Search results for: fashion products
2270 Frequent Itemset Mining Using Rough-Sets
Authors: Usman Qamar, Younus Javed
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Frequent pattern mining is the process of finding a pattern (a set of items, subsequences, substructures, etc.) that occurs frequently in a data set. It was proposed in the context of frequent itemsets and association rule mining. Frequent pattern mining is used to find inherent regularities in data. What products were often purchased together? Its applications include basket data analysis, cross-marketing, catalog design, sale campaign analysis, Web log (click stream) analysis, and DNA sequence analysis. However, one of the bottlenecks of frequent itemset mining is that as the data increase the amount of time and resources required to mining the data increases at an exponential rate. In this investigation a new algorithm is proposed which can be uses as a pre-processor for frequent itemset mining. FASTER (FeAture SelecTion using Entropy and Rough sets) is a hybrid pre-processor algorithm which utilizes entropy and rough-sets to carry out record reduction and feature (attribute) selection respectively. FASTER for frequent itemset mining can produce a speed up of 3.1 times when compared to original algorithm while maintaining an accuracy of 71%.Keywords: rough-sets, classification, feature selection, entropy, outliers, frequent itemset mining
Procedia PDF Downloads 4372269 Willingness of Muslim Owners/Managers of Smes to Seek Capital Market Financing
Authors: Bashir Tijjani Abubakar
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Capital markets play a very important role in financing of private and public institutions in both developing and developed economies. Unfortunately, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in those economies are yet to fully utilize the markets to finance their long financial needs. This study assesses the factors that influence the decisions of the Muslim Owners/Managers of SMEs in Nigeria and specifically in Kano to seek capital market financing. Logit regression model was used to assess the factors such as control of ownership, perception of the owners/managers on the interest rate charged by commercial banks, educational qualification, size, and age of the SMEs. The study reveals that all the factors have significant positive influence on the willingness of the SMEs Owners/Managers to seek capital market financing. The study recommends educating the Owners/Managers on the operations and products of the markets.Keywords: capital markets, capital market financing, small and medium enterprise and willingness, size of an enterprise, age of an enterprise and control of ownership
Procedia PDF Downloads 2782268 Actinomycetes from Protected Forest Ecosystems of Assam, India: Diversity and Antagonistic Activity
Authors: Priyanka Sharma, Ranjita Das, Mohan C. Kalita, Debajit Thakur
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Background: Actinomycetes are the richest source of novel bioactive secondary metabolites such as antibiotics, enzymes and other therapeutically useful metabolites with diverse biological activities. The present study aims at the antimicrobial potential and genetic diversity of culturable Actinomycetes isolated from protected forest ecosystems of Assam which includes Kaziranga National Park (26°30˝-26°45˝N and 93°08˝-93°36˝E), Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary (26º12˝-26º16˝N and 91º58˝-92º05˝E) and Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary (26˚40˝-26˚45˝N and 94˚20˝-94˚25˝E) which are located in the North-eastern part of India. Northeast India is a part of the Indo-Burma mega biodiversity hotspot and most of the protected forests of this region are still unexplored for the isolation of effective antibiotic-producing Actinomycetes. Thus, there is tremendous possibility that these virgin forests could be a potential storehouse of novel microorganisms, particularly Actinomycetes, exhibiting diverse biological properties. Methodology: Soil samples were collected from different ecological niches of the protected forest ecosystems of Assam and Actinomycetes were isolated by serial dilution spread plate technique using five selective isolation media. Preliminary screening of Actinomycetes for an antimicrobial activity was done by spot inoculation method and the secondary screening by disc diffusion method against several test pathogens, including multidrug resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The strains were further screened for the presence of antibiotic synthetic genes such as type I polyketide synthases (PKS-I), type II polyketide synthases (PKS-II) and non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) genes. Genetic diversity of the Actinomycetes producing antimicrobial metabolites was analyzed through 16S rDNA-RFLP using Hinf1 restriction endonuclease. Results: Based on the phenotypic characterization, a total of 172 morphologically distinct Actinomycetes were isolated and screened for antimicrobial activity by spot inoculation method on agar medium. Among the strains tested, 102 (59.3%) strains showed activity against Gram-positive bacteria, 98 (56.97%) against Gram-negative bacteria, 92 (53.48%) against Candida albicans MTCC 227 and 130 (75.58%) strains showed activity against at least one of the test pathogens. Twelve Actinomycetes exhibited broad spectrum antimicrobial activity in the secondary screening. The taxonomic identification of these twelve strains by 16S rDNA sequencing revealed that Streptomyces was found to be the predominant genus. The PKS-I, PKS-II and NRPS genes detection indicated diverse bioactive products of these twelve Actinomycetes. Genetic diversity by 16S rDNA-RFLP indicated that Streptomyces was the dominant genus amongst the antimicrobial metabolite producing Actinomycetes. Conclusion: These findings imply that Actinomycetes from the protected forest ecosystems of Assam, India, are a potential source of bioactive secondary metabolites. These areas are as yet poorly studied and represent diverse and largely unscreened ecosystem for the isolation of potent Actinomycetes producing antimicrobial secondary metabolites. Detailed characterization of the bioactive Actinomycetes as well as purification and structure elucidation of the bioactive compounds from the potent Actinomycetes is the subject of ongoing investigation. Thus, to exploit Actinomycetes from such unexplored forest ecosystems is a way to develop bioactive products.Keywords: Actinomycetes, antimicrobial activity, forest ecosystems, RFLP
Procedia PDF Downloads 3912267 Processing and Characterization of Cereal Bar Containing Cassava Flour
Authors: E. L. Queiroz, S. M. A. Souza, R. T. S. Santos
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The cereal bars have emerged as a healthy alternative in the food sector, by presenting a remarkable functional appeal, being a product of high nutritional value. Cereals have an important function in feeding because they have features that particularize them as their variety, smooth flavour and aroma and easy digestion and absorption in the body. Brazil is the largest producer of cassava in the world, and the flour produced from this raw material is a source of nutrients for much of the low-income population, however it is little explored industrially. The northeast region of Brazil has great potential for honey production, which is a source of vitamins, proteins, minerals and organic acids but it is much used as a medicine. Aiming to combine the production of healthy food with the sustainable utilization and enhancement of family farming products, was created a cereal bar using regional raw materials of desirable nutritional characteristics: honey, umbu pulp and cassava flour. The cereal bar was characterized by physicochemical analyzes quantifying the content of lipids, proteins, moisture and ashes, microbiological and sensory evaluation showed that the cereal bar is a safe, and nutritious food with good sensory properties.Keywords: cassava flour, cereal bar, honey, insoluble fibre
Procedia PDF Downloads 4692266 A Platform to Screen Targeting Molecules of Ligand-EGFR Interactions
Authors: Wei-Ting Kuo, Feng-Huei Lin
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Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is often constitutively stimulated in cancer owing to the binding of ligands such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), so it is necessary to investigate the interaction between EGFR and its targeting biomolecules which were over ligands binding. This study would focus on the binding affinity and adhesion force of two targeting products anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody (mAb) and peptide A to EGFR comparing with EGF. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was used to obtain the equilibrium dissociation constant to evaluate the binding affinity. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was performed to detect adhesion force. The result showed that binding affinity of mAb to EGFR was higher than that of EGF to EGFR, and peptide A to EGFR was lowest. The adhesion force between EGFR and mAb that was higher than EGF and peptide A to EGFR was lowest. From the studies, we could conclude that mAb had better adhesion force and binding affinity to EGFR than that of EGF and peptide A. SPR and AFM could confirm the interaction between receptor and targeting ligand easily and carefully. It provide a platform to screen ligands for receptor targeting and drug delivery.Keywords: adhesion force, binding affinity, epidermal growth factor receptor, target molecule
Procedia PDF Downloads 4332265 Requirement Engineering and Software Product Line Scoping Paradigm
Authors: Ahmed Mateen, Zhu Qingsheng, Faisal Shahzad
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Requirement Engineering (RE) is a part being created for programming structure during the software development lifecycle. Software product line development is a new topic area within the domain of software engineering. It also plays important role in decision making and it is ultimately helpful in rising business environment for productive programming headway. Decisions are central to engineering processes and they hold them together. It is argued that better decisions will lead to better engineering. To achieve better decisions requires that they are understood in detail. In order to address the issues, companies are moving towards Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) which helps in providing large varieties of products with minimum development effort and cost. This paper proposed a new framework for software product line and compared with other models. The results can help to understand the needs in SPL testing, by identifying points that still require additional investigation. In our future scenario, we will combine this model in a controlled environment with industrial SPL projects which will be the new horizon for SPL process management testing strategies.Keywords: requirements engineering, software product lines, scoping, process structure, domain specific language
Procedia PDF Downloads 2252264 Analysis of Backward Supply Chain in Beverages Industry of Pakistan
Authors: Faisal Mehmood
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In this globalization era, the supply chain management has acquired strategic importance in diverse business environments. In the current highly competitive business environment, the success of any business considerably depends on the efficiency of the supply chain. Management has now realized that due to the inefficiency of any member of supply chain, the profitability of the business will be affected. This paper proposes an analysis of backward supply chain in the beverages industry of Pakistan. Although reuse of products and materials is a common phenomenon, companies have long ignored this important part of the supply chain, known as backward supply chain or reverse logistics. The beverage industry is among the pioneers of backward supply chain or reverse logistics in Pakistan. The empty glass bottles are returned back from the point of consumption to the warehouse for refilling and reusability purposes. Due to the lack of information on reverse flow of logistics and more attention on the forward distribution, beverages industry in Pakistan is facing high rate of inefficiencies and ineffectiveness. Analysis of backward or reverse logistics practiced in beverages industry is the subject of this study in which framework dictating the current needs of market will be developed.Keywords: backward supply chain, reverse logistics, refilling, re-usability
Procedia PDF Downloads 3482263 Physicochemical Characteristics of Rice Starch Chainat 1 Variety by Physical Modification
Authors: Orose Rugchati, Sarawut Wattanawongpitak
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The Chainat 1 variety (CN1) of rice, which generally has high amylose starch, is distributed in the lower part of Northern Thailand. CN1 rice starch can be used in both food and non-food products. In this research, the CN1 rice starch from the wet-milling process was prepared by Pre-Gelatinization (Heat-Moisture Treatments, HMT) under different conditions: percentage of moisture contents (20% and 30%) and duration time in minutes (0, 30, 60, and 90) at a specific temperature 110°C. The physicochemical characteristics of CN1 rice starch modification, such as amylose content, viscosity, swelling, and solubility property, were evaluated and compared with native CN1 rice starch. The results showed that modification CN1 rice starch tends to have some characteristics better than native starch. The appearance color and starch granule of modified CN1 by HMT have more effective characteristics than native starch when increased duration time. The duration time and moisture content are significant factors to the CN1 starch characteristic by HMT. Moreover, physical modification of CN1 starch by HMT can be described as a modified rice starch providing in many applications and the advantage of biodegradability development.Keywords: physicochemical characteristics, physical modification, pre-gelatinization, Heat-Moisture Treatments, rice starch, Chainat 1 variety (CN1)
Procedia PDF Downloads 1552262 Towards Efficient Reasoning about Families of Class Diagrams Using Union Models
Authors: Tejush Badal, Sanaa Alwidian
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Class diagrams are useful tools within the Unified Modelling Language (UML) to model and visualize the relationships between, and properties of objects within a system. As a system evolves over time and space (e.g., products), a series of models with several commonalities and variabilities create what is known as a model family. In circumstances where there are several versions of a model, examining each model individually, becomes expensive in terms of computation resources. To avoid performing redundant operations, this paper proposes an approach for representing a family of class diagrams into Union Models to represent model families using a single generic model. The paper aims to analyze and reason about a family of class diagrams using union models as opposed to individual analysis of each member model in the family. The union algorithm provides a holistic view of the model family, where the latter cannot be otherwise obtained from an individual analysis approach, this in turn, enhances the analysis performed in terms of speeding up the time needed to analyze a family of models together as opposed to analyzing individual models, one model at a time.Keywords: analysis, class diagram, model family, unified modeling language, union model
Procedia PDF Downloads 742261 Study on Aerosol Behavior in Piping Assembly under Varying Flow Conditions
Authors: Anubhav Kumar Dwivedi, Arshad Khan, S. N. Tripathi, Manish Joshi, Gaurav Mishra, Dinesh Nath, Naveen Tiwari, B. K. Sapra
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In a nuclear reactor accident scenario, a large number of fission products may release to the piping system of the primary heat transport. The released fission products, mostly in the form of the aerosol, get deposited on the inner surface of the piping system mainly due to gravitational settling and thermophoretic deposition. The removal processes in the complex piping system are controlled to a large extent by the thermal-hydraulic conditions like temperature, pressure, and flow rates. These parameters generally vary with time and therefore must be carefully monitored to predict the aerosol behavior in the piping system. The removal process of aerosol depends on the size of particles that determines how many particles get deposit or travel across the bends and reach to the other end of the piping system. The released aerosol gets deposited onto the inner surface of the piping system by various mechanisms like gravitational settling, Brownian diffusion, thermophoretic deposition, and by other deposition mechanisms. To quantify the correct estimate of deposition, the identification and understanding of the aforementioned deposition mechanisms are of great importance. These mechanisms are significantly affected by different flow and thermodynamic conditions. Thermophoresis also plays a significant role in particle deposition. In the present study, a series of experiments were performed in the piping system of the National Aerosol Test Facility (NATF), BARC using metal aerosols (zinc) in dry environments to study the spatial distribution of particles mass and number concentration, and their depletion due to various removal mechanisms in the piping system. The experiments were performed at two different carrier gas flow rates. The commercial CFD software FLUENT is used to determine the distribution of temperature, velocity, pressure, and turbulence quantities in the piping system. In addition to the in-built models for turbulence, heat transfer and flow in the commercial CFD code (FLUENT), a new sub-model PBM (population balance model) is used to describe the coagulation process and to compute the number concentration along with the size distribution at different sections of the piping. In the sub-model coagulation kernels are incorporated through user-defined function (UDF). The experimental results are compared with the CFD modeled results. It is found that most of the Zn particles (more than 35 %) deposit near the inlet of the plenum chamber and a low deposition is obtained in piping sections. The MMAD decreases along the length of the test assembly, which shows that large particles get deposited or removed in the course of flow, and only fine particles travel to the end of the piping system. The effect of a bend is also observed, and it is found that the relative loss in mass concentration at bends is more in case of a high flow rate. The simulation results show that the thermophoresis and depositional effects are more dominating for the small and larger sizes as compared to the intermediate particles size. Both SEM and XRD analysis of the collected samples show the samples are highly agglomerated non-spherical and composed mainly of ZnO. The coupled model framed in this work could be used as an important tool for predicting size distribution and concentration of some other aerosol released during a reactor accident scenario.Keywords: aerosol, CFD, deposition, coagulation
Procedia PDF Downloads 1442260 The Role of Product’s Aesthetic Criteria in Customer Behavior: An Approach on Design Process
Authors: Mozhgan Sabzehparvar, Mohammad Montazeri, Mahdie Jafarnejad Shahri, Neda Boroumandi, Shakib Alipour, Hamide Torabi, Zahra Dehghani
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In this article, the aesthetic criteria, which are regarded as the key factors in the product development, and design process are carefully taken into account and an attempt has been made to extract the influential concepts in successful product design. This review article was conducted from 22.05.2021 to 22.06.2021, recent published paper in English (2017-2021) in three search engines of JSTOR, IEEE, and EMERALD were selected. The selected main keywords in our search were "Customer, Behavior, Aesthetics, Marketing and Product". During the screenings, 21 articles were analyzed. The aesthetic criteria play a role in increasing the power of choice, loyalty, satisfaction and purchase intention of the customers. Also, product design has a positive effect on the customers’ perception of aesthetics and acts effectively on customer behavior. Aesthetics has a significant relationship with the customer's intention to buy products and can make the product popular and satisfy people.Keywords: product design, design process, customer behaviour, aesthetic, marketing
Procedia PDF Downloads 902259 Delivery Service and Online-and-Offline Purchasing for Collaborative Recommendations on Retail Cross-Channels
Authors: S. H. Liao, J. M. Huang
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The delivery service business model is the final link in logistics for both online-and-offline businesses. The online-and-offline business model focuses on the entire customer purchasing process online and offline, placing greater emphasis on the importance of data to optimize overall retail operations. For the retail industry, it is an important task of information and management to strengthen the collection and investigation of consumers' online and offline purchasing data to better understand customers and then recommend products. This study implements two-stage data mining analytics for clustering and association rules analysis to investigate Taiwanese consumers' (n=2,209) preferences for delivery service. This process clarifies online-and-offline purchasing behaviors and preferences to find knowledge profiles/patterns/rules for cross-channel collaborative recommendations. Finally, theoretical and practical implications for methodology and enterprise are presented.Keywords: delivery service, online-and-offline purchasing, retail cross-channel, collaborative recommendations, data mining analytics
Procedia PDF Downloads 312258 Optimization of Plastic Injection Molding Parameters by Altering Gate and Runner of Feeding System
Authors: Ali Ramezani
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Balancing feeding system of plastic injection molding has overriding importance as it minimizes the process’s product defects such as weld line, shrinkage, sink marks and warpage. This article presents the difference between optimization of feeding system in identical multi-cavity molding and family molding using Moldflow Plastic Insight software. In this work, the effect of dimension, shape, position and type of gates and runners on the products quality was studied. The optimization was carried out by analyzing plastic injection molding process parameters, including melt temperature, mold temperature, cooling time, cooling temperature packing time and packing pressure. It was found that symmetrical feeding system is the most efficient shape for diminishing defects in identical multi-cavity molding. However, the same results were not concluded for family molding due to the differences between volume, mass, thickness and shape of cavities.Keywords: balancing feeding system, family molding, multi-cavity, Moldflow, plastic injection
Procedia PDF Downloads 1352257 An Overview of Structure Based Activity Outcomes of Pyran Derivatives Against Alzheimer’s Disease
Authors: Faisal Almalki
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Pyran is a heterocyclic group containing oxygen that possesses a variety of pharmacological effects. Pyran is also one of the most prevalent structural subunits in natural products, such as xanthones, coumarins, flavonoids, benzopyrans, etc. Additionally demonstrating the neuroprotective properties of pyrans is the fact that this heterocycle has recently attracted the attention of scientists worldwide. Alzheimer's Disease (AD) treatment and diagnosis are two of the most critical research objectives worldwide. Increased amounts of extracellular senile plaques, intracellular neurofibrillary tangles, and a progressive shutdown of cholinergic basal forebrain neuron transmission are often related with cognitive impairment. This review highlights the various pyran scaffolds of natural and synthetic origin that are effective in the treatment of AD. For better understanding synthetic compounds are categorized as different types of pyran derivatives like chromene, flavone, xanthone, xanthene, etc. The discussion encompasses both the structure-activity correlations of these compounds as well as their activity against AD. Because of the intriguing actions that were uncovered by these pyran-based scaffolds, there is no question that they are at the forefront of the search for potential medication candidates that could treat Alzheimer's disease.Keywords: alzheimer’s disease, pyran, coumarin, xanthone
Procedia PDF Downloads 742256 Mineral Status of Feeds and Fodder and Its Subsequent Effect on Plasma of Livestock and Its Products in Red Lateritic Zone of West Bengal, India
Authors: S. K. Pyne, M. Mondal, G. Samanta
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A survey was carried out in red lateritic zone of West Bengal to compare the mineral status in plasma of livestock grazing over red lateritic region. Sufficient number of samples of soil, feeds, fodder and blood were collected from four districts of red lateritic zone namely, West Midnapore, Birbhum, Bankura and Purulia respectively. The samples were analysed for Calcium (Ca), Phosphorus (P), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn) and Iron (Fe). Concentration of Cu, Mn and Fe in soil were above the minimum critical level, whereas, Zn deficiency is wide spread in red lateritic soil. Paddy straw is deficient in Ca, P, Zn and Mn in the region. Green fodders are also deficient in P, Cu, Zn. The richness of iron (Fe) in soil, feeds, fodder and tree leaves is the characteristics of this region. Phosphorus is deficient in plasma of all categories of livestock with the exception of bullock. Cu is deficient in plasma of calf. Plasma Mn and Fe were higher (p<0.01) in the animals of red lateritic zone. The study reveals that the overall deficiency of phosphorus in different categories of livestock and there is need of dietary supplementation.Keywords: mineral, red lateritic zone, grazing livestock, plasma
Procedia PDF Downloads 3292255 Aquafaba Derived from Korean Soybean Cultivars: A Novel Vegan Egg Replacer
Authors: Yue He, Youn Young Shim, Ji Hye Kim, Jae Youl Cho, Martin J. T. Reaney
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Recently, pulse cooking water (a.k.a. Aquafaba) has been used as an important and cost-effective alternative to eggs in gluten-free, vegan cooking and baking applications. The aquafaba (AQ) is primarily due to its excellent ability to stabilize foams and emulsions in foods. However, the functional ingredients of this excellent AQ are usually discarded with the compound release. This study developed a high-functional food material, AQ, using functional soybean AQ that has not been studied in Korea. A zero-waste and cost-effective hybrid process were used to produce oil emulsifiers from Korean soybeans. The treatment technique was implemented using a small number of efficient steps. Aquafaba from Backtae had the best emulsion properties (92%) and has the potential to produce more stable food oil emulsions. Therefore, this study is expected to be utilized in the development of the first gluten-free, vegan product for vegetarians and consumers with animal protein allergies, utilizing wastewater from cooked soybeans as a source of plant protein that can replace animal protein.Keywords: aquafaba, soybean, chickpea, emulsifiers, egg replacer, egg-free products
Procedia PDF Downloads 1772254 The Forensic Swing of Things: The Current Legal and Technical Challenges of IoT Forensics
Authors: Pantaleon Lutta, Mohamed Sedky, Mohamed Hassan
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The inability of organizations to put in place management control measures for Internet of Things (IoT) complexities persists to be a risk concern. Policy makers have been left to scamper in finding measures to combat these security and privacy concerns. IoT forensics is a cumbersome process as there is no standardization of the IoT products, no or limited historical data are stored on the devices. This paper highlights why IoT forensics is a unique adventure and brought out the legal challenges encountered in the investigation process. A quadrant model is presented to study the conflicting aspects in IoT forensics. The model analyses the effectiveness of forensic investigation process versus the admissibility of the evidence integrity; taking into account the user privacy and the providers’ compliance with the laws and regulations. Our analysis concludes that a semi-automated forensic process using machine learning, could eliminate the human factor from the profiling and surveillance processes, and hence resolves the issues of data protection (privacy and confidentiality).Keywords: cloud forensics, data protection Laws, GDPR, IoT forensics, machine Learning
Procedia PDF Downloads 1502253 Plasma Gasification as a Sustainable Way for Energy Recovery from Scrap Tyre
Authors: Gloria James, S. K. Nema, T. S. Anantha Singh, P. Vadivel Murugan
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The usage of tyre has increased enormously in day to day life. The used tyre and rubber products pose major threat to the environment. Conventional thermal techniques such as low temperature pyrolysis and incineration produce high molecular organic compounds (condensed and collected as aromatic oil) and carbon soot particles. Plasma gasification technique can dispose tyre waste and generate combustible gases and avoid the formation of high molecular aromatic compounds. These gases generated in plasma gasification process can be used to generate electricity or as fuel wherever required. Although many experiments have been done on plasma pyrolysis of tyres, very little work has been done on plasma gasification of tyres. In this work plasma gasification of waste tyres have been conducted in a fixed bed reactor having graphite electrodes and direct current (DC) arc plasma system. The output of this work has been compared with the previous work done on plasma pyrolysis of tyres by different authors. The aim of this work is to compare different process based on gas generation, efficiency of the process and explore the most effective option for energy recovery from waste tyres.Keywords: plasma, gasification, syngas, tyre waste
Procedia PDF Downloads 1822252 Metrics and Methods for Improving Resilience in Agribusiness Supply Chains
Authors: Golnar Behzadi, Michael O'Sullivan, Tava Olsen, Abraham Zhang
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By definition, increasing supply chain resilience improves the supply chain’s ability to return to normal, or to an even more desirable situation, quickly and efficiently after being hit by a disruption. This is especially critical in agribusiness supply chains where the products are perishable and have a short life-cycle. In this paper, we propose a resilience metric to capture and improve the recovery process in terms of both performance and time, of an agribusiness supply chain following either supply or demand-side disruption. We build a model that determines optimal supply chain recovery planning decisions and selects the best resilient strategies that minimize the loss of profit during the recovery time window. The model is formulated as a two-stage stochastic mixed-integer linear programming problem and solved with a branch-and-cut algorithm. The results show that the optimal recovery schedule is highly dependent on the duration of the time-window allowed for recovery. In addition, the profit loss during recovery is reduced by utilizing the proposed resilient actions.Keywords: agribusiness supply chain, recovery, resilience metric, risk management
Procedia PDF Downloads 3972251 The Determination of the Potassium Nitrate, Sodium Hydroxide and Boric Acid Molar Ratio in the Synthesis of Potassium Borates via Hydrothermal Method
Authors: M. Yildirim, A. S. Kipcak, F. T. Senberber, M. O. Asensio, E. M. Derun, S. Piskin
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Potassium borates, which are widely used in welding and metal refining industry, as a lubricating oil additive, cement additive, fiberglass additive and insulation compound, are one of the important groups of borate minerals. In this study the production of a potassium borate mineral via hydrothermal method is aimed. The potassium source of potassium nitrate (KNO3) was used along with a sodium source of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and boron source of boric acid (H3BO3). The constant parameters of reaction temperature and reaction time were determined as 80°C and 1 h, respectively. The molar ratios of 1:1:3 (as KNO3:NaOH:H3BO3), 1:1:4, 1:1:5, 1:1:6 and 1:1:7 were used. Following the synthesis the identifications of the produced products were conducted by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results of the experiments and analysis showed in the ratio of 1:1:6, the Santite mineral with powder diffraction file number (pdf no.) of 01-072-1688, which is known as potassium pentaborate (KB5O8•4H2O) was synthesized as best.Keywords: hydrothermal synthesis, potassium borate, potassium nitrate, santite
Procedia PDF Downloads 4602250 Intelligent Quality Management System on the Example оf Bread Baking
Authors: Irbulat Utepbergenov, Lyazzat Issabekova, Shara Toybayeva
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This article discusses quality management using the bread baking process as an example. The baking process must be strictly controlled and repeatable. Automation and monitoring of quality management systems can help. After baking bread, quality control of the finished product should be carried out. This may include an evaluation of appearance, weight, texture, and flavor. It is important to continuously work to improve processes and products based on data and feedback from the quality management system. A method and model of automated quality management and an intelligent automated management system based on intelligent technologies are proposed, which allow to automate the processes of QMS implementation and support and improve the validity, efficiency, and effectiveness of management decisions by automating a number of functions of decision makers and staff. This project is supported by the grant of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Zhas Galym project No. AR 13268939 Research and development of digital technologies to ensure consistency of the carriers of normative documents of the quality management system).Keywords: automated control system, quality management, efficiency evaluation, bakery oven, intelligent system
Procedia PDF Downloads 382249 The Characteristcs and Amino Acid Profile of Edible Coating Extracted from Pigskin Gelatin
Authors: Meity Sompie, Agnes Triasih, Wisje Ponto
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Edible coating is thin layers that act as a barrier to the external factors and protect the food products. The addition of the plasticizer to the edible coating is required to overcome film caused by extensive intermolecular forces. The potential development of pigskin with different ages as a raw material for the manufacture of edible films had not been widely publicized. This research was aimed to determine the influence of gelatin concentration and different type of plasticizer on the edible coating characteristics extracted from pigskin gelatin. This study used Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with two factors and three replicates of treatments. The first factor was consisted of pigskin gelatin concentration ( 10, 20, and 30 %) and the second factor was different type of plasticizer (glycerol, sorbitol and PEG). The results show that the interaction between the use of gelatin concentrations and type of plasticizer had significant effect (P< 0.05) on the thickness, tensile strength, elongation, water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), water content and amino acid profile of edible coating. It was concluded that the edible coating from pigskin gelatin with plasticizer gliserol had the best film characteristics, and it can be applied as an edible coating.Keywords: edible coating, edible film, pigskin gelatin, plasticizer
Procedia PDF Downloads 2142248 Succinonitrile Modified Polyacrylamide as a Quasi-Solid Electrolyte for an Organic Based Electrochromic Device
Authors: Benjamin Orimolade, Emily Draper
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The interest in all solid electrochromic devices (ECD) is ongoing. This is because these devices offer realistic applications of electrochromic materials in products such as sensors, windows and energy storage devices. The use of quasi-solid (gel) electrolytes for the construction of these ECDs is attractive because of their ease of preparation, availability, low cost, improved electrochromic performance, good ionic conductivity and prevention of leakages in ECDs. Herein, we developed a gel electrolyte consisting of polyacrylamide modified with succinonitrile for an ECD containing leucine-modified naphthalene diimide (NDI-L) as electrochromic material. The amount of succinonitrile in the gel was optimized, and the structure, surface morphology, and ionic conductivity of the electrolytes were assessed using microscopic techniques and electrochemical methods. The ECD fabricated with the gel electrolyte displayed good electrochromic performance with a fast switching response of up to 10 s and outstanding stability. These results add significant insight into understanding the inter- and intra-molecular interaction in succinonitrile gel electrolytes and provide a typical practicable high-performance gel electrolyte material for solid electrochromic devices.Keywords: electrochromic device, gel electrolytes, naphthalene diimide, succinonitrile
Procedia PDF Downloads 602247 Glycation of Serum Albumin: Cause Remarkable Alteration in Protein Structure and Generation of Early Glycation End Products
Authors: Ishrat Jahan Saifi, Sheelu Shafiq Siddiqi, M. R. Ajmal
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Glycation of protein is very important as well as a harmful process, which may lead to develop DM in human body. Human Serum Albumin (HSA) is the most abundant protein in blood and it is highly prone to glycation by the reducing sugars. 2-¬deoxy d-¬Ribose (dRib) is a highly reactive reducing sugar which is produced in cells as a product of the enzyme thymidine phosphorylase. It is generated during the degradation of DNA in human body. It may cause glycation in HSA rapidly and is involved in the development of DM. In present study, we did in¬vitro glycation of HSA with different concentrations of 2-¬deoxy d-¬ribose and found that dRib glycated HSA rapidly within 4h incubation at 37◦C. UV¬ Spectroscopy, Fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Circular Dichroism (CD) technique have been done to determine the structural changes in HSA upon glycation. Results of this study suggested that dRib is the potential glycating agent and it causes alteration in protein structure and biophysical properties which may lead to development and progression of Diabetes mellitus.Keywords: 2-deoxy D-ribose, human serum albumin, glycation, diabetes mellitus
Procedia PDF Downloads 2102246 Predictability of Supply Chain in Indian Automobile Division
Authors: Dharamvir Mangal
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Supply chain management has increasingly become an inevitable challenge to most companies to continuously survive and prosper in the global chain-based competitive environment. The current challenges of the Indian automotive world, their implications on supply chain are summarized and analyzed in this paper. In this competitive era of ‘LPG’ i.e. Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization, modern marketing systems, introduction of products with short life cycles, and the discriminating expectations of customers have enforced business enterprises to invest in and focus attention on their Supply Chains (SCs) in order to meet out the level of customer’s satisfaction and to survive in the competitive market. In fact, many of trends in the auto industry are reinforcing the need to redefine supply chain strategies layouts, and operations etc. Many manufacturing operations are designed to maximize throughput and lower costs with modest considerations for the crash on inventory levels and distribution capabilities. To improve profitability and efficiency, automotive players are seeking ways to achieve operational excellence, reduce operating cost and enhance customer service through efficient supply chain management.Keywords: automotive industry, supply chain, challenges, market potential
Procedia PDF Downloads 3302245 Mechanical Performance of Geopolymeric Mortars Based on Natural Clay, Fly Ash and Metakaolin
Authors: W. Tahri, B. Samet, F. Pacheco-Torgal, J. L. Barroso de Aguiar, S. Baklouti
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Infrastructure rehabilitation represents a multitrillion dollar opportunity for the construction industry. Since the majority of the existent infrastructures are Portland cement concrete based this means that concrete infrastructure rehabilitation is a hot issue to be dealt with. Geopolymers are novel inorganic binders with high potential to replace Portland cement based ones. So far very few studies in the geopolymer field have addressed the rehabilitation of deteriorated concrete structures. This paper discloses results of an investigation concerning the development geopolymeric repair mortars. The mortars are based on Tunisian natural clay plus calcium hydroxide, sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide. Results show that the geopolymeric mortar has a high compressive strength and a lower unrestrained shrinkage performance as long as partial replacement by metakaolin is carried out. The results also show that Tunisian calcined clay based mortars have hydration products with typical geopolymeric phases.Keywords: geopolymeric mortars, infrastructure repair, compressive strength, shrinkage
Procedia PDF Downloads 3292244 Absorptive Capabilities in the Development of Biopharmaceutical Industry: The Case of Bioprocess Development and Research Unit, National Polytechnic Institute
Authors: Ana L. Sánchez Regla, Igor A. Rivera González, María del Pilar Monserrat Pérez Hernández
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The ability of an organization to identify and get useful information from external sources, assimilate it, transform and apply to generate products or services with added value is called absorptive capacity. Absorptive capabilities contribute to have market opportunities to firms and get a leader position with respect to others competitors. The Bioprocess Development and Research Unit (UDIBI) is a Research and Development (R&D) laboratory that belongs to the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), which is a higher education institute in Mexico. The UDIBI was created with the purpose of carrying out R and D activities for the Transferon®, a biopharmaceutical product developed and patented by IPN. The evolution of competence and scientific and technological platform made UDIBI expand its scope by providing technological services (preclínical studies and bio-compatibility evaluation) to the national pharmaceutical industry and biopharmaceutical industry. The relevance of this study is that those industries are classified as high scientific and technological intensity, and yet, after a review of the state of the art, there is only one study of absorption capabilities in biopharmaceutical industry with a similar scope to this research; in the case of Mexico, there is none. In addition to this, UDIBI belongs to a public university and its operation does not depend on the federal budget, but on the income generated by its external technological services. This fact represents a highly remarkable case in Mexico's public higher education context. This current doctoral research (2015-2019) is contextualized within a case study, its main objective is to identify and analyze the absorptive capabilities that characterise the UDIBI that allows it had become in a one of two third authorized laboratory by the sanitary authority in Mexico for developed bio-comparability studies to bio-pharmaceutical products. The development of this work in the field is divided into two phases. In a first phase, 15 interviews were conducted with the UDIBI personnel, covering management levels, heads of services, project leaders and laboratory personnel. These interviews were structured under a questionnaire, which was designed to integrate open questions and to a lesser extent, others, whose answers would be answered on a Likert-type rating scale. From the information obtained in this phase, a scientific article was made (in review and a proposal of presentation was submitted in different academic forums. A second stage will be made from the conduct of an ethnographic study within this organization under study that will last about 3 months. On the other hand, it is intended to carry out interviews with external actors around the UDIBI (suppliers, advisors, IPN officials, including contact with an academic specialized in absorption capacities to express their comments on this thesis. The inicial findings had shown two lines: i) exist institutional, technological and organizational management elements that encourage and/or limit the creation of absorption capacities in this scientific and technological laboratory and, ii) UDIBI has had created a set of multiple transfer technology of knowledge mechanisms which have had permitted to build a huge base of prior knowledge.Keywords: absorptive capabilities, biopharmaceutical industry, high research and development intensity industries, knowledge management, transfer of knowledge
Procedia PDF Downloads 2252243 Density Determination by Dilution for Extra Heavy Oil Residues Obtained Using Molecular Distillation and Supercritical Fluid Extraction as Upgrading and Refining Process
Authors: Oscar Corredor, Alexander Guzman, Adan Leon
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Density is a bulk physical property that indicates the quality of a petroleum fraction. It is also a useful property to estimate various physicochemical properties of fraction and petroleum fluids; however, the determination of density of extra heavy residual (EHR) fractions by standard methodologies, (ASTM D70) shows limitations for samples with higher densities than 1.0879 g/cm3. For this reason, a dilution methodology was developed in order to determinate density for those particular fractions, 87 (EHR) fractions were obtained as products of the fractionation of Colombian typical Vacuum Distillation Residual Fractions using molecular distillation (MD) and extraction with Solvent N-hexane in Supercritical Conditions (SFEF) pilot plants. The proposed methodology showed reliable results that can be demonstrated with the standard deviation of repeatability and reproducibility values of 0.0031 and 0.0061 g/ml respectively. In the same way, it was possible to determine densities in fractions EHR up to 1.1647g/cm3 and °API values obtained were ten times less than the water reference value.Keywords: API, density, vacuum residual, molecular distillation, supercritical fluid extraction
Procedia PDF Downloads 2672242 Fermentation with Lactobacillus plantarum CK10 Enhanced Antioxidant Activity of Blueberry Puree
Authors: So Yae Koh, YeonWoo Song, Ji-Yeon Ryu, Jeong Yong Moon, Somi Kim Cho
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Blueberry, a perennial shrub, is one of the most popular fruits due to its flavor and strong free radical scavenging properties. In this study, the blueberry puree was fermented by Lactobacillus plantarum CK10 and the antioxidant activities of fermentation products were examined. Various conditions with different supplements (5% sucrose or 10% skim milk) were evaluated for fermentation efficiency and the effects on antioxidant properties. The viable cell count of lactic acid bacteria, pH, total phenolic compounds and flavonoids contents were measured after 7 days of fermentation. DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS [2,2’-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)] radical scavenging activities were highly enhanced compared to non-fermented blueberry puree after fermentation. Interestingly, the antioxidant activities were greatly increased in the fermentation of blueberry puree alone without supplements. The present results indicate that the blueberry puree fermented by Lactobacillus plantarum CK10 could be used as a potential source of natural antioxidants and these findings will facilitate the utilization of blueberry as a resource for food additive.Keywords: antioxidant activity, blueberry, lactobacillus plantarum CK10, fermentation
Procedia PDF Downloads 3492241 Culture and Commodification: A Study of William Gibson's the Bridge Trilogy
Authors: Aruna Bhat
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Culture can be placed within the social structure that embodies both the creation of social groups, and the manner in which they interact with each other. As many critics have pointed out, culture in the Postmodern context has often been considered a commodity, and indeed it shares many attributes with commercial products. Popular culture follows many patterns of behavior derived from Economics, from the simple principle of supply and demand, to the creation of marketable demographics which fit certain criterion. This trend is exemplary visible in contemporary fiction, especially in contemporary science fiction; Cyberpunk fiction in particular which is an off shoot of pure science fiction. William Gibson is one such author who in his works portrays such a scenario, and in his The Bridge Trilogy he adds another level of interpretation to this state of affairs, by describing a world that is centered on industrialization of a new kind – that focuses around data in the cyberspace. In this new world, data has become the most important commodity, and man has become nothing but a nodal point in a vast ocean of raw data resulting into commodification of each thing including Culture. This paper will attempt to study the presence of above mentioned elements in William Gibson’s The Bridge Trilogy. The theories applied will be Postmodernism and Cultural studies.Keywords: culture, commodity, cyberpunk, data, postmodern
Procedia PDF Downloads 504