Search results for: empirical model

Authors: Brady Manescau, Ilyas Sellami, Khaled Chetehouna, Charles De Izarra, Rachid Nait-Said, Fati Zidani

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During a fire in an oil and gas refinery, several thermal accidents can occur and cause serious damage to people and environment. Among these accidents, the BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) is most observed and remains a major concern for risk decision-makers. It corresponds to a violent vaporization of explosive nature following the rupture of a vessel containing a liquid at a temperature significantly higher than its normal boiling point at atmospheric pressure. Their effects on the environment generally appear in three ways: blast overpressure, radiation from the fireball if the liquid involved is flammable and fragment hazards. In order to estimate the potential damage that would be caused by such an explosion, risk decision-makers often use quantitative risk analysis (QRA). This analysis is a rigorous and advanced approach that requires a reliable data in order to obtain a good estimate and control of risks. However, in most cases, the data used in QRA are obtained from the empirical correlations. These empirical correlations generally overestimate BLEVE effects because they are based on simplifications and do not take into account real parameters like the geometry effect. Considering that these risk analyses are based on an assessment of BLEVE effects on human life and plant equipment, more precise and reliable data should be provided. From this point of view, the CFD modeling of BLEVE effects appears as a solution to the empirical law limitations. In this context, the main objective is to develop a numerical tool in order to predict BLEVE thermal effects using the CFD code FDS version 6. Simulations are carried out with a mesh size of 1 m. The fireball source is modeled as a vertical release of hot fuel in a short time. The modeling of fireball dynamics is based on a single step combustion using an EDC model coupled with the default LES turbulence model. Fireball characteristics (diameter, height, heat flux and lifetime) issued from the large scale BAM experiment are used to demonstrate the ability of FDS to simulate the various steps of the BLEVE phenomenon from ignition up to total burnout. The influence of release parameters such as the injection rate and the radiative fraction on the fireball heat flux is also presented. Predictions are very encouraging and show good agreement in comparison with BAM experiment data. In addition, a numerical study is carried out on an operational propane accumulator in an Algerian gas processing plant of SONATRACH company located in the Hassi R’Mel Gas Field (the largest gas field in Algeria).

Keywords: BLEVE effects, CFD, FDS, fireball, LES, QRA

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Authors: K. Julia Rose Mary, Victor Arokia Doss

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Electrical and chemical stimulations up-regulate phosphorylaion of CREB, a transcriptional factor that induces its target gene production for memory consolidation and Late Long-Term Potentiation (L-LTP) in CA1 region of the hippocampus. L-LTP requires complex interactions among second-messenger signaling cascade molecules such as cAMP, CAMKII, CAMKIV, MAPK, RSK, PKA, all of which converge to phosphorylate CREB which along with CBP induces the transcription of target genes involved in memory consolidation. A differential equation based model for L-LTP representing stimulus-mediated activation of downstream mediators which confirms the steep, supralinear stimulus-response effects of activation and inhibition was used. The same was extended to accommodate the inhibitory effect of the Inducible cAMP Early Repressor (ICER). ICER is the natural inducible CREB antagonist represses CRE-Mediated gene transcription involved in long-term plasticity for learning and memory. After verifying the sensitivity and robustness of the model, we had simulated it with various empirical levels of repressor concentration to analyse their effect on the gene induction. The model appears to predict the regulatory dynamics of repression on the L-LTP and agrees with the experimental values. The flux data obtained in the simulations demonstrate various aspects of equilibrium between the gene induction and repression.

Keywords: CREB, L-LTP, mathematical modeling, simulation

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Authors: Nadine Yehya, Chantal Maatouk

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Low energy buildings have been developed to achieve global climate commitments in reducing energy consumption. They comprise energy efficient buildings, zero energy buildings, positive buildings and passive house buildings. The reduced energy demands in Low Energy buildings call for advanced building energy modeling that focuses on studying active building systems such as heating, cooling and ventilation, improvement of systems performances, and development of control systems. Modeling and building simulation have expanded to cover different modeling approach i.e.: detailed physical model, dynamic empirical models, and hybrid approaches, which are adopted by various simulation tools. This paper uses DesignBuilder with EnergyPlus simulation engine in order to; First, study the impact of efficiency measures on building energy behavior by comparing Low energy residential model to a conventional one in Beirut-Lebanon. Second, choose the appropriate energy systems for the studied case characterized by an important cooling demand. Third, study dynamic modeling of Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system in EnergyPlus that is chosen due to its advantages over other systems and its availability in the Lebanese market. Finally, simulation of different energy systems models with different modeling approaches is necessary to confront the different modeling approaches and to investigate the interaction between energy systems and building envelope that affects the total energy consumption of Low Energy buildings.

Keywords: physical model, variable refrigerant flow heat pump, dynamic modeling, EnergyPlus, the modeling approach

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Authors: Aravind Mohan Krishnan

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This paper identifies a research gap in the literature on tourism entrepreneurship in Malawi, Africa, and investigates how entrepreneurs from the Malawian tourism sector discover and exploit business opportunities. In particular, the importance of prior experience and business networks in the opportunity development process is debated. Another area of empirical research examined here is the opportunity recognition-venture creation sequence. While Malawi presents fruitful business opportunities, exploiting these opportunities into fully realized business ideas is a real challenge due to the country’s difficult business environment and poor promotional and marketing efforts. The study concludes by calling for further research in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to develop our understanding of entrepreneurship in this (African) context.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, Malawi, opportunities, tourism

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Authors: Adeolu O. Dairo

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Getting the consumer marketing strategy right is a crucial and complex task for firms with a large customer base such as mobile operators in a competitive mobile market. While empirical studies have made efforts to identify key constructs, no geospatial model has been developed to comprehensively assess the viability and interdependency of ground realities regarding the customer, competition, channel and the network quality of mobile operators. With this research, a geo-analytic framework is proposed for strategy formulation and allocation for mobile operators. Firstly, a fuzzy analytic network using a self-organizing feature map clustering technique based on inputs from managers and literature, which depicts the interrelationships amongst ground realities is developed. The model is tested with a mobile operator in the Nigeria mobile market. As a result, a customer-centric geospatial and visualization solution is developed. This provides a consolidated and integrated insight that serves as a transparent, logical and practical guide for strategic, tactical and operational decision making.

Keywords: geospatial, geo-analytics, self-organizing map, customer-centric

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Authors: Fatemeh Faramarzi, Hosein Mahjoob

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Building dams on rivers for utilization of water resources causes problems in hydrodynamic equilibrium and results in leaving all or part of the sediments carried by water in dam reservoir. This phenomenon has also significant impacts on water and sediment flow regime and in the long term can cause morphological changes in the environment surrounding the river, reducing the useful life of the reservoir which threatens sustainable development through inefficient management of water resources. In the past, empirical methods were used to predict the sedimentation amount in dam reservoirs and to estimate its efficient lifetime. But recently the mathematical and computational models are widely used in sedimentation studies in dam reservoirs as a suitable tool. These models usually solve the equations using finite element method. This study compares the results from tow software packages, GSTARS4 & HEC-6, in the prediction of the sedimentation amount in Dez dam, southern Iran. The model provides a one-dimensional, steady-state simulation of sediment deposition and erosion by solving the equations of momentum, flow and sediment continuity and sediment transport. GSTARS4 (Generalized Sediment Transport Model for Alluvial River Simulation) which is based on a one-dimensional mathematical model that simulates bed changes in both longitudinal and transverse directions by using flow tubes in a quasi-two-dimensional scheme to calibrate a period of 47 years and forecast the next 47 years of sedimentation in Dez Dam, Southern Iran. This dam is among the highest dams all over the world (with its 203 m height), and irrigates more than 125000 square hectares of downstream lands and plays a major role in flood control in the region. The input data including geometry, hydraulic and sedimentary data, starts from 1955 to 2003 on a daily basis. To predict future river discharge, in this research, the time series data were assumed to be repeated after 47 years. Finally, the obtained result was very satisfactory in the delta region so that the output from GSTARS4 was almost identical to the hydrographic profile in 2003. In the Dez dam due to the long (65 km) and a large tank, the vertical currents are dominant causing the calculations by the above-mentioned method to be inaccurate. To solve this problem, we used the empirical reduction method to calculate the sedimentation in the downstream area which led to very good answers. Thus, we demonstrated that by combining these two methods a very suitable model for sedimentation in Dez dam for the study period can be obtained. The present study demonstrated successfully that the outputs of both methods are the same.

Keywords: Dez Dam, prediction, sedimentation, water resources, computational models, finite element method, GSTARS4, HEC-6

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Authors: Katarzyna Baruch, Agata Szelag, Jaroslaw Rubacha, Bartlomiej Chojnacki, Tadeusz Kamisinski

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Methodology used to measure the reduction of transmitted impact sound by floor coverings situated on a massive floor is described in ISO 10140-3: 2010. To carry out such tests, the standardised reverberation room separated by a standard floor from the second measuring room are required. The need to have a special laboratory results in high cost and low accessibility of this measurement. The authors propose their own engineering method to measure the impact sound improvement with floor coverings. This method does not require standard rooms and floor. This paper describes the measurement procedure of proposed engineering method. Further, verification tests were performed. Validation of the proposed method was based on the analytical model, Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) model and empirical measurements. The received results were related to corresponding ones obtained from ISO 10140-3:2010 measurements. The study confirmed the usefulness of the engineering method.

Keywords: building acoustic, impact noise, impact sound insulation, impact sound transmission, reduction of impact sound

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Authors: Muleya Nqobile, Winston Garira

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We presented a compartmental deterministic multi-scale model which encompass internal plant defensive mechanism and pathogen interaction, then we consider nesting the model into the epidemiological model. The objective was to improve our understanding of the transmission dynamics of within host and between host of Guignardia citricapa Kiely. The inflow of infected class was scaled down to individual level while the outflow was scaled up to average population level. Conceptual model and mathematical model were constructed to display a theoretical framework which can be used for predicting or identify disease pattern.

Keywords: epidemiological model, mathematical modelling, multi-scale modelling, immunological model

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Authors: Vikrant Gupta, Amrit Goswami

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The fixed income market forms the basis of the modern financial market. All other assets in financial markets derive their value from the bond market. Owing to its over-the-counter nature, corporate bonds have relatively less data publicly available and thus is researched upon far less compared to Equities. Bond price prediction is a complex financial time series forecasting problem and is considered very crucial in the domain of finance. The bond prices are highly volatile and full of noise which makes it very difficult for traditional statistical time-series models to capture the complexity in series patterns which leads to inefficient forecasts. To overcome the inefficiencies of statistical models, various machine learning techniques were initially used in the literature for more accurate forecasting of time-series. However, simple machine learning methods such as linear regression, support vectors, random forests fail to provide efficient results when tested on highly complex sequences such as stock prices and bond prices. hence to capture these intricate sequence patterns, various deep learning-based methodologies have been discussed in the literature. In this study, a recurrent neural network-based deep learning model using long short term networks for prediction of corporate bond prices has been discussed. Long Short Term networks (LSTM) have been widely used in the literature for various sequence learning tasks in various domains such as machine translation, speech recognition, etc. In recent years, various studies have discussed the effectiveness of LSTMs in forecasting complex time-series sequences and have shown promising results when compared to other methodologies. LSTMs are a special kind of recurrent neural networks which are capable of learning long term dependencies due to its memory function which traditional neural networks fail to capture. In this study, a simple LSTM, Stacked LSTM and a Masked LSTM based model has been discussed with respect to varying input sequences (three days, seven days and 14 days). In order to facilitate faster learning and to gradually decompose the complexity of bond price sequence, an Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) has been used, which has resulted in accuracy improvement of the standalone LSTM model. With a variety of Technical Indicators and EMD decomposed time series, Masked LSTM outperformed the other two counterparts in terms of prediction accuracy. To benchmark the proposed model, the results have been compared with traditional time series models (ARIMA), shallow neural networks and above discussed three different LSTM models. In summary, our results show that the use of LSTM models provide more accurate results and should be explored more within the asset management industry.

Keywords: bond prices, long short-term memory, time series forecasting, empirical mode decomposition

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Authors: Andreea Halunga, Chris D. Orme, Takashi Yamagata

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This paper proposes a heteroskedasticity-robust Breusch-Pagan test of the null hypothesis of zero cross-section (or contemporaneous) correlation in linear panel-data models, without necessarily assuming independence of the cross-sections. The procedure allows for either fixed, strictly exogenous and/or lagged dependent regressor variables, as well as quite general forms of both non-normality and heteroskedasticity in the error distribution. The asymptotic validity of the test procedure is predicated on the number of time series observations, T, being large relative to the number of cross-section units, N, in that: (i) either N is fixed as T→∞; or, (ii) N²/T→0, as both T and N diverge, jointly, to infinity. Given this, it is not expected that asymptotic theory would provide an adequate guide to finite sample performance when T/N is "small". Because of this, we also propose and establish asymptotic validity of, a number of wild bootstrap schemes designed to provide improved inference when T/N is small. Across a variety of experimental designs, a Monte Carlo study suggests that the predictions from asymptotic theory do, in fact, provide a good guide to the finite sample behaviour of the test when T is large relative to N. However, when T and N are of similar orders of magnitude, discrepancies between the nominal and empirical significance levels occur as predicted by the first-order asymptotic analysis. On the other hand, for all the experimental designs, the proposed wild bootstrap approximations do improve agreement between nominal and empirical significance levels, when T/N is small, with a recursive-design wild bootstrap scheme performing best, in general, and providing quite close agreement between the nominal and empirical significance levels of the test even when T and N are of similar size. Moreover, in comparison with the wild bootstrap "version" of the original Breusch-Pagan test our experiments indicate that the corresponding version of the heteroskedasticity-robust Breusch-Pagan test appears reliable. As an illustration, the proposed tests are applied to a dynamic growth model for a panel of 20 OECD countries.

Keywords: cross-section correlation, time-series heteroskedasticity, dynamic panel data, heteroskedasticity robust Breusch-Pagan test

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Authors: Fumihiko Isada, Yuriko Isada

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The aim of this research is to clarify the difference by industry segment or product characteristics as regards organisation management for an open innovation to raise R&D performance. In particular, the trait of the pharmaceutical industry is defined in comparison with IT component industry segment. In considering open innovation, both inter-organisational relation and the management in an organisation are important issues. As methodology, a questionnaire was conducted. In conclusion, suitable organisation management according to the difference in industry segment or product characteristics became clear.

Keywords: empirical study, industry segment, open innovation, product-development organisation pattern

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Authors: C. Schneider, M. M. Seizmeir, T. Suchanek, M. Hutter-Mironovova, M. Bdiwi, M. Putz

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In this paper, a suitable measurement setup is presented to conduct force and pressure measurements for transient contact cases at the example of lathe machine tending. Empirical measurements were executed on a selected collaborative robot’s behavior regarding allowable operating speeds under consideration of sensor- and workpiece-specific factors. Comparisons between the theoretic calculations proposed in ISO/TS 15066 and the practical measurement results reveal a basis for future research. With the created database, preliminary risk assessment and economic assessment procedures of collaborative machine tending cells can be facilitated.

Keywords: biomechanical thresholds, collaborative robots, force and pressure measurements, machine tending, transient contact

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Authors: Helena Baffoe

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Context: In the United States, there have been significant advancements in programs aimed at improving the lives of individuals with mental health disorders and substance abuse problems. However, public attitudes and beliefs regarding these issues have not improved correspondingly. This study aims to explore the perceptions and beliefs surrounding mental health disorders and substance abuse in the context of data analytics in the field of social work. Research Aim: The aim of this research is to provide empirical evidence on the beliefs and perceptions regarding mental health disorders and substance abuse. Specifically, the study seeks to answer the question of whether being diagnosed with a mental disorder implies a diagnosis of substance abuse. Additionally, the research aims to analyze the specific roles that social workers can play in addressing individuals with mental disorders. Methodology: This research adopts a data-driven methodology, acquiring comprehensive data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). A noteworthy causal connection between mental disorders and substance abuse exists, a relationship that current literature tends to overlook critically. To address this gap, we applied logistic regression with an Instrumental Variable approach, effectively mitigating potential endogeneity issues in the analysis in order to ensure robust and unbiased results. This methodology allows for a rigorous examination of the relationship between mental disorders and substance abuse. Empirical Findings: The analysis of the data reveals that depressive, anxiety, and trauma/stressor mental disorders are the most common in the United States. However, the study does not find statistically significant evidence to support the notion that being diagnosed with these mental disorders necessarily implies a diagnosis of substance abuse. This suggests that there is a misconception among the public regarding the relationship between mental health disorders and substance abuse. Theoretical Importance: The research contributes to the existing body of literature by providing empirical evidence to challenge prevailing beliefs and perceptions regarding mental health disorders and substance abuse. By using a novel methodological approach and analyzing new US data, the study sheds light on the cultural and social factors that influence these attitudes.

Keywords: mental health disorder, substance abuse, empirical evidence, logistic regression with IV

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Authors: Shumaila Zeb

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The proposed study aims to investigate insolvency risk of commercial banks of Pakistan. Furthermore, it empirically estimates the effect of already implemented financial regulations on the insolvency risk of banks. To carry out the empirical analysis, a balanced bank-level panel data covering the period 2008-2016 is used. The Z-score is used for calculating the insolvency risk of each bank. The panel regression is used to investigate the relationship between financial regulations and insolvency risk of banks. The empirics reveal that the financial regulations enforced by State Bank of Pakistan have significant impacts on the insolvency risk of banks. The results further indicate that loan ratio and reserve ratio are positively and significantly related to the insolvency risk of banks.

Keywords: insolvency risk, Z-score, financial regulations, banks

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Authors: Yoonjin Lee, Dongwook Hwang, Juhee Park, Woojin Park

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As undesirable sitting posture is known to be a major cause of musculoskeletal disorder of office workers, sitting has attracted attention on occupational health. However, there seems to be no consensus on what are safe and unsafe sitting behaviors. The purpose of this study was to characterize safe and unsafe behaviors based on scientific findings of sitting behavior. Three objectives were as follows; to identify different sitting behaviors measure used in ergonomics studies on safe sitting, for each measure identified, to find available findings or recommendations on safe and unsafe sitting behaviors along with relevant empirical grounds, and to synthesize the findings or recommendations to provide characterizations of safe and unsafe behaviors. A systematic review of electronic databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science) was conducted for extensive search of sitting behavior. Key terms included awkward sitting position, sedentary sitting, dynamic sitting, sitting posture, sitting posture, and sitting biomechanics, etc. Each article was systemically abstracted to extract a list of studied sitting behaviors, measures used to study the sitting behavior, and presence of empirical evidence of safety of the sitting behaviors. Finally, characterization of safe and unsafe sitting behavior was conducted based on knowledge with empirical evidence. This characterization is expected to provide useful knowledge for evaluation of sitting behavior and about postures to be measured in development of sensing chair.

Keywords: sitting position, sitting biomechanics, sitting behavior, unsafe sitting

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Authors: Jaouadi Imen, Ben Djemaa Raoudha, Ben Abdallah Hanene

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The access to relevant information that is adapted to users’ needs, preferences and environment is a challenge in many applications running. That causes an appearance of context-aware systems. To facilitate the development of this class of applications, it is necessary that these applications share a common context meta-model. In this article, we will present our context meta-model that is defined using the OMG Meta Object facility (MOF). This meta-model is based on the analysis and synthesis of context concepts proposed in literature.

Keywords: context, meta-model, MOF, awareness system

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Authors: Mehdi Khaki, Ehsan Forootan, Joseph Awange, Michael Kuhn

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Terrestrial water storage, as a source of freshwater, plays an important role in human lives. Hydrological models offer important tools for simulating and predicting water storages at global and regional scales. However, their comparisons with 'reality' are imperfect mainly due to a high level of uncertainty in input data and limitations in accounting for all complex water cycle processes, uncertainties of (unknown) empirical model parameters, as well as the absence of high resolution (both spatially and temporally) data. Data assimilation can mitigate this drawback by incorporating new sets of observations into models. In this effort, we use multi-mission satellite-derived remotely sensed observations to improve the performance of World-Wide Water Resources Assessment system (W3RA) hydrological model for estimating terrestrial water storages. For this purpose, we assimilate total water storage (TWS) data from the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) and surface soil moisture data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) into W3RA. This is done to (i) improve model estimations of water stored in ground and soil moisture, and (ii) assess the impacts of each satellite of data (from GRACE and AMSR-E) and their combination on the final terrestrial water storage estimations. These data are assimilated into W3RA using the Ensemble Square-Root Filter (EnSRF) filtering technique over Mississippi Basin (the United States) and Murray-Darling Basin (Australia) between 2002 and 2013. In order to evaluate the results, independent ground-based groundwater and soil moisture measurements within each basin are used.

Keywords: data assimilation, GRACE, AMSR-E, hydrological model, EnSRF

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Authors: Chechen Liao, Yi-Jen Huang, Yu-Ting Lu

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This study explores and complements digital aspects. In this study, we construct a research model based on the theory of reasoned action and extend it with the advantages and disadvantages of intangibility (convenience, perceived risk), some characteristics of digital products (price, variety, trialability), and factors related to entertainment (perceived playfulness) to predict what consumers really consider when they buy digital music. Eight hypotheses were tested and supported. Finally, we prove that the theory of reasoned action is still valid in the field of digital products.

Keywords: digital music, digital product, theory of reasoned action

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Authors: Ivanna Shubina

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Background/Objectives and Goals: Recent interest in positive psychology is reflected in a plenty of studies conducted on its basic constructs (e.g. self-esteem and happiness) in interrelation with personality features, social rules, business and technology development. The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating role of self-esteem, exploring the relationships between self-esteem and happiness, self-esteem and locus of control (LOC). It hypothesizes that self-esteem may be interpreted as a predictor of happiness and mediator in the locus of control establishment. A plenty of various empirical studies results have been analyzed in order to collect data for this theoretical study, and some of the analysed results can be considered as arguable or incoherent. However, the majority of results indicate a strong relationship between three considered concepts: self-esteem, happiness, the locus of control. Methods: In particular, this study addresses the following broad research questions: i) Is self-esteem just an index of global happiness? ii) May happiness be possible or realizable without a healthy self-confidence and self-acceptance? iii) To what extent does self-esteem influence on the level of happiness? iv) Is high self-esteem a sufficient condition for happiness? v) Is self-esteem is a strong predictor of internal locus of control maintenance? vi) Is high self-esteem related to internal LOC, while low self-esteem to external LOC? In order to find the answers for listed questions, 60 reliable sources have been analyzed, results of what are discussed more detailed below. Expected Results/Conclusion/Contribution:It is recognized that the relationship between self-esteem, happiness, locus of control is complex: internal LOC is contributing to happiness, but it is not directly related to it; self-esteem is a powerful and important psychological factor in mental health and well-being; the feelings of being worthy and empowered are associated with significant achievements and high self-esteem; strong and appropriate self-esteem (when the discrepancy between “ideal” and “real” self is balanced) is correlated with more internal LOC (when the individual tends to believe that personal achievements depend on possessed features, vigor, and persistence). Despite the special attention paid to happiness, the locus of control and self-esteem, independently, theoretical and empirical equivocations within each literature foreclose many obvious predictions about the nature of their empirical distinction. In terms of theoretical framework, no model has achieved consensus as an ultimate theoretical background for any of the mentioned constructs. To be able to clarify the relationship between self-esteem, happiness, and locus of control more interdisciplinary studies have to take place in order to get data on heterogeneous samples, provided from various countries, cultures, and social groups.

Keywords: happiness, locus of control, self-esteem, mediation

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Authors: Amani Tahat, Serdal Kirmizialtin

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Trajectory fragment methods such as Markov State Models (MSM), Milestoning (MS) and Transition Path sampling are the prime choice of extending the timescale of all atom Molecular Dynamics simulations. In these approaches, a set of structures that covers the accessible phase space has to be chosen a priori using cluster analysis. Structural clustering serves to partition the conformational state into natural subgroups based on their similarity, an essential statistical methodology that is used for analyzing numerous sets of empirical data produced by Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. Local transition kernel among these clusters later used to connect the metastable states using a Markovian kinetic model in MSM and a non-Markovian model in MS. The choice of clustering approach in constructing such kernel is crucial since the high dimensionality of the biomolecular structures might easily confuse the identification of clusters when using the traditional hierarchical clustering methodology. Of particular interest, in the case of MS where the milestones are very close to each other, accurate determination of the milestone identity of the trajectory becomes a challenging issue. Throughout this work we present two cluster analysis methods applied to the cis–trans isomerism of dinucleotide AA. The choice of nucleic acids to commonly used proteins to study the cluster analysis is two fold: i) the energy landscape is rugged; hence transitions are more complex, enabling a more realistic model to study conformational transitions, ii) Nucleic acids conformational space is high dimensional. A diverse set of internal coordinates is necessary to describe the metastable states in nucleic acids, posing a challenge in studying the conformational transitions. Herein, we need improved clustering methods that accurately identify the AA structure in its metastable states in a robust way for a wide range of confused data conditions. The single linkage approach of the hierarchical clustering available in GROMACS MD-package is the first clustering methodology applied to our data. Self Organizing Map (SOM) neural network, that also known as a Kohonen network, is the second data clustering methodology. The performance comparison of the neural network as well as hierarchical clustering method is studied by means of computing the mean first passage times for the cis-trans conformational rates. Our hope is that this study provides insight into the complexities and need in determining the appropriate clustering algorithm for kinetic analysis. Our results can improve the effectiveness of decisions based on clustering confused empirical data in studying conformational transitions in biomolecules.

Keywords: milestoning, self organizing map, single linkage, structure clustering

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Authors: Paul Dunst, Ing. Tobias Hemsel, Ing. Habil. Walter Sextro

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The use of fine powders with high cohesive and adhesive properties leads to challenges during transport, mixing and dosing in industrial processes, which have not been satisfactorily solved so far. Due to the increased contact forces at the transporting parts (e. g. pipe-wall and transport screws), conventional transport systems and also vibratory conveyors reach their limits. Often, flowability increasing additives that need to be removed again in later process steps are the only option to achieve wanted transport results. A rather new ultrasound-assisted powder transport system showed to overcome some of the issues by manipulating the effective friction between powder and transport pipe. Within this contribution, the transport mechanism will be introduced shortly, together with preliminary transport results. As the tangential force of the transport pipe and the powder is the main influencing factor within the transport process, a test stand for measuring tangential forces of a powder-wall contact in the presence of an ultrasonic vibration orthogonal to the contact plane was built. Measurements for a sample powder show that the effective tangential force can already be significantly reduced at very low ultrasonic amplitude. As a result of the measurements, an empirical model for the relationship of tangential force, contact parameters and ultrasonic excitation is presented. This model was used to adjust the driving parameters of the powder transport system, resulting in better performance.

Keywords: powder transport, ultrasound, friction, friction manipulation, vibratory conveyor

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Authors: K. Sekulová, M. Šimon

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This article focuses on upper-extremity musculoskeletal disorders risk assessment model at workplace. In this model are used risk factors that are responsible for musculoskeletal system damage. Based on statistic calculations the model is able to define what risk of MSD threatens workers who are under risk factors. The model is also able to say how MSD risk would decrease if these risk factors are eliminated.

Keywords: ergonomics, musculoskeletal disorders, occupational diseases, risk factors

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Authors: Anthony Usoro

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In this paper, two classes of bilinear time series model are obtained under certain conditions from the general bilinear autoregressive moving average model. Bilinear Autoregressive (BAR) and Bilinear Moving Average (BMA) Models have been identified. From the general bilinear model, BAR and BMA models have been proved to exist for q = Q = 0, => j = 0, and p = P = 0, => i = 0 respectively. These models are found useful in modelling most of the economic and financial data.

Keywords: autoregressive model, bilinear autoregressive model, bilinear moving average model, moving average model

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Authors: Hsiao Hsun Yuan

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Internal marketing was proposed in 1970s. The theory of the concept has continually changed over the past forty years. This study discussed the following themes: the definition and implication of internal marketing, the progress of its development, and the evolution of its theoretical model. Moreover, the study systematically organized the strategies of the internal marketing theory adopted on enterprise and how they were put into practice. It also compared the empirical studies focusing on how the existent theories influenced the important variables of internal marketing. The results of this study are expected to serve as references for future exploration of the boundary and studies aiming at how internal marketing is applied to different types of enterprises.

Keywords: corporate responsibility, employee organizational performance, internal marketing, internal customer

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Authors: Yolanda Ramirez, Angel Tejada, Agustin Baidez

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This paper shows the general perceptions of Spanish university stakeholders in relation to the university’s annual reports and the adequacy and potential of intellectual capital reporting. To this end, a questionnaire was designed and sent to every member of the Social Councils of Spanish public universities. It was thought that these participants would provide a good example of the attitude of university stakeholders since they represent the different social groups connected with universities. From the results of this study we are in the position of confirming the need for universities to offer information on intellectual capital in their accounting information model.

Keywords: intellectual capital, disclosure, stakeholders, universities, annual report

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Authors: Mounir Bekaik, Messaoud Ramdani

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We present in this work a new technique of stabilization for fault nonlinear systems. The approach we adopt focus on a fuzzy Luenverger observer. The T-S approximation of the nonlinear observer is based on fuzzy C-Means clustering algorithm to find local linear subsystems. The MOESP identification approach was applied to design an empirical model describing the subsystems state variables. The gain of the observer is given by the minimization of the estimation error through Lyapunov-krasovskii functional and LMI approach. We consider a three tank hydraulic system for an illustrative example.

Keywords: nonlinear system, fuzzy, faults, TS, Lyapunov-Krasovskii, observer

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Authors: Shank Kulkarni, Alireza Tabarraei

Abstract:

The fantastic properties of polyurea such as flexibility, durability, and chemical resistance have brought it a wide range of application in various industries. Effective prediction of the response of polyurea under different loading and environmental conditions necessitates the development of an accurate constitutive model. Similar to most polymers, the behavior of polyurea depends on both strain and strain rate. Therefore, the constitutive model should be able to capture both these effects on the response of polyurea. To achieve this objective, in this paper, a nonlinear hyper-viscoelastic constitutive model is developed by the superposition of a hyperelastic and a viscoelastic model. The proposed constitutive model can capture the behavior of polyurea under compressive loading conditions at various strain rates. Four parameter Ogden model and Mooney Rivlin model are used to modeling the hyperelastic behavior of polyurea. The viscoelastic behavior is modeled using both a three-parameter standard linear solid (SLS) model and a K-BKZ model. Comparison of the modeling results with experiments shows that Odgen and SLS model can more accurately predict the behavior of polyurea. The material parameters of the model are found by curve fitting of the proposed model to the uniaxial compression test data. The proposed model can closely reproduce the stress-strain behavior of polyurea for strain rates up to 6500 /s.

Keywords: constitutive modelling, ogden model, polyurea, SLS model, uniaxial compression test

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Authors: I GD Yudha Partama, A. Kanno, Y. Akamatsu, R. Inui, M. Goto, M. Sekine

Abstract:

The aerial photogrammetry of shallow water bottoms has the potential to be an efficient high-resolution survey technique for shallow water topography, thanks to the advent of convenient UAV and automatic image processing techniques Structure-from-Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS)). However, it suffers from the systematic overestimation of the bottom elevation, due to the light refraction at the air-water interface. In this study, we present an empirical method to correct for the effect of refraction after the usual SfM-MVS processing, using common software. The presented method utilizes the empirical relation between the measured true depth and the estimated apparent depth to generate an empirical correction factor. Furthermore, this correction factor was utilized to convert the apparent water depth into a refraction-corrected (real-scale) water depth. To examine its effectiveness, we applied the method to two river sites, and compared the RMS errors in the corrected bottom elevations with those obtained by three existing methods. The result shows that the presented method is more effective than the two existing methods: The method without applying correction factor and the method utilizes the refractive index of water (1.34) as correction factor. In comparison with the remaining existing method, which used the additive terms (offset) after calculating correction factor, the presented method performs well in Site 2 and worse in Site 1. However, we found this linear regression method to be unstable when the training data used for calibration are limited. It also suffers from a large negative bias in the correction factor when the apparent water depth estimated is affected by noise, according to our numerical experiment. Overall, the good accuracy of refraction correction method depends on various factors such as the locations, image acquisition, and GPS measurement conditions. The most effective method can be selected by using statistical selection (e.g. leave-one-out cross validation).

Keywords: bottom elevation, MVS, river, SfM

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Authors: Hussein Altartouri

Abstract:

In this paper the kinematic and kinetic models of an omnidirectional holonomic mobile robot is presented. The kinematic and kinetic models form the OmniDrive model. Therefore, a mathematical model for the robot equipped with three- omnidirectional wheels is derived. This model which takes into consideration the kinematics and kinetics of the robot, is developed to state space representation. Relative analysis of the velocities and displacements is used for the kinematics of the robot. Lagrange’s approach is considered in this study for deriving the equation of motion. The drive train and the mechanical assembly only of the Festo Robotino® is considered in this model. Mainly the model is developed for motion control. Furthermore, the model can be used for simulation purposes in different virtual environments not only Robotino® View. Further use of the model is in the mechatronics research fields with the aim of teaching and learning the advanced control theories.

Keywords: mobile robot, omni-direction wheel, mathematical model, holonomic mobile robot

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Authors: T. N. Mac, B. Shahbodaghkhan, N. Khalili

Abstract:

A new elastic-viscoplastic (EVP) constitutive model is proposed for the analysis of time-dependent behavior of clay. The proposed model is based on the bounding surface plasticity and the concept of viscoplastic consistency framework to establish continuous transition from plasticity to rate dependent viscoplasticity. Unlike the overstress based models, this model will meet the consistency condition in formulating the constitutive equation for EVP model. The procedure of deriving the constitutive relationship is also presented. Simulation results and comparisons with experimental data are then presented to demonstrate the performance of the model.

Keywords: bounding surface, consistency theory, constitutive model, viscosity

Procedia PDF Downloads 457