Search results for: overall equipment effectiveness

Authors: Zongjie Wang, Zhizhong Guo

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While the regular optimal power flow model focuses on a single time scan, the optimization of power systems is typically intended for a time duration with respect to a desired objective function. In this paper, a temporal optimal power flow model for a time period is proposed. To reduce the computation burden needed for calculating temporal optimal power flow, a characteristic optimal power flow model is proposed, which employs different characteristic load patterns to represent the objective function and security constraints. A numerical method based on the interior point method is also proposed for solving the characteristic optimal power flow model. Both the temporal optimal power flow model and characteristic optimal power flow model can improve the systems’ desired objective function for the entire time period. Numerical studies are conducted on the IEEE 14 and 118-bus test systems to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed characteristic optimal power flow model.

Keywords: optimal power flow, time period, security, economy

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Authors: Farshid Hajati, Soheila Gheisari, Ali Cheraghian, Yongsheng Gao

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This paper presents a new Surface Geodesic Derivative Pattern (SGDP) for matching textured deformable 3D surfaces. SGDP encodes micro-pattern features based on local surface higher-order derivative variation. It extracts local information by encoding various distinctive textural relationships contained in a geodesic neighborhood, hence fusing texture and range information of a surface at the data level. Geodesic texture rings are encoded into local patterns for similarity measurement between non-rigid 3D surfaces. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated extensively on the Bosphorus and FRGC v2 face databases. Compared to existing benchmarks, experimental results show the effectiveness and superiority of combining the texture and 3D shape data at the earliest level in recognizing typical deformable faces under expression, illumination, and pose variations.

Keywords: 3D face recognition, pose, expression, surface matching, texture

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Authors: Yusuke Kuramitsu, Tomoaki Hashimoto, Hirokazu Tahara

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The control problem of underactuated spacecrafts has attracted a considerable amount of interest. The control method for a spacecraft equipped with less than three control torques is useful when one of the three control torques had failed. On the other hand, the quantized control of systems is one of the important research topics in recent years. The random dither quantization method that transforms a given continuous signal to a discrete signal by adding artificial random noise to the continuous signal before quantization has also attracted a considerable amount of interest. The objective of this study is to develop the control method based on random dither quantization method for stabilizing the rotational motion of a rigid spacecraft with two control inputs. In this paper, the effectiveness of random dither quantization control method for the stabilization of rotational motion of spacecrafts with two torque inputs is verified by numerical simulations.

Keywords: spacecraft control, quantized control, nonlinear control, random dither method

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Authors: Murtala Sale

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The use of instructional materials is an indispensable tool that enhances qualitative teaching and learning especially at the primary level. Instructional materials are used to facilitate comprehension of ideas in the learners as well as ensure long term retention of ideas and topics taught to pupils. This study examined the relevance of using instructional materials in primary schools in Katsina State, Nigeria. It employed survey design using cluster sampling technique. The questionnaire was used to gather data for analysis, and statistical and frequency tables were used to analyze the data gathered. The results show that teachers and students alike have realized the effectiveness of modern instructional materials in teaching and learning for the attainment of set objectives in the basic primary education policy. It also discovered that reluctance in the use of instructional materials will hamper the achievement of qualitative primary education. The study therefore suggests that there should be the provision of adequate and up-to-date instructional materials to all primary schools in Katsina State for effective teaching and learning process.

Keywords: instructional materials, effective teaching, learning quality, indispensable aspect

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Authors: S. O. Uwaifo

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The paper examines the pivotal role of the library in university education through the provision of a wide range of information materials (print and non- print) required for the teaching, learning and research activities of the university. However certain impediments to the effectiveness of Nigerian university libraries, such as financial constraints, high foreign exchange, global disparities in accessing the internet, lack of local area networks, erratic electric power supply, absence of ICT literacy, poor maintenance culture, etc., were identified. Also, the necessity of repositioning Nigerian university libraries for effective information provision and delivery was stressed by pointing out their dividends, such as users’ access to Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), Institutional Repositories, Electronic Document Delivery, Social Media Networks, etc. It therefore becomes necessary for the libraries to be repositioned by way of being adequately automated or digitized for effective service delivery, in this age of globalization. Based on the identified barriers by this paper, some recommendations were proffered.

Keywords: repositioning, Nigerian university libraries, effective information provision and delivery, globalization

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Authors: Sumaira Taj

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Blended learning is emerged as a prerequisite approach for teaching in all schools after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, how much public elementary and secondary schools in Pakistan are ready for adapting this approach and what should be done to prepare schools and students for blended learning are the questions that this paper attempts to answer. Mixed-method research methodology was used to collect data from 40 teachers, 500 students, and 10 mothers. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze quantitative data. As for as readiness is concerned, schools lack resources for blended/ virtual/ online classes from infra-structure to skills, parents’ literacy level hindered students’ learning process and teachers’ skills presented challenges in a smooth and swift shift of the schools from face-to-face learning to blended learning. It is recommended to establish a conducive environment in schools by providing all required resources and skills. Special trainings should be organized for low literacy level parents. Multiple ways should be adopted to benefit all students.

Keywords: blended learning, challenges in online classes, education in covid-19, public schools in pakistan

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Authors: Carmen Axisa, Louise Nash, Patrick Kelly, Simon Willcock

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Introduction: Doctors experience high levels of burnout, stress and psychiatric morbidity. This can affect the health of the doctor and impact patient care. Study Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of a workshop intervention to promote wellbeing for Australian Physician Trainees. Methods: A workshop was developed in consultation with specialist clinicians to promote health and wellbeing for physician trainees. The workshop objectives were to improve participant understanding about factors affecting their health and wellbeing, to outline strategies on how to improve health and wellbeing and to encourage participants to apply these strategies in their own lives. There was a focus on building resilience and developing long term healthy behaviours as part of the physician trainee daily lifestyle. Trainees had the opportunity to learn practical strategies for stress management, gain insight into their behaviour and take steps to improve their health and wellbeing. The workshop also identified resources and support systems available to trainees. The workshop duration was four and a half hours including a thirty- minute meal break where a catered meal was provided for the trainees. Workshop evaluations were conducted at the end of the workshop. Sixty-seven physician trainees from Adult Medicine and Paediatric training programs in Sydney Australia were randomised into intervention and control groups. The intervention group attended a workshop facilitated by specialist clinicians and the control group did not. Baseline and post intervention measurements were taken for both groups to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the workshop. Forty-six participants completed all three measurements (69%). Demographic, personal and self-reported data regarding work/life patterns was collected. Outcome measures include Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Results: The workshop was well received by the physician trainees and workshop evaluations showed that the majority of trainees strongly agree or agree that the training was relevant to their needs (96%) and met their expectations (92%). All trainees strongly agree or agree that they would recommend the workshop to their medical colleagues. In comparison to the control group we observed a reduction in alcohol use, depression and burnout but an increase in stress, anxiety and secondary traumatic stress in the intervention group, at the primary endpoint measured at 6 months. However, none of these differences reached statistical significance (p > 0.05). Discussion: Although the study did not reach statistical significance, the workshop may be beneficial to physician trainees. Trainees had the opportunity to share ideas, gain insight into their own behaviour, learn practical strategies for stress management and discuss approach to work, life and self-care. The workshop discussions enabled trainees to share their experiences in a supported environment where they learned that other trainees experienced stress and burnout and they were not alone in needing to acquire successful coping mechanisms and stress management strategies. Conclusion: These findings suggest that physician trainees are a vulnerable group who may benefit from initiatives that promote wellbeing and from a more supportive work environment.

Keywords: doctors' health, physician burnout, physician resilience, wellbeing workshop

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Authors: Japinder Wadhawan, Pradeep Rajan, Alok K. Saran, Navdeep S. Sidhu, Daanvir K. Dhir

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Currently, research focus in the development of agricultural equipment and tractor parts in India is innovation and use of alternate materials like austempered ductile iron (ADI). Three-point linkage mechanism of the tractor is susceptible to unpredictable load conditions in the field, and one of the critical components vulnerable to failure is lift arm. Conventionally, lift arm is manufactured either by forging or casting (SG Iron) and main objective of the present work is to reduce the failure occurrences in the lift arm, which is achieved by changing the manufacturing material, i.e ADI, without changing existing design. Effect of four pertinent variables of manufacturing ADI, viz. austenitizing temperature, austenitizing time, austempering temperature, austempering time, was investigated using Taguchi method for design of experiments. To analyze the effect of parameters on the mechanical properties, mean average and signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio was calculated based on the design of experiments with L9 orthogonal array and the linear graph. The best combination for achieving the desired mechanical properties of lift arm is austenitization at 860°C for 90 minutes and austempering at 350°C for 60 minutes. Results showed that the developed component is having 925 MPA tensile strength, 7.8 per cent elongation and 120 joules toughness making it more suitable material for lift arm manufacturing. The confirmatory experiment has been performed and found a good agreement between predicted and experimental value. Also, the CAD model of the existing design was developed in computer aided design software, and structural loading calculations were performed by a commercial finite element analysis package. An optimized shape of the lift arm has also been proposed resulting in light weight and cheaper product than the existing design, which can withstand the same loading conditions effectively.

Keywords: austempered ductile iron, design of experiment, finite element analysis, lift arm

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Authors: Dim En Nyaung, Thin Lai Lai Thein

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Due to the rapid increase of Internet, web opinion sources dynamically emerge which is useful for both potential customers and product manufacturers for prediction and decision purposes. These are the user generated contents written in natural languages and are unstructured-free-texts scheme. Therefore, opinion mining techniques become popular to automatically process customer reviews for extracting product features and user opinions expressed over them. Since customer reviews may contain both opinionated and factual sentences, a supervised machine learning technique applies for subjectivity classification to improve the mining performance. In this paper, we dedicate our work is the task of opinion summarization. Therefore, product feature and opinion extraction is critical to opinion summarization, because its effectiveness significantly affects the identification of semantic relationships. The polarity and numeric score of all the features are determined by Senti-WordNet Lexicon. The problem of opinion summarization refers how to relate the opinion words with respect to a certain feature. Probabilistic based model of supervised learning will improve the result that is more flexible and effective.

Keywords: opinion mining, opinion summarization, sentiment analysis, text mining

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Authors: Junfeng Yan, Wenkui Hou

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Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) is a technology to monitor the equipment status and predict impending faults. It is used to predict the potential fault and provide fault information and track trends of system degradation by capturing characteristics signals. So how to detect characteristics signals is very important. The select of test point plays a very important role in detecting characteristics signal. Traditionally, we use dependency model to select the test point containing the most detecting information. But, facing the large complicated system, the dependency model is not built so easily sometimes and the greater trouble is how to calculate the matrix. Rely on this premise, the paper provide a highly effective method to select test point without dependency model. Because signal flow model is a diagnosis model based on failure mode, which focuses on system’s failure mode and the dependency relationship between the test points and faults. In the signal flow model, a fault information can flow from the beginning to the end. According to the signal flow model, we can find out location and structure information of every test point and module. We break the signal flow model up into serial and parallel parts to obtain the final relationship function between the system’s testability or prediction metrics and test points. Further, through the partial derivatives operation, we can obtain every test point’s importance degree in determining the testability metrics, such as undetected rate, false alarm rate, untrusted rate. This contributes to installing the test point according to the real requirement and also provides a solid foundation for the Prognostics and Health Management. According to the real effect of the practical engineering application, the method is very efficient.

Keywords: false alarm rate, importance degree, signal flow model, undetected rate, untrusted rate

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Authors: Abderrahmane Mousstain, Ez-Zohra Belkadi

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Many authors support more participatory and inclusive place branding practices that empower stakeholders’ participation. According to this participatory point of view, the effectiveness of place branding strategies cannot be achieved without citizen involvement. However, the role of all residents as key participants in the city branding process has not been widely discussed. The aim of this paper was to determine how citizens’ involvement impacts their perceptions of the city's image, using a multivariate model. To test our hypotheses hypothetical-deductive reasoning by the quantitative method was chosen. Our investigation is based on data collected through a survey among 200 citizens of Casablanca. Results show that the more citizens are involved, the more they tend to evaluate the image of the brand positively. Additionally, the degree of involvement seems to impact satisfaction and a sense of belonging. As well, the more citizen develops a sense of belonging to the city, the more favorable his or her perception of the brand image is. Ultimately, the role of citizens shouldn’t be limited to reception. They are also Co-creators of the brand, who ensure the correlation of the brand with authentic place roots.

Keywords: citybranding, sense of belonging, satisfaction, impact, brand’s image

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Authors: Godwin Ojochogu Adejo, Evelyn UnekwuOjo Adejo, Sunday UnenwOjo Adejo

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The mainstream contemporary approach to controlling the impact of diseases among poultry birds rely largely on curative measures through the administration of drugs to infected birds. Most times as observed in the deep liter poultry farming system, entire flocks including uninfected birds receive the treatment they do not need. As such, unguarded use of chemical drugs and antibiotics has led to wastage and accumulation of chemical residues in poultry products with associated health hazards to humans. However, wanton and frequent drug usage in poultry is avoidable if feeding and drinking equipment are designed to curb infection transmission among birds. Using toxicological assays as guide and with efficiency and simplicity in view, two newly field-tested and recently patented equipments called 'healthy liquid drinking trough (HDT)' and 'healthy feeding trough (HFT)' that systematically eliminate contamination of the feeding and drinking channels, thereby, curbing wide-spread infection and transmission of diseases in the (intensive) deep litter poultry farming system were designed. Upon combined usage, they automatically and drastically reduced both the amount and frequency of antibiotics use in poultry by over > 50%. Additionally, they conferred optimization of feed and water utilization/elimination of wastage by > 80%, reduced labour by > 70%, reduced production cost by about 15%, and reduced chemical residues in poultry meat or eggs by > 85%. These new and cheap technologies which require no energy input are likely to elevate safety of poultry products for consumers' health, increase marketability locally and for export, and increase output and profit especially among poultry farmers and poor people who keep poultry or inevitably utilize poultry products in developing countries.

Keywords: healthy, trough, toxicological, assay-guided, poultry

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Authors: Timothy Whitehill

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This paper presents an innovative chat-based focus group method for collecting qualitative data to construct a cause-and-effect analysis in business research. This method was developed in response to the research and data collection challenges faced by the Covid-19 outbreak in the United Kingdom during 2020-21. This paper discusses the methodological approaches and builds a contemporary argument for its effectiveness in exploring cause-and-effect relationships in the context of focus group research, systems thinking and problem structuring methods. The pilot for this method was conducted between October 2020 and March 2021 and collected more than 7,000 words of chat-based data which was used to construct a consensus drawn cause-and-effect analysis. This method was developed in support of an ongoing Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) thesis, which is using Design Science Research methodology to operationalize organisational resilience in UK construction sector firms.

Keywords: cause-and-effect analysis, focus group research, problem structuring methods, qualitative research, systems thinking

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Authors: A. Cervantes-Diaz, B. Sevilla-Moran, Manuel Alcami, Al Mokhtar Lamsabhi, J. L. Alonso-Prados, P. Sandin-España

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Profoxydim is a post-emergence herbicide belonging to the cyclohexanedione oxime family, used to control weeds in rice crops. The use of soil organic amendments has increased significantly in the last decades, and their effects on the behavior of many herbicides are still unknown. Additionally, it is known that photolysis is an important degradation process to be considered when evaluating the persistence of this family of herbicides in the environment. In this work, the photodegradation of profoxydim in an amended paddy soil-water system with alperujo compost was studied. Photodegradation experiments were carried out under laboratory conditions using simulated solar light (Suntest equipment) in order to evaluate the reaction kinetics of the active substance. The photochemical behavior of profoxydim was investigated in soil with and without alperujo amendment. Furthermore, due to the rice crop characteristics, profoxydim photodegradation in water in contact with these types of soils was also studied. Determination of profoxydim degradation kinetics was performed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode-Array Detection (HPLC-DAD). Furthermore, we followed the evolution of resulting transformation by-products, and their tentative identification was achieved by mass spectrometry. All the experiments allowed us to fit the data of profoxydim photodegradation to a first-order kinetic. Photodegradation of profoxydim was very rapid in all cases. The half-lives in aqueous matrices were in the range of 86±0.3 to 103±0.5 min. The addition of alperujo amendment to the soil produced an increase in the half-life from 62±0.2 min (soil) to 75±0.3 min (amended soil). In addition, a comparison to other organic amendments was also performed. Results showed that the presence of the organic amendment retarded the photodegradation in paddy soil and water. Regarding degradation products, the main process involved was the cleavage of the oxime moiety giving rise to the formation of the corresponding imine compound.

Keywords: by-products, herbicide, organic amendment, photodegradation, profoxydim

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Authors: Ebrahim H. Kapeel, Ahmed M. Kamel, Hossam Hendy, Yehia Z. Elhalwagy

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Interest in autopilot design has been raised intensely as a result of recent advancements in Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAVs). Due to the enormous number of applications that UAVs can achieve, the number of applied control theories used for them has increased in recent years. These small fixed-wing UAVs are suffering high non-linearity, sensitivity to disturbances, and coupling effects between their channels. In this work, the nonlinear dynamic inversion (NDI) control law is designed for a nonlinear small fixed-wing UAV model. The NDI is preferable for varied operating conditions, there is no need for a scheduling controller. Moreover, it’s applicable for high angles of attack. For the designed flight controller validation, a nonlinear Modified PI-D controller is performed with our model. A comparative study between both controllers is achieved to evaluate the NDI performance. Simulation results and analysis are proposed to illustrate the effectiveness of the designed controller based on NDI.

Keywords: attitude control, nonlinear PID, dynamic inversion

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Authors: Tamer Shehata

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Recently, nanotechnology acquired a great interest in the field of pharmaceutical production. Several pharmaceutical equipment were introduced into the research field for production of nanoparticles, among them, BÜCHI’ fourth generation nano-spray dryer B-90. B-90 is specialized with single step of production and drying of nano and microparticles. Currently, our research group is investigating several pharmaceutical formulations utilizing BÜCHI Nano-Spray Dryer B-90 technology. One of our projects is the formulation and evaluation of metformin hydrochloride mucoadhesive microparticles for treatment of type 2-diabetis. Several polymers were investigated, among them, gelatin and sodium alginate. The previous polymers are natural polymers with mucoadhesive properties. Preformulation studies such as atomization head mesh size, flow rate, head temperature, polymer solution viscosity and surface tension were performed. Postformulation characters such as particle size, flowability, surface scan and dissolution profile were evaluated. Finally, the pharmacological activity of certain selected formula was evaluated in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. B-90’spray head was 7 µm hole heated to 120 with air flow rate 3.5 mL/min. The viscosity of the solution was less than 11.5 cP with surface tension less than 70.1 dyne/cm. Successfully, discrete, non-aggregated particles and free flowing powders with particle size was less than 2000 nm were obtained. Gelatin and Sodium alginate combination in ratio 1:3 were successfully sustained the in vitro release profile of the drug. Hypoglycemic evaluation of the previous formula showed a significant reduction of blood glucose level over 24 h. In conclusion, mucoadhesive metformin hydrochloride microparticles obtained from B-90 could offer a convenient dosage form with enhanced hypoglycemic activity.

Keywords: mucoadhesive, microparticles, metformin hydrochloride, nano-spray dryer

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Authors: Priya Sepaha

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Social media has loomed as the most effective tool in recent times to flag the causes, contents, opinions and direction of any social movement and has demonstrated that it will have a far-reaching effect on government as well. This study focuses on India which has emerged as the fastest growing community on social media. Social movement activists, in particular, have extensively utilized the power of digital social media to streamline the effectiveness of social protest on a particular issue through extensive successful mass mobilizations. This research analyses the role and impact of social media as a power to catalyze the social movements in India and further seeks to describe how certain social movements are resisted, subverted, co-opted and/or deployed by social media. The impact assessment study has been made with the help of cases, policies and some social movement which India has witnessed the assertion of numerous social issues perturbing the public which eventually paved the way for remarkable judicial decisions. The paper concludes with the observations that despite its pros and cons, the impacts of social media on the functioning of the Indian Government have demonstrated that it has already become an indispensable tool in the hands of social media-suave Indians who are committed to bring about a desired change.

Keywords: social media, social movements, impact, law, government

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Authors: Fatemeh Jaferi, Moslem Parsa, Heshmatolah Shams Khorramabadi

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In this modern fluctuating world, organizations need to outsource some parts of their activities (project) to providers in order to show a quick response to their changing requirements. In fact, a number of companies and institutes have contractors do their projects and have some specific criteria in contractor selection. Therefore, a set of scientific tools is needed to select the best contractors to execute the project according to appropriate criteria. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) has been employed in the present study as a powerful tool in ranking and selecting the appropriate contractor. In this study, devolving second-source (civil) project to contractors in the National Gas Company of Lorestan Province (Iran) has been found and therefore, 5 civil companies have been evaluated. Evaluation criteria include executive experience, qualification of technical staff, good experience and company's rate, technical interview, affordability, equipment and machinery. Criteria's weights are found through experts' opinions along with AHP and contractors ranked through TOPSIS and AHP. The order of ranking contractors based on MCDM methods differs by changing the formula in the study. In the next phase, the number of criteria and their weights has been sensitivity analysed through using AHP. Adding each criterion changed contractors' ranking. Similarly, changing weights resulted in a change in ranking. Adopting the stated strategy resulted in the facts that not only is an appropriate scientific method available to select the most qualified contractors to execute gas project, but also a great attention is paid to picking needed criteria for selecting contractors. Consequently, executing such project is undertaken by most qualified contractors resulted in optimum use of limited resource, accelerating the implementation of project, increasing quality and finally boosting organizational efficiency.

Keywords: multi-criteria decision making, project, management, contractor selection, gas company

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Authors: Y. Benmalem , A. Abbad, W. Benstaali, T. Lantri

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Density functional theory is used to investigate the.the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of the cubic anti-perovskites InNNi3 and ZnNNi3. The structure of antiperovskite also called (perovskite-inverse) identical to the perovskite structure of the general formula ABX3, where A is a main group (III–V) element or a metallic element, B is carbon or nitrogen, and X is a transition metal, displays a wide range of interesting physical properties, such as giant magnetoresistance. Elastic and electronic properties were determined using generalized gradient approximation (GGA), and local spin density approximation (LSDA) approaches, ), as implemented in the Wien2k computer package. The results show that the two compounds are strong ductile and satisfy the Born-Huang criteria, so they are mechanically stable at normal conditions. Electronic properties show that the two compounds studied are metallic and non-magnetic. The studies of these compounds have confirmed the effectiveness of the two approximations and the ground-state properties are in good agreement with experimental data and theoretical results available.

Keywords: anti-perovskites, elastic anisotropy, electronic band structure, first-principles calculations

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Authors: Shah Muhammad Butt

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The study aimed to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of e-governance in Pakistan's public universities and how that adoption has affected organizational performance. An online Likert scale survey was utilized to gather information from 350 participants from different public universities in Pakistan. The data were examined using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. The findings suggest that organizational culture, infrastructure, and leadership support are among the elements impacting the adoption of e-governance at Pakistan's public sector universities. A further finding of the study was that e-governance adoption benefited organizational performance, including effectiveness, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. The study emphasizes the significance of e-governance adoption at public sector universities and the demand for successful policies and strategies to support its implementation. To increase organisational performance and raise the standard of higher education in Pakistan, policymakers and university administrators should use the study's findings to develop and practice e-governance policies and initiatives.

Keywords: e-governance, adoption, public sector universities, Pakistan, organizational performance, higher education, technology, ICT, factors, comparative analysis

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Authors: Basavaraj R. Endigeri, S. G. Sarganachari

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Steel is widely used in machine parts, structural equipment and many other applications. In many steel structural elements, holes of different shapes and orientations are made with a view to satisfy the design requirements. The presence of holes in steel elements creates stress concentration, which eventually reduce the mechanical strength of the structure. Therefore, it is of great importance to investigate the state of stress around the holes for the safety and properties design of such elements. By literature survey, it is known that till date, there is no analytical solution to reduce the stress concentration by providing auxiliary holes at a definite location and radii in a steel plate. The numerical method can be used to determine the optimum location and radii of auxiliary holes. In the present work plate with an elliptical hole, for a steel material subjected to uniaxial load is analyzed and the effect of stress concentration is graphically represented .The introduction of auxiliary holes at a optimum location and radii with its effect on stress concentration is also represented graphically. The finite element analysis package ANSYS 11.0 is used to analyse the steel plate. The analysis is carried out using a plane 42 element. Further the ANSYS optimization model is used to determine the location and radii for optimum values of auxiliary hole to reduce stress concentration. All the results for different diameter to plate width ratio are presented graphically. The results of this study are in the form of the graphs for determining the locations and diameter of optimal auxiliary holes. The graph of stress concentration v/s central hole diameter to plate width ratio. The Finite Elements results of the study indicates that the stress concentration effect of central elliptical hole in an uniaxial loaded plate can be reduced by introducing auxiliary holes on either side of the central circular hole.

Keywords: finite element method, optimization, stress concentration factor, auxiliary holes

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Authors: C. Gallottini, W. Di Mari, C. De Carolis, A. Dolci, G. Dolci, L. Gallottini, G. Barraco, S. Eramo

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The aim of this paper is to summarize the literature on micromorphology and composition of the enamel of the cat and present an original experiment by SEM on how it responds to the etching with ortophosphoric acid for the time recommended in the veterinary literature (30", 45", 60"), derived from research and experience on human enamel; 21 teeth of cat were randomly divided into three groups of 7 (A, B, C): Group A was subjected to etching for 30 seconds by means of orthophosphoric acid to 40% on a circular area with diameter of about 2mm of the enamel coronal; the Groups B and C had the same treatment but, respectively, for 45 and 60 seconds. The samples obtained were observed by SEM to constant magnification of 1000x framing, in particular, the border area between enamel exposed and not exposed to etching to highlight differences. The images were subjected to the analysis of three blinded experienced operators in electron microscopy. In the enamel of the cat the etching for the times considered is not optimally effective for the purpose adhesives and the presence of a thick prismless layer could explain this situation. To improve this condition may clinically in the likeness of what is proposed for the enamel of human deciduous teeth: a bevel or a chamfer of 1 mm on the contour of the cavity to discover the prismatic enamel and increase the bonding surface.

Keywords: cat enamel, SEM, veterinary dentistry, acid etching

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Authors: Ali Kadivar, Kaveh Niayesh

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The integration of green energy resources is a major focus, and the role of Medium Voltage Direct Current (MVDC) systems is exponentially expanding. However, the protection of MVDC systems against DC faults is a challenge that can have consequences on reliable and safe grid operation. This challenge reveals the need for MVDC circuit breakers (MVDC CB), which are in infancies of their improvement. Therefore will be a lack of MVDC CBs standards, including thresholds for acceptable power losses and operation speed. To establish a baseline for comparison purposes, a benchmark system for testing future MVDC CBs is vital. The literatures just give the timing sequence of each switch and the emphasis is on the topology, without in-depth study on the control algorithm of DCCB, as the circuit breaker control system is not yet systematic. A digital testing benchmark is designed for the Proof-of-concept of simulation studies using software models. It can validate studies based on real-time digital simulators and Transient Network Analyzer (TNA) models. The proposed experimental setup utilizes data accusation from the accurate sensors installed on the tested MVDC CB and through general purpose input/outputs (GPIO) from the microcontroller and PC Prototype studies in the laboratory-based models utilizing Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) equipment connected to real-time digital simulators is achieved. The improved control algorithm of the circuit breaker can reduce the peak fault current and avoid arc resignation, helping the coordination of DCCB in relay protection. Moreover, several research gaps are identified regarding case studies and evaluation approaches.

Keywords: DC circuit breaker, hardware-in-the-loop, real time digital simulation, testing benchmark

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Authors: Sugam Kale, Arif Uzair Bin Mohammed Roslan, Cindy Lee, Syed Beevee Mohammed Ismail

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Preemptive analgesia is an established concept in the modern practice of anaesthesia. To be most effective, it is best instituted earlier than the surgical stimulus and should last beyond the offset of surgically induced pain till healing is complete. Whereas the start of afferent pain blockade with regional anaesthesia is common, its effect often falls short to cover the entire period of pain impulses making their way to CNS in the post-operative period. We tried to use a combination of two regional anaesthetic techniques used sequentially to overcome this handicap. Madam S., a 56 year old lady, was scheduled for elective surgery for pancreatic cancer. She underwent laparotomy and distal pancreatectomy, splenectomy, bilateral salpingo oophorectomy, and sigmoid colectomy. Surgery was expected to be extensive, and it was presumed that the standard pain relief with PCA with opiates and oral analgesics would not be adequate. After counselling the patient pre-operative about the technique of regional anaesthesia techniques, including epidural catheterization and rectus sheath catheter placement, their benefits, and potential complications, informed consent was obtained. Epidural catheter was placed awake, and general anaesthesia was then induced. Epidural infusion of local anaesthetics was started prior to surgical incision and was continued till 60 hours into the postoperative period. Before skin closure, the surgeons inserted commercially available rectus sheath catheters bilaterally along the midline incision used for laparotomy. After 46 hours post-op, local anaesthetic infusion via these was started as bridging while the epidural infusion rate was tapered off. The epidural catheter was removed at 75 hours. Elastomeric pumps were used to provide local anaesthetic infusion with the ability to vary infusion rates. Acute pain service followed up the patient’s vital signs and effectiveness of pain relief twice daily or more frequently as required. Rectus sheath catheters were removed 137 hours post-op. The patient had good post-op analgesia with the minimal additional analgesic requirement. For the most part, the visual analog score (VAS) for pain remained at 1-3 on a scale of 1 to 10. Haemodynamics remained stable, and surgical recovery was as expected. Minimal opiate requirement after an extensive laparotomy also translates to the early return of intestinal motility. Our experience was encouraging, and we are hoping to extend this combination of two regional anaesthetic techniques to patients undergoing similar surgeries. Epidural analgesia is denser and offers excellent pain relief for both visceral and somatic pain in the first few days after surgery. As the pain intensity grows weaker, rectus sheath block and oral analgesics provide almost the same degree of pain relief after the epidural catheter is removed. We discovered that the background infusion of local anaesthetic down the rectus sheath catherter largely reduced the requirement for other classes of analgesics. We aim to study this further with a larger patient cohort and hope that it may become an established clinical practice that benefits patients everywhere.

Keywords: rectus sheath, epidural infusion, post operative analgesia, elastomeric

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: C. Ah Gang Getrude, Iqbal Hashmi Shazia, Mohd Nawi Nurul Hudani

Abstract:

This study examined the effectiveness of a Traffic Psychology Workshop in enhancing positive attitudes towards road safety awareness among youths. We predicted that youths’ attitudes towards road safety would be more positive after they participated in the one-day workshop. We examined their attitudes towards road safety awareness before and after they attended a one-day workshop. There were 21 participants who completed the pre and post-studies (9 males & 12 females, mean age 22.86, SD=2.03). A Wilcoxon signed-ranks test showed that the mean for post-test ranks for students’ attitudes towards road safety awareness was higher than the mean pre-test ranks, z =-3.16, p = .00. The study showed that the Traffic Psychology Module which focuses on the three elements: i) personality & emotion; Sensation, perception and visual; and mental workload could have positive effects on youths’ attitudes towards road safety awareness. We believe that the Traffic Psychology Module could be used as a guide by relevant authorities, such as the Sabah Road Safety Department, in implementing road safety awareness workshops and programs for the public, particularly road-users.

Keywords: attitude, road safety, traffic psychology, youth

Procedia PDF Downloads 321

Authors: Gayatri Mahajan

Abstract:

Modern Construction Technology (CT) includes a broad range of advanced techniques and practices that bound the recent developments in material technology, design methods, quantity surveying, facility management, services, structural analysis and design, and other management education. Adoption of recent digital transformation technology is the need of today to speed up the business and is also the basis of construction improvement. Incorporating and practicing the technologies such as cloud-based communication and collaboration solution, Mobile Apps and 5G,3D printing, BIM and Digital Twins, CAD / CAM, AR/ VR, Big Data, IoT, Wearables, Blockchain, Modular Construction, Offsite Manifesting, Prefabrication, Robotic, Drones and GPS controlled equipment expedite the progress in the Construction industry (CI). Resources used are journaled research articles, web/net surfing, books, thesis, reports/surveys, magazines, etc. The outline of the research organization for this study is framed at four distinct levels in context to conceptualization, resources, innovative and emerging trends in CI, and better methods for completion of the construction projects. The present study conducted during 2020-2022 reveals that implementing these technologies improves the level of standards, planning, security, well-being, sustainability, and economics too. Application uses, benefits, impact, advantages/disadvantages, limitations and challenges, and policies are dealt with to provide information to architects and builders for smooth completion of the project. Results explain that construction technology trends vary from 4 to 15 for CI, and eventually, it reaches 27 for Civil Engineering (CE). The perspective of the most recent innovations, trends, tools, challenges, and solutions is highly embraced in the field of construction. The incorporation of the above said technologies in the pandemic Covid -19 and post-pandemic might lead to a focus on finding out effective ways to adopt new-age technologies for CI.

Keywords: BIM, drones, GPS, mobile apps, 5G, modular construction, robotics, 3D printing

Procedia PDF Downloads 100

Authors: Beghdadi Lotfi, Belkacem Abdellah

Abstract:

In this work, a numerical method is proposed in order to solve the thermal performance problems of heat transfer of fins surfaces. The bidimensional temperature distribution on the longitudinal section of the fin is calculated by restoring to the finite volumes method. The heat flux dissipated by a generic profile fin is compared with the heat flux removed by the rectangular profile fin with the same length and volume. In this study, it is shown that a finite volume method for quadrilaterals unstructured mesh is developed to predict the two dimensional steady-state solutions of conduction equation, in order to determine the sinusoidal parameter values which optimize the fin effectiveness. In this scheme, based on the integration around the polygonal control volume, the derivatives of conduction equation must be converted into closed line integrals using same formulation of the Stokes theorem. The numerical results show good agreement with analytical results. To demonstrate the accuracy of the method, the absolute and root-mean square errors versus the grid size are examined quantitatively.

Keywords: Stokes theorem, unstructured grid, heat transfer, complex geometry

Procedia PDF Downloads 400

Authors: M. H. Brandtner-Hafner

Abstract:

Adhesives have established themselves as an innovative joining technology in the wood industry. The strengths of adhesive bonding lie in the realization of lightweight designs, the avoidance of material weakening, and the joining of different types of materials. There is now a number of ways to positively influence the properties of bonded joints. One way is to add fiber fillers. This leads to an improvement in adhesion, structural integrity, and fracture toughness. In this study, the effectiveness of fiber-modified adhesives for bonding wooden joints is reviewed. A series of experimental tests were performed using the fracture analytical GF-principle to study the adhesive bonding safety and performance of the wood-adhesive interface. Two different construction adhesives based on epoxy and PUR were modified with different fiber materials and applied to bond wooden joints. The results show that bonding efficiency by adding fibrous materials to the bonding matrix leads to significant improvements in structural material properties.

Keywords: fiber-modified adhesives, bonding safety, wood-adhesive interfaces, fracture analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Sarra Hasni, Sami Faiz

Abstract:

In recent years, location prediction on social networks has gained significant attention, with short and unstructured texts like tweets posing additional challenges. Advanced geolocation models have been proposed, increasing the need to explain their predictions. In this paper, we provide explanations for a geolocation black-box model using LIME and SHAP, two state-of-the-art XAI (eXplainable Artificial Intelligence) methods. We extend our evaluations to Large Language Models (LLMs) as post hoc explainers for tweet geolocation. Our preliminary results show that LLMs outperform LIME and SHAP by generating more accurate explanations. Additionally, we demonstrate that prompts with examples and meta-prompts containing phonetic spelling rules improve the interpretability of these models, even with informal input data. This approach highlights the potential of advanced prompt engineering techniques to enhance the effectiveness of black-box models in geolocation tasks on social networks.

Keywords: large language model, post hoc explainer, prompt engineering, local explanation, tweet geolocation

Procedia PDF Downloads 18

Authors: Alaa Alrakaf, Sk. Md. Mizanur Rahman

Abstract:

Since the last two decades’ Arabic natural language processing (ANLP) has become increasingly much more important. One of the key issues related to ANLP is ambiguity. In Arabic language different pronunciation of one word may have a different meaning. Furthermore, ambiguity also has an impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of Machine Translation (MT). The issue of ambiguity has limited the usefulness and accuracy of the translation from Arabic to English. The lack of Arabic resources makes ambiguity problem more complicated. Additionally, the orthographic level of representation cannot specify the exact meaning of the word. This paper looked at the diacritics of Arabic language and used them to disambiguate a word. The proposed approach of word sense disambiguation used Diacritizer application to Diacritize Arabic text then found the most accurate sense of an ambiguous word using Naïve Bayes Classifier. Our Experimental study proves that using Arabic Diacritics with Naïve Bayes Classifier enhances the accuracy of choosing the appropriate sense by 23% and also decreases the ambiguity in machine translation.

Keywords: Arabic natural language processing, machine learning, machine translation, Naive bayes classifier, word sense disambiguation

Procedia PDF Downloads 351