Search results for: water environment improvement.
2743 Application of the Transtheoretical Model of Exercise Behavior Change Plan in High School Students
Authors: Frank C. Pan, Chih-Hao Chen
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The purpose of this study is to discuss the effect of the intervention of exercise behavior change plan for high school students on study subjects- social and psychological factors and exercise stages. This research uses the transtheoretical model as the research framework. One experiment group and one control group were used in a quasi-experimental design research. The experimental group accepted health-related physical fitness course and the traditional course; the control group accepted traditional physical education course. There is a significant difference before and after the intervention in the experimental group. Karl-s test shows the experimental group gained a better improvement than that in the control group. The Analysis of Covariance had shown the exercise stages (F=7.62, p<0.05), and the perceived exercise benefit (F=16.91, p<0.05) of the experimental group were obviously larger than those of the control group. There was no major effect on the perceived exercise barrier (F=0.61, p>0.05) after the intervention of exercise behavior change plan. However, the rate of high school students the practical implementation of the exercise is not high, obviously influenced by the exercise barrier. The academic and examination pressure may be the major causes of the exercise barrier in the high school.Keywords: Transtheoretical model (TTM), High school students, exercise behavior
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 39622742 CO2 Abatement by Methanol Production from Flue-Gas in Methanol Plant
Authors: A. K. Sayah, Sh. Hosseinabadi, M. Farazar
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This study investigates CO2 mitigation by methanol synthesis from flue gas CO2 and H2 generation through water electrolysis. Electrolytic hydrogen generation is viable provided that the required electrical power is supplied from renewable energy resources; whereby power generation from renewable resources is yet commercial challenging. This approach contribute to zero-emission, moreover it produce oxygen which could be used as feedstock for chemical process. At ZPC, however, oxygen would be utilized through partial oxidation of methane in autothermal reactor (ATR); this makes ease the difficulties of O2 delivery and marketing. On the other hand, onboard hydrogen storage and consumption; in methanol plant; make the project economically more competitive.Keywords: Biomass, CO2 abatement, flue gas recovery, renewable energy, sustainable development.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 35822741 Recycling of Sintered NdFeB Magnet Waste via Oxidative Roasting and Selective Leaching
Authors: W. Kritsarikan, T. Patcharawit, T. Yingnakorn, S. Khumkoa
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Neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets classified as high-power magnets are widely used in various applications such as automotive, electrical and medical devices. Because significant amounts of rare earth metals will be subjected to shortages in the future, therefore domestic NdFeB magnet waste recycling should therefore be developed in order to reduce social and environmental impacts towards a circular economy. Each type of wastes has different characteristics and compositions. As a result, these directly affect recycling efficiency as well as types and purity of the recyclable products. This research, therefore, focused on the recycling of manufacturing NdFeB magnet waste obtained from the sintering stage of magnet production and the waste contained 23.6% Nd, 60.3% Fe and 0.261% B in order to recover high purity neodymium oxide (Nd2O3) using hybrid metallurgical process via oxidative roasting and selective leaching techniques. The sintered NdFeB waste was first ground to under 70 mesh prior to oxidative roasting at 550–800 oC to enable selective leaching of neodymium in the subsequent leaching step using H2SO4 at 2.5 M over 24 h. The leachate was then subjected to drying and roasting at 700–800 oC prior to precipitation by oxalic acid and calcination to obtain Nd2O3 as the recycling product. According to XRD analyses, it was found that increasing oxidative roasting temperature led to an increasing amount of hematite (Fe2O3) as the main composition with a smaller amount of magnetite (Fe3O4) found. Peaks of Nd2O3 were also observed in a lesser amount. Furthermore, neodymium iron oxide (NdFeO3) was present and its XRD peaks were pronounced at higher oxidative roasting temperatures. When proceeded to acid leaching and drying, iron sulfate and neodymium sulfate were mainly obtained. After the roasting step prior to water leaching, iron sulfate was converted to form Fe2O3 as the main compound, while neodymium sulfate remained in the ingredient. However, a small amount of Fe3O4 was still detected by XRD. The higher roasting temperature at 800 oC resulted in a greater Fe2O3 to Nd2(SO4)3 ratio, indicating a more effective roasting temperature. Iron oxides were subsequently water leached and filtered out while the solution contained mainly neodymium sulfate. Therefore, low oxidative roasting temperature not exceeding 600 oC followed by acid leaching and roasting at 800 oC gave the optimum condition for further steps of precipitation and calcination to finally achieve Nd2O3.
Keywords: NdFeB magnet waste, oxidative roasting, recycling, selective leaching
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6702740 Aerodynamic Design of Three-Dimensional Bellmouth for Low-Speed Open-Circuit Wind Tunnel
Authors: Harshavardhan Reddy, Balaji Subramanian
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A systematic parametric study to find the optimum Bellmouth profile by relating geometric and performance parameters to satisfy a set of specifications is reported. A careful aerodynamic design of Bellmouth intake is critical to properly direct the flow with minimal losses and maximal flow uniformity into the honeycomb located inside the settling chamber of an indraft wind tunnel, thus improving the efficiency of the entire unit. Design charts for elliptically profiled Bellmouth's with two different contraction ratios (9 and 18) and three different test section speeds (25 m/s, 50 m/s, and 75 m/s) were presented. A significant performance improvement - especially in the coefficient of discharge and in the flow angularity and boundary layer thickness at the honeycomb inlet - was observed when an entry corner radius (r/D = 0.08) was added to the Bellmouth profile. The nonuniformity at the honeycomb inlet drops by about three times (~1% to 0.3%) when moving from square to regular octagonal cross-section. An octagonal cross-sectioned Bellmouth intake with L/d = 0.55, D/d = 1.625, and r/D = 0.08 met all the four target performance specifications and is proposed as the best choice for a low-speed wind tunnel.
Keywords: Bellmouth intake, low-speed wind tunnel, coefficient of discharge, nonuniformity, flow angularity, boundary layer thickness, CFD, aerodynamics.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7582739 Design Optimization of the Primary Containment Building of a Pressurized Water Reactor
Authors: M. Hossain, A. H. Khan, M. A. R. Sarkar
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Primary containment structure is one of the five safety layers of a nuclear facility which is needed to be designed in such a manner that it can withstand the pressure and excessive radioactivity during accidental situations. It is also necessary to ensure minimization of cost with maximum possible safety in order to make the design economically feasible and attractive. This paper attempts to identify the optimum design conditions for primary containment structure considering both mechanical and radiation safety keeping the economic aspects in mind. This work takes advantage of commercial simulation software to identify the suitable conditions without the requirement of costly experiments. Generated data may be helpful for further studies.
Keywords: PWR, concrete containment, finite element approach, neutron attenuation, Von Mises Stress.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8642738 Improving the Compaction Properties and Shear Resistance of Sand Reinforced with COVID-19 Waste Mask Fibers
Authors: Samah Said, Muhsin Elie Rahhal
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, disposable plastic-based face-masks were excessively used worldwide. Therefore, the production and consumption rates of these masks were significantly brought up, which led to severe environmental problems. The main purpose of this research is to test the possibility of reinforcing soil deposits with mask fibers to reuse pandemic-generated waste materials. When testing the compaction properties, the sand was reinforced with a fiber content that increased from 0% to 0.5%, with successive small increments of 0.1%. The optimum content of 0.1% remarkably increased the maximum dry density of the soil and dropped its optimum moisture content. Added to that, it was noticed that 15 mm and rectangular chips were, respectively, the optimum fiber length and shape to maximize the improvement of the sand compaction properties. Regarding the shear strength, fiber contents of 0.1%, 0.25%, and 0.5% were adopted. The direct shear tests have shown that the highest enhancement was observed for the optimum fiber content of 0.25%. Similar to compaction tests, 15 mm and rectangular chips were respectively the optimum fiber length and shape to extremely enhance the shear resistance of the tested sand.
Keywords: COVID-19, mask fibers, compaction properties, soil reinforcement, shear resistance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3222737 Globalization - Opportunity or Threat to the Rural Areas in Poland
Authors: Marian Woźniak, Alicja Sobkowiak
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The world is entering a new path of development which is becoming the driving force of globalization. It is seen as an irreversible process of the present reality and has a significant impact on the transformation of economic, social and cultural rights. This also applies to changes in the rural environment which while emphasizing the global development should also maintain its identity and locality, and a rural community should do more to recognize the globalization of an opportunity than a threat to the Polish countryside. The paper discusses theoretical problems of rural development and the importance of diversification in rural areas and preserving the countryside life and there werepresente the opinions of residents of the Polish countryside on the impact of globalization on the development.
Keywords: globalization, rural areas
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19372736 Functional Sample of the Portable Device for Fast Analysis of Explosives
Authors: A. Bumbová, J. Kellner, Z. Večeřa, V. Kahle, J. Navrátil
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The construction of original functional sample of the portable device for fast analysis of energetic materials has been described in the paper. The portable device consisting of two parts – an original miniaturized microcolumn liquid chromatograph and a unique chemiluminescence detector – has been proposed and realized. In a very short time, this portable device is capable of identifying selectively most of military nitramine- and nitroesterbased explosives as well as inorganic nitrates occurring in trace concentrations in water or in soil. The total time required for the identification of extracts is shorter than 8 minutes.
Keywords: Chemiluminescence, microcolumn liquid chromatograph, nitramines, nitroesters, portable device.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14962735 The Supplier Relationship Management Market Trends
Authors: Eulálio G. Campelo F., Wolffried Stucky
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The paper introduces and discusses definitions and concepts from the supplier relationship management area. This review has the goal to provide readers with the basic conditions to understand the market mechanisms and the technological developments of the SRM market. Further on, the work gives a picture of the actual business environment in which the SRM vendors are in, and the main trends in the field, based on the main SRM functionalities i.e. e-Procurement, e-Sourcing and Supplier Enablement, which indicates users and software providers the future technological developments and practises that will take place in this area in the next couple of years.Keywords: Supplier Relationship Management, e-Procurement, e-Sourcing, Supplier Enablement.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 35082734 Swarm Navigation in a Complex Environment
Authors: Jai Raj, Jito Vanualailai, Bibhya Sharma, Shonal Singh
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This paper proposes a solution to the motion planning and control problem of car-like mobile robots which is required to move safely to a designated target in a priori known workspace cluttered with swarm of boids exhibiting collective emergent behaviors. A generalized algorithm for target convergence and swarm avoidance is proposed that will work for any number of swarms. The control laws proposed in this paper also ensures practical stability of the system. The effectiveness of the proposed control laws are demonstrated via computer simulations of an emergent behavior.Keywords: Swarm, practical stability, motion planning, emergent.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13862733 Early Installation Effect on the Vibration Generated by Machines
Authors: Maitham Al-Safwani
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Motor vibration issues were analyzed and correlated to poor equipment installation. We had a water injection pump tested in the factory and exceeded the pump vibration limit. Once the pump was brought to the site, its half-size shim plates were replaced with full-size shims plate that drastically reduced the vibration. In this study, vibration data were recorded for several and similar motors run at the same and different speeds. The vibration values were recorded — for two and a half hours — and the vibration readings analyzed to determine when the readings become consistent. This was as well supported by recording the audio noises produced by some machines seeking a relationship between changes in machine noises and machine abnormalities, such as vibration.
Keywords: Vibration, noise, shaft unbalance, shaft misalignment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4022732 The Stone in the Identity of the Landscape
Authors: Maria Diogo, Patrícia Diogo
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The stone is a constituent part of the geological structure of the Territory, introducing himself as a subject that has always interconnected human and environment in the development of a discourse of meanings and symbols that reflect elements realized in different cultures and experiences. This action meant that the first settlements and their areas of influence gained importance in the field of humanization and spatial organization of the territory, not only for the appropriation that its inhabitants did, but mainly because the community regardless of their economic or social condition, used it as living space and cultural integration. These factors become decisive in the characterization of the landscape area in the northwest of Portugal, because the stone is a material that appears not only in the natural landscape, but is also a strong element in humanized landscape, becoming this relation the main characterization of the study area.Keywords: Landscape, Men, Stone, Territory.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15382731 Modeling of Plasticity of Clays Submitted to Compression Test
Authors: Otávio J.U. Flores, Fernando A. Andrade, Dachamir Hotza, Hazim A. Al-Qureshi
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In the forming of ceramic materials the plasticity concept is commonly used. This term is related to a particular mechanical behavior when clay is mixed with water. A plastic ceramic material shows a permanent strain without rupture when a compressive load produces a shear stress that exceeds the material-s yield strength. For a plastic ceramic body it observes a measurable elastic behavior before the yield strength and when the applied load is removed. In this work, a mathematical model was developed from applied concepts of the plasticity theory by using the stress/strain diagram under compression.Keywords: Plasticity, clay, modeling, coefficient of friction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21052730 Numerical Calculation of Heat Transfer in Water Heater
Authors: Michal Spilacek, Martin Lisy, Marek Balas, Zdenek Skala
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This article is trying to determine the status of flue gas that is entering the KWH heat exchanger from combustion chamber in order to calculate the heat transfer ratio of the heat exchanger. Combination of measurement, calculation and computer simulation was used to create a useful way to approximate the heat transfer rate. The measurements were taken by a number of sensors that are mounted on the experimental device and by a thermal imaging camera. The results of the numerical calculation are in a good correspondence with the real power output of the experimental device. That result shows that the research has a good direction and can be used to propose changes in the construction of the heat exchanger, but still needs enhancements.
Keywords: Heat exchanger, heat transfer rate, numerical calculation, thermal images.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28242729 Suggestion for Malware Detection Agent Considering Network Environment
Authors: Ji-Hoon Hong, Dong-Hee Kim, Nam-Uk Kim, Tai-Myoung Chung
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Smartphone users are increasing rapidly. Accordingly, many companies are running BYOD (Bring Your Own Device: Policies to bring private-smartphones to the company) policy to increase work efficiency. However, smartphones are always under the threat of malware, thus the company network that is connected smartphone is exposed to serious risks. Most smartphone malware detection techniques are to perform an independent detection (perform the detection of a single target application). In this paper, we analyzed a variety of intrusion detection techniques. Based on the results of analysis propose an agent using the network IDS.
Keywords: Android malware detection, software-defined network.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9112728 Effects of ECCS on the Cold-Leg Fluid Temperature during SGTR Accidents
Authors: Tadashi Watanabe
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The LSTF experiment simulating the SGTR accident at the Mihama Unit-2 reactor is analyzed using the RELAP5/MOD3.3 code. In the accident, and thus in the experiment, the ECC water was injected not only into the cold legs but into the upper plenum. Overall transients during the experiment such as pressures and fluid temperatures are simulated well by the code. The cold-leg fluid temperatures are shown to decrease if the upper plenum injection system is connected to the cold leg. It is found that the cold-leg fluid temperatures also decrease if the upper-plenum injection is not used and the cold-leg injection alone is actuated.Keywords: SGTR, LSTF, RELAP5, ECCS.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20712727 The Communication Library DIALOG for iFDAQ of the COMPASS Experiment
Authors: Y. Bai, M. Bodlak, V. Frolov, S. Huber, V. Jary, I. Konorov, D. Levit, J. Novy, D. Steffen, O. Subrt, M. Virius
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Modern experiments in high energy physics impose great demands on the reliability, the efficiency, and the data rate of Data Acquisition Systems (DAQ). This contribution focuses on the development and deployment of the new communication library DIALOG for the intelligent, FPGA-based Data Acquisition System (iFDAQ) of the COMPASS experiment at CERN. The iFDAQ utilizing a hardware event builder is designed to be able to readout data at the maximum rate of the experiment. The DIALOG library is a communication system both for distributed and mixed environments, it provides a network transparent inter-process communication layer. Using the high-performance and modern C++ framework Qt and its Qt Network API, the DIALOG library presents an alternative to the previously used DIM library. The DIALOG library was fully incorporated to all processes in the iFDAQ during the run 2016. From the software point of view, it might be considered as a significant improvement of iFDAQ in comparison with the previous run. To extend the possibilities of debugging, the online monitoring of communication among processes via DIALOG GUI is a desirable feature. In the paper, we present the DIALOG library from several insights and discuss it in a detailed way. Moreover, the efficiency measurement and comparison with the DIM library with respect to the iFDAQ requirements is provided.Keywords: Data acquisition system, DIALOG library, DIM library, FPGA, Qt framework, TCP/IP.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11082726 Extended Dynamic Source Routing Protocol for the Non Co-Operating Nodes in Mobile Adhoc Networks
Authors: V. Narasimha Raghavan, T. Peer Meera Labbai, N. Bhalaji, Suvitha Kesavan
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In this paper, a new approach based on the extent of friendship between the nodes is proposed which makes the nodes to co-operate in an ad hoc environment. The extended DSR protocol is tested under different scenarios by varying the number of malicious nodes and node moving speed. It is also tested varying the number of nodes in simulation used. The result indicates the achieved throughput by extended DSR is greater than the standard DSR and indicates the percentage of malicious drops over total drops are less in the case of extended DSR than the standard DSR.Keywords: Mobile Adhoc Networks, DSR, Grudger protocol, Nodes.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16762725 A Centralized Architecture for Cooperative Air-Sea Vehicles Using UAV-USV
Authors: Salima Bella, Assia Belbachir, Ghalem Belalem
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This paper deals with the problem of monitoring and cleaning dirty zones of oceans using unmanned vehicles. We present a centralized cooperative architecture for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to monitor ocean regions and clean dirty zones with the help of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs). Due to the rapid deployment of these unmanned vehicles, it is convenient to use them in oceanic regions where the water pollution zones are generally unknown. In order to optimize this process, our solution aims to detect and reduce the pollution level of the ocean zones while taking into account the problem of fault tolerance related to these vehicles.Keywords: Centralized architecture, fault tolerance, UAV, USV.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9792724 Backward Erosion Piping through Vertically Layered Sands
Authors: K. Vandenboer, L. Dolphen, A. Bezuijen
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Backward erosion piping is an important failure mechanism for water-retaining structures, a phenomenon that results in the formation of shallow pipes at the interface of a sandy or silty foundation and a cohesive cover layer. This paper studies the effect of two soil types on backward erosion piping; both in case of a homogeneous sand layer, and in a vertically layered sand sample, where the pipe is forced to subsequently grow through the different layers. Two configurations with vertical sand layers are tested; they both result in wider pipes and higher critical gradients, thereby making this an interesting topic in research on measures to prevent backward erosion piping failures.Keywords: Backward erosion piping, embankments, physical modelling, sand.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10342723 An Automated Approach for Assembling Modular Fixtures Using SolidWorks
Authors: Uday Hameed Farhan, Majid Tolouei-Rad, Simona O'Brien
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Modular fixtures (MFs) are very important tools in manufacturing processes in terms of reduction the cost and the production time. This paper introduces an automated approach for assembling MFs elements by employing SolidWorks as a powerful 3D CAD software. Visual Basic (VB) programming language was applied integrating with SolidWorks API (Application programming interface) functions. This integration allowed creating plug-in file and generating new menus in the SolidWorks environment. The menus allow the user to select, insert, and assemble MFs elements.Keywords: Assembly automation, modular fixtures, SolidWorks, Visual Basic.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27662722 Per Flow Packet Scheduling Scheme to Improve the End-to-End Fairness in Mobile Ad Hoc Wireless Network
Authors: K. Sasikala, R. S. D Wahidabanu
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Various fairness models and criteria proposed by academia and industries for wired networks can be applied for ad hoc wireless network. The end-to-end fairness in an ad hoc wireless network is a challenging task compared to wired networks, which has not been addressed effectively. Most of the traffic in an ad hoc network are transport layer flows and thus the fairness of transport layer flows has attracted the interest of the researchers. The factors such as MAC protocol, routing protocol, the length of a route, buffer size, active queue management algorithm and the congestion control algorithms affects the fairness of transport layer flows. In this paper, we have considered the rate of data transmission, the queue management and packet scheduling technique. The ad hoc network is dynamic in nature due to various parameters such as transmission of control packets, multihop nature of forwarding packets, changes in source and destination nodes, changes in the routing path influences determining throughput and fairness among the concurrent flows. In addition, the effect of interaction between the protocol in the data link and transport layers has also plays a role in determining the rate of the data transmission. We maintain queue for each flow and the delay information of each flow is maintained accordingly. The pre-processing of flow is done up to the network layer only. The source and destination address information is used for separating the flow and the transport layer information is not used. This minimizes the delay in the network. Each flow is attached to a timer and is updated dynamically. Finite State Machine (FSM) is proposed for queue and transmission control mechanism. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated in ns-2 simulation environment. The throughput and fairness based on mobility for different flows used as performance metrics. We have compared the performance of the proposed approach with ATP and the transport layer information is used. This minimizes the delay in the network. Each flow is attached to a timer and is updated dynamically. Finite State Machine (FSM) is proposed for queue and transmission control mechanism. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated in ns-2 simulation environment. The throughput and fairness based on not mobility for different flows used as performance metrics. We have compared the performance of the proposed approach with ATP and MC-MLAS and the performance of the proposed approach is encouraging.
Keywords: ATP, End-to-End fairness, FSM, MAC, QoS.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19802721 Thermodynamic Study of Hot Potassium Carbonate Solution Using Aspen Plus
Authors: O. Eisa, M. Shuhaimi
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This paper presents a study on the thermodynamics and transport properties of hot potassium carbonate aqueous system (HPC) using electrolyte non-random two liquid, (ELECNRTL) model. The operation conditions are varied to determine the system liquid phase stability range at the standard and critical conditions. A case study involving 30 wt% K2CO3, H2O standard system at pressure of 1 bar and temperature range from 280.15 to 366.15 K has been studied. The estimated solubility index, viscosity, water activity, and density which obtained from the simulation showed a good agreement with the experimental work. Furthermore, the saturation temperature of the solution has been estimated.Keywords: Viscosity, Saturation index, Activity coefficient, Density.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 53662720 Information Technology for Business Process Management in Insurance Companies
Authors: Vesna Bosilj Vukšić, Darija Ivandić Vidović, Ljubica Milanović Glavan
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Information technology plays an irreplaceable role in introducing and improving business process orientation in a company. It enables implementation of the theoretical concept, measurement of results achieved and undertaking corrective measures aimed at improvements. Information technology is a key concept in the development and implementation of the business process management systems as it establishes a connection to business operations. Both in the literature and practice, insurance companies are often seen as highly process oriented due to the nature of their business and focus on customers. They are also considered leaders in using information technology for business process management. The research conducted aimed to investigate whether the perceived leadership status of insurance companies is well deserved, i.e. to establish the level of process orientation and explore the practice of information technology use in insurance companies in the region. The main instrument for primary data collection within this research was an electronic survey questionnaire sent to the management of insurance companies in the Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Macedonia. The conducted research has shown that insurance companies have a satisfactory level of process orientation, but that there is also a huge potential for improvement, especially in the segment of information technology and its connection to business processes.Keywords: Business processes management, process orientation, information technology, insurance companies.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24472719 The Application of Queuing Theory in Multi-Stage Production Lines
Authors: Hani Shafeek, Muhammed Marsudi
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The purpose of this work is examining the multiproduct multi-stage in a battery production line. To improve the performances of an assembly production line by determine the efficiency of each workstation. Data collected from every workstation. The data are throughput rate, number of operator, and number of parts that arrive and leaves during part processing. Data for the number of parts that arrives and leaves are collected at least at the amount of ten samples to make the data is possible to be analyzed by Chi-Squared Goodness Test and queuing theory. Measures of this model served as the comparison with the standard data available in the company. Validation of the task time value resulted by comparing it with the task time value based on the company database. Some performance factors for the multi-product multi-stage in a battery production line in this work are shown. The efficiency in each workstation was also shown. Total production time to produce each part can be determined by adding the total task time in each workstation. To reduce the queuing time and increase the efficiency based on the analysis any probably improvement should be done. One probably action is by increasing the number of operators how manually operate this workstation.
Keywords: Production line, manufacturing, performance measurement, queuing theory.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31342718 Morphology and Magnetic Properties of Fe3O4 and Au@Fe3O4 Nanoparticles Synthesized by Pulsed Plasma in Liquid
Authors: Zhazgul Kelgenbaeva, Emil Omurzak, Saadat Sulaimankulova, Tsutomu Mashimo
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Spherical shaped magnetite (Fe3O4) and Au@Fe3O4 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized from Fe electrodes immersed in water with CTAB surfactant and HAuCl4 solution using simple method-pulsed plasma in liquid, without the use of dopants or special conditions for stabilization. Vibrating sample magnetometer indicated ferromagnetic behavior of particles at room temperature with coercivity and saturation magnetization of (Hc=105 Oe, Ms=6.83 emu/g) for Fe3O4 and (Hc=175, Ms=3.56emu/g) for Au@Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Structure and morphology of nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray Diffraction analysis and HR-TEM measurements. The cytotoxicity of nanoparticles was indicated using a XTT assay to be very low (cell viability: 98-89% with Fe3O4 and 99-91% for Au@Fe3O4 NPs).Keywords: Magnetite, Gold coated magnetite, Nanoparticles, Pulsed Plasma in Liquid, Cytotoxicity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24062717 MITOS-RCNN: Mitotic Figure Detection in Breast Cancer Histopathology Images Using Region Based Convolutional Neural Networks
Authors: Siddhant Rao
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Studies estimate that there will be 266,120 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 40,920 breast cancer induced deaths in the year of 2018 alone. Despite the pervasiveness of this affliction, the current process to obtain an accurate breast cancer prognosis is tedious and time consuming. It usually requires a trained pathologist to manually examine histopathological images and identify the features that characterize various cancer severity levels. We propose MITOS-RCNN: a region based convolutional neural network (RCNN) geared for small object detection to accurately grade one of the three factors that characterize tumor belligerence described by the Nottingham Grading System: mitotic count. Other computational approaches to mitotic figure counting and detection do not demonstrate ample recall or precision to be clinically viable. Our models outperformed all previous participants in the ICPR 2012 challenge, the AMIDA 2013 challenge and the MITOS-ATYPIA-14 challenge along with recently published works. Our model achieved an F- measure score of 0.955, a 6.11% improvement in accuracy from the most accurate of the previously proposed models.Keywords: Object detection, histopathology, breast cancer, mitotic count, deep learning, computer vision.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13992716 Promoting Reflection through Action Learning in a 3D Virtual World
Authors: R.L. Sanders, L. McKeown
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An international cooperation between educators in Australia and the US has led to a reconceptualization of the teaching of a library science course at Appalachian State University. The pedagogy of Action Learning coupled with a 3D virtual learning environment immerses students in a social constructivist learning space that incorporates and supports interaction and reflection. The intent of this study was to build a bridge between theory and practice by providing students with a tool set that promoted personal and social reflection, and created and scaffolded a community of practice. Besides, action learning is an educational process whereby the fifty graduate students experienced their own actions and experience to improve performance.Keywords: action learning, action research, reflection, metacognition, virtual worlds
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14132715 Fluid Flow Analysis and Design of a Flow Distributor in a Domestic Gas Boiler Using a Commercial CFD Software
Authors: Lukasz Peronski, Roy Bratley, Derek B. Ingham, Lin Ma, Mohamed Pourkashanian, StephenTaylor
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The aim of the study was to investigate the possible use of commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software in the design process of a domestic gas boiler. Because of the limited computational resources some simplifications had to be made in order to contribute to the design in a reasonable timescale. The porous media model was used in order to simulate the influence of the pressure drop characteristic of particular elements of a heat transfer system on the water-flow distribution in the system. Further, a combination of CFD analyses and spread sheet calculations was used in order to solve the flow distribution problem.Keywords: CFD, domestic gas boilers, flow distribution, heatexchanger, porous media
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27262714 Three Phase PWM Inverter for Low Rating Energy Efficient Systems
Authors: Nelson K. Lujara
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The paper presents a practical three-phase PWM inverter suitable for low voltage, low rating energy efficient systems. The work in the paper is conducted with the view to establishing the significance of the loss contribution from the PWM inverter in the determination of the complete losses of a photovoltaic (PV) arraypowered induction motor drive water pumping system. Losses investigated include; conduction and switching loss of the devices and gate drive losses. It is found that the PWM inverter operates at a reasonable variable efficiency that does not fall below 92% depending on the load. The results between the simulated and experimental results for the system with or without a maximum power tracker (MPT) compares very well, within an acceptable range of 2% margin.
Keywords: Energy, Inverter, Losses, Photovoltaic.
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