Search results for: provider service time

Authors: Janet Modu, Jean-Francois Georgin, Laurent Briancon, Eric Antoinet

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The current practice during the repowering phase of wind turbines is deconstruction of existing foundations and construction of new foundations to accept larger wind loads or once the foundations have reached the end of their service lives. The ongoing research project FUI25 FEDRE (Fondations d’Eoliennes Durables et REpowering) therefore serves to propose scalable wind turbine foundation designs to allow reuse of the existing foundations. To undertake this research, numerical models and laboratory-scale models are currently being utilized and implemented in the GEOMAS laboratory at INSA Lyon following instrumentation of a reference wind turbine situated in the Northern part of France. Sensors placed within both the foundation and the underlying soil monitor the evolution of stresses from the foundation’s early age to stresses during service. The results from the instrumentation form the basis of validation for both the laboratory and numerical works conducted throughout the project duration. The study currently focuses on the effect of coupled mechanisms (Thermal-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical) that induce stress during the early age of the reinforced concrete foundation, and scale factor considerations in the replication of the reference wind turbine foundation at laboratory-scale. Using THMC 3D models on COMSOL Multi-physics software, the numerical analysis performed on both the laboratory-scale and the full-scale foundations simulate the thermal deformation, hydration, shrinkage (desiccation and autogenous) and creep so as to predict the initial damage caused by internal processes during concrete setting and hardening. Results show a prominent effect of early age properties on the damage potential in full-scale wind turbine foundations. However, a prediction of the damage potential at laboratory scale shows significant differences in early age stresses in comparison to the full-scale model depending on the spatial position in the foundation. In addition to the well-known size effect phenomenon, these differences may contribute to inaccuracies encountered when predicting ultimate deformations of the on-site foundation using laboratory scale models.

Keywords: cement hydration, early age behavior, reinforced concrete, shrinkage, THMC 3D models, wind turbines

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Authors: Mojtaba Noghabaei, Khashayar Asadi, Kevin Han

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Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technology has recently attracted the attention of construction companies for real-time performance monitoring. To effectively use SLAM for construction performance monitoring, SLAM results should be registered to a Building Information Models (BIM). Registring SLAM and BIM can provide essential insights for construction managers to identify construction deficiencies in real-time and ultimately reduce rework. Also, registering SLAM to BIM in real-time can boost the accuracy of SLAM since SLAM can use features from both images and 3d models. However, registering SLAM with the BIM in real-time is a challenge. In this study, a novel SLAM platform named Model-Based SLAM (MB-SLAM) is proposed, which not only provides automated registration of SLAM and BIM but also improves the localization accuracy of the SLAM system in real-time. This framework improves the accuracy of SLAM by aligning perspective features such as depth, vanishing points, and vanishing lines from the BIM to the SLAM system. This framework extracts depth features from a monocular camera’s image and improves the localization accuracy of the SLAM system through a real-time iterative process. Initially, SLAM can be used to calculate a rough camera pose for each keyframe. In the next step, each SLAM video sequence keyframe is registered to the BIM in real-time by aligning the keyframe’s perspective with the equivalent BIM view. The alignment method is based on perspective detection that estimates vanishing lines and points by detecting straight edges on images. This process will generate the associated BIM views from the keyframes' views. The calculated poses are later improved during a real-time gradient descent-based iteration method. Two case studies were presented to validate MB-SLAM. The validation process demonstrated promising results and accurately registered SLAM to BIM and significantly improved the SLAM’s localization accuracy. Besides, MB-SLAM achieved real-time performance in both indoor and outdoor environments. The proposed method can fully automate past studies and generate as-built models that are aligned with BIM. The main contribution of this study is a SLAM framework for both research and commercial usage, which aims to monitor construction progress and performance in a unified framework. Through this platform, users can improve the accuracy of the SLAM by providing a rough 3D model of the environment. MB-SLAM further boosts the application to practical usage of the SLAM.

Keywords: perspective alignment, progress monitoring, slam, stereo matching.

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Authors: Prajakta M. Wazat, D. N. Raut

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The study consists of a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) beverage company wherein a portion of the supply chain which deals with outbound logistics is taken for improvement in order to reduce its logistics cost by using critical path method (CPM) method. Logistics is a major portion of the supply chain where customers are not willing to pay as it adds cost to product without adding value. In this study, it is necessary to ensure that products are delivered to clients at the right time while preserving high-quality standards from the beginning to the end of the supply chain. CPM is a logical sequencing method where in the most efficient route is achieved by arranging the series of events. CPM enables to identify a critical factor in order to minimize the delays and interruption by providing a feasible solution.

Keywords: FMCG, supply chain, outbound logistics, vehicle turnaround time, critical path method, cost reduction

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Authors: Azim Khodadadi, Sahar Sadaat Vakili, Ebrahim Babaei

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This study presents a numerical method to optimize the failure rate and repair time of a typical radial distribution system. Failure rate and repair time are effective parameters in customer and energy based indices of reliability. Decrease of these parameters improves reliability indices. Thus, system stability will be boost. The penalty functions indirectly reflect the cost of investment which spent to improve these indices. Constraints on customer and energy based indices, i.e. SAIFI, SAIDI, CAIDI and AENS have been considered by using a new method which reduces optimization algorithm controlling parameters. Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) used as main optimization technique and particle swarm optimization (PSO), simulated annealing (SA) and differential evolution (DE) has been applied for further investigation. These algorithms have been implemented on a test system by MATLAB. Obtained results have been compared with each other. The optimized values of repair time and failure rate are much lower than current values which this achievement reduced investment cost and also ICA gives better answer than the other used algorithms.

Keywords: imperialist competitive algorithm, failure rate, repair time, radial distribution network

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Authors: Awdhesh Yadav, P. S. Saravanamurthy, Shaikh Tayyaba, Uma Shah, Ashok Agarwal

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Objectives: HIV interventions in India has leveraged Self-Help Group (SHG) as one of the key strategies under structural intervention to empower female sex workers (FSW) to reduce their risk exposure and vulnerability to STI/HIV. Understanding the role of SHGs in light of the evolving dynamics of sex work needs to be delved into to strategize HIV interventions among FSWs in India. This paper aims to study the HIV program outcome among the FSWs associated with SHGs and FSWs not associated with SHGs in Thane, Maharashtra. Study Design: This cross-sectional study, was undertaken from the Behavioral Tracking Survey (BTS) conducted among 503 FSWs in Thane in 2015. Two-stage probability based conventional sampling was done for selection of brothel and bar based FSWs, while Time Location Cluster (TLC) sampling was done for home, lodge and street-based sex workers. Methods: Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were performed to compare and contrast between FSWs associated with SHG and those not associated with SHG with respect to the utilization of HIV related services by them. ‘Condom use’, ‘consistent condom use’, ‘contact with peer-educators’, ‘counseling sessions’ and ‘HIV testing’ were chosen as indicators on HIV service utilization. Results: 8% (38) of FSWs are registered with SHG; 92% aged ≥ 25 years, 47% illiterate, and 71% are currently married. The likelihood of utilizing HIV services including, knowledge on HIV/AIDS and its mode of transmission (OR:5.54; CI: 1.87-16.60; p < 0.05),accessed drop-in Centre (OR: 6.53; CI: 2.15-19.88; p < 0.10), heard about joint health camps (OR: 4.71; CI:2.12-10.46); p < 0.05), negotiated or stood up against police/broker/local goonda/clients (OR: 2.26; CI: 1.08-4.73; p < 0.05), turned away clients when they refused to use condom during sex (OR: 3.76; CI: 1.27-11.15; p < 0.05) and heard of ART (OR; 4.55; CI: 2.18-9.48; p < 0.01) were higher among FSWs associated with SHG in comparison to FSWs not associated with SHG. Conclusions: Considering the improved HIV program outcomes among FSWs associated with SHG; HIV interventions among FSWs could consider facilitating the formation of SHGs with FSWs as one of the key strategies to empower the community for ensuring better program outcomes.

Keywords: empowerment, female sex workers, HIV, Thane, self-help group

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Authors: Yue Hao

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COVID-19 vaccines not only protect individuals but society as a whole. In this case, having an understanding of the change and trend of vaccination conditions may shed some light on revising and making up-to-date policies regarding large-scale public health promotions and calls in order to lead and encourage the adoption of COVID-19 vaccines. However, vaccination status change over time and vary from place to place hidden patterns that were not fully explored in previous research. In our research, we took advantage of the spatial-temporal analytical methods in the domain of geographic information science and captured the spatial-temporal changes regarding COVID-19 vaccination status in the United States during 2020 and 2021. After conducting the emerging hot spots analysis on both the state level data of the US and county level data of California we found that: (1) at the macroscopic level, there is a continuously increasing trend of the vaccination rate in the US, but there is a variance on the spatial clusters at county level; (2) spatial hotspots and clusters with high vaccination amount over time were clustered around the west and east coast in regions like California and New York City where are densely populated with considerable economy conditions; (3) in terms of the growing trend of the daily vaccination among, Los Angeles County alone has very high statistics and dramatic increases over time. We hope that our findings can be valuable guidance for supporting future decision-making regarding vaccination policies as well as directing new research on relevant topics.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine, GIS, space time cube, spatial-temporal analysis

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Authors: Hueiwang Anna Jeng, Norou Diawara, Nancy Welch, Cynthia Jackson, Rekha Singh, Kyle Curtis, Raul Gonzalez, David Jurgens, Sasanka Adikari

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Modeling effort is needed to predict the COVID-19 trends for developing management strategies and adaptation measures. The objective of this study was to assess whether SARS-CoV-2 viral load in wastewater could serve as a predictor for forecasting COVID-19 cases, hospitalization cases, and death cases using copula-based time series modeling. SARS-CoV-2 RNA load in raw wastewater in Chesapeake VA was measured using the RT-qPCR method. Gaussian copula time series marginal regression model, incorporating an autoregressive moving average model and the copula function, served as a forecasting model. COVID-19 cases were correlated with wastewater viral load, hospitalization cases, and death cases. The forecasted trend of COVID-19 cases closely paralleled one of the reported cases, with over 90% of the forecasted COVID-19 cases falling within the 99% confidence interval of the reported cases. Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 viral load could serve as a predictor for COVID-19 cases and hospitalization cases.

Keywords: COVID-19, modeling, time series, copula function

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Authors: Jun Wang, Tingcun Wei

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The digital pulse width modulator (DPWM) is the crucial building block for digitally-controlled DC-DC switching converter, which converts the digital duty ratio signal into its analog counterpart to control the power MOSFET transistors on or off. With the increase of switching frequency of digitally-controlled DC-DC converter, the DPWM with higher time resolution is required. In this paper, a 15-bits DPWM with three-level hybrid structure is presented; the first level is composed of a7-bits counter and a comparator, the second one is a 5-bits delay line, and the third one is a 3-bits digital dither. The presented DPWM is designed and implemented using the PLL megafunction of FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), and the required frequency of clock signal is 128 times of switching frequency. The simulation results show that, for the switching frequency of 2 MHz, a DPWM which has the time resolution of 15 ps is achieved using a maximum clock frequency of 256MHz. The designed DPWM in this paper is especially useful for high-frequency digitally-controlled DC-DC switching converters.

Keywords: DPWM, digitally-controlled DC-DC switching converter, FPGA, PLL megafunction, time resolution

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Authors: Mahfoudha Sid'Elemine

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The refugee resettlement process profoundly shapes the trajectories of individuals in their new host countries, exerting lasting effects on their long-term integration. Prevailing literature underscores the pivotal role of trust in facilitating successful refugee resettlement. However, this research challenges the notion of trust as universally paramount, contending that its significance is contingent upon variables such as the nature of resettlement programs and the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of refugees. Rather than advocating for a blanket approach to trust-building, this research contends that for certain resettlement programs, trust may prove counterproductive amidst resource constraints and tight service timelines. Moreover, trust may not uniformly emerge as a primary requisite for all refugees, presenting formidable challenges in its establishment. Focusing specifically on resettlement in the United States, this study illustrates how the temporal constraints of resettlement services, coupled with refugees' varied cultural experiences, can impede the cultivation of trust between aid workers and refugees. As an alternative paradigm, this research proposes an approach centered on fostering opportunities for reciprocal engagement, positioning refugees as active contributors within their newfound communities. Embracing reciprocity as the cornerstone of burgeoning relationships promises to fortify refugees' ties with the broader community, bolster their autonomy, and facilitate sustained integration over time. The research draws upon qualitative analyses of in-depth interviews conducted with a subset of resettled refugees, as well as aid workers and volunteers involved in refugee resettlement endeavors within Hampton Roads, Virginia, over the past decade. Through this nuanced examination, the study offers insights into the complexities of trust dynamics in refugee resettlement contexts and advocates for a paradigm shift towards reciprocal integration strategies.

Keywords: Resettlement programs, Trust dynamics, Reciprocity, Long-term integration

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Authors: Suleiman Obeidat, Nabeel Mandahawi

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In this work, the packaging process for a move is improved. The customers of this move need their household stuff to be moved from their current house to the new one with minimum damage, in an organized manner, on time and with the minimum cost. Our goal was to improve the process between 10% and 20% time efficiency, 90% reduction in damaged parts and an acceptable improvement in the cost of the total move process. The expected ROI was 833%. Many improvement techniques have been used in terms of the way the boxes are prepared, their preparation cost, packing the goods, labeling them and moving them to a place for moving out. DMAIC technique is used in this work: SIPOC diagram, value stream map of “As Is” process, Root Cause Analysis, Maps of “Future State” and “Ideal State” and an Improvement Plan. A value of ROI=624% is obtained which is lower than the expected value of 833%. The work explains the techniques of improvement and the deficiencies in the old process.

Keywords: packaging, lean tools, six sigma, DMAIC methodology, SIPOC

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Authors: Elham Jelodari Mamaghani, Christian Prins, Haoxun Chen

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In this paper, there is concentration on collaborative transportation planning (CTP) among multiple carriers with pickup and delivery requests and time windows. This problem is a vehicle routing problem with constraints from standard vehicle routing problems and new constraints from a real-world application. In the problem, each carrier has a finite number of vehicles, and each request is a pickup and delivery request with time window. Moreover, each carrier has reserved requests, which must be served by itself, whereas its exchangeable requests can be outsourced to and served by other carriers. This collaboration among carriers can help them to reduce total transportation costs. A mixed integer programming model is proposed to the problem. To solve the model, a hybrid algorithm that combines Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing (GASA) is proposed. This algorithm takes advantages of GASA at the same time. After tuning the parameters of the algorithm with the Taguchi method, the experiments are conducted and experimental results are provided for the hybrid algorithm. The results are compared with those obtained by a commercial solver. The comparison indicates that the GASA significantly outperforms the commercial solver.

Keywords: centralized collaborative transportation, collaborative transportation with pickup and delivery, collaborative transportation with time windows, hybrid algorithm of GA and SA

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Authors: Rakesh Choudhary, Ajay Kumar, Deepak Sharma

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The main goal of this paper is to investigate the challenges and benefits of IoT integration in biogas production. This overview explains how the inclusion of IoT can enhance biogas production efficiency. Therefore, such collected data can be explored by advanced analytics, including Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, consequently improving bio-energy processes. To boost biogas generation efficiency, this report examines the use of IoT devices for real-time data collection on key parameters, e.g., pH, temperature, gas composition, and microbial growth. Real-time monitoring through big data has made it possible to detect diverse, complex trends in the process of producing biogas. The Informed by advanced analytics can also help in improving bio-energy production as well as optimizing operational conditions. Moreover, IoT allows remote observation, control and management, which decreases manual intervention needed whilst increasing process effectiveness. Such a paradigm shift in the incorporation of IoT technologies into biogas production systems helps to achieve higher productivity levels as well as more practical biomass quality biomethane through real-time monitoring-based proactive decision-making, thus driving continuous performance improvement.

Keywords: internet of things, biogas, renewable energy, sustainability, anaerobic digestion, real-time monitoring, optimization

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Authors: Preecha Yupapin And Somnath

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From the emptiness, the vibration induces the fractal, and the strings are formed. From which the first elementary particle groups, known as quarks, were established. The neutrino and electron are created by them. More elementary particles and life are formed by organic and inorganic substances. The universe is constructed, from which the multi-universe has formed in the same way. universe assumes that the intense energy has escaped from the singularity cone from the multi-universes. Initially, the single mass energy is confined, from which it is disturbed by the space-time distortion. It splits into the entangled pair, where the circular motion is established. It will consider one side of the entangled pair, where the fusion energy of the strong coupling force has formed. The growth of the fusion energy has the quantum physic phenomena, where the moving of the particle along the circumference with a speed faster than light. It introduces the wave-particle duality aspect, which will be saturated at the stopping point. It will be re-run again and again without limitation, which can say that the universe has been created and expanded. The Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is released through the singularity by the wormhole, which will be condensed to become a mass associated with the Sun's size. It will circulate(orbit) along the Sun. the consideration of the uncertainty principle is applied, from which the breath control is followed by the uncertainty condition ∆p∆x=∆E∆t~ℏ. The flowing in-out air into a body via a nose has applied momentum and energy control respecting the movement and time, in which the target is that the distortion of space-time will have vanished. Finally, the body is clean which can go to the next procedure, where the mind can escape from the body by the speed of light. However, the borderline between contemplation to being an Arahant is a vacuum, which will be explained.

Keywords: space-time, relativity, enlightenment, emptiness

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Authors: Shankar Ganesh, Rishee Patel, Vikram Dwivedi, Balakishore P., Deepak Chhabra, Anandhi Dakshinamoorthy, Parminder Kaur

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Background: The World Health Organization has recommended a moderate intensity physical activity of 150 minutes, or 75 minutes vigorous-intensity physical activity per week to achieve optimal health benefits. It is not known if Indian public who indulge in leisure time physical exercises satisfy these recommendations. Methods: This study used a questionnaire to obtain data regarding demographic details, current engagement in leisure time physical activities, and dosages of these exercises from participants between 18-64 years of age. Results: Data was collected from a total of 390 participants (231 males and 159 females). 50.76% and 34.35% o of the participants reported exercising voluntarily and for health benefits respectively. Most participants (94.61%) indicated exercising without prescription. 55.38% and 12.82% of the participants under and above 38 years of age perform moderate to vigorous intensity exercises respectively. Conclusion: The over-all results of this study indicate that the participants’ choices of leisure time physical exercises are based on their personal choices and beliefs. The exercise intensities undertaken do not meet the global recommended intensities, especially in those above 38 years of age. Professionals and facilities to engage the public in the WHO recommended intensities of physical activity needs to be established.

Keywords: physical activity, exercise, India, sedentary

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Authors: Dimitrios J. Dimitriou

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Considering a worldwide tendency, air transports are growing very fast and many changes have taken place in planning, management and decision making process. Given the complexity of airport operation, the best use of existing capacity is the key driver of efficiency and productivity. This paper deals with the evaluation framework for the ground access at airports, by using a set of mode choice indicators providing key messages towards airport’s ground access performance. The application presents results for a sample of 12 European airports, illustrating recommendations to define policy and improve service for the air transport access chain.

Keywords: airport ground access, air transport chain, airport access performance, airport policy

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Authors: Ved Kulkarni, Karthik Kini

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This experiment aims to understand how the media affects the power markets in the mainland United States and study the duration of reaction time between news updates and actual price movements. it have taken into account electric utility companies trading in the NYSE and excluded companies that are more politically involved and move with higher sensitivity to Politics. The scrapper checks for any news related to keywords, which are predefined and stored for each specific company. Based on this, the classifier will allocate the effect into five categories: positive, negative, highly optimistic, highly negative, or neutral. The effect on the respective price movement will be studied to understand the response time. Based on the response time observed, neural networks would be trained to understand and react to changing market conditions, achieving the best strategy in every market. The stock trader would be day trading in the first phase and making option strategy predictions based on the black holes model. The expected result is to create an AI-based system that adjusts trading strategies within the market response time to each price movement.

Keywords: data mining, language processing, artificial neural networks, sentiment analysis

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Authors: Saeed Mahjoub Moghadas, Farhad Asadi, Shahed Torkamandi, Hassan Moradi, Mahmood Purgamshidian

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In this paper, we present real-time obstacle avoidance approach for both autonomous and non-autonomous DS-based controllers and also based on dynamical systems (DS) method. In this approach, we can modulate the original dynamics of the controller and it allows us to determine safety margin and different types of DS to increase the robot’s reactiveness in the face of uncertainty in the localization of the obstacle and especially when robot moves very fast in changeable complex environments. The method is validated in simulation and influence of different autonomous and non-autonomous DS such as limit cycles, and unstable DS on this algorithm and also the position of different obstacles in complex environment is explained. Finally, we describe how the avoidance trajectories can be verified through different parameters such as safety factor.

Keywords: limit cycles, nonlinear dynamical system, real time obstacle avoidance, DS-based controllers

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Authors: Kay Thinzar Phu, Lwin Lwin Oo

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In an intelligent transport system and advanced driver assistance system, the developing of real-time traffic sign detection and recognition (TSDR) system plays an important part in recent research field. There are many challenges for developing real-time TSDR system due to motion artifacts, variable lighting and weather conditions and situations of traffic signs. Researchers have already proposed various methods to minimize the challenges problem. The aim of the proposed research is to develop an efficient and effective TSDR in real time. This system proposes an adaptive thresholding method based on RGB color for traffic signs detection and new features for traffic signs recognition. In this system, the RGB color thresholding is used to detect the blue and yellow color traffic signs regions. The system performs the shape identify to decide whether the output candidate region is traffic sign or not. Lastly, new features such as termination points, bifurcation points, and 90’ angles are extracted from validated image. This system uses Myanmar Traffic Sign dataset.

Keywords: adaptive thresholding based on RGB color, blue color detection, feature extraction, yellow color detection

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Authors: M. Tash, S. Alkahtani

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The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of pre-aging and aging parameters (time and temperature) on the mechanical properties of Al-Mg-Zn (7075) alloys. Ultimate tensile strength, 0.5% offset yield strength and % elongation measurements were carried out on specimens prepared from cast and heat treated 7075 alloys. Duplex aging treatments were carried out for the as solution treated (SHT) specimens (pre-aged at different time and temperature followed by high temperature aging). A statistical design of experiments (DOE) approach using fractional factorial design was applied to determine the influence of controlling variables of pre-aging and aging treatment parameters and any interactions between them on the mechanical properties of 7075 alloys. A mathematical models are developed to relate the alloy ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and % elongation with the different pre-aging and aging parameters i.e. Pre-aging Temperature (PA T0C), Pre-aging time (PA t h), Aging temperature (AT0C), Aging time (At h), to acquire an understanding of the effects of these variables and their interactions on the mechanical properties of be-treated 7075 alloys.

Keywords: aging heat Treatment, tensile properties, be-treated cast Al-Mg-Zn (7075) alloys, experimental correlation

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Authors: Piotr Synaszko, Michał Sałaciński, Andrzej Leski

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This paper describes the analysis of construction Mi-2 helicopter rotor blades in order to determine the causes of appearance disbonds. Authors describe construction of rotor blade with impact on bonded joins and areas of water migration. They also made analysis which determines possibility of disbond between critical parts of rotor blades based on more than one hundred non-destructive inspections results. They showed which parts of the blades most likely to damage. The main source of damage is water presence.

Keywords: disbonds, environmental effect, helicopter rotor blades, service life extension

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Authors: N. Ouslimani, T. Abadlia, M. Fadel

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This work focused on the elimination of acid textile dye (red bermacide acid dye BN-CL-200), widely used for dyeing wool and polyamide fibers, by adsorption on a natural material, wood sawdust, in the static mode by keeping under continuous stirring, a specific mass of the adsorbent, with a dye solution of known concentration. The influence of various parameters is studied like the influence of particle size, mass, pH and time. The best results were obtained with 0.4 mm grain size, mass of 3g, Temperature of 20 °C, pH 2 and Time contact of 120 min.

Keywords: acid dye, environment, wood sawdust, wastewater

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Authors: Cherres Sara, Cajas Diego

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This paper explores how EFL teachers understand the process of Lesson Study in Ecuadorian schools and the challenges and opportunities that it brings to the improvement of their teaching practice. Using a narrative research methodology, this study presents the results of the application of the four steps of Lesson Study carried out by seven teachers in four different schools located in the Southern part of Ecuador during four months. Before starting the implementation of the lesson study, 30 teachers were trained on this model. This training was opened to EFL teachers working in public and private schools without any charge. The criteria to select these teachers were first, to be minimum a one-year in-service teacher, second, to have a b2 level of English, and third, to be able to commit to follow the course guidelines. After the course, seven teachers decided to continue with the implementation of the Lesson Study in their respective institutions. During the implementation of the Lesson Study, data was collected through observations, in-depth interviews and teachers’ planning meetings; and analyzed using a thematic analysis. The results of this study are presented using the lenses of seven EFL teachers that explained the challenges and opportunities that the implementation of Lesson Study conveyed. The challenges identified were the limited capacity of reflection and recognition of the activities that required improvement after the class, limited capacity to provide truthful peer feedback, teachers wrong notions about their performance in their classes, difficulties to follow a collaborative lesson plan; and, the disconnection between class activities and the class content. The opportunities identified were teachers’ predisposition to collaborate, teachers’ disposition to attend professional development courses, their commitment to work extra hours in planning meetings, their openness and their desired to be observed in their classes; and, their willingness to share class materials and knowledge. On the other hand, the results show that there is a disconnection between teachers’ knowledge of ELT and its proper application in class (from theory to practice). There are also, rigid institutional conceptions of teaching that do not allow teaching innovations. The authors concluded that there is a disconnection between teachers’ knowledge of ELT and its proper application in class (from theory to practice). There are also, rigid institutional conceptions of teaching that do not allow teaching innovations for example: excessive institutional paperwork and activities that are not connected to the development of students’ competences.

Keywords: ELT, lesson study, teachers’ professional development, teachers’ collaboration

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Authors: Abdurrahman Arslanyilmaz, Salman Al Matouq, Durmus V. Doner

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Level 3 autonomous vehicles are able to take full responsibility over the control of the vehicle unless a system boundary is reached or a system failure occurs, in which case, the driver is expected to take-over the control of the vehicle. While this happens, the driver is often not aware of the traffic situation or is engaged in a secondary task. Factors affecting the duration and quality of take-overs in these situations have included secondary task type and nature, traffic density, take-over request (TOR) time, and TOR warning type and modality. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no prior study examined time buffer for TORs when a system failure occurs immediately before intersections. The first objective of this study is to investigate the effect of time buffer (3 and 7 seconds) on the duration and quality of take-overs when a system failure occurs just prior to intersections. In addition, eye-tracking has become one of the most popular methods to report what individuals view, in what order, for how long, and how often, and it has been utilized in driving simulations with various objectives. However, to the extent of authors’ knowledge, none has compared drivers’ eye gaze behavior in the two different time buffers in order to examine drivers’ attention and comprehension of salient information. The second objective is to understand the driver’s attentional focus on comprehension of salient traffic-related information presented on different parts of the dashboard and on the roads.

Keywords: autonomous vehicles, driving simulation, eye gaze, attention, comprehension, take-over duration, take-over quality, time buffer

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Authors: Riko Wahyudi, Rezky Lasekti Wicaksono, Ayu Satya Damayanti, Ridhasepta Multi Kenrosa

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Implementing Forest Management Unit (FMU) is considered as the best solution for forest management in developing countries. However, when FMU has been formed, many parties then blame the FMU and assume it is not working on. Currently, there are two main issues that make FMU not be functional i.e. institutional and financial issues. This paper is addressing financial issues to make FMUs in Aceh Province can be functional. A mixed financing scheme is proposed here, both direct and indirect financing. The direct financing scheme derived from two components i.e. public funds and businesses. Non-tax instruments of intergovernmental fiscal transfer (IFT) system and FMU’s businesses are assessed. Meanwhile, indirect financing scheme is conducted by assessing public funds within villages around forest estate as about 50% of total villages in Aceh Province are located surrounding forest estate. Potential instruments under IFT system are forest and mining utilization royalties. In order to make these instruments become direct financing for FMU, interventions on allocation and distribution aspects of them are conducted. In the allocation aspect, alteration in proportion of allocation is required as the authority to manage forest has shifted from district to province. In the distribution aspect, Government of Aceh can earmark usage of the funds for FMUs. International funds for climate change also encouraged to be domesticated and then channeled through these instruments or new instrument under public finance system in Indonesia. Based on FMU’s businesses both from forest products and forest services, FMU can impose non-tax fees for each forest product and service utilization. However, for doing business, the FMU need to be a Public Service Agency (PSA). With this status, FMU can directly utilize the non-tax fees without transferring them to the state treasury. FMU only need to report the fees to Ministry of Finance. Meanwhile, indirect financing scheme is conducted by empowering villages around forest estate as villages in Aceh Province is receiving average village fund of IDR 800 million per village in 2017 and the funds will continue to increase in subsequent years. These schemes should be encouraged in parallel to establish a mixed financing scheme in order to ensure sustainable financing for FMU in Aceh Province, Indonesia.

Keywords: forest management, public funds, mixed financing, village

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Authors: Tran Gia Khanh, Dao Phuong Nam, Do Trong Tan, Nguyen Van Huong, Mai Xuan Sinh

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This work presents the problem of tube-based robust model predictive controller for a class of continuous-time systems in the presence of input disturbances. The main objective is to point out the state trajectory of closed system being maintained inside a sequence of tubes. An estimation of attraction region of the closed system is pointed out based on input state stability (ISS) theory and linearized model in each time interval. The theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm for a wheeled inverted pendulum system.

Keywords: input state stability (ISS), tube-based robust MPC, continuous-time nonlinear systems, wheeled inverted pendulum

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Authors: Gyeong-Suk Jo, Soo-Hyun Ji, You-Seok Lee, Jeong-Hwa Kang

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To develop an flavor oil using Sarcodon aspratus (Sarcodon aspratus Berk. S. Ito), infiltration extraction method was used to add dried mushroom flavor of Sarcodon aspratus to base olive oil. Edible base oil used during infiltration extraction was pressed olive oil, and infiltration extraction was done while varying extraction temperature to 20, 30, 40 and 50(℃) extraction time to 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours. Amount of Sarcodon aspratus added to base oil was 20% compared to 100% of base oil. Production yield of Sarcodon aspratus flavor oil decreased with increasing extraction frequency. Aroma intensity was 2195~2447 (A.U./1㎖), and it increased with increasing extraction temperature and extraction time. Chromaticity of Sarcodon aspratus flavor oil was bright pale yellow with pH of 4.5, sugar content of 71~72 (°Brix), and highest average turbidity of 16.74 (Haze %) shown by the 40℃ group. In the aromatic evaluation, increasing extraction temperature and extraction time resulted in increase of cheese aroma, savory sweet aroma and beef jerky aroma, as well as spicy taste comprised of slight bitter taste, savory taste and slight acrid taste, to make aromatic oil with unique flavor.

Keywords: Flavor Characteristics, Flavor Oil, Infiltration extraction method, mushroom, Sarcodon aspratus (Sarcodon aspratus Berk. S. Ito)

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Authors: Cheng Zhang, James Marco, Walid Allafi, Truong Q. Dinh, W. D. Widanage

Abstract:

Equivalent circuit models (ECMs) are widely used in battery management systems in electric vehicles and other battery energy storage systems. The battery dynamics and the model parameters vary under different working conditions, such as different temperature and state of charge (SOC) levels, and therefore online parameter identification can improve the modelling accuracy. This paper presents a way of online ECM parameter identification using a continuous time (CT) estimation method. The CT estimation method has several advantages over discrete time (DT) estimation methods for ECM parameter identification due to the widely separated battery dynamic modes and fast sampling. The presented method can be used for online SOC estimation. Test data are collected using a lithium ion cell, and the experimental results show that the presented CT method achieves better modelling accuracy compared with the conventional DT recursive least square method. The effectiveness of the presented method for online SOC estimation is also verified on test data.

Keywords: electric circuit model, continuous time domain estimation, linear integral filter method, parameter and SOC estimation, recursive least square

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Authors: Sasangka Prasetyawan, Anna Roosdiana, Diah Mardiana, Suratmo

Abstract:

Pectinase are enzymes that hydrolyze pectin compounds. The use of this enzyme is primarily to reduce the viscosity of the beverage thus simplifying the purification process. Pectinase activity influenced by microbial sources . Exploration of two types of microbes that Aspergillus spp. and Bacillus spp. pectinase give different performance, but the use of local strain is still not widely studied. The aim of this research is exploration of pectinase from A. niger and B. firmus include production conditions and characterization. Bacillus firmus incubated and shaken at a speed of 200 rpm at pH variation (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10), temperature (30, 35, 40, 45, 50) °C and incubation time (6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36 ) hours. Media was centrifuged at 3000 rpm, pectinase enzyme activity determined. Enzyme production by A. niger determined to variations in temperature and pH were similar to B. firmus, but the variation of the incubation time was 24, 48, 72, 96, 120 hours. Pectinase crude extract was further purified by precipitation using ammonium sulfate saturation in fraction 0-20 %, 20-40 %, 40-60 %, 60-80 %, then dialyzed. Determination of optimum conditions pectinase activity performed by measuring the variation of enzyme activity on pH (4, 6, 7, 8, 10), temperature (30, 35, 40, 45, 50) °C, and the incubation time (10, 20, 30, 40, 50) minutes . Determination of kinetic parameters of pectinase enzyme reaction carried out by measuring the rate of enzyme reactions at the optimum conditions, but the variation of the concentration of substrate (pectin 0.1 % , 0.2 % , 0.3 % , 0.4 % , 0.5 % ). The results showed that the optimum conditions of production of pectinase from B. firmus achieved at pH 7-8.0, 40-50 ⁰C temperature and fermentation time 18 hours. Purification of pectinase showed the highest purity in the 40-80 % ammonium sulfate fraction. Character pectinase obtained : the optimum working conditions of A. niger pectinase at pH 5 , while pectinase from B. firmus at pH 7, temperature and optimum incubation time showed the same value, namely the temperature of 50 ⁰C and incubation time of 30 minutes. The presence of metal ions can affect the activity of pectinase , the concentration of Zn 2 + , Pb 2 + , Ca 2 + and K + and 2 mM Mg 2 + above 6 mM inhibit the activity of pectinase .

Keywords: pectinase, Bacillus firmus, Aspergillus niger, green chemistry

Procedia PDF Downloads 367

Authors: Yuichi Anada

Abstract:

Electrical properties of polymer solid is characterized by dielectric relaxation phenomenon. Complex permittivity shows a high dependence on frequency of external stimulation in the broad frequency range from 0.1mHz to 10GHz. The complex-permittivity dispersion gives us a lot of useful information about the molecular motion of polymers and the structure of polymer aggregates. However, the large dispersion of permittivity at low frequencies due to DC conduction of impurity ions often covers the dielectric relaxation in polymer solid. In experimental investigation, many researchers have tried to remove the DC conduction experimentally or analytically for a long time. On the other hand, our laboratory chose another way of research for this problem from the point of view of a reversal in thinking. The way of our research is to use the impurity ions in the DC conduction as a probe to detect the motion of polymer molecules and to investigate the structure of polymer aggregates. In addition to the complex permittivity, the electric modulus and the conductivity relaxation time are strong tools for investigating the ionic motion in DC conduction. In a non-crystalline part of melt-crystallized polymers, free spaces with inhomogeneous size exist between crystallites. As the impurity ions exist in the non-crystalline part and move through these inhomogeneous free spaces, the motion of ions reflects the microstructure of non-crystalline part. The ionic motion of impurity ions in poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is investigated in this study. Frequency dependence of the loss permittivity of PVDF shows a characteristic of the direct current (DC) conduction below 1 kHz of frequency at 435 K. The electric modulus-frequency curve shows a characteristic of the dispersion with the single conductivity relaxation time. Namely, it is the Debye-type dispersion. The conductivity relaxation time analyzed from this curve is 0.00003 s at 435 K. From the plot of conductivity relaxation time of PVDF together with the other polymers against permittivity, it was found that there are two group of polymers; one of the group is characterized by small conductivity relaxation time and large permittivity, and another is characterized by large conductivity relaxation time and small permittivity.

Keywords: conductivity relaxation time, electric modulus, ionic motion, permittivity, poly(vinylidene fluoride), DC conduction

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Authors: Devyani Shete, Sudeep Rai

Abstract:

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused one of the highest disruptions to the NHS (National Health Service), especially to the fundamental cervical cancer screening service. To prioritize screening response effectively, it is vital to understand the underlying disease risks amongst groups of women who are less likely to resume their screening/follow up at General Practices. The current government target is to have>=80% of women have an adequate test within the previous 3.5 years (ages 25-49) or 5.5 years (ages 50-64). Aims/Objectives: To increase the number of eligible people aged 25-49 attending cervical screening by 5% at Lakeside Healthcare (a General Practice in Corby). Methods: An online survey was posted on the Lakeside Healthcare website to find out what the barriers towards cervical screening were. It was apparent that patients needed more information catered to their responses. 6 informational videos and a “Cervical Screening Guide” were created for Lakeside patients about cervical screening, which were posted on the Healthcare website. Lakeside also started sending reminder texts to those eligible, with a link to a booking form. Results: On 18th January 2022, 69.7% of patients aged 25-49 years (7207) had an adequate cervical screening test in the last 3.5 years. There were 80 total responders to the online survey. In response to “which of the following are reasons why you have not attended screening”, 30% ticked “I kept putting it off/did not get around to it,” and 13% ticked “I was worried it would be painful or daunting.” In response to “which of the following would make you more likely to book an appointment”, 23% ticked “More detailed explanations of what the risks are if I don’t have screening,” and 20% ticked “I would like more information about the test and what the smear entails.” 10% of responders had previous trauma, whilst 28% of responders said the pandemic had impacted them getting a smear. Survey results were used to carry out interventions to increase smear uptake. On 23rdMarch 2022 (after a 2-month period), 75%of patients aged 25-49 (7119) attended the screening, which was a 5.3% increase from January. Discussion/Conclusion: The survey was vital in carrying out the exact interventions that were required for patients to increase screening uptake, as it is important to know what the populations’ needs are in order to create personalized invitations. This helps to optimise response during a pandemic. A HPV self-sample kit at home could be a popular method of dealing with further outbreaks.

Keywords: gynaecology, cervical screening, public health, COVID-19

Procedia PDF Downloads 149