Search results for: existing problems

Authors: Ahmad Sharif Ahmadi, Yoshitaka Kajita

Abstract:

Kabul, the capital and largest city in Afghanistan has been experiencing a massive population expansion and fast economic development in last decade, in which urban land has increasingly expanded and formed a high informal development territory in the city. This paper investigates the urban land development direction based on the integrated urbanization trends in Kabul city since the last and the fastest ever urban land growth period (1999-2008), which is parallel with the establishment of the new government in Afghanistan. Considering the existing challenges in terms of informal settlements, squatter settlements, the population expansion of the city, and fast economic development, as well as the huge influx of returning refugees from neighboring countries, and the sprawl direction of urbanization of the Kabul city urban fringes, this research focuses on the possible urban land development direction and trends for the city. The paper studies the feasible future land development direction of Kabul city in the northern part called Shamali basin, in which district 17 is the gateway for future development. The area has much developable area including eight districts of Kabul province, and the vast area of Parwan and Kapisa provinces. The northern area of the Kabul city generally has favorable conditions for further urbanization from the city. It is a large and relatively flat area of area in the northern part of Kabul city, with ample water resources available from the Panjshir basin as a base principle of land development direction in the area.

Keywords: Kabul city, land development trends, urban land development, urbanization.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2309

Authors: Zakaria Smahi, Khadidja Remaoun, Fatima Achouri

Abstract:

Bir El Djir is an important coastal township in Oran department, located at 450 Km far away from Algiers on northwest of Algeria. In this coastal area, the urban sprawl is one of the main problems that reduce the limited highly fertile land. So, using the remote sensing and GIS technologies have shown their great capabilities to solve many earth resources issues. The aim of this study is to produce land use and cover map for the studied area at varied periods to monitor possible changes that may occurred, particularly in the urban areas and subsequently predict likely changes. For this, two spatial images SPOT and Landsat satellites from 1987 and 2014 respectively were used to assess the changes of urban expansion and encroachment during this period with photo-interpretation and GIS approach. The results revealed that the town of Bir El Djir has shown a highest growth rate in the period 1987-2014 which is 1201.5 hectares in terms of area. These expansions largely concern the new real estate constructions falling within the social and promotional housing programs launched by the government. The most urban expansion is characterized by the new construction in the form of spontaneous or peripheral precarious habitat, but also unstructured slums settled especially in the southeastern part of town.

Keywords: Urban expansion, Remote Sensing, Photointerpretation, Spatial dynamics.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2134

Authors: Omar Boutkhoum, Mohamed Hanine, Tarik Agouti, Abdessadek Tikniouine

Abstract:

This paper discusses the intake of combining multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) with OLAP systems, to generate an integrated analysis process dealing with complex multi-criteria decision-making situations. In this context, a multi-agent modeling is presented for decision support systems by combining multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) with OLAP systems. The proposed modeling which consists in performing the multi-agent system (MAS) architecture, procedure and protocol of the negotiation model is elaborated as a decision support tool for complex decision-making environments. Our objective is to take advantage from the multi-agent system which distributes resources and computational capabilities across interconnected agents, and provide a problem modeling in terms of autonomous interacting component-agents. Thus, the identification and evaluation of criteria as well as the evaluation and ranking of alternatives in a decision support situation will be performed by organizing tasks and user preferences between different agents in order to reach the right decision. At the end, an illustrative example is conducted to demonstrate the function and effectiveness of our MAS modeling.

Keywords: Multidimensional Analysis, OLAP Analysis, Multi-criteria Decision Analysis, Multi-Agent System, Decision Support System.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1844

Authors: Yih-Ferng Peng

Abstract:

In this paper, the local grid refinement is focused by using a nested grid technique. The Cartesian grid numerical method is developed for simulating unsteady, viscous, incompressible flows with complex immersed boundaries. A finite volume method is used in conjunction with a two-step fractional-step procedure. The key aspects that need to be considered in developing such a nested grid solver are imposition of interface conditions on the inter-block and accurate discretization of the governing equation in cells that are with the inter-block as a control surface. A new interpolation procedure is presented which allows systematic development of a spatial discretization scheme that preserves the spatial accuracy of the underlying solver. The present nested grid method has been tested by two numerical examples to examine its performance in the two dimensional problems. The numerical examples include flow past a circular cylinder symmetrically installed in a Channel and flow past two circular cylinders with different diameters. From the numerical experiments, the ability of the solver to simulate flows with complicated immersed boundaries is demonstrated and the nested grid approach can efficiently speed up the numerical solutions.

Keywords: local grid refinement, Cartesian grid, nested grid, fractional-step method.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1562

Authors: Abdul Hafiizh, Shigeki Obote, Kenichi Kagoshima

Abstract:

This report aims to utilize existing and future Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Wireless Local Area Network (MIMO-OFDM WLAN) systems characteristics–such as multiple subcarriers, multiple antennas, and channel estimation characteristics–for indoor location estimation systems based on the Direction of Arrival (DOA) and Radio Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) methods. Hybrid of DOA-RSSI methods also evaluated. In the experimental data result, we show that location estimation accuracy performances can be increased by minimizing the multipath fading effect. This is done using multiple subcarrier frequencies over wideband frequencies to estimate one location. The proposed methods are analyzed in both a wide indoor environment and a typical room-sized office. In the experiments, WLAN terminal locations are estimated by measuring multiple subcarriers from arrays of three dipole antennas of access points (AP). This research demonstrates highly accurate, robust and hardware-free add-on software for indoor location estimations based on a MIMO-OFDM WLAN system.

Keywords: Direction of Arrival (DOA), Indoor location estimation method, Multipath Fading, MIMO-OFDM, Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), WLAN, Hybrid DOA-RSSI

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1798

Authors: Piyush Pal, Rahul Dev

Abstract:

Water is essential for life and fresh water is a finite resource that is becoming scarce day by day even though it is recycled by hydrological cycle. The fresh water reserves are being polluted due to expanding irrigation, industries, urban population and its development. Contaminated water leads to several health problems. With the increasing demand of fresh water, solar distillation is an alternate solution which uses solar energy to evaporate water and then to condense it, thereby collecting distilled water within or outside the same system to use it as potable water. The structure that houses the process is known as a 'solar still'. In this paper, ‘Modified double slope solar still (MDSSS)’ & 'Modified double slope basin type multiwick solar still (MDSBMSS)' have been designed to convert saline, brackish water into drinking water. In this work two different modified solar stills are fabricated to study the performance of these solar stills. For modification of solar stills, Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP) and Acrylic sheets are used. The experiments in MDSBMSS and MDSSS was carried on 10 September 2015 & 5 November 2015 respectively. Performances of the stills were investigated. The amount of distillate has been found 3624 Ml/day in MDSBMSS on 10 September 2015 and 2400 Ml/day in MDSSS on 5 November 2015.

Keywords: Contaminated water, Conventional solar still, Modified solar still, Wick.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2227

Authors: Ankit Agrawal, Ankush Mittal

Abstract:

A gene network gives the knowledge of the regulatory relationships among the genes. Each gene has its activators and inhibitors that regulate its expression positively and negatively respectively. Genes themselves are believed to act as activators and inhibitors of other genes. They can even activate one set of genes and inhibit another set. Identifying gene networks is one of the most crucial and challenging problems in Bioinformatics. Most work done so far either assumes that there is no time delay in gene regulation or there is a constant time delay. We here propose a Dynamic Time- Lagged Correlation Based Method (DTCBM) to learn the gene networks, which uses time-lagged correlation to find the potential gene interactions, and then uses a post-processing stage to remove false gene interactions to common parents, and finally uses dynamic correlation thresholds for each gene to construct the gene network. DTCBM finds correlation between gene expression signals shifted in time, and therefore takes into consideration the multi time delay relationships among the genes. The implementation of our method is done in MATLAB and experimental results on Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene expression data and comparison with other methods indicate that it has a better performance.

Keywords: Activators, correlation, dynamic time-lagged correlation based method, inhibitors, multi-time delay gene network.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1614

Authors: Zhang Tianci, Ding Meng, Zuo Hongfu, Zeng Lina, Sun Zejun

Abstract:

Automation of airport operations can greatly improve ground movement efficiency. In this paper, we study the speed profile design problem for advanced airport ground movement control and guidance. The problem is constrained by the surface four-dimensional trajectory generated in taxi planning. A decomposed approach of two stages is presented to solve this problem efficiently. In the first stage, speeds are allocated at control points, which ensure smooth speed profiles can be found later. In the second stage, detailed speed profiles of each taxi interval are generated according to the allocated control point speeds with the objective of minimizing the overall fuel consumption. We present a swarm intelligence based algorithm for the first-stage problem and a discrete variable driven enumeration method for the second-stage problem, since it only has a small set of discrete variables. Experimental results demonstrate the presented methodology performs well on real world speed profile design problems.

Keywords: Airport ground movement, fuel consumption, particle swarm optimization, smoothness, speed profile design.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1941

Authors: C. Mallada Fernández

Abstract:

Economic development and globalization of international markets have created a favourable atmosphere for the emergence of new forms of crime such as money laundering or financing of terrorism, which may contribute to destabilized and damage economic systems. In particular, money laundering have acquired great importance since the 11S attacks, what has caused on the one hand, the establishment and development of preventive measures and, on the other hand, a progressive hardening of penal measures. Since then, the regulations imposed to fight against money laundering have been viewed as key components also in the fight against terrorist financing. Terrorism, at the beginning, was a “national” crime connected with internal problems of the State (for instance the RAF in Germany or ETA in Spain) but in the last 20 years has started to be an international problem that is connected with the defence and security of the States. Therefore, the new strategic concept for the defense and security of NATO has a comprehensive list of security threats to the Alliance, such as terrorism, international instability, money laundering or attacks on cyberspace, among others. With this new concept, money laundering and terrorism has become a priority in the national defense.

In this work we will analyze the methods to combat these new threats to the national security. We will study the preventive legislations to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism, the UIF that exchange information between States, and the hawala-Banking.

Keywords: Control of financial flows, money laundering, terrorism, financing of terrorism.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2882

Authors: Kyung-Jung Lee, Young-Hun Ki, Hyun-Sik Ahn

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose a hardware and software design method for automotive Electronic Control Units (ECU) considering the functional safety. The proposed ECU is considered for the application to Electro-Mechanical Actuator systems and the validity of the design method is shown by the application to the Electro-Mechanical Brake (EMB) control system which is used as a brake actuator in Brake-By-Wire (BBW) systems. The importance of a functional safety-based design approach to EMB ECU design has been emphasized because of its safety-critical functions, which are executed with the aid of many electric actuators, sensors, and application software. Based on hazard analysis and risk assessment according to ISO26262, the EMB system should be ASIL-D-compliant, the highest ASIL level. To this end, an external signature watchdog and an Infineon 32-bit microcontroller TriCore are used to reduce risks considering common-cause hardware failure. Moreover, a software design method is introduced for implementing functional safety-oriented monitoring functions based on an asymmetric dual core architecture considering redundancy and diversity. The validity of the proposed ECU design approach is verified by using the EMB Hardware-In-the-Loop (HILS) system, which consists of the EMB assembly, actuator ECU, a host PC, and a few debugging devices. Furthermore, it is shown that the existing sensor fault tolerant control system can be used more effectively for mitigating the effects of hardware and software faults by applying the proposed ECU design method.

Keywords: BBW (Brake-By-wire), EMB (Electro-Mechanical Brake), Functional Safety, ISO26262.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6995

Authors: Aelita Skarzauskiene, Monika Maciuliene

Abstract:

In this paper, we conduct a systematic survey of urban communities in Lithuania to evaluate their potential to co-create collective intelligence or “civic intelligence” applying Digital Co-creation Index methodology that includes different socio-technological indicators. Civic intelligence is a form of collective intelligence that refers to the group’s capacity to perceive societal problems and to address them effectively. The research focuses on evaluation of diverse organizational designs that increase efficient collective performance. The current scientific project advanced the state of the art by evaluating the basic preconditions in the urban communities through which the collective intelligence is being co-created under the systemic manner. The research subject is the “bottom up” digital enabled urban platforms, initiated by Lithuanian public organizations, civic movements or business entities. The web-based monitoring results obtained by applying a social indices calculation methodology and Pearson correlation analysis provided the information about the potential and limits of the urban communities and what possible changes need to be implemented to overcome the limitations.

Keywords: Computer supported collaboration, co-creation, collective intelligence, socio-technological system, networked society.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 741

Authors: Lindsay Fink, Sarha Smith-Moyo, Leanne W. Charlesworth

Abstract:

In recent years, the number of individuals experiencing homelessness has increased in the United States. This paper analyzes 2019 data from 16 different emergency shelters in Monroe County, located in Upstate New York. The data were collected through the County’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and individuals were de-identified and de-duplicated for analysis. The purpose of this study is to explore the basic characteristics of the homeless population in Monroe County, and the dynamics of shelter use. The results of this study showed gender as a significant factor when analyzing the relationship between demographic variables and recorded reasons for shelter entry. Results also indicated that age and ethnicity did not significantly influence odds of re-entering a shelter, but did significantly influence reasons for shelter entry. Overall, the most common recorded cause of shelter entry in 2019 in the examined county was eviction by primary tenant. Recommendations to better address recurrent shelter entry and potential chronic homelessness include more consideration for the diversity existing within the homeless population, and the dynamics leading to shelter stays, including enhanced funding and training for shelter staff, as well as expanded access to permanent supportive housing programs.

Keywords: Chronic homelessness, homeless shelter stays, permanent supportive housing, shelter population dynamics.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 982

Authors: Agus Harjoko, Sri Hartati, Henry Dwiyasa

Abstract:

There have been numerous implementations of security system using biometric, especially for identification and verification cases. An example of pattern used in biometric is the iris pattern in human eye. The iris pattern is considered unique for each person. The use of iris pattern poses problems in encoding the human iris. In this research, an efficient iris recognition method is proposed. In the proposed method the iris segmentation is based on the observation that the pupil has lower intensity than the iris, and the iris has lower intensity than the sclera. By detecting the boundary between the pupil and the iris and the boundary between the iris and the sclera, the iris area can be separated from pupil and sclera. A step is taken to reduce the effect of eyelashes and specular reflection of pupil. Then the four levels Coiflet wavelet transform is applied to the extracted iris image. The modified Hamming distance is employed to measure the similarity between two irises. This research yields the identification success rate of 84.25% for the CASIA version 1.0 database. The method gives an accuracy of 77.78% for the left eyes of MMU 1 database and 86.67% for the right eyes. The time required for the encoding process, from the segmentation until the iris code is generated, is 0.7096 seconds. These results show that the accuracy and speed of the method is better than many other methods.

Keywords: Biometric, iris recognition, wavelet transform.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1906

Authors: Sunee Pongpinigpinyo, Wanchai Rivepiboon

Abstract:

Word sense disambiguation is one of the most important open problems in natural language processing applications such as information retrieval and machine translation. Many approach strategies can be employed to resolve word ambiguity with a reasonable degree of accuracy. These strategies are: knowledgebased, corpus-based, and hybrid-based. This paper pays attention to the corpus-based strategy that employs an unsupervised learning method for disambiguation. We report our investigation of Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), an information retrieval technique and unsupervised learning, to the task of Thai noun and verbal word sense disambiguation. The Latent Semantic Indexing has been shown to be efficient and effective for Information Retrieval. For the purposes of this research, we report experiments on two Thai polysemous words, namely  /hua4/ and /kep1/ that are used as a representative of Thai nouns and verbs respectively. The results of these experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and indicate the potential of applying vector-based distributional information measures to semantic disambiguation.

Keywords: Distributional semantics, Latent Semantic Indexing, natural language processing, Polysemous words, unsupervisedlearning, Word Sense Disambiguation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1814

Authors: Dong-Yan Huang, Ee Ping Ong, Susanto Rahardja, Minghui Dong, Haizhou Li

Abstract:

The transformation of vocal characteristics aims at modifying voice such that the intelligibility of aphonic voice is increased or the voice characteristics of a speaker (source speaker) to be perceived as if another speaker (target speaker) had uttered it. In this paper, the current state-of-the-art voice characteristics transformation methodology is reviewed. Special emphasis is placed on voice transformation methodology and issues for improving the transformed speech quality in intelligibility and naturalness are discussed. In particular, it is suggested to use the modulation theory of speech as a base for research on high quality voice transformation. This approach allows one to separate linguistic, expressive, organic and perspective information of speech, based on an analysis of how they are fused when speech is produced. Therefore, this theory provides the fundamentals not only for manipulating non-linguistic, extra-/paralinguistic and intra-linguistic variables for voice transformation, but also for paving the way for easily transposing the existing voice transformation methods to emotion-related voice quality transformation and speaking style transformation. From the perspectives of human speech production and perception, the popular voice transformation techniques are described and classified them based on the underlying principles either from the speech production or perception mechanisms or from both. In addition, the advantages and limitations of voice transformation techniques and the experimental manipulation of vocal cues are discussed through examples from past and present research. Finally, a conclusion and road map are pointed out for more natural voice transformation algorithms in the future.

Keywords: Voice transformation, Voice Quality, Emotion, Individuality, Speaking Style, Speech Production, Speech Perception.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2043

Authors: B. Kabane, G. G. Redhi

Abstract:

An ammonium based ionic liquid (methyltrioctylammonium chloride) [N_{8 8 8 1}] [Cl] was investigated as an extraction potential solvent for volatile organic solvents (in this regard, solutes), which includes alkenes, alkanes, ketones, alkynes, aromatic hydrocarbons, tetrahydrofuran (THF), alcohols, thiophene, water and acetonitrile based on the experimental activity coefficients at infinite THF measurements were conducted by the use of gas-liquid chromatography at four different temperatures (313.15 to 343.15) K. Experimental data of activity coefficients obtained across the examined temperatures were used in order to calculate the physicochemical properties at infinite dilution such as partial molar excess enthalpy, Gibbs free energy and entropy term. Capacity and selectivity data for selected petrochemical extraction problems (heptane/thiophene, heptane/benzene, cyclohaxane/cyclohexene, hexane/toluene, hexane/hexene) were computed from activity coefficients data and compared to the literature values with other ionic liquids. Evaluation of activity coefficients at infinite dilution expands the knowledge and provides a good understanding related to the interactions between the ionic liquid and the investigated compounds.

Keywords: Separation, activity coefficients, ionic liquid, methyltrioctylammonium chloride, capacity.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 735

Authors: I. Abuiziah, A. Oulhaj, K. Sebari, D. Ouazar, A. A. Saber

Abstract:

Fluid transient analysis is one of the more challenging and complicated flow problems in the design and the operation of water pipeline systems (wps). When transient conditions "water hammer" exists, the life expectancy of the wps can be adversely impacted, resulting in pump and valve failures and catastrophic pipe ruptures. Transient control has become an essential requirement for ensuring safe operation of wps. An accurate analysis and suitable protection devices should be used to protect wps. This paper presents the problem of modeling and simulation of transient phenomena in wps based on the characteristics method. Also, it provides the influence of using the protection devices to control the adverse effects due to excessive and low pressure occur in the transient. The developed model applied for main wps: pump combined with closed surge tank connected to a reservoir. The results obtained provide that the model is an efficient tool for water hammer analysis. Moreover; using the closed surge tank reduces the unfavorable effects of transients.

Keywords: Flow Transient, Water hammer, Pipeline System, Closed Surge Tank, Simulation Model, Protection Devices, Characteristics Method.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2213

Authors: Lubna Alhinti, Heidi Christensen, Stuart Cunningham

Abstract:

People with speech disorders may rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies to help them communicate. However, the limitations of the current AAC technologies act as barriers to the optimal use of these technologies in daily communication settings. The ability to communicate effectively relies on a number of factors that are not limited to the intelligibility of the spoken words. In fact, non-verbal cues play a critical role in the correct comprehension of messages and having to rely on verbal communication only, as is the case with current AAC technology, may contribute to problems in communication. This is especially true for people’s ability to express their feelings and emotions, which are communicated to a large part through non-verbal cues. This paper focuses on understanding more about the non-verbal communication ability of people with dysarthria, with the overarching aim of this research being to improve AAC technology by allowing people with dysarthria to better communicate emotions. Preliminary survey results are presented that gives an understanding of how people with dysarthria convey emotions, what emotions that are important for them to get across, what emotions that are difficult for them to convey, and whether there is a difference in communicating emotions when speaking to familiar versus unfamiliar people.

Keywords: Alternative and augmentative communication technology, dysarthria, speech emotion recognition, VIVOCA.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1063

Authors: Noriko Hanakawa, Masaki Obana

Abstract:

A simulation tool is proposed for big-scale projection mapping events. The tool has four main functions based on Mapbox and Unity utilities. The first function is building three-dimensional models of real cities using Mapbox. The second function is movie projections to some buildings in real cities using Unity. The third is a movie sending function from a PC to a virtual projector. The fourth function is mapping movies with fitting buildings. The simulation tool was adapted to a real projection mapping event held in 2019. The event completed, but it faced a severe problem in the movie projection to the target building. Extra tents were set in front of the target building, and the tents became obstacles to the movie projection. The simulation tool developed herein could reconstruct the problems of the event. Therefore, if the simulation tool was developed before the 2019 projection mapping event, the problem of the tents being obstacles could have been avoided using the tool. Moreover, we confirmed that the simulation tool is useful for planning future projection mapping events to avoid various extra equipment obstacles, such as utility poles, planting trees, and monument towers.

Keywords: avoiding obstacles, projection mapping, projector position, real 3D map

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 722

Authors: Amalka Nawarathna, Nirodha Fernando, Zaid Alwan

Abstract:

Global carbon reduction is not merely a responsibility of environmentally advanced developed countries, but also a responsibility of developing countries regardless of their less impact on global carbon emissions. In recognition of that, Sri Lanka as a developing country has initiated promoting green building construction as one reduction strategy. However, notwithstanding the increasing attention on Embodied Carbon (EC) reduction in the global building sector, they still mostly focus on Operational Carbon (OC) reduction (through improving operational energy). An adequate attention has not yet been given on EC estimation and reduction. Therefore, this study aims to identify the reasons for the slow uptake of EC estimation in the Sri Lankan building sector. To achieve this aim, 16 numbers of global barriers to estimate EC were identified through existing literature. They were then subjected to a pilot survey to identify the significant reasons for the slow uptake of EC estimation in the Sri Lankan building sector. A questionnaire with a three-point Likert scale was used to this end. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that 11 out of 16 challenges/ barriers are highly relevant as reasons for the slow uptake in estimating EC in buildings in Sri Lanka while the other five challenges/ barriers remain as moderately relevant reasons. Further, the findings revealed that there are no low relevant reasons. Eventually, the paper concluded that all the known reasons are significant to the Sri Lankan building sector and it is necessary to address them in order to upturn the attention on EC reduction.

Keywords: Embodied carbon emissions, embodied carbon estimation, global carbon reduction, Sri Lankan building sector.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 826

Authors: A. A. Ghanim

Abstract:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is heading towards a severe and rapidly expanding water crisis, which can have negative impacts on the country’s environment and economy. Of the total water consumption in KSA, the agricultural sector accounts for nearly 87% of the total water use and, therefore, any attempt that overlooks this sector will not help in improving the sustainability of the country’s water resources. KSA Vision 2030 gives priority of water use in the agriculture sector for the regions that have natural renewable water resources. It means that there is little concern for making reuse of municipal wastewater for irrigation purposes in any region in general and in water-scarce regions in particular. The use of treated wastewater is very limited in Saudi Arabia, but it has very considerable potential for future expansion due its numerous beneficial uses. This study reviews the current situation of water resources in Saudi Arabia, providing more highlights on agriculture and wastewater reuse. The reviewed study is proposing some corrective measures for development and better management of water resources in the Kingdom. Suggestions also include consideration of treated water as an alternative source for irrigation in some regions of the country. The study concluded that a sustainable solution for the water crisis in KSA requires implementation of multiple measures in an integrated manner. The integrated solution plan should focus on two main directions: first, improving the current management practices of the existing water resources; second, developing new water supplies from both conventional and non-conventional sources.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia, water resources, water crisis, treated wastewater.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1938

Authors: Panagiotis Karadimos, Leonidas Anthopoulos

Abstract:

Predicting the actual cost and duration in construction projects concern a continuous and existing problem for the construction sector. This paper addresses this problem with modern methods and data available from past public construction projects. 39 bridge projects, constructed in Greece, with a similar type of available data were examined. Considering each project’s attributes with the actual cost and the actual duration, correlation analysis is performed and the most appropriate predictive project variables are defined. Additionally, the most efficient subgroup of variables is selected with the use of the WEKA application, through its attribute selection function. The selected variables are used as input neurons for neural network models through correlation analysis. For constructing neural network models, the application FANN Tool is used. The optimum neural network model, for predicting the actual cost, produced a mean squared error with a value of 3.84886e-05 and it was based on the budgeted cost and the quantity of deck concrete. The optimum neural network model, for predicting the actual duration, produced a mean squared error with a value of 5.89463e-05 and it also was based on the budgeted cost and the amount of deck concrete.

Keywords: Actual cost and duration, attribute selection, bridge projects, neural networks, predicting models, FANN TOOL, WEKA.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1229

Authors: Benmoussa Rachid, Deguio Roland, Dubois Sebastien, Rasovska Ivana

Abstract:

Implementation of LARG (Lean, Agile, Resilient, Green) practices in the supply chain management is a complex task mainly because ecological, economical and operational goals are usually in conflict. To implement these LARG practices successfully, companies’ need relevant decision making tools allowing processes performance control and improvement strategies visibility. To contribute to this issue, this work tries to answer the following research question: How to master performance and anticipate problems in supply chain LARG practices implementation? To answer this question, a risk management approach (RMA) is adopted. Indeed, the proposed RMA aims basically to assess the ability of a supply chain, guided by “Lean, Green and Achievement” performance goals, to face “agility and resilience risk” factors. To proof its relevance, a logistics academic case study based on simulation is used to illustrate all its stages. It shows particularly how to build the “LARG risk map” which is the main output of this approach.

Keywords: Risk approach, lean supply chain, agile supply chain, green supply chain, resilient supply chain.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1891

Authors: Levan Sabauri

Abstract:

Audit is an independent inspection of the financial statement of the audited person and expresses the opinion of an auditor on the reliability of this statement. The auditor’s activity (auditor’s service) is realized by auditing organizations, individual auditors in connection to conduction of an audit and rendering of audit accompanying services. The profession of auditor means a high level of responsibility for rendered service. Results of decisions made by information users depend on the quality of the auditor’s conclusion. Owners, investors, creditors, and society rely on the opinion of the auditor under the condition that inspection was conducted with good quality. Therefore, the existence of the well-functioning audit quality control system for the administering of the audit is an important issue. An efficient audit quality control system is a substantial challenge that many countries face worldwide, especially those states where these systems are being formed within the respective reform program. The presented article reflects on the best practices of the leading countries, the assumptions and recommendations for the financial accounting, reporting and audit; current reforms in Georgia are made based on this comparative analysis.

Keywords: Audit quality control, audit program, financial statement, perspective analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 695

Authors: Manoj Kumar, A.K. Verma, A. Srividya

Abstract:

Time varying network induced delays in networked control systems (NCS) are known for degrading control system-s quality of performance (QoP) and causing stability problems. In literature, a control method employing modeling of communication delays as probability distribution, proves to be a better method. This paper focuses on modeling of network induced delays as probability distribution. CAN and MIL-STD-1553B are extensively used to carry periodic control and monitoring data in networked control systems. In literature, methods to estimate only the worst-case delays for these networks are available. In this paper probabilistic network delay model for CAN and MIL-STD-1553B networks are given. A systematic method to estimate values to model parameters from network parameters is given. A method to predict network delay in next cycle based on the present network delay is presented. Effect of active network redundancy and redundancy at node level on network delay and system response-time is also analyzed.

Keywords: NCS (networked control system), delay analysis, response-time distribution, worst-case delay, CAN, MIL-STD-1553B, redundancy

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1770

Authors: Qasem Qananwah, Ahmad Dagamseh, Hiam AlQuran, Khalid Shaker Ibrahim

Abstract:

Blood pressure helps the physicians greatly to have a deep insight into the cardiovascular system. The determination of individual blood pressure is a standard clinical procedure considered for cardiovascular system problems. The conventional techniques to measure blood pressure (e.g. cuff method) allows a limited number of readings for a certain period (e.g. every 5-10 minutes). Additionally, these systems cause turbulence to blood flow; impeding continuous blood pressure monitoring, especially in emergency cases or critically ill persons. In this paper, the most important statistical features in the photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals were extracted to estimate the blood pressure noninvasively. PPG signals from more than 40 subjects were measured and analyzed and 12 features were extracted. The features were fed to principal component analysis (PCA) to find the most important independent features that have the highest correlation with blood pressure. The results show that the stiffness index means and standard deviation for the beat-to-beat heart rate were the most important features. A model representing both features for Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) and Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) was obtained using a statistical regression technique. Surface fitting is used to best fit the series of data and the results show that the error value in estimating the SBP is 4.95% and in estimating the DBP is 3.99%.

Keywords: Blood pressure, noninvasive optical system, PCA, continuous monitoring.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 687

Authors: Isaias Teklia Berhe

Abstract:

A decision that deals with international disputes, be it arbitral or judicial, has to properly reflect objectivity and coherence with existing rules of international law. This paper shows the decision of the Ethio-Eritrea Claims Commission on the jus ad bellum case is bereft of objectivity and coherence, which contributed a disservice to international law on many aspects. The Commission’s decision that holds Eritrea in contravention to Art 2(4) of the UN Charter based on Ethiopia’s contention is flawed. It fails to consider: the illegitimacy of an actual authority established over contested territory through hostile acts, the proper determination of effectivites under international law, the sanctity of colonially determined boundaries, Ethiopia’s prior firm political recognition and undergirds to respect colonial boundary, and Ethio-Eritrea Border Commission’s decision. The paper will also argue that the Commission confused Eritrea’s right of self-defense with the rule against the non-use of force to settle territorial disputes; wherefore its decision sanitizes or sterilizes unlawful change of territory resulted through unlawful use of force to the effect of advantaging aggressions. The paper likewise argues that the decision is so sacrilegious that it disregards the ossified legal finality of colonial boundaries. Moreover, its approach toward armed attack does not reflect the peculiarity of the jus ad bellum case rather it brings about definitional uncertainties and sustains the perception that the law on self-defense is unsettled.

Keywords: Armed attack, self-defense, territorial integrity, use of force.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1756

Authors: Masoud Sadeghian, Alireza Fatehi

Abstract:

One of the most important parts of a cement factory is the cement rotary kiln which plays a key role in quality and quantity of produced cement. In this part, the physical exertion and bilateral movement of air and materials, together with chemical reactions take place. Thus, this system has immensely complex and nonlinear dynamic equations. These equations have not worked out yet. Only in exceptional case; however, a large number of the involved parameter were crossed out and an approximation model was presented instead. This issue caused many problems for designing a cement rotary kiln controller. In this paper, we presented nonlinear predictor and simulator models for a real cement rotary kiln by using nonlinear identification technique on the Locally Linear Neuro- Fuzzy (LLNF) model. For the first time, a simulator model as well as a predictor one with a precise fifteen minute prediction horizon for a cement rotary kiln is presented. These models are trained by LOLIMOT algorithm which is an incremental tree-structure algorithm. At the end, the characteristics of these models are expressed. Furthermore, we presented the pros and cons of these models. The data collected from White Saveh Cement Company is used for modeling.

Keywords: Cement rotary kiln, nonlinear identification, Locally Linear Neuro-Fuzzy model.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2024

Authors: Mouna Benfssahi, Zoubir El Felsoufi

Abstract:

For many enterprises, the delocalization of a part or the totality of their supply chain to low cost countries is the best way to reduce costs and remain competitive against the growing globalized market. This new tendency is driven by logistics advantages, as well as, financial and tax discount offered by the host countries. The objective of this article is to examine the new financial challenges introduced by the project of base erosion and profits shifting (BEPS), published in 2015, and also their impact on the decision of delocalization. In fact, the strategy adopted by multinational firms for determining the transfer price (TP) of goods and services, as well as the shared amount of revenues and expenses have a major impact upon group profit and may contribute to divergent results. In order to get more profit, a coherent decision of delocalization should be based on an evaluation of all the operational and financial characteristics associated with such movement. Therefore, it is interesting to model these new constraints and integrate them in a more global decision model. The established model will enable to measure how much these financial constraints impact the decision of delocalization and will give new helpful directives for enterprise managers.

Keywords: Delocalization, intragroup transaction, multinational firms, optimization model, supply chain management, transfer pricing.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 767

Authors: Siddhartha Chauhan, Nitin Kumar Kotania

Abstract:

Traditional Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) generally use static sinks to collect data from the sensor nodes via multiple forwarding. Therefore, network suffers with some problems like long message relay time, bottle neck problem which reduces the performance of the network.

Many approaches have been proposed to prevent this problem with the help of mobile sink to collect the data from the sensor nodes, but these approaches still suffer from the buffer overflow problem due to limited memory size of sensor nodes. This paper proposes an energy efficient scheme for data gathering which overcomes the buffer overflow problem. The proposed scheme creates virtual grid structure of heterogeneous nodes. Scheme has been designed for sensor nodes having variable sensing rate. Every node finds out its buffer overflow time and on the basis of this cluster heads are elected. A controlled traversing approach is used by the proposed scheme in order to transmit data to sink. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is verified by simulation.

Keywords: Buffer overflow problem, Mobile sink, Virtual grid, Wireless sensor networks.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1826