Search results for: higher education studies
2826 Spatial thinking Issues: Towards Rural Sociological Research Agenda in the Third Millennium
Authors: Abdel-Samad M. Ali
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Does the spatial perspective provide a common thread for rural sociology? Have rural sociologists succeeded in bringing order to their data using spatial analysis models and techniques? A trial answer to such questions, as touchstones of theoretical and applied sociological studies in rural areas, is the point at issue in the present paper. Spatial analyses have changed the way rural sociologists approach scientific problems. Rural sociology is spatial by nature because much, if not most, of its research topics has a spatial “awareness." However, such spatial awareness is not quite the same as spatial analysis because it is not typically associated with underlying theories and hypotheses about spatial patterns that are designed to be tested for their specific spatial content. This paper presents pressing issues for future research to reintroduce mainstream rural sociology to the concept of space.
Keywords: Maps, Rural Sociology, Space, Spatial variations
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19752825 A Comparison of Dilute Sulfuric and Phosphoric Acid Pretreatments in Biofuel Production from Corncobs
Authors: Jirakarn Nantapipat, Apanee Luengnaruemitchai, Sujitra Wongkasemjit
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Biofuels, like biobutanol, have been recognized for being renewable and sustainable fuels which can be produced from lignocellulosic biomass. To convert lignocellulosic biomass to biofuel, pretreatment process is an important step to remove hemicelluloses and lignin to improve enzymatic hydrolysis. Dilute acid pretreatment has been successful developed for pretreatment of corncobs and the optimum conditions of dilute sulfuric and phosphoric acid pretreatment were obtained at 120 °C for 5 min with 15:1 liquid to solid ratio and 140 °C for 10 min with 10:1 liquid to solid ratio, respectively. The result shows that both of acid pretreatments gave the content of total sugar approximately 34–35 g/l. In case of inhibitor content (furfural), phosphoric acid pretreatment gives higher than sulfuric acid pretreatment. Characterizations of corncobs after pretreatment indicate that both of acid pretreatments can improve enzymatic accessibility and the better results present in corncobs pretreated with sulfuric acid in term of surface area, crystallinity, and composition analysis.Keywords: Corncobs, Pretreatment, Sulfuric acid, Phosphoric acid.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 34422824 Estimation of Seismic Deformation Demands of Tall Buildings with Symmetric Setbacks
Authors: A. Alirezaei, S. Vahdani
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This study estimates the seismic demands of tall buildings with central symmetric setbacks by using nonlinear time history analysis. Three setback structures, all 60-story high with setback in three levels, are used for evaluation. The effects of irregularities occurred by setback are evaluated by determination of global-drift, story-displacement and story drift. Story-displacement is modified by roof displacement and first story displacement and story drift is modified by global drift. All results are calculated at the center of mass and in x and y direction. Also the absolute values of these quantities are determined. The results show that increasing of vertical irregularities increases the global drift of the structure and enlarges the deformations in the height of the structure. It is also observed that the effects of geometry irregularity in the seismic deformations of setback structures are higher than those of mass irregularity.
Keywords: Deformation demand, drift, setback, tall building.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22772823 Inadequate Requirements Engineering Process: A Key Factor for Poor Software Development in Developing Nations: A Case Study
Authors: K. Adu Michael, K. Alese Boniface
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Developing a reliable and sustainable software products is today a big challenge among up–coming software developers in Nigeria. The inability to develop a comprehensive problem statement needed to execute proper requirements engineering process is missing. The need to describe the ‘what’ of a system in one document, written in a natural language is a major step in the overall process of Software Engineering. Requirements Engineering is a process use to discover, analyze and validate system requirements. This process is needed in reducing software errors at the early stage of the development of software. The importance of each of the steps in Requirements Engineering is clearly explained in the context of using detailed problem statement from client/customer to get an overview of an existing system along with expectations from the new system. This paper elicits inadequate Requirements Engineering principle as the major cause of poor software development in developing nations using a case study of final year computer science students of a tertiary-education institution in Nigeria.
Keywords: Client/Customer, Problem Statement, Requirements Engineering, Software Developers.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24642822 The Impact of Bus Rapid Transit on Land Development: A Case Study of Beijing, China
Authors: Taotao Deng, John D. Nelson
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Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has emerged as a cost-effective transport system for urban mobility. However its ability to stimulate land development remains largely unexplored. The study makes use of qualitative (interview method) and quantitative analysis (questionnaire survey and longitudinal analysis of property data) to investigate land development impact resulting from BRT in Beijing, China. The empirical analysis suggests that BRT has a positive impact on the residential and commercial property attractiveness along the busway corridor. The statistical analysis suggests that accessibility advantage conferred by BRT is capitalized into higher property price. The average price of apartments adjacent to a BRT station has gained a relatively faster increase than those not served by the BRT system. The capitalization effect mostly occurs after the full operation of BRT, and is more evident over time and particularly observed in areas which previously lack alternative mobility opportunity.
Keywords: accessibility, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Beijing, property value uplift
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 46152821 Wind Fragility for Honeycomb Roof Cladding Panels Using Screw Pull-Out Capacity
Authors: Viriyavudh Sim, Woo Young Jung
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The failure of roof cladding mostly occurs due to the failing of the connection between claddings and purlins, which is the pull-out of the screw connecting the two parts when the pull-out load, i.e. typhoon, is higher than the resistance of the connection screw. As typhoon disasters in Korea are constantly on the rise, probability risk assessment (PRA) has become a vital tool to evaluate the performance of civil structures. In this study, we attempted to determine the fragility of roof cladding with the screw connection. Experimental study was performed to evaluate the pull-out resistance of screw joints between honeycomb panels and back frames. Subsequently, by means of Monte Carlo Simulation method, probability of failure for these types of roof cladding was determined. The results that the failure of roof cladding was depends on their location on the roof, for example, the edge most panel has the highest probability of failure.Keywords: Monte Carlo Simulation, roof cladding, screw pull-out strength, wind fragility
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9652820 ME/CFS Health Outcomes: The Interaction of Mode of Illness Onset and Psychiatric Comorbidity
Authors: Mary Gloria C. Njoku, Leonard A. Jason, Nicole Porter, Molly Brown
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The objective of this study was to examine the interaction between mode of illness onset and psychiatric comorbidity on the health outcomes of persons with ME/CFS. A total of 114 individuals with ME/CFS participated in this study. Individuals completed a battery of baseline measures including the fatigue severity scale and measures of disability. Findings indicated that those with sudden illness onset had more impaired physical health functioning. In addition, among individuals with sudden onset, those without psychiatric comorbidity had greater fatigue severity and lower overall physical health than those with psychiatric comordibity. In contrast, among individuals with gradual illness onset, those with psychiatric comorbity had higher fatigue severity than those without comorbid psychiatric disorders. The health outcomes of individuals who have ME/CFS with or without psychiatric comorbidity are impacted by the mode of illness onset and this suggest that it is important to examine these factors in future research.Keywords: Health Outcomes, ME/CFS, Mode of Illness Onset, Psychiatric Comorbidity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20192819 Development of a New Piezoelectrically Actuated Micropump for Liquid and Gas
Authors: Chiang-Ho Cheng, An-Shik Yang, Chih-Jer Lin, Chun-Ying Lee
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This paper aims to present the design, fabrication and test of a novel piezoelectric actuated, check-valves embedded micropump having the advantages of miniature size, light weight and low power consumption. This device is designed to pump gases and liquids with the capability of performing the self-priming and bubble-tolerant work mode by maximizing the stroke volume of the membrane as well as the compression ratio via minimization of the dead volume of the micropump chamber and channel. By experiment apparatus setup, we can get the real-time values of the flow rate of micropump, the displacement of the piezoelectric actuator and the deformation of the check valve, simultaneously. The micropump with check valve 0.4 mm in thickness obtained higher output performance under the sinusoidal waveform of 120 Vpp. The micropump achieved the maximum pumping rates of 42.2 ml/min and back pressure of 14.0 kPa at the corresponding frequency of 28 and 20 Hz. The presented micropump is able to pump gases with a pumping rate of 196 ml/min at operating frequencies of 280 Hz under the sinusoidal waveform of 120 Vpp.
Keywords: Actuator, Check-valve, Micropump, Piezoelectric.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21952818 The Competitive Newsvendor Game with Overestimated Demand
Authors: Chengli Liu, C. K. M. Lee
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The tradition competitive newsvendor game assumes decision makers are rational. However, there are behavioral biases when people make decisions, such as loss aversion, mental accounting and overconfidence. Overestimation of a subject’s own performance is one type of overconfidence. The objective of this research is to analyze the impact of the overestimated demand in the newsvendor competitive game with two players. This study builds a competitive newsvendor game model where newsvendors have private information of their demands, which is overestimated. At the same time, demands of each newsvendor forecasted by a third party institution are available. This research shows that the overestimation leads to demand steal effect, which reduces the competitor’s order quantity. However, the overall supply of the product increases due to overestimation. This study illustrates the boundary condition for the overestimated newsvendor to have the equilibrium order drop due to the demand steal effect from the other newsvendor. A newsvendor who has higher critical fractile will see its equilibrium order decrease with the drop of estimation level from the other newsvendor.
Keywords: Bias, competitive newsvendor, Nash equilibrium, overestimation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14822817 An Introduction to Methods and Technologies Applied for Reduction of Energy Consumption in Transportation Sector and Air Pollution in Iran
Authors: Eshagh Rasouli Sarabi, Mir Saeed Moosavi
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In Iran, due to abundance of energy resources, energy consumption is extraordinarily higher than international standards and transportation sector is considered to be one of the major consumers of energy. Moreover, air pollution in urban areas as a result of high dependence on private vehicle and lower standards of vehicles, high subsidies spent on fuel and time waste due to traffic congestion in urban areas all have led to speculations on new strategies and policies in order to control energy consumption in transportation sector. These strategies and policies will be introduced in this paper and their consequences will be analyzed with consideration to socio-economic factors affecting the urban society of Iran. Besides, the intention is to suggest and analyze new approaches such as broader application of public transportation system, demand management in transport sector, replacement of deteriorated vehicles, quality improvement in car manufacture and introduction of substitute fuels.
Keywords: Consumption, energy, fuel, transportation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16342816 Investigation of the Main Trends of Tourist Expenses in Georgia
Authors: Nino Abesadze, Marine Mindorashvili, Nino Paresashvili
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The main purpose of the article is to make complex statistical analysis of tourist expenses of foreign visitors. We used mixed technique of selection that implies rules of random and proportional selection. Computer software SPSS was used to compute statistical data for corresponding analysis. Corresponding methodology of tourism statistics was implemented according to international standards. Important information was collected and grouped from the major Georgian airports. Techniques of statistical observation were prepared. A representative population of foreign visitors and a rule of selection of respondents were determined. We have a trend of growth of tourist numbers and share of tourists from post-soviet countries constantly increases. Level of satisfaction with tourist facilities and quality of service has grown, but still we have a problem of disparity between quality of service and prices. The design of tourist expenses of foreign visitors is diverse; competitiveness of tourist products of Georgian tourist companies is higher.
Keywords: Tourist, expenses, methods, statistics, analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9542815 VaR Forecasting in Times of Increased Volatility
Authors: Ivo Jánský, Milan Rippel
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The paper evaluates several hundred one-day-ahead VaR forecasting models in the time period between the years 2004 and 2009 on data from six world stock indices - DJI, GSPC, IXIC, FTSE, GDAXI and N225. The models model mean using the ARMA processes with up to two lags and variance with one of GARCH, EGARCH or TARCH processes with up to two lags. The models are estimated on the data from the in-sample period and their forecasting accuracy is evaluated on the out-of-sample data, which are more volatile. The main aim of the paper is to test whether a model estimated on data with lower volatility can be used in periods with higher volatility. The evaluation is based on the conditional coverage test and is performed on each stock index separately. The primary result of the paper is that the volatility is best modelled using a GARCH process and that an ARMA process pattern cannot be found in analyzed time series.Keywords: VaR, risk analysis, conditional volatility, garch, egarch, tarch, moving average process, autoregressive process
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14382814 The Documentary Analysis of Meta-Analysis Research in Violence of Media
Authors: Proud Arunrangsiwed
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The part of “future direction” in the findings of meta-analysis could provide the great direction to conduct the future studies. This study, “The Documentary Analysis of Meta-Analysis Research in Violence of Media” would conclude “future directions” out of 10 meta-analysis papers. The purposes of this research are to find an appropriate research design or an appropriate methodology for the future research related to the topic, “violence of media”. Further research needs to explore by longitudinal and experimental design, and also needs to have a careful consideration about age effects, time spent effects, enjoyment effects and ordinary lifestyle of each media consumer.
Keywords: Aggressive, future direction, meta-analysis, media, violence.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27122813 Improvement in Properties of Ni-Cr-Mo-V Steel through Process Control
Authors: Arnab Majumdar, Sanjoy Sadhukhan
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Although gun barrel steels are an important variety from defense view point, available literatures are very limited. In the present work, an IF grade Ni-Cr-Mo-V high strength low alloy steel is produced in Electric Earth Furnace-ESR Route. Ingot was hot forged to desired dimension with a reduction ratio of 70-75% followed by homogenization, hardening and tempering treatment. Sample chemistry, NMIR, macro and micro structural analyses were done. Mechanical properties which include tensile, impact, and fracture toughness were studied. Ultrasonic testing was done to identify internal flaws. The existing high strength low alloy Ni-Cr-Mo-V steel shows improved properties in modified processing route and heat treatment schedule in comparison to properties noted earlier for manufacturing of gun barrels. The improvement in properties seems to withstand higher explosive loads with the same amount of steel in gun barrel application.Keywords: Gun barrel steels, IF grade, physical properties, thermal and mechanical processing, mechanical properties, ultrasonic testing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24432812 Comparative Study of Iran and Turkey Advantages to Attract Foreign Investors
Authors: Alireza Saviz, Sedigheh Zarei
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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is an integral part of an open and effective international economic system and a major catalyst to development. Developing countries, emerging economies and countries in transition have come increasingly to see FDI as a source of economic development modernization, income growth and employment. FDI is an important vehicle for the transfer of technology, contributing relatively more to growth than domestic investment. Exploratory research is being conducted here. The data for the study is collected from secondary sources like research papers, journals, websites and reports. This paper aim was to generate knowledge on Iran’s situation through these factors after lifting sanction in comparison to Turkey. Although the most important factors that influence foreign investor decisions vary depending on the countries, sectors, years, and the objective of investor, nowadays governments should pay more attention to human resources education, marketing, infrastructure and administrative process in order to attracting foreign investors. A proper understanding of these findings will help governments to create appropriate policies in order to encourage more foreign investors
Keywords: FDI, foreign investor, comparative study, host country.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10292811 Application of Strong Optical Feedback to Enhance the Modulation Bandwidth of Semiconductor Lasers to the Millimeter-Wave Band
Authors: Moustafa Ahmed, Ahmed Bakry, Fumio Koyama
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We report on the use of strong external optical feedback to enhance the modulation response of semiconductor lasers over a frequency passband around modulation frequencies higher than 60 GHz. We show that this modulation enhancement is a type of photon-photon resonance (PPR) of oscillating modes in the external cavity formed between the laser and the external reflector. The study is based on a time-delay rate equation model that takes into account both the strong feedback and multiple reflections in the external cavity. We examine the harmonic and intermodulation distortions associated with single and two-tone modulations in the mm-wave band of the resonant modulation. We show that compared with solitary lasers modulated around the carrier-photon resonance frequency, the present mm-wave modulated signal has lower distortions.
Keywords: Distortion, intensity modulation, optical feedback, semiconductor laser.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25922810 Aeroelasticity Analysis of Rotor Blades in the First Two Stages of Axial Compressor in the Case of a Bird Strike
Authors: R. Rzadkowski, V. Gnesin, M. Drewczyński, R. Szczepanik
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A bird strike can cause damage to stationary and rotating aircraft engine parts, especially the engine fan. This paper presents a bird strike simulated by blocking four stator blade passages. It includes the numerical results of the unsteady lowfrequency aerodynamic forces and the aeroelastic behaviour caused by a non-symmetric upstream flow affecting the first two rotor blade stages in the axial-compressor of a jet engine. The obtained results show that disturbances in the engine inlet strongly influence the level of unsteady forces acting on the rotor blades. With a partially blocked inlet the whole spectrum of low-frequency harmonics is observed. Such harmonics can lead to rotor blade damage. The lowfrequency amplitudes are higher in the first stage rotor blades than in the second stage. In both rotor blades stages flutter appeared as a result of bird strike.Keywords: Flutter, unsteady forces, rotor blades.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24822809 Mechanical Simulation with Electrical and Dimensional Tests for AISHa Containment Chamber
Authors: F. Noto, G. Costa, L. Celona, F. Chines, G. Ciavola, G. Cuttone, S. Gammino, O. Leonardi, S. Marletta, G. Torrisi
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At Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare – Laboratorio Nazionale del Sud (INFN-LNS), a broad experience in the design, construction and commissioning of ECR and microwave ion sources is available. The AISHa ion source has been designed by taking into account the typical requirements of hospital-based facilities, where the minimization of the mean time between failures (MTBF) is a key point together with the maintenance operations, which should be fast and easy. It is intended to be a multipurpose device, operating at 18 GHz, in order to achieve higher plasma densities. It should provide enough versatility for future needs of the hadron therapy, including the ability to run at larger microwave power to produce different species and highly charged ion beams. The source is potentially interesting for any hadron therapy facility using heavy ions. In this paper, we analyzed the dimensional test and electrical test about an innovative solution for the containment chamber that allows us to solve our isolation and structural problems.
Keywords: FEM Analysis, ECR ion source, dielectrical measurement.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11062808 Effect of Equivalence Ratio on Performance of Fluidized Bed Gasifier Run with Sized Biomass
Authors: J. P. Makwana, A. K. Joshi, Rajesh N. Patel, Darshil Patel
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Recently, fluidized bed gasification becomes an attractive technology for power generation due to its higher efficiency. The main objective pursued in this work is to investigate the producer gas production potential from sized biomass (sawdust and pigeon pea) by applying the air gasification technique. The size of the biomass selected for the study was in the range of 0.40-0.84 mm. An experimental study was conducted using a fluidized bed gasifier with 210 mm diameter and 1600 mm height. During the experiments, the fuel properties and the effects of operating parameters such as gasification temperatures 700 to 900 °C, equivalence ratio 0.16 to 0.46 were studied. It was concluded that substantial amounts of producer gas (up to 1110 kcal/m3) could be produced utilizing biomass such as sawdust and pigeon pea by applying this fluidization technique. For both samples, the rise of temperature till 900 °C and equivalence ratio of 0.4 favored further gasification reactions and resulted into producer gas with calorific value 1110 kcal/m3.Keywords: Sized biomass, fluidized bed gasifier, equivalence ratio, temperature profile, gas composition.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17432807 Study of the S-Bend Intake Hammershock Based on Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation
Authors: Qun-Feng Zhang, Pan-Pan Yan, Jun Li, Jun-Qing Lei
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Numerical investigation of hammershock propagation in the S-bend intake caused by engine surge has been conducted by using Improved Delayed Detach-Eddy Simulation (IDDES). The effects of surge signatures on hammershock characteristics are obtained. It was shown that once the hammershock is produced, it moves upward to the intake entrance quickly with constant speed, however, the strength of hammershock keeps increasing. Meanwhile, being influenced by the centrifugal force, the hammershock strength on the larger radius side is much larger. Hammershock propagation speed and strength are sensitive to the ramp upgradient of surge signature. A larger ramp up gradient results in higher propagation speed and greater strength. Nevertheless, ramp down profile of surge signature have no obvious effect on the propagation speed and strength of hammershock. Increasing the maximum value of surge signature leads to enhance in the intensity of hammershock, they approximately match quadratic function distribution law.
Keywords: Hammershock, IDDES, S-bend, surge signature.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9112806 The Status Info Processing and Keeping System for Production Equipment
Authors: So Jeong Nam, Seung Woo Lee, Jai-Kyung Lee
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With the globalized production and logistics environment, the need for reducing the product development interval and lead time, having a faster response to orders, conforming to quality standards, fair tracking, and boosting information exchanging activities with customers and partners, and coping with changes in the management environment, manufacturers are in dire need of an information management system in their manufacturing environments. There are lots of information systems that have been designed to manage the condition or operation of equipment in the field but existing systems have a decentralized architecture, which is not unified. Also, these systems cannot effectively handle the status data extraction process upon encountering a problem related to protocols or changes in the equipment or the setting. In this regard, this paper will introduce a system for processing and saving the status info of production equipment, which uses standard representation formats, to enable flexible responses to and support for variables in the field equipment. This system can be used for a variety of manufacturing and equipment settings and is capable of interacting with higher-tier systems such as MES.Keywords: DAS, Equipment Status, Regular Expression
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15542805 Factors Influencing Students' Self-Concept among Malaysian Students
Authors: Z. Ishak, S. Jamaluddin, F.P Chew
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This paper examines the students’ self-concept among 16- and 17- year- old adolescents in Malaysian secondary schools. Previous studies have shown that positive self-concept played an important role in student adjustment and academic performance during schooling. This study attempts to investigate the factors influencing students’ perceptions toward their own self-concept. A total of 1168 students participated in the survey. This study utilized the CoPs (UM) instrument to measure self-concept. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed three factors: academic selfconcept, physical self-concept and social self-concept. This study confirmed that students perceived certain internal context factors, and revealed that external context factor also have an impact on their self-concept.
Keywords: Academic self-concept, physical self-concept, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), social self-concept.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25262804 Zinc Borate Synthesis Using Hydrozincite and Boric Acid with Ultrasonic Method
Authors: D. S. Vardar, A. S. Kipcak, F. T. Senberber, E. M. Derun, N. Tugrul, S. Piskin
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Zinc borate is an important inorganic hydrate borate material, which can be used as a flame retardant agent and corrosion resistance material. This compound can loss its structural water content at higher than 290°C. Due to thermal stability; Zinc Borate can be used as flame retardant at high temperature process of plastic and gum. In this study, the ultrasonic reaction of zinc borates were studied using hydrozincite (Zn5(CO3)2·(OH)6) and boric acid (H3BO3) raw materials. Before the synthesis raw materials were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). Ultrasonic method is a new application on the zinc borate synthesis. The synthesis parameters were set to 90°C reaction temperature and 55 minutes of reaction time, with 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 and 1:5 molar ratio of starting materials (Zn5(CO3)2·(OH)6 : H3BO3). After the zinc borate synthesis, the products were analyzed by XRD and FT-IR. As a result, optimum molar ratio of 1:5 is determined for the synthesis of zinc borates with ultrasonic method.Keywords: Borate, ultrasonic method, zinc borate, zinc borate synthesis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20732803 Social Media Impact on Startup Entrepreneurial Intention: Evidence from Greece
Authors: Panagiotis I. Mallios, Vassilis S. Moustakis
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The research reported herein presents a conceptual model that explores the relationship between social media factors and entrepreneurial intention, with a focus on the Greek startup ecosystem. The significance of the study is that social media gained importance in explaining the entrepreneurial process, and through them, nascent and potential entrepreneurs seem to get inspired and motivated to initiate their businesses. The research methodology employed in this study included a qualitative research approach, utilizing in-depth interviews with a sample of 15 startup entrepreneurs providing valuable retrospective information. The data collected were analyzed using the content analysis method. The major findings of the study are that social media factors such as usefulness, influence, and credibility have a significant impact on entrepreneurial intention. We also found that social media can be a powerful tool for entrepreneurs to access resources, knowledge and networks that can help them in their venture creation. Overall, this research contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by uncovering the relationship between social media factors and entrepreneurial intention and has implications for entrepreneurial education, policymakers, and official partners, highlighting the potential of social media to enhance the startup ecosystem.
Keywords: Entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurship, social media, startup ecosystem.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1872802 Unsteady Simulation of Burning Off Carbon Deposition in a Coke Oven
Authors: Uzu-Kuei Hsu, Keh-Chin Chang, Joo-Guan Hang
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Carbon Deposits are often occurred inside the industrial coke oven during coking process. Accumulation of carbon deposits may cause a big issue, which seriously influences the coking operation. The carbon is burning off by injecting fresh air through pipes into coke oven which is an efficient way practically operated in industries. The burning off carbon deposition in coke oven performed by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method has provided an evaluation of the feasibility study. A three dimensional, transient, turbulent reacting flow simulation has performed with three different injecting air flow rate and another kind of injecting configuration. The result shows that injection higher air flow rate would effectively reduce the carbon deposits. In the meantime, the opened charging holes would suck extra oxygen from atmosphere to participate in reactions. In term of coke oven operating limits, the wall temperatures are monitored to prevent over-heating of the adiabatic walls during burn-off process.
Keywords: Coke oven, burning off, carbon deposits, carbon combustion, CFD.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20662801 A Fitted Random Sampling Scheme for Load Distribution in Grid Networks
Authors: O. A. Rahmeh, P. Johnson, S. Lehmann
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Grid networks provide the ability to perform higher throughput computing by taking advantage of many networked computer-s resources to solve large-scale computation problems. As the popularity of the Grid networks has increased, there is a need to efficiently distribute the load among the resources accessible on the network. In this paper, we present a stochastic network system that gives a distributed load-balancing scheme by generating almost regular networks. This network system is self-organized and depends only on local information for load distribution and resource discovery. The in-degree of each node is refers to its free resources, and job assignment and resource discovery processes required for load balancing is accomplished by using fitted random sampling. Simulation results show that the generated network system provides an effective, scalable, and reliable load-balancing scheme for the distributed resources accessible on Grid networks.
Keywords: Complex networks, grid networks, load-balancing, random sampling.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17902800 Cloud Computing for E-Learning with More Emphasis on Security Issues
Authors: Sajjad Hashemi, Seyyed Yasser Hashemi
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In today's world, success of most systems depend on the use of new technologies and information technology (IT) which aimed to increase efficiency and satisfaction of users. One of the most important systems that use information technology to deliver services is the education system. But for educational services in the form of E-learning systems, hardware and software equipment should be containing high quality, which requires substantial investment. Because the vast majority of educational establishments can not invest in this area so the best way for them is reducing the costs and providing the E-learning services by using cloud computing. But according to the novelty of the cloud technology, it can create challenges and concerns that the most noted among them are security issues. Security concerns about cloud-based E-learning products are critical and security measures essential to protect valuable data of users from security vulnerabilities in products. Thus, the success of these products happened if customers meet security requirements then can overcome security threats. In this paper tried to explore cloud computing and its positive impact on E- learning and put main focus to identify security issues that related to cloud-based E-learning efforts which have been improve security and provide solutions in management challenges.
Keywords: Cloud computing, E-Learning, Security.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 32252799 Study on Wireless Transmission for Reconnaissance UAV with Wireless Sensor Network and Cylindrical Array of Microstrip Antennas
Authors: Chien-Chun Hung, Chun-Fong Wu
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It is important for a commander to have real-time information to aware situations and to make decision in the battlefield. Results of modern technique developments have brought in this kind of information for military purposes. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is one of the means to gather intelligence owing to its widespread applications. It is still not clear whether or not the mini UAV with short-range wireless transmission system is used as a reconnaissance system in Taiwanese. In this paper, previous experience on the research of the sort of aerial vehicles has been applied with a data-relay system using the ZigBee modulus. The mini UAV developed is expected to be able to collect certain data in some appropriate theaters. The omni-directional antenna with high gain is also integrated into mini UAV to fit the size-reducing trend of airborne sensors. Two advantages are so far obvious. First, mini UAV can fly higher than usual to avoid being attacked from ground fires. Second, the data will be almost gathered during all maneuvering attitudes.
Keywords: Mini UAV, reconnaissance, wireless transmission, ZigBee modulus.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7072798 Numerical Study on the Response of Reinforced Concrete Wall Resisting the Impact Loading
Authors: DucKien Thai, Seung EockKim
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A numerical analysis of a reinforced concrete (RC) wall under missile impact loading is presented in this study. The model created by Technical Research Center of Finland was used. The commercial finite element code, LS-DYNA was used to analyze. The structural components of the reinforced concrete wall, missile and their contacts are fully modeled. The material nonlinearity with strain rate effects considering damage and failure is included in the analysis. The results of analysis were verified with other research results. The case-studies with different reinforcement ratios were conducted to investigate the influence of reinforcement on the punching behavior of walls under missile impact.
Keywords: Missile Impact, Reinforced Concrete Walls, LSDYNA, Dynamic Analysis, Punching Behavior.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25652797 Climate Safe House: A Community Housing Project Tackling Catastrophic Sea Level Rise in Coastal Communities
Authors: Chris Fersterer, Col Fay, Tobias Danielmeier, Kat Achterberg, Scott Willis
Abstract:
New Zealand, an island nation, has an extensive coastline peppered with small communities of iconic buildings known as Bachs. Post WWII, these modest buildings were constructed by their owners as retreats and generally were small, low cost, often using recycled material and often they fell below current acceptable building standards. In the latter part of the 20th century, real estate prices in many of these communities remained low and these areas became permanent residences for people attracted to this affordable lifestyle choice. The Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust (BRCT) is an organisation that recognises the vulnerability of communities in low lying settlements as now being prone to increased flood threat brought about by climate change and sea level rise. Some of the inhabitants of Blueskin Bay, Otago, NZ have already found their properties to be un-insurable because of increased frequency of flood events and property values have slumped accordingly. Territorial authorities also acknowledge this increased risk and have created additional compliance measures for new buildings that are less than 2 m above tidal peaks. Community resilience becomes an additional concern where inhabitants are attracted to a lifestyle associated with a specific location and its people when this lifestyle is unable to be met in a suburban or city context. Traditional models of social housing fail to provide the sense of community connectedness and identity enjoyed by the current residents of Blueskin Bay. BRCT have partnered with the Otago Polytechnic Design School to design a new form of community housing that can react to this environmental change. It is a longitudinal project incorporating participatory approaches as a means of getting people ‘on board’, to understand complex systems and co-develop solutions. In the first period, they are seeking industry support and funding to develop a transportable and fully self-contained housing model that exploits current technologies. BRCT also hope that the building will become an educational tool to highlight climate change issues facing us today. This paper uses the Climate Safe House (CSH) as a case study for education in architectural sustainability through experiential learning offered as part of the Otago Polytechnics Bachelor of Design. Students engage with the project with research methodologies, including site surveys, resident interviews, data sourced from government agencies and physical modelling. The process involves collaboration across design disciplines including product and interior design but also includes connections with industry, both within the education institution and stakeholder industries introduced through BRCT. This project offers a rich learning environment where students become engaged through project based learning within a community of practice, including architecture, construction, energy and other related fields. The design outcomes are expressed in a series of public exhibitions and forums where community input is sought in a truly participatory process.Keywords: Community resilience, problem based learning, project based learning, case study.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 972