Search results for: high technology export

Authors: Mardianto

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Education and learning are now grown rapidly. Synergy of techonology especially instructional technology in the learning activities are very big influence on the effectiveness of learning and creativity to achieve optimal results. But on the other hand there is a education value that is difficult to be articulated through character-forming technology such as honesty, discipline, hard work, heroism, and so forth. Learning strategy and storytelling from the past until today is still an option for teachers to convey the message of character values. With the material was loaded from the local culture (stories folklore), the combination of learning objectives (build character child) strategy, and traditional methods (storytelling and story), and the preservation of local culture (dig tale folklore) is critical to maintaining the nation's culture. In the context of maintaining the nation's culture, then since the age of the child at the level of government elementary school a necessity. Globalization, the internet and technology sometimes feel can displace the role of the teacher in the learning activities. To the oral tradition is a mainstay of storytelling should be maintained and preserved. This research was conducted at the elementary school in the city of Medan, North Sumatra Indonesia, with a random sampling technique, the 27 class teachers were respondents who were randomly assigned to the Madrasah Ibtdaiyah (Islamic Elementary School) both public and private. Research conducted at the beginning of 2014 refers to a curriculum that is being transformed in the environment ministry Republic Religion Indonesia. The results of this study indicate that; the declining skills of teachers to develop storytelling this can be seen from; 74.07% of teachers have never attended a special training storytelling, 85.19% no longer nasakah new stories, only 22.22% are teachers who incorporate methods of stories in the learning plan. Most teachers are no longer concerned with storytelling, among those experiencing difficulty in developing methods because the story; 66.67% of children are more interested in children's cartoons like Bobo boy, Angrybirds and others, 59.26 children prefer other activities than listening to a story. The teachers hope, folklore books should be preserved, storytelling training should be provided by the government through the ministry of religion, race or competition of storytelling should be scheduled, writing a new script-based populist storytelling should be provided immediately. The teachers’ hope certainly not excessive, by realizing the story method becomes articulation as the efforts of child character development based populist, therefore the local knowledge can be a strong fortress facing society in the era of progress as at present, and future.

Keywords: story telling, local wisdom, education, technology development

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Authors: Syeda Afsana Azad

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Climate change, due to the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has been recognized as one of the biggest threats to the present world. The condition of the earth is getting worse day by day due to climate change. Bangladesh is considered to be one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change due to large population, sharp urbanization, etc. Construction of green building is a very good solution to reduce the greenhouse effect. Green building technology refers to that kind of structures which are environmentally friendly and resource-efficient throughout a building’s service life. This technology can provide at least 50% energy saving opportunity to the nation. The necessity of the construction of structures in an environment-friendly way is increasing now. This study shows the scenario of rapid population growth, urbanization, necessity of green building in Bangladesh and also discusses the construction process of green building. As the present climate condition of Bangladesh is not friendly, construction of green building is very much needed. To battle climate change, it is mandatory to construct green building.

Keywords: Bangladesh, climate change, green building, green house effect

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Authors: V. E. Messerle, A. L. Mosse, O. A. Lavrichshev, A. N. Nikonchuk, A. B. Ustimenko

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One of the most serious environmental problems today is pollution by biomedical waste (BMW), which in most cases has undesirable properties such as toxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, fire. Sanitary and hygienic survey of typical solid BMW, made in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and other countries shows that their risk to the environment is significantly higher than that of most chemical wastes. Utilization of toxic BMW requires use of the most universal methods to ensure disinfection and disposal of any of their components. Such technology is a plasma technology of BMW processing. To implement this technology a thermodynamic analysis of the plasma processing of BMW was fulfilled and plasma-box furnace was developed. The studies have been conducted on the example of the processing of bone. To perform thermodynamic calculations software package Terra was used. Calculations were carried out in the temperature range 300 - 3000 K and a pressure of 0.1 MPa. It is shown that the final products do not contain toxic substances. From the organic mass of BMW synthesis gas containing combustible components 77.4-84.6% was basically produced, and mineral part consists mainly of calcium oxide and contains no carbon. Degree of gasification of carbon reaches 100% by the temperature 1250 K. Specific power consumption for BMW processing increases with the temperature throughout its range and reaches 1 kWh/kg. To realize plasma processing of BMW experimental installation with DC plasma torch of 30 kW power was developed. The experiments allowed verifying the thermodynamic calculations. Wastes are packed in boxes weighing 5-7 kg. They are placed in the box furnace. Under the influence of air plasma flame average temperature in the box reaches 1800 OC, the organic part of the waste is gasified and inorganic part of the waste is melted. The resulting synthesis gas is continuously withdrawn from the unit through the cooling and cleaning system. Molten mineral part of the waste is removed from the furnace after it has been stopped. Experimental studies allowed determining operating modes of the plasma box furnace, the exhaust gases was analyzed, samples of condensed products were assembled and their chemical composition was determined. Gas at the outlet of the plasma box furnace has the following composition (vol.%): CO - 63.4, H2 - 6.2, N2 - 29.6, S - 0.8. The total concentration of synthesis gas (CO + H2) is 69.6%, which agrees well with the thermodynamic calculation. Experiments confirmed absence of the toxic substances in the final products.

Keywords: biomedical waste, box furnace, plasma torch, processing, synthesis gas

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Authors: Young Nam Chun, Mun Sup Lim, Byeo Ri Jeong

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Sewage sludge is regarded as the residue produced by the waste water treatment process, during which liquids and solids are being separated. Thermal treatments are interesting techniques to stabilize the sewage sludge for disposal. Among the thermal treatments, pyrolysis and/or gasification has been being applied to the sewage sludge. The final goal of our NRF research is to develop a microwave In-line Drying-Pyrolysis-Gasification (IDPG) technology for the dewatered sewage sludge for the bio-waste to energy conversion. As a first step, the pyrolysis characteristics in a bench scale electric furnace was investigated at 800℃ for the dewatered sludge and dried sludge samples of which moisture contents are almost 80% and 0%, respectively. Main components of producer gas are hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Particularly, higher hydrogen for the dewatered sludge is shown as 75%. The hydrogen production for the dewatered sludge and dried sludge are 56% and 32%, respectively. However, the pyrolysis for the dried sludge produces higher carbon dioxide and other gases, while higher methane and carbon dioxide are given to 74% and 53%, respectively. Tar also generates during the pyrolysis process, showing lower value for case of the dewatered sludge. Gravimetric tar is 195 g/m3, and selected light tar like benzene, naphthalene, anthracene, pyrene are 9.4 g/m3, 2.1 g/m3, 0.5 g/m3, 0.3 g/m3, respectively. After the pyrolysis process, residual char for the dewatered sludge and dried sludge remain 1g and 1.3g, showing weight reduction rate of 93% and 57%, respectively. Through the results, this could be known that the dewatered sludge can be used to produce a clean hydrogen-rich gas fuel without the drying process. Therefore, the IDPG technology can be applied effectively to the energy conversion for dewater sludge waste without a drying pretreatment. Acknowledgment: This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIP) (No. 2015R1A2A2A03003044).

Keywords: pyrolysis, gasification, sewage sludge, tar generation, producer gas, sludge char, biomass energy

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Authors: José Carlos Rodríguez, Mario Gómez

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This paper analyses innovation trends in Latin America countries by means of the number of patent applications filed by residents and non-residents during the period 1965 to 2012. Making use of patent data released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), we search for the presence of multiple structural changes in patent application series in Argentina, Brazil Chile, and Mexico. These changes may suggest that firms’ innovative activity has been modified as a result of implementing a particular science, technology and innovation (STI) policy. Accordingly, the new regulations implemented in these countries during 1980s and 1990s have influenced their intellectual property regimes. The question conducting this research is thus how STI policies in these countries have affected their innovation activity? The results achieved in this research confirm the existence of multiple structural changes in the series of patent applications resulting from STI policies implemented in these countries.

Keywords: econometric methods, innovation activity, Latin America countries, patents, science, technology and innovation policy

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Authors: Ayanda Ndokwana, Stanley Fore

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Industrial prosperity and rapid expansion of human population in South Africa over the past two decades, have increased the use of conventional fossil fuels such as crude oil, coal and natural gas to meet the country’s energy demands. However, the inevitable depletion of fossil fuel reserves, global volatile oil price and large carbon footprint are some of the crucial reasons the South African Government needs to make a considerable investment in the development of the biofuel industry. In South Africa, this industry is still at the introductory stage with no large scale manufacturing plant that has been commissioned yet. Bioethanol is a potential replacement of gasoline which is a fossil fuel that is used in motor vehicles. Using bioethanol for the transport sector as a source of fuel will help Government to save heavy foreign exchange incurred during importation of oil and create many job opportunities in rural farming. In 2007, the South African Government developed the National Biofuels Industrial Strategy in an effort to make provision for support and attract investment in bioethanol production. However, capital investment in the production of bioethanol on a large scale, depends on the sound economic assessment of the available manufacturing technologies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the profitability of an advanced bioethanol manufacturing technology which uses maize as a feedstock in South Africa. The impact of fiber or bran fractionation in this technology causes it to possess a number of merits such as energy efficiency, low capital expenditure, and profitability compared to a conventional dry-mill bioethanol technology. Quantitative techniques will be used to collect and analyze numerical data from suitable organisations in South Africa. The dependence of three profitability indicators such as the Discounted Payback Period (DPP), Net Present Value (NPV) and Return On Investment (ROI) on plant capacity will be evaluated. Profitability analysis will be done on the following plant capacities: 100 000 ton/year, 150 000 ton/year and 200 000 ton/year. The plant capacity with the shortest Discounted Payback Period, positive Net Present Value and highest Return On Investment implies that a further consideration in terms of capital investment is warranted.

Keywords: bioethanol, economic evaluation, maize, profitability indicators

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Authors: T. Zlámal, J. Petrů, M. Pagáč, P. Krajkovič

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For the required function of components with the thermal spray coating, it is necessary to perform additional machining of the coated surface. The paper deals with assessing the surface integrity of Metco 2042, a plasma sprayed coating, after its machining. The selected plasma sprayed coating serves as an abradable sealing coating in a jet engine. Therefore, the spray and its surface must meet high quality and functional requirements. Plasma sprayed coatings are characterized by lamellar structure, which requires a special approach to their machining. Therefore, the experimental part involves the set-up of special cutting tools and cutting parameters under which the applied coating was machined. For the assessment of suitably set machining parameters, selected parameters of surface integrity were measured and evaluated during the experiment. To determine the size of surface irregularities and the effect of the selected machining technology on the sprayed coating surface, the surface roughness parameters Ra and Rz were measured. Furthermore, the measurement of sprayed coating surface hardness by the HR 15 Y method before and after machining process was used to determine the surface strengthening. The changes of strengthening were detected after the machining. The impact of chosen cutting parameters on the surface roughness after the machining was not proven.

Keywords: machining, plasma sprayed coating, surface integrity, strengthening

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Authors: Eduardo Remirez, Luis Moreno

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The rapid growth of the private satellite launchers sector is leading the space race. Hence, with the privatization of the sector, all the companies are racing for a more efficient and reliant way to set satellites in orbit. Having detected the current needs for power management in the launcher vehicle industry, the Modular Power Bus is proposed as a technology to revolutionize power management in current and future Launcher Vehicles. The MPBus Project is committed to develop a new power bus architecture combining ejectable batteries with the main bus through intelligent nodes. These nodes are able to communicate between them and a battery controller using an improved, data over DC line technology, expected to reduce the total weight in two main areas: improving the use of the batteries and reducing the total weight due to harness. This would result in less weight for each launch stage increasing the operational satellite payload and reducing cost. These features make the system suitable for a number of launchers.

Keywords: modular power bus, Launcher vehicles, ejectable batteries, intelligent nodes

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Authors: Tomiwa, Akinyemi Clement

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Tropical regions experience diverse and complex precipitation patterns, posing significant challenges for accurate rainfall estimation and forecasting. This study addresses the problem of effectively classifying tropical rain types and refining the Z-R (Reflectivity-Rain Rate) relationship to enhance rainfall estimation accuracy. Through a combination of remote sensing, meteorological analysis, and machine learning, the research aims to develop an advanced classification framework capable of distinguishing between different types of tropical rain based on their unique characteristics. This involves utilizing high-resolution satellite imagery, radar data, and atmospheric parameters to categorize precipitation events into distinct classes, providing a comprehensive understanding of tropical rain systems. Additionally, the study seeks to improve the Z-R relationship, a crucial aspect of rainfall estimation. One year of rainfall data was analyzed using a Micro Rain Radar (MRR) located at The Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria, measuring rainfall parameters from ground level to a height of 4.8 km with a vertical resolution of 0.16 km. Rain rates were classified into low (stratiform) and high (convective) based on various microstructural attributes such as rain rates, liquid water content, Drop Size Distribution (DSD), average fall speed of the drops, and radar reflectivity. By integrating diverse datasets and employing advanced statistical techniques, the study aims to enhance the precision of Z-R models, offering a more reliable means of estimating rainfall rates from radar reflectivity data. This refined Z-R relationship holds significant potential for improving our understanding of tropical rain systems and enhancing forecasting accuracy in regions prone to heavy precipitation.

Keywords: remote sensing, precipitation, drop size distribution, micro rain radar

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Authors: Aravind Ravichandran, Marc Ramuz, Sylvain Blayac

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With the rapid development of wearable electronics and sensor networks, batteries cannot meet the sustainable energy requirement due to their limited lifetime, size and degradation. Ambient energies such as wind have been considered as an attractive energy source due to its copious, ubiquity, and feasibility in nature. With miniaturization leading to high-power and robustness, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) have been conceived as a promising technology by harvesting mechanical energy for powering small electronics. TENG integration in large-scale applications is still unexplored considering its attractive properties. In this work, a state of the art design TENG based on wind venturi system is demonstrated for use in any complex environment. When wind introduces into the air gap of the homemade TENG venturi system, a thin flexible polymer repeatedly contacts with and separates from electrodes. This device structure makes the TENG suitable for large scale harvesting without massive volume. Multiple stacking not only amplifies the output power but also enables multi-directional wind utilization. The system converts ambient mechanical energy to electricity with 400V peak voltage by charging of a 1000mF super capacitor super rapidly. Its future implementation in an array of applications aids in environment friendly clean energy production in large scale medium and the proposed design performs with an exhaustive material testing. The relation between the interfacial micro-and nano structures and the electrical performance enhancement is comparatively studied. Nanostructures are more beneficial for the effective contact area, but they are not suitable for the anti-adhesion property due to the smaller restoring force. Considering these issues, the nano-patterning is proposed for further enhancement of the effective contact area. By considering these merits of simple fabrication, outstanding performance, robust characteristic and low-cost technology, we believe that TENG can open up great opportunities not only for powering small electronics, but can contribute to large-scale energy harvesting through engineering design being complementary to solar energy in remote areas.

Keywords: triboelectric nanogenerator, wind energy, vortex design, large scale energy

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Authors: P. Murugesan, G. Venkateswaran, V. A. Shanmuga Selvan

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Water used for brewing tea plays a major role in the quality of tea. Water with higher hardness gives very dark coloured brew. This study was conducted to determine the effect of water hardness and free residual chlorine on the quality of black tea liquor. Theaflavin (TF) and Thearubigin (TR) levels are lower in comparison with the tea brewed in distilled water. At the same time, there is an increase in High Polymerized Substance (HPS) and Total Liquor Colour (TLC). While water with higher hardness has a negative impact on tea brew, water with high concentration of free residual chlorine did not affect the quality of tea brew.

Keywords: Theaflavin, Thearubigin, high polymerised substance, total liquor colour, hardness, residual chlorine

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Authors: Dominika Collett

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AI applications, such as machine learning, require access to a vast amount of data in the training phase, which can often be the subject of copyright protection. During later usage, the various content with which the application works can be recorded or made available on the basis of which it produces the resulting output. The EU has recently adopted new legislation to secure machine access to protected works under the DSM Directive; but, the issue of machine use of copyright works is not clearly addressed. However, such clarity is needed regarding the increasing importance of AI and its development. Therefore, this paper provides a basic background of the technology used in the development of applications in the field of computer creativity. The second part of the paper then will focus on a legal analysis of machine use of the authors' works from the perspective of existing European and Czech legislation. The main results of the paper discuss the potential collision of existing legislation in regards to machine use of works with special focus on exceptions and limitations. The legal regulation of machine use of copyright work will impact the development of AI technology.

Keywords: copyright, artificial intelligence, legal use, infringement, Czech law, EU law, text and data mining

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Authors: Penchuk A. Vovkanych

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The adaptive changes in the respiratory system provide the background for the increase of aerobic capacity and sport results on the middle and long distances runners. Effect of such adaptive changes in the sport orienteering remains poorly investigated. Therefore our study was undertaken to reveal the adaptive changes in the respiration indices of high skilled orienteer athletes.

Keywords: adaptation, external, functional state, respiration, running, sport orienteering

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Authors: Saeidreza Radpour, Md. Ahiduzzaman, Amit Kumar

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Alberta’s mining sector consumed 871.3 PJ in 2012, which is 67.1% of the energy consumed in the industry sector and about 40% of all the energy consumed in the province of Alberta. Natural gas, petroleum products, and electricity supplied 55.9%, 20.8%, and 7.7%, respectively, of the total energy use in this sector. Oil sands mining and upgrading to crude oil make up most of the mining energy sector activities in Alberta. Crude oil is produced from the oil sands either by in situ methods or by the mining and extraction of bitumen from oil sands ore. In this research, the factors affecting oil sands production have been assessed and a framework has been developed for market penetration of new efficient technologies in this sector. Oil sands production amount is a complex function of many different factors, broadly categorized into technical, economic, political, and global clusters. The results of developed and implemented statistical analysis in this research show that the importance of key factors affecting on oil sands production in Alberta is ranked as: Global energy consumption (94% consistency), Global crude oil price (86% consistency), and Crude oil export (80% consistency). A framework for modeling oil sands energy technologies’ market penetration (OSETMP) has been developed to cover related technical, economic and environmental factors in this sector. It has been assumed that the impact of political and social constraints is reflected in the model by changes of global oil price or crude oil price in Canada. The market share of novel in situ mining technologies with low energy and water use are assessed and calculated in the market penetration framework include: 1) Partial upgrading, 2) Liquid addition to steam to enhance recovery (LASER), 3) Solvent-assisted process (SAP), also called solvent-cyclic steam-assisted gravity drainage (SC-SAGD), 4) Cyclic solvent, 5) Heated solvent, 6) Wedge well, 7) Enhanced modified steam and Gas push (emsagp), 8) Electro-thermal dynamic stripping process (ET-DSP), 9) Harris electro-magnetic heating applications (EMHA), 10) Paraffin froth separation. The results of the study will show the penetration profile of these technologies over a long term planning horizon.

Keywords: appliances efficiency improvement, diffusion models, market penetration, residential sector

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Authors: Orisakwe Chimuanya Favour Israel

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In a world filled with the products of scientific inquiry, scientific literacy has become a necessity for everyone because it is indispensable to achieving technological development of any nation. Everyone needs to use scientific information to make choices that arise every day. Everyone needs to be able to engage intelligently in public discourse and debate about important issues that involves science and technology. And everyone deserves to share in the excitement and personal fulfillment that can come from -understanding and learning about the natural world. No doubt that industrialized countries have, through their control of science and technology education, developed the potential to increase production, and to improve the standard of living of their people. The main thrust of this paper therefore, is to present an overview of science education, strategies for achieving application of science in national development, such as teaching science with the right spirit of inquiry. Also, the paper discussed three research models that can help in national development and suggests the best out of the three which is more realistic for a developing country like ours (Nigeria) to follow for a sustainable national development and finally suggests some key ways of solving problems of development.

Keywords: scientific inquiry, scientific literacy, strategies, sustainable national development

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Authors: Vivek Garg, Brajendra S. Sengar, Gaurav Siddharth, Nisheka Anadkat, Amitesh Kumar, Shailendra Kumar, Shaibal Mukherjee

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CuInGaSe (CIGSe) is the dominant thin film solar cell technology. The band alignment of Buffer/CIGSe interface is one of the most crucial parameters for solar cell performance. In this article, the valence band offset (VBOff) and conduction band offset (CBOff) values of Cu(In0.70Ga0.30)Se/ 1 at.% Ga: Mg0.25Zn0.75O (GMZO) heterojunction, grown by dual ion beam sputtering system (DIBS), are calculated to understand the carrier transport mechanism at the heterojunction for the realization of all sputtered buffer-less solar cells. To determine the valence band offset (VBOff), ∆E_V at GMZO/CIGSe heterojunction interface, the standard method based on core-level photoemission is utilized. The value of ∆E_V can be evaluated by considering common core-level peaks. In our study, the values of (Valence band onset)VBOn, obtained by linear extrapolation method for GMZO and CIGSe films are calculated to be 2.86 and 0.76 eV. In the UPS spectra peak positions of Se 3d is observed in UPS spectra at 54.82 and 54.7 eV for CIGSe film and GMZO/CIGSe interface respectively, while the peak position of Mg 2p is observed at 50.09 and 50.12 eV for GMZO and GMZO/CIGSe interface respectively. The optical band gap of CIGSe and GMZO are obtained from absorption spectra procured from spectroscopic ellipsometry are 1.26 and 3.84 eV respectively. The calculated average values of ∆E_v and ∆E_C are estimated to be 2.37 and 0.21 eV, respectively, at room temperature. The calculated positive conduction band offset termed as a spike at the absorber junction is the required criterion for the high-efficiency solar cells for the efficient charge extraction from the junction. So we can conclude that the above study confirms GMZO thin films grown by the dual ion beam sputtering system are the suitable candidate for the CIGSe thin films based ultra-thin buffer-less solar cells. We investigated the band-offset properties at the GMZO/CIGSe heterojunction to verify the suitability of the GMZO for the realization of the buffer-less solar cells. The calculated average values of ∆E_V and ∆E_C are estimated to be 2.37 and 0.21 eV, respectively, at room temperature. The calculated positive conduction band offset termed as a spike at the absorber junction is the required criterion for the high-efficiency solar cells for the efficient charge extraction from the junction. So we can conclude that the above study confirms GMZO thin films grown by the dual ion beam sputtering system are the suitable candidate for the CIGSe thin films based ultra-thin buffer-less solar cells. Acknowledgment: We are thankful to DIBS, EDX, and XRD facility equipped at Sophisticated Instrument Centre (SIC) at IIT Indore. The authors B.S.S and A.K acknowledge CSIR and V.G acknowledge UGC, India for their fellowships. B.S.S is thankful to DST and IUSSTF for BASE Internship Award. Prof. Shaibal Mukherjee is thankful to DST and IUSSTF for BASE Fellowship and MEITY YFRF award. This work is partially supported by DAE BRNS, DST CERI, and DST-RFBR Project under India-Russia Programme of Cooperation in Science and Technology. We are thankful to Mukul Gupta for SIMS facility equipped at UGC-DAE Indore.

Keywords: CIGSe, DIBS, GMZO, solar cells, UPS

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Authors: Aldona Kluczek

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Energy efficient process have become a pressing research field in manufacturing. The arguments for having an effective industrial energy efficiency processes are interacted with factors: economic and environmental impact, and energy security. Improvements in energy efficiency are most often achieved by implementation of more efficient technology or manufacturing process. Current processes of electricity production represents the biggest consumption of energy and the greatest amount of emissions to the environment. The goal of this study is to improve the potential energy-savings and reduce greenhouse emissions related to improvement scenarios for the treatment of hardwood lumber produced by an industrial plant operating in the U.S. through the application of green balancing procedure, in order to find the preferable efficient technology. The green procedure for energy is based on analysis of energy efficiency data. Three alternative scenarios of the cogeneration systems plant (CHP) construction are considered: generation of fresh steam, the purchase of a new boiler with the operating pressure 300 pounds per square inch gauge (PSIG), an installation of a new boiler with a 600 PSIG pressure. In this paper, the application of a bottom-down modelling for energy flow to devise a streamlined Energy and Emission Flow Analyze method for the technology of producing electricity is illustrated. It will identify efficiency or technology of a given process to be reached, through the effective use of energy, or energy management. Results have shown that the third scenario seem to be the efficient alternative scenario considered from the environmental and economic concerns for treating hardwood lumber. The energy conservation evaluation options could save an estimated 6,215.78 MMBtu/yr in each year, which represents 9.5% of the total annual energy usage. The total annual potential cost savings from all recommendations is $143,523/yr, which represents 30.1% of the total annual energy costs. Estimation have presented that energy cost savings are possible up to 43% (US$ 143,337.85), representing 18.6% of the total annual energy costs.

Keywords: alternative scenario improvements, cogeneration system, energy and emission flow analyze, energy balancing, green procedure, hardwood lumber manufacturing process

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Authors: Farhina Haque, Chanyeop Park

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The high efficiency, high field, and high power density provided by wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors and advanced power electronic converter (PEC) topologies enabled the dynamic control of power in medium to high voltage systems. Although WBG semiconductors outperform the conventional Silicon based devices in terms of voltage rating, switching speed, and efficiency, the increased voltage handling properties, high dv/dt, and compact device packaging increase local electric fields, which are the main causes of partial discharge (PD) in the advanced medium and high voltage applications. PD, which occurs actively in voids, triple points, and airgaps, is an inevitable dielectric challenge that causes insulation and device aging. The aging process accelerates over time and eventually leads to the complete failure of the applications. Hence, it is critical to mitigating PD. Sharp edges, airgaps, triple points, and bubbles are common defects that exist in any medium to high voltage device. The defects are created during the manufacturing processes of the devices and are prone to high-electric-field-induced PD due to the low permittivity and low breakdown strength of the gaseous medium filling the defects. A contemporary approach of mitigating PD by neutralizing electric fields in high power density applications is introduced in this study. To neutralize the locally enhanced electric fields that occur around the triple points, airgaps, sharp edges, and bubbles, electrets are developed and incorporated into high voltage applications. Electrets are electric fields emitting dielectric materials that are embedded with electrical charges on the surface and in bulk. In this study, electrets are fabricated by electrically charging polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) films based on the widely used triode corona discharge method. To investigate the PD mitigation performance of the fabricated electret films, a series of PD experiments are conducted on both the charged and uncharged PVDF films under square voltage stimuli that represent PWM waveform. In addition to the use of single layer electrets, multiple layers of electrets are also experimented with to mitigate PD caused by higher system voltages. The electret-based approach shows great promise in mitigating PD by neutralizing the local electric field. The results of the PD measurements suggest that the development of an ultimate solution to the decades-long dielectric challenge would be possible with further developments in the fabrication process of electrets.

Keywords: electrets, high power density, partial discharge, triode corona discharge

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Authors: Lina Martinez, Juan David Rivera Acevedo, Isabella Franco

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The informal economy plays a significant role in the job market in Colombia. Cali, the third largest city in the country, is characterized by a high percentage of socially and economically vulnerable population groups who take part in the urban informal economy, with street vending as their primary source of income. This paper studies the socio-economic dimensions of street vendors in Cali. In particular, it examines why they are unable to capitalize on their comparatively high earnings and are not likely to escape poverty even though they usually profit from government welfare and tax evasion due to the non-regulated character of informality. The analysis of an observational study and two surveys with 637 and 300 participants show that street vending is a cash-based day-to-day activity. Since most of the street vendors do not have access to formal banking systems, they depend on payday loans with incomparably high interest rates which absorb a large share of their income and maintain a continuous indebtedness. This is one of the main reasons why they are unable to improve their living conditions. However, the daily cash flow masks the high opportunity cost of loans and long-term deficits.

Keywords: Colombia, informal economy, payday loans, street vendors

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Authors: Sevelina Ndlovu

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Financial Technology (fintech) advancement is recognised as one of the most transformational innovations in the financial industry. Fintech has given rise to internet-only digital banking, a novel financial technology advancement, and innovation that allows banking services through internet applications with no need for physical branches. This technology is becoming a new banking normal among consumers for its ubiquitous and real-time access advantages. There is evident switching and migration from traditional banking towards these fintech facilities, which could possibly pose a systemic risk if not properly understood and monitored. Fintech advancement has also brought about the emergence and escalation of financial technology consumption themes such as trust, security, perceived risk, and sustainability within the banking industry, themes scarcely covered in existing theoretic literature. To that end, the objective of this research is to investigate factors that determine fintech adoption and propose an integrated adoption model. This study aims to establish what the significant drivers of adoption are and develop a conceptual model that integrates technological, behavioral, and environmental constructs by extending the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2). It proposes integrating constructs that influence financial consumption themes such as trust, perceived risk, security, financial incentives, micro-investing opportunities, and environmental consciousness to determine the impact of these factors on the adoption and intention to use digital banking apps. The main advantage of this conceptual model is the consolidation of a greater number of predictor variables that can provide a fuller explanation of the consumer's adoption of digital banking Apps. Moderating variables of age, gender, and income are incorporated. To the best of author’s knowledge, this study is the first that extends the UTAUT2 model with this combination of constructs to investigate user’s intention to adopt internet-only digital banking apps in the UK context. By investigating factors that are not included in the existing theories but are highly pertinent to the adoption of internet-only banking services, this research adds to existing knowledge and extends the generalisability of the UTAUT2 in a financial services adoption context. This is something that fills a gap in knowledge, as highlighted to needing further research on UTAUT2 after reviewing the theory in 2016 from its original version of 2003. To achieve the objectives of this study, this research assumes a quantitative research approach to empirically test the hypotheses derived from existing literature and pilot studies to give statistical support to generalise the research findings for further possible applications in theory and practice. This research is explanatory or casual in nature and uses cross-section primary data collected through a survey method. Convenient and purposive sampling using structured self-administered online questionnaires is used for data collection. The proposed model is tested using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), and the analysis of primary data collected through an online survey is processed using Smart PLS software with a sample size of 386 digital bank users. The results are expected to establish if there are significant relationships between the dependent and independent variables and establish what the most influencing factors are.

Keywords: banking applications, digital banking, financial technology, technology adoption, UTAUT2

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Authors: Tannia Vindel, Angel Matute, Erik Elvir, Kelvin Santos

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Currently in Honduras, is been incentivized the generation of energy using renewable fonts, such as: hydroelectricity, wind power, biomass and, more recently with the strongest growth, photovoltaic energy. In July 2015 were installed 455.2 MW of photovoltaic energy, increasing by 24% the installed capacity of the national interconnected system existing in 2014, according the National Energy Company (NEC), that made possible reduce the thermoelectric dependency of the system. Given the good results of those large-scale photovoltaic plants, arises the question: is it interesting for the distribution utility and for the consumers the integration of photovoltaic systems in micro-scale in the urban and rural areas? To answer that question has been researched the insertion of photovoltaic energy in the residential sector in Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela (Central District), Honduras to determine the technical and economic viability. Francisco Morazán department, according the National Statistics Institute (NSI), in 2001 had more than 180,000 houses with power service. Tegucigalpa, department and Honduras capital, and Comayagüela, both, have the highest population density in the region, with 1,300,000 habitants in 2014 (NSI). The residential sector in the south-central region of Honduras represents a high percentage being 49% of total consumption, according with NEC in 2014; where 90% of this sector consumes in a range of 0 to 300 kWh / month. All this, in addition to the high level of losses in the transmission and distribution systems, 31.3% in 2014, and the availability of an annual average solar radiation of 5.20 kWh/(m2∙day) according to the NASA, suggests the feasibility of the implementation of photovoltaic systems as a solution to give a level of independency to the households, and besides could be capable of injecting the non-used energy to the grid. The capability of exchange of energy with the grid could make the photovoltaic systems acquisition more affordable to the consumers, because of the compensation energy programs or other kinds of incentives that could be created. Technical viability of the photovoltaic systems insertion has been analyzed, considering the solar radiation monthly average to determine the monthly average of energy that would be generated with the technology accessible locally and the effects of the injection of the energy locally generated on the grid. In addition, the economic viability has been analyzed too, considering the photovoltaic systems high costs, costs of the utility, location and monthly energy consumption requirements of the families. It was found that the inclusion of photovoltaic systems in Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela could decrease in 6 MW the demand for the region if 100% of the households use photovoltaic systems, which acquisition may be more accessible with the help of government incentives and/or the application of energy exchange programs.

Keywords: grid connected, photovoltaic, residential, technical analysis

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Authors: Elsayed A. Elkhatib, Ahmed M. Mahdy, Mohamed L. Moharem, Mohamed O. Mesalem

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Mercury (Hg) is one of the most toxic and bio-accumulative heavy metal in the environment. However, cheap and effective in situ remediation technology is lacking. In this study, the effects of water treatment residuals nanoparticles (nWTR) on mobility, fractionation and speciation of mercury in an arid zone soil from Egypt were evaluated. Water treatment residual nanoparticles with high surface area (129 m 2 g-1) were prepared using Fritsch planetary mono mill. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy revealed that the nanoparticles of WTR nanoparticles are spherical in shape, and single particle sizes are in the range of 45 to 96 nm. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) results ascertained that amorphous iron, aluminum (hydr)oxides and silicon oxide dominating all nWTR, with no apparent crystalline iron–Al (hydr)oxides. Addition of nWTR, greatly increased the Hg sorption capacities of studied soils and greatly reduced the cumulative Hg released from the soils. Application of nWTR at 0.10 and 0.30 % rates reduced the released Hg from the soil by 50 and 85 % respectively. The power function and first order kinetics models well described the desorption process from soils and nWTR amended soils as evidenced by high coefficient of determination (R2) and low SE values. Application of nWTR greatly increased the association of Hg with the residual fraction. Meanwhile, application of nWTR at a rate of 0.3% greatly increased the association of Hg with the residual fraction (>93%) and significantly increased the most stable Hg species (Hg(OH)2 amor) which in turn enhanced Hg immobilization in the studied soils. Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy analysis indicated the involvement of nWTR in the retention of Hg (II) through OH groups which suggest inner-sphere adsorption of Hg ions to surface functional groups on nWTR. These results demonstrated the feasibility of using a low-cost nWTR as best management practice to immobilize excess Hg in contaminated soils.

Keywords: release kinetics, Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy, Hg fractionation, Hg species

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Authors: Yufeng Li, Yinan Ma, Jing Wu, Chengnian Long

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Infrared object detection aims at separating small and dim target from clutter background and its capabilities extend beyond the limits of visible light, making it invaluable in a wide range of applications such as improving safety, security, efficiency, and functionality. However, existing methods are usually sensitive to the noise of the input infrared image, leading to a decrease in target detection accuracy and an increase in the false alarm rate in high-noise environments. To address this issue, an infrared small target detection algorithm called YOLO-IR is proposed in this paper to improve the robustness to high infrared noise. To address the problem that high noise significantly reduces the clarity and reliability of target features in infrared images, we design a soft-threshold coordinate attention mechanism to improve the model’s ability to extract target features and its robustness to noise. Since the noise may overwhelm the local details of the target, resulting in the loss of small target features during depth down-sampling, we propose a deep and shallow feature fusion neck to improve the detection accuracy. In addition, because the generalized Intersection over Union (IoU)-based loss functions may be sensitive to noise and lead to unstable training in high-noise environments, we introduce a Wasserstein-distance based loss function to improve the training of the model. The experimental results show that YOLO-IR achieves a 5.0% improvement in recall and a 6.6% improvement in F1-score over existing state-of-art model.

Keywords: infrared small target detection, high noise, robustness, soft-threshold coordinate attention, feature fusion

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Authors: A. Olivi, P. Reyes Cabrera

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Ageing and urbanization are two of the main trends that characterize the twenty-first century. Its trending is especially accelerated in the emerging countries of Asia and Latin America. Chile is one of the countries in the Latin American region, where the demographic transition to ageing is becoming increasingly visible. The challenges that the new demographic scenario poses to urban administrators call for searching innovative solutions to maximize the functional and psycho-social benefits derived from the relationship between older people and the environment in which they live. Although mobility is central to people's everyday practices and social relationships, it is not distributed equitably. On the contrary, it can be considered another factor of inequality in our cities. Older people are a particularly sensitive and vulnerable group to mobility. In this context, based on the ageing in place strategy and following the social innovation approach within a spatial context, the "Community Observatory of Territorial Information Control and Management" project aims at the collective search and validation of solutions for the satisfaction of mobility and accessibility specific needs of urban aged people. Specifically, the Observatory intends to: i) promote the direct participation of the aged population in order to generate relevant information on the territorial situation and the satisfaction of the mobility needs of this group; ii) co-create dynamic and efficient mechanisms for the reporting and updating of territorial information; iii) increase the capacity of the local administration to plan and manage solutions to environmental problems at the neighborhood scale. Based on a participatory mapping methodology and on the application of digital technology, the Observatory designed and developed, together with aged people, a crowdsourcing platform for smartphones, called DIMEapp, for reporting environmental problems affecting mobility and accessibility. DIMEapp has been tested at a prototype level in two neighborhoods of the city of Valparaiso. The results achieved in the testing phase have shown high potential in order to i) contribute to establishing coordination mechanisms with the local government and the local community; ii) improve a local governance system that guides and regulates the allocation of goods and services destined to solve those problems.

Keywords: accessibility, ageing, city, digital technology, local governance

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Authors: Syed Adnan, Javed Iqbal

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In urban and rural areas groundwater is the most economic natural source of drinking. Groundwater resources of Pakistan are degraded due to high population growth and increased industrial development. A study was conducted in district Peshawar to assess groundwater vulnerable zones using GIS based DRASTIC model. Six input parameters (groundwater depth, groundwater recharge, aquifer material, soil type, slope and hydraulic conductivity) were used in the DRASTIC model to generate the groundwater vulnerable zones. Each parameter was divided into different ranges or media types and a subjective rating from 1-10 was assigned to each factor where 1 represented very low impact on pollution potential and 10 represented very high impact. Weight multiplier from 1-5 was used to balance and enhance the importance of each factor. The DRASTIC model scores obtained varied from 47 to 147. Using quantile classification scheme these values were reclassified into three zones i.e. low, moderate and high vulnerable zones. The areas of these zones were calculated. The final result indicated that about 400 km2, 506 km2, and 375 km2 were classified as low, moderate, and high vulnerable areas, respectively. It is recommended that the most vulnerable zones should be treated on first priority to facilitate the inhabitants for drinking purposes.

Keywords: DRASTIC model, groundwater vulnerability, GIS in groundwater, drinking sources

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Authors: Jenny Hall, Alison Jaquet

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Universities’ push toward the production of high quality research is not limited to academic staff and experienced researchers. In this environment of research rich agendas, Higher Degree Research (HDR) students are increasingly expected to engage in the publishing of good quality papers in high impact journals. IFN001: Advanced Information Research Skills (AIRS) is a credit bearing mandatory coursework requirement for Queensland University of Technology (QUT) doctorates. Since its inception in 1989, this unique blended learning program has provided the foundations for new researchers to produce original and innovative research. AIRS was redeveloped in 2012, and has now been evaluated with reference to the university’s strategic research priorities. Our research is the first comprehensive evaluation of the program from the learner perspective. We measured whether the program develops essential transferrable skills and graduate capabilities to ensure best practice in the areas of publishing and data management. In particular, we explored whether AIRS prepares students to be agile researchers with the skills to adapt to different research contexts both within and outside academia. The target group for our study consisted of HDR students and supervisors at QUT. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used for data collection. Gathering data was by survey and focus groups with qualitative responses analyzed using NVivo. The results of the survey show that 82% of students surveyed believe that AIRS assisted their research process and helped them learn skills they need as a researcher. The 18% of respondents who expressed reservation about the benefits of AIRS were also examined to determine the key areas of concern. These included trends related to the timing of the program early in the candidature and a belief among some students that their previous research experience was sufficient for postgraduate study. New insights have been gained into how to better support HDR learners in partnership with supervisors and how to enhance learning experiences of specific cohorts, including international students and mature learners.

Keywords: data management, enhancing learning experience, publishing, research higher degree students, doctoral students

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Authors: Sijuade A. A., Oguntoye J. P., Awodoye O. O., Adedapo O. A., Wahab W. B., Okediran O. O., Omidiora E. O., Olabiyisi S. O.

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Electronic voting systems have been introduced to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and transparency of the election process in many countries around the world, including Nigeria. However, concerns have been raised about the security and integrity of these systems. One way to address these concerns is through the implementation of electronic forensic election audit systems. This study aims to evaluate voters' intention to the adoption of electronic forensic election audit systems using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. In the study, the UTAUT model which is a widely used model in the field of information systems to explain the factors that influence individuals' intention to use a technology by integrating performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, cost factor and privacy factor to voters’ behavioural intention was proposed. A total of 294 sample data were collected from a selected population of electorates who had at one time or the other participated in at least an electioneering process in Nigeria. The data was then analyzed statistically using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results obtained show that all variables have a significant effect on the electorates’ behavioral intention to adopt the development and implementation of an electronic forensic election audit system in Nigeria.

Keywords: election Audi, voters, UTAUT, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating condition social influence, facilitating conditions, cost factor, privacy factor, behavioural intention

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Authors: Suleyman Karacor

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The main purpose of this study is to investigate tourism marketing in the information age because of the importance and sensitivity. In the twenty-first century as a result of today's the increasing competition and product diversification in the tourism sector, tourism businesses must take into account exogenous variables such as new technological developments, commercial experience and consumer demand. In the information age, tourist product consumers tend to reserve their leisure time and expenditure on more active opportunities for different experiences instead of living the same experience again. Increasing the number of agents in the tourism sector, travel opportunities offering different experiences and more intensive use of modern technology helps to present diversification of leisure activities for tourists. From the perspective of tourists, travel costs are still important for buying the touristic products but maintaining a high level of tourist satisfaction is also of increasing importance. Tourists tend to prefer activities that add value. A real tourist product must be able to create value and new priorities for tourists. Therefore this study aims to review recent significant developments in international tourism marketing research and practices. To this end, this study reviews tourism marketing-focused articles.

Keywords: information age, tourism marketing, tourism marketing mix, management

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Authors: M. Richichi

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Evidencing the learning and developmental needs of students in specific educational institutions is central to determining the type of whole school pedagogical shift required. Initiating this transition by designing and implementing STEAM (Science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) project-based learning opportunities, in collaboration with industry, exposes teachers to new pedagogical and assessment practices. This experience instills confidence and a renewed sense of energy, which contributes to greater efficacy. Championing teachers in such learning environments leads to “bleeding” of inventive pedagogical understanding and skills as well as motivation. This contributes positively to collective teacher efficacy and the transition towards more cross-disciplinary initiatives and opportunities, and hence an innovative pedagogical shift. Evidence of skill and knowledge development in students, combined with greater confidence, work ethic and interest in STEAM areas, are further indicators of the success of the transitioning process.

Keywords: efficacy, pedagogy, transition, STEAM

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Authors: Soner Guler, Eylem Guzel, Mustafa Gülen

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Recently, concrete-filled steel tube columns are highly popular in high-rise buildings. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the axial load capacities of circular high strength concrete-filled steel tube columns according to Eurocode 4 (EC4) and American Concrete Institute (ACI) design codes. The axial load capacities of fifteen concrete-filled steel tubes stub columns were compared with design codes EU4 and ACI. The results showed that the EC4 overestimate the axial load capacity for all the specimens.

Keywords: concrete-filled steel tube column, axial load capacity, Eurocode 4, ACI design codes

Procedia PDF Downloads 389