Search results for: scale elasticity

Authors: Itiola Kehinde Adeniran

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The study examined the effect of employees’ training on the performance of small scale enterprises in Oyo State. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 150 respondents through purposive sampling method. Linear regression was used with the aid of statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20 to analyze the data collected in order to examine the effect of independent variable, employees’ training on dependent variable, performance (profit) of small scale enterprises. The result revealed that employees’ training has a significant effect on the performance of small scale enterprises. It was concluded that predictor variable namely (training) is 55.5% variance of enterprises performance (profitability). Therefore, the paper recommended that all small scale enterprises in Nigeria should embrace manpower training and development in order to improve employees’ performance leading to organizational profitability.

Keywords: training, employee performance, small scale enterprise, organizational profitability

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Authors: Mohammed A. Alazawi, Shiguo Jiang, Steven F. Messner

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Research has long focused on two main spatial aspects of crime: spatial patterns and spatial processes. When analyzing these patterns and processes, a key issue has been to determine the proper spatial scale. In addition, it is important to consider the possibility that these patterns and processes might differ appreciably for different temporal scales and might vary across geographic units of analysis. We examine the spatial-temporal dependence of residential burglary. This dependence is tested at varying geographical scales and temporal aggregations. The analyses are based on recorded incidents of crime in Columbus, Ohio during the 1994-2002 period. We implement point pattern analysis on the crime points using Ripley’s K function. The results indicate that spatial point patterns of residential burglary reveal spatial scales of clustering relatively larger than the average size of census tracts of the study area. Also, spatial scale is independent of temporal scale. The results of our analyses concerning the geographic scale of spatial patterns and processes can inform the development of effective policies for crime control.

Keywords: inhomogeneous K function, residential burglary, spatial point pattern, spatial scale, temporal scale

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Authors: R. Hosny, Mahmoud F. Mubarak, Heba M. Salem, Asmaa A. Abdelrahman

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Oilfield scaling is a major problem in the oil and gas industry. Scale issues cost the industry millions of dollars in damage and lost production every year. One of the main causes of global production decline is scale. In this study, solid scale inhibitors based on silver tungstate loaded KIT-6 were synthesized and evaluated in both static and scale inhibition modeling. The silver tungstate loaded KIT-6 catalysts were synthesized via a simple impregnated method using 3D mesoporous KIT-6 as support. The synthesized materials were characterized using wide and low XRD, N2 adsorption–desorption analysis, TGA analysis, and FTIR, SEM, and XPS analysis. The scale inhibition efficiency of the synthesized materials was evaluated using a static scale inhibition test. The results of this study demonstrate the potential application of silver tungstate-loaded KIT-6 solid scale inhibitors for the oil and gas industry. The results of this study will contribute to the development of new and innovative solid scale inhibitors based on silver tungstate-loaded KIT-6. The inhibition efficiency of the scale inhibitor increases, and calcite scale inhibitor decreases with increasing pH (2 to8), it proposes that the scale inhibitor was more effective under alkaline conditions. An inhibition efficiency of 99% on calcium carbonate can be achieved at the optimal dosage of 7.5 ppm at 55oC, indicating that the scale inhibitor exhibits a relatively good inhibition performance on calcium carbonate. The use of these materials can potentially lead to more efficient and cost-effective solutions for scaling inhibition in various industrial processes.

Keywords: produced water treatment, solid scale inhibitors, calcite, silver tungestate, 3 D mesoporous KIT-6, oilfield scales, adsorption

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Authors: F. Bellali, M. Kharroubi, Y. Rady, N. Bourhim

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In Morocco, fish processing industry is an important source income for a large amount of by-products including skins, bones, heads, guts, and scales. Those underutilized resources particularly scales contain a large amount of proteins and calcium. Sardina plichardus scales from resulting from the transformation operation have the potential to be used as raw material for the collagen production. Taking into account this strong expectation of the regional fish industry, scales sardine upgrading is well justified. In addition, political and societal demands for sustainability and environment-friendly industrial production systems, coupled with the depletion of fish resources, drive this trend forward. Therefore, fish scale used as a potential source to isolate collagen has a wide large of applications in food, cosmetic, and biomedical industry. The main aim of this study is to isolate and characterize the acid solubilize collagen from sardine fish scale, Sardina pilchardus. Experimental design methodology was adopted in collagen processing for extracting optimization. The first stage of this work is to investigate the optimization conditions of the sardine scale deproteinization on using response surface methodology (RSM). The second part focus on the demineralization with HCl solution or EDTA. And the last one is to establish the optimum condition for the isolation of collagen from fish scale by solvent extraction. The advancement from lab scale to pilot scale is a critical stage in the technological development. In this study, the optimal condition for the deproteinization which was validated at laboratory scale was employed in the pilot scale procedure. The deproteinization of fish scale was then demonstrated on a pilot scale (2Kg scales, 20l NaOH), resulting in protein content (0,2mg/ml) and hydroxyproline content (2,11mg/l). These results indicated that the pilot-scale showed similar performances to those of lab-scale one.

Keywords: deproteinization, pilot scale, scale, sardine pilchardus

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Authors: Riham Barbar

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This paper studies the dynamic effects of charitable giving in a Ramsey model à la Becker and Foias (1994), such that heterogeneity is reduced to two types of agents: rich and poor. It is assumed that rich show a great concern for poor and enjoy giving. The introduction of charitable giving in this paper is inspired from the notion of Zakat (borrowed from the Islamic Economics) and is defined according to the warm-glow of Andreoni (1990). In this framework, we prove the existence of a steady state where only the patient agent holds capital. Furthermore, we show that local indetermincay appears. While moderate values of charitable-giving elasticity makes the appearance of endogenous fluctuations due to self-fulfilling expectations more likely, high values of this elasticity stabilizes endogenous fluctuations, by narrowing down the range of parameter values compatible with local indeterminacy and may rule out expectations-driven fluctuations if it exceeds certain threshold. Finally, cycles of period two emerge. However, charitable-giving makes it less likely for these cycles to emerge.

Keywords: charitable giving, warm-glow, bifurcations, heterogeneous agents, indeterminacy, self-fulfilling expectations, endogenous fluctuations

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Authors: Anand K. Patel

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Background: Patients with COPD have decreased pulmonary functions, which in turn reflect on their day-to-day activities. Objectives: To assess the correlation between functional vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) with 6 minutes walk test (6MWT). To correlate the Borg rating for perceived exertion scale (Borg scale) and Modified medical research council (MMRC) dyspnea scale with the 6MWT, FVC and FEV1. Method: In this prospective study total 72 patients with COPD diagnosed by the GOLD guidelines were enrolled after taking written consent. They were first asked to rate physical exertion on the Borg scale as well as the modified medical research council dyspnea scale and then were subjected to perform pre and post bronchodilator spirometry followed by 6 minute walk test. The findings were correlated by calculating the Pearson coefficient for each set and obtaining the p-values, with a p < 0.05 being clinically significant. Result: There was a significant correlation between spirometry and 6MWT suggesting that patients with lower measurements were unable to walk for longer distances. However, FVC had the stronger correlation than FEV1. MMRC scale had a stronger correlation with 6MWT as compared to the Borg scale. Conclusion: The study suggests that 6MWT is a better test for monitoring the patients of COPD. In spirometry, FVC should be used in monitoring patients with COPD, instead of FEV1. MMRC scale shows a stronger correlation than the Borg scale, and we should use it more often.

Keywords: spirometry, 6 minute walk test, MMRC, Borg scale

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Authors: Münevver Başman, Deniz Gülleroğlu

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The purpose of this study is to develop a scale to determine the attitudes towards social networking sites. 45 tryout items, prepared for this aim, were applied to 342 students studying at Marmara University, Faculty of Education. The reliability and the validity of the scale were conducted with the help of these students. As a result of exploratory factor analysis with Varimax rotation, 41 items grouped according to the structure with three factors (interest, reality and negative effects) is obtained. While alpha reliability of the scale is obtained as .899; the reliability of factors is obtained as .899, .799, .775, respectively.

Keywords: Attitude, reliability, social networking sites, validity.

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Authors: Marie Madeleine Nanga Ndjang, Julie Mathilde Klang, Edwin M. Mmutlane, Derek Tantoh Ndinteh, Eugenie Kayitesi, Francois Ngoufack Zambou

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Gluten intolerance and the unavailability of wheat flour in some parts of the world have led to the development of gluten-free bread. However, gluten-free bread generally results in a low specific volume, and to remedy this, the use of hydrocolloids and bases has proved to be very successful. Thus, the present study aims to determine the optimal proportions of gum extract of Triumffetapentendraand sodium bicarbonate in breadmaking of a composite flour based on sour cassava starch, peanut, and cowpea flour. To achieve this, a BoxBenkhendesign was used, the variable being the amount of extract gums, the amount of bicarbonate, and the amount of water. The responses evaluated were the specific volume and texture properties (Hardness, Cohesiveness, Consistency, Elasticity, and Masticability). The specific volume was done according to standard methods of AACC and the textural properties by a texture analyzer. It appears from this analysis that the specific volume is positively influenced by the incorporation of extract gums, bicarbonate, and water. The hardness, consistency, and plasticity increased with the incorporation rate of extract gums but reduced with the incorporation rate of bicarbonate and water. On the other hand, Cohesion and elasticity increased with the incorporation rate of bicarbonate and water but reduced with the incorporation of extract gum. The optimate proportions of extract gum, bicarbonate, and water are 0.28;1.99, and 112.5, respectively. This results in a specific volume of 1.51; a hardness of 38.51; a cohesiveness of 0.88; a consistency of 32.86; an elasticity of 5.57, and amasticability of 162.35. Thus, this analysis suggests that gum extracts and sodium bicarbonate can be used to improve the quality of gluten-free bread.

Keywords: box benkhen design, bread-making, gums, textures properties, specific volume

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Authors: Jia-Jang Wu

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This paper presents the scaling laws that provide the criteria of geometry and dynamic similitude between the full-size rotor-shaft system and its scale model, and can be used to predict the torsional vibration characteristics of the full-size rotor-shaft system by manipulating the corresponding data of its scale model. The scaling factors, which play fundamental roles in predicting the geometry and dynamic relationships between the full-size rotor-shaft system and its scale model, for torsional free vibration problems between scale and full-size rotor-shaft systems are firstly obtained from the equation of motion of torsional free vibration. Then, the scaling factor of external force (i.e., torque) required for the torsional forced vibration problems is determined based on the Newton’s second law. Numerical results show that the torsional free and forced vibration characteristics of a full-size rotor-shaft system can be accurately predicted from those of its scale models by using the foregoing scaling factors. For this reason, it is believed that the presented approach will be significant for investigating the relevant phenomenon in the scale model tests.

Keywords: torsional vibration, full-size model, scale model, scaling laws

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Authors: Young-Kwang Lee, Eun-Gu Ji, Min-Joo Kim, Seung-Jae Oh

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The purpose of this study is to develop a social participation activity scale for the elderly. As a result of exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using maximum likelihood method using bundled items. In conclusion, thirteen items of social participation activity scale seemed appropriate. Finally, convergent validity and discriminant validity were verified on the scale with the fit. The convergent validity was based on the variance extracted value. In other words, the hypothesis that the variables are the same is rejected and the validity is confirmed. This study extensively considered the measurement items of the social participation activity scale used to measure social participation activities of the elderly. In the future, it will be meaningful that it can be used as a tool to verify the effectiveness of services in organizations that provide social welfare services to elderly people such as comprehensive social welfare centers and the elderly comprehensive social welfare centers.

Keywords: elderly, social participation, scale development, validity

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Authors: Ali Oveysi Sarabi

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The dimensions of nanostructures are in the range of inter-atomic spacing of the structures which makes them impossible to be modeled as a continuum. Nanoscale size-effects on vibration analysis of nanobeams embedded in an elastic medium is investigated using different types of beam theory. To this end, Eringen’s nonlocal elasticity is incorporated to various beam theories namely as Euler-Bernoulli beam theory (EBT), Timoshenko beam theory (TBT), Reddy beam theory (RBT), and Levinson beam theory (LBT). The surrounding elastic medium is simulated with both Winkler and Pasternak foundation models and the difference between them is studies. Explicit formulas are presented to obtain the natural frequencies of nanobeam corresponding to each nonlocal beam theory. Selected numerical results are given for different values of the non-local parameter, Winkler modulus parameter, Pasternak modulus parameter and aspect ratio of the beam that imply the effects of them, separately. It is observed that the values of natural frequency are strongly dependent on the stiffness of elastic medium and the value of the non-local parameter and these dependencies varies with the value of aspect ratio and mode number.

Keywords: nanobeams, free vibration, nonlocal elasticity, winkler foundation model, Pasternak foundation model, beam theories

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Authors: K. Bourouni, M. Chacha, T. Jaber, A. Tchantchane

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In Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) desalination evaporators, the scale deposit outside the tubes presents a barrier to heat transfers reducing the global heat transfer coefficient and causing a decrease in water production; hence a loss of efficiency and an increase in operating and maintenance costs. Scale removal (by acid cleaning) is the main maintenance operation and constitutes the major reason for periodic plant shutdowns. A better understanding of scale deposition mechanisms will lead to an accurate determination of the variation of scale thickness around the tubes and an improved accuracy of the overall heat transfer coefficient calculation. In this paper, a coupled heat transfer-calcium carbonate scale deposition model on a horizontal tube bundle is presented. The developed tool is used to determine precisely the heat transfer area leading to a significant cost reduction for a given water production capacity. Simulations are carried to investigate the influence of different parameters such as water salinity, temperature, etc. on the heat transfer.

Keywords: multi-effect-evaporator, scale deposition, water desalination, heat transfer coefficient

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Authors: Said Yousif Khairi

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Being a developing economy, imports of capital, raw materials and manufactories goods are vital for sustainable economic growth. In 2006, Libya imported LD 8 billion (US$ 6.25 billion) which composed of mainly machinery and transport equipment (49.3%), raw material (18%), and food products and live animals (13%). This represented about 10% of GDP. Thus, it is pertinent to investigate factors affecting the amount of Libyan imports. An econometric model representing the aggregate import demand for Libya was developed and estimated using the bounds test procedure, which based on an unrestricted error correction model (UECM). The data employed for the estimation was from 1970–2010. The results of the bounds test revealed that the volume of imports and its determinants namely real income, consumer price index and exchange rate are co-integrated. The findings indicate that the demand for imports is inelastic with respect to income, index price level and The exchange rate variable in the short run is statistically significant. In the long run, the income elasticity is elastic while the price elasticity and the exchange rate remains inelastic. This indicates that imports are important elements for Libyan economic growth in the long run.

Keywords: import demand, UECM, bounds test, Libya

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Authors: Prasanjit Das, M .M. K. Khan, M. G. Rasul, Jie Wu, I. Youn

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Crystallisation scale occurs when dissolved minerals precipitate from an aqueous solution. To investigate the crystallisation scale growth of normal solubility salt, a lab-scale agitation tank with and without baffles were used as a benchmark using potassium nitrate as the test fluid. Potassium nitrate (KNO3) solution in this test leads to crystallisation scale on heat transfer surfaces. This experimental investigation has focused on the effect of surface crystallisation of potassium nitrate on the low-temperature heat exchange surfaces on the wall of the agitation tank. The impeller agitation rate affects the scaling rate at the low-temperature agitation wall and it shows a decreasing scaling rate with an increasing agitation rate. It was observed that there was a significant variation of heat transfer coefficients and scaling resistance coefficients with different agitation rate as well as with varying impeller size, tank with and without baffles and solution concentration.

Keywords: crystallisation, heat transfer coefficient, scale, resistance

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Authors: Chia-Chun Wu, Ying-Yao Cheng

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The purpose of this study was developing the 'short-form BASIC scale' psychotic tendencies subscale so as to provide a more efficient, economical and effective way to assess the mental health of recruits. 1749 students from Naval Recruit Training Center participated in this study. The multidimensional constructs of psychotic tendencies subscale include four dimensions: schizophrenic tendencies, manic tendencies, depression tendencies, and suicidal ideation. We cut down the 36-item psychotic tendencies subscale to 25 items by using multidimension Rasch techniques. They were applied to assess model-data fit and to provide the validity evidence of the short form BASIC scale of psychotic tendencies subscale. The person separation reliabilities of the measures from four dimensions were .70, .67, .74 and .57, respectively. In addition, there is a notable correlation between the length version and short version of schizophrenic tendencies (scaled .89), manic tendencies (.96), depression tendencies (.97) and suicidal ideation (.97). The results have indicated that the development of the study of short-form scale sufficient to replace the original scale. Therefore, it is suggested that short-form basic scale is used to assess the mental health with participants being more willing to answer questions to ensure the validation of assessments.

Keywords: BASIC scale, military, Rasch analysis, short-form scale

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Authors: Simone Tedeschi, Francesco Crespi, Paolo Liberati, Massimo Paradiso, Antonio Sciala

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This paper aims at contributing to the understanding of smokers’ responses to cigarette prices increases with a focus on heterogeneity, both across individuals and price levels. To do this, a stated preference quasi-experimental design grounded in a random utility framework is proposed to evaluate the effect on smokers’ utility of the price level and variation, along with social conditioning and health impact perception. The analysis is based on individual-level data drawn from a unique survey gathering very detailed information on Italian smokers’ habits. In particular, qualitative information on the individual reactions triggered by changes in prices of different magnitude and composition are exploited. The main findings stemming from the analysis are the following; the average price elasticity of cigarette consumption is comparable with previous estimates for advanced economies (-.32). However, the decomposition of this result across five latent-classes of smokers, reveals extreme heterogeneity in terms of price responsiveness, implying a potential price elasticity that ranges between 0.05 to almost 1. Such heterogeneity is in part explained by observable characteristics such as age, income, gender, education as well as (current and lagged) smoking intensity. Moreover, price responsiveness is far from being independent from the size of the prospected price increase. Finally, by comparing even and uneven price variations, it is shown that uniform across-brand price increases are able to limit the scope of product substitutions and downgrade. Estimated price-response heterogeneity has significant implications for tax policy. Among them, first, it provides evidence and a rationale for why the aggregate price elasticity is likely to follow a strictly increasing pattern as a function of the experienced price variation. This information is crucial for forecasting the effect of a given tax-driven price change on tax revenue. Second, it provides some guidance on how to design excise tax reforms to balance public health and revenue goals.

Keywords: smoking behaviour, preference heterogeneity, price responsiveness, cigarette taxation, random utility models

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Authors: M. Kamal Elbokl

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The beneficial effects of reinforcing the subgrade soil in pavement system with randomly distributed polypropylene fibers were investigated. For this issue, two types of soils and one type of fiber were selected. Proctor, CBR and unconfined compression tests were conducted on unreinforced samples as well as reinforced ones at different concentrations and aspect ratio of fibers. OMC, CBR and modulus of elasticity were investigated and thereby, the optimum value of aspect ratio and fiber content were determined. The static and repeated triaxial tests were also conducted to study the behaviour of fiber reinforced soils under both static and repeated loading. The results indicated that CBR values of reinforced sand and clay were 3.1 and 4.2 times of their unreinforced values respectively. The modulus of elasticity of fiber reinforced soils has increased by 100% for silty sandy soil and 60.20% for silty clay soil due to fiber reinforcement. The reinforced soils exhibited higher failure stresses in the static triaxial tests than the unreinforced ones due to the apparent bond developed between soil particle and the fiber. Fiber reinforcement of subgrade soils can play an important role in control the rut formation in the pavement system.

Keywords: polypropylene fibers, CBR, static triaxial, cyclic triaxial, resilient strain, permanent strain

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Authors: Yawen Wang, Hongchang Chen, Shaomei Li, Chao Gao, Jiangpeng Zhang

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As the main challenge for target tracking is accounting for target scale change and real-time, we combine Mean-Shift and PCA-SIFT algorithm together to solve the problem. We introduce similarity comparison method to determine how the target scale changes, and taking different strategies according to different situation. For target scale getting larger will cause location error, we employ backward tracking to reduce the error. Mean-Shift algorithm has poor performance when tracking scale-changing target due to the fixed bandwidth of its kernel function. In order to overcome this problem, we introduce PCA-SIFT matching. Through key point matching between target and template, that adjusting the scale of tracking window adaptively can be achieved. Because this algorithm is sensitive to wrong match, we introduce RANSAC to reduce mismatch as far as possible. Furthermore target relocating will trigger when number of match is too small. In addition we take comprehensive consideration about target deformation and error accumulation to put forward a new template update method. Experiments on five image sequences and comparison with 6 kinds of other algorithm demonstrate favorable performance of the proposed tracking algorithm.

Keywords: target tracking, PCA-SIFT, mean-shift, scale-adaptive

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Authors: Sukaesi Marianti

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This study aims to develop the Relational Mobility Scale for the Indonesian population and to investigate its psychometric properties. New items of the scale were created taking into account the Indonesian population which consists of two parallel forms (A and A’). This study uses 30 newly orchestrated items while keeping in mind the characteristics of the targeted population. The scale was administered to 433 public high school students in Malang, Indonesia. Construct validity of its factor structure was demonstrated using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The result exhibits that he model fits the data, and that the delayed alternate form method shows acceptable result. Results yielded that 21 items of the three-dimensional Relational Mobility Scale is suitable for measuring relational mobility in high school students of Indonesian population.

Keywords: confirmatory factor analysis, delayed alternate form, Indonesian population, relational mobility scale

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Authors: Matthew T. McCarthy, Sarah Janse, Natalie M. Pizzimenti, Anthony K. Savino, Brian Crosser, Sean C. Rose

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Concussion is diagnosed clinically using a comprehensive history and exam, supported by ancillary testing. Frequently, symptom checklists are used as part of the evaluation of concussion. Existing symptom scales are based on a subjective Likert scale, without relation of symptoms to clinical or functional impairment. This is a retrospective review of 133 patients under age 30 seen in an outpatient neurology practice within 30 days of a probable or definite concussion. Each patient completed 2 symptom checklists at the initial visit – the SCAT-3 symptom evaluation (22 symptoms, 0-6 scale) and a scale based on the degree of clinical impairment for each symptom (22 symptoms, 0-3 scale related to functional impact of the symptom). Final clearance date was determined by the treating physician. 60.9% of patients were male with mean age 15.7 years (SD 2.3). Mean time from concussion to first visit was 6.9 days (SD 6.2), and 101 patients had definite concussions (75.9%), while 32 were diagnosed as probable (24.1%). 94 patients had a known clearance date (70.7%) with mean clearance time of 20.6 days (SD 18.6) and median clearance time of 19 days (95% CI 16-21). Mean total symptom score was 27.2 (SD 22.9) on the SCAT-3 and 14.7 (SD 11.9) for the functional impairment scale. Pearson’s correlation between the two scales was 0.98 (p < 0.001). After adjusting for patient and injury characteristics, an equivalent increase in score on each scale was associated with longer time to clearance (SCAT-3 hazard ratio 0.885, 95%CI 0.835-0.938, p < 0.001; functional impairment scale hazard ratio 0.851, 95%CI 0.802-0.902, p < 0.001). A concussion symptom scale based on degree of functional impairment correlates strongly with the SCAT-3 scale and demonstrates a similar association with time to clearance. By assessing the degree of impact on clinical functioning, this symptom scale reflects a more intuitive approach to rating symptoms and can be used in the management of concussion.

Keywords: checklist, concussion, neurology, scale, sports, symptoms

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Authors: Ijaz Ul Haq, Fiorenzo Franceschini

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The distributed manufacturing methodology brings a new concept of decentralized manufacturing operations close to the proximity of end users. A preliminary scale, to measure distributed capacity and evaluate positioning of firms, is developed in this research. In the first part of the paper, a literature review has been performed which highlights the explorative nature of the studies conducted to present definitions and classifications due to novelty of this topic. From literature, five dimensions of distributed manufacturing development stages have been identified: localization, manufacturing technologies, customization and personalization, digitalization and democratization of design. Based on these determinants a conceptual scale is proposed to measure the status of distributed manufacturing of a generic firm. A multiple case study is then conducted in two steps to test the conceptual scale and to identify the corresponding level of distributed potential in each case study firm.

Keywords: distributed manufacturing, distributed capacity, localized production, ordinal scale

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Authors: Yiannis Koumpouros, Effie Papageorgiou, Alexandra Karavasili, Foteini Koureta

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The objective of the present study was to develop a scale called PYTHEIA. The PYTHEIA is a self-reported measure for the assessment of rehabilitation and assistive robotics and other assistive technology devices. The development of PYTHEIA faced the absence of a valid instrument that can be used to evaluate the assistive robotic devices both as a whole, as well as any of their individual components or functionalities implemented. According to the results presented, PYTHEIA is a valid and reliable scale able to be applied to different target groups for the subjective evaluation of various assistive technology devices.

Keywords: rehabilitation, assistive technology, assistive robots, rehabilitation robots, scale, psychometric test, assessment, validation, user satisfaction

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Authors: Mohammed Abbas Al-Jumaili

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There are some studies which have been conducted in resent years to investigate the possibility of producing high performance polymer concrete. However, despite the great important of this subject, very limited amount of literature is available about the strength and performance of this type of concrete in case using in rigid pavement highway. In this study, the possibility of producing high performance polymer concrete by using Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) emulsion with various (SBR) percents of 5,10 ,15, and 20 % by weight of cement has been investigated. The compressive, splitting tensile and flexural strengths and dynamic modulus of elasticity tests were conducted after age of 7 and 28 days for control without polymer and SBR concretes. A total of (30) cubes, (30) cylinders and (30) prisms were prepared using different types of concrete mixes. The AASHTO guide-1993 method was used to determine slab concrete thickness of rigid pavement highway in case of using various SBR polymer concrete mixture types. The research results indicate that the use of 10% SBR by weight of cement leads to produce high performance concrete especially with regard to mechanical properties and structural relative to corresponding control concrete.

Keywords: rigid pavement highway, styrene–butadiene rubber (SBR) latex, compressive test, splitting tensile test, flexural test and dynamic modulus of elasticity test

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Authors: Gaurav Datta, Sourav Ghosh, Rahul Roy

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The incorporation of silica fume into the normal concrete is a routine one in the present days to produce the tailor made high strength and high performance concrete. The design parameters are increasing with the incorporation of silica fume in conventional concrete and the mix proportioning is becoming complex. The main objective of this paper has been made to investigate the different mechanical properties like compressive strength, permeability, porosity, density, modulus of elasticity, compacting factor, slump of concrete incorporating silica fume. In this present paper 5 (five) mix of concrete incorporating silica fume is cast to perform experiments. These experiments were carried out by replacing cement with different percentages of silica fume at a single constant water-cementitious materials ratio keeping other mix design variables constant. The silica fume was replaced by 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% for water-cementitious materials (w/cm) ratio for 0.40. For all mixes compressive strengths were determined at 24 hours, 7 and 28 days for 100 mm and 150 mm cubes. Other properties like permeability, porosity, density, modulus of elasticity, compacting factor, and slump were also determined for five mixes of concrete.

Keywords: high performance concrete, high strength concrete, silica fume, strength

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Authors: Sohail Zafar, Sardar Javaid Iqbal Khan

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We use a parametric approach within a translog cost function framework to estimate the economies of scale in National Bank of Pakistan from 1997 to 2013. The results indicate significant economies of scale throughout the sample at aggregates and disaggregates taking in account size subject to stipulation ownership. The factor markets often produce scale inefficiencies in the banking of developing countries like Pakistan such inefficiencies are common due to distortion in factor markets leading to the use of inappropriate factor proportions. The findings suggest that National Bank of Pakistan diversify their asset portfolios that it has cost advantage, therefore, expansion in size should be encouraged under current technology because it appears to be cost effective. In addition, our findings support the implementation of universal banking model in Pakistan.

Keywords: scale economies, cost function, disaggregates, aggregates

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Authors: Vishal Kumar Singh

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Bioprocess development is a time-constrained activity aimed at harnessing the full potential of culture performance in an ambience that is not natural to cells. Even with the use of chemically defined media and feeds, a significant amount of time is devoted in identifying the apt operating parameters. In addition, the scale-up of these processes is often accompanied by loss of antibody titer and product quality, which further delays the commercialization of the drug product. In such a scenario, the investigation of this disparity of culture performance is done by further experimentation at a smaller scale that is representative of at-scale production bioreactors. These scale-down model developments are also time-intensive. In this study, a computation fluid dynamics-based multi-objective scaling approach has been illustrated to speed up the process transfer. For the implementation of this approach, a transient multiphase water-air system has been studied in Ansys CFX to visualize the air bubble distribution and volumetric mass transfer coefficient (kLa) profiles, followed by the design of experiment based parametric optimization approach to define the operational space. The proposed approach is completely in silico and requires minimum experimentation, thereby rendering a high throughput to the overall process development.

Keywords: bioprocess development, scale up, scale down, computation fluid dynamics, multi-objective, Ansys CFX, design of experiment

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Authors: Shashank Tiwari, S. P. Mahapatra

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The aim of this technique is to reduce the steps of process scales up, save time & cost of the industries. This technique will minimise the steps of process scale up. The new steps are, Novel Lab Scale, Novel Lab Scale Trials, Novel Trial Batches, Novel Exhibit Batches, Novel Validation Batches. In these steps, it is not divided to validation batches in three parts but the data of trials batches, Exhibit Batches and Validation batches are use and compile for production and used for validation. It also increases the batch size of the trial, exhibit batches. The new size of trials batches is not less than fifty Thousand, the exhibit batches increase up to two lack and the validation batches up to five lack. After preparing the batches all their data & drugs use for stability & maintain the validation record and compile data for the technology transfer in production department for preparing the marketed size batches.

Keywords: batches, technique, preparation, scale up, validation

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Authors: Xiaohua Zhu, Lingling Ma, Yongguang Zhao

Abstract:

Leaf Area Index (LAI) is a key structural characteristic of crops and plays a significant role in precision agricultural management and farmland ecosystem modeling. However, LAI retrieved from different resolution data contain a scaling bias due to the spatial heterogeneity and model non-linearity, that is, there is scale effect during multi-scale LAI estimate. In this article, a typical farmland in semi-arid regions of Chinese Inner Mongolia is taken as the study area, based on the combination of PROSPECT model and SAIL model, a multiple dimensional Look-Up-Table (LUT) is generated for multiple crops LAI estimation from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) hyperspectral data. Based on Taylor expansion method and computational geometry model, a scale transfer model considering both difference between inter- and intra-class is constructed for scale effect analysis of LAI inversion over inhomogeneous surface. The results indicate that, (1) the LUT method based on classification and parameter sensitive analysis is useful for LAI retrieval of corn, potato, sunflower and melon on the typical farmland, with correlation coefficient R2 of 0.82 and root mean square error RMSE of 0.43m2/m-2. (2) The scale effect of LAI is becoming obvious with the decrease of image resolution, and maximum scale bias is more than 45%. (3) The scale effect of inter-classes is higher than that of intra-class, which can be corrected efficiently by the scale transfer model established based Taylor expansion and Computational geometry. After corrected, the maximum scale bias can be reduced to 1.2%.

Keywords: leaf area index (LAI), scale effect, UAV-based hyperspectral data, look-up-table (LUT), remote sensing

Procedia PDF Downloads 419

Authors: Pitsanu Poonpetpun, Witthaya Mekhum, Warangkana Kongsil

Abstract:

This research was an attempt to study work motivation of employees in Siam Thai Co., Ltd. The study took place in Rayong with 59 employees as participants. The research tool was questionnaires which consisted of sets of questions about company’s policy, management, executives and good relationship within the firm. The questionnaires style was rating scale with 5 score bands. The questionnaires were analyzed by percentage, frequency, mean and standard deviation. From the study, the result showed that policy and management were in moderate scale, executive and managers were in moderate scale and relationship within the firm were in high scale.

Keywords: motivation, job, performance, employees

Procedia PDF Downloads 232

Authors: Wei Zhang, Lifen Zhao

Abstract:

The present study aims to translate and validate the Career Motivation Scale among Chinese university and vocational college teachers. Exploratory factor analysis supported a three-factor structure that was consistent with the original structure of career motivation: career insight, career identity, and career resilience. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that a second-order three-factor model with correlated measurement errors best fit the data. Configural, metric, and scalar invariance models were tested, demonstrating that the Chinese version of the Career Motivation Scale did not differ across groups of school type, educational level, and working years in current institutions. The concurrent validity of the Chinese Career Motivation Scale was confirmed by its significant correlations with work engagement, career adaptability, career satisfaction, job crafting, and intention to quit. The results of the study indicated that the Chinese Career Motivation Scale was a valid and reliable measure of career motivation among university and vocational college teachers in China.

Keywords: career motivation scale, Chinese University, vocational college teachers, measurement invariance, validation

Procedia PDF Downloads 96