Search results for: exact solutions

Authors: Rahimi-Movaghar Vafa, Mansouri Pejman, Chardoli Mojtaba, Rezvani Samina

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Introduction: Blunt abdominal trauma is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in all age groups, but diagnosis of serious intra-abdominal pathology is difficult and most of the damages are obscure in the initial investigation. There is still controversy about which patients should undergo abdomen/pelvis CT, which patients needs more observation and which patients can be discharged safely The aim of this study was to determine that is it safe to discharge patients with blunt abdominal trauma with normal initial findings. Methods: This non-randomized cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2013 to September 2014 at two levels I trauma centers, Sina hospital and Rasoul-e-Akram hospital (Tehran, Iran). Our inclusion criteria were all patients were admitted for suspicious BAT and our exclusion criteria were patients that have serious head and neck, chest, spine and limb injuries which need surgical intervention, those who have unstable vital signs, pregnant women with a gestational age over 3 months and homeless or without exact home address. 390 patients with blunt trauma abdomen examined and the necessary data, including demographic data, the abdominal examination, FAST result, patients’ lab test results (hematocrit, base deficit, urine analysis) on admission and at 6 and 12 hours after admission were recorded. Patients with normal physical examination, laboratory tests and FAST were discharged from the ED during 12 hours with the explanation of the alarm signs and were followed up after 24 hours and 1 week by a telephone call. Patients with abnormal findings in physical examination, laboratory tests, and FAST underwent abdomino-pelvic CT scan. Results: The study included 390 patients with blunt abdominal trauma between 12 and 80 years of age (mean age, 37.0 ± 13.7 years) and the mean duration of hospitalization in patients was 7.4 ± 4.1 hours. 88.6% of the patients were discharged from hospital before 12 hours. Odds ratio (OR) for having any symptoms for discharge after 6 hours was 0.160 and after 12 hours was 0.117 hours, which is statistically significant. Among the variables age, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, hematocrit and base deficit at admission, 6 hours and 12 hours after admission showed no significant statistical relationship with discharge time. From our 390 patients, 190 patients have normal initial physical examination, lab data and FAST findings that didn’t show any signs or symptoms in their next assessment and in their follow up by the phone call. Conclusion: It is recommended that patients with no symptoms at admission (completely normal physical examination, ultrasound, normal hematocrit and normal base deficit and lack of microscopic hematuria) and good family and social status can be safely discharged from the emergency department.

Keywords: blunt abdominal trauma, patient discharge, emergency department, FAST

Procedia PDF Downloads 366

Authors: Peter Sabev, Katalina Grigorova

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Test automation allows performing difficult and time consuming manual software testing tasks efficiently, quickly and repeatedly. However, development and maintenance of automated tests is expensive, so it needs a proper prioritization what to automate first. This paper describes a simple yet efficient approach for such prioritization of test cases based on the effort needed for both manual execution and software test automation. The suggested approach is very flexible because it allows working with a variety of assessment methods, and adding or removing new candidates at any time. The theoretical ideas presented in this article have been successfully applied in real world situations in several software companies by the authors and their colleagues including testing of real estate websites, cryptographic and authentication solutions, OSGi-based middleware framework that has been applied in various systems for smart homes, connected cars, production plants, sensors, home appliances, car head units and engine control units (ECU), vending machines, medical devices, industry equipment and other devices that either contain or are connected to an embedded service gateway.

Keywords: automated testing, manual testing, test automation, software testing, test prioritization

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Amit K. Singh, Subhankar Sen

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The bifurcation curve of separation in steady two-dimensional viscous flow past an elliptic cylinder is studied by varying the angle of incidence (α) with different aspect ratio (ratio of minor to major axis). The solutions are based on numerical investigation, using finite element analysis, of the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible flow. Results are presented for Reynolds number up to 50 and angle of incidence varies from 0° to 90°. Range of aspect ratio (Ar) is from 0.1 to 1 (in steps of 0.1) and flow is considered as unbounded flow. Bifurcation curve represents the locus of Reynolds numbers (Res) at which flow detaches or separates from the surface of the body at a given α and Ar. In earlier studies, effect of Ar on laminar separation curve or bifurcation curve is limited for Ar = 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8. Some results are also available at α = 90° and 45°. The present study attempts to provide a systematic data and clear understanding on the effect of Ar at bifurcation curve and its point of maxima. In addition, issues regarding location of separation angle and maximum ratio of coefficient of lift to drag are studied. We found that nature of curve, separation angle and maximum ratio of lift to drag changes considerably with respect to change in Ar.

Keywords: aspect ratio, bifurcation curve, elliptic cylinder, GMRES, stabilized finite-element

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: O. Lopez, F. Pedro, A. Tadeu, J. Antonio, A. Coelho

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The future of the railway industry lies in the innovation of lighter, more efficient and more sustainable trains. Weight optimizations in railway vehicles allow reducing power consumption and CO₂ emissions, increasing the efficiency of the engines and the maximum speed reached. Additionally, they reduce wear of wheels and rails, increase the space available for passengers, etc. Among the various systems that integrate railway interiors, the flooring system is one which has greater impact both on passenger safety and comfort, as well as on the weight of the interior systems. Due to the high weight saving potential, relative high mechanical resistance, good acoustic and thermal performance, ease of modular design, cost-effectiveness and long life, the use of new sustainable composite materials and panels provide the latest innovations for competitive solutions in the development of flooring systems. However, one of the main drawbacks of the flooring systems is their relatively poor resistance to point loads. Point loads in railway interiors can be caused by passengers or by components fixed to the flooring system, such as seats and restraint systems, handrails, etc. In this way, they can originate higher fatigue solicitations under service loads or zones with high stress concentrations under exceptional loads (higher longitudinal, transverse and vertical accelerations), thus reducing its useful life. Therefore, to verify all the mechanical and functional requirements of the flooring systems, many physical prototypes would be created during the design phase, with all of the high costs associated with it. Nowadays, the use of virtual prototyping methods by computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) softwares allow validating a product before committing to making physical test prototypes. The scope of this work was to current computer tools and integrate the processes of innovation, development, and manufacturing to reduce the time from design to finished product and optimise the development of the product for higher levels of performance and reliability. In this case, the mechanical response of several sandwich panels with different cores, polystyrene foams, and composite corks, were assessed, to optimise the weight and the mechanical performance of a flooring solution for railways. Sandwich panels with aluminum face sheets were tested to characterise its mechanical performance and determine the polystyrene foam and cork properties when used as inner cores. Then, a railway flooring solution was fully modelled (including the elastomer pads to provide the required vibration isolation from the car body) and perform structural simulations using FEM analysis to comply all the technical product specifications for the supply of a flooring system. Zones with high stress concentrations are studied and tested. The influence of vibration modes on the comfort level and stability is discussed. The information obtained with the computer tools was then completed with several mechanical tests performed on some solutions, and on specific components. The results of the numerical simulations and experimental campaign carried out are presented in this paper. This research work was performed as part of the POCI-01-0247-FEDER-003474 (coMMUTe) Project funded by Portugal 2020 through COMPETE 2020.

Keywords: cork agglomerate core, mechanical performance, numerical simulation, railway flooring system

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Oscar Armando González-Marin, Jhon F. Rodríguez-León, Oscar Mota-Pérez, Jorge Pineda-Piñón, Roberto S. Velázquez-González., Julio C. Sosa-Savedra

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Over the past six years, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has recorded the warmest years since 1880, primarily attributed to climate change. In addition, the overexploitation of agricultural lands, combined with food and water scarcity, has highlighted the urgent need for sustainable cultivation methods. Hydroponics has emerged as a sustainable farming technique that enables plant cultivation using nutrient solutions without the requirement for traditional soil. Among hydroponic methods, the Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) facilitates plant growth by circulating a nutrient solution continuously. This approach allows the monitoring and precise control of nutritional parameters, with potential for automation and technological integration. This study aims to present the state of the art of automated NFT hydroponic systems, discussing their design methodologies and considerations for implementation. Moreover, a medium-scale NFT system developed at CICATA-QRO is introduced, detailing its current manual management and progress toward automation.

Keywords: automation, hydroponics, nutrient film technique, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 39

Authors: Mohamad Najari, Gilbert Grondin, Marwan El-Rich

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Design trucks in standard codes are selected based on the amount of damage they cause on structures-specifically bridges- and roads to represent the real traffic loads. Some limited numbers of trucks are run on a bridge one at a time and the damage on the bridge is recorded for each truck. One design track is also run on the same bridge “n” times -“n” is the number of trucks used previously- to calculate the damage of the design truck on the same bridge. To make these damages equal a reduction factor is needed for that specific design truck in the codes. As the limited number of trucks cannot be the exact representative of real traffic through the life of the structure, these reduction factors are not accurately calculated and they should be modified accordingly. Started on July 2004, the vehicle load data were collected in six weigh in motion (WIM) sites owned by Alberta Transportation for eight consecutive years. This database includes more than 200 million trucks. Having these data gives the opportunity to compare the effect of any standard fatigue trucks weigh and the real traffic load on the fatigue life of the bridges which leads to a modification for the fatigue truck factor in the code. To calculate the damage for each truck, the truck is run on the bridge, moment history of the detail under study is recorded, stress range cycles are counted, and then damage is calculated using available S-N curves. A 2000 lines FORTRAN code has been developed to perform the analysis and calculate the damages of the trucks in the database for all eight fatigue categories according to Canadian Institute of Steel Construction (CSA S-16). Stress cycles are counted using rain flow counting method. The modification factors for design truck (CL-625) are calculated for two different bridge configurations and ten span lengths varying from 1 m to 200 m. The two considered bridge configurations are single-span bridge and four span bridge. This was found to be sufficient and representative for a simply supported span, positive moment in end spans of bridges with two or more spans, positive moment in interior spans of three or more spans, and the negative moment at an interior support of multi-span bridges. The moment history of the mid span is recorded for single-span bridge and, exterior positive moment, interior positive moment, and support negative moment are recorded for four span bridge. The influence lines are expressed by a polynomial expression obtained from a regression analysis of the influence lines obtained from SAP2000. It is found that for design truck (CL-625) fatigue truck factor is varying from 0.35 to 0.55 depending on span lengths and bridge configuration. The detail results will be presented in the upcoming papers. This code can be used for any design trucks available in standard codes.

Keywords: bridge, fatigue, fatigue design truck, rain flow analysis, FORTRAN

Procedia PDF Downloads 521

Authors: Anant Mehrotra, Krish Phagwani

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Democratic voting is vital for any country, but current methods like ballot papers or EVMs have drawbacks, including transparency issues, low voter turnout, and security concerns. Blockchain technology offers a potential solution by providing a secure, decentralized, and transparent platform for e-voting. With features like immutability, security, and anonymity, blockchain combined with smart contracts can enhance trust and prevent vote tampering. This paper explores an Ethereum-based e-voting application using Solidity, showcasing a web app that prevents duplicate voting through a token-based system, while also discussing the advantages and limitations of blockchain in digital voting. Voting is a crucial component of democratic decision-making, yet current methods, like paper ballots, remain outdated and inefficient. This paper reviews blockchain-based voting systems, highlighting strategies and guidelines to create a comprehensive electronic voting system that leverages cryptographic techniques, such as zero-knowledge proofs, to enhance privacy. It addresses limitations of existing e-voting solutions, including cost, identity management, and scalability, and provides key insights for organizations looking to design their own blockchain-based voting systems.

Keywords: electronic voting, smart contracts, blockchain nased voting, security

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Authors: Axel Thallemer, Martin Danzer, Dominik Diensthuber, Aleksandar Kostadinov, Bernhard Rogler

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Nature has always inspired the creative mind, to a lesser or greater extent. Introduced around the 1950s, Biomimetics served as a systematic method to treat the natural world as a ‘pattern book’ for technical solutions with the aim to create innovative products. Unfortunately, this technique is prone to failure when performed as a mere reverse engineering of a natural system or appearance. Contrary to that, a solution which looks at the principles of a natural design, promises a better outcome. One such example is the here presented case study, which shows the design process of three distinctive grippers. The devices have biomimetic properties on two levels. Firstly, they use a kinematic chain found in beaks and secondly, they have a biomimetic structural geometry, which was realized using additive manufacturing. In a next step, the manufacturing method was evaluated to estimate its efficiency for commercial production. The results show that the fabrication procedure is still in its early stage and thus it is not able to guarantee satisfactory results. To summarize the study, we claim that a novel solution can be derived using principles from nature, however, for the solution to be actualized successfully, there are parameters which are beyond reach for designers. Nonetheless, industrial designers can contribute to product innovation using biomimetics.

Keywords: biomimetics, innovation, design process, additive manufacturing

Procedia PDF Downloads 191

Authors: Erna Astuti, Supranto, Rochmadi, Agus Prasetya

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Biodiesel production from vegetable oil will produce glycerol as by-product about 10% of the biodiesel production. The amount of glycerol that was produced needed alternative way to handling immediately so as to not become the waste that polluted environment. One of the solutions was to process glycerol to polyglycidyl nitrate (PGN). PGN is synthesized from glycerol by three-step reactions i.e. nitration of glycerol, cyclization of 13- dinitroglycerine and polymerization of glycosyl nitrate. Optimum condition of nitration of glycerol with nitric acid has not been known. Thermodynamic feasibility should be done before run experiments in the laboratory. The aim of this study was to determine the parameters those affect nitration of glycerol and nitric acid and chose the operation condition. Many parameters were simulated to verify its possibility to experiment under conditions which would get the highest conversion of 1, 3-dinitroglycerine and which was the ideal condition to get it. The parameters that need to be studied to obtain the highest conversion of 1, 3-dinitroglycerine were mol ratio of nitric acid/glycerol, reaction temperature, mol ratio of glycerol/dichloromethane and pressure. The highest conversion was obtained in the range of mol ratio of nitric acid /glycerol between 2/1 – 5/1, reaction temperature of 5-25o C and pressure of 1 atm. The parameters that need to be studied further to obtain the highest conversion of 1.3 DNG are mol ratio of nitric acid/glycerol and reaction temperature.

Keywords: Nitration, glycerol, thermodynamic, optimum condition

Procedia PDF Downloads 316

Authors: María R. Contreras, Diana Endara

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Cyanide leaching is the most used technology for gold mining industry, which produces large amounts of effluents requiring treatment. In Ecuador the development of gold mining industry has increased, causing significant environmental impacts due to the highly use of cyanide, it is estimated that 10 gr of extracted gold generates 7000 liters of water contaminated with 300mg/L of free cyanide. The most common methods used nowadays are the treatment with peroxodisulfuric acid, ozonation, H₂O₂ and other reactants which are expensive and present disadvantages. Several methods have been developed to treat this contaminant such as heterogeneous catalysts. Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have received much attention due to their wide applications like a catalysis support. Therefore, in this study, Mg-Al/ LDH was synthetized by coprecipitation method and then platinum was impregned on it, in order to enhance its catalytic activity. Two methods of impregnation were used, the first one, called incipient wet impregnation and the second one was developed by continuous agitation of LDH in contact with chloroplatinic acid solution for 24 h. The support impregnated was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, FTIR and SEM. Finally, the oxidation of cyanide ion was performed by preparing synthetic solutions of sodium cyanide (NaCN) with an initial concentration of 500 mg/L at pH 10,5 and air flow of 180 NL/h. After 8 hours of treatment, an 80% of oxidation of ion cyanide was achieved.

Keywords: catalysis, cyanide, LDHs, mining

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Nouf M. Al-Ourfi, A. S. Bashammakh, M. S. El-Shahawi

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The redox behavior of dianabol steroid (DS) on Nafion Multiwalled Carbon nano -tubes (MWCNT) composite film modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) in various buffer solutions was studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse- adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (DP-CSV) and successfully compared with the results at non modified bare GCE. The Nafion-MWCNT composite film modified GCE exhibited the best electrochemical response among the two electrodes for the electro reduction of DS that was inferred from the EIS, CV and DP-CSV. The modified sensor showed a sensitive, stable and linear response in the concentration range of 5 – 100 nM with a detection limit of 0.08 nM. The selectivity of the proposed sensor was assessed in the presence of high concentration of major interfering species. The analytical application of the sensor for the quantification of DS in pharmaceutical formulations and biological fluids (urine) was determined and the results demonstrated acceptable recovery and RSD of 5%. Statistical treatment of the results of the proposed method revealed no significant differences in the accuracy and precision. The relative standard deviations for five measurements of 50 and 300 ng mL−1 of DS were 3.9 % and 1.0 %, respectively.

Keywords: dianabol steroid, determination, modified GCE, urine

Procedia PDF Downloads 284

Authors: Jian Yang, Atsushi Yagi

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Tree-grass coexistence system is of great importance for forest ecology. Mathematical models are being proposed to study the dynamics of tree-grass coexistence and the stability of the systems. However, few of the models concentrates on spatial dynamics of the tree-grass coexistence. In this study, we modified an age-structured continuous-space population model for forests, obtaining an age-structured continuous-space population model for the tree-grass competition model. In the model, for thermal competitions, adult trees can out-compete grass, and grass can out-compete seedlings. We mathematically studied the model to make sure tree-grass coexistence solutions exist. Numerical experiments demonstrated that a fraction of area that trees or grass occupies can affect whether the coexistence is stable or not. We also tried regulating the mortality of adult trees with other parameters and the fraction of area trees and grass occupies were fixed; results show that the mortality of adult trees is also a factor affecting the stability of the tree-grass coexistence in this model.

Keywords: population-structured models, stabilities of ecosystems, thermal competitions, tree-grass coexistence systems

Procedia PDF Downloads 160

Authors: Ting Gao, Mingyue He

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Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) are expected to be an important part of next-generation wireless communication networks due to their potential to reduce the hardware cost and energy consumption of millimeter Wave (mmWave) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology. However, owing to the lack of signal processing abilities of the RIS, the perfect channel state information (CSI) in RIS-assisted communication systems is difficult to acquire. In this paper, the uplink channel estimation for mmWave systems with a hybrid active/passive RIS architecture is studied. Specifically, a deep learning-based estimation scheme is proposed to estimate the channel between the RIS and the user. In particular, the sparse structure of the mmWave channel is exploited to formulate the channel estimation as a sparse reconstruction problem. To this end, the proposed approach is derived to obtain the distribution of non-zero entries in a sparse channel. After that, the channel is reconstructed by utilizing the least-squares (LS) algorithm and compressed sensing (CS) theory. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed channel estimation scheme is superior to existing solutions even in low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) environments.

Keywords: channel estimation, reconfigurable intelligent surface, wireless communication, deep learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 150

Authors: Meng Sun, Bin Wei

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In the past decades, design-build has become a more popular project delivery system especially for the large scaled infrastructure project in North America. It provides a one-stop shopping system for the client therefore improves the efficiency of construction, and reduces the risks and overall cost for the clients. Compared to the project with traditional delivery method, design-build project requires contractor and designer to work together efficiently to deliver the best-value solutions through the construction process. How to facilitate a solid integration and efficient interaction between contractor and designer often affects the schedule, budget and quality of the construction therefore becomes a key factor to the success of a design-build project. This paper presents a concept of using modern mobile cloud technology to provide an integrated solution during the design-build construction. It uses mobile cloud architecture to provide a platform for real-time field progress, change request approval, job progress log, and project time entry with devices integration for field information and communications. The paper uses a real filed change notice as an example to demonstrate how mobile cloud technology applies in a design-build project and how it can improve the project efficiency.

Keywords: cloud, design-build, field change notice, mobile application

Procedia PDF Downloads 248

Authors: Heba Ahmed Nawafleh

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In this study, two commercial resins were evaluated to concentrate uranium from real solutions that were produced from analkaline leaching process of carbonate deposits. The adsorption was examined using a batch process. Different parameters were evaluated, including initial pH, contact time, temperature, adsorbent dose, and finally, uranium initial concentration. Both resins were effective and selective for uranium ions from the tested leaching solution. The adsorption isotherms data were well fitted for both resins using the Langmuir model. Thermodynamic functions (Gibbs free energy change ΔG, enthalpy change ΔH, and entropy change ΔS) were calculated for the adsorption of uranium. The result shows that the adsorption process is endothermic, spontaneous, and chemisorption processes took place for both resins. The kinetic studies showed that the equilibrium time for uranium ions is about two hours, where the maximum uptake levels were achieved. The kinetics studies were carried out for the adsorption of U ions, and the data was found to follow pseudo-second-order kinetics, which indicates that the adsorption of U ions was chemically controlled. In addition, the reusability (adsorption/ desorption) process was tested for both resins for five cycles, these adsorbents maintained removal efficiency close to first cycle efficiency of about 91% and 80%.

Keywords: uranium, adsorption, ion exchange, thermodynamic and kinetic studies

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Ahmed M. Al-Mahbashi, Mosleh A. Al-Shamrani, Muawia Dafalla

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Mixtures of sand and clay are frequently used to serve for specific purposes in several engineering practices. In environmental engineering, liner layers and cover layers are common for controlling waste disposal facilities. These layers are exposed to moisture and temperature fluctuation specially when existing in unsaturated condition. The relationship between soil suction and water content for these materials is essential for understanding their unsaturated behavior and properties such as retention capacity and unsaturated follow (hydraulic conductivity). This study is aimed at investigating retention capacity for two sand-natural expansive clay mixtures (15% (C15) and 30% (C30) expansive clay) at two ambient temperatures within the range of 5 -50 °C. Soil water retention curves (SWRC) for these materials were determined at these two ambient temperatures using different salt solutions for a wide range of suction (up to 200MPa). The results indicate that retention capacity of C15 mixture underwent significant changes due to temperature variations. This effect tends to be less visible when the clay fraction is doubled (C30). In addition, the overall volume change is marginally affected by high temperature within the range considered in this study.

Keywords: soil water retention curve, sand-expansive clay liner, suction, temperature

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Mookgo Solomon Kgatle

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Introductory Statement: The effect of corruption in South Africa has seriously constrained development of the national economy and has significantly inhibited good governance in the country. The significance of this paper is a demonstration that Corruption in a South African government is greatly influenced by the culture of greed by leaders in government. Many leaders in government are not satisfied with what they receive on monthly basis in the form of salaries and allowances. Thus, the quest to accumulate, as many material possessions by cabinet ministers and public servants is what is crippling the annual budget and disadvantaging the poor masses of our people including women, children and the elderly. Basic Methodology: In order to deal with this dilemma, this paper proposes ethical leadership as a theological and ethical alternative and antidote to the culture of greed in government. Research Findings: Ethical leadership is proposed because unlike the culture of greed, it is a leadership that is based on respect for ethical principles and standards and for the dignity and privileges of others. Ethical leadership is synonymous with principles like trust, morality, consideration, equality, and justice. Conclusion: The conclusion is that ethical leadership is one of the solutions that can assist the South African government to deal with the root causes of corruption, that is, the culture of greed.

Keywords: ethical leadership, theological ethics, culture of greed, corruption, governance

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Azam Fazelpour, Saeed Reza Dehghani, Vlastimil Masek, Yuri S. Muzychka

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The study uses a novel image analysis based on thermal imaging to detect temperature contours created on salt ice surface during transient phenomena. Thermal cameras detect objects by using their emissivities and IR radiance. The ice surface temperature is not uniform during transient processes. The temperature starts to increase from the boundary of ice towards the center of that. Thermal cameras are able to report temperature changes on the ice surface at every individual moment. Various contours, which show different temperature areas, appear on the ice surface picture captured by a thermal camera. Identifying the exact boundary of these contours is valuable to facilitate ice surface temperature analysis. Image processing techniques are used to extract each contour area precisely. In this study, several pictures are recorded while the temperature is increasing throughout the ice surface. Some pictures are selected to be processed by a specific time interval. An image segmentation method is applied to images to determine the contour areas. Color thermal images are used to exploit the main information. Red, green and blue elements of color images are investigated to find the best contour boundaries. The algorithms of image enhancement and noise removal are applied to images to obtain a high contrast and clear image. A novel edge detection algorithm based on differences in the color of the pixels is established to determine contour boundaries. In this method, the edges of the contours are obtained according to properties of red, blue and green image elements. The color image elements are assessed considering their information. Useful elements proceed to process and useless elements are removed from the process to reduce the consuming time. Neighbor pixels with close intensities are assigned in one contour and differences in intensities determine boundaries. The results are then verified by conducting experimental tests. An experimental setup is performed using ice samples and a thermal camera. To observe the created ice contour by the thermal camera, the samples, which are initially at -20° C, are contacted with a warmer surface. Pictures are captured for 20 seconds. The method is applied to five images ,which are captured at the time intervals of 5 seconds. The study shows the green image element carries no useful information; therefore, the boundary detection method is applied on red and blue image elements. In this case study, the results indicate that proposed algorithm shows the boundaries more effective than other edges detection methods such as Sobel and Canny. Comparison between the contour detection in this method and temperature analysis, which states real boundaries, shows a good agreement. This color image edge detection method is applicable to other similar cases according to their image properties.

Keywords: color image processing, edge detection, ice contour boundary, salt ice, thermal image

Procedia PDF Downloads 314

Authors: Ganna Zakharova

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The persuasive influence of tourism promotional materials is very much experienced nowadays. In order to attract the attention of viewers, marketers choose various techniques in their digital texts. Video is an essential element for attraction and seduction; it is a trigger element for tourists. This solution for web marketing engages and convinces potential tourists to book a tourism product. Embedding video materials into a website provides useful information, create different feelings in viewers, and help them finalize their decisions. The present article discusses video solutions for health tourism websites used to allure potential tourists. The paper reviews the influential elements of persuasive tourism marketing videos. The article highlights how these components as persuasive strategies of tourism promotional materials can influence the decisions of tourism websites’ users. The result section provides the real examples of the deployment of the mentioned technique to convince the audience by the website of 'Karpaty' resort (Ukraine). This technique is worth attention as it plays an important role in the promotion of tourism services. The data collection of this study will provide updated information in relation to the rhetoric of tourism.

Keywords: tourism discourse, persuasive video, influential videos in marketing, persuasive discourse, tourism promotion

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Ming-Jong Tsai, Y. L. Cheng, Y. L. Kuo, S. Y. Hsiao, J. W. Chen, P. H. Liu, D. H. Chen

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The 3D printing is a combination of digital technology, material science, intelligent manufacturing and control of opto-mechatronics systems. It is called the third industrial revolution from the view of the Economist Journal. A color 3D printing machine may provide the necessary support for high value-added industrial and commercial design, architectural design, personal boutique, and 3D artist’s creation. The main goal of this paper is to develop photo-curable color 3D manufacturing technology and system implementation. The key technologies include (1) Photo-curable color 3D additive manufacturing processes development and materials research (2) Piezo type ink-jet head control and Opto-mechatronics integration technique of the photo-curable color 3D laminated manufacturing system. The proposed system is integrated with single Piezo type ink-jet head with two individual channels for two primary UV light curable color resins which can provide for future colorful 3D printing solutions. The main research results are 16 grey levels and grey resolution of 75 dpi.

Keywords: 3D printing, additive manufacturing, color, photo-curable, Piezo type ink-jet, UV Resin

Procedia PDF Downloads 561

Authors: Silviya Todorova, Anton Naydenov, Ralitsa Velinova, Alexander Larin

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Catalytic combustion of methane has been extensively investigated for emission control and power generation during the last decades. The alumina-supported palladium catalyst is widely accepted as the most active catalysts for catalytic combustion of methane. The activity of Pd/Al₂O₃ decreases during the time on stream, especially underwater vapor. The following order of activity in the reaction of complete oxidation of methane was established: Co₃O₄> CuO>NiO> Mn₂O₃> Cr₂O₃. It may be expected that the combination between Pd and these oxides could lead to the promising catalysts in the reaction of complete methane. In the present work, we investigate the activity of Pd/Al₂O₃ catalysts promoted with other metal oxides (MOx; M= Ni, Co, Ce). The Pd-based catalysts modified by metal oxide were prepared by sequential impregnation of Al₂O₃ with aqueous solutions of Me(NO₃)₂.6H₂O and Pd(NO₃)₂H₂O. All samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). An improvement of activity was observed after modification with different oxides. The results demonstrate that the Pd/Al₂O₃ catalysts modified with Co and Ce by impregnation with a common solution of respective salts, exhibit the most promising catalytic activity for methane oxidation. Most probably, the presence of Co₃O₄ and CeO₂ on catalytic surface increases surface oxygen and therefore leads to the better reactivity in methane combustion.

Keywords: methane combustion, palladium, Co-Ce, Ni-Ce

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Toby Gibbs, Suwaree Yordchim

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This research analyzes factors affecting the success of Litecoin Value within Thailand and develops a guideline for self-reliance for effective business implementation. Samples in this study included 119 people through surveys. The results revealed four main factors affecting the success as follows: 1) Future Career training should be pursued in applied Litecoin development. 2) Didn't grasp the concept of a digital currency or see the benefit of a digital currency. 3) There is a great need to educate the next generation of learners on the benefits of Litecoin within the community. 4) A great majority didn't know what Litecoin was. The guideline for self-reliance planning consisted of 4 aspects: 1) Development planning: by arranging meet up groups to conduct further education on Litecoin and share solutions on adoption into every day usage. Local communities need to develop awareness of the usefulness of Litecoin and share the value of Litecoin among friends and family. 2) Computer Science and Business Management staff should develop skills to expand on the benefits of Litecoin within their departments. 3) Further research should be pursued on how Litecoin Value can improve business and tourism within Thailand. 4) Local communities should focus on developing Litecoin awareness by encouraging street vendors to accept Litecoin as another form of payment for services rendered.

Keywords: bitcoin, cryptocurrency, decentralized, business implementation

Procedia PDF Downloads 291

Authors: K. Jafar, R. Nazar, A. Ishak, I. Pop

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The present analysis considers the steady stagnation point flow and heat transfer towards a permeable sheet in an upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) electrically conducting fluid, with a constant magnetic field applied in the transverse direction to flow, and a local heat generation within the boundary layer with a heat generation rate proportional to (T-T_inf)^p. Using a similarity transformation, the governing system of partial differential equations is first transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations, which is then solved numerically using a finite-difference scheme known as the Keller-box method. Numerical results are obtained for the flow and thermal fields for various values of the shrinking/stretching parameter lambda, the magnetic parameter M, the elastic parameter K, the Prandtl number Pr, the suction parameter s, the heat generation parameter Q, and the exponent p. The results indicate the existence of dual solutions for the shrinking sheet up to a critical value lambda_c whose value depends on the value of M, K, and s. In the presence of internal heat absorbtion (Q<0), the surface heat transfer rate decreases with increasing p but increases with parameter Q and s, when the sheet is either stretched or shrunk.

Keywords: magnetohydrodynamic (MHD), boundary layer flow, UCM fluid, stagnation point, shrinking sheet

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Authors: Eugene Muambeh Muntoh

Abstract:

Corruption has a destructive effect on State institutions and on the capacity of States to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, particularly of those persons and groups in situation of vulnerability and marginalization. In Cameroon, corruption pose a major challenge as it divert public revenues and cripple public budgets that should provide healthcare, housing, education, and other essential services. Corruption has undermined the States’ ability to meet the minimum core obligations and pre-existing legal obligations to maximize all available resources to respect, protect and fulfil Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This study therefore makes use of the qualitative research design, ranging from interviews, observations and content analysis of vital documents to provide evidence and associations between corruption and human rights concerns in Cameroon. The study made use of research material from both primary and secondary sources. Findings from the study reveals that the impact of corruption in Cameroon is especially pronounced regarding economic, social and cultural rights. In most cases, the right to be treated equally is violated, for example, when someone is requested to pay a bribe to obtain a public service. There is an urgent need for sustainable measures to counter corruption in order to protect and promote human rights.

Keywords: corruption, governance, human rights, law

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Authors: Rafael Marinho de Andrade, Elcio Hideti Shiguemori, Rafael Duarte Coelho dos Santos

Abstract:

Relying on computer vision, many clever things are possible in order to make the world safer and optimized on resource management, especially considering time and attention as manageable resources, once the modern world is very abundant in cameras from inside our pockets to above our heads while crossing the streets. Thus, automated solutions based on computer vision techniques to detect, react, or even prevent relevant events such as robbery, car crashes and traffic jams can be accomplished and implemented for the sake of both logistical and surveillance improvements. In this paper, we present an approach for vehicles’ abnormal behaviors detection from highway footages, in which the vectorial data of the vehicles’ displacement are extracted directly from surveillance cameras footage through object detection and tracking with a deep convolutional neural network and inserted into a long-short term memory neural network for behavior classification. The results show that the classifications of behaviors are consistent and the same principles may be applied to other trackable objects and scenarios as well.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, behavior detection, computer vision, convolutional neural networks, LSTM, highway footage

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Authors: T. Rocha, P. Carvalho, S. Paredes, J. Henriques, A. Bianchi, V. Traver, A. Martinez

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The main goal of LINK project is to join competences in intelligent processing in order to create a research ecosystem to address two central scientific and technical challenges for personal health care (PHC) deployment: i) how to merge clinical evidence knowledge in computational decision support systems for PHC management and ii) how to provide achieve personalized services, i.e., solutions adapted to the specific user needs and characteristics. The final goal of one of the work packages (WP2), designated Sustainable Linking and Synergies for Excellence, is the definition, implementation and coordination of the necessary activities to create and to strengthen durable links between the LiNK partners. This work focuses on the strategy that has been followed to achieve the definition of the Research Tracks (RT), which will support a set of actions to be pursued along the LiNK project. These include common research activities, knowledge transfer among the researchers of the consortium, and PhD student and post-doc co-advisement. Moreover, the RTs will establish the basis for the definition of concepts and their evolution to project proposals.

Keywords: LiNK Twin European Project, personal health care, cardiovascular diseases, research tracks

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Authors: Nouacer Imane, Benalia Mokhtar, Djedid Mabrouk

Abstract:

The adsorption ability of a powdered activated carbons (PAC) derived from Luffa cylindrica investigated in an attempt to produce more economic and effective sorbents for the control of Cu(II) ion from industrial liquid streams. Carbonaceous sorbents derived from local luffa cylindrica, were prepared by chemical activation methods using ZnCl2 as activating reagents. Adsorption of Cu (II) from aqueous solutions was investigated. The effects of pH, initial adsorbent concentration, the effect of particle size, initial metal ion concentration and temperature were studied in batch experiments. The maximum adsorption capacity of copper onto grafted Luffa cylindrica fiber was found to be 14.23 mg/g with best fit for Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The values of thermodynamic parameters such as enthalpy change, ∆H (-0.823 kJ/mol), entropy change, ∆S (-9.35 J/molK) and free energy change, ∆G (−1.56 kJ/mol) were also calculated. Adsorption process was found spontaneous and exothermic in nature. Finally, the luffa cylindrica has been evaluated by FTIR, MO and x-ray diffraction in order to determine if the biosorption process modifies its chemical structure and morphology, respectively. Luffa cylindrica has been proven to be an efficient biomaterial useful for heavy metal separation purposes that is not altered by the process.

Keywords: adsorption, cadmium, isotherms, thermodynamic, luffa sponge

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Authors: Mateusz Mokrogulski, Piotr Śliwka

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The aim of this paper is the identification of periods of excessive credit growth in the Polish banking sector in years 2007-2014 using different methodologies. Due to the lack of precise guidance in CRD IV regarding methods of calculating the credit gap and related deviations from the long-term trends, a few filtering methods are applied, e.g. Hodrick-Prescott and Baxter-King. The solutions based on the switching model are also proposed. The next step represent computations of both the credit gap, and the counter cyclical capital buffer (CCB) rates on a quarterly basis. The calculations are carried out for the entire banking sector in Poland, as well as for its components (commercial and co-operative banks), and different types of loans. The calculations show vividly that in the analysed period there were the times of excessive credit growth. However, the results are different for the above mentioned sub-sectors. Of paramount importance here are mortgage loans, where the outcomes are distorted by high exchange rate fluctuations. The research on the CCB is now going to gain popularity as the buffer will soon become one of the tools of the macro prudential policy under CRD IV. Although the presented method is focused on the Polish banking sector, it can also be applied to other member states. Especially to the Central and Eastern European countries, that are usually characterized by smaller banking sectors compared to EU-15.

Keywords: countercyclical capital buffer, CRD IV, filtering methods, mortgage loans

Procedia PDF Downloads 322

Authors: A. A. Abaker Omer, H. B. Mohamed Balh, W. Liu, A. Abas, J. Yu, S. Li, W. Ma, W. El Kolaly, Y. Y. Ahmed Abuker

Abstract:

We have discovered an important technical solution that could make new approaches in the processing of wet silicon etching, especially in the production of photovoltaic cells. During its inferior light-trapping and structural properties, the inverted pyramid structure outperforms the conventional pyramid textures and black silicone. The traditional pyramid textures and black silicon can only be accomplished with more advanced lithography, laser processing, etc. Importantly, our data demonstrate the feasibility of an inverted pyramidal structure of silicon via one-step Cu-catalyzed chemical etching (CCCE) in Cu (NO₃)₂/HF/H₂O₂/H₂O solutions. The effects of etching time and reaction temperature on surface geometry and light trapping were systematically investigated. The conclusion shows that the inverted pyramid structure has ultra-low reflectivity of ~4.2% in the wavelength of 300~1000 nm; introduce of Cu particles can significantly accelerate the dissolution of the silicon wafer. The etching and the inverted pyramid structure formation mechanism are discussed. Inverted pyramid structure with outstanding anti-reflectivity includes useful applications throughout the manufacture of semi-conductive industry-compatible solar cells, and can have significant impacts on industry colleagues and populations.

Keywords: Cu-catalyzed chemical etching, inverted pyramid nanostructured, reflection, solar cells

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Firoz Alam Faroque, Ankur Neog

Abstract:

Earthquake causes significant loss of lives and severe damage to infrastructure. Base isolator is one of the most suitable solutions to make a building earthquake resistant. Base isolation consists of installing an isolator along with the steel plates covered with pads of strong material like steel, rubber, etc. In our study, we have used lead rubber bearing (LRB). The basic idea of seismic isolation is based on the reduction of the earthquake-induced inertia forces by shifting the fundamental period of the structure out of dangerous resonance range, and concentration of the deformation and energy dissipation demands at the isolation and energy dissipation systems, which are designed for this purpose. In this paper, RC frame buildings have been modeled and analyzed by response spectrum method using ETABS software. The LRB used in the model is designed as per uniform building code (UBC) 97. It is found that time period for the base isolated structures are higher than that of the fixed base structure and the value of base shear significantly reduces in the case of base-isolated buildings. It has also been found that buildings with vertical irregularities give better performance as compared to building with plan irregularities using base isolators.

Keywords: base isolation, base shear, irregularities in buildings, lead rubber bearing (LRB)

Procedia PDF Downloads 325