Search results for: Trade contractors’ productivity
395 Enabling Factors towards Safety Improvement for Industrialised Building System (IBS)
Authors: Nasyairi Mat Nasir, Zulhabri Ismail, Faridah Ismail, Sharifah Nur Aina Syed Alwee, Masnizan Che Mat
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The utilisation of Industrial Building System (IBS) in construction industry will lead to a safe site condition since minimum numbers of workers are required to be on-site, timely material delivery, systematic component storage, reduction of construction material and waste. These matters are being promoted in the Construction Industry Master Plan (CIMP 2006-2015). However, the enabling factors of IBS that will foster a safer working environment are indefinite; on that basis a research has been conducted. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and identify the relevant factors towards safety improvement for IBS. A quantitative research by way of questionnaire surveys have been conducted to 314 construction companies. The target group was Grade 5 to Grade 7 contractors registered with Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) which specialise in IBS. The findings disclosed seven factors linked to the safety improvement of IBS construction site in Malaysia. The factors were historical, economic, psychological, technical, procedural, organisational and the environmental factors. From the findings, a psychological factor ranked as the highest and most crucial factor contributing to safer IBS construction site. The psychological factor included the self-awareness and influences from workmates behaviour. Followed by organisational factors, where project management style will encourage the safety efforts. From the procedural factors, it was also found that training was one of the significant factors to improve safety culture of IBS construction site. Another important finding that formed as a part of the environmental factor was storage of IBS components, in which proper planning of the layout would able to contribute to a safer site condition. To conclude, in order to improve safety of IBS construction site, a welltrained and skilled workers are required for IBS projects, thus proper training is permissible and should be emphasised.
Keywords: Enabling Factors, Industrialised Building System, Safety Improvement.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2915394 Selecting Materialized Views Using Two-Phase Optimization with Multiple View Processing Plan
Authors: Jiratta Phuboon-ob, Raweewan Auepanwiriyakul
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A data warehouse (DW) is a system which has value and role for decision-making by querying. Queries to DW are critical regarding to their complexity and length. They often access millions of tuples, and involve joins between relations and aggregations. Materialized views are able to provide the better performance for DW queries. However, these views have maintenance cost, so materialization of all views is not possible. An important challenge of DW environment is materialized view selection because we have to realize the trade-off between performance and view maintenance cost. Therefore, in this paper, we introduce a new approach aimed at solve this challenge based on Two-Phase Optimization (2PO), which is a combination of Simulated Annealing (SA) and Iterative Improvement (II), with the use of Multiple View Processing Plan (MVPP). Our experiments show that our method provides a further improvement in term of query processing cost and view maintenance cost.Keywords: Data warehouse, materialized views, view selectionproblem, two-phase optimization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1651393 The Reason of Principles of Construction Engineering and Management Being Necessary for Contracting Firms and Their Projects Managers
Authors: Mamoon Mousa Atout
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The industries of construction are in continuous growth not only in Middle East rejoin but almost all over the world. For the last fifteen years, big expansion and increase of different types of projects has been observed. Many infrastructural projects have been developed, high rise buildings, big shopping malls, power sub-stations, roads, bridges, schools, universities and developing many of new cities with full and complete facilities. The growth and enlargement of the mentioned developed projects has been accomplished through many international and local contracting organizations. Senior management of these organizations depend on their qualified and experienced team whom are aware of the implications of project management, construction management, engineering management and resource management during tendering till final completion of the project. This research aims to find out why reasons of principles of construction engineering and management are necessary for contracting firms and their managers. Principles of construction management help contracting organizations to accomplish and deliver projects without delay. This can be maintained by establishing guidelines’ details for updating the adopted system of construction management that they have through qualified and experienced project managers. The research focuses on benefits of other essential skills of projects planning, monitoring and control. Defining roles and responsibilities of contractor project managers during tendering and execution is a part of the investigated factors that will be analyzed. Other skills like optimizing and utilizing the obtainable project resources to deliver the project within time, cost and quality will be also investigated to find out how these factors are affecting the performance of contracting firms, projects managers and projects. The conclusion of the research will help senior management team and the contractors project managers about the benefits of implications and benefits construction management system and its effect upon the performance and knowledge of contract values that they have, and the optimal profit margin of the firm it.
Keywords: Construction management, contracting firms, project managers, planning processes, roles and responsibilities.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1727392 Modeling of the Process Parameters using Soft Computing Techniques
Authors: Miodrag T. Manić, Dejan I. Tanikić, Miloš S. Stojković, Dalibor M. ðenadić
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The design of technological procedures for manufacturing certain products demands the definition and optimization of technological process parameters. Their determination depends on the model of the process itself and its complexity. Certain processes do not have an adequate mathematical model, thus they are modeled using heuristic methods. First part of this paper presents a state of the art of using soft computing techniques in manufacturing processes from the perspective of applicability in modern CAx systems. Methods of artificial intelligence which can be used for this purpose are analyzed. The second part of this paper shows some of the developed models of certain processes, as well as their applicability in the actual calculation of parameters of some technological processes within the design system from the viewpoint of productivity.Keywords: fuzzy logic, manufacturing, neural networks
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1895391 Supply Chain Management: After Business Process Re-Engineering
Authors: Wan Hasrulnizzam Wan Mahmood, Mohd Razali Muhamad, Nurulain Mat Tahar
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This paper is prepared to provide a review of how an automotive manufacturer, ISUZU HICOM Malaysia Co. Ltd. sustained the supply chain management after business process reengineering in 2007. One of the authors is currently undergoing industrial attachment and has spent almost 6 months researching in the production and operation management system of the company. This study was carried out as part of the tasks in the attachment program. The result shows that delivery lateness and outsourcing are the main barriers that affected productivity. From the gap analysis, the authors found that new business process operation had improved suppliers delivery performance.
Keywords: Supply Chain Management, Business Process Re- Engineering, Delivery, Outsourcing, Automotive Manufacturer.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3830390 Process Capability Analysis by Using Statistical Process Control of Rice Polished Cylinder Turning Practice
Authors: S. Bangphan, P. Bangphan, T. Boonkang
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Quality control helps industries in improvements of its product quality and productivity. Statistical Process Control (SPC) is one of the tools to control the quality of products that turning practice in bringing a department of industrial engineering process under control. In this research, the process control of a turning manufactured at workshops machines. The varying measurements have been recorded for a number of samples of a rice polished cylinder obtained from a number of trials with the turning practice. SPC technique has been adopted by the process is finally brought under control and process capability is improved.
Keywords: Rice polished cylinder, statistical process control, control charts, process capability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3704389 Impact of Weather Conditions on Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing over Gamma Gamma Channel
Authors: Muhammad Sameer Ahmed, Piotr Remlein, Tansal Gucluoglu
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The technique called as Generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM) used in the free space optical channel can be a good option for implementation free space optical communication systems. This technique has several strengths e.g. good spectral efficiency, low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), adaptability and low co-channel interference. In this paper, the impact of weather conditions such as haze, rain and fog on GFDM over the gamma-gamma channel model is discussed. A Trade off between link distance and system performance under intense weather conditions is also analysed. The symbol error probability (SEP) of GFDM over the gamma-gamma turbulence channel is derived and verified with the computer simulations.
Keywords: Free space optics, generalized frequency division multiplexing, weather conditions, gamma gamma distribution.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 663388 An Automatic Feature Extraction Technique for 2D Punch Shapes
Authors: Awais Ahmad Khan, Emad Abouel Nasr, H. M. A. Hussein, Abdulrahman Al-Ahmari
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Sheet-metal parts have been widely applied in electronics, communication and mechanical industries in recent decades; but the advancement in sheet-metal part design and manufacturing is still behind in comparison with the increasing importance of sheet-metal parts in modern industry. This paper presents a methodology for automatic extraction of some common 2D internal sheet metal features. The features used in this study are taken from Unipunch ™ catalogue. The extraction process starts with the data extraction from STEP file using an object oriented approach and with the application of suitable algorithms and rules, all features contained in the catalogue are automatically extracted. Since the extracted features include geometry and engineering information, they will be effective for downstream application such as feature rebuilding and process planning.
Keywords: Feature Extraction, Internal Features, Punch Shapes, Sheet metal, STEP.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2085387 The Comparison of Competitiveness of Selected Countries of the European Economic Area
Authors: Ingrid Majerová, Michaela Horúcková
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The concept of competitiveness is currently very frequently used term. However, the interpretation of its essence is different. In this paper, one of the many concepts of competitiveness will be analyzed and that is macroeconomic competitiveness, which is understood as a process, which is based on the productivity growth through the growth of key macroeconomic indicators such as standards of living and employment, where all of these variables must have a sustainable basis. Given the competition is a relative quantity it must be constantly compared with the development of competitiveness in other economies or regions. And this comparison method is also used in the article that compares the macrocompetitiveness of selected economies of the European Economic Area – the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Switzerland and Germany. The aim of the paper is to verify the hypothesis concerning the direct correlation between the size of the economy and its competitiveness.
Keywords: Comparison, Competitiveness, European Economic Area, Global Competitiveness Index, Immeasurable Indicators of Competitiveness, Macro-competitiveness.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1603386 Engineering Study and Equipment Design: Effects of Temperature and design variables on Yield of a Multi-Stage Distillator
Authors: A.Diaf, Z.Tigrine, H. Aburideh, D.Tassalit , F.Alaoui, B .Abbad
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The distillation process in the general sense is a relatively simple technique from the standpoints of its principles. When dedicating distillation to water treatment and specifically producing fresh water from sea, ocean and/ briny waters it is interesting to notice that distillation has no limitations or domains of applicability regarding the nature or the type of the feedstock water. This is not the case however for other techniques that are technologically quite complex, necessitate bigger capital investments and are limited in their usability. In a previous paper we have explored some of the effects of temperature on yield. In this paper, we continue building onto that knowledge base and focus on the effects of several additional engineering and design variables on productivity.Keywords: Distillation, Desalination, Multi-Stage still, Solar Energy
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1790385 A Microscopic Simulation Model for Earthmoving Operations
Authors: Jiali Fu
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Earthmoving operations are a major part of many construction projects. Because of the complexity and fast-changing environment of such operations, the planning and estimating are crucial on both planning and operational levels. This paper presents the framework ofa microscopic discrete-event simulation system for modeling earthmoving operations and conducting productivity estimations on an operational level.A prototype has been developed to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework, and this simulation system is presented via a case study based on an actual earthmoving project. The case study shows that the proposed simulation model is capable of evaluating alternative operating strategies and resource utilization at a very detailed level.Keywords: Earthmoving operation, microscopic simulation, discrete-event simulation
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1974384 Collaborative Team Work in Higher Education: A Case Study
Authors: Swapna Bhargavi Gantasala
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If teamwork is the key to organizational learning, productivity and growth, then, why do some teams succeed in achieving these, while others falter at different stages? Building teams in higher education institutions has been a challenge and an open-ended constructivist approach was considered on an experimental basis for this study to address this challenge. For this research, teams of students from the MBA program were chosen to study the effect of teamwork in learning, the motivation levels among student team members, and the effect of collaboration in achieving team goals. The teams were built on shared vision and goals, cohesion was ensured, positive induction in the form of faculty mentoring was provided for each participating team and the results have been presented with conclusions and suggestions.
Keywords: Collaboration, Leadership, Motivation, Reinforcement Teamwork.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3011383 The Place and Effects of Information Management in Corporate Identity
Authors: H. Buluthan Cetintas
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Corporate identity, which has several advantages such that the employees become integrated with their corporations, corporation is distinguished from its competitors and it is recognized by the masses, is the total of the distinctive corporate features that and corporation has. That the information takes part in production as a more important component than labor and capital has required that the corporations are reorganized as information-based. Therefore, information and its management have reached a basic and prevalent position in having sustainable competitive advantage. Thanks to the information management which regulates the information and makes it reachable and available, information will be produced in line with a specific purpose in the corporations and be used in all the corporate processes. As an auxiliary power for increase in the economic potential, efficiency and productivity of the corporation, corporate identity consists of four components. These are corporate philosophy, corporate design, corporate behavior and corporate communication. In this study, the effects of the information management on corporate identity are discussed from the point of these four elements.
Keywords: Corporate identity, information management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1471382 Robust Fault Diagnosis for Wind Turbine Systems Subjected to Multi-Faults
Authors: Sarah Odofin, Zhiwei Gao, Sun Kai
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Operations, maintenance and reliability of wind turbines have received much attention over the years due to the rapid expansion of wind farms. This paper explores early fault diagnosis technique for a 5MW wind turbine system subjected to multiple faults, where genetic optimization algorithm is employed to make the residual sensitive to the faults, but robust against disturbances. The proposed technique has a potential to reduce the downtime mostly caused by the breakdown of components and exploit the productivity consistency by providing timely fault alarms. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the robust fault detection methods used under Matlab/Simulink/Gatool environment.
Keywords: Disturbance robustness, fault monitoring and detection, genetic algorithm and observer technique.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2553381 The Relationship between Turkish and Armenian regarding the Ottoman Empire and Contributions of Armenian Artists to the Turkish Opera
Authors: Mehmet Baltacan
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In history, the relationship between Turks and Armenians was started when Turks entered Anatolia. Before, Armenian people lived in dominion of Persians, Macedonians, Selefkits, Romans, Sasanis, Byzantinians and Arabs. After Turks had entered Anatolia, Armenian people lived together with the people in the Ottoman Empire, and these two people’s living together made Armenians gain citizens’ rights in this empire. Armenian people were excused from the military services and some taxes. They got opportunities to promote in trade, craft, farming and administrative affairs. Firstly, the Ottoman Empire met with opera in 1720s via the embassy, and so with the help of Armenian artists, opera was introduced and developed. In this study, the development of terms related to the opera arts in the Ottoman Empire and the importance of Bosco and Naum theatres and the help and contributions of Armenian artists will be analyzed.
Keywords: Opera, Turkish opera, Armenian artists, Turkish-Armenian relations.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2223380 Frame and Burst Acquisition in TDMA Satellite Communication Networks with Transponder Hopping
Authors: Vitalice K. Oduol, C. Ardil
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The paper presents frame and burst acquisition in a satellite communication network based on time division multiple access (TDMA) in which the transmissions may be carried on different transponders. A unique word pattern is used for the acquisition process. The search for the frame is aided by soft-decision of QPSK modulated signals in an additive white Gaussian channel. Results show that when the false alarm rate is low the probability of detection is also low, and the acquisition time is long. Conversely when the false alarm rate is high, the probability of detection is also high and the acquisition time is short. Thus the system operators can trade high false alarm rates for high detection probabilities and shorter acquisition times.
Keywords: burst acquisition, burst time plan, frame acquisition, satellite access, satellite TDMA, unique word detection
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9142379 An Efficient VLSI Design Approach to Reduce Static Power using Variable Body Biasing
Authors: Md. Asif Jahangir Chowdhury, Md. Shahriar Rizwan, M. S. Islam
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In CMOS integrated circuit design there is a trade-off between static power consumption and technology scaling. Recently, the power density has increased due to combination of higher clock speeds, greater functional integration, and smaller process geometries. As a result static power consumption is becoming more dominant. This is a challenge for the circuit designers. However, the designers do have a few methods which they can use to reduce this static power consumption. But all of these methods have some drawbacks. In order to achieve lower static power consumption, one has to sacrifice design area and circuit performance. In this paper, we propose a new method to reduce static power in the CMOS VLSI circuit using Variable Body Biasing technique without being penalized in area requirement and circuit performance.
Keywords: variable body biasing, state saving technique, stack effect, dual V-th, static power reduction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3074378 Impact of the Real Effective Exchange Rate (Reer) on Turkish Agricultural Trade
Authors: Halil Fidan
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In this work, the autoregressive vectors are used to know dynamics of the Agricultural export and import, and the real effective exchange rate (REER). In order to analyze the interactions, the impulse- response function is used in decomposition of variance, causality of Granger as well as the methodology of Johansen to know the relations co integration. The REER causes agricultural export and import in the sense of Granger. The influence displays the innovations of the REER on the agricultural export and import is not very great and the duration of the effects is short. It displays that REER has an immediate positive effect, after the tenth year it displays smooth results on the agricultural export. Evidence of a vector exists co integration, In short run, REER has smaller effects on export and import, compared to the long-run effects.Keywords: Agricultural import, agricultural export, autoregressive causality of granger, impulse-response function, long run, short run.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2565377 Redefining the Croatian Economic Sentiment Indicator
Authors: I. Lolic, P. Soric, M. Cizmesija
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Based on Business and Consumer Survey (BCS) data, the European Commission (EC) regularly publishes the monthly Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) for each EU member state. ESI is conceptualized as a leading indicator, aimed ad tracking the overall economic activity. In calculating ESI, the EC employs arbitrarily chosen weights on 15 BCS response balances. This paper raises the predictive quality of ESI by applying nonlinear programming to find such weights that maximize the correlation coefficient of ESI and year-on-year GDP growth. The obtained results show that the highest weights are assigned to the response balances of industrial sector questions, followed by questions from the retail trade sector. This comes as no surprise since the existing literature shows that the industrial production is a plausible proxy for the overall Croatian economic activity and since Croatian GDP is largely influenced by the aggregate personal consumption.Keywords: Business and Consumer Survey, Economic Sentiment Indicator, Leading Indicator, Nonlinear Optimization with Constraints.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1896376 Analysis of the Evolution of Social and Economic Indicators of the Mercosur´s Members: 1980-2012
Authors: L. Aparecida Bastos, J. Leige Lopes, J. Crepaldi, R. Monteiro da Silva
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The objective of this study is to analyze the evolution of some social and economic indicators of Mercosur´s economies from 1980 to 2012, based on the statistics of the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA). The objective is to observe if after the accession of these economies to Mercosur (the first accessions occurred in 1994) these indicators showed better performance, in order to demonstrate if economic integration contributed to improved trade, macroeconomic performance, and level of social and economic development of member countries. To this end, the methodologies used will be a literature review and descriptive statistics. The theoretical framework that guides the work are the theories of Integration: Classical Liberal, Marxist and structural-proactive. The results reveal that most social and economic indicators showed better performance in those economies that joined Mercosur after 1994. This work is the result of an investigation already completed.Keywords: Economic integration, mercosur, social indicators, economic indicators.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1206375 Volterra Filtering Techniques for Removal of Gaussian and Mixed Gaussian-Impulse Noise
Authors: M. B. Meenavathi, K. Rajesh
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In this paper, we propose a new class of Volterra series based filters for image enhancement and restoration. Generally the linear filters reduce the noise and cause blurring at the edges. Some nonlinear filters based on median operator or rank operator deal with only impulse noise and fail to cancel the most common Gaussian distributed noise. A class of second order Volterra filters is proposed to optimize the trade-off between noise removal and edge preservation. In this paper, we consider both the Gaussian and mixed Gaussian-impulse noise to test the robustness of the filter. Image enhancement and restoration results using the proposed Volterra filter are found to be superior to those obtained with standard linear and nonlinear filters.
Keywords: Gaussian noise, Image enhancement, Imagerestoration, Linear filters, Nonlinear filters, Volterra series.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2720374 Kaikaku - Radical Improvement in Production
Authors: D. Gåsvaer, J. von Axelson
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Considering today-s increasing speed of change, radical and innovative improvement - Kaikaku, is a necessity parallel to continuous incremental improvement - Kaizen, especially for SME-s in order to attain the competitive edge needed to be profitable. During 2011, a qualitative single case study with the objective of realizing a kaikaku in production has been conducted. The case study was run as a one year project using a collaborative approach including both researchers and company representatives. The case study was conducted with the purpose of gaining further knowledge about kaikaku realization as well as its implications. The empirical results provide insights about the great productivity results achieved by applying a specific kaikaku realization approach. However, it also sheds light on the difficulty and contradiction of combining innovation management and production system development.Keywords: Kaikaku, Radical improvement, manufacturing, innovation capability
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2518373 Research on the Micro Pattern forming of Spiral Grooves in a Dynamic Thrust Bearing
Authors: Sol-Kil Oh, Hye-Jin Lee, Jung-Han Song, Kyoung-Tae Kim, Nak-Kyu Lee, Jong-Ho Kim
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This paper deals with a novel technique for the fabrication of Spiral grooves in a dynamic thrust bearing. The main scheme proposed in this paper is to fabricate the microgrooves using desktop forming system. This process has advantages compared to the conventional electro-chemical machining in the viewpoint of a higher productivity. For this reason, a new testing apparatus is designed and built for press forming microgrooves on a surface of the thrust bearing. The material used in this study is sintered Cu-Fe alloy. The effects of the forming load on the performance of micro press forming are experimentally investigated. From the experimental results, formed depths are closed to the target ones with increasing the forming load.Keywords: Desktop forming system, Fluid dynamic bearing, Thrust bearing, Microgroove.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1457372 The Anti-Noise and Anti-Wear Systems for Railways
Authors: Brigita Altenbaher
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In recent years there has been a continuous increase of axle loads, tonnage, train speed and train length which has increased both the productivity in the rail sector and the risk of rail breaks and derailments. On the other hand, the environmental requirements (e.g. noise reduction) for railway operations will become tighter in the future. In our research we developed a new composite material which does not change braking properties, is capable of taking extremely high pressure loads, reduces noise and is environmentally friendly. Part of our research was also the development of technology which will be able to apply this material to the rail. The result of our research was the system which reduces the wear out significantly and almost completely eliminates the squealing noise at the same time, and by using only one special material.Keywords: Active protection, composite material, lubrication, noise reduction, reduction at source, railway.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2244371 The Emergence of Construction Mafia in South Africa: The Implication on the Construction Industry
Authors: Thandokazi Nyangiwe, Christopher Amoah, Charles P. Mukumba
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The South African construction sector is threatened by emerging black business forums called construction mafias. The emergence of the construction mafia has culminated in the disruptions and abandonment of construction sites resulting in the loss of jobs for construction workers. The paper examines the origin of construction mafias and their impact on the construction sector, including the potential ways to cope with their operations. A qualitative research approach was adopted for this study using open-ended interview questions to gather information from 30 key construction industry stakeholders, including contractors, subcontractors, consultants, and the construction project communities. Content and thematic analyses were used to analyses the data collected. The findings suggest that most participants do not fully understand the existence and operations of construction mafias in the construction industry. Construction mafias claim to be part of the local business forums. They disrupt construction projects and demand a certain amount, usually 30% of the construction value. Construction mafias frequently resort to intimidation and violence if their demands are unmet. Their operations have resulted in delayed completion of construction projects, abandonment of projects, and loss of income for the contractor and jobs for the construction workers. The interviews were limited to construction stakeholders. Because of the nature of the mafias’ operations, they could not be accessed for interviews for fear of being identified because of the connotation attached to their role as construction mafias. Construction project owners face disruptions of projects resulting in loss of equipment, materials, and income. Therefore, there is a need to sensitize the construction stakeholders in the construction industry regarding the existence and operations of the construction mafia and the implications on construction project performance and delivery. The findings will give insight into the operations of the construction mafias in the South African construction industry, which has caused disruptions in construction project sites. Stakeholders must find solutions to address the construction mafias’ disruptive actions on construction projects. The study presents an initial inquiry that will come up with how to manage and cope with the growing operations of construction mafias in the South African construction industry.
Keywords: Black business forums, construction mafia, South African construction industry.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 211370 Design Optimization Methodology of CMOS Active Mixers for Multi-Standard Receivers
Authors: S. Douss, F. Touati, M. Loulou
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A design flow of multi-standard down-conversion CMOS mixers for three modern standards: Global System Mobile, Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephone and Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems is presented. Three active mixer-s structures are studied. The first is based on the Gilbert cell which gives a tolerable noise figure and linearity with a low conversion gain. The second and third structures use the current bleeding and charge injection techniques in order to increase the conversion gain. An improvement of about 2 dB of the conversion gain is achieved without a considerable degradation of the other characteristics. The models used for noise figure, conversion gain and IIP3 used are studied. This study describes the nature of trade-offs inherent in such structures and gives insights that help in identifying which structure is better for given conditions.Keywords: Active mixer, Radio-frequency transceiver, Multistandardfront end, Gilbert cell, current bleeding, charge injection.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2477369 Increase of Atmosphere CO2 Concentration and Its Effects on Culture/Weed Interaction
Authors: J. I. Santos, A. E. Cesarin, C. A. R. Sales, M. B. B. Triano, P. F. R. B. Martins, A. F. Braga, N. J. Neto, A., A. M. Barroso, P. L. C. A. Alves, C. A. M. Huaman
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Climate change projections based on the emission of greenhouse effect gases suggest an increase in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, in up to 750 ppm. In this scenario, we have significant changes in plant development, and consequently, in agricultural systems. This study aims to evaluate the interaction between culture (Glycine max) and weed (Amaranthus viridis and Euphorbia heterophylla) in two conditions of CO2, 400 and 800 ppm. The results showed that the coexistence of culture with both weed species resulted in a mutual loss, with decrease in dry mass productivity of culture + weeds, in both conditions of CO2. However, when the culture is grown in association with E. heterophylla, total dry mass of culture + weed was smaller at 800 ppm. Soybean was more aggressive in comparison to the A. viridis in both the concentrations of CO2, but not in relation to the E. heterophylla.
Keywords: Plants interaction, increase of [CO2], plants of metabolism C3, Glycine max.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1079368 Production Plan and Technological Variants Optimization by Goal Programming Methods
Authors: Tunjo Perić, Franjo Bratić
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In this paper, the goal programming methodology for solving multiple objective problem of the technological variants and production plan optimization has been applied. The optimization criteria are determined and the multiple objective linear programming model for solving a problem of the technological variants and production plan optimization is formed and solved. Then the obtained results are analysed. The obtained results point out to the possibility of efficient application of the goal programming methodology in solving the problem of the technological variants and production plan optimization. The paper points out on the advantages of the application of the goal programming methodology compare to the Surrogat Worth Trade-off method in solving this problem.Keywords: Goal programming, multi objective programming, production plan, SWT method, technological variants.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1909367 An Example of Post-Harvest Thermotherapy as a Non-Chemical Method of Pathogen Control on Apples of Topaz Cultivar in Storage
Authors: M. Grabowski, K. Macnar, J. Skrzyński
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Huge losses in apple production are caused by pathogens that cannot be seen shortly after harvest. After-harvest thermotherapy treatments can considerably improve control of storage diseases on apples and become an alternative to chemical pesticides. In the years 2010-2012 carried out research in this area. Apples of 'Topaz' cultivar were harvested at optimal maturity time for long storage and subject to water bath treatment at 45, 50, 52, 55°C for 60, 120, 180 and 240 seconds. The control was untreated fruits. After 12 and 24 weeks and during so called simulated trade turnover the fruits were checked for their condition and the originators of diseases were determined by using the standard phytopathological methods. The most common originator of 'Topaz' apple infection during storage were the fungi of genus Gloeosporium. In this paper it was proven that for effective protection of 'Topaz' apples against diseases, thermotherapy by using water treatments at temperature range of 50-52°C is quite sufficient.
Keywords: apple storage diseases, prolonged fruit storage, 'Topaz' apples, thermotherapeutic treatments.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1785366 Solving Single Machine Total Weighted Tardiness Problem Using Gaussian Process Regression
Authors: Wanatchapong Kongkaew
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This paper proposes an application of probabilistic technique, namely Gaussian process regression, for estimating an optimal sequence of the single machine with total weighted tardiness (SMTWT) scheduling problem. In this work, the Gaussian process regression (GPR) model is utilized to predict an optimal sequence of the SMTWT problem, and its solution is improved by using an iterated local search based on simulated annealing scheme, called GPRISA algorithm. The results show that the proposed GPRISA method achieves a very good performance and a reasonable trade-off between solution quality and time consumption. Moreover, in the comparison of deviation from the best-known solution, the proposed mechanism noticeably outperforms the recently existing approaches.
Keywords: Gaussian process regression, iterated local search, simulated annealing, single machine total weighted tardiness.
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