Search results for: Quality Function Deployment

Authors: Weinian Wang, Joseph C. Chen

Abstract:

The objective of this research is to optimize the process of cutting cylindrical workpieces utilizing live tooling on a HAAS ST-20 lathe. Surface roughness (Ra) has been investigated as the indicator of quality characteristics for machining process. Aluminum alloy was used to conduct experiments due to its wide range usages in engineering structures and components where light weight or corrosion resistance is required. In this study, Taguchi methodology is utilized to determine the effects that each of the parameters has on surface roughness (Ra). A total of 18 experiments of each process were designed according to Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array (OA) with four control factors at three levels of each and signal-to-noise ratios (S/N) were computed with Smaller the better equation for minimizing the system. The optimal parameters identified for the surface roughness of the turning operation utilizing live tooling were a feed rate of 3 inches/min(A3); a spindle speed of 1300 rpm(B3); a 2-flute titanium nitrite coated 3/8” endmill (C1); and a depth of cut of 0.025 inches (D2). The mean surface roughness of the confirmation runs in turning operation was 8.22 micro inches. The final results demonstrate that Taguchi methodology is a sufficient way of process improvement in turning process on surface roughness.

Keywords: Live tooling, surface roughness, Taguchi Parameter Design, CNC turning operation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 805

Authors: K. A. Weidenmann, M. Grigo, B. Brylka, P. Elsner, T. Böhlke

Abstract:

In order to reduce fuel consumption, the weight of automobiles has to be reduced. Fiber reinforced polymers offer the potential to reach this aim because of their high stiffness to weight ratio. Additionally, the use of fiber reinforced polymers in automotive applications has to allow for an economic large-scale production. In this regard, long fiber reinforced thermoplastics made by direct processing offer both mechanical performance and processability in injection moulding and compression moulding. The work presented in this contribution deals with long glass fiber reinforced polypropylene directly processed in compression moulding (D-LFT). For the use in automotive applications both the temperature and the time dependency of the materials properties have to be investigated to fulfill performance requirements during crash or the demands of service temperatures ranging from -40 °C to 80 °C. To consider both the influence of temperature and time, quasistatic tensile tests have been carried out at different temperatures. These tests have been complemented by high speed tensile tests at different strain rates. As expected, the increase in strain rate results in an increase of the elastic modulus which correlates to an increase of the stiffness with decreasing service temperature. The results are in good accordance with results determined by dynamic mechanical analysis within the range of 0.1 to 100 Hz. The experimental results from different testing methods were grouped and interpreted by using different time temperature shift approaches. In this regard, Williams-Landel-Ferry and Arrhenius approach based on kinetics have been used. As the theoretical shift factor follows an arctan function, an empirical approach was also taken into consideration. It could be shown that this approach describes best the time and temperature superposition for glass fiber reinforced polypropylene manufactured by D-LFT processing.

Keywords: Composite, long fiber reinforced thermoplastics, mechanical properties, dynamic mechanical analysis, time temperature superposition.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1699

Authors: Shan Ding, Lijia Zhang, Hongming Xu

Abstract:

this paper presents a novel scheme which is capable of reducing the error rate and improves the transmission performance in the asynchronous cooperative MIMO systems. A case study of image transmission is applied to prove the efficient of scheme. The linear dispersion structure is employed to accommodate the cooperative wireless communication network in the dynamic topology of structure, as well as to achieve higher throughput than conventional space–time codes based on orthogonal designs. The LDPC encoder without girth-4 and the STBC encoder with guard intervals are respectively introduced. The experiment results show that the combined coder of LDPC-STBC with guard intervals can be the good error correcting coders and BER performance in the asynchronous cooperative communication. In the case study of image transmission, the results show that in the transmission process, the image quality which is obtained by applied combined scheme is much better than it which is not applied the scheme in the asynchronous cooperative MIMO systems.

Keywords: Cooperative MIMO, image transmission, lineardispersion codes, Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC)

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1934

Authors: S.A.Ahmad, M.N.Taib, N.E.A.Khalid, R.Ahmad, H.Taib

Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to compare the original intra-oral digital dental radiograph images with images that are enhanced using a combination of image processing algorithms. Intraoral digital dental radiograph images are often noisy, blur edges and low in contrast. A combination of sharpening and enhancement method are used to overcome these problems. Three types of proposed compound algorithms used are Sharp Adaptive Histogram Equalization (SAHE), Sharp Median Adaptive Histogram Equalization (SMAHE) and Sharp Contrast adaptive histogram equalization (SCLAHE). This paper presents an initial study of the perception of six dentists on the details of abnormal pathologies and improvement of image quality in ten intra-oral radiographs. The research focus on the detection of only three types of pathology which is periapical radiolucency, widen periodontal ligament space and loss of lamina dura. The overall result shows that SCLAHE-s slightly improve the appearance of dental abnormalities- over the original image and also outperform the other two proposed compound algorithms.

Keywords: intra-oral dental radiograph, histogram equalization, sharpening, CLAHE.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1784

Authors: Davinder Singh, Jaimal Singh Khamba, Tarun Nanda

Abstract:

MSMEs are regarded as the sunrise sector of the Indian economy in view of its large potential for growth and likely socio economic impact specifically on employment and income generation. In today’s competitive business environment, global competition forces companies to continuously seek ways of improving their products and services. The pressure on organizations to adapt to new technologies and external threats requires resourcefulness, creativity and innovation. Market has become more open, competitive and customers more demanding. Without continuous technology innovation, no organization can ever remain competitive. Innovations reflect a critical way in which organizations respond to either technological or market challenges. The need of the market is to deliver high quality products through continuous changing in features in product, improve existing products, reduce their cost, and improve employee skills, training, technology infrastructure and financial policies. Therefore, the key factor of organization’s ability to change is innovation. The study presents a detailed review of literature on the role of technology innovation in improving manufacturing performance of industries.

Keywords: Competitive, Manufacturing performance, MSMEs, Technological Innovation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2913

Authors: Tatjana Rakcejeva, Ingrida Augspole, Lija Dukalska, Fredijs Dimins

Abstract:

carrot is one of the important root vegetable crops, and it is highly nutritious as it contains appreciable amount of vitamins, minerals and β-carotene. The major objective of current research was to evaluate the chemical composition of carrot variety 'Nante' hybrids in general and to select the best samples for fresh-cut salad production. The research was accomplished on fresh in Latvia cultivated carrots harvested in Zemgale region in the first part of October, 2011 and immediately used for experiments. Late-bearing variety 'Nante' hybrid carrots were used for analysis: 'Nante/Berlikum', 'Nante/Maestro', 'Nante/Forto', 'Nante/Bolero' and 'Nante/Champion'. The quality parameters as moisture, soluble solid, firmness, b-carotene, carotenoid, color, polyphenols, total phenolic compounds and total antioxidant capacity were analyzed using standard methods. For fresh-cut salad production as more applicable could be recommended hybrids 'Nante/Forto' and 'Nante/Berlikum' - mainly because it-s higher nutritive value, as higher total phenolic compounds, polyphenols and pronounced antioxidant capacity.

Keywords: carrots, chemical composition, evaluation

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2170

Authors: Mohammed A. Elhaj, Jamal S. Yassin

Abstract:

This paper presents the exergy analysis of a desalination unit using humidification-dehumidification process. Here, this unit is considered as a thermal system with three main components, which are the heating unit by using a solar collector, the evaporator or the humidifier, and the condenser or the dehumidifier. In these components the exergy is a measure of the quality or grade of energy and it can be destroyed in them. According to the second law of thermodynamics this destroyed part is due to irreversibilities which must be determined to obtain the exergetic efficiency of the system. In the current paper a computer program has been developed using visual basic to determine the exergy destruction and the exergetic efficiencies of the components of the desalination unit at variable operation conditions such as feed water temperature, outlet air temperature, air to feed water mass ratio and salinity, in addition to cooling water mass flow rate and inlet temperature, as well as quantity of solar irradiance. The results obtained indicate that the exergy efficiency of the humidifier increases by increasing the mass ratio and decreasing the outlet air temperature. In the other hand the exergy efficiency of the condenser increases with the increase of this ratio and also with the increase of the outlet air temperature.

Keywords: Exergy analysis, desalination, solar, humidifier, condenser.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2471

Authors: Taher M. Abou-deif, Mahmoud A. Fouad, Essam E. Khalil

Abstract:

The present paper was concerned primarily with the analysis, simulation of the air flow and thermal patterns in a lecture room. The paper is devoted to numerically investigate the influence of location and number of ventilation and air conditioning supply and extracts openings on air flow properties in a lecture room. The work focuses on air flow patterns, thermal behaviour in lecture room where large number of students. The effectiveness of an air flow system is commonly assessed by the successful removal of sensible and latent loads from occupants with additional of attaining air pollutant at a prescribed level to attain the human thermal comfort conditions and to improve the indoor air quality; this is the main target during the present paper. The study is carried out using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation techniques as embedded in the commercially available CFD code (FLUENT 6.2). The CFD modelling techniques solved the continuity, momentum and energy conservation equations in addition to standard k – ε model equations for turbulence closure. Throughout the investigations, numerical validation is carried out by way of comparisons of numerical and experimental results. Good agreement is found among both predictions.

Keywords: Air Conditioning, CFD, Lecture Rooms, Thermal Comfort

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2226

Authors: Negar Riazifar, Nigel G. Stocks

Abstract:

This paper proposes strategies in level crossing (LC) sampling and reconstruction that provide high fidelity signal reconstruction for speech signals; these strategies circumvent the problem of exponentially increasing number of samples as the bit-depth is increased and hence are highly efficient. Specifically, the results indicate that the distribution of the intervals between samples is one of the key factors in the quality of signal reconstruction; including samples with short intervals does not improve the accuracy of the signal reconstruction, whilst samples with large intervals lead to numerical instability. The proposed sampling method, termed reduced conventional level crossing (RCLC) sampling, exploits redundancy between samples to improve the efficiency of the sampling without compromising performance. A reconstruction technique is also proposed that enhances the numerical stability through linear interpolation of samples separated by large intervals. Interpolation is demonstrated to improve the accuracy of the signal reconstruction in addition to the numerical stability. We further demonstrate that the RCLC and interpolation methods can give useful levels of signal recovery even if the average sampling rate is less than the Nyquist rate.

Keywords: Level crossing sampling, numerical stability, speech processing, trigonometric polynomial.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 430

Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah, Jianing Mi, Feng Cheng

Abstract:

This research paper seeks to investigate the factors determining the continuance usage of online mobile payment applications among WECHAT users in China. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory would both be applied as the theoretical foundation for this study. A developed instrument would be administered to the targeted sample of 1000 WECHAT Users in the City of Harbin, China, through an online questionnaire administration platform. Factors such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived service quality, social influence, trust in the internet, internet self-efficacy, relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity would be explored to determine its significant impact on the continuance intention to use mobile payment apps. This study is at the development and implementation stage. The successful completion of this research article would not only provide an insightful understanding of the factors influencing the decision of WECHAT users in China to use mobile payment applications but also enrich the e-commerce adoption literature.

Keywords: Diffusion of innovation (DOI), e-commerce, mobile payment, technology acceptance model (TAM), WECHAT.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1621

Authors: Sylwia Wiewiorowska, Zbigniew Muskalski

Abstract:

The article presents part of research on the development of nickel plated welding wire production technology, whose application will enable the elimination of the flaws of currently manufactured welding wires. The nickel plated welding wire will be distinguished by high quality, because the Ni layer which is deposited electrochemically onto it from acid baths is characterized by very good adhesion to the steel wire surface, while the ductile nickel well deforms plastically in the drawing process and the adhesion of the Ni layer increases in the drawing process due to the occurring process of diffusion between the Ni and the steel. The Ni layer obtained in the proposed technology, despite a smaller thickness than when the wire is coated with copper, is continuous and tight, thus ensuring high corrosion resistance, as well as unsusceptible to scaling, which should provide a product that meets requirements imposed by the market. The product will also reduce, to some extent, the amount of copper brought in to steel through recycling, while the wire coating nickel introduced to the weld in the welding process is expected, to a degree, to favorably influence its mechanical properties. The paper describes the tests of the process of nickel plating of f1.96 mm-diameter wires using various nickel plating baths with different process parameters.

Keywords: Steel wire, plating baths, welding process, coatings.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 693

Authors: Abdel-Aziz M. Mohamed, Nermeen Coutry

Abstract:

Lead time is a critical measure of a supply chain's performance. It impacts both the customer satisfactions as well as the total cost of inventory. This paper presents the result of a study on the analysis of the customer order lead-time for a multinational company. In the study, the lead time was divided into three stages respectively: order entry, order fulfillment, and order delivery. A sample of size 2,425 order lines was extracted from the company's records to use for this study. The sample data entails information regarding customer orders from the time of order entry until order delivery. Data regarding the lead time of each stage for different orders were also provided. Summary statistics on lead time data reveals that about 30% of the orders were delivered later than the scheduled due date. The result of the multiple linear regression analysis technique revealed that component type, logistics parameter, order size and the customer type have significant impacts on lead time. Data analysis on the stages of lead time indicates that stage 2 consumed over 50% of the lead time. Pareto analysis was made to study the reasons for the customer order delay in each stage. Recommendation was given to resolve the problem.

Keywords: Lead time reduction, customer satisfaction, service quality, statistical analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6692

Authors: Layla Mujahed

Abstract:

COVID-19 is an exam for all the city’s systems. It shows many gaps in the systems such as healthcare, economic, social, and environment. This pandemic is paving for a new era, an era of technology and it has changed people’s lives, such as physical, and emotional changes, and converting communication into digitalized. The effect of COVID-19 has covered all urban city parts. COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic our cities will face. For that, more researches focus on enhancing the quality of the urban environment. This pandemic encourages a rethinking of the environment’s role, especially in cities. Cities are trying to provide the best suitable strategies and regulations to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and an example of that is Amman city. Amman has a high increment in the number of COVID-19 infected people, while it has controlled the situation for months. For that, this paper studies the relation between COVID-19 and urban environmental studies cases about cities around the world, and learns from their models to face COVID-19. In Amman, people’s behavior has changed towards public transportation and public green spaces. N­ew governmental regulations focus on increasing people’s mental awareness, supporting local businesses, and enhancing neighborhood planning that can help Amman to face any future pandemics.

Keywords: COVID-19, urban environment, urban planning, urban resilience.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1232

Authors: Yassamina Berkane, Leïla Kloul, Yoann Demoli

Abstract:

Quality of life, environmental impact, congestion of mobility means, and infrastructures remain significant challenges for urban mobility. Solutions like car sharing, spatial redesign, eCommerce, and autonomous vehicles will likely increase the unit veh-km and the density of cars in urban traffic, thus reducing congestion. However, the impact of such solutions is not clear for researchers. Congestion arises from growing populations that must travel greater distances to arrive at similar locations (e.g., workplaces, schools) during the same time frame (e.g., rush hours). This paper first reviews the research and application cases of urban congestion methods through recent years. Rethinking the question of time, it then investigates people’s willingness and flexibility to adapt their arrival and departure times from workplaces. We use neural networks and methods of supervised learning to apply a methodology for predicting peoples’ intentions from their responses in a questionnaire. We created and distributed a questionnaire to more than 50 companies in the Paris suburb. Obtained results illustrate that our methodology can predict peoples’ intentions to reschedule their activities (work, study, commerce, etc.).

Keywords: Urban mobility, decongestion, machine learning, neural network.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 481

Authors: Fauzi Jarushi, S. AlKaabim, Paul Cosentino

Abstract:

The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is the most common in situ test for soil investigations. On the other hand, the Cone Penetration Test (CPT) is considered one of the best investigation tools. Due to the fast and accurate results that can be obtained it complaints the SPT in many applications like field explorations, design parameters, and quality control assessments. Many soil index and engineering properties have been correlated to both of SPT and CPT. Various foundation design methods were developed based on the outcome of these tests. Therefore it is vital to correlate these tests to each other so that either one of the tests can be used in the absence of the other, especially for preliminary evaluation and design purposes. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the SPT and CPT for different type of sandy soils in Florida. Data for this research were collected from number of projects sponsored by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), six sites served as the subject of SPT-CPT correlations. The correlations were established between the cone resistance (qc), sleeve friction (fs) and the uncorrected SPT blow counts (N) for various soils. A positive linear relationship was found between qc, fs and N for various sandy soils. In general, qc versus N showed higher correlation coefficients than fs versus N. qc/N ratios were developed for different soil types and compared to literature values, the results of this research revealed higher ratios than literature values.

Keywords: In situ tests, Correlation, SPT, CPT.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16577

Authors: Chien-Lung Chen, Jeng-Lin Tsai, Feng-Chao Chung, Su-Ching Kuo, Kuo-Hsin Tseng, Pei-Hsuan Kuo, Li-Ying Hsieh, Ying I. Tsai

Abstract:

This study applied the Gaussian trajectory transfer-coefficient model (GTx) to simulate the particulate matter concentrations and the source apportionments at Nanzih Air Quality Monitoring Station in southern Taiwan from November 2007 to February 2008. The correlation coefficient between the observed and the calculated daily PM10 concentrations is 0.5 and the absolute bias of the PM10 concentrations is 24%. The simulated PM10 concentrations matched well with the observed data. Although the emission rate of PM10 was dominated by area sources (58%), the results of source apportionments indicated that the primary sources for PM10 at Nanzih Station were point sources (42%), area sources (20%) and then upwind boundary concentration (14%). The obvious difference of PM10 source apportionment between episode and non-episode days was upwind boundary concentrations which contributed to 20% and 11% PM10 sources, respectively. The gas-particle conversion of secondary aerosol and long range transport played crucial roles on the PM10 contribution to a receptor.

Keywords: back trajectory model, particulate matter, sourceapportionment

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1598

Authors: J. Fernandez de Canete, S. Gonzalez-Perez, P. del Saz-Orozco

Abstract:

Neural networks offer an alternative approach both for identification and control of nonlinear processes in process engineering. The lack of software tools for the design of controllers based on neural network models is particularly pronounced in this field. SIMULINK is properly a widely used graphical code development environment which allows system-level developers to perform rapid prototyping and testing. Such graphical based programming environment involves block-based code development and offers a more intuitive approach to modeling and control task in a great variety of engineering disciplines. In this paper a SIMULINK based Neural Tool has been developed for analysis and design of multivariable neural based control systems. This tool has been applied to the control of a high purity distillation column including non linear hydrodynamic effects. The proposed control scheme offers an optimal response for both theoretical and practical challenges posed in process control task, in particular when both, the quality improvement of distillation products and the operation efficiency in economical terms are considered.

Keywords: Distillation, neural networks, software tools, identification, control.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2707

Authors: Nurhani Kasuan, Zakariah Yusuf, Mohd Nasir Taib, Mohd Hezri Fazalul Rahiman, Nazurah Tajuddin, Mohd Azri Abdul Aziz

Abstract:

This paper presents a hybrid fuzzy-PD plus PID (HFPP) controller and its application to steam distillation process for essential oil extraction system. Steam temperature is one of the most significant parameters that can influence the composition of essential oil yield. Due to parameter variations and changes in operation conditions during distillation, a robust steam temperature controller becomes nontrivial to avoid the degradation of essential oil quality. Initially, the PRBS input is triggered to the system and output of steam temperature is modeled using ARX model structure. The parameter estimation and tuning method is adopted by simulation using HFPP controller scheme. The effectiveness and robustness of proposed controller technique is validated by real time implementation to the system. The performance of HFPP using 25 and 49 fuzzy rules is compared. The experimental result demonstrates the proposed HFPP using 49 fuzzy rules achieves a better, consistent and robust controller compared to PID when considering the test on tracking the set point and the effects due to disturbance.

Keywords: Fuzzy Logic controller, steam temperature, steam distillation, real time control.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2842

Authors: Daniel I. Morariu, Radu G. Cretulescu, Lucian N. Vintan

Abstract:

In text categorization problem the most used method for documents representation is based on words frequency vectors called VSM (Vector Space Model). This representation is based only on words from documents and in this case loses any “word context" information found in the document. In this article we make a comparison between the classical method of document representation and a method called Suffix Tree Document Model (STDM) that is based on representing documents in the Suffix Tree format. For the STDM model we proposed a new approach for documents representation and a new formula for computing the similarity between two documents. Thus we propose to build the suffix tree only for any two documents at a time. This approach is faster, it has lower memory consumption and use entire document representation without using methods for disposing nodes. Also for this method is proposed a formula for computing the similarity between documents, which improves substantially the clustering quality. This representation method was validated using HAC - Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering. In this context we experiment also the stemming influence in the document preprocessing step and highlight the difference between similarity or dissimilarity measures to find “closer" documents.

Keywords: Text Clustering, Suffix tree documentrepresentation, Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1911

Authors: Oladele K. Ogunsola, Kazeem A. Osuolale, Akintayo O. Ojo

Abstract:

Many factors influence the educational outcome of students. Some of these have been studied by researchers with many emphasizing the role of students, schools, governments, peer groups and so on. More often than not, some of these factors influencing the academic achievement of the students have been traced back to parents and family; being the primary platform on which learning not only begins but is nurtured, encouraged and developed which later transforms to the performance of the students. This study not only explores parental and related factors that predict academic achievement through the review of relevant literatures but also, investigates the influence of parental background on the academic achievement of senior secondary school students in Ibadan North Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. As one of the criteria of the quality of education, students’ academic achievement was investigated because it is most often cited as an indicator of school effectiveness by school authorities and educationists. The data collection was done through interviews and use of well-structured questionnaires administered to one hundred students (100) within the target local government. This was statistically analysed and the result showed that parents’ attitudes towards their children’s education had significant effect(s) on students’ self-reporting of academic achievement. However, such factors as parental education and socioeconomic background had no significant relationship with the students’ self-reporting of academic achievement.

Keywords: Academic attainment, Parental factors, students, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8361

Authors: Mustafa Al Sukar, Azzam Sleit, Abdullatif Abu-Dalhoum, Bassam Al-Kasasbeh

Abstract:

Use and abuse of drugs by teens is very common and can have dangerous consequences. The drugs contribute to physical and sexual aggression such as assault or rape. Some teenagers regularly use drugs to compensate for depression, anxiety or a lack of positive social skills. Teen resort to smoking should not be minimized because it can be "gateway drugs" for other drugs (marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants, and heroin). The combination of teenagers' curiosity, risk taking behavior, and social pressure make it very difficult to say no. This leads most teenagers to the questions: "Will it hurt to try once?" Nowadays, technological advances are changing our lives very rapidly and adding a lot of technologies that help us to track the risk of drug abuse such as smart phones, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), Internet of Things (IoT), etc. This technique may help us to early discovery of drug abuse in order to prevent an aggravation of the influence of drugs on the abuser. In this paper, we have developed a Decision Support System (DSS) for detecting the drug abuse using Artificial Neural Network (ANN); we used a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) feed-forward neural network in developing the system. The input layer includes 50 variables while the output layer contains one neuron which indicates whether the person is a drug addict. An iterative process is used to determine the number of hidden layers and the number of neurons in each one. We used multiple experiment models that have been completed with Log-Sigmoid transfer function. Particularly, 10-fold cross validation schemes are used to access the generalization of the proposed system. The experiment results have obtained 98.42% classification accuracy for correct diagnosis in our system. The data had been taken from 184 cases in Jordan according to a set of questions compiled from Specialists, and data have been obtained through the families of drug abusers.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Network, Decision Support System, drug abuse, drug addiction, Multilayer Perceptron.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1682

Authors: Ashagrie Getnet Flattie

Abstract:

Line-of-sight (LOS) information, data rates, good quality, and flexible network service are limited by the fact that, for the duration of any given connection, they experience severe variation in signal strength due to fading and path loss. Wireless system faces major challenges in achieving wide coverage and capacity without affecting the system performance and to access data everywhere, all the time. In this paper, the cell coverage and edge rate of different Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) schemes in 20 MHz Long Term Evolution (LTE) system under Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) platform are investigated. After some background on the enormous potential of UAV, MIMO, and LTE in wireless links, the paper highlights the presented system model which attempts to realize the various benefits of MIMO being incorporated into UAV platform. The performances of the three MIMO LTE schemes are compared with the performance of 4x4 MIMO LTE in UAV scheme carried out to evaluate the improvement in cell radius, BER, and data throughput of the system in different morphology. The results show that significant performance gains such as bit error rate (BER), data rate, and coverage can be achieved by using the presented scenario.

Keywords: BER, LTE, MIMO, path loss, UAV.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1393

Authors: Nurul Nadhirah Anuar, Muhammad Fauzi Abdul Ghani

Abstract:

Scheduled waste management is very important in environmental and health aspects. In delivering services, highway industry has been indirectly involved in producing scheduled wastes. This paper aims to define the scheduled waste, to provide a conceptual framework of the scheduled waste management in highway industry, to highlight the effect of improper management of scheduled waste and to encourage future researchers to identify and share the present practice of scheduled waste management in their country. The understanding on effective management of scheduled waste will help the operators of highway industry, the academicians, future researchers, and encourage a friendly environment around the world. The study on scheduled waste management in highway industry is very crucial as highway transverse and run along kilometers crossing the various type of environment, residential and schools. Using Environmental Quality (Scheduled Waste) Regulations 2005 as a guide, this conceptual paper highlight several scheduled wastes produced by highway industry in Malaysia and provide a conceptual framework of scheduled waste management that focused on the highway industry. Understanding on scheduled waste management is vital in order to preserve the environment. Besides that, the waste substances are hazardous to human being. Many diseases have been associated with the improper management of schedule waste such as cancer, throat irritation and respiration problem.

Keywords: Asia Region, Environment, Highway Industry, Scheduled Waste.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2465

Authors: Ljubica Dokić, Ivana Nikolić, Dragana Šoronja–Simović, Biljana Pajin, Nils Juul

Abstract:

In this work sensory characteristics of cookies with different amount of chestnut flour were determined by sensory and instrumental methods. The wheat flour for cookies was substituted with chestnut flour in three different levels (20, 40 and 60%) and the dough moisture was 22%. The control sample was with 100% of wheat flour. Sensory quality of the cookies was described using quantity descriptive method (QDA) by six trained members of descriptive panel. Instrumental evaluation included texture characterization by texture analyzer, the color measurements (CIE L*a*b* system) and determination by videometer.

The samples with 20% of chestnut flour were with highest ponderated score for overall sensory impression (17.6), which is very close to score for control sample (18). Increase in amount of chestnut flour caused decrease in scores for all sensory properties, thus overall sensory score decreased also. Compared to control sample and with increase in amount of chestnut flour, instrumental determination of the samples confirmed the sensory analysis results. The hardness of the cookies increased, as well as the values of red a^* and yellow (b*) component coordinate, but the values for lightness (L*) decreased. Also the values, evaluated by videometer at defined wavelength, were the highest for control cookies and decreased with increase in amount of chestnut flour.

Keywords: Cookies, chestnut flour, sensory characteristics.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2820

Authors: Raed EL-Khalil, Hussein Zeaiter

Abstract:

Managing and improving efficiency in the current highly competitive global automotive industry demands that those companies adopt leaner and more flexible systems. During the past 20 years the domestic automotive industry in North America has been focusing on establishing new management strategies in order to meet market demands. The lean management process also known as Toyota Manufacturing Process (TPS) or lean manufacturing encompasses tools and techniques that were established in order to provide the best quality product with the fastest lead time at the lowest cost. The following paper presents a study that focused on improving labor efficiency at one of the Big Three (Ford, GM, Chrysler LLC) domestic automotive facility in North America. The objective of the study was to utilize several lean management tools in order to optimize the efficiency and utilization levels at the “Pre- Marriage” chassis area in a truck manufacturing and assembly facility. Utilizing three different lean tools (i.e. Standardization of work, 7 Wastes, and 5S) this research was able to improve efficiency by 51%, utilization by 246%, and reduce operations by 14%. The return on investment calculated based on the improvements made was 284%.

Keywords: Lean Manufacturing, Standardized Work, Operation Efficiency and Utilization, Operations Management.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5540

Authors: James Moir

Abstract:

Citizens are increasingly are provided with choice and customization in public services and this has now also become a key feature of higher education in terms of policy roll-outs on personal development planning (PDP) and more generally as part of the employability agenda. The goal here is to transform people, in this case graduates, into active, responsible citizen-workers. A key part of this rhetoric and logic is the inculcation of graduate attributes within students. However, there has also been a concern with the issue of student lack of engagement and perseverance with their studies. This paper sets out to explore some of these conceptions that link graduate attributes with citizenship as well as the notion of how identity is forged through the higher education process. Examples are drawn from a quality enhancement project that is being operated within the context of the Scottish higher education system. This is further framed within the wider context of competing and conflicting demands on higher education, exacerbated by the current worldwide economic climate. There are now pressures on students to develop their employability skills as well as their capacity to engage with global issues such as behavioural change in the light of environmental concerns. It is argued that these pressures, in effect, lead to a form of personalization that is concerned with how graduates develop their sense of identity as something that is engineered and re-engineered to meet these demands.

Keywords: students, higher education, employability, knowledge, personal development

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1701

Authors: Manoj Kumar, A.K. Verma, A. Srividya

Abstract:

Time varying network induced delays in networked control systems (NCS) are known for degrading control system-s quality of performance (QoP) and causing stability problems. In literature, a control method employing modeling of communication delays as probability distribution, proves to be a better method. This paper focuses on modeling of network induced delays as probability distribution. CAN and MIL-STD-1553B are extensively used to carry periodic control and monitoring data in networked control systems. In literature, methods to estimate only the worst-case delays for these networks are available. In this paper probabilistic network delay model for CAN and MIL-STD-1553B networks are given. A systematic method to estimate values to model parameters from network parameters is given. A method to predict network delay in next cycle based on the present network delay is presented. Effect of active network redundancy and redundancy at node level on network delay and system response-time is also analyzed.

Keywords: NCS (networked control system), delay analysis, response-time distribution, worst-case delay, CAN, MIL-STD-1553B, redundancy

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1771

Authors: Archana Panchapakesan Iyer, Taha Abdullah Kumosani

Abstract:

Many high-risk pathogens that cause disease in humans are transmitted through various food items. Food-borne disease constitutes a major public health problem. Assessment of the quality and safety of foods is important in human health. Rapid and easy detection of pathogenic organisms will facilitate precautionary measures to maintain healthy food. The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a handy tool for rapid detection of low numbers of bacteria. We have designed gene specific primers for most common food borne pathogens such as Staphylococci, Salmonella and E.coli. Bacteria were isolated from food samples of various food outlets and identified using gene specific PCRs. We identified Staphylococci, Salmonella and E.coli O157 using gene specific primers by rapid and direct PCR technique in various food samples. This study helps us in getting a complete picture of the various pathogens that threaten to cause and spread food borne diseases and it would also enable establishment of a routine procedure and methodology for rapid identification of food borne bacteria using the rapid technique of direct PCR. This study will also enable us to judge the efficiency of present food safety steps taken by food manufacturers and exporters.

Keywords: food borne pathogens, PCR, food safety, rapiddetection.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2819

Authors: Jean François Chatelain, Imed Zaghbani, Gilbert Lebrun, Kaml Hasni

Abstract:

Severe damages may occur during the drilling of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP). In practice, this damage is limited by adding a backup support to the drilled parts. For some aeronautical parts with curvatures, backing up parts is a demanding process. In order to simplify the operation, this research studies the effect of using a configurable setup to support parts on the resulting quality of drilled holes. The test coupons referenced in this study are twenty four-plies unidirectional laminates made of carbon fibers and epoxy resin. Different signals were measured during the drilling process for these laminates, including the thrust force, the displacement and the acceleration. The processing of these signals demonstrated that the damage is due to the combination of two main factors: the spring-back of the thin part and the thrust force. The results found were confirmed for different feeds and speeds. When the distance between supports is increased, it is observed that the spring-back increases but the thrust force decreases. The study proves the feasibility of unsupported drilling of thin CFRP laminates without creating any observable damage.

Keywords: CFRP, Damage, Drilling, Flexible setup.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1796

Authors: Kittipong Tissayakorn, Fumio Akagi, Yu Song

Abstract:

Manufacturers have been exploring innovative strategies to achieve and sustain competitive advantages as they face a new era of intensive global competition. Such strategy is known as Supply Chain Management (SCM), which has gained a tremendous amount of attention from both researchers and practitioners over the last decade. Supply chain management (SCM) is considered as the most popular operating strategy for improving organizational competitiveness in the twenty-first century. It has attracted a lot of attention recently due to its role involving all of the activities in industrial organizations, ranging from raw material procurement to final product delivery to customers. Well-designed supply chain systems can substantially improve efficiency and product quality, and eventually enhance customer satisfaction and profitability. In this paper, a manufacturing engineering perspective on supply chain integration is presented. Research issues discussed include the product and process design for the supply chain, design evaluation of manufacturing in the supply chain, agent-based techniques for supply chain integration, intelligent information for sharing across the supply chain, and a development of standards for product, process, and production data exchange to facilitate electronic commerce. The objective is to provide guidelines and references for manufacturing engineers and researchers interested in supply chain integration.

Keywords: Supply Chain, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Integration, Manufacturing Industries.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3989