital camera. This technique proved to be simple, cost effective, efficient and reliable. Tissue phantom samples were created using milk and soy sauce to simulate the optical properties of melanin content in human tissue. Increasing the concentration of soy sauce in the milk correlated to an increase in melanin content of an individual. Two methods were employed to measure the light transmitted through the sample. The first was direct measurement of the transmitted intensity using a conventional lux meter. The second method involved correctly calibrating an ordinary digital camera and using image analysis software to calculate the transmitted intensity through the phantom. The results from these methods were then graphically compared to the theoretical relationship between the intensity of transmitted light and the concentration of absorbers in the sample. Conclusions were then drawn about the effectiveness and efficiency of these low cost methods.Keywords: tissue phantoms, scattering coefficient, albedo, low-cost method
Procedia PDF Downloads 2712882 Econophysics: The Use of Entropy Measures in Finance
Authors: Muhammad Sheraz, Vasile Preda, Silvia Dedu
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Concepts of econophysics are usually used to solve problems related to uncertainty and nonlinear dynamics. In the theory of option pricing the risk neutral probabilities play very important role. The application of entropy in finance can be regarded as the extension of both information entropy and the probability entropy. It can be an important tool in various financial methods such as measure of risk, portfolio selection, option pricing and asset pricing. Gulko applied Entropy Pricing Theory (EPT) for pricing stock options and introduced an alternative framework of Black-Scholes model for pricing European stock option. In this article, we present solutions to maximum entropy problems based on Tsallis, Weighted-Tsallis, Kaniadakis, Weighted-Kaniadakies entropies, to obtain risk-neutral densities. We have also obtained the value of European call and put in this framework.Keywords: option pricing, Black-Scholes model, Tsallis entropy, Kaniadakis entropy, weighted entropy, risk-neutral density
Procedia PDF Downloads 3032881 Domestic and Foreign Terrorism: Evaluation of the Breeding Ground
Authors: T. K. Hung
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Terrorism acts have occurred across both developed and developing states, with well-identified motivation and causes. For many years, terrorism eradication has become a major topic yet only passive actions were taken in response to acts. The linkage between the location of terrorism occurrence and breeding ground is not well-documented, resulting in the passive approach used in counter-terrorism nowadays. The evaluation investigates all post-9/11 terrorism affairs considering their state capacity, safety, ease of border access control, religion diversity, and technology access, to measure the level of breeding ground of the states. Those "weak" states with poor border access control, resources capacity and domestic safety are the best breeding ground for terrorists. Although many attacks were caused by religious motivation, religion diversity does not predict the breeding ground. States with censored technology access, particular computer-mediated communication, predict on the terrorism breeding ground, moderated by the level of breeding ground of neighboring states.Keywords: counter-terrorism, lethality, security, terrorism
Procedia PDF Downloads 3402880 Bayesian Inference of Physicochemical Quality Elements of Tropical Lagoon Nokoué (Benin)
Authors: Hounyèmè Romuald, Maxime Logez, Mama Daouda, Argillier Christine
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In view of the very strong degradation of aquatic ecosystems, it is urgent to set up monitoring systems that are best able to report on the effects of the stresses they undergo. This is particularly true in developing countries, where specific and relevant quality standards and funding for monitoring programs are lacking. The objective of this study was to make a relevant and objective choice of physicochemical parameters informative of the main stressors occurring on African lakes and to identify their alteration thresholds. Based on statistical analyses of the relationship between several driving forces and the physicochemical parameters of the Nokoué lagoon, relevant Physico-chemical parameters were selected for its monitoring. An innovative method based on Bayesian statistical modeling was used. Eleven Physico-chemical parameters were selected for their response to at least one stressor and their threshold quality standards were also established: Total Phosphorus (<4.5mg/L), Orthophosphates (<0.2mg/L), Nitrates (<0.5 mg/L), TKN (<1.85 mg/L), Dry Organic Matter (<5 mg/L), Dissolved Oxygen (>4 mg/L), BOD (<11.6 mg/L), Salinity (7.6 .), Water Temperature (<28.7 °C), pH (>6.2), and Transparency (>0.9 m). According to the System for the Evaluation of Coastal Water Quality, these thresholds correspond to” good to medium” suitability classes, except for total phosphorus. One of the original features of this study is the use of the bounds of the credibility interval of the fixed-effect coefficients as local weathering standards for the characterization of the Physico-chemical status of this anthropized African ecosystem.Keywords: driving forces, alteration thresholds, acadjas, monitoring, modeling, human activities
Procedia PDF Downloads 942879 On-Farm Diversification in Vietnam: Determinants and Trends
Authors: Diep Thanh Tung, Joachim Aurbacher
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This study aims to measure the level of on-farm diversification in Vietnam. The empirical results of the research carried out reflect regional differences in terms of on-farm diversification and its determinants. Households in the northern regions have adapted to the fragmented and small-sized parcels of land held by diversifying their on-farm activities. In contrast, the Mekong delta region in the south of Vietnam is characterized by larger agricultural parcels and a specialization in rice production. Land use fragmentation, as reflected by a large number of plots in a given area, is one of the most important reasons for the high levels of on-farm diversification seen, while the higher share of non-farm income in total income is the reason of lower levels of on-farm diversification. Households have reacted to natural and economic shocks by diversifying their on-farm activities. The non-stationary Markov chain model used here shows various diversification scenarios and trends. In most cases, on-farm diversification generally tends to reduce over the next few years.Keywords: diversification, simpson index, fixed effects, non-stationary markov chain
Procedia PDF Downloads 4852878 Simulation of Communication and Sensing Device in Automobiles Using VHDL
Authors: Anirudh Bhaikhel
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The exclusive objective of this paper is to develop a device which can pass on the interpreted result of the sensed information to the interfaced communicable devices to avoid or minimise accidents. This device may also be used in case of emergencies like kidnapping, robberies, medical emergencies etc. The present era has seen a rapid metamorphosis in the automobile industry with increasing use of technology and speed. The increase in purchasing power of customers and price war of automobile companies has made an easy access to the automobile users. The use of automobiles has increased tremendously in last 4-5 years thus causing traffic congestions and thus making vehicles more prone to accidents. This device can be an effective measure to counteract cases of abduction. Risks of accidents can be decreased tremendously through the notifications received by these alerts. It will help to detect the upcoming emergencies. This paper includes the simulation of the communication and sensing device required in automobiles using VHDL.Keywords: automobiles, communication, component, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), modulo-2 arithmetic, parity bits, receiver, sensors, transmitter, turns, VHDL (VHSIC hardware descriptive language)
Procedia PDF Downloads 2672877 Thermo-Physical Properties and Solubility of CO2 in Piperazine Activated Aqueous Solutions of β-Alanine
Authors: Ghulam Murshid
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Carbon dioxide is one of the major greenhouse gas (GHG) contributors. It is an obligation of the industry to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emission to the acceptable limits. Tremendous research and studies are reported in the past and still the quest to find the suitable and economical solution of this problem needed to be explored in order to develop the most plausible absorber for carbon dioxide removal. Amino acids are reported by the researchers as a potential solvent for absorption of carbon dioxide to replace alkanolamines due to its ability to resist oxidative degradation, low volatility due to its ionic structure and higher surface tension. In addition, the introduction of promoter-like piperazine to amino acid helps to further enhance the solubility. In this work, the effect of piperazine on thermophysical properties and solubility of β-Alanine aqueous solutions were studied for various concentrations. The measured physicochemical properties data was correlated as a function of temperature using least-squares method and the correlation parameters are reported together with it respective standard deviations. The effect of activator piperazine on the CO2 loading performance of selected amino acid under high-pressure conditions (1bar to 10bar) at temperature range of (30 to 60)oC was also studied. Solubility of CO2 decreases with increasing temperature and increases with increasing pressure. Quadratic representation of solubility using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) shows that the most important parameter to optimize solubility is system pressure. The addition of promoter increases the solubility effect of the solvent.Keywords: amino acids, co2, global warming, solubility
Procedia PDF Downloads 4142876 Developing Performance Model for Road Side Elements Receiving Periodic Maintenance
Authors: Ayman M. Othman, Hassan Y. Ahmed, Tallat A. Ali
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Inadequate maintenance programs and funds allocated for highway networks in the developed countries have led to fast deterioration of road side elements. Therefore, this research focuses on developing a performance model for road side elements periodic maintenance activities. Road side elements that receive periodic maintenance include; earthen shoulder, road signs and traffic markings. Using the level of service concept, the developed model can determine the optimal periodic maintenance intervals for those elements based on a selected level of service suitable with the available periodic maintenance budget. Data related to time periods for progressive deterioration stages for the chosen elements were collected. Ten maintenance experts in Aswan, Sohag and Assiut cities were interviewed for that purpose. Time in months related to 10%, 25%, 40%, 50%, 75%, 90% and 100% deterioration of each road side element was estimated based on the experts opinion. Least square regression analysis has shown that a power function represents the best fit for earthen shoulders edge drop-off and damage of road signs with time. It was also evident that, the progressive dirtiness of road signs could be represented by a quadratic function an a linear function could represent the paint degradation nature of both traffic markings and road signs. Actual measurements of earthen shoulder edge drop-off agree considerably with the developed model.Keywords: deterioration, level of service, periodic maintenance, performance model, road side element
Procedia PDF Downloads 5722875 Sludge and Compost Amendments in Tropical Soils: Impact on Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) Nutrient Content
Authors: M. López-Moreno, L. Lugo Avilés, F. Román, J. Lugo Rosas, J. Hernández-Viezcas Jr., Peralta-Videa, J. Gardea-Torresdey
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Degradation of agricultural soils has increased rapidly during the last 20 years due to the indiscriminate use of pesticides and other anthropogenic activities. Currently, there is an urgent need of soil restoration to increase agricultural production. Utilization of sewage sludge or municipal solid waste is an important way to recycle nutrient elements and improve soil quality. With these amendments, nutrient availability in the aqueous phase might be increased and production of healthier crops can be accomplished. This research project aimed to achieve sustainable management of tropical agricultural soils, specifically in Puerto Rico, through the amendment of water treatment plant sludge’s. This practice avoids landfill disposal of sewage sludge and at the same time results cost-effective practice for recycling solid waste residues. Coriander sativum was cultivated in a compost-soil-sludge mixture at different proportions. Results showed that Coriander grown in a mixture of 25% compost+50% Voladora soi+25% sludge had the best growth and development. High chlorophyll content (33.01 ± 0.8) was observed in Coriander plants cultivated in 25% compost+62.5% Coloso soil+ 12.5% sludge compared to plants grown with no sludge (32.59 ± 0.7). ICP-OES analysis showed variations in mineral element contents (macro and micronutrients) in coriander plant grown I soil amended with sludge and compost.Keywords: compost, Coriandrum sativum, nutrients, waste sludge
Procedia PDF Downloads 4092874 Performances of the Double-Crystal Setup at CERN SPS Accelerator for Physics beyond Colliders Experiments
Authors: Andrii Natochii
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We are currently presenting the recent results from the CERN accelerator facilities obtained in the frame of the UA9 Collaboration. The UA9 experiment investigates how a tiny silicon bent crystal (few millimeters long) can be used for various high-energy physics applications. Due to the huge electrostatic field (tens of GV/cm) between crystalline planes, there is a probability for charged particles, impinging the crystal, to be trapped in the channeling regime. It gives a possibility to steer a high intensity and momentum beam by bending the crystal: channeled particles will follow the crystal curvature and deflect on the certain angle (from tens microradians for LHC to few milliradians for SPS energy ranges). The measurements at SPS, performed in 2017 and 2018, confirmed that the protons deflected by the first crystal, inserted in the primary beam halo, can be caught and channeled by the second crystal. In this configuration, we measure the single pass deflection efficiency of the second crystal and prove our opportunity to perform the fixed target experiment at SPS accelerator (LHC in the future).Keywords: channeling, double-crystal setup, fixed target experiment, Timepix detector
Procedia PDF Downloads 1512873 Rehabilitation and Conservation of Mangrove Forest as Pertamina Corporate Social Responsibility Approach in Prevention Damage Climate in Indonesia
Authors: Nor Anisa
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This paper aims to describe the use of conservation and rehabilitation of Mangrove forests as an alternative area in protecting the natural environment and ecosystems and ecology, community education and innovation of sustainable industrial development such as oil companies, gas and coal. The existence of globalization encourages energy needs such as gas, diesel and coal as an unaffected resource which is a basic need for human life while environmental degradation and natural phenomena continue to occur in Indonesia, especially global warming, sea water pollution, extinction of animal steps. The phenomenon or damage to nature in Indonesia is caused by a population explosion in Indonesia that causes unemployment, the land where the residence will disappear so that this will encourage the exploitation of nature and the environment. Therefore, Pertamina as a state-owned oil and gas company carries out its social responsibility efforts, namely to carry out conservation and rehabilitation and management of Mangrove fruit seeds which will provide an educational effect on the benefits of Mangrove seed maintenance. The method used in this study is a qualitative method and secondary data retrieval techniques where data is taken based on Pertamina activity journals and websites that can be accounted for. So the conclusion of this paper is: the benefits and function of conservation of mangrove forests in Indonesia physically, chemically, biologically and socially and economically and can provide innovation to the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) of the company in continuing social responsibility in the scope of environmental conservation and social education.Keywords: mangrove, environmental damage, conservation and rehabilitation, innovation of corporate social responsibility
Procedia PDF Downloads 1352872 Speech Intelligibility Improvement Using Variable Level Decomposition DWT
Authors: Samba Raju, Chiluveru, Manoj Tripathy
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Intelligibility is an essential characteristic of a speech signal, which is used to help in the understanding of information in speech signal. Background noise in the environment can deteriorate the intelligibility of a recorded speech. In this paper, we presented a simple variance subtracted - variable level discrete wavelet transform, which improve the intelligibility of speech. The proposed algorithm does not require an explicit estimation of noise, i.e., prior knowledge of the noise; hence, it is easy to implement, and it reduces the computational burden. The proposed algorithm decides a separate decomposition level for each frame based on signal dominant and dominant noise criteria. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated with speech intelligibility measure (STOI), and results obtained are compared with Universal Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) thresholding and Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) methods. The experimental results revealed that the proposed scheme outperformed competing methodsKeywords: discrete wavelet transform, speech intelligibility, STOI, standard deviation
Procedia PDF Downloads 1482871 Probabilistic and Stochastic Analysis of a Retaining Wall for C-Φ Soil Backfill
Authors: André Luís Brasil Cavalcante, Juan Felix Rodriguez Rebolledo, Lucas Parreira de Faria Borges
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A methodology for the probabilistic analysis of active earth pressure on retaining wall for c-Φ soil backfill is described in this paper. The Rosenblueth point estimate method is used to measure the failure probability of a gravity retaining wall. The basic principle of this methodology is to use two point estimates, i.e., the standard deviation and the mean value, to examine a variable in the safety analysis. The simplicity of this framework assures to its wide application. For the calculation is required 2ⁿ repetitions during the analysis, since the system is governed by n variables. In this study, a probabilistic model based on the Rosenblueth approach for the computation of the overturning probability of failure of a retaining wall is presented. The obtained results have shown the advantages of this kind of models in comparison with the deterministic solution. In a relatively easy way, the uncertainty on the wall and fill parameters are taken into account, and some practical results can be obtained for the retaining structure design.Keywords: retaining wall, active earth pressure, backfill, probabilistic analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 4182870 Employee Engagement: Tool for Success of Higher Education in Thailand
Authors: Pooree Sakot, Marndarath Suksanga
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Organizations are under increasing pressure to improve performance and maximize the contribution of every employee. Employee engagement has become an attractive business proposition. The triple bottom line consists of three Ps: profit, people and planet. It aims to measure the financial, social and environmental performance of the corporation over a period of time. People are the most important asset of every organization. Most of the studies suggest that employee engagement improves the bottom line in almost every instance and it is well worth all organizational efforts to actively engage employees. Engaged employees have an impact on productivity and financial performance. Efficient leadership and effective management can take place if emerging paradigm like employee engagement is appropriately understood and put into practice. Employee engagement starts at the first step i.e. recruitment of an employee to the last step i.e. retirement .The HR Practices of an organization play the most major role in helping the employees walk the extra mile. Effective employee engagement is the key component for improved organizational performance.Keywords: employee engagement, higher education, tool, success
Procedia PDF Downloads 3352869 Effect of Reynolds Number and Concentration of Biopolymer (Gum Arabic) on Drag Reduction of Turbulent Flow in Circular Pipe
Authors: Kamaljit Singh Sokhal, Gangacharyulu Dasoraju, Vijaya Kumar Bulasara
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Biopolymers are popular in many areas, like petrochemicals, food industry and agriculture due to their favorable properties like environment-friendly, availability, and cost. In this study, a biopolymer gum Arabic was used to find its effect on the pressure drop at various concentrations (100 ppm – 300 ppm) with various Reynolds numbers (10000 – 45000). A rheological study was also done by using the same concentrations to find the effect of the shear rate on the shear viscosity. Experiments were performed to find the effect of injection of gum Arabic directly near the boundary layer and to investigate its effect on the maximum possible drag reduction. Experiments were performed on a test section having i.d of 19.50 mm and length of 3045 mm. The polymer solution was injected from the top of the test section by using a peristaltic pump. The concentration of the polymer solution and the Reynolds number were used as parameters to get maximum possible drag reduction. Water was circulated through a centrifugal pump having a maximum 3000 rpm and the flow rate was measured by using rotameter. Results were validated by using Virk's maximum drag reduction asymptote. A maximum drag reduction of 62.15% was observed with the maximum concentration of gum Arabic, 300 ppm. The solution was circulated in the closed loop to find the effect of degradation of polymers with a number of cycles on the drag reduction percentage. It was observed that the injection of the polymer solution in the boundary layer was showing better results than premixed solutions.Keywords: drag reduction, shear viscosity, gum arabic, injection point
Procedia PDF Downloads 1392868 Investment Adjustments to Exchange Rate Fluctuations Evidence from Manufacturing Firms in Tunisia
Authors: Mourad Zmami Oussema BenSalha
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The current research aims to assess empirically the reaction of private investment to exchange rate fluctuations in Tunisia using a sample of 548 firms operating in manufacturing industries between 1997 and 2002. The micro-econometric model we estimate is based on an accelerator-profit specification investment model increased by two variables that measure the variation and the volatility of exchange rates. Estimates using the system the GMM method reveal that the effects of the exchange rate depreciation on investment are negative since it increases the cost of imported capital goods. Turning to the exchange rate volatility, as measured by the GARCH (1,1) model, our findings assign a significant role to the exchange rate uncertainty in explaining the sluggishness of private investment in Tunisia in the full sample of firms. Other estimation attempts based on various sub samples indicate that the elasticities of investment relative to the exchange rate volatility depend upon many firms’ specific characteristics such as the size and the ownership structure.Keywords: investment, exchange rate volatility, manufacturing firms, system GMM, Tunisia
Procedia PDF Downloads 4102867 Nonlocal Phenomena in Quantum Mechanics
Authors: Kazim G. Atman, Hüseyin Sirin
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In theoretical physics, nonlocal phenomena has always been subject of debate. However, in the conventional mathematical approach where the developments of the physical systems are investigated by using the standard mathematical tools, nonlocal effects are not taken into account. In order to investigate the nonlocality in quantum mechanics and fractal property of space, fractional derivative operators are employed in this study. In this manner, fractional creation and annihilation operators are introduced and Einstein coefficients are taken into account as an application of concomitant formalism in quantum field theory. Therefore, each energy mode of photons are considered as fractional quantized harmonic oscillator hereby Einstein coefficients are obtained. Nevertheless, wave function and energy eigenvalues of fractional quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator are obtained via the fractional derivative order α which is a measure of the influence of nonlocal effects. In the case α = 1, where space becomes homogeneous and continuous, standard physical conclusions are recovered.Keywords: Einstein’s Coefficients, Fractional Calculus, Fractional Quantum Mechanics, Nonlocal Theories
Procedia PDF Downloads 1702866 Reactive Oxygen Species-Mediated Photoaging Pathways of Ultrafine Plastic Particles under UV Irradiation
Authors: Jiajun Duan, Yang Li, Jianan Gao, Runzi Cao, Enxiang Shang, Wen Zhang
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Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation is considered as an important photoaging mechanism of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs). To elucidate the ROS-induced MP/NP aging processes in water under UV365 irradiation, we examined the effects of surface coatings, polymer types, and grain sizes on ROS generation and photoaging intermediates. Bare polystyrene (PS) NPs generated hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and singlet oxygen (¹O₂), while coated PS NPs (carboxyl-modified PS (PS-COOH), amino-modified PS (PS-NH₂)) and PS MPs generated fewer ROS due to coating scavenging or size effects. Polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene terephthalate, and polycarbonate MPs only generated •OH. For aromatic polymers, •OH addition preferentially occurred at benzene rings to form monohydroxy polymers. Excess •OH resulted in H abstraction, C-C scission, and phenyl ring opening to generate aliphatic ketones, esters, aldehydes, and aromatic ketones. For coated PS NPs, •OH preferentially attacked the surface coatings to result in decarboxylation and deamination reactions. For aliphatic polymers, •OH attack resulted in the formation of carbonyl groups from peracid, aldehyde, or ketone via H abstraction and C-C scission. Moreover, ¹O₂ might participate in phenyl ring opening for PS NPs and coating degradation for coated PS NPs. This study facilitates understanding the ROS-induced weathering process of NPs/MPs in water under UV irradiation.Keywords: microplastics, nanoplastics, photoaging, reactive oxygen species, surface coating
Procedia PDF Downloads 1572865 Wicking and Evaporation of Liquids in Knitted Fabrics: Analytic Solution of Capillary Rise Restrained by Gravity and Evaporation
Authors: N. S. Achour, M. Hamdaoui, S. Ben Nasrallah
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Wicking and evaporation of water in porous knitted fabrics is investigated by combining experimental and analytical approaches: The standard wicking model from Lucas and Washburn is enhanced to account for evaporation and gravity effects. The goal is to model the effect of gravity and evaporation on wicking using simple analytical expressions and investigate the influence of fabrics geometrical parameters, such as porosity and thickness on evaporation impact on maximum reachable height values. The results show that fabric properties have a significant influence on evaporation effect. In this paper, an experimental study of determining water kinetics from different knitted fabrics were gravimetrically investigated permitting the measure of the mass and the height of liquid rising in fabrics in various atmospheric conditions. From these measurements, characteristic pore parameters (capillary radius and permeability) can be determined.Keywords: evaporation, experimental study, geometrical parameters, model, porous knitted fabrics, wicking
Procedia PDF Downloads 5822864 Two Stage Assembly Flowshop Scheduling Problem Minimizing Total Tardiness
Authors: Ali Allahverdi, Harun Aydilek, Asiye Aydilek
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The two stage assembly flowshop scheduling problem has lots of application in real life. To the best of our knowledge, the two stage assembly flowshop scheduling problem with total tardiness performance measure and separate setup times has not been addressed so far, and hence, it is addressed in this paper. Different dominance relations are developed and several algorithms are proposed. Extensive computational experiments are conducted to evaluate the proposed algorithms. The computational experiments have shown that one of the algorithms performs much better than the others. Moreover, the experiments have shown that the best performing algorithm performs much better than the best existing algorithm for the case of zero setup times in the literature. Therefore, the proposed best performing algorithm not only can be used for problems with separate setup times but also for the case of zero setup times.Keywords: scheduling, assembly flowshop, total tardiness, algorithm
Procedia PDF Downloads 3442863 Generative Adversarial Network Based Fingerprint Anti-Spoofing Limitations
Authors: Yehjune Heo
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Fingerprint Anti-Spoofing approaches have been actively developed and applied in real-world applications. One of the main problems for Fingerprint Anti-Spoofing is not robust to unseen samples, especially in real-world scenarios. A possible solution will be to generate artificial, but realistic fingerprint samples and use them for training in order to achieve good generalization. This paper contains experimental and comparative results with currently popular GAN based methods and uses realistic synthesis of fingerprints in training in order to increase the performance. Among various GAN models, the most popular StyleGAN is used for the experiments. The CNN models were first trained with the dataset that did not contain generated fake images and the accuracy along with the mean average error rate were recorded. Then, the fake generated images (fake images of live fingerprints and fake images of spoof fingerprints) were each combined with the original images (real images of live fingerprints and real images of spoof fingerprints), and various CNN models were trained. The best performances for each CNN model, trained with the dataset of generated fake images and each time the accuracy and the mean average error rate, were recorded. We observe that current GAN based approaches need significant improvements for the Anti-Spoofing performance, although the overall quality of the synthesized fingerprints seems to be reasonable. We include the analysis of this performance degradation, especially with a small number of samples. In addition, we suggest several approaches towards improved generalization with a small number of samples, by focusing on what GAN based approaches should learn and should not learn.Keywords: anti-spoofing, CNN, fingerprint recognition, GAN
Procedia PDF Downloads 1842862 Monitoring of Belt-Drive Defects Using the Vibration Signals and Simulation Models
Authors: A. Nabhan, Mohamed R. El-Sharkawy, A. Rashed
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The main aim of this paper is to dedicate the belt drive system faults like cogs missing, misalignment and belt worm using vibration analysis technique. Experimentally, the belt drive test-rig is equipped to measure vibrations signals under different operating conditions. Finite element 3D model of belt drive system is created and vibration response analyzed using commercial finite element software ABAQUS/CAE. Root mean square (RMS) and Crest Factor will serve as indicators of average amplitude of envelope analysis signals. The vibration signals pattern obtained from the simulation model and experimental data have the same characteristics. It can be concluded that each case of the RMS is more effective in detecting the defect for acceleration response. While Crest Factor parameter has a response with the displacement and velocity of vibration signals. Also it can be noticed that the model has difficulty in completing the solution when the misalignment angle is higher than 1 degree.Keywords: simulation model, misalignment, cogs missing, vibration analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 2842861 Evaluation of Longitudinal Relaxation Time (T1) of Bone Marrow in Lumbar Vertebrae of Leukaemia Patients Undergoing Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Authors: M. G. R. S. Perera, B. S. Weerakoon, L. P. G. Sherminie, M. L. Jayatilake, R. D. Jayasinghe, W. Huang
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The aim of this study was to measure and evaluate the Longitudinal Relaxation Times (T1) in bone marrow of an Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) patient in order to explore the potential for a prognostic biomarker using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) which will be a non-invasive prognostic approach to AML. MR image data were collected in the DICOM format and MATLAB Simulink software was used in the image processing and data analysis. For quantitative MRI data analysis, Region of Interests (ROI) on multiple image slices were drawn encompassing vertebral bodies of L3, L4, and L5. T1 was evaluated using the T1 maps obtained. The estimated bone marrow mean value of T1 was 790.1 (ms) at 3T. However, the reported T1 value of healthy subjects is significantly (946.0 ms) higher than the present finding. This suggests that the T1 for bone marrow can be considered as a potential prognostic biomarker for AML patients.Keywords: acute myeloid leukaemia, longitudinal relaxation time, magnetic resonance imaging, prognostic biomarker.
Procedia PDF Downloads 5312860 Evaluation of Sustainable Blue Economy Development Performance: Method and Case
Authors: Mingbao Chen
Abstract:
After Rio+20, the blue economy rises all over the world, and it has become the focus field of national development. At present, the blue economy has become a new growth point in the field of global economy and the direction of the development of ‘green’ in the ocean. However, in fact, the key factors affecting the development of the blue economy have not been explored in depth, and the development policies and performance of the blue economy have not been scientifically evaluated. This cannot provide useful guidance for the development of the blue economy. Therefore, it is urgent to establish a quantitative evaluation framework to measure the performance of the blue economic development. Based on the full understanding of the connotation and elements of the blue economy, and studying the literature, this article has built an universality and operability evaluation index system, including ecological environment, social justice, sustainable growth, policy measures, and so on. And this article also established a sound evaluation framework of blue economic development performance. At the same time, this article takes China as a sample to test the framework of the adaptability, and to assess the performance of China's blue economic.Keywords: Blue economy, development performance, evaluation framework, assess method
Procedia PDF Downloads 247