Search results for: Critical control
793 Energy Fields as Alternative Cures for Viral Diseases
Authors: S. Amirhassan Monadjemi, Narges Zarrabi, Naser Neamatbakhsh
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As days go by, we hear more and more about HIV, Ebola, Bird Flu and other dreadful viruses which were unknown a few decades ago. In both detecting and fighting viral diseases ordinary methods have come across some basic and important difficulties. Vaccination is by a sense introduction of the virus to the immune system before the occurrence of the real case infection. It is very successful against some viruses (e.g. Poliomyelitis), while totally ineffective against some others (e.g. HIV or Hepatitis-C). On the other hand, Anti-virus drugs are mostly some tools to control and not to cure a viral disease. This could be a good motivation to try alternative treatments. In this study, some key features of possible physical-based alternative treatments for viral diseases are presented. Electrification of body parts or fluids (especially blood) with micro electric signals with adjusted current or frequency is also studied. The main approach of this study is to find a suitable energy field, with appropriate parameters that are able to kill or deactivate viruses. This would be a lengthy, multi-disciplinary research which needs the contribution of virology, physics, and signal processing experts. It should be mentioned that all the claims made by alternative cures researchers must be tested carefully and are not advisable at the time being.Keywords: Alternative Cure, Viral disease, HIV, signals, energy filed.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1939792 Developing a Research Culture in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the Central University of Technology, Free State: Implications for Knowledge Management
Authors: Mpho A. Mbeo, Patient Rambe
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The 13th year of the Central University of Technology, Free State’s (CUT) transition from a vocational and professional training orientation institution (i.e. a technikon) into a university with a strong research focus has neither been a smooth nor an easy one. At the heart of this transition was the need to transform the psychological faculties of academic and research staffs compliment who were accustomed to training graduates for industrial placement. The lack of a research culture that fully embraces the strong solid ethos of conducting cutting-edge research needs to be addressed. The induction and socialisation of academic staff into the development and execution of cutting-edge research also required the provision of research support and the creation of a conducive academic environment for research, both for emerging and non-research active academics. Drawing on ten cases, consisting of four heads of departments, three seasoned researchers, and three novice researchers, this study explores the challenges faced in establishing a strong research culture at the university. Furthermore, it gives an account of the extent to which the current research interventions have addressed the perceivably “missing research culture”, and the implications of these interventions for knowledge management. Evidence suggests that the capability of an ideal institutional research environment, consisting of mentorship of novice researchers by seasoned researchers, balanced effort into teaching and research responsibilities, should be supported by strong research-oriented leadership. Furthermore, recruitment of research passionate staff, adoption of a salary structure that encourages the retention of excellent scholars should be matched by a coherent research incentive culture to growth research publication outputs. This is critical for building new knowledge and entrenching knowledge management founded on communities of practice and scholarly networking through the documentation and communication of research findings. The study concludes that the multiple policy documents set for the different domains of research may be creating pressure on researchers to engage research activities and increase output at the expense of research quality.
Keywords: Central University of Technology, performance, publication, research culture, university.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 309791 Static Balance in the Elderly: Comparison between Elderly Performing Physical Activity and Fine Motor Coordination Activity
Authors: Andreia Guimarães Farnese, Mateus Fernandes Réu Urban, Leandro Procópio, Renato Zângaro, Regiane Albertini
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Senescence changes include postural balance, inferring the risk of falls, and can lead to fractures, bedridden, and the risk of death. Physical activity, e.g., cardiovascular exercises, is notable for improving balance due to brain cell stimulations, but fine coordination exercises also elevate cell brain metabolism. This study aimed to verify whether the elderly person who performs fine motor activity has a balance similar to that of those who practice physical activity. The subjects were divided into three groups according to the activity practice: control group (CG) with seven participants for the sedentary individuals, motor coordination group (MCG) with six participants, and physical activity group (PAG) with eight participants. Data comparisons were from the Berg balance scale, Time up and Go test, and stabilometric analysis. Descriptive statistical and ANOVA analyses were performed for data analysis. The results reveal that including fine motor activities can improve the balance of the elderly and indirectly decrease the risk of falls.
Keywords: Balance, barapodometer, coordination, elderly.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 497790 Appraisal of Relativistic Effects on GNSS Receiver Positioning
Authors: I. Yakubu, Y. Y. Ziggah, E. A. Gyamera
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The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) started with the launch of the United State Department of Defense Global Positioning System (GPS). GNSS systems has grown over the years to include: GLONASS (Russia); Galileo (European Union); BeiDou (China). Any GNSS architecture consists of three major segments: Space, Control and User Segments. Errors such as; multipath, ionospheric and tropospheric effects, satellite clocks, receiver noise and orbit errors (relativity effect) have significant effects on GNSS positioning. To obtain centimeter level accuracy, the impacts of the relative motion of the satellites and earth need to be taken into account. This paper discusses the relevance of the theory of relativity as a source of error for GNSS receivers for position fix based on available relevant literature. Review of relevant literature reveals that due to relativity; Time dilation, Gravitational frequency shift and Sagnac effect cause significant influence on the use of GNSS receivers for positioning by an error range of ± 2.5 m based on pseudo-range computation.
Keywords: GNSS, relativistic effects, pseudo-range, accuracy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 344789 Optimization of Surface Finish in Milling Operation Using Live Tooling via Taguchi Method
Authors: Harish Kumar Ponnappan, Joseph C. Chen
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The main objective of this research is to optimize the surface roughness of a milling operation on AISI 1018 steel using live tooling on a HAAS ST-20 lathe. In this study, Taguchi analysis is used to optimize the milling process by investigating the effect of different machining parameters on surface roughness. The L9 orthogonal array is designed with four controllable factors with three different levels each and an uncontrollable factor, resulting in 18 experimental runs. The optimal parameters determined from Taguchi analysis were feed rate – 76.2 mm/min, spindle speed 1150 rpm, depth of cut – 0.762 mm and 2-flute TiN coated high-speed steel as tool material. The process capability Cp and process capability index Cpk values were improved from 0.62 and -0.44 to 1.39 and 1.24 respectively. The average surface roughness values from the confirmation runs were 1.30 µ, decreasing the defect rate from 87.72% to 0.01%. The purpose of this study is to efficiently utilize the Taguchi design to optimize the surface roughness in a milling operation using live tooling.
Keywords: Live tooling, surface roughness, Taguchi analysis, Computer Numerical Control (CNC) milling operation, CNC turning operation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 752788 Array Signal Processing: DOA Estimation for Missing Sensors
Authors: Lalita Gupta, R. P. Singh
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Array signal processing involves signal enumeration and source localization. Array signal processing is centered on the ability to fuse temporal and spatial information captured via sampling signals emitted from a number of sources at the sensors of an array in order to carry out a specific estimation task: source characteristics (mainly localization of the sources) and/or array characteristics (mainly array geometry) estimation. Array signal processing is a part of signal processing that uses sensors organized in patterns or arrays, to detect signals and to determine information about them. Beamforming is a general signal processing technique used to control the directionality of the reception or transmission of a signal. Using Beamforming we can direct the majority of signal energy we receive from a group of array. Multiple signal classification (MUSIC) is a highly popular eigenstructure-based estimation method of direction of arrival (DOA) with high resolution. This Paper enumerates the effect of missing sensors in DOA estimation. The accuracy of the MUSIC-based DOA estimation is degraded significantly both by the effects of the missing sensors among the receiving array elements and the unequal channel gain and phase errors of the receiver.
Keywords: Array Signal Processing, Beamforming, ULA, Direction of Arrival, MUSIC
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3006787 Asymptotic Analysis of Instant Messaging Service with Relay Nodes
Authors: Muhammad T. Alam, Zheng Da Wu
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In this paper, we provide complete end-to-end delay analyses including the relay nodes for instant messages. Message Session Relay Protocol (MSRP) is used to provide congestion control for large messages in the Instant Messaging (IM) service. Large messages are broken into several chunks. These chunks may traverse through a maximum number of two relay nodes before reaching destination according to the IETF specification of the MSRP relay extensions. We discuss the current solutions of sending large instant messages and introduce a proposal to reduce message flows in the IM service. We consider virtual traffic parameter i.e., the relay nodes are stateless non-blocking for scalability purpose. This type of relay node is also assumed to have input rate at constant bit rate. We provide a new scheduling policy that schedules chunks according to their previous node?s delivery time stamp tags. Validation and analysis is shown for such scheduling policy. The performance analysis with the model introduced in this paper is simple and straight forward, which lead to reduced message flows in the IM service.
Keywords: Instant messaging, stateless, chunking, MSRP.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1607786 A Fast Replica Placement Methodology for Large-scale Distributed Computing Systems
Authors: Samee Ullah Khan, C. Ardil
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Fine-grained data replication over the Internet allows duplication of frequently accessed data objects, as opposed to entire sites, to certain locations so as to improve the performance of largescale content distribution systems. In a distributed system, agents representing their sites try to maximize their own benefit since they are driven by different goals such as to minimize their communication costs, latency, etc. In this paper, we will use game theoretical techniques and in particular auctions to identify a bidding mechanism that encapsulates the selfishness of the agents, while having a controlling hand over them. In essence, the proposed game theory based mechanism is the study of what happens when independent agents act selfishly and how to control them to maximize the overall performance. A bidding mechanism asks how one can design systems so that agents- selfish behavior results in the desired system-wide goals. Experimental results reveal that this mechanism provides excellent solution quality, while maintaining fast execution time. The comparisons are recorded against some well known techniques such as greedy, branch and bound, game theoretical auctions and genetic algorithms.
Keywords: Data replication, auctions, static allocation, pricing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1681785 Novel Security Strategy for Real Time Digital Videos
Authors: Prakash Devale, R. S. Prasad, Amol Dhumane, Pritesh Patil
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Now a days video data embedding approach is a very challenging and interesting task towards keeping real time video data secure. We can implement and use this technique with high-level applications. As the rate-distortion of any image is not confirmed, because the gain provided by accurate image frame segmentation are balanced by the inefficiency of coding objects of arbitrary shape, with a lot factors like losses that depend on both the coding scheme and the object structure. By using rate controller in association with the encoder one can dynamically adjust the target bitrate. This paper discusses about to keep secure videos by mixing signature data with negligible distortion in the original video, and to keep steganographic video as closely as possible to the quality of the original video. In this discussion we propose the method for embedding the signature data into separate video frames by the use of block Discrete Cosine Transform. These frames are then encoded by real time encoding H.264 scheme concepts. After processing, at receiver end recovery of original video and the signature data is proposed.
Keywords: Data Hiding, Digital Watermarking, video coding H.264, Rate Control, Block DCT.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1552784 Automated Separation of Organic Liquids through Their Boiling Points
Authors: Muhammad Tahir Qadri, Syed Shafi-Uddin Qadri, Faizan Farid, Nabeel Abid
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This paper discuss the separation of the miscible liquids by means of fractional distillation. For complete separation of liquids, the process of heating, condensation, separation and storage is done automatically to achieve the objective. PIC micro-controller has been used to control each and every process of the work. The controller also controls the storage process by activating and deactivating the conveyors. The liquids are heated which on reaching their respective boiling points evaporate and enter the condensation chamber where they convert into liquid. The liquids are then directed to their respective tanks by means of stepper motor which moves in three directions, each movement into different tank. The tank on filling sends the signal to controller which then opens the solenoid valves. The tank is emptied into the beakers below the nozzle. As the beaker filled, the nozzle closes and the conveyors come into operation. The filled beaker is replaced by an empty beaker from behind. The work can be used in oil industries, chemical industries and paint industries.Keywords: Miscible Liquid Separation Unit, Distillation, Waste Water Treatment, Organic Liquids Collection.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1728783 Numerical Study of Airfoils Aerodynamic Performance in Heavy Rain Environment
Authors: M. Ismail, Cao Yihua, Zhao Ming, Abu Bakar
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Heavy rainfall greatly affects the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft. There are many accidents of aircraft caused by aerodynamic efficiency degradation by heavy rain. In this Paper we have studied the heavy rain effects on the aerodynamic efficiency of cambered NACA 64-210 and symmetric NACA 0012 airfoils. Our results show significant increase in drag and decrease in lift. We used preprocessing software gridgen for creation of geometry and mesh, used fluent as solver and techplot as postprocessor. Discrete phase modeling called DPM is used to model the rain particles using two phase flow approach. The rain particles are assumed to be inert. Both airfoils showed significant decrease in lift and increase in drag in simulated rain environment. The most significant difference between these two airfoils was the NACA 64-210 more sensitivity than NACA 0012 to liquid water content (LWC). We believe that the results showed in this paper will be useful for the designer of the commercial aircrafts and UAVs, and will be helpful for training of the pilots to control the airplanes in heavy rain.
Keywords: airfoil, discrete phase modeling, heavy rain, Reynolds
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2259782 Stress Analysis of Adhesively Bonded Double- Lap Joints Subjected to Combined Loading
Authors: Solyman Sharifi, Naghdali Choupani
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Adhesively bonded joints are preferred over the conventional methods of joining such as riveting, welding, bolting and soldering. Some of the main advantages of adhesive joints compared to conventional joints are the ability to join dissimilar materials and damage-sensitive materials, better stress distribution, weight reduction, fabrication of complicated shapes, excellent thermal and insulation properties, vibration response and enhanced damping control, smoother aerodynamic surfaces and an improvement in corrosion and fatigue resistance. This paper presents the behavior of adhesively bonded joints subjected to combined thermal loadings, using the numerical methods. The joint configuration considers aluminum as central adherend with six different outer adherends including aluminum, steel, titanium, boronepoxy, unidirectional graphite-epoxy and cross-ply graphite-epoxy and epoxy-based adhesives. Free expansion of the joint in x direction was permitted and stresses in adhesive layer and interfaces calculated for different adherends.Keywords: Thermal stress, patch repair, Adhesive joint, Finiteelement analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2865781 A Digital Pulse-Width Modulation Controller for High-Temperature DC-DC Power Conversion Application
Authors: Jingjing Lan, Jun Yu, Muthukumaraswamy Annamalai Arasu
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This paper presents a digital non-linear pulse-width modulation (PWM) controller in a high-voltage (HV) buck-boost DC-DC converter for the piezoelectric transducer of the down-hole acoustic telemetry system. The proposed design controls the generation of output signal with voltage higher than the supply voltage and is targeted to work under high temperature. To minimize the power consumption and silicon area, a simple and efficient design scheme is employed to develop the PWM controller. The proposed PWM controller consists of serial to parallel (S2P) converter, data assign block, a mode and duty cycle controller (MDC), linearly PWM (LPWM) and noise shaper, pulse generator and clock generator. To improve the reliability of circuit operation at higher temperature, this design is fabricated with the 1.0-μm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) CMOS process. The implementation results validated that the proposed design has the advantages of smaller size, lower power consumption and robust thermal stability.
Keywords: DC-DC power conversion, digital control, high temperatures, pulse-width modulation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1698780 A Study on Vulnerability of Alahsa Governorate to Generate Urban Heat Islands
Authors: Ilham S. M. Elsayed
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The purpose of this study is to investigate Alahsa Governorate status and its vulnerability to generate urban heat islands. Alahsa Governorate is a famous oasis in the Arabic Peninsula including several oil centers. Extensive literature review was done to collect previous relative data on the urban heat island of Alahsa Governorate. Data used for the purpose of this research were collected from authorized bodies who control weather station networks over Alahsa Governorate, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Although, the number of weather station networks within the region is very limited and the analysis using GIS software and its techniques is difficult and limited, the data analyzed confirm an increase in temperature for more than 2 °C from 2004 to 2014. Such increase is considerable whenever human health and comfort are the concern. The increase of temperature within one decade confirms the availability of urban heat islands. The study concludes that, Alahsa Governorate is vulnerable to create urban heat islands and more attention should be drawn to strategic planning of the governorate that is developing with a high pace and considerable increasing levels of urbanization.
Keywords: Urban heat island, Alahsa Governorate, weather station, population density.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1118779 Implication to Environmental Education of Indigenous Knowledge and the Ecosystem of Upland Farmers in Aklan, Philippines
Authors: Emily Arangote
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This paper defined the association between the indigenous knowledge, cultural practices and the ecosystem its implication to the environmental education to the farmers. Farmers recognize the need for sustainability of the ecosystem they inhabit. The cultural practices of farmers on use of indigenous pest control, use of insect-repellant plants, soil management practices that suppress diseases and harmful pests and conserve soil moisture are deemed to be ecologically-friendly. Indigenous plant materials that were more drought- and pest-resistant were grown. Crop rotation was implemented with various crop seeds to increase their disease resistance. Multi-cropping, planting of perennial crops, categorization of soil and planting of appropriate crops, planting of appropriate and leguminous crops, alloting land as watershed, and preserving traditional palay seed varieties were found to be beneficial in preserving the environment. The study also found that indigenous knowledge about crops are still relevant and useful to the current generation. This ensured the sustainability of our environment and incumbent on policy makers and educators to support and preserve for generations yet to come.Keywords: Cultural practices, ecosystem, environmental education, indigenous knowledge.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1412778 A Comparative Understanding of Critical Problems Faced by Pakistani and Indian Transportation Industry
Authors: Saleh Abduallah Saleh, Mohammad Basir Bin Saud, Mohd Azwardi Md Isa
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It is very important for a developing nation to developing their infrastructure on the prime priority because their infrastructure particularly their roads and transportation functions as a blood in the system. Almost 1.1 billion populations share the travel and transportation industry in India. On the other hand, the Pakistan transportation industry is also extensive and elevating about 170 million users of transportation. Indian and Pakistani specifically within bus industry are well connected within and between the urban and rural areas. The transportation industry is radically helping the economic alleviation of both countries. Due to high economic instability, unemployment and poverty rate both countries governments are very serious and committed to help for boosting their economy. They believe that any form of transportation development would play a vital role in the development of land, infrastructure which could indirectly support many other industries’ developments, such as tourism, freighting and shipping businesses, just to mention a few. However, it seems that their previous transportation planning in the due course has failed to meet the fast growing demand. As with the span of time, both the countries are looking forward to a long-term, and economical solutions, because the demand is from time to time keep appreciating and reacting according to other key economic drivers. Content analysis method and case study approach is used in this paper and secondary data from the bureau of statistic is used for case analysis. The paper focused on the mobility concerns of the lower and middle-income people in India and Pakistan. The paper is aimed to highlight the weaknesses, opportunities and limitations resulting from low priority industry for a government, which is making the either country's public suffer. The paper has concluded that the main issue is identified as the slow, inappropriate, and unfavorable decisions which are not in favor of long-term country’s economic development and public interest. The paper also recommends to future research avenues for public and private transportation, which is continuously failing to meet the public expectations.
Keywords: Bus transportation industries, transportation demand, government parallel initiatives, road and traffic congestions.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1891777 Effect of Cooling Coherent Nozzle Orientation on the Machinability of Ti-6Al-4V in Step Shoulder Milling
Authors: Salah Gariani, Islam Shyha, Osama Elgadi, Khaled Jegandi
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In this work, a cooling coherent round nozzle was developed and the impact of nozzle placement (i.e. nozzle angle and stand-off/impinging distance) on the machinability of Ti-6Al-4V was evaluated. Key process measures were cutting force, workpiece temperature, tool wear, burr formation and average surface roughness (Ra). Experimental results showed that nozzle position at a 15° angle in the feed direction and 45°/60° against feed direction assisted in minimising workpiece temperature. A stand-off distance of 55 and 75 mm is also necessary to control burr formation, workpiece temperature and Ra, but coherent nozzle orientation has no statistically significant impact on the mean values of cutting force and tool wear. It can be concluded that stand-off distance is more substantially significant than nozzle angles when step shoulder milling Ti-6Al- 4V using vegetable oil-based cutting fluid.
Keywords: Coherent round nozzle, step shoulder milling, Ti-6Al-4V, vegetable oil-based cutting fluid.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 401776 Compressive Strength and Interfacial Transition Zone Characteristic of Geopolymer Concrete with Different Cast In-Situ Curing Conditions
Authors: Muhd Fadhil Nuruddin, Andri Kusbiantoro, Sobia Qazi, Nasir Shafiq
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The compressive strength development through polymerization process of alkaline solution and fly ash blended with Microwave Incinerated Rice Husk Ash (MIRHA) is described in this paper. Three curing conditions, which are hot gunny curing, ambient curing, and external humidity curing are investigated to obtain the suitable curing condition for cast in situ provision. Fly ash was blended with MIRHA at 3%, 5%, and 7% to identify the effect of blended mixes to the compressive strength and microstructure properties of geopolymer concrete. Compressive strength results indicated an improvement in the strength development with external humidity curing concrete samples compared to hot gunny curing and ambient curing. Blended mixes also presented better performance than control mixes. Improvement of interfacial transition zone (ITZ) and micro structure in external humidity concrete samples were also identified compared to hot gunny and ambient curing.Keywords: Compressive Strength, alkaline solution, fly ash, geopolymer, ITZ, MIRHA
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2830775 Planning Method Study on the Ecological Restrained Construction Area from the Perspective of Governance: A Case from Yangzijin, Yangzhou, China
Authors: Rushi Tan, Yilun Xu, Xiaohui Wang
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The restrained construction zoning, an important part in the urban master plan, is a necessary planning tool to control the city sprawl, to guarantee the reservation implementation of the various types of protective elements, and to realize the storage of the essential urban spatial resources. Simultaneously, owing to the diverse constitutes of restrained construction area and the various stakeholders involved in, its planning requires an overall consideration of all elements from the perspective of coordination+, balance and practicability to deal with the problems and conflicts in this process. Taking Yangzijin Ecological Restrained Construction Area in Yangzhou as an example, this study analyzes all the potential actors, agencies and stakeholders in this restrained construction area, as well as the relevant conflicts between each other. Besides, this study tries to build up a planning procedure based on the framework of governance theory, and proposes a possible planning method that combines "rigidity" and "flexibility" to protect the ecological limitation boundary, to take every interest into account, and to promote economic development in a harmonious society.
Keywords: Restrained construction area, governance, stakeholder, flexible stratagem, China.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1953774 Study of Fire Propagation and Soot Flow in a Pantry Car of Railway Locomotive
Authors: Juhi Kaushik, Abhishek Agarwal, Manoj Sarda, Vatsal Sanjay, Arup Kumar Das
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Fire accidents in trains bring huge disaster to human life and property. Evacuation becomes a major challenge in such incidents owing to confined spaces, large passenger density and trains moving at high speeds. The pantry car in Indian Railways trains carry inflammable materials like cooking fuel and LPG and electrical fittings. The pantry car is therefore highly susceptible to fire accidents. Numerical simulations have been done in a pantry car of Indian locomotive train using computational fluid dynamics based software. Different scenarios of a fire outbreak have been explored by varying Heat Release Rate per Unit Area (HRRPUA) of the fire source, introduction of exhaust in the cooking area, and taking a case of an air conditioned pantry car. Temporal statures of flame and soot have been obtained for each scenario and differences have been studied and reported. Inputs from this study can be used to assess casualties in fire accidents in locomotive trains and development of smoke control/detection systems in Indian trains.Keywords: Fire propagation, flame contour, pantry fire, soot flow.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1800773 A Study on Remote On-Line Diagnostic System for Vehicles by Integrating the Technology of OBD, GPS, and 3G
Authors: Jyong Lin, Shih-Chang Chen, Yu-Tsen Shih, Shi-Huang Chen
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This paper presents a remote on-line diagnostic system for vehicles via the use of On-Board Diagnostic (OBD), GPS, and 3G techniques. The main parts of the proposed system are on-board computer, vehicle monitor server, and vehicle status browser. First, the on-board computer can obtain the location of deriver and vehicle status from GPS receiver and OBD interface, respectively. Then on-board computer will connect with the vehicle monitor server through 3G network to transmit the real time vehicle system status. Finally, vehicle status browser could show the remote vehicle status including vehicle speed, engine rpm, battery voltage, engine coolant temperature, and diagnostic trouble codes. According to the experimental results, the proposed system can help fleet managers and car knockers to understand the remote vehicle status. Therefore this system can decrease the time of fleet management and vehicle repair due to the fleet managers and car knockers who find the diagnostic trouble messages in time.Keywords: Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC), Electronic Control Unit (ECU), Global Position System (GPS), On-Board Diagnostic (OBD).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2995772 Transformation of Industrial Policy towards Industry 4.0 and Its Impact on Firms' Competition
Authors: Arūnas Burinskas
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Although Europe is on the threshold of a new industrial revolution called Industry 4.0, many believe that this will increase the flexibility of production, the mass adaptation of products to consumers and the speed of their service; it will also improve product quality and dramatically increase productivity. However, as expected, all the benefits of Industry 4.0 face many of the inevitable changes and challenges they pose. One of them is the inevitable transformation of current competition and business models. This article examines the possible results of competitive conversion from the classic Bertrand and Cournot models to qualitatively new competition based on innovation. Ability to deliver a new product quickly and the possibility to produce the individual design (through flexible and quickly configurable factories) by reducing equipment failures and increasing process automation and control is highly important. This study shows that the ongoing transformation of the competition model is changing the game. This, together with the creation of complex value networks, means huge investments that make it particularly difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, the ongoing digitalization of data raises new concerns regarding legal obligations, intellectual property, and security.
Keywords: Bertrand and Cournot Competition, competition model, Industry 4.0, industrial organization, monopolistic competition.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 449771 The Relationship between Representational Conflicts, Generalization, and Encoding Requirements in an Instance Memory Network
Authors: Mathew Wakefield, Matthew Mitchell, Lisa Wise, Christopher McCarthy
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This paper aims to provide an interpretation of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and explore some of its implications. The interpretation views ANNs as a memory which encodes instances of experience. An experiment explores the behavior of encoding and retrieval of instances from memory. A localised representation ANN is created that allows control over encoding and retrieved memory sample size and is experimented with using the MNIST digits dataset. The relationship between input familiarity, conflict within retrieved samples, and error rates is described and demonstrated to be an effective driver for memory encoding. Results indicate that selective encoding and retrieval samples that allow detection of memory conflicts produce optimal performance, and that error rates are normally distributed with input familiarity and conflict. By using input familiarity and sample consistency to guide memory encoding, the number of encoding trials on the dataset were reduced to 18.33% of the training data while maintaining good recognition performance on the test data.
Keywords: Artificial Neural Networks, ANNs, representation, memory, conflict monitoring, confidence.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 463770 Bipolar PWM and LCL Filter Configuration to Reduce Leakage Currents in Transformerless PV System Connected to Utility Grid
Authors: Shanmuka Naga Raju
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This paper presents PV system without considering transformer connected to electric grid. This is considered more economic compared to present PV system. The problem that occurs when transformer is not considered appears with a leakage current near capacitor connected to ground. Bipolar Pulse Width Modulation (BPWM) technique along with filter L-C-L configuration in the circuit is modeled to shrink the leakage current in the circuit. The DC/AC inverter is modeled using H-bridge Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) module which is controlled using proposed Bipolar PWM control technique. To extract maximum power, Maximum Power Point Technique (MPPT) controller is used in this model. Voltage and current regulators are used to determine the reference voltage for the inverter from active and reactive current where reactive current is set to zero. The PLL is modeled to synchronize the measurements. The model is designed with MATLAB Simulation blocks and compared with the methods available in literature survey to show its effectiveness.Keywords: Photovoltaic, PV, pulse width modulation, PWM, perturb and observe, phase locked loop.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 996769 A PI Controller for Enhancing the Transient Stability of Multi Pulse Inverter Based Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC) With Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage(SMES)
Authors: S. Padma, Dr. R. Lakshmipathi, K. Ramash Kumar, P. Nandagopal
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The power system network is becoming more complex nowadays and it is very difficult to maintain the stability of the system. Today-s enhancement of technology makes it possible to include new energy storage devices in the electric power system. In addition, with the aid of power electronic devices, it is possible to independently exchange active and reactive power flow with the utility grid. The main purpose of this paper proposes a Proportional – Integral (PI) control based 48 – pulse Inverter based Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC) with and without Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) used for enhancing the transient stability and regulating power flow in automatic mode. Using a test power system through the dynamic simulation in Matlab/Simulink platform validates the performance of the proposed SSSC with and without SMES system.Keywords: Flexible AC transmission system (FACTS), PIControl, Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES), Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2337768 A Comprehensive Evaluation of IGBTs Performance under Zero Current Switching
Authors: Ly. Benbahouche
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Currently, several soft switching topologies have been studied to achieve high power switching efficiency, reduced cost, improved reliability and reduced parasites. It is well known that improvement in power electronics systems always depend on advanced in power devices. The IGBT has been successfully used in a variety of switching applications such as motor drives and appliance control because of its superior characteristics.
The aim of this paper is focuses on simulation and explication of the internal dynamics of IGBTs behaviour under the most popular soft switching schemas that is Zero Current Switching (ZCS) environments.
The main purpose of this paper is to point out some mechanisms relating to current tail during the turn-off and examination of the response at turn-off with variation of temperature, inductance L, snubber capacitors Cs, and bus voltage in order to achieve an improved understanding of internal carrier dynamics. It is shown that the snubber capacitor, the inductance and even the temperature controls the magnitude and extent of the tail current, hence the turn-off time (switching speed of the device).
Moreover, it has also been demonstrated that the ZCS switching can be utilized efficiently to improve and reduce the power losses as well as the turn-off time. Furthermore, the turn-off loss in ZCS was found to depend on the time of switching of the device.
Keywords: PT-IGBT, ZCS, turn-off losses, dV/dt.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2575767 Generalized Mathematical Description and Simulation of Grid-Tied Thyristor Converters
Authors: V. S. Klimash, Ye Min Thu
Abstract:
Thyristor rectifiers, inverters grid-tied, and AC voltage regulators are widely used in industry, and on electrified transport, they have a lot in common both in the power circuit and in the control system. They have a common mathematical structure and switching processes. At the same time, the rectifier, but the inverter units and thyristor regulators of alternating voltage are considered separately both theoretically and practically. They are written about in different books as completely different devices. The aim of this work is to combine them into one class based on the unity of the equations describing electromagnetic processes, and then, to show this unity on the mathematical model and experimental setup. Based on research from mathematics to the product, a conclusion is made about the methodology for the rapid conduct of research and experimental design work, preparation for production and serial production of converters with a unified bundle. In recent years, there has been a transition from thyristor circuits and transistor in modular design. Showing the example of thyristor rectifiers and AC voltage regulators, we can conclude that there is a unity of mathematical structures and grid-tied thyristor converters.Keywords: Direct current, alternating current, rectifier, AC voltage regulator, generalized mathematical model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 994766 Microstructural Properties of the Interfacial Transition Zone and Strength Development of Concrete Incorporating Recycled Concrete Aggregate
Authors: S. Boudali, A. M. Soliman, B. Abdulsalam, K. Ayed, D. E. Kerdal, S. Poncet
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This study investigates the potential of using crushed concrete as aggregates to produce green and sustainable concrete. Crushed concrete was sieved to powder fine recycled aggregate (PFRA) less than 80 µm and coarse recycled aggregates (CRA). Physical, mechanical, and microstructural properties for PFRA and CRA were evaluated. The effect of the additional rates of PFRA and CRA on strength development of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) was investigated. Additionally, the characteristics of interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between cement paste and recycled aggregate were also examined. Results show that concrete mixtures made with 100% of CRA and 40% PFRA exhibited similar performance to that of the control mixture prepared with 100% natural aggregate (NA) and 40% natural pozzolan (NP). Moreover, concrete mixture incorporating recycled aggregate exhibited a slightly higher later compressive strength than that of the concrete with NA. This was confirmed by the very dense microstructure for concrete mixture incorporating recycled concrete aggregates compared to that of conventional concrete mixture.
Keywords: Compressive strength, recycled concrete aggregates, microstructure, interfacial transition zone, powder fine recycled aggregate.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1212765 Methodology for Developing an Intelligent Tutoring System Based on Marzano’s Taxonomy
Authors: Joaquin Navarro Perales, Ana Lidia Franzoni Velázquez, Francisco Cervantes Pérez
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The Mexican educational system faces diverse challenges related with the quality and coverage of education. The development of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) may help to solve some of them by helping teachers to customize their classes according to the performance of the students in online courses. In this work, we propose the adaptation of a functional ITS based on Bloom’s taxonomy called Sistema de Apoyo Generalizado para la Enseñanza Individualizada (SAGE), to measure student’s metacognition and their emotional response based on Marzano’s taxonomy. The students and the system will share the control over the advance in the course, so they can improve their metacognitive skills. The system will not allow students to get access to subjects not mastered yet. The interaction between the system and the student will be implemented through Natural Language Processing techniques, thus avoiding the use of sensors to evaluate student’s response. The teacher will evaluate student’s knowledge utilization, which is equivalent to the last cognitive level in Marzano’s taxonomy.
Keywords: Intelligent tutoring systems, student modelling, metacognition, affective computing, natural language processing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 990764 Innovation in “Low-Tech” Industries: Portuguese Footwear Industry
Authors: António Marques, Graça Guedes
Abstract:
The Portuguese footwear industry had in the last five years a remarkable performance in the exportation values, the trade balance and others economic indicators. After a long period of difficulties and with a strong reduction of companies and employees since 1994 until 2009, the Portuguese footwear industry changed the strategy and is now a success case between the international players of footwear. Only the Italian industry sells footwear with a higher value than the Portuguese and the distance between them is decreasing year by year. This paper analyses how the Portuguese footwear companies innovate and make innovation, according the classification proposed by the Oslo Manual. Also, analyses the strategy follow in the innovation process and shows the linkage between the type of innovation and the strategy of innovation. The research methodology was qualitative and the strategy for data collection was the case study. The qualitative data will be analyzed with the MAXQDA software. The economic results of the footwear companies studied shows differences between all of them and these differences are related with the innovation strategy adopted. The companies focused in product and marketing innovation, oriented to their target market, have higher ratios “turnover per worker” than the companies focused in process innovation. However, all the footwear companies in this “low-tech” industry create value and contribute to a positive foreign trade of 1.310 million euros in 2013. The growth strategies implemented has the participation of the sectorial organizations in several innovative projects. And it’s obvious that cooperation between all of them is a critical element to the performance achieved by the companies and the innovation observed. The Portuguese footwear sector has in the last years an excellent performance (economic results, exportation values, trade balance, brands and international image) and his performance is strongly related with the strategy in innovation followed, the type of innovation and the networks in the cluster. A simplified model, called “Ace of Diamonds”, is proposed by the authors and explains the way how this performance was reached by the seven companies that participate in the study (two of them are the leaders in the setor), and if this model can be used in others traditional and “low-tech” industries.
Keywords: Footwear industry, innovation strategy, low-tech industry, Oslo Manual.
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