Search results for: partial least squares analysis

Authors: Clarinda Vitorino Nhangumbe, Fredericks Ebrahim, Betuel Canhanga

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The price of an option weather derivatives can be approximated as a solution of the two-dimensional convection-diffusion dominant partial differential equation derived from the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, where one variable represents the weather dynamics and the other variable represent the underlying weather index. With appropriate financial boundary conditions, the solution of the pricing equation is approximated using a nonstandard finite difference method. It is shown that the proposed numerical scheme preserves positivity as well as stability and consistency. In order to illustrate the accuracy of the method, the numerical results are compared with other methods. The model is tested for real weather data.

Keywords: nonstandard finite differences, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, partial differential equations approach, weather derivatives

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Authors: Shahida Khatoon, Mohd. Faisal Jalil, Vaishali Gautam

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The Photovoltaic (PV) generated power is mainly dependent on environmental factors. The PV array’s lifetime and overall systems effectiveness reduce due to the partial shading condition. Clustering the electrical connections between solar modules is a viable strategy for minimizing these power losses by shade diffusion. This article comprehensively evaluates various PV array clustering/reconfiguration models for PV systems. These are static and dynamic reconfiguration techniques for extracting maximum power in mismatch conditions. This paper explores and analyzes current breakthroughs in solar PV performance improvement strategies that merit further investigation. Altogether, researchers and academicians working in the field of dedicated solar power generation will benefit from this research.

Keywords: static reconfiguration, dynamic reconfiguration, photo voltaic array, partial shading, CTC configuration

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Authors: Zuoyong Zhang, Min Yu, Jinlong Zhao, Shudong He

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The Maillard reaction can produce the flavor enhancing substance through the chemical crosslinking between free amino group of the protein or polypeptide with the carbonyl of the reducing sugar. In this research, solutions of rapeseed meal peptide and D-xylose with or without L-cysteine (RXC or RX) were heated over a range of temperatures (80-140 °C) for 2 h. It was observed that RXs had a severe browning,while RXCs accompanied by more pH decrement with the temperature increasing. Then the correlation among data of quantitative sensory descriptive analysis, free amino acid (FAA) and GC–MS of RXCs and RXs were analyzed using the partial least square regression method. Results suggested that the Maillard reaction product (MRPs) with cysteine formed at 120 °C (RXC-120) had greater sensory properties especially meat-like flavor compared to other MRPs. Meanwhile, it revealed that glutamic and glycine not only had a positive contribution to meaty aroma but also showed a significant and positive influence on umami taste of RXs based on the FAA data. Moreover, the sulfur-containing compounds showed a significant positive correlation with the meat-like flavor of RXCs, while RXs depended on furans and nitrogenous-containing compounds with more caramel-like flavor. Therefore, a MRP with strong meaty flavor could be obtained at 120 °C by addition of cysteine.

Keywords: rapeseed meal, Maillard reaction, sensory characteristics, FAA, GC–MS, partial least square regression

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Authors: Dharmana Pradeep, Chandan Kumar Patnaikuni, N. V. S. Venugopal

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Rice Husk Ash (RHA) is a green product contains carbon and also loaded with silica. For the development of durability and strength of any concrete, curing phenomenon shall be very important. In this communication, we reported the exposure of partial replacement of cement with RHA at different percentages of 0%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5% and 15% by weight under sodium phosphate curing atmosphere. The mix is designed for M40 grade concrete with the proportions of 1:2.2:3.72. The tests conducted on concrete was a compressive strength, and the specimens were cured in normal water & exposed to the chemical solution for 7, 28 & 56 days. For chemical curing 0.5% & 1% concentrated sodium phosphates were used and were compared with normal concrete strength results. The strength of specimens of 1% sodium phosphate exposure showed that the compressive strength decreased with increase in RHA percentages.

Keywords: rice husk ash, compressive strength, sodium phosphate, curing

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Authors: Bitewulign Mekonnen

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Context: This scientific paper focuses on the use of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to determine glucose concentration in aqueous solutions accurately and rapidly. The study compares six different machine learning methods for predicting glucose concentration and also explores the development of a deep learning model for classifying NIR spectra. The objective is to optimize the detection model and improve the accuracy of glucose prediction. This research is important because it provides a comprehensive analysis of various machine-learning techniques for estimating aqueous glucose concentrations. Research Aim: The aim of this study is to compare and evaluate different machine-learning methods for predicting glucose concentration from NIR spectra. Additionally, the study aims to develop and assess a deep-learning model for classifying NIR spectra. Methodology: The research methodology involves the use of machine learning and deep learning techniques. Six machine learning regression models, including support vector machine regression, partial least squares regression, extra tree regression, random forest regression, extreme gradient boosting, and principal component analysis-neural network, are employed to predict glucose concentration. The NIR spectra data is randomly divided into train and test sets, and the process is repeated ten times to increase generalization ability. In addition, a convolutional neural network is developed for classifying NIR spectra. Findings: The study reveals that the SVMR, ETR, and PCA-NN models exhibit excellent performance in predicting glucose concentration, with correlation coefficients (R) > 0.99 and determination coefficients (R²)> 0.985. The deep learning model achieves high macro-averaging scores for precision, recall, and F1-measure. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of machine learning and deep learning methods in optimizing the detection model and improving glucose prediction accuracy. Theoretical Importance: This research contributes to the field by providing a comprehensive analysis of various machine-learning techniques for estimating glucose concentrations from NIR spectra. It also explores the use of deep learning for the classification of indistinguishable NIR spectra. The findings highlight the potential of machine learning and deep learning in enhancing the prediction accuracy of glucose-relevant features. Data Collection and Analysis Procedures: The NIR spectra and corresponding references for glucose concentration are measured in increments of 20 mg/dl. The data is randomly divided into train and test sets, and the models are evaluated using regression analysis and classification metrics. The performance of each model is assessed based on correlation coefficients, determination coefficients, precision, recall, and F1-measure. Question Addressed: The study addresses the question of whether machine learning and deep learning methods can optimize the detection model and improve the accuracy of glucose prediction from NIR spectra. Conclusion: The research demonstrates that machine learning and deep learning methods can effectively predict glucose concentration from NIR spectra. The SVMR, ETR, and PCA-NN models exhibit superior performance, while the deep learning model achieves high classification scores. These findings suggest that machine learning and deep learning techniques can be used to improve the prediction accuracy of glucose-relevant features. Further research is needed to explore their clinical utility in analyzing complex matrices, such as blood glucose levels.

Keywords: machine learning, signal processing, near-infrared spectroscopy, support vector machine, neural network

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Authors: Nikol Žižková

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The aim of this study was to observe the behavior of polymer-modified cement mortars with regard to the use of a pozzolanic admixture. Polymer-modified mortars (PMMs) containing various types of waste glass (waste packing glass and fluorescent tube glass) were produced always with 20% of cement substituted with a pozzolanic-active material. Ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) was used for polymeric modification. The findings confirm the possibility of using the waste glass examined herein as a partial substitute for cement in the production of PMM, which contributes to the preservation of non-renewable raw material resources and to the efficiency of waste glass material reuse.

Keywords: recycled waste glass, polymer-modified mortars, pozzolanic admixture, ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer

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Authors: M. Gomez, A. Molina

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The concept of brand equity in the wine tourism area is an interesting topic to explore the factors that determine it. The aim of this study is to address this gap by investigating wine tourism destinations brand equity, and understanding the impact that the denomination of origin (DO) brand image and the destination image have on brand equity. Managing and monitoring the branding of wine tourism destinations is crucial to attract tourist arrivals. The multiplicity of stakeholders involved in the branding process calls for research that, unlike previous studies, adopts a broader perspective and incorporates an internal and an external perspective. Therefore, this gap by comparing managers’ and visitors’ approaches to wine tourism destination brand equity has been addressed. A survey questionnaire for data collection purposes was used. The hypotheses were tested using winery managers and winery visitors, each leading a different position relative to the wine tourism destination brand equity. All the interviews were conducted face-to-face. The survey instrument included several scales related to DO brand image, destination image, and wine tourism destination brand equity. All items were measured on seven-point Likert scales. Partial least squares was used to analyze the accuracy of scales, the structural model, and multi-group analysis to identify the differences in the path coefficients and to test the hypotheses. The results show that the positive influence of DO brand image on wine tourism destination brand equity is stronger for wineries than for visitors, but there are no significant differences between the two groups. However, there are significant differences in the positive effect of destination brand image on both wine tourism destination brand equity and DO brand image. The results of this study are important for consultants, practitioners, and policy makers. The gap between managers and visitors calls for the development of a number of campaigns to enhance the image that visitors hold and, thus, increase tourist arrivals. Events such as wine gatherings and gastronomic symposiums held at universities and culinary schools and participation in business meetings can enhance the perceptions and in turn, the added value, brand equity of the wine tourism destinations. The images of destinations and DOs can help strengthen the brand equity of the wine tourism destinations, especially for visitors. Thus, the development and reinforcement of favorable, strong, and unique destination associations and DO associations are important to increase that value. Joint campaigns are advisable to enhance the images of destinations and DOs and, as a consequence, the value of the wine tourism destination brand.

Keywords: brand equity, managers, visitors, wine tourism

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Authors: Kangkang Tang

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A large amount of blast furnace slag is generated in China. Most ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) however ends up in low-grade applications. Blast furnace slag, ground to an appropriate fineness, can be used as a partial replacement of cementitious material in concrete. The potential for using GGBS in structural concrete, e.g. concrete beams and columns, is investigated at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU). With 50% of CEM I replaced with GGBS, peak hydration temperatures determined in a suspended concrete slab reduced by 20%. This beneficiary effect has not been further improved with 70% of CEM I replaced with GGBS. Partial replacement of CEM I with GGBS also has a retardation effect on the early-age strength of concrete. More GGBS concrete mixes will be conducted to identify an ‘optimum’ replacement level which will lead to a reduced thermal loading, without significantly compromising the early-age strength of concrete.

Keywords: thermal effect, GGBS, concrete strength and testing, sustainability

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Authors: Jing Yuan, Hongwei Yang

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This paper aims to understand U.S. middle school students’ mathematics achievements by examining relevant student and school-level predictors. Through a variance component analysis, the study first identifies evidence supporting the use of multilevel modeling. Then, a multilevel analysis is performed under Bayesian statistical inference where prior information is incorporated into the modeling process. During the analysis, independent variables are entered sequentially in the order of theoretical importance to create a hierarchy of models. By evaluating each model using Bayesian fit indices, a best-fit and most parsimonious model is selected where Bayesian statistical inference is performed for the purpose of result interpretation and discussion. The primary dataset for Bayesian modeling is derived from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2012 with a secondary PISA dataset from 2003 analyzed under the traditional ordinary least squares method to provide the information needed to specify informative priors for a subset of the model parameters. The dependent variable is a composite measure of mathematics literacy, calculated from an exploratory factor analysis of all five PISA 2012 mathematics achievement plausible values for which multiple evidences are found supporting data unidimensionality. The independent variables include demographics variables and content-specific variables: mathematics efficacy, teacher-student ratio, proportion of girls in the school, etc. Finally, the entire analysis is performed using the MCMCpack and MCMCglmm packages in R.

Keywords: Bayesian multilevel modeling, mathematics education, PISA, multilevel

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Authors: Tingting Zhou

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The partial privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is a dynamic process. The main features of this process lie in not only gradual and sequential privatizations, but also privatized shares transfer. For partially privatized SOEs, the introduction of private sector ownership is not the end of the story because the previously introduced private owners may choose to leave the SOEs by transferring the privatized shares after privatization, a process that is called “privatized shares transfer”. This paper investigates the determinants of privatized shares transfer from the perspective of large shareholders’ control rights. The results captures the fact that the higher control rights of large shareholders lead to more privatized shares transfer. After exploring the impacts of excessive control rights, the results provide evidence supporting the idea that firms with excessive numbers of directors, senior managers or supervisors who also have positions in the largest controlling shareholder’s entity are more likely to transfer privatized shares owned by private owners. In addition, the largest shareholders’ ownership also plays a role in privatized shares transfer. This evidence suggests that the large shareholders’ control rights should be limited to an appropriate range during the process of privatization, thereby giving private shareholders more opportunity to participate in the operation of firms, strengthen the state and enhance the competitiveness of state capital.

Keywords: control rights of large shareholders, partial privatization, privatized shares transfer, state-owned listed companies

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Authors: Aliyu Usman, Muhaammed Bello Ibrahim, Yusuf D. Amartey, Jibrin M. Kaura

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This research is aimed at investigating the effect of using amorphous silica ash (ASA) obtained from rice husk as a partial replacement of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) on the mechanical and microstructure properties of cement paste and mortar. ASA was used in partial replacement of ordinary Portland cement in the following percentages 3 percent, 5 percent, 8 percent and 10 percent. These partial replacements were used to produce Cement-ASA paste and Cement-ASA mortar. ASA was found to contain all the major chemical compounds found in cement with the exception of alumina, which are SiO2 (91.5%), CaO (2.84%), Fe2O3 (1.96%), and loss on ignition (LOI) was found to be 9.18%. It also contains other minor oxides found in cement. Consistency of Cement-ASA paste was found to increase with increase in ASA replacement. Likewise, the setting time and soundness of the Cement-ASA paste also increases with increase in ASA replacements. The test on hardened mortar were destructive in nature which include flexural strength test on prismatic beam (40mm x 40mm x 160mm) at 2, 7, 14 and 28 days curing and compressive strength test on the cube size (40mm x 40mm, by using the auxiliary steel platens) at 2,7,14 and 28 days curing. The Cement-ASA mortar flexural and compressive strengths were found to be increasing with curing time and decreases with cement replacement by ASA. It was observed that 5 percent replacement of cement with ASA attained the highest strength for all the curing ages and all the percentage replacements attained the targeted compressive strength of 6N/mm2 for 28 days. There is an increase in the drying shrinkage of Cement-ASA mortar with curing time, it was also observed that the drying shrinkages for all the curing ages were greater than the control specimen all of which were greater than the code recommendation of less than 0.03%. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to study the Cement-ASA mortar microstructure and to also look for hydration product and morphology.

Keywords: amorphous silica ash, cement mortar, cement paste, scanning electron microscope

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Authors: Rehab Abdullah Shendi

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The use of customised soft-core processors in which instructions can be integrated into a system in application hardware is increasing in the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) field. Specifically, the partial run-time reconfiguration of FPGAs in specialised processors for a particular domain can be very beneficial. In this report, the design and implementation for the customisation of a soft-core MIPS processor using an FPGA and partial reconfiguration (PR) of FPGA technology will be addressed to achieve efficient resource use. This can be achieved using a PR design flow that helps the design fit into a smaller device. Moreover, the impact of static power consumption could be reduced due to runtime reconfiguration. This will be done by configurable custom instructions implemented in the hardware as an extension on the MIPS CPU. The aim of this project is to investigate the PR of FPGAs for run-time adaptations of the instruction set of a soft-core CPU, including the integration of custom instructions and the exploration of the potential to use the MultiBoot feature available in Xilinx FPGAs to carry out the PR process. The system will be evaluated and tested on a Nexus 3 development board featuring a Xilinx Spartran-6 FPGA. The system will be able to load reconfigurable custom instructions dynamically into user programs with the help of the trap handler when the custom instruction is called by the MIPS CPU. The results of this experiment demonstrate that custom instructions in hardware can speed up a certain function and many instructions can be saved when compared to a software implementation of the same function. Implementing custom instructions in hardware is perfectly possible and worth exploring.

Keywords: customisation, FPGA, MIPS, partial reconfiguration, PR

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Authors: Si Chen, Le Zhang, Xian He

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The research explored the influences of public open space system on housing price through hedonic models, in order to support better open space plans and economic policies. We have three initial hypotheses: 1) public open space system has an overall positive influence on surrounding housing prices. 2) Different public open space types have different levels of influence on motivating surrounding housing prices. 3) Walking and driving accessibilities from property to public open spaces have different statistical relation with housing prices. Cook County, Illinois, was chosen to be a study area since data availability, sufficient open space types, and long-term open space preservation strategies. We considered the housing attributes, driving and walking accessibility scores from houses to nearby public open spaces, and driving accessibility scores to hospitals as influential features and used real housing sales price in 2010 as a dependent variable in the built hedonic model. Through ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis, General Moran’s I analysis and geographically weighted regression analysis, we observed the statistical relations between public open spaces and housing sale prices in the three built hedonic models and confirmed all three hypotheses.

Keywords: hedonic model, public open space, housing sale price, regression analysis, accessibility score

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Authors: Kalyan Koganti

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Background: In India, platelet transfusions are given to large no. of patients suffering from dengue due to the fear of bleeding especially when the platelet counts are low. Though many patients do not bleed when the platelet count falls to less than 20,000, certain patients bleed even if the platelet counts are more than 20,000 without any comorbid condition (like gastrointestinal ulcer) in the past. This fear has led to huge amounts of unnecessary platelet transfusions which cause significant economic burden to low and middle-income countries like India and also sometimes these transfusions end with transfusion-related adverse reactions. Objective: To identify the role of Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APTT) in comparison with thrombocytoenia as an indicator to assess the real need of platelet transfusions. Method: A prospective study was conducted at a hospital in South India which included 176 admitted cases of dengue confirmed by immunochromatography. APTT was performed in all these patients along with platelet count. Cut off values of > 60 seconds for APTT and < 20,000 for platelet count were considered to assess the bleeding manifestations. Results: Among the total 176 patients, 56 patients had bleeding manifestations like malena, hematuria, bleeding gums etc. APTT > 60 seconds had a sensitivity and specificity of 93% and 90% respectively in identifying bleeding manifestations where as platelet count of < 20,000 had a sensitivity and specificity of 64% and 73% respectively. Conclusion: Elevated APTT levels can be considered as an indicator to assess the need of platelet transfusion in dengue. As there is a significant variation among patients who bleed with respect to platelet count, APTT can be considered to avoid unnecessary transfusions.

Keywords: activated partial thromboplastin time, dengue, platelet transfusion, thrombocytopenia

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Authors: M. Ibrahim Ali, M. El Dawi, M. A. Mohamed Ali

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In this study, the use of magnetic gradient survey, and the geoelectrical ground methods used together to explore archaeological features in Nuri’s pyramids area. Research methods used and the procedures and methodologies have taken full right during the study. The magnetic survey method was used to search for archaeological features using (Geoscan Fluxgate Gradiometer (FM36)). The study area was divided into a number of squares (networks) exactly equal (20 * 20 meters). These squares were collected at the end of the study to give a major network for each region. Networks also divided to take the sample using nets typically equal to (0.25 * 0.50 meter), in order to give a more specific archaeological features with some small bipolar anomalies that caused by buildings built from fired bricks. This definition is important to monitor many of the archaeological features such as rooms and others. This main network gives us an integrated map displayed for easy presentation, and it also allows for all the operations required using (Geoscan Geoplot software). The parallel traverse is the main way to take readings of the magnetic survey, to get out the high-quality data. The study area is very rich in old buildings that vary from small to very large. According to the proportion of the sand dunes and the loose soil, most of these buildings are not visible from the surface. Because of the proportion of the sandy dry soil, there is no connection between the ground surface and the electrodes. We tried to get electrical readings by adding salty water to the soil, but, unfortunately, we failed to confirm the magnetic readings with electrical readings as previously planned.

Keywords: archaeological features, independent grids, magnetic gradient, Nuri pyramid

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Authors: Hadi Mohammed

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The introduction of vocational education and training (VET) in correctional institutions as part of prisoner rehabilitation program is to help offenders develop marketable job skills and reduce re-offending thereby increasing the likely hood of successful reintegration back to their community. Offenders who participate in vocational education and training are significantly less likely to return to prison after released and are more likely to find employment after released than offenders who do not received such training. Those who participated in vocational training were 28% more likely to be employed after released from prison than those who did not received such training. This paper examined the effects of vocational training on offender rehabilitation as well as the effects of vocational training on the relationship between reformation and reintegration in Nigerian correctional institution. To address this two research question were formulated to guide the research. A survey research was employed. The participants were 200 offenders in Nigerian correctional institutions. Questionnaire items were administered. Mean, standard deviation and Partial Correlation were used for the data analysis. The findings revealed that vocational training has helped in offender rehabilitation in Nigerian correctional institutions. Similarly there was a moderate significant positive partial correlation between reformation and reintegration, controlling for vocational training, r=0.461, n=221, p<0.005 with moderate level of reformation and being associated with moderate level of reintegration. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that Nigerian Correctional Institutions should strengthen their vocational training program for offenders to be properly rehabilitated.

Keywords: correctional institutions, vocational education and training, offender rehabilitation

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Authors: Z. Sakka, I. Assakkaf, T. Al-Yaqoub, J. Parol

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A reliability-based methodology for the analysis assessment and evaluation of reinforced concrete structural elements of concrete structures is presented herein. The results of the reliability analysis and assessment for structural elements are verified by the results obtained from the deterministic methods. The analysis outcomes of reliability-based analysis are compared against the safety limits of the required reliability index β according to international standards and codes. The methodology is based on probabilistic analysis using reliability concepts and statistics of the main random variables that are relevant to the subject matter, and for which they are to be used in the performance-function equation(s) related to the structural elements under study. These methodology techniques can result in reliability index β, which is commonly known as the reliability index or reliability measure value that can be utilized to assess and evaluate the safety, human risk, and functionality of the structural component. Also, these methods can result in revised partial safety factor values for certain target reliability indices that can be used for the purpose of redesigning the reinforced concrete elements of the building and in which they could assist in considering some other remedial actions to improve the safety and functionality of the member.

Keywords: structural reliability, concrete structures, FORM, Monte Carlo simulation

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Authors: S. K. Ashiquer Rahman

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The proper policy handling might not able to attain the target since some of recessions, e.g., pandemic-led crises, the variables shocks of the economics. At the level of this situation, the Central bank implements the monetary policy to choose increase the exogenous expenditure and level of money supply consecutively for booster level economic growth, whether the monetary policy is relatively more effective than fiscal policy in altering real output growth of a country or both stand for relatively effective in the direction of output growth of a country. The dispute with reference to the relationship between the monetary policy and fiscal policy is centered on the inflationary penalty of the shortfall financing by the fiscal authority. The latest variables socks of economics as well as the pandemic-led crises, central banks around the world predicted just about a general dilemma in relation to increase rates to face the or decrease rates to sustain the economic movement. Whether the prices hang about fundamentally unaffected, the aggregate demand has also been hold a significantly negative attitude by the outbreak COVID-19 pandemic. To empirically investigate the effects of economics shocks associated COVID-19 pandemic, the paper considers the effectiveness of the monetary policy and fiscal policy that linked to the adjustment mechanism of different economic variables. To examine the effects of economics shock associated COVID-19 pandemic towards the effectiveness of Monetary Policy and Fiscal Policy in the direction of output growth of a Country, this paper uses the Simultaneous equations model under the estimation of Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Method.

Keywords: IS-LM framework, pandemic. Economics variables shocks, simultaneous equations model, output growth

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Authors: Fekadu Melak, Tsegaye Girma Asere

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Trace element ions, such as Cr(VI) and F−, are of particular interest due to their environmental impact. Both ions exhibit an anionic nature in water that can show similar removal tendencies except for their significant differences in ionic radius. Accordingly, partial freezing was performed to examine freeze separation efficiencies of Cr(VI) and F– from aqueous solutions. Real groundwater and simulated wastewater were included to test effeciency of F– and Cr(VI), respectively. Parameters such as initial ion concentration, salt addition, and freeze duration were explored. Under optimal operating conditions, freeze separation efficiencies of 90 ± 0.12 to 97 ± 0.54% and 58 ± 0.23% to 60 ± 0.34% from 5 mg/L of Cr(VI) and F–, respectively, were demonstrated. The F– ion intercalation into the ice, initiating the decrement of freeze separation efficiency was observed in the salt addition processes. The influences of structuring-destructuring (kosmotropicity-chaotropicity) and the size-exclusion nature of ice crystals were used to explain the plausible mechanism in freeze separation efficiency trace elemental ions.

Keywords: Cr(VI), F-, partial freezing, size exclusion

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Authors: Arawati Agus, Rahmah Ismail

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An effective training has been increasingly recognized as critical factors in enhancing the skills and knowledge of employee or personnel in the organization. More and more manufacturing companies in Malaysia are increasingly incorporating training as an important element in supply chain management (SCM) to improve their employee skills and knowledge and ultimately organizational performances. In order to understand the connection of training in SCM and the performance of an organization, this paper considers of many arguments from various research papers. This paper presents the findings of a research which examines the relationship between training in SCM, personnel differentiation and business performance of manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The study measures perception of senior management regarding the incorporation of training in SCM and the level of personnel differentiation and business performance measurements in their companies. The associations between training in SCM, personnel differentiation and business performance dimensions are analyzed through methods such as Pearson’s correlations and Smart partial least squares (smart PLS) using 126 respondents’ data. The correlation results demonstrate that training in SCM has significant correlations with personnel differentiation determinants (comprises of variables namely employee differentiation and service differentiation). The findings also suggest that training in SCM has significant correlations with business performance determinants (comprises of indicators, namely market share, profitability, ROA and ROS). Specifically, both personnel differentiation and business performance have high correlations with training in SCM, namely ‘Employee training on production skills’, ‘On the job production employee training’ and ‘Management training on supply chain effectiveness’ and ‘Employee training on supply chain technologies’. The smart PLS result also reveals that training in SCM exhibits significant impact on both personnel differentiation (directly) and business performance (indirectly mediated by personnel differentiation). The findings of the study provide a demonstration of the importance of training in SCM in enhancing competitive performances in Malaysian manufacturing companies.

Keywords: training in SCM, personnel differentiation, business performance, Pearson’s correlation, Smart PLS

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Authors: Przemyslaw Brzyski, Stanislaw Fic

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Hydrated lime, because of the life cycle (return to its natural form as a result of the setting and hardening) has a positive environmental impact. The lime binder is used in mortars. Lime is a slow setting binder with low mechanical properties. The aim of the study was to evaluate the possibility of improving the properties of the lime binder by using different pozzolanic materials as partial replacement of hydrated lime binder. Pozzolan materials are the natural or industrial waste, so do not affect the environmental impact of the lime binder. The following laboratory tests were performed: the analysis of the physical characteristics of the tested samples of lime mortars (bulk density, porosity), flexural and compressive strength, water absorption and the capillary rise of samples and consistency of fresh mortars. As a partial replacement of hydrated lime (in the amount of 10%, 20%, 30% by weight of lime) a metakaolin, silica fume, and zeolite were used. The shortest setting and hardening time showed mortars with the addition of metakaolin. All additives noticeably improved strength characteristic of lime mortars. With the increase in the amount of additive, the increase in strength was also observed. The highest flexural strength was obtained by using the addition of metakaolin in an amount of 20% by weight of lime (2.08 MPa). The highest compressive strength was obtained by using also the addition of metakaolin but in an amount of 30% by weight of lime (9.43 MPa). The addition of pozzolan caused an increase in the mortar tightness which contributed to the limitation of absorbability. Due to the different surface area, pozzolanic additives affected the consistency of fresh mortars. Initial consistency was assumed as plastic. Only the addition of silica fume an amount of 20 and 30% by weight of lime changed the consistency to the thick-plastic. The conducted study demonstrated the possibility of applying lime mortar with satisfactory properties. The features of lime mortars do not differ significantly from cement-based mortar properties and show a lower environmental impact due to CO₂ absorption during lime hardening. Taking into consideration the setting time, strength and consistency, the best results can be obtained with metakaolin addition to the lime mortar.

Keywords: lime, binder, mortar, pozzolan, properties

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Authors: Sajad Haghanifar, Seyed-Farshid Kashani Bozorg

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Nano-crystalline Mg2Ni-based powder was produced by mechanical alloying technique using binary and ternary powder mixtures with stoichiometric compositions of Mg2Ni, Mg1.9C0.1Ni and Mg2C0.1Ni0.9. The structures and morphologies of the milled products were studied by XRD, SEM and HRTEM. Their electrochemical hydrogen storage characteristics were investigated in 6 M KOH solution. X-Ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy of the milled products showed the formation of Mg2Ni-based nano-crystallites after 5, 15 and 30 h of milling using the initial powder mixtures of Mg1.9C0.1Ni, Mg2Ni and Mg2C0.1Ni0.9, respectively. It was found that partial substitution of C for Mg has beneficial effect on the formation kinetic of nano-crystalline Mg2Ni. Contrary to this, partial substitution of C for Ni was resulted in retardation of formation kinetic of nano-crystalline Mg2Ni. In addition, the negative electrode made from Mg1.9C0.1Ni ternary milled product after 30 hour of milling exhibited the highest initial discharge capacity and longest discharge life. Thus, partial substitution of C for Mg is beneficial to electrode properties of the Mg2Ni-based crystallites. The relation between the discharge capacity and cycling number of mechanically alloyed products was proposed on the basis of the fact that the degradation of discharge capacity was mainly caused by the oxidation of magnesium and nickel. The experimental data fitted the deduced equation well.

Keywords: Mg2Ni, hydrogen absorbing materials, electrochemical properties, nano-crystalline, amorphous, mechanical alloying, carbon

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Authors: Rafael Martins Manzano Silva, Jean-Francois Tremong

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Electrification of railway lines allows to increase speed, power, capacity and energetic efficiency of rolling stocks. However, this process of electrification is complex and costly. An electrification project is not just about design of catenary. It also includes installation of structures around electrification, as substation installation, electrical isolation, signalling, telecommunication and civil engineering structures. France has more than 30,000 km of railways, whose only 53% are electrified. The others 47% of railways use diesel locomotive and represent only 10% of the circulation (tons.km). For this reason, a new type of electrification, less expensive than the usual, is requested to enable the modernization of these railways. One solution could be the use of hybrids trains. This technology opens up new opportunities for less expensive infrastructure development such as the partial electrification of railway lines. In a partially electrified railway, the power supply of theses hybrid trains could be made either by the catenary or by the on-board energy storage system (ESS). Thus, the on-board ESS would feed the energetic needs of the train along the non-electrified zones while in electrified zones, the catenary would feed the train and recharge the on-board ESS. This paper’s objective deals with the technical and economic potential identification of partial electrification of railway lines. This study provides different scenarios of electrification by replacing the most expensive places to electrify using on-board ESS. The target is to reduce the cost of new electrification projects, i.e. reduce the cost of electrification infrastructures while not increasing the cost of rolling stocks. In this study, scenarios are constructed in function of the electrification’s cost of each structure. The electrification’s cost varies considerably because of the installation of catenary support in tunnels, bridges and viaducts is much more expensive than in others zones of the railway. These scenarios will be used to describe the power supply system and to choose between the catenary and the on-board energy storage depending on the position of the train on the railway. To identify the influence of each partial electrification scenario in the sizing of the on-board ESS, a model of the railway line and of the rolling stock is developed for a real case. This real case concerns a railway line located in the south of France. The energy consumption and the power demanded at each point of the line for each power supply (catenary or on-board ESS) are provided at the end of the simulation. Finally, the cost of a partial electrification is obtained by adding the civil engineering costs of the zones to be electrified plus the cost of the on-board ESS. The study of the technical and economic potential ends with the identification of the most economically interesting scenario of electrification.

Keywords: electrification, hybrid, railway, storage

Procedia PDF Downloads 429

Authors: Filip Dodigovic, Kreso Ivandic, Damir Stuhec, S. Strelec

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The general difference analysis between the former and new design concepts in geotechnical engineering is carried out. The application of new regulations results in the need for real adaptation of the computation principles of limit states, i.e. by providing a uniform way of analyzing engineering tasks. Generally, it is not possible to unambiguously match the limit state verification procedure with those in the construction engineering. The reasons are the inability to fully consistency of the common probabilistic basis of the analysis, and the fundamental effect of material properties on the value of actions and the influence of actions on resistance. Consequently, it is not possible to apply separate factorization with partial coefficients, as in construction engineering. For the slope stability analysis design procedures problems in the light of the use of limit states in relation to the concept of allowable stresses is detailed in. The quantifications of the safety margins in the slope stability analysis for both approaches is done. When analyzing the stability of the slope, by the strict application of the adopted forms from the new regulations for significant external temporary and/or seismic actions, the equivalent margin of safety is increased. The consequence is the emergence of more conservative solutions.

Keywords: allowable pressure, Eurocode 7, limit states, slope stability

Procedia PDF Downloads 337

Authors: A. M. Jungudo, M. A. Lasan

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Affordable housing has long been one of the basic necessities of life to man. The ever rising prices of building materials are one of the major causes of housing shortage in many developing countries. Breaching the gap of housing needs in developing countries like Nigeria is an awaiting task longing for attention. This is due to lack of research in the development of local materials that will suit the troubled economies of these countries. The use of earth material to meet the housing needs is a sustainable option and its material is freely available universally. However, people are doubtful of using the earth material due to its modest outlook and uncertain durability. This research aims at enhancing the durability of Compressed Earth Bricks (CEBs) using stone dust as a stabilizer. The result indicates that partial replacement of lateritic soil with stone dust at 30% improves its compressive strength along with abrasive resistance.

Keywords: earth construction, durability, stone dust, sustainable

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Hien Thi Dieu Truong, Mahmoud Al-Sarayreh, Pullanagari Reddy, Marlon M. Reis, Richard Archer

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New Zealand mānuka honey is a honeybee product derived mainly from Leptospermum scoparium nectar. The potent antibacterial activity of mānuka honey derives principally from methylglyoxal (MGO), in addition to the hydrogen peroxide and other lesser activities present in all honey. MGO is formed from dihydroxyacetone (DHA) unique to L. scoparium nectar. Mānuka honey also has an idiosyncratic phenolic profile that is useful as a chemical maker. Authentic mānuka honey is highly valuable, but almost all honey is formed from natural mixtures of nectars harvested by a hive over a time period. Once diluted by other nectars, mānuka honey irrevocably loses value. We aimed to apply hyperspectral imaging to honey frames before bulk extraction to minimise the dilution of genuine mānuka by other honey and ensure authenticity at the source. This technology is non-destructive and suitable for an industrial setting. Chemometrics using linear Partial Least Squares (PLS) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) showed limited efficacy in interpreting chemical footprints due to large non-linear relationships between predictor and predictand in a large sample set, likely due to honey quality variability across geographic regions. Therefore, an advanced modelling approach, one-dimensional convolutional neural networks (1D-CNN), was investigated for analysing hyperspectral data for extraction of biochemical information from honey. The 1D-CNN model showed superior prediction of honey quality (R² = 0.73, RMSE = 2.346, RPD= 2.56) to PLS (R² = 0.66, RMSE = 2.607, RPD= 1.91) and SVM (R² = 0.67, RMSE = 2.559, RPD=1.98). Classification of mono-floral manuka honey from multi-floral and non-manuka honey exceeded 90% accuracy for all models tried. Overall, this study reveals the potential of HSI and deep learning modelling for automating the evaluation of honey quality in frames.

Keywords: mānuka honey, quality, purity, potency, deep learning, 1D-CNN, chemometrics

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Saghar Heidari

Abstract:

In this paper, we study the valuation problem of European continuous-installment options under Markov-modulated models with a partial differential equation approach. Due to the opportunity for continuing or stopping to pay installments, the valuation problem under regime-switching models can be formulated as coupled partial differential equations (CPDE) with free boundary features. To value the installment options, we express the truncated CPDE as a linear complementarity problem (LCP), then a finite element method is proposed to solve the resulted variational inequality. Under some appropriate assumptions, we establish the stability of the method and illustrate some numerical results to examine the rate of convergence and accuracy of the proposed method for the pricing problem under the regime-switching model.

Keywords: continuous-installment option, European option, regime-switching model, finite element method

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: A.Zitouni, S.Bentata, B.Bouadjemi, T.Lantri, W. Benstaali, Z.Aziz, S.Cherid

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We investigate the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of the diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) CdCoTe and CdMnTe in the zinc blende phase with 25% of Co and Mn. The calculations are performed by the recent ab initio full potential augmented plane waves (FP_L/APW) method within the spin polarized density-functional theory (DFT) and the generalized gradient approximation GGA. Structural properties are determined from the total energy calculations and we found that these compounds are stable in the ferromagnetic phase. We discuss the electronic structures, total and partial densities of states and total magnetic moments. The calculated densities of states presented in this study identify the half-metallic of CdCoTe and CdMnTe.

Keywords: electronic structure, half-metallic, magnetic moment, total and partial densities of states

Procedia PDF Downloads 497

Authors: Seyed Sadegh Naseralavi, Sadegh Balaghi, Ehsan Khojastehfar

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Time history seismic analysis is supposed to be the most accurate method to predict the seismic demand of structures. On the other hand, the required computational time of this method toward achieving the result is its main deficiency. While being applied in optimization process, in which the structure must be analyzed thousands of time, reducing the required computational time of seismic analysis of structures makes the optimization algorithms more practical. Apparently, the invented approximate methods produce some amount of errors in comparison with exact time history analysis but the recently proposed method namely, Complete Quadratic Combination (CQC) and Sum Root of the Sum of Squares (SRSS) drastically reduces the computational time by combination of peak responses in each mode. In the present research, the Basic Modal Displacement (BMD) method is introduced and applied towards estimation of seismic demand of main structure. Seismic demand of sampled structure is estimated by calculation of modal displacement of basic structure (in which the modal displacement has been calculated). Shear steel sampled structures are selected as case studies. The error applying the introduced method is calculated by comparison of the estimated seismic demands with exact time history dynamic analysis. The efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated by application of three types of earthquakes (in view of time of peak ground acceleration).

Keywords: time history dynamic analysis, basic modal displacement, earthquake-induced demands, shear steel structures

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: Suwarno, M. Helmi Prakoso

Abstract:

Mineral oil is commonly used for high voltage transformer insulation. The insulation quality of mineral oil is affecting the operation process of high voltage transformer. There are many contaminations which could decrease the insulation quality of mineral oil. One of them is water. This research talks about the effect of water content on dielectric properties, physic properties, and partial discharge pattern on mineral oil. Samples were varied with 10 varieties of water content value. And then all samples were tested to measure the dielectric properties, physic properties, and partial discharge pattern. The result of this research showed that an increment of water content value would decrease the insulation quality of mineral oil.

Keywords: dielectric properties, high voltage transformer, mineral oil, water content

Procedia PDF Downloads 399