Search results for: Consumption insurance

Authors: Pravesh Chandra Shukla, Kunal Ghosh

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Over 90% of the world trade is carried by the international shipping industry. As most of the countries are developing, seaborne trade continues to expand to bring benefits for consumers across the world. Studies show that world trade will increase 70-80% through shipping in the next 15-20 years. Present global fleet of 70000 commercial ships consumes approximately 200 million tonnes of diesel fuel a year and it is expected that it will be around 350 million tonnes a year by 2020. It will increase the demand for fuel and also increase the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. So, it-s essential to control this massive fuel consumption and CO2 emission. The idea is to utilize a diesel-wind hybrid system for ship propulsion. Use of wind energy by installing modern wing-sails in ships can drastically reduce the consumption of diesel fuel. A huge amount of wind energy is available in oceans. Whenever wind is available the wing-sails would be deployed and the diesel engine would be throttled down and still the same forward speed would be maintained. Wind direction in a particular shipping route is not same throughout; it changes depending upon the global wind pattern which depends on the latitude. So, the wing-sail orientation should be such that it optimizes the use of wind energy. We have made a computer programme in which by feeding the data regarding wind velocity, wind direction, ship-motion direction; we can find out the best wing-sail position and fuel saving for commercial ships. We have calculated net fuel saving in certain international shipping routes, for instance, from Mumbai in India to Durban in South Africa. Our estimates show that about 8.3% diesel fuel can be saved by utilizing the wind. We are also developing an experimental model of the ship employing airfoils (small scale wingsail) and going to test it in National Wind Tunnel Facility in IIT Kanpur in order to develop a control mechanism for a system of airfoils.

Keywords: Commercial ships, Wind diesel hybrid system, Wing-sail, Wind direction, Wind velocity.

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Authors: E. Farshidi, N. Ahmadpoor

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In this paper, a alternative structure method for continuous time sigma delta modulator is presented. In this modulator for implementation of integrators in loop filter second generation current conveyors are employed. The modulator is designed in CMOS technology and features low power consumption (<2.8mW), low supply voltage (±1.65), wide dynamic range (>65db), and with 180khZ bandwidth. Simulation results confirm that this design is suitable for data converters.

Keywords: Current Conveyor, continuous, sigma delta, MOS, modulator

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Authors: Chiung-Hui Chen

Abstract:

Traditional service channel is losing its edge due to emerging service technology. To establish interaction with the clients, the service industry is using effective mechanism to give clients direct access to services with emerging technologies. Thus, as service science receives attention, special and unique consumption pattern evolves; henceforth, leading to new market mechanism and influencing attitudes toward life and consumption patterns. The market demand for customized services is thus valued due to the emphasis of personal value, and is gradually changing the demand and supply relationship in the traditional industry. In respect of interior design service, in the process of traditional interior design, a designer converts to a concrete form the concept generated from the ideas and needs dictated by a user (client), by using his/her professional knowledge and drawing tool. The final product is generated through iterations of communication and modification, which is a very time-consuming process. Although this process has been accelerated with the help of computer graphics software today, repeated discussions and confirmations with users are still required to complete the task. In consideration of what is addressed above a space user’s life model is analyzed with visualization technique to create an interaction system modeled after interior design knowledge. The space user document intuitively personal life experience in a model requirement chart, allowing a researcher to analyze interrelation between analysis documents, identify the logic and the substance of data conversion. The repeated data which is documented are then transformed into design information for reuse and sharing. A professional interior designer may sort out the correlation among user’s preference, life pattern and design specification, thus deciding the critical design elements in the process of service design.

Keywords: Information Design, Life Model-Based, Aesthetic Computing, Communication.

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Authors: Sunglim Lee, Susumu Fujii, Koji Okamura

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Smart grid is a new approach for electric power grid that uses information and communications technology to control the electric power grid. Smart grid provides real-time control of the electric power grid, controlling the direction of power flow or time of the flow. Control devices are installed on the power lines of the electric power grid to implement smart grid. The number of the control devices should be determined, in relation with the area one control device covers and the cost associated with the control devices. One approach to determine the number of the control devices is to use the data on the surplus power generated by home solar generators. In current implementations, the surplus power is sent all the way to the power plant, which may cause power loss. To reduce the power loss, the surplus power may be sent to a control device and sent to where the power is needed from the control device. Under assumption that the control devices are installed on a lattice of equal size squares, our goal is to figure out the optimal spacing between the control devices, where the power sharing area (the area covered by one control device) is kept small to avoid power loss, and at the same time the power sharing area is big enough to have no surplus power wasted. To achieve this goal, a simulation using landscape ecology method is conducted on a sample area. First an aerial photograph of the land of interest is turned into a mosaic map where each area is colored according to the ratio of the amount of power production to the amount of power consumption in the area. The amount of power consumption is estimated according to the characteristics of the buildings in the area. The power production is calculated by the sum of the area of the roofs shown in the aerial photograph and assuming that solar panels are installed on all the roofs. The mosaic map is colored in three colors, each color representing producer, consumer, and neither. We started with a mosaic map with 100 m grid size, and the grid size is grown until there is no red grid. One control device is installed on each grid, so that the grid is the area which the control device covers. As the result of this simulation we got 350m as the optimal spacing between the control devices that makes effective use of the surplus power for the sample area.

Keywords: Landscape ecology, IT, smart grid, aerial photograph, simulation.

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Authors: Gulnara Moldasheva

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The research explores the relationship between management responsibility and corporate governance of listed companies in Kazakhstan. This research employs firm level data of selected listed non-financial firms and firm level data “operational” financial sector, consisted from banking sector, insurance companies and accumulated pension funds using multivariate regression analysis under fixed effect model approach. Ownership structure includes institutional ownership, managerial ownership and private investor’s ownership. Management responsibility of the firm is expressed by the decision of the firm on amount of leverage. Results of the cross sectional panel study for non-financial firms showed that only institutional shareholding is significantly negatively correlated with debt to equity ratio. Findings from “operational” financial sector show that leverage is significantly affected only by the CEO/Chair duality and the size of financial institutions, and insignificantly affected by ownership structure. Also, the findings show, that there is a significant negative relationship between profitability and the debt to equity ratio for non-financial firms, which is consistent with pecking order theory. Generally, the found results suggest that corporate governance and a management responsibility play important role in corporate performance of listed firms in Kazakhstan.

Keywords: Corporate governance, corporate performance, debt to equity ratio, ownership.

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Authors: Tatsuya Kasuga, Hidehisa Shimada, Kimio Oguchi

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Recent rapid progress in ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has advanced the penetration of sensor networks (SNs) and their attractive applications. Agriculture is one of the fields well able to benefit from ICT. Plant factories control several parameters related to plant growth in closed areas such as air temperature, humidity, water, culture medium concentration, and artificial lighting by using computers and AI (Artificial Intelligence) is being researched in order to obtain stable and safe production of vegetables and medicinal plants all year anywhere, and attain self-sufficiency in food. By providing isolation from the natural environment, a plant factory can achieve higher productivity and safe products. However, the biggest issue with plant factories is the return on investment. Profits are tenuous because of the large initial investments and running costs, i.e. electric power, incurred. At present, LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights are being adopted because they are more energy-efficient and encourage photosynthesis better than the fluorescent lamps used in the past. However, further cost reduction is essential. This paper introduces experiments that reveal which color of LED lighting best enhances the growth of cultured radish sprouts. Radish sprouts were cultivated in the experimental environment formed by a hydroponics kit with three cultivation shelves (28 samples per shelf) each with an artificial lighting rack. Seven LED arrays of different color (white, blue, yellow green, green, yellow, orange, and red) were compared with a fluorescent lamp as the control. Lighting duration was set to 12 hours a day. Normal water with no fertilizer was circulated. Seven days after germination, the length, weight and area of leaf of each sample were measured. Electrical power consumption for all lighting arrangements was also measured. Results and discussions: As to average sample length, no clear difference was observed in terms of color. As regards weight, orange LED was less effective and the difference was significant (p < 0.05). As to leaf area, blue, yellow and orange LEDs were significantly less effective. However, all LEDs offered higher productivity per W consumed than the fluorescent lamp. Of the LEDs, the blue LED array attained the best results in terms of length, weight and area of leaf per W consumed. Conclusion and future works: An experiment on radish sprout cultivation under 7 different color LED arrays showed no clear difference in terms of sample size. However, if electrical power consumption is considered, LEDs offered about twice the growth rate of the fluorescent lamp. Among them, blue LEDs showed the best performance. Further cost reduction e.g. low power lighting remains a big issue for actual system deployment. An automatic plant monitoring system with sensors is another study target.

Keywords: Electric power consumption, LED color, LED lighting, plant factory.

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Authors: Benjamin Osei Tutu, Rita Asante, Emefa Atsu

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Background: An outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred in December 2019 after students of a Senior High School in Accra were served with kenkey and fish during their dinner. An investigation was conducted to characterize the affected people, the source of contamination, the etiologic food and agent. Methods: An epidemiological study was conducted with cases selected from the student population who were ill. Controls were selected from among students who also ate from the school canteen during dinner but were not ill. Food history of each case and control was taken to assess their exposure status. Epi Info 7 was used to analyze the data obtained from the outbreak. Attack rates and odds ratios were calculated to determine the risk of foodborne infection for each of the foods consumed by the population. The source of contamination of the foods was ascertained by conducting an environmental risk assessment at the school. Results: Data were obtained from 126 students, out of which 57 (45.2%) were cases and 69 (54.8%) were controls. The cases presented with symptoms such as diarrhea (85.96%), abdominal cramps (66.67%), vomiting (50.88%), headache (21.05%), fever (17.86%) and nausea (3.51%). The peak incubation period was 18 hours with a minimum and maximum incubation periods of 6 and 50 hours respectively. From the incubation period, duration of illness and the symptoms, non-typhoidal salmonellosis was suspected. Multivariate analysis indicated that the illness was associated with the consumption of the fried fish served, however this was statistically insignificant (AOR 3.1.00, P = 0.159). No stool, blood or food samples were available for organism isolation and confirmation of suspected etiologic agent. The environmental risk assessment indicated poor hand washing practices on the part of both the food handlers and students. Conclusion: The outbreak could probably be due to the consumption of the fried fish that might have been contaminated with Salmonella sp. as a result of poor hand washing practices in the school.

Keywords: Case control study, food poisoning, handwashing, Salmonella, school.

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Authors: Rishabh Garg

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Blockchain technology can allow remote, untrusted parties in the banking and financial sector to reach consensus on the state of databases without the involvement of gatekeepers. Like a bookkeeper, it can manage all financial transactions including payments, settlements, fundraising, securities management, loans, credits and trade finance. It can outperform existing systems in terms of identity verification, asset transfers, peer-to-peer transfers, hedge funds, security and auditability. Blockchain-based decentralized finance (DeFi) is a new financial protocol. Being open and programmable, it enables various DeFi use-cases, including asset management, tokenization, tokenized derivatives, decentralized autonomous organizations, data analysis and valuation, payments, lending and borrowing, insurance, margin trading, prediction market, gambling and yield-farming, etc. In addition, it can ease financial transactions, cash-flow, use of programmable currency, no-loss lotteries, etc. This paper aims to assess the potential of decentralized finance by leveraging the blockchain-enabled Ethereum platform as an alternative to traditional finance. The study also aims to find out the impact of decentralized finance on prediction markets, quadratic funding and crowd-funding, together with the potential challenges and solutions associated with its implementation.

Keywords: Advance trading, crowd funding, exchange tokens, fund aggregation, margin trading, quadratic funding, smart contracts, streaming money, token derivatives.

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Authors: Sotirios N. Raptis

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The paper links social needs to social classes by the creation of cohorts of public services matched as causes to other ones as effects using cause-effect (CE) models. It then compares these associations using CE and typical regression methods (LR, ARMA). The paper discusses such public service groupings offered in Scotland in the long term to estimate the risk of multiple causes or effects that can ultimately reduce the healthcare cost by linking the next services to the likely causes of them. The same generic goal can be achieved using LR or ARMA and differences are discussed. The work uses Health and Social Care (H&Sc) public services data from 11 service packs offered by Public Health Services (PHS) Scotland that boil down to 110 single-attribute year series, called ’factors’. The study took place at Macmillan Cancer Support, UK and Abertay University, Dundee, from 2020 to 2023. The paper discusses CE relationships as a main method and compares sample findings with Linear Regression (LR), ARMA, to see how the services are linked. Relationships found were between smoking-related healthcare provision, mental-health-related services, and epidemiological weight in Primary-1-Education Body-Mass-Index (BMI) in children as CE models. Insurance companies and public policymakers can pack CE-linked services in plans such as those for the elderly, low-income people, in the long term. The linkage of services was confirmed allowing more accurate resource planning.

Keywords: Probability, regression, cause-effect cohorts, data frames, services, prediction.

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Authors: Tanvi P. Medshinge, Prasad Vaidya, Monisha E. Royan

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In India, cooling loads in residential sector is a major contributor to its total energy consumption. Due to the increasing cooling need, the market penetration of air-conditioners is further expected to rise. Natural Ventilation (NV), however, possesses great potential to save significant energy consumption especially for residential buildings in moderate climates. As multifamily residential apartment buildings are designed by repetitive use of prototype designs, deriving individual NV based design prototype solutions for a combination of different wind incidence angles and orientations would provide significant opportunity to address the rise in cooling loads by residential sector. This paper presents the results of NV performance of a selected prototype apartment design with a cluster of four units in Pune, India, and an attempt to improve the NV performance through design modifications. The water table apparatus, a physical modelling tool, is used to study the flow patterns and simulate wind-induced NV performance. Quantification of NV performance is done by post processing images captured from video recordings in terms of percentage of area with good and poor access to ventilation. NV performance of the existing design for eight wind incidence angles showed that of the cluster of four units, the windward units showed good access to ventilation for all rooms, and the leeward units had lower access to ventilation with the bedrooms in the leeward units having the least access. The results showed improved performance in all the units for all wind incidence angles to more than 80% good access to ventilation. Some units showed an additional improvement to more than 90% good access to ventilation. This process of design and performance evaluation improved some individual units from 0% to 100% for good access to ventilation. The results demonstrate the ease of use and the power of the water table apparatus for performance-based design to simulate wind induced NV.  

Keywords: Prototype design, water table apparatus, NV, wind incidence angles, simulations, fluid dynamics.

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Authors: Corrado Grassi, Achim Schröter, Yves Gloy, Thomas Gries

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Air jet weaving is the most productive, but also the most energy consuming weaving method. Increasing energy costs and environmental impact are constantly a challenge for the manufacturers of weaving machines. Current technological developments concern with low energy costs, low environmental impact, high productivity, and constant product quality. The high degree of energy consumption of the method can be ascribed to the high need of compressed air. An energy efficiency method is applied to the air jet weaving technology. Such method identifies and classifies the main relevant energy consumers and processes from the exergy point of view and it leads to the identification of energy efficiency potentials during the weft insertion process. Starting from the design phase, energy efficiency is considered as the central requirement to be satisfied. The initial phase of the method consists of an analysis of the state of the art of the main weft insertion components in order to point out a prioritization of the high demanding energy components and processes. The identified major components are investigated to reduce the high demand of energy of the weft insertion process. During the interaction of the flow field coming from the relay nozzles within the profiled reed, only a minor part of the stream is really accelerating the weft yarn, hence resulting in large energy inefficiency. Different tools such as FEM analysis, CFD simulation models and experimental analysis are used in order to design a more energy efficient design of the involved components in the filling insertion. A different concept for the metal strip of the profiled reed is developed. The developed metal strip allows a reduction of the machine energy consumption. Based on a parametric and aerodynamic study, the designed reed transmits higher values of the flow power to the filling yarn. The innovative reed fulfills both the requirement of raising energy efficiency and the compliance with the weaving constraints.

Keywords: Air jet weaving, aerodynamic simulation, energy efficiency, experimental measurements, power costs, weft insertion.

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Authors: Cynthia Sau Chun Yip, Richard Fielding

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High meat and especially red meat intakes are significantly and positively associated with a multiple burden of diseases and also high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study investigated population meat intake patterns in Hong Kong. It quantified the burden of disease and GHG emission outcomes by modeling to adjust Hong Kong population meat intakes to recommended healthy levels. It compared age- and sex-specific population meat, fruit and vegetable intakes obtained from a population survey among adults aged 20 years and over in Hong Kong in 2005-2007, against intake recommendations suggested in the Modelling System to Inform the Revision of the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE-2011-MS) technical document. This study found that meat and meat alternatives, especially red meat intakes among Hong Kong males aged 20+ years and over are significantly higher than recommended. Red meat intakes among females aged 50-69 years and other meat and alternatives intakes among aged 20-59 years are also higher than recommended. Taking the 2005-07 age- and sex-specific population meat intake as baselines, three counterfactual scenarios of adjusting Hong Kong adult population meat intakes to AGHE-2011-MS and Pre-2011 AGHE recommendations by the year 2030 were established. Consequent energy intake gaps were substituted with additional legume, fruit and vegetable intakes. To quantify the consequent GHG emission outcomes associated with Hong Kong meat intakes, Cradle-to-ready-to-eat lifecycle assessment emission outcome modelling was used. Comparative risk assessment of burden of disease model was used to quantify the health outcomes. This study found adjusting meat intakes to recommended levels could reduce Hong Kong GHG emission by 17%-44% when compared against baseline meat intake emissions, and prevent 2,519 to 7,012 premature deaths in males and 53 to 1,342 in females, as well as multiple burden of diseases when compared to the baseline meat intake scenario. Comparing lump sum meat intake reduction and outcome measures across the entire population, and using emission factors, and relative risks from individual studies in previous co-benefit studies, this study used age- and sex-specific input and output measures, emission factors and relative risks obtained from high quality meta-analysis and meta-review respectively, and has taken government dietary recommendations into account. Hence evaluations in this study are of better quality and more reflective of real life practices. Further to previous co-benefit studies, this study pinpointed age- and sex-specific population and meat-type-specific intervention points and leverages. When compared with similar studies in Australia, this study also showed that intervention points and leverages among populations in different geographic and cultural background could be different, and that globalization also globalizes meat consumption emission effects. More regional and cultural specific evaluations are recommended to promote more sustainable meat consumption and enhance global food security.

Keywords: Burden of diseases, greenhouse gas emissions, Hong Kong diet, sustainable meat consumption.

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Authors: P. V. Rao, Jaedaa Abdulhamid

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Biodiesel is widely investigated to solve the twin problem of depletion of fossil fuel and environmental degradation. The main objective of the present work is to compare performance, emissions, and combustion characteristics of biodiesel derived from cotton seed oil in a diesel engine with the baseline results of petrodiesel fuel. Tests have been conducted on a single cylinder, four stroke CIDI diesel engine with a speed of 1500 rpm and a fixed compression ratio of 17.5 at different load conditions. The performance parameters evaluated include brake thermal efficiency, brake specific fuel consumption, brake power, indicated mean effective pressure, mechanical efficiency, and exhaust gas temperature. Regarding combustion study, cylinder pressure, rate of pressure rise, net heat release rate, cumulative heat release, mean gas temperature, mass fraction burned, and fuel line pressure were evaluated. The emission parameters such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, un-burnt hydrocarbon, oxides of nitrogen, and smoke opacity were also measured by a smoke meter and an exhaust gas analyzer and compared with baseline results. The brake thermal efficiency of cotton seed oil methyl ester (CSOME) was lower than that of petrodiesel and brake specific fuel consumption was found to be higher. However, biodiesel resulted in the reduction of carbon dioxide, un-burnt hydrocarbon, and smoke opacity at the expense of nitrogen oxides. Carbon monoxide emissions for biodiesel was higher at maximum output power. It has been found that the combustion characteristics of cotton seed oil methyl ester closely followed those of standard petrodiesel. The experimental results suggested that biodiesel derived from cotton seed oil could be used as a good substitute to petrodiesel fuel in a conventional diesel without any modification.

Keywords: Diesel engine, Cotton seed, Biodiesel, performance, combustion, emissions.

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Authors: Yibo Fan, Takeshi Ikenaga, Yukiyasu Tsunoo, Satoshi Goto

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This paper proposes a low-cost reconfigurable architecture for AES algorithm. The proposed architecture separates SubBytes and MixColumns into two parallel data path, and supports different bit-width operation for this two data path. As a result, different number of S-box can be supported in this architecture. The throughput and power consumption can be adjusted by changing the number of S-box running in this design. Using the TSMC 0.18μm CMOS standard cell library, a very low-cost implementation of 7K Gates is obtained under 182MHz frequency. The maximum throughput is 360Mbps while using 4 S-Box simultaneously, and the minimum throughput is 114Mbps while only using 1 S-Box

Keywords: AES, Reconfigurable architecture, low cost

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Authors: Mohsen Bagheri, Ahmad Afifi

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This paper presents a new method for read out of the piezoresistive accelerometer sensors. The circuit works based on Instrumentation amplifier and it is useful for reducing offset In Wheatstone Bridge. The obtained gain is 645 with 1μv/°c Equivalent drift and 1.58mw power consumption. A Schmitt trigger and multiplexer circuit control output node. a high speed counter is designed in this work .the proposed circuit is designed and simulated In 0.18μm CMOS technology with 1.8v power supply.

Keywords: Piezoresistive accelerometer, zero offset, Schmitt trigger, bidirectional reversible counter

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Authors: W. Suksombat, P. Suksombat, R. Mirattanaphrai

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The effects of commercial or bovine yeasts on the performance and blood variables of broiler chickens intoxicated with aflatoxin were investigated in broilers. Four hundred eighty broilers (Arbor Acres; 3-wk-old) were randomly assigned to 4 groups. Each group (120 broiler chickens) was further randomly divided into 6 replicates of 20 chickens. The treatments were control diet without additives (treatment 1), 250 ppb AFB1 (treatment 2), commercial yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, (CY 2.5 x 107 CFU/g) + 250 ppb AFB1 (treatment 3) and bovine yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, (BY 2.5 x 107 CFU/g + 250 ppb AFB1 (treatment 4). Complete randomized design (CRD) was used in the experiment. Feed consumption and body weight were recorded at every five-day period. On day 42, carcass compositions were determined from 30 birds per treatment. While chicks were sacrificed, 3-4 ml blood sample was taken and stored frozen at (-20°C) for serum chemical analysis to determine effects of consumption of diets on blood chemistry (total protein, albumin, glucose, urea, cholesterol and triglycerides). There were no significant differences in ADFI among the treatments(P>0.05). However, BWG, FCR and mortality were highly significantly different (P<0.01) between treatments. ADG was significantly reduced (P<0.05) by aflatoxin but was unaffected by aflatoxin supplemented with either commercial or bovine yeasts (P>0.05). In terms of carcass portions, percentage of carcass was unaffected by the treatments, however, percentages of drumstick were reduced by aflatoxin and aflatoxin supplemented commercial yeast. Abdominal fat was significantly reduced (P<0.01) when commercial or bovine yeasts were added to the aflatoxin contaminated diets. Percentage of liver were significantly increased by aflatoxin contamination but were unaffected when yeasts were added to the diets. Blood chemical parameters, i.e. albumin, blood urea nitrogen and glucose were unaffected the treatments, while total protein, cholesterol and triglycerides were significantly decreased by aflatoxin. When yeasts were supplemented, such effect was not differed from the control. It is clearly indicated in the present study that supplementation of either commercial or bovine yeasts had beneficial effects on performance of broiler chickens intoxicated with aflatoxins.

Keywords: Aflatoxin, Commercial yeast, Bovine yeast, Growth performance, Blood chemical parameters, Broilers

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Authors: Zina Ghiloufi, Tahar Khir

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A transient three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is developed to determine the velocity and temperature distribution in different positions cold room during pre-cooling of dates. The turbulence model used is the k-ω Shear Stress Transport (SST) with the standard wall function, the air. The numerical results obtained show that cooling rate is not uniform inside the room; the product at the medium of room has a slower cooling rate. This cooling heterogeneity has a large effect on the energy consumption during cold storage.

Keywords: Numerical simulation, CFD, k-ω (SST), cold room, dates, cooling rate.

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Authors: W. K. Yap, V. Karri

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This paper presents a hybrid electric scooter model developed and simulated using Matlab/Simulink. This hybrid scooter modeled has a parallel hybrid structure. The main propulsion units consist of a two stroke internal combustion engine and a hub motor attached to the front wheel of the scooter. The methodology used to optimize the energy and fuel consumption of the hybrid electric scooter is the multi-mode approach. Various case studies were presented to check the model and were compared to the literatures. Results shown that the model developed was feasible and valuable.

Keywords: Hybrid electric scooters, modeling and simulation, hybrid scooter energy management.

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Authors: O. Onal, O. Turan

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In this paper, some performance parameters of a selected turbofan engine (JT9D) are analyzed. The engine is a high bypass turbofan engine which powers a wide-body aircraft and it produces 206 kN thrust force (thrust/weight ratio is 5.4). The objective parameters for the engine include calculation of power, specific fuel consumption, specific thrust, engine propulsive, thermal and overall efficiencies according to the various definitions given in the literature. Furthermore, in the case study, wasted energy from the exhaust is calculated at the maximum power setting (i.e. take off phase) for the engine.

Keywords: Turbofan, power, efficiency, trust.

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Authors: Christina Babatsou, Efthimios Zervas

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Since 2008 a new economic crisis is present is the entire planet. This crisis affects several domains of the economic but also of the social life. Consumption decreases due to the lack of necessary resources of households to increase their expenditures. The car manufacturing is one of the main industrial activities in European Union (EU) and the present crisis particularly affects it. The present study examines the correlations between several socio-economic indicators and car market in European Union. The target is to find out the impact of the present economic crisis on the car market in EU.

Keywords: European Union, Passenger cars, Social indicators, Correlations

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Authors: E. Grochowska-Niedworok, K. Brukało, M. Kardas

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The aim of this study was to analyze and evaluate the consumption of functional food by consumers by: age, sex, formal education level, place of residence and diagnosed diseases. The study employed an ad hoc questionnaire in a group of 300 inhabitants of Upper Silesia voivodship. Knowledge of functional food among the group covered in the study was far from satisfactory. The choice of functional food was of intuitive character. In addition, the group covered was more likely to choose pharmacotherapy instead of diet-related prevention then, which can be associated with presumption of too distant effects and a long period of treatment.

Keywords: Consumer choice, consumer knowledge, functional food, healthy lifestyle.

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Authors: Cleopatra Gittens

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It has been recognized that some social security and national insurance systems in the Eastern Caribbean are experiencing ageing populations and economic and other crises that will present a financial challenge of being unable to pay pension benefits in fifteen to twenty years. This has implications for the fiscal and economic positions of the countries themselves. Hence, organizations would need to address the issue urgently. The study adds to the body of knowledge on social security systems and social security reforms in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). It also makes recommendations for the types of reforms that social security systems in other SIDS can implement given their special circumstances. Secondary research is used to gather financial and other related information on three social security schemes in the Eastern Caribbean. Actuarial and financial reports and other documents of the social security systems are analysed to obtain financial and static data on each of the schemes. The findings show that the three schemes studied are experiencing steady increases in benefit expenditure versus contributions and increasing pensioner to insured ratios. The schemes will deplete their reserves between 2038 and 2050. Two of the schemes have increased their retirement age while the other has not embarked on any reforms. One scheme has made changes to its contribution percentages. Due to their small size, small populations and other unique circumstances, the social security schemes in the identified territories are not likely to be able to take advantage of all of the reform initiatives that the developed world embarked on when faced with similar problems. These schemes will need to make incremental changes that align with the timeframes recommended by the actuarial studies.

Keywords: Pension benefits, pension, Small Island Developing States, Social Security Reform.

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Authors: F. Amin, A. H. Jahangir, H. Rasifard

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With the widespread growth of applications of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), the need for reliable security mechanisms these networks has increased manifold. Many security solutions have been proposed in the domain of WSN so far. These solutions are usually based on well-known cryptographic algorithms. In this paper, we have made an effort to survey well known security issues in WSNs and study the behavior of WSN nodes that perform public key cryptographic operations. We evaluate time and power consumption of public key cryptography algorithm for signature and key management by simulation.

Keywords: Wireless Sensor Networks, Security, Public Key Cryptography, Key Management.

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Authors: Mohsen Shirani, Micaela Demichela

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Food supply chain is one of the most complex supply chain networks due to its perishable nature and customer oriented products, and food safety is the major concern for this industry. IT system could help to minimize the production and consumption of unsafe food by controlling and monitoring the entire system. However, there have been many issues in adoption of IT system in this industry specifically within SMEs sector. With this regard, this study presents a novel approach to use IT and tractability systems in the food supply chain, using application of RFID and central database.

Keywords: Food Supply Chain, IT System, Food Safety, SME.

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Authors: Rabia Göçmen, Gülşah Kanbur, Sinan Sefa Parlat

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Aim of this study is to determine the effects of cellular insulin receptor stimulators on performance, plasma glucose, high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), total cholesterol, triglyceride, triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) hormone levels, and incubation features in the breeding Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica). In the study, a total of 84 breeding quails was used, 6 weeks’ age, 24 are male and 60, female. Rations used in experiment are 2900 kcal/kg metabolic energy and 20% crude protein. Water pH is calibrated to 7.45. Ration and water were administered ad-libitum to the animals. As metformin source, metformin-HCl was used and as chrome resource, chromium picolinate was used. Trial groups were formed as control group (basal ration), metformin group (basal ration, added metformin at the level of feed of 20 mg/kg), and chromium picolinate (basal ration, added feed of 1500 ppb Cr) group. When regarded to the results of performance at the end of experiment, it is seen that live weight gain, feed consumption, egg weight, feed conversion ratio (Feed consumption/ egg weight), and egg production were affected at the significant level (p < 0.05). When the results are evaluated in terms of incubation features, hatchability and hatchability of fertile egg ratio were not affected from the treatments. Fertility ratio was significantly affected by metformin and chromium picolinate treatments and fertility rose at the significant level compared to control group (p < 0.05). According to results of experiment, plasma glucose level was not affected by metformin and chromium picolinate treatments. Plasma, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglyceride levels were significantly affected from insulin receptor stimulators added to ration (p < 0.05). Hormone level of Plasma T3 and T4 were also affected at the significant level from insulin receptor stimulators added to ration (p < 0.05).

Keywords: Chromium picolinate, cholesterol, hormone, metformin, quail.

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Authors: N. Damenia, E. Kharaishvili, N. Sagareishvili, M. Saghareishvili

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Women's Employment is one of the most important issues in the global economy. The article discusses the stated topic in Georgia, through historical content, Soviet experience, and modern perspectives. The paper discusses segmentation insa terms of employment and related problems. Based on statistical analysis, women's unemployment rate and its factors are analyzed. The level of employment of women in Transcaucasia (Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) is discussed and is compared with Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia). The study analyzes women’s level of development, according to the average age of marriage and migration level. The focus is on Georgia's Association Agreement with the EU in 2014, which includes economic, social, trade and political issues. One part of it is gender equality at workplaces. According to the research, the average monthly remuneration of women managers in the financial and insurance sector equaled to 1044.6 Georgian Lari, while in overall business sector average monthly remuneration equaled to 961.1 GEL. Average salaries are increasing; however, the employment rate remains problematic. For example, in 2017, 74.6% of men and 50.8% of women were employed from a total workforce. It is also interesting that the proportion of men and women at managerial positions is 29% (women) to 71% (men). Based on the results, the main recommendation for government and civil society is to consider women as a part of the country’s economic development. In this aspect, the experience of developed countries should be considered. It is important to create additional jobs in urban or rural areas and help migrant women return and use their working resources properly.

Keywords: Employment of women, segregation in terms of employment, women's employment level in Transcaucasia, migration level.

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Authors: D. Nebbali, R. Nebbali, A. Ouibrahim

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This study focuses on the cooling of a photovoltaic panel (PV). Indeed, the cooling improves the conversion capacity of this one and maintains, under extreme conditions of air temperature, the panel temperature at an appreciable level which avoids the altering. To do this, a fan provides forced circulation of air. Because the fan is supplied by the panel, it is necessary to determine the optimum operating point that unites efficiency of the PV with the consumption of the fan. For this matter, numerical simulations are performed at varying mass flow rates of air, under two extreme air temperatures (50°C, 25°C) and a fixed solar radiation (1000W.m2) in a case of no wind.

Keywords: Energy conversion, efficiency, balance energy, solar cell.

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Authors: J. Pawłat, H. Stryczewska

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Shortening of natural resources will impose greater limitations of electric energy consumption in various fields including water treatment technologies. Small water treatment installations supplied with electric energy from solar sources are perfect example of zero-emission technology. Possibility of solar energy application, as one of the alternative energy resources for decontamination processes is strongly dependent on geographical location. Various examples of solar driven water purification systems are given and design of solar-water treatment installation based on ozone for the geographical conditions in Poland are presented.

Keywords: solar energy, water purification, ozone water treatment

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Authors: D. M. Cocârță, I. A. Istrate, C. Streche, D. M. Dumitru

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Soil contamination phenomena are a wide world issue that has received the important attention in the last decades. The main pollutants that have affected soils are especially those resulted from the oil extraction, transport and processing. This paper presents results obtained in the framework of a research project focused on the management of contaminated sites with petroleum products/ REMPET. One of the specific objectives of the REMPET project was to assess the electrochemical treatment (improved with polarity change respect to the typical approach) as a treatment option for the remediation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) from contaminated soils. Petroleum hydrocarbon compounds attach to soil components and are difficult to remove and degrade. Electrochemical treatment is a physicochemical treatment that has gained acceptance as an alternative method, for the remediation of organic contaminated soils comparing with the traditional methods as bioremediation and chemical oxidation. This type of treatment need short time and have high removal efficiency, being usually applied in heterogeneous soils with low permeability. During the experimental tests, the following parameters were monitored: pH, redox potential, humidity, current intensity, energy consumption. The electrochemical method was applied in an experimental setup with the next dimensions: 450 mm x 150 mm x 150 mm (L x l x h). The setup length was devised in three electrochemical cells that were connected at two power supplies. The power supplies configuration was provided in such manner that each cell has a cathode and an anode without overlapping. The initial value of TPH concentration in soil was of 1420.28 mg/kg_dw. The remediation method has been applied for only 21 days, when it was already noticed an average removal efficiency of 31 %, with better results in the anode area respect to the cathode one (33% respect to 27%). The energy consumption registered after the development of the experiment was 10.6 kWh for exterior power supply and 16.1 kWh for the interior one. Taking into account that at national level, the most used methods for soil remediation are bioremediation (which needs too much time to be implemented and depends on many factors) and thermal desorption (which involves high costs in order to be implemented), the study of electrochemical treatment will give an alternative to these two methods (and their limitations).

Keywords: Electrochemical remediation, pollution, soil contamination, total petroleum hydrocarbons

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Authors: Subir Kundu, Sukhendra Singh, Sumedha Ojha, Kanika Kundu

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The continuous decline of petroleum and natural gas reserves and non linear rise of oil price has brought about a realisation of the need for a change in our perpetual dependence on the fossil fuel. A day to day increased consumption of crude and petroleum products has made a considerable impact on our foreign exchange reserves. Hence, an alternate resource for the conversion of energy (both liquid and gas) is essential for the substitution of conventional fuels. Biomass is the alternate solution for the present scenario. Biomass can be converted into both liquid as well as gaseous fuels and other feedstocks for the industries.

Keywords: Bioenergy, Biomass conversion, Biorefining, Efficient utilisation of night soil.

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