Search results for: vertical product differentiation

Authors: Yuri V. Plugatar, Vladimir P. Koba, Vladimir V. Papelbu, Vladimir N. Gerasimchuk, Tatjana M. Sakhno

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Using a supersonic shaft–wood tomography, the evaluation of a shaft-wood phyto-pathogenic damage level of Sequoiadendron giganteum (Lindl.) Buccholz was prosecuted. The digital bivariate reflections of the shaft tissue damage were obtained, the characteristics of comparative parameters of the wood-decay degree were given. The investigation results allowed to show up the role of some edaphic factors in their affection on a vital condition and the level of destructive processes while shaft tissue damaging of S.giganteum. It was pinned up that soil consolidation, and hydro-morphication equally make for a phyto-pathogenic damage of plants. While soil consolidation negative acting the shaft-wood damage is located in an underneath of a shaft. In the conditions of an enlarged hydro-morphication a tissue degradation runs less intensively, the destructive processes more active spread in a vertical section of a shaft. The use of a supersonic tomography method gives wide possibilities to diagnose a shaft-wood phyto-pathogenic damage.

Keywords: Sequoiadendron giganteum (Lindl.) Buccholz, supersonic tomography, diagnosis, phyto-pathogenic damage, a vital condition

Procedia PDF Downloads 203

Authors: Vinci Mojamdar, Govind S. Gupta

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Moving beds in the presence of gas flow are widely used in metallurgical and chemical industries like blast furnaces, catalyst reforming, drying, etc. Pressure drop studies in co- and counter – current conditions have been done by a few researchers. However, to the best of authours knowledge, proper pressure drop study with lateral gas injection lacks especially in the presence of cavity and nozzle protrusion inside the packed bed. The latter study is more useful for metallurgical industries for the processes such as blast furnaces, shaft reduction and, COREX. In this experimental work, a two dimensional cold model with slot type nozzle for lateral gas injection along with the plastic beads as packing material and dry air as gas have been used. The variation of pressure drop is recorded at various horizontal and vertical directions in the presence of cavity and nozzle protrusion. The study has been performed in both moving and stationary beds. Also, the experiments have been carried out in both increasing as well as decreasing gas flow conditions. Experiments have been performed at various gas flow rates and packed bed heights. Some interesting results have been reported such as there is no pressure variation in the moving bed for both the increasing and decreasing gas flow condition that is different from the stationary bed. Pressure hysteresis loop has been observed in a stationary bed.

Keywords: lateral gas injection, moving bed, pressure drop, pressure hysteresis, stationary bed

Procedia PDF Downloads 303

Authors: Omid Adibi, Nategheh Najafpour, Bijan Farhanieh, Hossein Afshin

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Gas release from the pipelines is one of the main factors in the gas industry accidents. Released gas ejects from the pipeline as a free jet and in the growth process, the fuel gets mixed with the ambient air. Accordingly, an accidental spark will release the chemical energy of the mixture with an explosion. Gas explosion damages the equipment and endangers the life of staffs. So due to importance of safety in gas industries, prevision of accident can reduce the number of the casualties. In this paper, natural gas leakages from the low pressure pipelines are studied in two steps: 1) the simulation of mixing process and identification of flammable zones and 2) the simulation of wind effects on the mixing process. The numerical simulations were performed by using the finite volume method and the pressure-based algorithm. Also, for the grid generation the structured method was used. The results show that, in just 6.4 s after accident, released natural gas could penetrate to 40 m in vertical and 20 m in horizontal direction. Moreover, the results show that the wind speed is a key factor in dispersion process. In fact, the wind transports the flammable zones into the downstream. Hence, to improve the safety of the people and human property, it is preferable to construct gas facilities and buildings in the opposite side of prevailing wind direction.

Keywords: flammable zones, gas pipelines, numerical simulation, wind effects

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: P. Suparada, D. Eakapotch

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The objectives were to analyze the using of new media in the form of set up candid clip that affects the product and presenter, to study the effectiveness of using new media in the form of set up candid clip in order to increase the circulation and audience satisfaction and to use the earned information and knowledge to develop the communication for publicizing and advertising via new media. This research is qualitative research based on questionnaire and in-depth interview from experts. The findings showed the advantages and disadvantages of communication for publicizing and advertising via new media in the form of set up candid clip including with the specific target group for this kind of advertising. It will be useful for fields of publicizing and advertising in the new media forms at the present.

Keywords: candid clip, communication, new media, social network

Procedia PDF Downloads 240

Authors: N. Yachou, R. Aboulaich

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Home is a basic necessity for human life, that why home financing takes a large chunk of people’s income. Therefore, Islamic and Conventional Banks try to offer new product in order to respond to customer needs related to home financing. Basing on this fact, we propose a Modified Diminishing Partnership model based on profit and loss sharing to reduce the duration of getting the full shares in the house property. Our proposition will be represented by the rental that customer has to give every month to the bank with redemption to increase his shares on the property of the house.

Keywords: home financing, interest rate, rental rate, modified diminishing partnership

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: Barbara Zapala, Marek Dziechciowski, Olaf Chmura, Monika Piwowar, Katarzyna Gawlik, Dorota Pawlicka-Gosiewska, Krzysztof Skotniczny, Bogdan Solnica, Kazimierz Pitynski

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BACKGROUND: Endometrial cancer is one of the most common gynecologic malignancy in developed countries.We hypothesized that amount of circulating micro-particles in blood may be connected with the development of endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial cancer. The aim of this study was to measure the micro-particles amount in uterine venous blood and in peripheral venous blood in women with atypical endometrial hyperplasia and endometrioid endometrial cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: By using flow cytometry (BD Canto II cytometer) we measured micro-particles amount in citrate plasma samples from peripheral and uterine venous blood of women with atypical hyperplasia of endometrium or endometrial cancer. We determined the amount of total (TF+), endothelial (CD144+) and monocytic (CD14+) micro- particles. RESULTS: Here we show statistically significant higher micro-particle levels in women with atypical hyperplasia of endometrium or endometrial cancer in comparison to healthy women. Performing measurements of the amounts of total, endothelial and monocytic microparticles allow for reliable differentiation between healthy, atypical hyperplasia and endometrial cancer groups. In blood samples from uterine veins the circulating micro-particle levels were significantly different from peripheral blood samples. The micro-particle levels in uterine blood samples were 7-fold higher than in those from peripheral blood of women with both atypical hyperplasia of endometrium and endometrial cancer when compared to the control group of healthy women. CONCLUSION: These results strongly suggested that the level of circulating micro-particles may be a sign of endometrial cancer development, however the detailed study is needed focusing on molecular processes passed through this small circulating molecules.

Keywords: endometrial cancer, endometrial hyperplasia, microvesicles, uterine blood

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Ting-Yu Hsu, Shyu-Yu Wu, Shieh-Kung Huang, Hung-Wei Chiang, Kung-Chun Lu, Pei-Yang Lin, Kuo-Liang Wen

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Regional earthquake early warning (EEW) systems are not suitable for Taiwan, as most destructive seismic hazards arise due to in-land earthquakes. These likely cause the lead-time provided by regional EEW systems before a destructive earthquake wave arrives to become null. On the other hand, an on-site EEW system can provide more lead-time at a region closer to an epicenter, since only seismic information of the target site is required. Instead of leveraging the information of several stations, the on-site system extracts some P-wave features from the first few seconds of vertical ground acceleration of a single station and performs a prediction of the oncoming earthquake intensity at the same station according to these features. Since seismometers could be triggered by non-earthquake events such as a passing of a truck or other human activities, to reduce the likelihood of false alarms, a seismometer was installed at three different locations on the same site and the performance of the EEW system for these three sensor locations were discussed. The results show that the location on the ground of the first floor of a school building maybe a good choice, since the false alarms could be reduced and the cost for installation and maintenance is the lowest.

Keywords: earthquake early warning, on-site, seismometer location, support vector machine

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: Vo Thi Hai Quan

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Nam Con Son sedimentary basin is one of the very important oil and gas basins in offshore Vietnam. Hai Thach field of block 05-2 contains mostly gas accumulations in fine-grained, sand/mud-rich turbidite system, which was deposited in a turbidite channel and fan environment. Major Upper Miocene reservoir of HT-3X lies above a well-developed unconformity. The main objectives of this study are to reconstruct depositional environment and to assess the reservoir quality using data from 14 meters of core samples and digital wireline data of the well HT-3X. The wireline log and core data showed that the vertical sequences of representative facies of the well mainly range from Tb to Te divisions of Bouma sequences with predominance of Tb and Tc compared to Td and Te divisions. Sediments in this well were deposited in a submarine fan association with very fine to fine-grained, homogeneous sandstones that have high porosity and permeability, high- density turbidity currents with longer transport route from the sediment source to the basin, indicating good quality of reservoir. Sediments are comprised mainly of the following sedimentary structures: massive, laminated sandstones, convoluted bedding, laminated ripples, cross-laminated ripples, deformed sandstones, contorted bedding.

Keywords: Hai Thach field, Miocene sand, turbidite, wireline data

Procedia PDF Downloads 291

Authors: German Osma, Gabriel Ordonez

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The production of metal-rubber spares for vehicles is a sequential process that consists in the transformation of raw material through cutting activities and chemical and thermal treatments, which demand electricity and fossil fuels. The energy efficiency analysis for these cases is mostly focused on studying of each machine or production step, but is not common to study of the quality of the production process achieves from aggregated value viewpoint, which can be used as a quality measurement for determining of impact on the environment. In this paper, the theory of exergetic cost is used for determining of aggregated exergy to three metal-rubber spares, from an exergy analysis and thermoeconomic analysis. The manufacturing processing of these spares is based into batch production technique, and therefore is proposed the use of this theory for discontinuous flows from of single models of workstations; subsequently, the complete exergy model of each product is built using flowcharts. These models are a representation of exergy flows between components into the machines according to electrical, mechanical and/or thermal expressions; they determine the demanded exergy to produce the effective transformation in raw materials (aggregated exergy value), the exergy losses caused by equipment and irreversibilities. The energy resources of manufacturing process are electricity and natural gas. The workstations considered are lathes, punching presses, cutters, zinc machine, chemical treatment tanks, hydraulic vulcanizing presses and rubber mixer. The thermoeconomic analysis was done by workstation and by spare; first of them describes the operation of the components of each machine and where the exergy losses are; while the second of them estimates the exergy-aggregated value for finished product and wasted feedstock. Results indicate that exergy efficiency of a mechanical workstation is between 10% and 60% while this value in the thermal workstations is less than 5%; also that each effective exergy-aggregated value is one-thirtieth of total exergy required for operation of manufacturing process, which amounts approximately to 2 MJ. These troubles are caused mainly by technical limitations of machines, oversizing of metal feedstock that demands more mechanical transformation work, and low thermal insulation of chemical treatment tanks and hydraulic vulcanizing presses. From established information, in this case, it is possible to appreciate the usefulness of theory of exergetic cost for analyzing of aggregated value in manufacturing processes.

Keywords: exergy-aggregated value, exergy efficiency, thermoeconomics, exergy modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 164

Authors: Christian Neunzig, Simon Fahle, Jürgen Schulz, Matthias Möller, Bernd Kuhlenkötter

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Due to increasing cost pressure in global markets, artificial intelligence is becoming a technology that is decisive for competition. Predictive quality enables machinery and plant manufacturers to ensure product quality by using data-driven forecasts via machine learning models as a decision-making basis for test results. The use of cross-process Bosch production data along the value chain of hydraulic valves is a promising approach to classifying the quality characteristics of workpieces.

Keywords: predictive quality, hydraulics, machine learning, classification, supervised learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 223

Authors: Jean Paul Hategekimana, Bampire Claudine, Niyonsenga Nadia, Irakoze Josiane

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Peas, soybeans and rice are crops which are grown in Rwanda and are available in rural and urban local markets and they give contribution in reduction of health problems especially in fighting malnutrition and food insecurity in Rwanda. Several research activities have been conducted on how cereals flour can be mixed with legumes flour for developing baked products which are rich in protein, fiber, minerals as they are found in legumes. However, such activity was not yet well studied in Rwanda. The aim of the present study was to develop bread and biscuit products from peas, soybeans and rice as functional ingredients combined with wheat flour and then analyze the nutritional content and consumer acceptability of new developed products. The malnutrition problem can be reduced by producing bread and biscuits which are rich in protein and are very accessible for every individual. The processing of bread and biscuit were made by taking peas flour, soybeans flour and rice flour mixed with wheat flour and other ingredients then a dough was made followed by baking. For bread, two kind of products were processed, for each product one control and three experimental samples in different three ratios of peas and rice were prepared. These ratios were 95:5, 90:10 and 80:20 for bread from peas and 85:5:10, 80:10:10 and 70:10:20 for bread from peas and rice. For biscuit, two kind of products were also processed, for each product one control sample and three experimental samples in three different ratios were prepared. These ratios are 90:5:5,80:10:10 and 70:10:20 for biscuit from peas and rice and 90:5:5,80:10:10 and 70:10:20 for biscuit from soybean and rice. All samples including the control sample were analyzed for the consumer acceptability (sensory attributes) and nutritional composition. For sensory analysis, bread from of peas and rice flour with wheat flour at ratio 85:5:10 and bread from peas only as functional ingredient with wheat flour at ratio 95:5 and biscuits made from a of soybeans and rice at a ratio 90:5:5 and biscuit made from peas and rice at ratio 90:5:5 were most acceptable compared to control sample and other samples in different ratio. The moisture, protein, fat, fiber and minerals (Sodium and iron.) content were analyzed where bread from peas in all ratios was found to be rich in protein and fiber compare to control sample and biscuit from soybean and rice in all ratios was found to be rich in protein and fiber compare to control sample.

Keywords: bakery products, peas and rice flour, wheat flour, sensory evaluation, proximate composition

Procedia PDF Downloads 58

Authors: Stephan Boehm, Julia Engel, Judith Eisser

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During the last decade communication in the Internet transformed from a broadcast to a conversational model by supporting more interactive features, enabling user generated content and introducing social media networks. Another important trend with a significant impact on electronic commerce is a massive usage shift from desktop to mobile devices. However, a presentation of product- or service-related information accumulated on websites, micro pages or portals often remains the pivot and focal point of a customer journey. A more recent change of user behavior –especially in younger user groups and in Asia– is going along with the increasing adoption of messaging applications supporting almost real-time but asynchronous communication on mobile devices. Mobile apps of this type cannot only provide an alternative for traditional one-to-one communication on mobile devices like voice calls or short messaging service. Moreover, they can be used in mobile commerce as a new marketing and sales channel, e.g., for product promotions and direct marketing activities. This requires a new way of customer interaction compared to traditional mobile commerce activities and functionalities provided based on mobile web-sites. One option better aligned to the customer interaction in mes-saging apps are so-called chatbots. Chatbots are conversational programs or dialog systems simulating a text or voice based human interaction. They can be introduced in mobile messaging and social media apps by using rule- or artificial intelligence-based imple-mentations. In this context, a comparative analysis is conducted to examine the impact of using traditional websites or chatbots for promoting a product in an impulse purchase situation. The aim of this study is to measure the impact on the customers’ user experi-ence and emotions. The study is based on a random sample of about 60 smartphone users in the group of 20 to 30-year-olds. Participants are randomly assigned into two groups and participate in a traditional website or innovative chatbot based mobile com-merce scenario. The chatbot-based scenario is implemented by using a Wizard-of-Oz experimental approach for reasons of sim-plicity and to allow for more flexibility when simulating simple rule-based and more advanced artificial intelligence-based chatbot setups. A specific set of metrics is defined to measure and com-pare the user experience in both scenarios. It can be assumed, that users get more emotionally involved when interacting with a system simulating human communication behavior instead of browsing a mobile commerce website. For this reason, innovative face-tracking and analysis technology is used to derive feedback on the emotional status of the study participants while interacting with the website or the chatbot. This study is a work in progress. The results will provide first insights on the effects of chatbot usage on user experiences and emotions in mobile commerce environments. Based on the study findings basic requirements for a user-centered design and implementation of chatbot solutions for mobile com-merce can be derived. Moreover, first indications on situations where chatbots might be favorable in comparison to the usage of traditional website based mobile commerce can be identified.

Keywords: chatbots, emotions, mobile commerce, user experience, Wizard-of-Oz prototyping

Procedia PDF Downloads 453

Authors: Hamed Rashid Sarand, Kemal Selçuk Öğüt

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Speed is one of the fundamental variables of road traffic flow that stands as an important evaluation criterion for traffic analyses in several aspects. In particular, varieties of speed variable, such as average speed, free flow speed, optimum speed (capacity speed), acceleration/deceleration speed and so on, have been explicitly considered in the analysis of not only road safety but also road capacity. In the purpose of realizing 'road speed – maximum speed difference across lanes' and 'road flow rate – maximum speed difference across lanes' relations on freeway traffic, this study presents a case study conducted on a basic freeway segment of O-2 in Istanbul. The traffic data employed in this study have been obtained from 5 remote traffic microwave sensors operated by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. The study stretch is located between two successive freeway interchanges: Ümraniye and Kavacık. Daily traffic data of 4 years (2011-2014) summer months, July and August are used. The speed data are analyzed into two main flow areas such as uncongested and congested flows. In this study, the regression analyses were carried out in order to examine the relationship between maximum speed difference across lanes and road speed. These investigations were implemented at uncongested and congested flows, separately. Moreover, the relationship between maximum speed difference across lanes and road flow rate were evaluated by applying regression analyses for both uncongested and congested flows separately. It is concluded that there is the moderate relationship between maximum speed difference across lanes and road speed in 50% cases. Additionally, it is indicated that there is the moderate relationship between maximum speed difference across lanes and road flow rate in 30% cases. The maximum speed difference across lanes decreases as the road flow rate increases.

Keywords: maximum speed difference, regression analysis, remote traffic microwave sensor, speed differentiation, traffic flow

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Abbas Pourreza

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small single-stranded non-coding RNAs. They are almost 18-25 nucleotides long and very conservative through evolution. They are involved in adjusting the expression of numerous genes due to the existence of a complementary region, generally in the 3' untranslated regions (UTR) of target genes, against particular mRNAs in the cell. Also, miRNAs have been proven to be involved in cell development, differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. More than 2000 miRNAs have been recognized in human cells, and these miRNAs adjust approximately one-third of all genes in human cells. Dysregulation of miRNA originated from abnormal DNA methylation patterns of the locus, cause to down-regulated or overexpression of miRNAs, and it may affect tumor formation or development of it. Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly identified cancer, the most prevalent cancer (23%), and the second-leading (14%) mortality in all types of cancer in females. BC can be classified based on the status (+/−) of the hormone receptors, including estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and the Receptor tyrosine-protein kinase erbB-2 (ERBB2 or HER2). Currently, there are four main molecular subtypes of BC: luminal A, approximately 50–60 % of BCs; luminal B, 10–20 %; HER2 positive, 15–20 %, and 10–20 % considered Basal (triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)) subtype. Aberrant expression of miR-145, miR-21, miR-10b, miR-125a, and miR-206 was detected by Stem-loop real-time RT-PCR in BC cases. Breast tumor formation and development may result from down-regulation of a tumor suppressor miRNA such as miR-145, miR-125a, and miR-206 and/or overexpression of an oncogenic miRNA such as miR-21 and miR-10b. MiR-125a, miR-206, miR-145, miR-21, and miR-10b are hugely predicted to be new tumor markers for the diagnosis and prognosis of BC. MiR-21 and miR-125a could play a part in the treatment of HER-2-positive breast cancer cells, while miR-145 and miR-206 could speed up the evolution of cure techniques for TNBC. To conclude, miRNAs will be presented as hopeful molecules to be used in the primary diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of BC and battle as opposed to its developed drug resistance.

Keywords: breast cancer, HER2 positive, miRNA, TNBC

Procedia PDF Downloads 86

Authors: Nishiyama Toshiaki, Tadayuki Kyountani, Nguyen Huu Phuc, Shigeyuki Haruyama, Oke Oktavianty

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It is important to clarify the company’s core technology in product development process to strengthen their power in providing technology that meets the customer requirement. QFD method is adopted to clarify the core technology through identifying the high element technologies that are related to the voice of customer, and offer the most delightful features for customer. AHP is used to determine the importance of evaluating factors. A case study was conducted by using this approach in Japan’s Monozukuri Company (so called manufacturing company) to clarify their core technology based on customer requirements.

Keywords: core technology, QFD, voices of customer, analysis procedure

Procedia PDF Downloads 375

Authors: Francielo Vendruscolo

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During industrial processing of raw materials of animal and vegetable origin, large amounts of solid, liquid and gaseous wastes are generated. Solid residues are usually materials rich in carbohydrates, protein, fiber and minerals. Brewer’s spent grain (BSG) is the main waste generated in the brewing industry, representing 85% of the waste generated in this industry. It is estimated that world’s BSG generation is approximately 38.6 x 106 t per year and represents 20-30% (w/w) of the initial mass of added malt, resulting in low commercial value by-product, however, does not have economic value, but it must be removed from the brewery, as its spontaneous fermentation can attract insects and rodents. For every 100 grams in dry basis, BSG has approximately 68 g total fiber, being divided into 3.5 g of soluble fiber and 64.3 g of insoluble fiber (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin). In addition to dietary fibers, depending on the efficiency of the grinding process and mashing, BSG may also have starch, reducing sugars, lipids, phenolics and antioxidants, emphasizing that its composition will depend on the barley variety and cultivation conditions, malting and technology involved in the production of beer. BSG demands space for storage, but studies have proposed alternatives such as the use of drying, extrusion, pressing with superheated steam, and grinding to facilitate storage. Other important characteristics that enhance its applicability in bioremediation, effluent treatment and biotechnology, is the surface area (SBET) of 1.748 m2 g-1, total pore volume of 0.0053 cm3 g-1 and mean pore diameter of 121.784 Å, characterized as a macroporous and possess fewer adsorption properties but have great ability to trap suspended solids for separation from liquid solutions. It has low economic value; however, it has enormous potential for technological applications that can improve or add value to this agro-industrial waste. Due to its composition, this material has been used in several industrial applications such as in the production of food ingredients, fiber enrichment by its addition in foods such as breads and cookies in bioremediation processes, substrate for microorganism and production of biomolecules, bioenergy generation, and civil construction, among others. Therefore, the use of this waste or by-product becomes essential and aimed at reducing the amount of organic waste in different industrial processes, especially in breweries.

Keywords: brewer’s spent malt, agro-industrial residue, lignocellulosic material, waste generation

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Mauro Callejas-Cuervo, Andrea C. Alarcon-Aldana

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It is evident that there has been progress in the development and innovation of tools, techniques and methods in the development of software. Even so, there are few methodologies that include the human factor from the point of view of motivation, emotions and impact on the work environment; aspects that, when mishandled or not taken into consideration, increase the iterations in the requirements elicitation phase. This generates a broad number of changes in the characteristics of the system during its developmental process and an overinvestment of resources to obtain a final product that, often, does not live up to the expectations and needs of the client. The human factors such as emotions or personality traits are naturally associated with the process of developing software. However, most of these jobs are oriented towards the analysis of the final users of the software and do not take into consideration the emotions and motivations of the members of the development team. Given that in the industry, the strategies to select the requirements engineers and/or the analysts do not take said factors into account, it is important to identify and describe the characteristics or personality traits in order to elicit requirements effectively. This research describes the main personality traits associated with the requirements elicitation tasks through the analysis of the existing literature on the topic and a compilation of our experiences as software development project managers in the academic and productive sectors; allowing for the characterisation of a suitable profile for this job. Moreover, a psychometric test is used as an information gathering technique, and it is applied to the personnel of some local companies in the software development sector. Such information has become an important asset in order to make a comparative analysis between the degree of effectiveness in the way their software development teams are formed and the proposed profile. The results show that of the software development companies studied: 53.58% have selected the personnel for the task of requirements elicitation adequately, 37.71% possess some of the characteristics to perform the task, and 10.71% are inadequate. From the previous information, it is possible to conclude that 46.42% of the requirements engineers selected by the companies could perform other roles more adequately; a change which could improve the performance and competitiveness of the work team and, indirectly, the quality of the product developed. Likewise, the research allowed for the validation of the pertinence and usefulness of the psychometric instrument as well as the accuracy of the characteristics for the profile of requirements engineer proposed as a reference.

Keywords: emotions, human attitudes, personality traits, psychometric tests, requirements engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: Jiří Vágner, Dana Fialová

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The Covid-19 pandemic and its effects have triggered significant changes in travel behavior. On the contrary to a deep decline in international tourism, domestic tourism has recovered. It has not fully replaced the total volume of national tourism so far. However, from a regional point of view, and especially according to the type of destinations, regional targeting has changed significantly compared to the previous period. Urban destinations, which used to be the domain of foreign tourists, have been relatively orphaned, in contrast to destinations tied to natural attractions, which have seen seasonal increases. Even here, at a lower hierarchical geographic level, we can observe the differentiation resulting from the existing localization and infrastructure. The case study is focused on the three largest water reservoirs of the Vltava Cascade in Czechia– Lipno, Orlík, and Slapy. Based on a detailed field survey, in the periods before and during the pandemic, as well as available statistical data (Tourdata; Czech Statistical Office, Czech Cadaster and Ordnance Survey), different trends in the exploitation of these destinations with regard to existing or planned infrastructure are documented, analyzed and explained. This gives us the opportunity to discuss on concrete examples of generally known phenomena that are usually neglected in tourism: slum, brownfield, greenfield. Changes in travel behavior – especially the focus on spending leisure time individually in naturally attractive destinations – can affect the use of sites, which can be defined as a tourist or recreational slum, brownfield, but also as a tourist greenfield development. Sociocultural changes and perception of destinations by tourists and other actors represent, besides environmental changes, major trends in current tourism.

Keywords: Covid-19 pandemic, czechia, sociocultural and environmental impacts, tourist infrastructure, travel behavior, the Vltava Cascade water reservoirs

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: Jatziri Y. Moreno-Martínez, Arturo Galván, Israel Enrique Herrera Díaz, José Ramón Gasca Tirado

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In recent years, for the elevated viaducts in Mexico City, a construction system based on precast/pre-stressed concrete elements has been used, in which the bridge girders are divided in two parts by imposing a hinged support in sections where the bending moments that are originated by the gravity loads in a continuous beam are minimal. Precast concrete girders with dapped ends are a representative sample of a behavior that has complex configurations of stresses that make them more vulnerable to cracking due to flexure–shear interaction. The design procedures for ends of the dapped girders are well established and are based primarily on experimental tests performed for different configurations of reinforcement. The critical failure modes that can govern the design have been identified, and for each of them, the methods for computing the reinforcing steel that is needed to achieve adequate safety against failure have been proposed. Nevertheless, the design recommendations do not include procedures for controlling diagonal cracking at the entrant corner under service loading. These cracks could cause water penetration and degradation because of the corrosion of the steel reinforcement. The lack of visual access to the area makes it difficult to detect this damage and take timely corrective actions. Three-dimensional non-linear numerical models based on Finite Element Method to study the cracking at the entrant corner of dapped-end beams were performed using the software package ANSYS v. 11.0. The cracking was numerically simulated by using the smeared crack approach. The concrete structure was modeled using three-dimensional solid elements SOLID65 capable of cracking in tension and crushing in compression. Drucker-Prager yield surface was used to include the plastic deformations. The longitudinal post-tension was modeled using LINK8 elements with multilinear isotropic hardening behavior using von Misses plasticity. The reinforcement was introduced with smeared approach. The numerical models were calibrated using experimental tests carried out in “Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México”. In these numerical models the characteristics of the specimens were considered: typical solution based on vertical stirrups (hangers) and on vertical and horizontal hoops with a post-tensioned steel which contributed to a 74% of the flexural resistance. The post-tension is given by four steel wires with a 5/8’’ (16 mm) diameter. Each wire was tensioned to 147 kN and induced an average compressive stress of 4.90 MPa on the concrete section of the dapped end. The loading protocol consisted on applying symmetrical loading to reach the service load (180 kN). Due to the good correlation between experimental and numerical models some additional numerical models were proposed by considering different percentages of post-tension in order to find out how much it influences in the appearance of the cracking in the reentrant corner of the dapped-end beams. It was concluded that the increasing of percentage of post-tension decreases the displacements and the cracking in the reentrant corner takes longer to appear. The authors acknowledge at “Universidad de Guanajuato, Campus Celaya-Salvatierra” and the financial support of PRODEP-SEP (UGTO-PTC-460) of the Mexican government. The first author acknowledges at “Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México”.

Keywords: concrete dapped-end beams, cracking control, finite element analysis, postension

Procedia PDF Downloads 210

Authors: Ruthanne Tobin

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The shift to a personalized learning (PL) curriculum in Canada represents an innovative approach to teaching and learning that is also evident in various initiatives across the 32-nation OECD. The premise behind PL is that empowering individual learners to have more input into how they access and construct knowledge, and express their understanding of it, will result in more meaningful school experiences and academic success. In this paper presentation, the author reports on a document analysis of the new curriculum in the province of British Columbia. Three theoretical frameworks are used to analyze the new curriculum. Framework 1 focuses on five dominant aspects (FDA) of PL at the classroom level. Framework 2 focuses on conceptualizing and enacting personalized learning (CEPL) within three spheres of influence. Framework 3 focuses on the integration of three types of knowledge (content, technological, and pedagogical). Analysis is ongoing, but preliminary findings suggest that the new curriculum addresses framework 1 quite well, which identifies five areas of personalized learning: 1) assessment for learning; 2) effective teaching and learning; 3) curriculum entitlement (choice); 4) school organization; and 5) “beyond the classroom walls” (learning in the community). Framework 2 appears to be less well developed in the new curriculum. This framework speaks to the dynamics of PL within three spheres of interaction: 1) nested agency, comprised of overarching constraints [and enablers] from policy makers, school administrators and community; 2) relational agency, which refers to a capacity for professionals to develop a network of expertise to serve shared goals; and 3) students’ personalized learning experience, which integrates differentiation with self-regulation strategies. Framework 3 appears to be well executed in the new PL curriculum, as it employs the theoretical model of technological, pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) in which there are three interdependent bodies of knowledge. Notable within this framework is the emphasis on the pairing of technologies with excellent pedagogies to significantly assist students and teachers. This work will be of high relevance to educators interested in innovative school reform.

Keywords: curriculum reform, K-12 school change, innovations in education, personalized learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 274

Authors: Gaafar Omer BaOmer, Abdulmohsin A. Al-Sofyani, Hassan A. Ramadan

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Drupella is found on coral reefs throughout the tropical and subtropical shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific region. Drupella is muricid gastropod, obligate corallivorous and their population outbreak can cause significant coral mortality. Belt transect surveys were conducted at two sites (Bohairat and Baydah) in Jeddah coast, Saudi Arabia to assess prey preferences for D. cornus with respect to prey availability through resource selection ratios. Results revealed that there are different levels of prey preferences at the different age stages and at the different sites. Acropora species with a caespitose, corymbose and digitate growth forms were preferred prey for recruits and juveniles of Drupella cornus, whereas Acropora variolosa was avoided by D. cornus because of its arborescent colony growth form. Pocillopora, Stylophora, and Millipora were occupied by Drupella cornus less than expected, whereas massive corals genus Porites were avoided. High densities of D. cornus were observed on two fragments of Pocillopora damicornis which may because of the absence of coral guard crabs genus Trapezia. Mean densities of D. cornus per colony for each species showed significant differentiation between the two study sites. Low availability of Acropora colonies in Bayadah patch reef caused high mean density of D. cornus per colony to compare to that in Bohairat, whereas higher mean density of D. cornus per colony of Pocillopora in Bohairat than that in Bayadah may because of most of occupied Pocillopora colonies by D. cornus were physical broken by anchoring compare to those colonies in Bayadah. The results indicated that prey preferences seem to depend on both coral genus and colony shape, while mean densities of D. cornus depend on availability and status of coral colonies.

Keywords: prey availability, resource selection, Drupella cornus, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Adele Broodryk, Cindy Pienaar, Martinique Sparks, Ben Coetzee

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Background: Cold water immersion (CWI) is a popular recovery modality utilised. However, discrepancies exist regarding the results over a 48 hour recovery period. Aim: To evaluate the effects of CWI and passive recovery (PAR) on a range of haematological and physical parameters over a 48-hour using a cross-sectional, pre-post-test design. Subjects and Methods: Both the and physical parameters were evaluated at baseline, after a 15-min fitness session, and at 0, 24 and 48 hours post-recovery in 23 male university rugby players. The CWI group sat in a cold water pool (8°C) for 20 min whereas the PAR group remained seated. Results: At 0 hours post-CWI, three (blood lactate (BLa-), Sodium (Na+) and haemoglobin) returned to baseline values, however Vertical Jump Test (VJT) height results decreased whereas after PAR it improved. From 0 to 24 and/or 48 h, four (Partial Oxygen (PO2) VJT-height, plasma glucose, and Na+) significantly increased (p ≤ 0.05) in either and/or both groups. Significant intergroup differences (p ≤ 0.05) were noticed in the physical tests. Conclusions: PAR is superior as an acute modality (0 hours) due to CWI cooling the body down. However, CWI demonstrates advantageous over a 24-hour period in a wide range of haematological variables.

Keywords: cryotherapy, recuperation, haematological, rugby

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Authors: F. A. Hamad, S. He

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In this paper, the average heat transfer characteristics for a cross flow cylinder of 16 mm diameter in a vertical pipe has been studied for single-phase flow (water/oil) and multicomponent (non-boiling) flow (water-air, water-oil, oil-air and water-oil-air). The cylinder is uniformly heated by electrical heater placed at the centre of the element. The results show that the values of average heat transfer coefficients for water are around four times the values for oil flow. Introducing air as a second phase with water has very little effect on heat transfer rate, while the heat transfer increased by 70% in case of oil. For water–oil flow, the heat transfer coefficient values are reflecting the percentage of water up to 50%, but increasing the water more than 50% leads to a sharp increase in the heat transfer coefficients to become close to the values of pure water. The enhancement of heat transfer by mixing two phases may be attributed to the changes in flow structure near to cylinder surface which lead to thinner boundary layer and higher turbulence. For three-phase flow, the heat transfer coefficients for all cases fall within the limit of single-phase flow of water and oil and are very close to pure water values. The net effect of the turbulence augmentation due to the introduction of air and the attenuation due to the introduction of oil leads to a thinner boundary layer of oil over the cylinder surface covered by a mixture of water and air bubbles.

Keywords: circular cylinder, cross flow, hear transfer, multicomponent multiphase flow

Procedia PDF Downloads 389

Authors: Nasim Karami Mal Amiri, Farhad Razm Azma

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Parts of consumer involvement in regards to one product are related to advertisement strategies. Different consumer involvement has different answers to the effectiveness of advertisement. This study has divided the market considering the characteristics and relationship between consumer involvement and the effectiveness of advertisement. The results of this study show consumer involvement which does affect parts of marketing. A positive and direct relationship among consumer involvement and the eventual effectiveness of advertisement has been shown. A great amount of consumer involvement is directly related to advertisement effectiveness. Therefore, consumer involvement is a critical factor in advertisement strategies.

Keywords: consumer involvement, advertisement effectiveness, strategy, effective marketing

Procedia PDF Downloads 446

Authors: Bu Seog Ju, Ho Young Son, Yong Hee Ryu

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This study is focused on the evaluation of seismic fragility of multi-story piping system installed in critical structures, isolated with triple friction pendulum bearing. The concept of this study is to isolate the critical building structure as well as nonstructural component, especially piping system in order to mitigate the earthquake damage and achieve the reliable seismic design. Then, the building system and multi-story piping system was modeled in OpenSees. In particular, the triple friction pendulum isolator was accounted for the vertical and horizontal coupling behavior in the building system subjected to seismic ground motions. Consequently, in order to generate the seismic fragility of base-isolated multi-story piping system, 21 selected seismic ground motions were carried out, by using Monte Carlo Simulation accounted for the uncertainties in demand. Finally, the system-level fragility curves corresponding to the limit state of the piping system was conducted at each T-joint system, which was commonly failure points in piping systems during and after an earthquake. Additionally, the system-level fragilities were performed to the first floor and second floor level in critical structures.

Keywords: fragility, friction pendulum bearing, nonstructural component, seismic

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Caroline Nnokwe, Iheanyi Eneremadu

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Teachers and principals are vital and integral parts of the educational system. For educational objectives to be met, the role of teachers and the functions of the principals are not to be overlooked. However, the inability of teachers and principals to carry out their roles effectively has impacted the outcome of the students’ performance. The study, therefore, examined teachers’ roles and principal’s administrative functions as correlates of effective academic performance of public secondary school students in Imo state, Nigeria. Four research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a correlation research design. The sample size was 5,438 respondents via the Yaro-Yamane technique, which consists of 175 teachers, 13 principals and 5,250 students using the proportional stratified random sampling technique. The instruments for data collection were a researcher-made questionnaire titled Teachers’ Role/Principals’ Administrative Functions Questionnaire (TRPAFQ) with a Cronbach Alpha coefficient of .82 and student's internal results obtained from the school authorities. Data collected were analyzed using the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and simple linear regression. Research questions were answered using Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistics, while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using regression analysis. The findings of the study showed that the educational qualification of teachers, organizing, and planning correlated student’s academic performance to a great extent, while availability and proper use of instructional materials by teachers correlated the academic performance of students to a very high extent. The findings also revealed that there is a significant relationship between teachers’ role, principals’ administrative functions and student’s academic performance of public secondary schools in Imo State, The study recommended among others that there is the need for government, through the ministry of education, and education authorities to adequately staff their supervisory department in order to carry out proper supervision of secondary school teachers, and also provide adequate instructional materials to ensure greater academic performance among secondary school students of Imo state, Nigeria.

Keywords: instructional materials, principals’ administrative functions, students’ academic performance, teacher role

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Authors: Ahtesham Javaid, Costin S. Bildea

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The design and plantwide control of an integrated plant where the endothermic 1,4-butanediol dehydrogenation and the exothermic furfural hydrogenation is simultaneously performed in a single reactor is studied. The reactions can be carried out in an adiabatic reactor using small hydrogen excess and with reduced parameter sensitivity. The plant is robust and flexible enough to allow different production rates of γ-butyrolactone and 2-methyl furan, keeping high product purities. Rigorous steady state and dynamic simulations performed in AspenPlus and AspenDynamics to support the conclusions.

Keywords: dehydrogenation and hydrogenation, reaction coupling, design and control, process integration

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Authors: Sule Pallavi, Shah Priyank, Thavkar Amit, Mehta Suyog, Rohira Poonam

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Minoxidil is used topically to help hair growth in the treatment of male androgenetic alopecia. The objective of this study is to compare irritation potential of three conventional formulation of minoxidil 5% topical solution of in human patch test. The study was a single centre, double blind, non-randomized controlled study in 56 healthy adult Indian subjects. Occlusive patch test for 24 hours was performed with three formulation of minoxidil 5% topical solution. Products tested included aqueous based minoxidil 5% (AnasureTM 5%, Sun Pharma, India – Brand A), alcohol based minoxidil 5% (Brand B) and aqueous based minoxidil 5% (Brand C). Isotonic saline 0.9% and 1% w/w sodium lauryl sulphate were included as negative control and positive control respectively. Patches were applied and removed after 24hours. The skin reaction was assessed and clinically scored 24 hours after the removal of the patches under constant artificial daylight source using Draize scale (0-4 points scale for erythema/wrinkles/dryness and for oedema). A combined mean score up to 2.0/8.0 indicates a product is “non-irritant” and score between 2.0/8.0 and 4.0/8.0 indicates “mildly irritant” and score above 4.0/8.0 indicates “irritant”. Follow-up was scheduled after one week to confirm recovery for any reaction. The procedure of the patch test followed the principles outlined by Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) (IS 4011:2018; Methods of Test for safety evaluation of Cosmetics-3rd revision). Fifty six subjects with mean age 30.9 years (27 males and 29 females) participated in the study. The combined mean score (± standard deviation) were: 0.13 ± 0.33 (Brand A), 0.39 ± 0.49 (Brand B), 0.22 ± 0.41 (Brand C), 2.91 ± 0.79 (Positive control) and 0.02 ± 0.13 (Negative control). The mean score of Brand A (Sun Pharma product) was significantly lower than Brand B (p=0.001) and was comparable with Brand C (p=0.21). The combined mean erythema score (± standard deviation) were: 0.09 ± 0.29 (Brand A), 0.27 ± 0.5 (Brand B), 0.18 ± 0.39 (Brand C), 2.02 ± 0.49 (Positive control) and 0.0 ± 0.0 (Negative control). The mean erythema score of Brand A was significantly lower than Brand B (p=0.01) and was comparable with Brand C (p=0.16). Any reaction observed at 24hours after patch removal subsided in a week. All the three topical formulation of minoxidil 5% were non-irritant. Brand A of 5% minoxidil (Sun Pharma) was found to be least irritant than Brand B and Brand C based on the combined mean score and mean erythema score in the human patch test as per the BIS, IS 4011;2018.

Keywords: erythema, irritation, minoxidil, patch test

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Authors: Khwaja Naweed Seddiqi, Zabihullah Mahdi, Shigeo Honma

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Recently increasing oil production from petroleum reservoirs is one of the most important issues in the global energy sector. So, in this paper, the recovery of oil by the waterflooding technique from petroleum reservoir are considered. To investigate the aforementioned phenomena, the relative permeability of two immiscible fluids in sand is measured in the laboratory based on the steady-state method. Two sorts of oils, kerosene and heavy oil, and water are pumped simultaneously into a vertical sand column with different pumping ratio. From the change in fractional discharge measured at the outlet, a method for determining the relative permeability is developed focusing on the displacement mechanism in sand. Then, displacement mechanism of two immiscible fluids in the sand is investigated under the Buckley-Leveret frontal displacement theory and laboratory experiment. Two sorts of experiments, one is the displacement of pore water by oil, the other is the displacement of pore oil by water, are carried out. It is revealed that the relative permeability curves display tolerably different shape owing to the properties of oils, and produce different amount of residual oils and irreducible water saturation.

Keywords: petroleum reservoir engineering, relative permeability, two-phase flow, immiscible displacement in porous media, steady-state method, waterflooding

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: P. Kamphikul, P. Krachodnok, R. Wongsan

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This paper presents the gain improvement of a sector antenna for mobile phone base station by using the new technique to enhance its gain for microstrip antenna (MSA) array without construction enlargement. The curved woodpile Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) has been utilized to improve the gain instead. The advantages of this proposed antenna are reducing the length of MSAs array but providing the higher gain and easy fabrication and installation. Moreover, it provides a fan-shaped radiation pattern, wide in the horizontal direction and relatively narrow in the vertical direction, which appropriate for mobile phone base station. The paper also presents the design procedures of a 1x8 MSAs array associated with U-shaped reflector for decreasing their back and side lobes. The fabricated curved woodpile EBG exhibits bandgap characteristics at 2.1 GHz and is utilized for realizing a resonant cavity of MSAs array. This idea has been verified by both the Computer Simulation Technology (CST) software and experimental results. As the results, the fabricated proposed antenna achieves a high gain of 20.3 dB and the half-power beam widths in the E- and H-plane of 36.8 and 8.7 degrees, respectively. Good qualitative agreement between measured and simulated results of the proposed antenna was obtained.

Keywords: gain improvement, microstrip antenna array, electromagnetic band gap, base station

Procedia PDF Downloads 305