Search results for: Area under curve (AUC)

Authors: Maksudur Rahman Khan, Kar Min Chan, Huei Ruey Ong, Chin Kui Cheng, Wasikur Rahman

Abstract:

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a promising technology for simultaneous bioelectricity generation and wastewater treatment. Catalysts are significant portions of the cost of microbial fuel cell cathodes. Many materials have been tested as aqueous cathodes, but air-cathodes are needed to avoid energy demands for water aeration. The sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) rate at air cathode necessitates efficient electrocatalyst such as carbon supported platinum catalyst (Pt/C) which is very costly. Manganese oxide (MnO2) was a representative metal oxide which has been studied as a promising alternative electrocatalyst for ORR and has been tested in air-cathode MFCs. However the single MnO2 has poor electric conductivity and low stability. In the present work, the MnO2 catalyst has been modified by doping Pt nanoparticle. The goal of the work was to improve the performance of the MFC with minimum Pt loading. MnO2 and Pt nanoparticles were prepared by hydrothermal and sol gel methods, respectively. Wet impregnation method was used to synthesize Pt/MnO2 catalyst. The catalysts were further used as cathode catalysts in air-cathode cubic MFCs, in which anaerobic sludge was inoculated as biocatalysts and palm oil mill effluent (POME) was used as the substrate in the anode chamber. The asprepared Pt/MnO2 was characterized comprehensively through field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and cyclic voltammetry (CV) where its surface morphology, crystallinity, oxidation state and electrochemical activity were examined, respectively. XPS revealed Mn (IV) oxidation state and Pt (0) nanoparticle metal, indicating the presence of MnO2 and Pt. Morphology of Pt/MnO2 observed from FESEM shows that the doping of Pt did not cause change in needle-like shape of MnO2 which provides large contacting surface area. The electrochemical active area of the Pt/MnO2 catalysts has been increased from 276 to 617 m2/g with the increase in Pt loading from 0.2 to 0.8 wt%. The CV results in O2 saturated neutral Na2SO4 solution showed that MnO2 and Pt/MnO2 catalysts could catalyze ORR with different catalytic activities. MFC with Pt/MnO2 (0.4 wt% Pt) as air cathode catalyst generates a maximum power density of 165 mW/m3, which is higher than that of MFC with MnO2 catalyst (95 mW/m3). The open circuit voltage (OCV) of the MFC operated with MnO2 cathode gradually decreased during 14 days of operation, whereas the MFC with Pt/MnO2 cathode remained almost constant throughout the operation suggesting the higher stability of the Pt/MnO2 catalyst. Therefore, Pt/MnO2 with 0.4 wt% Pt successfully demonstrated as an efficient and low cost electrocatalyst for ORR in air cathode MFC with higher electrochemical activity, stability and hence enhanced performance.

Keywords: Microbial fuel cell, oxygen reduction reaction, Pt/MnO2, palm oil mill effluent, polarization curve.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3465

Authors: S. Moustafa El Shanawany, I. Labib Salem, F. Mohamed Magdy Badr El Dine, H. Tag El Deen Abd Allah

Abstract:

Thermal injuries remain a global health problem and a common issue encountered in forensic pathology. They are a devastating cause of morbidity and mortality in children and adults especially in developing countries, causing permanent disfigurement, scarring and grievous hurt. Burns have always been a matter of legal concern in cases of suicidal burns, self-inflicted burns for false accusation and homicidal attempts. Assessment of burn injuries as well as rating permanent disabilities and disfigurement following thermal injuries for the benefit of compensation claims represents a challenging problem. This necessitates the development of reliable scoring systems to yield an expected likelihood of permanent disability or fatal outcome following burn injuries. The study was designed to identify the risk factors of mortality in acute burn patients and to evaluate the applicability of FLAMES (Fatality by Longevity, APACHE II score, Measured Extent of burn, and Sex) and BOBI (Belgian Outcome in Burn Injury) model scores in predicting the outcome. The study was conducted on 100 adult patients with acute burn injuries admitted to the Burn Unit of Alexandria Main University Hospital, Egypt from October 2014 to October 2015. Victims were examined after obtaining informed consent and the data were collected in specially designed sheets including demographic data, burn details and any associated inhalation injury. Each burn patient was assessed using both BOBI and FLAMES scoring systems. The results of the study show the mean age of patients was 35.54±12.32 years. Males outnumbered females (55% and 45%, respectively). Most patients were accidently burnt (95%), whereas suicidal burns accounted for the remaining 5%. Flame burn was recorded in 82% of cases. As well, 8% of patients sustained more than 60% of total burn surface area (TBSA) burns, 19% of patients needed mechanical ventilation, and 19% of burnt patients died either from wound sepsis, multi-organ failure or pulmonary embolism. The mean length of hospital stay was 24.91±25.08 days. The mean BOBI score was 1.07±1.27 and that of the FLAMES score was -4.76±2.92. The FLAMES score demonstrated an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.95 which was significantly higher than that of the BOBI score (0.883). A statistically significant association was revealed between both predictive models and the outcome. The study concluded that both scoring systems were beneficial in predicting mortality in acutely burnt patients. However, the FLAMES score could be applied with a higher level of accuracy.

Keywords: BOBI, Burns, FLAMES, scoring systems, outcome.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1118

Authors: Omar Hamdy, Schichen Zhao, Hussein Abd El-Atty, Ayman Ragab, Muhammad Salem

Abstract:

One of the most risky areas in Aswan is Abouelreesh, which is suffering from flood disasters, as heavy deluge inundates urban areas causing considerable damage to buildings and infrastructure. Moreover, the main problem was the urban sprawl towards this risky area. This paper aims to identify the urban areas located in the risk areas prone to flash floods. Analyzing this phenomenon needs a lot of data to ensure satisfactory results; however, in this case the official data and field data were limited, and therefore, free sources of satellite data were used. This paper used ArcGIS tools to obtain the storm water drains network by analyzing DEM files. Additionally, historical imagery in Google Earth was studied to determine the age of each building. The last step was to overlay the urban area layer and the storm water drains layer to identify the vulnerable areas. The results of this study would be helpful to urban planners and government officials to make the disasters risk estimation and develop primary plans to recover the risky area, especially urban areas located in torrents.

Keywords: Risk area, DEM, storm water drains, GIS.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 827

Authors: Chang-Guk Sun, Jin-Soo Shin

Abstract:

In this study, an inland metropolitan area, Gwangju, in Korea was selected to assess the amplification potential of earthquake motion and provide the information for regional seismic countermeasure. A geographic information system-based expert system was implemented for reliably predicting the spatial geotechnical layers in the entire region of interesting by building a geo-knowledge database. Particularly, the database consists of the existing boring data gathered from the prior geotechnical projects and the surface geo-knowledge data acquired from the site visit. For practical application of the geo-knowledge database to estimate the earthquake hazard potential related to site amplification effects at the study area, seismic zoning maps on geotechnical parameters, such as the bedrock depth and the site period, were created within GIS framework. In addition, seismic zonation of site classification was also performed to determine the site amplification coefficients for seismic design at any site in the study area. KeywordsEarthquake hazard, geo-knowledge, geographic information system, seismic zonation, site period.

Keywords: Earthquake hazard, geo-knowledge, geographic information system, seismic zonation, site period.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1616

Authors: E. B. Quarcoo, I. Yakubu, K. J. Appau

Abstract:

Current land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics in Ghana have revealed considerable changes in settlement spaces. As a result, this study is intended to merge the cellular automata and Markov chain models using remotely sensed data and Geographical Information System (GIS) approaches to monitor, map, and detect the spatio-temporal LULC change in state lands within Cape Coast Metropolis. Multi-temporal satellite images from 1986-2020 were pre-processed, geo-referenced, and then mapped using supervised maximum likelihood classification to investigate the state’s land cover history (1986-2020) with an overall mapping accuracy of approximately 85%. The study further observed the rate of change for the area to have favored the built-up area 9.8 (12.58 km2) to the detriment of vegetation 5.14 (12.68 km2), but on average, 0.37 km2 (91.43 acres, or 37.00 ha.) of the landscape was transformed yearly. Subsequently, the CA-Markov model was used to anticipate the potential LULC for the study area for 2030. According to the anticipated 2030 LULC map, the patterns of vegetation transitioning into built-up regions will continue over the following ten years as a result of urban growth.

Keywords: LULC, cellular automata, Markov Chain, state lands, urbanisation, public lands, cape coast metropolis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 72

Authors: Mohammadhosein Hasanbeig, Lacra Pavel

Abstract:

In this paper, we study a distributed control algorithm for the problem of unknown area coverage by a network of robots. The coverage objective is to locate a set of targets in the area and to minimize the robots’ energy consumption. The robots have no prior knowledge about the location and also about the number of the targets in the area. One efficient approach that can be used to relax the robots’ lack of knowledge is to incorporate an auxiliary learning algorithm into the control scheme. A learning algorithm actually allows the robots to explore and study the unknown environment and to eventually overcome their lack of knowledge. The control algorithm itself is modeled based on game theory where the network of the robots use their collective information to play a non-cooperative potential game. The algorithm is tested via simulations to verify its performance and adaptability.

Keywords: Distributed control, game theory, multi-agent learning, reinforcement learning.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 934

Authors: Ademeso, Odunyemi Anthony

Abstract:

The charnockitic and associated granitic rocks of Akure area were studied for their field and petrographic relationship's. The outcrops locations were plotted in Surfer 8. The granitic rock exhibits a porphyritic texture and outcrops in the north-eastern side of the study area while the charnockitics outcrop in the central/western part. An essentially dark coloured and fine grained intrusive exhibiting xenoliths and xenocrysts (plagioclase phenocrysts) of the granite outcrops between the granitic and charnockitic rocks. Mineralogically, the central rock combines the content of the other two indicating that it is most likely a product of their hybridization. The charnockitic magma is believed to have intruded and assimilated the granite substantially thereby contaminating itself and consequently emplacing the hybrid. The presented model of emplacement elucidates the hybridization proposal. Conclusively, the charnockitics are believed to be (a) younger than the granite, (b) of Pan-African age and (c) of igneous origin.

Keywords: Charnockitic rock, Hybrid rock, ImageJ, Xenocryst

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2983

Authors: Sheng-Gwo Chen, Wen-Haw Chen

Abstract:

It is an important problem to compute the geodesics on a surface in many fields. To find the geodesics in practice, however, the traditional discrete algorithms or numerical approaches can only find a list of discrete points. The first author proposed in 2010 a new, elegant and accurate method, the geodesic-like method, for approximating geodesics on a regular surface. This paper will present by use of this method a computation of the Bezier geodesic-like curves on spheres.

Keywords: Geodesics, Geodesic-like curve, Spheres, Bezier.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1588

Authors: Arpan Paul, Joy Sen

Abstract:

Livability is a holistic concept whose factors include many complex characteristics and levels of interrelationships among them. It has been considered as people’s need for public amenities and is recognized as a major element to create social welfare. The concept and principles of livability are essential for recognizing the significance of community well-being. The attributes and dimensions of livability are also important aspects to measure the overall quality of environment. Livability potential is mainly considered as the capacity to develop into the overall well-being of an urban area in future. The intent of the present study is to identify the prime factors to evaluate livability potential within a metropolis. For ground level case study, the paper has selected Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) as it has wide physical, social, and economic variations within it. The initial part of the study deals with detailed literature review on livability and its significance of evaluating its potential within a metropolis. The next segment is dedicated for identifying the primary factors which would evaluate livability potential within a metropolis. In pursuit of identifying primary factors, which have a direct impact on urban livability, this study delineates the metropolitan area into various clusters, having their distinct livability potential. As a final outcome of the study, variations of livability potential of those selected clusters are highlighted to explain the complexity of the metropolitan development.

Keywords: Livability potential, metropolis, Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA), well-being.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1215

Authors: Hossein Zeinivand, Florimond De Smedt

Abstract:

Snow cover is an important phenomenon in hydrology, hence modeling the snow accumulation and melting is an important issue in places where snowmelt significantly contributes to runoff and has significant effect on water balance. The physics-based models are invariably distributed, with the basin disaggregated into zones or grid cells. Satellites images provide valuable data to verify the accuracy of spatially distributed model outputs. In this study a spatially distributed physically based model (WetSpa) was applied to predict snow cover and melting in the Latyan dam watershed in Iran. Snowmelt is simulated based on an energy balance approach. The model is applied and calibrated with one year of observed daily precipitation, air temperature, windspeed, and daily potential evaporation. The predicted snow-covered area is compared with remotely sensed images (MODIS). The results show that simulated snow cover area SCA has a good agreement with satellite image snow cover area SCA from MODIS images. The model performance is also tested by statistical and graphical comparison of simulated and measured discharges entering the Latyan dam reservoir.

Keywords: Physical based model, Satellite image, Snow covers.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1832

Authors: Gokhan Soydan, Musa Demirci, Nazli Yildiz Ikikardes, Ismail Naci Cangul

Abstract:

In this work, we consider the rational points on elliptic curves over finite fields Fp where p ≡ 5 (mod 6). We obtain results on the number of points on an elliptic curve y2 ≡ x3 + a3(mod p), where p ≡ 5 (mod 6) is prime. We give some results concerning the sum of the abscissae of these points. A similar case where p ≡ 1 (mod 6) is considered in [5]. The main difference between two cases is that when p ≡ 5 (mod 6), all elements of Fp are cubic residues.

Keywords: Elliptic curves over finite fields, rational points.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2221

Authors: S. O. Adeosun, O. S. Sanni

Abstract:

Study on corrosion propensity of welded mild steel- bar in soil media around the coastal area of University of Lagos has been carried out using gravimetric method. Six (6) samples each for welded and unwelded mild steels were cut, their initial weights were recorded and buried in two selected soil. The weight losses of these coupons were measured at regular intervals for a period of six months (180 days).

The corrosiveness of the soil media varied widely depending on the potency level of its constituents. The results revealed that soil in the studied area have marked variations in composition and contents. Soil medium with a lower pH and higher chloride ion concentration aggressively attacked the coupons with the welded steel coupon corroding faster than unwelded one. The medium resistivity to the flow of current is another strong factor affecting corrosion rate.

Keywords: Coastal area, corrosion rate, mild steel, soil media, welds.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2310

Authors: Anas M. Fares

Abstract:

The using of finite element programs in analyzing and designing buildings are becoming very popular, but there are many engineers still using the tributary area method (TAM) in designing the structural members such as columns. This study is an attempt to investigate the accuracy of the TAM results with different load condition (gravity and lateral load), different floors numbers, and different columns stiffness's. To conduct this study, linear elastic analysis in ETABS program is used. The results from finite element method are compared to those obtained from TAM. According to the analysis of the data obtained, it can be seen that there is significance difference between the real load carried by columns and the load which is calculated by using the TAM. Thus, using 3-D models are the best choice to calculate the real load effected on columns and design these columns according to this load.

Keywords: Tributary area method, finite element method, ETABS, lateral load, axial loads, reinforced concrete, stiffness, multi-floor buildings.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1071

Authors: Gayadhar Panda, Sidhartha Panda, C. Ardil

Abstract:

A modified Genetic Algorithm (GA) based optimal selection of parameters for Automatic Generation Control (AGC) of multi-area electric energy systems is proposed in this paper. Simulations on multi-area reheat thermal system with and without consideration of nonlinearity like governor dead band followed by 1% step load perturbation is performed to exemplify the optimum parameter search. In this proposed method, a modified Genetic Algorithm is proposed where one point crossover with modification is employed. Positional dependency in respect of crossing site helps to maintain diversity of search point as well as exploitation of already known optimum value. This makes a trade-off between exploration and exploitation of search space to find global optimum in less number of generations. The proposed GA along with decomposition technique as developed has been used to obtain the optimum megawatt frequency control of multi-area electric energy systems. Time-domain simulations are conducted with trapezoidal integration along with decomposition technique. The superiority of the proposed method over existing one is verified from simulations and comparisons.

Keywords: Automatic Generation Control (AGC), Reheat, Proportional Integral (PI) controller, Dead Band, Genetic Algorithm(GA).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2631

Authors: Siska Soesanti, Norihiro Nakai

Abstract:

Bandung city center can be deemed as economic, social and cultural center. However the city center suffers from deterioration. The retail activities tend to shift outward the city center. Numerous idyllic residences changed into business premises in two villages situated in the north part of the city during 1990s, especially after a new highway and flyover opened. According to space syntax theory, the pattern of spatial integration in the urban grid is a prime determinant of movement patterns in the system. The syntactic analysis results show the flyover has insignificant influence on street network in the city center. However the flyover has been generating a major difference in the new commercial area since it has become relatively as strategic as the city center. Besides street network, local government policy, rapid private motorization and particular condition of each site also played important roles in encouraging the current commercial areas to flourish.

Keywords: City center, commercial area, space syntax, street network.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1783

Authors: Chun-Yao Lee, Siang-Ren Wang

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the influence of resistance characteristic on the high conductive concrete considering the various voltage and environment. The four-electrode method is applied to the tailor-made high conductive concrete with appropriate proportion. The curve of resistivity with the changes of voltage and environment is plotted and the changes of resistivity are explored. The result based on the methods reveals that resistivity is less affected by the temperature factor, and the four-electrode method would be an applicable measurement method on a site inspection.

Keywords: Conductive concrete, Resistivity.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1571

Authors: Michal Bidlo, Radek Bidlo, Lukas Sekanina

Abstract:

A method is presented for the construction of arbitrary even-input sorting networks exhibiting better properties than the networks created using a conventional technique of the same type. The method was discovered by means of a genetic algorithm combined with an application-specific development. Similarly to human inventions in the area of theoretical computer science, the evolved invention was analyzed: its generality was proven and area and time complexities were determined.

Keywords: Development, genetic algorithm, program, sorting network.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1258

Authors: Gulshan Sharma

Abstract:

This article presents the design of optimal automatic generation control (AGC) based on full state feedback control for a multi-area interconnected power system. An extra high voltage AC transmission line in parallel with a high voltage DC link is considered as an area interconnection between the areas. The optimal AGC are designed and implemented in the wake of 1% load perturbation in one of the areas and the system dynamic response plots for various system states are obtained to investigate the system dynamic performance. The pattern of closed-loop eigenvalues are also determined to analyze the system stability. From the investigations carried out in the work, it is revealed that the dynamic performance of the system under consideration has an appreciable improvement when a high voltage DC line is paralleled with an extra high voltage AC line as an interconnection between the areas. The investigation of closed-loop eigenvalues reveals that the system stability is ensured in all case studies carried out with the designed optimal AGC.

Keywords: Automatic generation control, area control error, DC link, optimal AGC regulator, closed-loop eigenvalues.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 788

Authors: Ling-fei Xu, Qi Zhao, Yan-ru Chen, Mu-chun Zhou, Meng Zhang, Shi-xue Xu

Abstract:

SVM ( Support Vector Machine ) is a new method in the artificial neural network ( ANN ). In the steel making, how to use computer to predict the end point of BOF accuracy is a great problem. A lot of method and theory have been claimed, but most of the results is not satisfied. Now the hot topic in the BOF end point predicting is to use optical way the predict the end point in the BOF. And we found that there exist some regular in the characteristic curve of the flame from the mouse of pudding. And we can use SVM to predict end point of the BOF, just single spectrum intensity should be required as the input parameter. Moreover, its compatibility for the input space is better than the BP network.

Keywords: SVM, predict, BOF, single spectrum intensity.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1318

Authors: Normi Abdul Hadi, Arsmah Ibrahim, Fatimah Yahya, Jamaludin Md. Ali

Abstract:

Beta-spline is built on G2 continuity which guarantees smoothness of generated curves and surfaces using it. This curve is preferred to be used in object design rather than reconstruction. This study however, employs the Beta-spline in reconstructing a 3- dimensional G2 image of the Stanford Rabbit. The original data consists of multi-slice binary images of the rabbit. The result is then compared with related works using other techniques.

Keywords: Beta-spline, multi-slice image, rectangular surface, 3D reconstruction

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1850

Authors: L. Mota, O. Frausto

Abstract:

Marine Protected Areas can benefit from nature based tourism, monitoring environmental impacts and also become target for human presence. From more than 3 million tourists visiting Cozumel Island every year, an average of 2,8 million arrive by cruise ship, and 41% are estimated to have motivation for water activities. The destination is relying so much on the tourism activity, that scuba diving and snorkeling in the National Park Reef of Cozumel sustain the major economic activity. In order to achieve the sustainable development indicator designed for regional environmental development, the PNAC offers a training course to tourism providers to access the protected area. This way, the update of the last 5 years of such training is directed to diving staff, boat crew and professionals, making them able to assist in managing the natural resource. Moreover, the case study is an example to be used for raising awareness among tourists visiting protected areas.

Keywords: Education, Marine Protected Area, scuba diving, sustainability, tourism.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2483

Authors: Marco Kennemann, Steffen C. Eickemeyer, Peter Nyhuis

Abstract:

An increasingly dynamic and complex environment poses huge challenges to production enterprises, especially with regards to logistics. The Logistic Operating Curve Theory, developed at the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA) of the Leibniz University of Hanover, is a recognized approach to describing logistic interactions, nevertheless, it reaches its limits when it comes to the dynamic aspects. In order to facilitate a timely and optimal Logistic Positioning a method is developed for quickly and reliably identifying dynamic processing states.

Keywords: Dynamics, Logistic Operating Curves, Production Logistics, Production Planning and Control

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1474

Authors: Yousef Abu Nahleh, Arun Kumar, Fugen Daver

Abstract:

Facility location is one of the important problems affecting the relief operations. The location model in this paper is motivated by arranging the flow of relief materials from the main warehouse to continent warehouse and further to regional warehouse and from these to the disaster area. This flow makes the relief organization always ready to deal with the disaster situation during shortest possible time. The main purpose of this paper is merge the concept of just in time and the campaign system in emergency supply chain,so that when the disaster happens the affected country can request help from the nearest regional warehouse, which will supply the relief material and the required stuff to support and assist the victims in the disaster area. Furthermore, the regional warehouse places an order to the continent warehouse to replenish the material that is distributed to the disaster area. This way they will always be ready to respond to any type of disaster.

Keywords: Facility location, Center-of-Gravity Technique, Humanitarian relief, emergency supply chain.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3756

Authors: Sathans, A. Swarup

Abstract:

This paper presents the development and application of an adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) based intelligent hybrid neuro fuzzy controller for automatic generation control (AGC) of two-area interconnected thermal power system with reheat non linearity. The dynamic response of the system has been studied for 1% step load perturbation in area-1. The performance of the proposed neuro fuzzy controller is compared against conventional proportional-integral (PI) controller, state feedback linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controller and fuzzy gain scheduled proportionalintegral (FGSPI) controller. Comparative analysis demonstrates that the proposed intelligent neuro fuzzy controller is the most effective of all in improving the transients of frequency and tie-line power deviations against small step load disturbances. Simulations have been performed using Matlab®.

Keywords: Automatic generation control, ANFIS, LQR, Hybrid neuro fuzzy controller

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2649

Authors: Payam Haghparast, Mikhail V. Sorin, Hakim Nesreddine

Abstract:

The complex oblique shock phenomenon can be simply assumed as a normal shock at the constant area section to simulate a sharp pressure increase and velocity decrease in 1-D thermodynamic models. The assumed normal shock location is one of the greatest sources of error in ejector thermodynamic models. Most researchers consider an arbitrary location without justifying it. Our study compares the effect of normal shock place on ejector dimensions in 1-D models. To this aim, two different ejector experimental test benches, a constant area-mixing ejector (CAM) and a constant pressure-mixing (CPM) are considered, with different known geometries, operating conditions and working fluids (R245fa, R141b). In the first step, in order to evaluate the real value of the efficiencies in the different ejector parts and critical back pressure, a CFD model was built and validated by experimental data for two types of ejectors. These reference data are then used as input to the 1D model to calculate the lengths and the diameters of the ejectors. Afterwards, the design output geometry calculated by the 1D model is compared directly with the corresponding experimental geometry. It was found that there is a good agreement between the ejector dimensions obtained by the 1D model, for both CAM and CPM, with experimental ejector data. Furthermore, it is shown that normal shock place affects only the constant area length as it is proven that the inlet normal shock assumption results in more accurate length. Taking into account previous 1D models, the results suggest the use of the assumed normal shock location at the inlet of the constant area duct to design the supersonic ejectors.

Keywords: 1D model, constant area-mixing, constant pressure-mixing, normal shock location, ejector dimensions.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 923

Authors: Ami Nomura, Ken Imanishi, Yukinori Taniguchi, Etsuko Ueda, Tadahiro Wada, Shinichi Enoki

Abstract:

Recently, there have been a lot of earthquakes in Japan. It is necessary to promote seismic isolation devices for buildings. The devices have been hardly diffused in attached houses, because the devices are very expensive. We should develop a low-cost seismic isolation device for detached houses. We suggested a new seismic isolation device which uses a two-layer circular tube as a unit. If hysteresis is produced in the two-layer circular tube under lateral compression load, we think that the two-layer circular tube can have energy absorbing capacity. It is necessary to contact the outer layer and the inner layer to produce hysteresis. We have previously reported how the inner layer comes in contact with the outer layer from a perspective of analysis used mechanics of materials. We have clarified that the inner layer comes in contact with the outer layer under a lateral compression load. In this paper, we explored contact area between the outer layer and the inner layer under a lateral compression load by using FEA. We think that changing the inner layer’s thickness is effective in increase the contact area. In order to change the inner layer’s thickness, we changed the shape of the inner layer. As a result, the contact area changes depending on the inner layer’s thickness. Additionally, we experimented to check whether hysteresis occurs in fact. As a consequence, we can reveal hysteresis in the two-layer circular tube under the condition.

Keywords: Contact area, energy absorbing capacity, hysteresis, seismic isolation device.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1957

Authors: Natta Changchutoe

Abstract:

This research aimed to study employees- perceptions and expectations toward their organization-s corporate social responsibility (CSR), to study the differences between employees- personal factors and level of perceptions and expectations toward CSR, and to study the relationship between employees- perceptions and expectations toward CSR. Purposive sampling and questionnaire were applied to collect information from 400 private company employees in Bangkok metropolitan area. The results revealed that employees had “high" level of perceptions and expectations toward CSR, of which the highest level were given on the area of “corporate governance and transparency". It was found that there was different level of expectations of employees with different period of employment, position and employment (by listed and non-listed companies). Employees of different age and period of employment also had different level of expectations. Employees- perceptions were correlated with their expectations toward CSR.

Keywords: Employees, Perceptions, Expectations, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4084

Authors: Supriya Gupta, Paresh Chokshi

Abstract:

Polymer-particle interactions can be effectively utilized to produce composites that possess physicochemical properties superior to that of neat polymer. The incorporation of fillers with dimensions comparable to polymer chain size produces composites with extra-ordinary properties owing to very high surface to volume ratio. The dispersion of nanoparticles is achieved by inducing steric repulsion realized by grafting particles with polymeric chains. A comprehensive understanding of the interparticle interaction between these functionalized nanoparticles plays an important role in the synthesis of a stable polymer nanocomposite. With the focus on incorporation of clay sheets in a polymer matrix, we theoretically construct the polymer mediated interparticle potential for two nanosheets grafted with polymeric chains. The self-consistent field theory (SCFT) is employed to obtain the inhomogeneous composition field under equilibrium. Unlike the continuum models, SCFT is built from the microscopic description taking in to account the molecular interactions contributed by both intra- and inter-chain potentials. We present the results of SCFT calculations of the interaction potential curve for two grafted nanosheets immersed in the matrix of polymeric chains of dissimilar chemistry to that of the grafted chains. The interaction potential is repulsive at short separation and shows depletion attraction for moderate separations induced by high grafting density. It is found that the strength of attraction well can be tuned by altering the compatibility between the grafted and the mobile chains. Further, we construct the interaction potential between two nanosheets grafted with diblock copolymers with one of the blocks being chemically identical to the free polymeric chains. The interplay between the enthalpic interaction between the dissimilar species and the entropy of the free chains gives rise to a rich behavior in interaction potential curve obtained for two separate cases of free chains being chemically similar to either the grafted block or the free block of the grafted diblock chains.

Keywords: Clay nanosheets, polymer brush, polymer nanocomposites, self-consistent field theory.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1436

Authors: Maha Jameal Balgoon, Gehan A. Raouf, Safaa Y. Qusti, Soad Shaker Ali

Abstract:

The main cause of Alzheimer disease (AD) was believed to be mainly due to the accumulation of free radicals owing to oxidative stress (OS) in brain tissue. The mechanism of the neurotoxicity of Aluminum chloride (AlCl3) induced AD in hippocampus Albino wister rat brain tissue, the curative & the protective effects of Lipidium sativum group (LS) water extract were assessed after 8 weeks by attenuated total reflection spectroscopy ATR-IR and histologically by light microscope. ATR-IR results revealed that the membrane phospholipid undergo free radical attacks, mediated by AlCl3, primary affects the polyunsaturated fatty acids indicated by the increased of the olefinic -C=CH sub-band area around 3012 cm-1 from the curve fitting analysis. The narrowing in the half band width (HBW) of the sνCH2 sub-band around 2852 cm-1 due to Al intoxication indicates the presence of trans form fatty acids rather than gauch rotomer. The degradation of hydrocarbon chain to shorter chain length, increasing in membrane fluidity, disorder, and decreasing in lipid polarity in AlCl3 group indicated by the detected changes in certain calculated area ratios compared to the control. Administration of LS was greatly improved these parameters compared to the AlCl3 group. Al influences the Aβ aggregation and plaque formation, which in turn interferes to and disrupts the membrane structure. The results also showed a marked increase in the β-parallel and antiparallel structure, that characterize the Aβ formation in Al-induced AD hippocampal brain tissue, indicated by the detected increase in both amide I sub-bands around 1674, 1692 cm-1. This drastic increase in Aβ formation was greatly reduced in the curative and protective groups compared to the AlCl3 group and approached nearly the control values. These results supported too by the light microscope. AlCl3 group showed significant marked degenerative changes in hippocampal neurons. Most cells appeared small, shrieked and deformed. Interestingly, the administration of LS in curative and protective groups markedly decreases the amount of degenerated cells compared to the non-treated group. In addition, the intensity of congo red stained cells was decreased. Hippocampal neurons looked more/or less similar to those of control. This study showed a promising therapeutic effect of Lipidium sativum group (LS) on AD rat model that seriously overcome the signs of oxidative stress on membrane lipid and restore the protein misfolding.

Keywords: Aluminum chloride, Alzheimer’s disease, ATR-IR, Lipidium sativum.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2767

Authors: Yong-Gyu Lee, Jin-Hee Park, Gilwon Yoon

Abstract:

In this study, we introduced a communication system where human body was used as medium through which data were transferred. Multiple biosignal sensing units were attached to a subject and wireless personal area network was formed. Data of the sensing units were shared among them. We used wideband pulse communication that was simple, low-power consuming and high data rated. Each unit functioned as independent communication device or node. A method of channel search and communication among the modes was developed. A protocol of carrier sense multiple access/collision detect was implemented in order to avoid data collision or interferences. Biosignal sensing units should be located at different locations due to the nature of biosignal origin. Our research provided a flexibility of collecting data without using electrical wires. More non-constrained measurement was accomplished which was more suitable for u-Health monitoring.

Keywords: Human body communication, wideband pulse communication, personal area network, biosignal.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2148