Search results for: automated investment systems

Authors: Ching-Feng Chen

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The floating photovoltaic (FPV) system highlights economic benefits and energy performance to carbon dioxide (CO₂) discharges. Due to land resource scarcity and many negligent water territories, such as reservoirs, dams, and lakes in Japan and Taiwan, both countries are actively developing FPV and responding to the pricing of the emissions trading systems (ETS). This paper performs a case study through a synthesis approach to compare the economic indicators between the FPVs of Taiwan’s Agongdian Reservoir and Japan’s Yamakura Dam. The research results show that the metrics of the system capacity, installation costs, bank interest rates, and ETS and Electricity Bills affect FPV operating gains. In the post-Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) phase, investing in FPV in Japan is more profitable than in Taiwan. The former’s positive net present value (NPV), eminent internal rate of return (IRR) (11.6%), and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) above 1 (2.0) at the discount rate of 10% indicate that investing the FPV in Japan is more favorable than in Taiwan. In addition, the breakeven point is modest (about 61.3%.). The presented methodology in the study helps investors evaluate schemes’ pros and cons and determine whether a decision is beneficial while funding PV or FPV projects.

Keywords: carbon border adjustment mechanism, floating photovoltaic, emissions trading systems, net present value, internal rate of return, benefit-cost ratio

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Authors: Keith Dominic T. Li

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The soaring prices of residential properties in Hong Kong has become a social problem that even the middle class is having dif?iculties in purchasing homes. In making policies to curb the prices, it is important to determine the factors that contribute to the property in?lation. Many researches attribute this in?lation to macroeconomic factors especially the interest rate. However, it is important to remember that Hong Kong is under a Currency Board system which makes its interest rate exogenously determined. This research aims to show the signi?icance of the money supply on Hong Kong residential property prices in post-1997 Asian Financial Crisis period. Using money supply data, macroeconomic fundamentals, and demographic variables from 2000Q1 to 2013Q2, the factors contributed to residential property price in?lation are estimated to calculate the share of each explanatory variable in disparity. It is found that the Hong Kong property market is mainly driven by investment and that the in?lation on Hong Kong residential property prices can explained by the increase in the Hang Seng Index and in the money supply M2.

Keywords: real estate, Hong Kong, property market, monetary economics, monetary policy

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Authors: Tochukwu Timothy Okoli, Devi Datt Tewari

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The high rate of Fintech adoption has not transmitted to greater financial inclusion and development in Africa. This problem is attributed to poor Fintech diversification and usefulness in the continent. This concept is referred to as the Fintech depth of penetration in this study. The study, therefore, assessed its determinants and growth process in a panel of three emergings, twenty-four frontiers and five fragile African economies disaggregated with dummies over the period 2004-2018 to allow for heterogeneity between groups. The System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) technique reveals that the average depth of Mobile banking and automated teller machine (ATM) is a dynamic heterogeneity process. Moreover, users' previous experiences/compatibility, trial-ability/income, and financial development were the major factors that raise its usefulness, whereas perceived risk, financial openness, and inflation rate significantly limit its usefulness. The growth rate of Mobile banking, ATM, and Internet banking in 2018 is, on average 41.82, 0.4, and 20.8 per cent respectively greater than its average rates in 2004. These greater averages after the 2009 financial crisis suggest that countries resort to Fintech as a risk-mitigating tool. This study, therefore, recommends greater Fintech diversification through improved literacy, institutional development, financial liberalization, and continuous innovation.

Keywords: depth of fintech, emerging Africa, financial technology, internet banking, mobile banking

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: Marzieh Amiri, Zahra Iranpour Mobarakeh, Fatemeh Mehrbakhsh, Mehran Amiri

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Introduction: Early diagnosis and intervention of congenital hearing loss is necessary to minimize the adverse effects of hearing loss. The aim of the present study was to report the results of newborn hearing screening in a centerin the south part of Iran, Fasa. Material and methods: In this study, the data related to 6,144 newbornsduring September 2018 up to September2021, was analyzed. Hearing screening was performed using transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) and automated auditory brainstem response (AABR) tests. Results: From all 6144 newborns,3752 and 2392referred to the center from urban and rural part of Fasa, respectively. There were 2958 female and 3186 male in this study. Of 6144 newborns, 6098 ones passed the screening tests, and 46 neonates were referred to a diagnostic audiology clinic. Finally, nine neonates were diagnosed with congenital hearing loss (seven with sensorineural hearing loss and two with conductive hearing loss). The severity of all the hearing impaired neonates was moderate and above. The most important risk factors were family history of hearing loss, low gestational age, NICU hospitalization, and hyperbilirubinemia. Conclusion: Our results showed that the prevalence of hearing loss was 1.46 per 1000 infants. Boosting public knowledge by providing families with proper education appears to be helpful in preventing the negative effects of delayed implementation of health screening programs.

Keywords: newborn hearing screening, hearing loss, risk factor, prevalence

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Malo Pocheau-Lesteven, Olivier Le Maître

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Engineering and optimisation of complex systems is often achieved through multi-disciplinary analysis of the system, where each subsystem is modeled and interacts with other subsystems to model the complete system. The coherence of the output of the different sub-systems is achieved through the use of compatibility constraints, which enforce the coupling between the different subsystems. Due to the complexity of some sub-systems and the computational cost of evaluating their respective models, it is often necessary to build surrogate models of these subsystems to allow repeated evaluation these subsystems at a relatively low computational cost. In this paper, gaussian processes are used, as their probabilistic nature is leveraged to evaluate the likelihood of satisfying the compatibility constraints. This paper presents infilling strategies to build accurate surrogate models of the subsystems in areas where they are likely to meet the compatibility constraint. It is shown that these infilling strategies can reduce the computational cost of building surrogate models for a given level of accuracy. An application of these methods to velocity prediction programs used in offshore racing naval architecture further demonstrates these method's applicability in a real engineering context. Also, some examples of the application of uncertainty quantification to field of naval architecture are presented.

Keywords: infilling strategy, gaussian process, multi disciplinary analysis, velocity prediction program

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Authors: Nihan Gurel Ulusan

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It is obvious that electrical energy, which is an inseparable part of modern day’s human and also the most important power source of our age, should be generated on a level that will suffice the nation’s requirements. The electrical energy used for a sustainable architectural design should be reduced as much as possible. Designing the buildings as energy efficient systems which aim at reducing the artificial illumination loads has been a current subject of our times as a result of concepts gaining importance like conscious consumption of energy sources, environment-friendly designs and sustainability. Reducing the consumption of electrical energy regarding the artificial lighting carries great significance, especially in the volumes which are used all day long like the educational buildings. Starting out with such an aim in this paper, the educational buildings are explored in terms of energy efficient lighting. Firstly, illumination techniques, illumination systems, light sources, luminaries, illumination controls and 'efficient energy' usage in lighting are mentioned. In addition, natural and artificial lighting systems used in educational buildings and also the spaces building up these kind buildings are examined in terms of energy efficient lighting. Lastly, the illumination properties of the school sample chosen for this study, Kağıthane Anadolu Lisesi, a typical high school in Istanbul, is observed. Suggestions are made in order to improve the system by evaluating the illumination properties of the classes with the survey carried out with the users.

Keywords: educational buildings, energy efficient, illumination techniques, lighting

Procedia PDF Downloads 264

Authors: Rami A. Maher, Ibraheem K. Ibraheem

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This work presents a comparison study between the state-space and polynomial methods for the design of the robust governor for load frequency control of steam turbine power systems. The robust governor is synthesized using the two approaches and the comparison is extended to include time and frequency domains performance, controller order, and uncertainty representation, weighting filters, optimality and sub-optimality. The obtained results are represented through tables and curves with reasons of similarities and dissimilarities.

Keywords: robust control, load frequency control, steam turbine, H∞-norm, system uncertainty, load disturbance

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Authors: Midhun Xavier

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This paper introduces a method to verify multi-agent systems in industrial control systems using blockchain technology. The proposed solution enables to record and verify each process that occurs while generating a customized product using Ethereum-based smart contracts. Node-Red software agents are developed with the help of semantic web technologies, and these software agents interact with IEC 61499 function blocks to execute the processes. The agent associated with each mechatronic component and its controller can communicate with the blockchain to record various events that occur during each process, and the latter smart contract helps to verify these process orders of the customized product.

Keywords: blockchain, Ethereum, node-red, IEC 61499, multi-agent system, MQTT

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Authors: Masoumeh Mofarrah, Amir NahanMoghadam

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Higher oil prices and increasing oil demand are main reasons for great attention to Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). Comprehensive researches have been accomplished to develop, appraise, and improve EOR methods and their application. Recently, Artificial Intelligence (AI) gained popularity in petroleum industry that can help petroleum engineers to solve some fundamental petroleum engineering problems such as reservoir simulation, EOR project risk analysis, well log interpretation and well test model selection. This study presents a historical overview of most popular AI tools including neural networks, genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic, and expert systems in petroleum industry and discusses two case studies to represent the application of two mentioned AI methods for selecting an appropriate EOR method based on reservoir characterization infeasible and effective way.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, EOR, neural networks, expert systems

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Authors: Donghyun Lee, Cam Nguyen

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Multi-band systems offer a great deal of benefit in modern communication and radar systems. In particular, multi-band antenna-array radar systems with their extended frequency diversity provide numerous advantages in detection, identification, locating and tracking a wide range of targets, including enhanced detection coverage, accurate target location, reduced survey time and cost, increased resolution, improved reliability and target information. An accurate calibration is a critical issue in antenna array systems. The amplitude and phase errors in multi-band and multi-polarization antenna array transceivers result in inaccurate target detection, deteriorated resolution and reduced reliability. Furthermore, the digital beam former without the RF domain phase-shifting is less immune to unfiltered interference signals, which can lead to receiver saturation in array systems. Therefore, implementing integrated front-end architecture, which can support calibration function with low insertion and filtering function from the farthest end of an array transceiver is of great interest. We report a dual K/Ka-band T/R/Calibration switch module with quasi-elliptic dual-bandpass filtering function implementing a Q-enhanced metamaterial transmission line. A unique dual-band frequency response is incorporated in the reception and calibration path of the proposed switch module utilizing the composite right/left-handed meta material transmission line coupled with a Colpitts-style negative generation circuit. The fabricated fully integrated T/R/Calibration switch module in 0.18-μm BiCMOS technology exhibits insertion loss of 4.9-12.3 dB and isolation of more than 45 dB in the reception, transmission and calibration mode of operation. In the reception and calibration mode, the dual-band frequency response centered at 24.5 and 35 GHz exhibits out-of-band rejection of more than 30 dB compared to the pass bands below 10.5 GHz and above 59.5 GHz. The rejection between the pass bands reaches more than 50 dB. In all modes of operation, the IP1-dB is between 4 and 11 dBm. Acknowledgement: This paper was made possible by NPRP grant # 6-241-2-102 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.

Keywords: microwaves, millimeter waves, T/R switch, wireless communications, wireless communications

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Authors: Indrani Gupta, Leena Vachasiddha, Rakesh Kumar

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Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai intends to undertake Mumbai Sewage Disposal (MSDP) for improvement of environment in and around Mumbai city. Sewage generated from the city currently gets partly into the inadequate collection system for treatment and the rest into nearby marine water body through drains. This paper addresses the cost benefit analysis of MSDP works for better compliance of sewage treatment and disposal. Cost benefit analysis indicates that the investment in sewage treatment is economically beneficial and will provide immense social, environmental, health and economic benefits. Monetary values of positive benefits such as avoided health costs, enhanced fish catches and improved tourism have been quantified. The total capital cost of the project is estimated to be about INR 51,510 million and operation and maintenance cost is about INR 2240.6 million per year. The cost benefit analysis indicates that a benefit of about 25,882 million per year can be achieved due to the implementation of this project. Other than these benefits, better marine ecosystem quality; higher property cost; improved recreational opportunities were not included because of lack of information.

Keywords: waste water treatment, cost-benefit analysis, health, tourism, fisheries

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: Ibrahim A. Aref, Tarek El-Mihoub, Khadiga Ben Musa

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This paper presents Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) communication model based on SoC design methodology. Such model can be used to support the modelling of the complex wireless communication systems, therefore use of such communication model is an important technique in the construction of high performance communication. SystemC has been chosen because it provides a homogeneous design flow for complex designs (i.e. SoC and IP based design). We use a swarm system to validate CSMA designed model and to show how advantages of incorporating communication early in the design process. The wireless communication created through the modeling of CSMA protocol that can be used to achieve communication between all the agents and to coordinate access to the shared medium (channel).

Keywords: systemC, modelling, simulation, CSMA

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Authors: Sai S. Hari, Shriram Ramanujam, Unnati Trivedi

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The advent of mass transit systems like rail, metro, maglev, and various other rail based transport has pacified the requirement of public transport for the masses to a great extent. However, the abatement of the demand does not necessarily mean it is managed efficiently, eloquently or in an encapsulating manner. The primary problem identified that the one this paper seeks to solve is the dipsomaniac like manner in which the compartments are occupied. This problem is solved by using a comparison of an empty train and an occupied one. The pixel data of an occupied train is compared to the pixel data of an empty train. This is done using canny edge detection technique. After the comparison it intimates the passengers at the consecutive stops which compartments are not occupied or have low occupancy. Thus, redirecting them and preventing overcrowding.

Keywords: canny edge detection, comparison, encapsulation, redirection

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Authors: Amir E. Amirzadeh, Richard K. Strand

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Moisture-induced problems are a significant concern for building owners, architects, construction managers, and building engineers, as they can have substantial impacts on building enclosures' durability and performance. Computational analyses, such as hygrothermal and thermal analysis, can provide valuable information and demonstrate the expected relative performance of building enclosure systems but are not grounded in absolute certainty. This paper evaluates the hygrothermal performance of common enclosure systems in hospitals in cold climates. The study aims to investigate the impact of exterior wall systems on hospitals, focusing on factors such as durability, construction deficiencies, and energy performance. The study primarily examines the impact of air leakage and vapor retarding layers relative to energy consumption. While these factors have been studied in residential and commercial buildings, there is a lack of information on their impact on hospitals in a holistic context. The study integrates various research studies and professional experience in hospital building design to achieve its objective. The methodology involves surveying and observing exterior wall assemblies, reviewing common exterior wall assemblies and details used in hospital construction, performing simulations and numerical analyses of various variables, validating the model and mechanism using available data from industry and academia, visualizing the outcomes of the analysis, and developing a mechanism to demonstrate the relative performance of exterior wall systems for hospitals under specific conditions. The data sources include case studies from real-world projects and peer-reviewed articles, industry standards, and practices. This research intends to integrate and analyze the in-situ and as-designed performance and durability of building enclosure assemblies with numerical analysis. The study's primary objective is to provide a clear and precise roadmap to better visualize and comprehend the correlation between the durability and performance of common exterior wall systems used in the construction of hospitals and the energy consumption of these buildings under certain static and dynamic conditions. As the construction of new hospitals and renovation of existing ones have grown over the last few years, it is crucial to understand the effect of poor detailing or construction deficiencies on building enclosure systems' performance and durability in healthcare buildings. This study aims to assist stakeholders involved in hospital design, construction, and maintenance in selecting durable and high-performing wall systems. It highlights the importance of early design evaluation, regular quality control during the construction of hospitals, and understanding the potential impacts of improper and inconsistent maintenance and operation practices on occupants, owner, building enclosure systems, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, even if they are designed to meet the project requirements.

Keywords: hygrothermal analysis, building enclosure, hospitals, energy efficiency, optimization and visualization, uncertainty and decision making

Procedia PDF Downloads 47

Authors: Saidu I. R., Shittu S. S.

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As the trend of personal devices accessing corporate data continues to rise through Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) practices, organizations recognize the potential cost reduction and productivity gains. However, the associated security risks pose a significant threat to these benefits. Often, organizations adopt BYOD environments without fully considering the vulnerabilities introduced by human factors in this context. This study presents an enhanced assessment model that evaluates the security posture of employees in BYOD environments using cyber hygiene principles. The framework assesses users' adherence to best practices and guidelines for maintaining a secure computing environment, employing scales and the Euclidean distance formula. By utilizing this algorithm, the study measures the distance between users' security practices and the organization's optimal security policies. To facilitate user evaluation, a simple and intuitive interface for automated assessment is developed. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed framework, design science research methods are employed, and empirical assessments are conducted using five artifacts to analyze user suitability in BYOD environments. By addressing the human factor vulnerabilities through the assessment of cyber hygiene practices, this study aims to enhance the overall security of BYOD environments and enable organizations to leverage the advantages of this evolving trend while mitigating potential risks.

Keywords: security, BYOD, vulnerability, risk, cyber hygiene

Procedia PDF Downloads 51

Authors: Betek Cecilia Kunseh, Musampa Christopher

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Despite significant investment and important progress, access to safe potable water continues to be one of the most pressing challenges for rural communities in O R Tambo District Municipality. This is coupled with the low income of most residents and government's policy which obliges municipalities to supply basic water usually set at 6 kilolitres per month to each household free of charge. During the research, data was collected from three local municipalities of O. R. Tambo, i.e. King Sabata Dalindyebo, Mhlontlo and Ingquza Hill local municipalities. According to the result, significant differences exist between the sources of water in the different local municipalities from which data was collected. The chi square was use to calculated the differences between the sources of water and the calculated critical value of the District Municipality was 18.77 which is more than the stipulated critical value of 3.84. More people in Mhlontlo Local Municipality got water from the taps while a greater percentage of households in King Sataba Dalindyebo and Ingquza hill local municipalities got their water from the natural sources. 77% of the sample population complained that there have been no improvements in water provision because they still get water from natural sources and even the remaining 33% that were getting water from the taps still have to depend on natural sources because the taps are most of the time broken and it takes a long time to fix them.

Keywords: availability, water, sources, supply

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: Mustafa Engin Başoğlu, Bekir Çakır

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The most important component affecting the efficiency of photovoltaic power systems are solar panels. Efficiency of these systems are significantly affected because of being low efficiency of solar panel. Therefore, solar panels should be operated under maximum power point conditions through a power converter. In this study, design boost converter with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) operation has been designed and performed with Incremental Conductance (Inc-Cond) algorithm by using direct duty control. Furthermore, it is shown that performance of boost converter with MPPT operation fails under low load resistance connection.

Keywords: boost converter, incremental conductance (Inc-Cond), MPPT, solar panel

Procedia PDF Downloads 1022

Authors: Dina Alfreahat, Zoltan Sebestyen

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Safety is considered as one of the project’s success factors. Poor safety management may result in accidents that impact human, economic, and legal issues. Therefore, it is necessary to consider safety and health as a project success factor along with other project success factors, such as time, cost, and quality. Organizations have a knowledge deficit of the implementation of long-term safety practices, and due to cost control, safety problems tend to receive the least priority. They usually assume that safety management involves expenditures unrelated to production goals, thereby considering it unnecessary for profitability and competitiveness. The purpose of this study is to introduce, analysis and identify the correlation between the orientation of the public safety procedures of an organization and the public safety standards applied in the project. Therefore, the authors develop the process and collect the possible mathematical-statistical tools supporting the previously mentioned goal. The result shows that the adoption of management to safety is a major factor in implementing the safety standard in the project and thereby improving safety performance. It may take time and effort to adopt the mindset of safety orientation service development, but at the same time, the higher organizational investment in safety and health programs will contribute to the loyalty of staff to safety compliance.

Keywords: project management perspective, safety orientation, safety performance, safety standards

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Mohamed Idris S. Abozaed, Suliman Mohamed Elrajoubi

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Researches and concerns in power quality gained significant momentum in the field of power electronics systems over the last two decades globally. This sudden increase in the number of concerns over power quality problems is a result of the huge increase in the use of non-linear loads. In this paper, power quality evaluation of some distribution networks at Misurata - Libya has been done using a power quality and energy analyzer (Fluke 437 Series II). The results of this evaluation are used to minimize the problems of power quality. The analysis shows the main power quality problems that exist and the level of awareness of power quality issues with the aim of generating a start point which can be used as guidelines for researchers and end users in the field of power systems.

Keywords: power quality disturbances, power quality evaluation, statistical analysis, electrical distribution networks

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Authors: Kageeporn Wongpreedee, Bongkot Phichaikamjornwut, Duangkhae Bootkul

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The technique of stone in place casting had been established in jewelry production for two decades. However, the process were not widely used since it was limited to precious stones with high hardness and high stabililty at high temperature. This experiment were tested on tourmaline which is semi-precious gemstone having less hardness and less stability comparing to precious stones. The experiment were designed into two parts. The first part is to understand the phenomena of tourmaline under the heating conditions. Natural tourmaline stones were investigated and compared inclusions inside stones tested at temperature of 500 °C, 600 °C, and 700 °C. The second part is to cast the treated tourmaline with ion-implanation under the stones in place casting conditions. The results showed that stones were able to tolerate as much as at 700 °C showing the growths of inclusions inside the stones. The second part of this experiment were compared tourmaline with ion-implantation and natural tourmaline using on stones in place casting process at different stone setting types. The results showed that the cracks and inclustions of both treat and natural tourmaline with stones in place casting were propagate due to high stress of metal contractions. The stones with ion-implatation were more likely tolerate to cracks and inclusion propagations inside the stones.

Keywords: stone in place casting, tourmaline, ion implantation, metal contraction

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: Musaab Mohammed Ahmed Ali, Vladimir Vodichev

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work deals with an universal control technique or single controller for linear and nonlinear stabilization and tracing control systems. These systems may be structured as SISO and MIMO. Parameters of controlled plants can vary over a wide range. Introduced a novel control systems design method, construction of stable platform orbits using derivative balance, solved transfer function stability preservation problem of linear system under partial substitution of a rational function. Universal controller is proposed as a polar system with the multiple orbits to simplify design procedure, where each orbit represent single order of controller transfer function. Designed controller consist of proportional, integral, derivative terms and multiple feedback and feedforward loops. The controller parameters synthesis method is presented. In generally, controller parameters depend on new polynomial equation where all parameters have a relationship with each other and have fixed values without requirements of retuning. The simulation results show that the proposed universal controller can stabilize infinity number of linear and nonlinear plants and shaping desired previously ordered performance. It has been proven that sensor errors and poor performance will be completely compensated and cannot affect system performance. Disturbances and noises effect on the controller loop will be fully rejected. Technical and economic effect of using proposed controller has been investigated and compared to adaptive, predictive, and robust controllers. The economic analysis shows the advantage of single controller with fixed parameters to drive infinity numbers of plants compared to above mentioned control techniques.

Keywords: derivative balance, fixed parameters, stable platform, universal control

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: Hossein Bakhtiari, Mathias Cehlin, Jan Akander

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Envelopes with low thermal performance is a common characteristic in many European historic buildings which leads to higher energy demand for heating and cooling as well as insufficient thermal comfort for the occupants. This paper presents the results of a study on the thermal comfort in the City Hall (Rådhuset) in Gävle, Sweden. This historic building is currently used as an office building. It is equipped with two relatively modern mechanical heat recovery ventilation systems with displacement ventilation supply devices in the offices. The district heating network heats the building via pre-heat supply air and radiators. Summer cooling comes from an electric heat pump that rejects heat into the exhaust ventilation air. A building management system controls HVAC equipment (heating, ventilation and air conditioning). The methodology is based on on-site measurements, data logging on the management system and evaluating the occupants’ perception of a summer and a winter period indoor environment using a standardized questionnaire. The main aim of the study is to investigate whether or not it is enough to have modernized HVAC systems to get adequate thermal comfort in a historic building with poor envelope performance used as an office building in Nordic climate conditions.

Keywords: historic buildings, on-site measurements, standardized questionnaire, thermal comfort

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Authors: Ali Ahmad AlGassim

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The objective of this study is to explore the local community perceptions toward the impact of tourism from the COR theory perspective. The current study used qualitative methods and purposive sampling to engage informants. Data was collected using an online survey with closed-ended and open-ended questions from 57 informants living in Al-Jufa Village, and then data was analysed using content analysis. The findings showed that COR theory help explains the residents’ perception of the threat and stress of losing resources. The findings showed the residents feel stressed about losing resources, such as lands, houses, heritage, sociocultural and Islamic values, as well as job and investment opportunities if the village is developed for tourism. Findings also present that one group of residents declared rejections and aiming to resist the development if it takes place, and they will not allowing foreigners to come and live in the village. The findings also show that this stress and strain can be alleviated by allowing residents to participate in the development. Finally, the residents of Al-Juhfa showed a high level of feeling of ownership towards their resources.

Keywords: perception of threat, effect of tourism, COR theory, local community, impact of tourism, Saudi Arabia

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: Anurag Saxena, Alkesh Agrawal, Dinesh Kumar

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The next generation mobile communication systems i.e. fourth generation (4G) was developed to accommodate the quality of service and required data rate. This project focuses on multiple access technique proposed in 4G communication systems. It is attempted to demonstrate the IDMA (Interleave Division Multiple Access) technology. The basic principle of IDMA is that interleaver is different for each user whereas CDMA employs different signatures. IDMA inherits many advantages of CDMA such as robust against fading, easy cell planning; dynamic channel sharing and IDMA increase the spectral efficiency and reduce the receiver complexity. In this, performance of IDMA is analyzed using QC-LDPC coding scheme further it is compared with LDPC coding and at last BER is calculated and plotted in MATLAB.

Keywords: 4G, QC-LDPC, CDMA, IDMA

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Authors: Sarah Abdourraziq, Rachid El Bachtiri

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The solar power source for pumping water is one of the most promising areas in photovoltaic applications. The implementation of these systems allows to protect the environment and reduce the CO₂ gas emission compared to systems trained by diesel generators. This paper presents a comparative study between the photovoltaic pumping system driven by DC motor, and AC motor to define the optimum design of this application. The studied system consists of PV array, DC-DC Boost Converter, inverter, motor-pump set and storage tank. The comparison was carried out to define the characteristics and the performance of each system. Each subsystem is modeled in order to simulate the whole system in MATLAB/ Simulink. The results show the efficiency of the proposed technique.

Keywords: photovoltaic water pumping system, DC motor-pump, AC motor-pump, DC-DC boost converter

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Authors: Ali Albadri

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The logistics equation has never been used or studied in scientific fields outside the field of ecology. It has never been used to understand the behavior of a dynamic system of mechanical machines, like an escalator. We have studied the compatibility of the logistic map against real measurements from an escalator. This study has proven that there is good compatibility between the logistics equation and the experimental measurements. It has discovered the potential of a relationship between the fractal dimension and the non-linearity parameter, R, in the logistics equation. The fractal dimension increases as the R parameter (non-linear parameter) increases. It implies that the fractal dimension increases as the phase of the life span of the machine move from the steady/stable phase to the periodic double phase to a chaotic phase. The fractal dimension and the parameter R can be used as a tool to verify and check the health of machines. We have come up with a theory that there are three areas of behaviors, which they can be classified during the life span of a machine, a steady/stable stage, a periodic double stage, and a chaotic stage. The level of attention to the machine differs depending on the stage that the machine is in. The rate of faults in a machine increases as the machine moves through these three stages. During the double period and the chaotic stages, the number of faults starts to increase and become less predictable. The rate of predictability improves as our monitoring of the changes in the fractal dimension and the parameter R improves. The principles and foundations of our theory in this work have and will have a profound impact on the design of systems, on the way of operation of systems, and on the maintenance schedules of the systems. The systems can be mechanical, electrical, or electronic. The discussed methodology in this paper will give businesses the chance to be more careful at the design stage and planning for maintenance to control costs. The findings in this paper can be implied and used to correlate the three stages of a mechanical system to more in-depth mechanical parameters like wear and fatigue life.

Keywords: logistcs map, bifurcation map, fractal dimension, logistics equation

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Authors: Fereshteh Darash

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Reflective tax management corresponds to the Agency Theory since it determines the motivation of managers for tax management actions and short-term and long-term consequences. Therefore, selection of tax strategy contributes to the tax and financial position of the firm in the future. The aim of the present research is to evaluate the effect of tax management components on risk-taking of firms listed in Tehran stock exchange by using regression analysis method. Results show that tax effective rate, tax risk and tax planning have no significant effect on the firm's future risk. Results suggest that stakeholders assess the effective tax rate and delay in tax payment in line with their benefits. They tend to accept the higher risk cost for reduction of tax payments and benefits of higher liquidity in current period. Hence, effective tax rate and tax risk have no significant effect on future risk of the firm. Moreover, tax planning yields no information regarding the predictability of the future profits and as a result, it has no significant effect on the future risk of the firm since specific goals of financial reporting are in priority for the stakeholders and regardless of the firm’s data analysis, they take investment decisions and they less intend to purchase the stocks in a rational manner.

Keywords: tax management, tax effective rate, tax risk, tax planning, firm risk

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: Remy Kulagowski, Tobias Sturm, Audrey Leopold, Aurelie Metay, Josephine Peigne, Alexis Thoumazeau, Alain Brauman, Bruno Fogliani, Florent Tivet

Abstract:

A major challenge for agriculture is to enhance productivity while limiting the impact on the environment. Conservation agriculture (CA) is one strategy whereby both sustainability and productivity can be achieved by preserving and improving the soil quality. Soils provide and regulate a large number of ecosystem services (ES) such as agricultural productivity and climate change adaptation and mitigation. The aim of this study is to assess the impacts of contrasted CA crop management on soil functions for maize (Zea mays L.) cultivation in an eight years field experiment (2010-2018). The study included two CA practices: direct seeding in dead mulch (DM) and living mulch (LM), and conventional plough-based tillage (CT) practices on a fluvisol in New Caledonia (French Archipelago in the South Pacific). In 2018, soil quality of the cropping systems were evaluated with the Biofunctool® set of indicators, that consists in twelve integrative, in-field, and low-tech indicators assessing the biological, physical and chemical properties of soils. Main soil functions were evaluated including (i) carbon transformation, (ii) structure maintenance, and (iii) nutrient cycling in the ten first soil centimeters. The results showed significant higher score for soil structure maintenance (e.g., aggregate stability, water infiltration) and carbon transformation function (e.g., soil respiration, labile carbon) under CA in DM and LM when compared with CT. Score of carbon transformation index was higher in DM compared with LM. However, no significant effect of cropping systems was observed on nutrient cycling (i.e., nitrogen and phosphorus). In conclusion, the aggregated synthetic scores of soil multi-functions evaluated with Biofunctool® demonstrate that CA cropping systems lead to a better soil functioning. Further analysis of the results with agronomic performance of the soil-crop systems would allow to better understand the links between soil functioning and production ES of CA.

Keywords: conservation agriculture, cropping systems, ecosystem services, soil functions

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Adewale O. Ogunde, Olusegun Folorunso, Adesina S. Sodiya

Abstract:

Most existing Distributed Association Rule Mining (DARM) systems are still facing several challenges. One of such challenges that have not received the attention of many researchers is the inability of existing systems to adapt to constantly changing databases and mining environments. In this work, an Adaptive Incremental Mining Algorithm (AIMA) is therefore proposed to address these problems. AIMA employed multiple mobile agents for the entire mining process. AIMA was designed to adapt to changes in the distributed databases by mining only the incremental database updates and using this to update the existing rules in order to improve the overall response time of the DARM system. In AIMA, global association rules were integrated incrementally from one data site to another through Results Integration Coordinating Agents. The mining agents in AIMA were made adaptive by defining mining goals with reasoning and behavioral capabilities and protocols that enabled them to either maintain or change their goals. AIMA employed Java Agent Development Environment Extension for designing the internal agents’ architecture. Results from experiments conducted on real datasets showed that the adaptive system, AIMA performed better than the non-adaptive systems with lower communication costs and higher task completion rates.

Keywords: adaptivity, data mining, distributed association rule mining, incremental mining, mobile agents

Procedia PDF Downloads 372

Authors: Xiao Yihong, Li Zhixuan, Wong Kah Seng, Shen Xingcang

Abstract:

Requirement Elicitation is one of the important factors in developing any new application. Most systems fail just because of wrong elicitation practice. As a result, developers always choose different methods in different fields to achieve optimal results. This paper analyses four cases to understand the effectiveness of different requirement elicitation methods in the field of mobile shopping applications. The elicitation methods we studied included interviews, questionnaires, prototypes, analysis of existing systems, focus groups, brainstorming, and so on. Through the research and analysis results, we ensured the need for a mixture of elicitation methods. Meanwhile, the method adopted should be determined according to the scale of the project and be operated in a reasonable order to ensure the high efficiency of requirement elicitation.

Keywords: requirements elicitation method, shopping, mobile application, software requirement engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 99