Search results for: rural development
841 Teacher Trainers’ Motivation in Transformation of Teaching and Learning: The Fun Way Approach
Authors: Malathi Balakrishnan, Gananthan M. Nadarajah, Noraini Abd Rahim, Amy Wong On Mei
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The purpose of the study is to investigate the level of intrinsic motivation of trainers after attending a Continuous Professional Development Course (CPD) organized by Institute of Teacher Training Malaysia titled, “Transformation of Teaching and Learning the Fun Way”. This study employed a survey whereby 96 teacher trainers were given Situational Intrinsic Motivational Scale (SIMS) Instruments. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to get the validity of this instrument in local setting. Data were analyzed with SPSS for descriptive statistic. Semi- structured interviews were also administrated to collect qualitative data on participants’ experiences after participating in the two-day fun-filled program. The findings showed that the participants’ level of intrinsic motivation showed higher mean than the amotivation. The results revealed that the intrinsic motivation mean is 19.0 followed by Identified regulation with a mean of 17.4, external regulation 9.7 and amotivation 6.9. The interview data also revealed that the participants were motivated after attending this training program. It can be concluded that this program, which was organized by Institute of Teacher Training Malaysia, was able to enhance participants’ level of motivation. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a multidimensional approach to motivation was utilized. Therefore, teacher trainers may have more success using the “The fun way approach” in conducting training program in future.Keywords: Teaching and Learning, Motivation, Teacher Trainer, SDT.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2061840 Effect of Plant Biostimulants on Fruit Set, Yield, and Quality Attributes of “Farbaly” Apricot Cultivar
Authors: A. Tarantino, F. Lops, G. Disciglio, E. Tarantino
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Apulia region (southern Italy) is excellent for heavy production of apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.). Fruit quality is a combination of physical, chemical and nutritional characteristics. The present experiment was laid in the commercial orchard in Cerignola (Foggia district, Apulia region, 41°15’49’’N; 15°53’59’’E; 126 a.s.l.) during the 2014-2015 season. The experiment consisted of the use of three biostimulant treatments (Hendophyt®, Ergostim® and Radicon®) compared with untreated control on ‘Farbaly’ apricot cultivar, in order to evaluate the vegeto-productive and fruit qualitative attributes. Foliar spray of biostimulants was applied at different times during the growth season (at red ball, fruit setting and fruit development stages). Experimental data showed some specific differences among the biostimulant treatments, which fruit set, growth and productivity were affected. Moderate influences were found regarding the qualitative attributes of fruits. The soluble solid content was positively affected by Hendophyt® treatment. Antioxidant capacity was significantly higher in Hendophyt® and Radicon® treatments respect to the untreated control.Keywords: Prunus Armeniaca L., biostimulants, fruit set, fruit quality.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1282839 Effect of Precursors Aging Time on the Photocatalytic Activity of ZnO Thin Films
Authors: N. Kaneva, A. Bojinova, K. Papazova
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Thin ZnO films are deposited on glass substrates via sol–gel method and dip-coating. The films are prepared from zinc acetate dehydrate as a starting reagent. After that the as-prepared ZnO sol is aged for different periods (0, 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 30 days). Nanocrystalline thin films are deposited from various sols. The effect ZnO sols aging time on the structural and photocatalytic properties of the films is studied. The films surface is studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy. The effect of the aging time of the starting solution is studied in the photocatalytic degradation of Reactive Black 5 (RB5) by UV-vis spectroscopy. The experiments are conducted upon UV-light illumination and in complete darkness. The variation of the absorption spectra shows the degradation of RB5 dissolved in water, as a result of the reaction, occurring on the surface of the films and promoted by UV irradiation. The initial concentrations of dye (5, 10 and 20 ppm) and the effect of the aging time are varied during the experiments. The results show, that the increasing aging time of starting solution with respect to ZnO generally promotes photocatalytic activity. The thin films obtained from ZnO sol, which is aged 30 days have best photocatalytic degradation of the dye (97,22%) in comparison with the freshly prepared ones (65,92%). The samples and photocatalytic experimental results are reproducible. Nevertheless, all films exhibit a substantial activity in both UV light and darkness, which is promising for the development of new ZnO photocatalysts by sol-gel method.
Keywords: ZnO thin films, sol-gel, photocatalysis, aging time.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2430838 Social Network Based Decision Support System for Smart U-Parking Planning
Authors: Jun-Ho Park, Kwang-Woo Nam, Seung-Mo Hong, Tae-Heon Moon, Sang-Ho Lee, Youn-Taik Leem
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The aim of this study was to build ‘Ubi-Net’, a decision-making support system for systematic establishment in U-City planning. We have experienced various urban problems caused by high-density development and population concentrations in established urban areas. To address these problems, a U-Service contributes to the alleviation of urban problems by providing real-time information to citizens through network connections and related information. However, technology, devices, and information for consumers are required for systematic U-Service planning in towns and cities where there are many difficulties in this regard, and a lack of reference systems. Thus, this study suggests methods to support the establishment of sustainable planning by providing comprehensive information including IT technology, devices, news, and social networking services (SNS) to U-City planners through intelligent searches. In this study, we targeted Smart U-Parking Planning to solve parking problems in an ‘old’ city. Through this study, we sought to contribute to supporting advances in U-Space and the alleviation of urban problems.
Keywords: Design and decision support system, smart U-parking planning, social network analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2262837 Privacy in New Mobile Payment Protocol
Authors: Tan Soo Fun, Leau Yu Beng, Rozaini Roslan, Habeeb Saleh Habeeb
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The increasing development of wireless networks and the widespread popularity of handheld devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile phones and wireless tablets represents an incredible opportunity to enable mobile devices as a universal payment method, involving daily financial transactions. Unfortunately, some issues hampering the widespread acceptance of mobile payment such as accountability properties, privacy protection, limitation of wireless network and mobile device. Recently, many public-key cryptography based mobile payment protocol have been proposed. However, limited capabilities of mobile devices and wireless networks make these protocols are unsuitable for mobile network. Moreover, these protocols were designed to preserve traditional flow of payment data, which is vulnerable to attack and increase the user-s risk. In this paper, we propose a private mobile payment protocol which based on client centric model and by employing symmetric key operations. The proposed mobile payment protocol not only minimizes the computational operations and communication passes between the engaging parties, but also achieves a completely privacy protection for the payer. The future work will concentrate on improving the verification solution to support mobile user authentication and authorization for mobile payment transactions.Keywords: Mobile Network Operator, Mobile payment protocol, Privacy, Symmetric key.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2121836 Development of Piezoelectric Gas Micro Pumps with the PDMS Check Valve Design
Authors: Chiang-Ho Cheng, An-Shik Yang, Hong-Yih Cheng, Ming-Yu Lai
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This paper presents the design and fabrication of a novel piezoelectric actuator for a gas micro pump with check valve having the advantages of miniature size, light weight and low power consumption. The micro pump is designed to have eight major components, namely a stainless steel upper cover layer, a piezoelectric actuator, a stainless steel diaphragm, a PDMS chamber layer, two stainless steel channel layers with two valve seats, a PDMS check valve layer with two cantilever-type check valves and an acrylic substrate. A prototype of the gas micro pump, with a size of 52 mm × 50 mm × 5.0 mm, is fabricated by precise manufacturing. This device is designed to pump gases with the capability of performing the self-priming and bubble-tolerant work mode by maximizing the stroke volume of the membrane as well as the compression ratio via minimization of the dead volume of the micro pump chamber and channel. By experiment apparatus setup, we can get the real-time values of the flow rate of micro pump and the displacement of the piezoelectric actuator, simultaneously. The gas micro pump obtained higher output performance under the sinusoidal waveform of 250 Vpp. The micro pump achieved the maximum pumping rates of 1185 ml/min and back pressure of 7.14 kPa at the corresponding frequency of 120 and 50 Hz.Keywords: PDMS, Check valve, Micro pump, Piezoelectric.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2011835 Analysis of Thermal Damping in Si Based Torsional Micromirrors
Authors: R. Resmi, M. R. Baiju
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The thermal damping of a dynamic vibrating micromirror is an important factor affecting the design of MEMS based actuator systems. In the development process of new micromirror systems, assessing the extent of energy loss due to thermal damping accurately and predicting the performance of the system is very essential. In this paper, the depth of the thermal penetration layer at different eigenfrequencies and the temperature variation distributions surrounding a vibrating micromirror is analyzed. The thermal penetration depth corresponds to the thermal boundary layer in which energy is lost which is a measure of the thermal damping is found out. The energy is mainly dissipated in the thermal boundary layer and thickness of the layer is an important parameter. The detailed thermoacoustics is used to model the air domain surrounding the micromirror. The thickness of the boundary layer, temperature variations and thermal power dissipation are analyzed for a Si based torsional mode micromirror. It is found that thermal penetration depth decreases with eigenfrequency and hence operating the micromirror at higher frequencies is essential for reducing thermal damping. The temperature variations and thermal power dissipations at different eigenfrequencies are also analyzed. Both frequency-response and eigenfrequency analyses are done using COMSOL Multiphysics software.
Keywords: Eigen frequency analysis, micromirrors, thermal damping, thermoacoustic interactions.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1042834 MGAUM—Towards a Mobile Government Adoption and Utilization Model: The Case of Saudi Arabia
Authors: Mohammed Alonazi, Natalia Beloff, Martin White
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This paper presents a proposal for a mobile government adoption and utilization model (MGAUM), which is a framework designed to increase the adoption rate of m-government services in Saudi Arabia. Recent advances in mobile technologies such are Mobile compatibilities, The development of wireless communication, mobile applications and devices are enabling governments to deliver services in new ways to citizens more efficiently and economically. In the last decade, many governments around the globe are utilizing these advances effectively to develop their next generation of e-government services. However, a low adoption rate of m-government services by citizens is a common problem in Arabian countries, including Saudi Arabia. Yet, to our knowledge, very little research has been conducted focused on understanding the factors that influence citizen adoption of these m-government services in this part of the world. A set of social, cultural and technological factors have been identified in the literature, which has led to the formulation of associated research questions and hypotheses. These hypotheses will be tested on Saudi citizens using questionnaires and interview methods based around the technology acceptance model. A key objective of the MGAUM framework is to investigate and understand Saudi citizens perception towards adoption and utilization of m-government services.Keywords: E-Government, M-Government, citizen services quality, technology acceptance model, Saudi Arabia, adoption framework.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1623833 Displaying of GnRH Peptides on Bacteriophage T7 and Its Immunogenicity in Mice Model
Authors: Hai Xu, Yiwei Wang, Xi Bao, Bihua Deng, Pengcheng Li, Yu Lu
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T7 phage could be used as a perfect vector for peptides expression and haptens presentation. T7-3GnRH recombinant phage was constructed by inserting three copies of Gonadotrophin Releasing Hormone (GnRH) gene into the multiple cloning site of T7 Select 415-1b phage genome. The positive T7-3GnRH phage was selected by using polymerase chain reaction amplification, and the p10B-3GnRH fusion protein was verified by SDS-PAGE and Western-blotting assay. T7-3GnRH vaccine was made and immunized with 1010 pfu in 0.2 ml per dose in mice. Blood samples were collected at an interval in weeks, and anti-GnRH antibody and testosterone concentrations were detected by ELISA and radioimmunoassay, respectively. The results show that T7-3GnRH phage particles confer a high immunogenicity to the GnRH-derived epitope. Moreover, the T7-3GnRH vaccine induced higher level of anti-GnRH antibody than ImproVac®. However, the testosterone concentrations in both immunized groups were at a similar level, and the testis developments were significantly inhibited compared to controls. These findings demonstrated that the anti-GnRH antibody could neutralize the endogenous GnRH to down regulate testosterone level and limit testis development, highlighting the potential value of T7-3GnRH in the immunocastration vaccine research.
Keywords: Gonadotrophin releasing hormone, GnRH, immunocastration, T7 phage, phage vaccine.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1087832 The Influence of Audio on Perceived Quality of Segmentation
Authors: Silvio R. R. Sanches, Bianca C. Barbosa, Beatriz R. Brum, Cléber G.Corrêa
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In order to evaluate the quality of a segmentation algorithm, the researchers use subjective or objective metrics. Although subjective metrics are more accurate than objective ones, objective metrics do not require user feedback to test an algorithm. Objective metrics require subjective experiments only during their development. Subjective experiments typically display to users some videos (generated from frames with segmentation errors) that simulate the environment of an application domain. This user feedback is crucial information for metric definition. In the subjective experiments applied to develop some state-of-the-art metrics used to test segmentation algorithms, the videos displayed during the experiments did not contain audio. Audio is an essential component in applications such as videoconference and augmented reality. If the audio influences the user’s perception, using only videos without audio in subjective experiments can compromise the efficiency of an objective metric generated using data from these experiments. This work aims to identify if the audio influences the user’s perception of segmentation quality in background substitution applications with audio. The proposed approach used a subjective method based on formal video quality assessment methods. The results showed that audio influences the quality of segmentation perceived by a user.
Keywords: Background substitution, influence of audio, segmentation evaluation, segmentation quality.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 324831 Risk Management Strategy for Protecting Cultural Heritage: Case Study of the Institute of Egypt
Authors: Amany A. Ragheb, Ghada Ragheb, Abd ElRahman A.
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Egypt has a countless heritage of mansions, castles, cities, towns, villages, industrial and manufacturing sites. This richness of heritage provides endless and matchless prospects for culture. Despite being famous worldwide, Egypt’s heritage still is in constant need of protection. Political conflicts and religious revolutions form a direct threat to buildings in various areas, historic, archaeological sites, and religious monuments. Egypt has witnessed two revolutions in less than 60 years; both had an impact on its architectural heritage. In this paper, the authors aim to review legal and policy framework to protect the cultural heritage and present the risk management strategy for cultural heritage in conflict. Through a review of selected international models of devastated architectural heritage in conflict zones and highlighting some of their changes, we can learn from the experiences of other countries to assist towards the development of a methodology to halt the plundering of architectural heritage. Finally, the paper makes an effort to enhance the formulation of a risk management strategy for protection and conservation of cultural heritage, through which to end the plundering of Egypt’s architectural legacy in the Egyptian community (revolutions, 1952 and 2011); and by presenting to its surrounding community the benefits derived from maintaining it.
Keywords: Cultural heritage, legal regulation, risk management, preservation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1404830 The Mechanical and Electrochemical Properties of DC-Electrodeposited Ni-Mn Alloy Coating with Low Internal Stress
Authors: Chun-Ying Lee, Kuan-Hui Cheng, Mei-Wen Wu
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The nickel-manganese (Ni-Mn) alloy coating prepared from DC electrodeposition process in sulphamate bath was studied. The effects of process parameters, such as current density and electrolyte composition, on the cathodic current efficiency, microstructure, internal stress and mechanical properties were investigated. Because of its crucial effect on the application to the electroforming of microelectronic components, the development of low internal stress coating with high leveling power was emphasized. It was found that both the coating’s manganese content and the cathodic current efficiency increased with the raise in current density. In addition, the internal stress of the deposited coating showed compressive nature at low current densities while changed to tensile one at higher current densities. Moreover, the metallographic observation, X-ray diffraction measurement, and polarization curve measurement were conducted. It was found that the Ni-Mn coating consisted of nano-sized columnar grains and the maximum hardness of the coating was associated with (111) preferred orientation in the microstructure. The grain size was refined along with the increase in the manganese content of the coating, which accordingly, raised its hardness and resistance to annealing softening. In summary, the Ni-Mn coating prepared at lower current density of 1-2 A/dm2 had low internal stress, high leveling power, and better corrosion resistance.Keywords: DC plating, internal stress, leveling power, Ni-Mn coating.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2005829 Are Adolescent Girls More Depressive than Adolescent Boys in Turkey?
Authors: Hatice Odacı
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Depression is a serious mental health problem that affects people of all ages, including children and adolescents. Studies showed that female gender is one of the risk factors may influence the development of depression in adolescents. However, some of the studies from Turkey suggested that gender does not lead to any significant difference in the youth depression level. Therefore, the presented study investigated whether girls differ from boys in respect of depression. The association between genders and test scores for the adolescents in a population of primary and secondary school students was also evaluated. The study was consisting of 254 adolescents (122 boys and 132 girls) with a mean age of 13.86±1.43 (Mean±SD) ranging from 12-16 years. Psychological assessment was performed using Children-s Depression Inventory (CDI). Chi-square and Student-s t-test statistics were employed to analyze the data. The mean of the CDI scores of the girls were higher than boys- CDI scores (t = -4.580, p = 0.001). Higher ratio appeared for the girls when they compared with boy group-s depression levels using a CDI cut-off point of 19 (p = 0.001, Odds Ratio = 2,603). The findings of the present study suggested that adolescent girls have high level of depression than adolescent boys aged between 12-16 years in Turkey. Although some studies reported that there is no any differences depression level between adolescent boys and girls in Turkey, result of the present study showed that adolescent girls have high level of depression than adolescent boys in Turkey.Keywords: Depression, Adolescent, Turkey, Female Gender, Male Gender.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1922828 The Correlation of Total Phenol Content with Free Radicals Scavenging Activity and Effect of Ethanol Concentration in Extraction Process of Mangosteen Rind (Garcinia mangostana)
Authors: Ririn Lestari Sri Rahayu, Mustofa Ahda
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The use of synthetic antioxidants often causes a negative effect on health and increases the incidence of carcinogenesis. Development of the natural antioxidants should be investigated. However, natural antioxidants have a low toxicity and are safe for human consumption. Ethanol extract of mangosteen rind (Garcinia mangostana) contains natural antioxidant compounds that have various pharmacological activities. Antioxidants from the ethanol extract of mangosteen rind have free radicals scavenging activities. The scavenging activity of ethanol extract of mangosteen rind was determined by DPPH method. The phenolic compound from the ethanol extract of mangosteen rind is determined with Folin-Ciocalteu method. The results showed that the absolute ethanol extract of mangosteen rind has IC50 of 40.072 ug/mL. The correlation of total phenols content with free radical scavenging activity has an equation y: 5.207x + 205.51 and determination value (R2) of 0.9329. Total phenols content from the ethanol extract of mangosteen rind has a good correlation with free radicals scavenging activity of DPPH.
Keywords: Antioxidant, Garcinia mangostana, inhibition concentration 50%, total phenolic compounds.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1285827 On the Exact Solution of Non-Uniform Torsion for Beams with Asymmetric Cross-Section
Authors: A.Campanile, M. Mandarino, V. Piscopo
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This paper deals with the problem of non-uniform torsion in thin-walled elastic beams with asymmetric cross-section, removing the basic concept of a fixed center of twist, necessary in the Vlasov-s and Benscoter-s theories to obtain a warping stress field equivalent to zero. In this new torsion/flexure theory, despite of the classical ones, the warping function will punctually satisfy the first indefinite equilibrium equation along the beam axis and it wont- be necessary to introduce the classical congruence condition, to take into account the effect of the beam restraints. The solution, based on the Fourier development of the displacement field, is obtained assuming that the applied external torque is constant along the beam axis and on both beam ends the unit twist angle and the warping axial displacement functions are totally restrained. Finally, in order to verify the feasibility of the proposed method and to compare it with the classical theories, two applications are carried out. The first one, relative to an open profile, is necessary to test the numerical method adopted to find the solution; the second one, instead, is relative to a simplified containership section, considered as full restrained in correspondence of two adjacent transverse bulkheads.Keywords: Non-uniform torsion, Asymmetric cross-section, Fourier series, Helmholtz equation, FE method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1928826 Development of a Complete Single Jet Common Rail Injection System Gas Dynamic Model for Hydrogen Fueled Engine with Port Injection Feeding System
Authors: Mohammed Kamil, M. M. Rahman, Rosli A. Bakar
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Modeling of hydrogen fueled engine (H2ICE) injection system is a very important tool that can be used for explaining or predicting the effect of advanced injection strategies on combustion and emissions. In this paper, a common rail injection system (CRIS) is proposed for 4-strokes 4-cylinders hydrogen fueled engine with port injection feeding system (PIH2ICE). For this system, a numerical one-dimensional gas dynamic model is developed considering single injection event for each injector per a cycle. One-dimensional flow equations in conservation form are used to simulate wave propagation phenomenon throughout the CR (accumulator). Using this model, the effect of common rail on the injection system characteristics is clarified. These characteristics include: rail pressure, sound velocity, rail mass flow rate, injected mass flow rate and pressure drop across injectors. The interaction effects of operational conditions (engine speed and rail pressure) and geometrical features (injector hole diameter) are illustrated; and the required compromised solutions are highlighted. The CRIS is shown to be a promising enhancement for PIH2ICE.Keywords: Common rail, hydrogen engine, port injection, wave propagation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1580825 An Ontology for Spatial Relevant Objects in a Location-aware System: Case Study: A Tourist Guide System
Authors: N. Neysani Samany, M.R. Delavar, N. Chrisman, M.R. Malek
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Location-aware computing is a type of pervasive computing that utilizes user-s location as a dominant factor for providing urban services and application-related usages. One of the important urban services is navigation instruction for wayfinders in a city especially when the user is a tourist. The services which are presented to the tourists should provide adapted location aware instructions. In order to achieve this goal, the main challenge is to find spatial relevant objects and location-dependent information. The aim of this paper is the development of a reusable location-aware model to handle spatial relevancy parameters in urban location-aware systems. In this way we utilized ontology as an approach which could manage spatial relevancy by defining a generic model. Our contribution is the introduction of an ontological model based on the directed interval algebra principles. Indeed, it is assumed that the basic elements of our ontology are the spatial intervals for the user and his/her related contexts. The relationships between them would model the spatial relevancy parameters. The implementation language for the model is OWLs, a web ontology language. The achieved results show that our proposed location-aware model and the application adaptation strategies provide appropriate services for the user.Keywords: Spatial relevancy, Context-aware, Ontology, Modeling
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1628824 Tuning for a Small Engine with a Supercharger
Authors: Shinji Kajiwara, Tadamasa Fukuoka
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The formula project of Kinki University has been involved in the student Formula SAE of Japan (JSAE) since the second year the competition was held. The vehicle developed in the project uses a ZX-6R engine, which has been manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries for the JSAE competition for the eighth time. The limited performance of the concept vehicle was improved through the development of a power train. The supercharger loading, engine dry sump, and engine cooling management of the vehicle were also enhanced. The supercharger loading enabled the vehicle to achieve a maximum output of 59.6 kW (80.6 PS)/9000 rpm and a maximum torque of 70.6 Nm (7.2 kgf m)/8000 rpm. We successfully achieved 90% of the engine’s torque band (4000–10000 rpm) with 50% of the revolutions in regular engine use (2000–12000 rpm). Using a dry sump system, we periodically managed hydraulic pressure during engine operation. A system that controls engine stoppage when hydraulic pressure falls was also constructed. Using the dry sump system at 80 mm reduced the required engine load and the vehicle’s center of gravity. Even when engine motion was suspended by the electromotive force exerted by the water pump, the circulation of cooling water was still possible. These findings enabled us to create a cooling system in accordance with the requirements of the competition.
Keywords: Engine, combustion, cooling system, dry sump system, numerical simulation, power, torque, mechanical supercharger.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2108823 Public Private Partnership for Infrastructure Projects: Mapping the Key Risks
Authors: Julinda Keçi
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In many countries, governments have been promoting the involvement of private sector entities to enter into long-term agreements for the development and delivery of large infrastructure projects, with a focus on overcoming the limitations upon public fund of the traditional approach. The involvement of private sector through public private partnerships (PPP) brings in new capital investments, value for money and additional risks to handle. Worldwide research studies have shown that an objective, systematic, reliable and useroriented risk assessment process and an optimal allocation mechanism among different stakeholders is crucial to the successful completion. In this framework, this paper, which is the first stage of a research study, aims to identify the main risks for the delivery of PPP projects. A review of cross-countries research projects and case studies was performed to map the key risks affecting PPP infrastructure delivery. The matrix of mapping offers a summary of the frequency of factors, clustered in eleven categories: construction, design, economic, legal, market, natural, operation, political, project finance, project selection and relationship. Results will highlight the most critical risk factors, and will hopefully assist the project managers in directing the managerial attention in the further stages of risk allocation.
Keywords: Construction, infrastructure, public private partnerships, risks.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3511822 Effects of Knitting Variables for Pressure Controlling of Tubular Compression Fabrics
Authors: Yu Shi, Rong Liu, Jingyun Lv
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Compression textiles with ergonomic-fit and controllable pressure performance have demonstrated positive effect on prevention and treatment of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). Well-designed compression textile products contribute to improving user compliance in their daily application. This study explored the effects of multiple knitting variables (yarn-machinery settings) on the physical-mechanical properties and the produced pressure magnitudes of tubular compression fabrics (TCFs) through experimental testing and multiple regression modeling. The results indicated that fabric physical (stitch densities and circumference) and mechanical (tensile) properties were affected by the linear density of inlay yarns, which, to some extent, influenced pressure magnitudes of the TCFs. Knitting variables (e.g., feeding velocity of inlay yarns and loop size settings) can alter circumferences and tensile properties of tubular fabrics, respectively, and significantly varied pressure values of the TCFs. This study enhanced the understanding of the effects of knitting factors on pressure controlling of TCFs, thus facilitating dimension and pressure design of compression textiles in future development.
Keywords: Laid-in knitted fabric, yarn-machinery settings, pressure magnitudes, quantitative analysis, compression textiles.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 236821 Image Indexing Using a Color Similarity Metric based on the Human Visual System
Authors: Angelo Nodari, Ignazio Gallo
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The novelty proposed in this study is twofold and consists in the developing of a new color similarity metric based on the human visual system and a new color indexing based on a textual approach. The new color similarity metric proposed is based on the color perception of the human visual system. Consequently the results returned by the indexing system can fulfill as much as possibile the user expectations. We developed a web application to collect the users judgments about the similarities between colors, whose results are used to estimate the metric proposed in this study. In order to index the image's colors, we used a text indexing engine to facilitate the integration of visual features in a database of text documents. The textual signature is build by weighting the image's colors in according to their occurrence in the image. The use of a textual indexing engine, provide us a simple, fast and robust solution to index images. A typical usage of the system proposed in this study, is the development of applications whose data type is both visual and textual. In order to evaluate the proposed method we chose a price comparison engine as a case of study, collecting a series of commercial offers containing the textual description and the image representing a specific commercial offer.
Keywords: Color Extraction, Content-Based Image Retrieval, Indexing
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3014820 Entrepreneurship Education as a Pre-Requisite for Graduate Entrepreneurship: A Study of Graduate Entrepreneurs in Yenagoa City
Authors: Kurotimi M. Fems, Francis D. W. Poazi, Helen Opigo
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The concepts of entrepreneurship education together with graduate entrepreneurship have taken centre stage in many countries as a 21st century strategy for economic growth and development. Entrepreneurship education has been viewed as a pre-requisite tool for a more effective and successful business operation. This paper seeks to verify if entrepreneurship education is pre-requisite to graduate entrepreneurship, and to ascertain if such other factors as the need for achievement, competence and experience etc. also play a foundational role in the choice of a graduate becoming an entrepreneur. The scope of the research study is entrepreneurs within Yenagoa metropolis in Bayelsa state, Nigeria. The sample target is graduates engaged in entrepreneurship activities (graduates who own and run businesses). Stratified sampling technique was used and 101 responses were obtained from a total of 300 questionnaires issued. Bar chart, tables and percentages were used to analyze the collected data. The findings revealed that personality traits, situational circumstance, need for achievement and experience/competence were the foundational factors stimulating graduate entrepreneurs to engage in entrepreneurial pursuits. Of all, personality trait showed the highest score with 73 (73%) out of 101 entrepreneurs agreeing. Experience/Competence and situational circumstances followed behind with 66 (65%) and 63 (62.4%), respectively. Entrepreneurship education revealed the least score with 33 (32.3%) out of 101 participating entrepreneurs. All hope, however, is not lost, as this shows that something can be done to increase the impact of entrepreneurship education on graduate entrepreneurship.Keywords: Creative destruction, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship education, graduate entrepreneurship, pre-requisite.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1375819 Vehicle Risk Evaluation in Low Speed Accidents: Consequences for Relevant Test Scenarios
Authors: Philip Feig, Klaus Gschwendtner, Julian Schatz, Frank Diermeyer
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Projects of accident research analysis are mostly focused on accidents involving personal damage. Property damage only has a high frequency of occurrence combined with high economic impact. This paper describes main influencing parameters for the extent of damage and presents a repair cost model. For a prospective evaluation method of the monetary effect of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), it is necessary to be aware of and quantify all influencing parameters. Furthermore, this method allows the evaluation of vehicle concepts in combination with an ADAS at an early point in time of the product development process. In combination with a property damage database and the introduced repair cost model relevant test scenarios for specific vehicle configurations and their individual property damage risk may be determined. Currently, equipment rates of ADAS are low and a purchase incentive for customers would be beneficial. The next ADAS generation will prevent property damage to a large extent or at least reduce damage severity. Both effects may be a purchasing incentive for the customer and furthermore contribute to increased traffic safety.Keywords: Property damage analysis, effectiveness, ADAS, damage risk, accident research, accident scenarios.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1375818 Development of Numerical Model to Compute Water Hammer Transients in Pipe Flow
Authors: Jae-Young Lee, Woo-Young Jung, Myeong-Jun Nam
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Water hammer is a hydraulic transient problem which is commonly encountered in the penstocks of hydropower plants. The numerical model was developed to estimate the transient behavior of pressure waves in pipe systems. The computational algorithm was proposed to model the water hammer phenomenon in a pipe system with pump shutdown at midstream and sudden valve closure at downstream. To predict the pressure head and flow velocity as a function of time as a result of rapidly closing a valve and pump shutdown, two boundary conditions at the ends considering pump operation and valve control can be implemented as specified equations of the pressure head and flow velocity based on the characteristics method. It was shown that the effects of transient flow make it determine the needs for protection devices, such as surge tanks, surge relief valves, or air valves, at various points in the system against overpressure and low pressure. It produced reasonably good performance with the results of the proposed transient model for pipeline systems. The proposed numerical model can be used as an efficient tool for the safety assessment of hydropower plants due to water hammer.
Keywords: Water hammer, hydraulic transient, pipe systems, characteristics method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1019817 A Case Study on Barriers in Total Productive Maintenance Implementation in the Abu Dhabi Power Industry
Authors: A. Alseiari, P. Farrell
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Maintenance has evolved into an imperative function, and contributes significantly to efficient and effective equipment performance. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is an ideal approach to support the development and implementation of operation performance improvement. It systematically aims to understand the function of equipment, the service quality relationship with equipment and the probable critical equipment failure conditions. Implementation of TPM programmes need strategic planning and there has been little research applied in this area within Middle-East power plants. In the power sector of Abu Dhabi, technologically and strategically, the power industry is extremely important, and it thus needs effective and efficient equipment management support. The aim of this paper is to investigate barriers to successful TPM implementation in the Abu Dhabi power industry. The study has been conducted in the context of a leading power company in the UAE. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 employees, including maintenance and operation staff, and senior managers. The findings of this research identified seven key barriers, thus: managerial; organisational; cultural; financial; educational; communications; and auditing. With respect to the understanding of these barriers and obstacles in TPM implementation, the findings can contribute towards improved equipment operations and maintenance in power organisations.
Keywords: Abu Dhabi power industry, TPM implementation, key barriers, organisational culture, critical success factors.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 752816 Applying GQM Approach towards Development of Criterion-Referenced Assessment Model for OO Programming Courses
Authors: Norazlina Khamis, Sufian Idris, Rodina Ahmad
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The most influential programming paradigm today is object oriented (OO) programming and it is widely used in education and industry. Recognizing the importance of equipping students with OO knowledge and skills, it is not surprising that most Computer Science degree programs offer OO-related courses. How do we assess whether the students have acquired the right objectoriented skills after they have completed their OO courses? What are object oriented skills? Currently none of the current assessment techniques would be able to provide this answer. Traditional forms of OO programming assessment provide a ways for assigning numerical scores to determine letter grades. But this rarely reveals information about how students actually understand OO concept. It appears reasonable that a better understanding of how to define and assess OO skills is needed by developing a criterion referenced model. It is even critical in the context of Malaysia where there is currently a growing concern over the level of competency of Malaysian IT graduates in object oriented programming. This paper discussed the approach used to develop the criterion-referenced assessment model. The model can serve as a guideline when conducting OO programming assessment as mentioned. The proposed model is derived by using Goal Questions Metrics methodology, which helps formulate the metrics of interest. It concluded with a few suggestions for further study.Keywords: Object-oriented programming, programmingassessment, criterion-referenced assessment model, goal questionsmetrics.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1100815 Simulation of a Process Design Model for Anaerobic Digestion of Municipal Solid Wastes
Authors: Asok Adak, Debabrata Mazumder, Pratip Bandyopadhyay
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Anaerobic Digestion has become a promising technology for biological transformation of organic fraction of the municipal solid wastes (MSW). In order to represent the kinetic behavior of such biological process and thereby to design a reactor system, development of a mathematical model is essential. Addressing this issue, a simplistic mathematical model has been developed for anaerobic digestion of MSW in a continuous flow reactor unit under homogeneous steady state condition. Upon simulated hydrolysis, the kinetics of biomass growth and substrate utilization rate are assumed to follow first order reaction kinetics. Simulation of this model has been conducted by studying sensitivity of various process variables. The model was simulated using typical kinetic data of anaerobic digestion MSW and typical MSW characteristics of Kolkata. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) and solid retention time (SRT) time were mainly estimated by varying different model parameters like efficiency of reactor, influent substrate concentration and biomass concentration. Consequently, design table and charts have also been prepared for ready use in the actual plant operation.Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, municipal solid waste (MSW), process design model, simulation study, hydraulic retention time(HRT), solid retention time (SRT).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2664814 Comparison of Artificial Neural Network and Multivariate Regression Methods in Prediction of Soil Cation Exchange Capacity
Authors: Ali Keshavarzi, Fereydoon Sarmadian
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Investigation of soil properties like Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) plays important roles in study of environmental reaserches as the spatial and temporal variability of this property have been led to development of indirect methods in estimation of this soil characteristic. Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) provide an alternative by estimating soil parameters from more readily available soil data. 70 soil samples were collected from different horizons of 15 soil profiles located in the Ziaran region, Qazvin province, Iran. Then, multivariate regression and neural network model (feedforward back propagation network) were employed to develop a pedotransfer function for predicting soil parameter using easily measurable characteristics of clay and organic carbon. The performance of the multivariate regression and neural network model was evaluated using a test data set. In order to evaluate the models, root mean square error (RMSE) was used. The value of RMSE and R2 derived by ANN model for CEC were 0.47 and 0.94 respectively, while these parameters for multivariate regression model were 0.65 and 0.88 respectively. Results showed that artificial neural network with seven neurons in hidden layer had better performance in predicting soil cation exchange capacity than multivariate regression.Keywords: Easily measurable characteristics, Feed-forwardback propagation, Pedotransfer functions, CEC.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2199813 Effect of Hydrogen-Diesel Dual Fuel Combustion on the Performance and Emission Characteristics of a Four Stroke-Single Cylinder Diesel Engine
Authors: Madhujit Deb, G. R. K. Sastry, R. S. Panua, Rahul Banerjee, P. K. Bose
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The present work attempts to investigate the combustion, performance and emission characteristics of an existing single-cylinder four-stroke compression-ignition engine operated in dual-fuel mode with hydrogen as an alternative fuel. Environmental concerns and limited amount of petroleum fuels have caused interests in the development of alternative fuels like hydrogen for internal combustion (IC) engines. In this experimental investigation, a diesel engine is made to run using hydrogen in dual fuel mode with diesel, where hydrogen is introduced into the intake manifold using an LPGCNG injector and pilot diesel is injected using diesel injectors. A Timed Manifold Injection (TMI) system has been developed to vary the injection strategies. The optimized timing for the injection of hydrogen was 10^0 CA after top dead center (ATDC). From the study it was observed that with increasing hydrogen rate, enhancement in brake thermal efficiency (BTHE) of the engine has been observed with reduction in brake specific energy consumption (BSEC). Furthermore, Soot contents decrease with an increase in indicated specific NOx emissions with the enhancement of hydrogen flow rate.
Keywords: Diesel engine, Hydrogen, BTHE, BSEC, Soot, NOx.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4463812 The Effect of Intermediate Stiffeners on Steel Reinforced Concrete Beams Behaviors
Authors: Teguh Sudibyo, Cheng-Cheng Chen
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Eight steel reinforced concrete beams (SRC), were fabricated and tested under earthquake type cyclic loading. The effectiveness of intermediate stiffeners, such as mid-span stiffener and plastic hinge zone stiffeners, in enhancing composite action and ductility of SRC beams was investigated. The effectiveness of strengthened beam-to-column (SBC) and weakened beam-to-column (WBC) connections in enhancing beam ductility was also studied. It was found that: (1) All the specimens possessed fairly high flexural ductility and were found adequate for structures in high seismic zones. (2) WBC connections induced stress concentration which caused extra damage to concrete near the flange tapering zone. This extra damage inhibited the flexural strength development and the ductility of the specimens with WBC connections to some extent. (3) Specimens with SBC connections demonstrated higher flexural strength and ductility compared to specimens with WBC connections. (4) The intermediate stiffeners, especially combination of plastic hinge zone stiffener and mid span stiffeners, have an obvious effect in enhancing the ductility of the beams with SBC connection.Keywords: Composite beam, concrete encased steel beam, steel reinforced concrete, stiffeners.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3841