Search results for: Internal combustion engine
652 Organizational Culture and Innovation Adoption/Generation: A Proposed Model
Authors: Kong-Seng, Lai, Nor'Aini Yusof
Abstract:
Organizational culture fosters innovation, and innovation is the main engine to be sustained within the uncertainty market. Like other countries, the construction industry significantly contributes to the economy, society and technology of Malaysia, yet, innovation is still considered slow compared to other industries such as manufacturing. Given the important role of an architect as the key player and the contributor of new ideas in the construction industry, there is a call to identify the issue and improve the current situation by focusing on the architectural firms. In addition, the existing studies tend to focus only on a few dimensions of organizational culture and very few studies consider whether innovation is being generated or adopted. Hence, the present research tends to fill in the gap by identifying the organizational cultures that foster or hinder innovation generation and/or innovation adoption, and propose a model of organizational culture and innovation generation and/or adoption.Keywords: Innovation adoption, innovation generation, architectural firm, organizational culture
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2418651 Numerical Investigation of the Flow Characteristics inside the Scrubber Unit
Authors: Kumaresh Selvakumar, Man Young Kim
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Wet scrubbers have found widespread use in cleaning contaminated gas streams because of their ability to remove particulates and based on the applications of scrubbing of marine engine exhaust gases by spraying sea-water. In order to examine the flow characteristics inside the scrubber, the model is designated with flow properties of hot air and water sprayer. The flow dynamics of evaporation of hot air by the injection of water droplets is the key factor considered in this paper. The flow behavior inside the scrubber was investigated from the previous works and to sum up the evaporation rate with respect to the concentration of water droplets are predicted to bring out the competent modelling. The numerical analysis using CFD facilitates in understanding the problem better and empathies the behavior of the model over its entire operating envelope.
Keywords: Concentration of water droplets, Evaporation rate, Scrubber, Water sprayer.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3296650 An Exploration of Cross-Cultural Behaviour: The Characteristics of Chinese Consumers’ Decision Making in Europe
Authors: Yongsheng Guo, Xiaoxian Zhu, Mandella Osei-Assibey Bonsu
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This study explores the effects of national culture on consumer behaviour by identifying the characteristics of Chinese consumers’ decision making in Europe. It offers a better understanding of how cultural factors affect consumers’ behaviour, and how consumers make decisions in other nations with different culture. It adopted a grounded theory approach and conducted 24 in-depth interviews. Grounded theory models are developed to link the causal conditions, process, and consequences. Results reveal that some cultural factors including conservatism, emotionality, acquaintance community, long-term orientation and principles affect Chinese consumers when making purchase decisions in Europe. Most Chinese consumers plan and prepare their expenditure and stay in Europe as cultural learners, and purchase durable products or assets as investment, and share their experiences within a community. This study identified potential problems such as political and social environment, complex procedures, and restrictions. This study found that external factors influence internal factors and then internal characters determine consumer behaviour. This study proposes that cultural traits developed in convergence evolution through social selection and Chinese consumers persist most characters but adapt some perceptions and actions overtime in other countries. This study suggests that cultural marketing could be adopted by companies to reflect consumers’ preferences. Agencies, shops, and the authorities could take actions to reduce the complexity and restrictions.
Keywords: National culture, consumer behaviour, cultural marketing, decision making.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 478649 A Numerical Model Simulation for an Updraft Gasifier Using High Temperature Steam
Authors: T. M. Ismail, M. Abd El-Salam
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A mathematical model study was carried out to investigate gasification of biomass fuels using high temperature air and steam as a gasifying agent using high-temperature air up to 1000°C. In this study, a 2D computational fluid dynamics model was developed to study the gasification process in an updraft gasifier, considering drying, pyrolysis, combustion, and gasification reactions. The gas and solid phases were resolved using a Euler−Euler multiphase approach, with exchange terms for the momentum, mass, and energy. The standard k−ε turbulence model was used in the gas phase, and the particle phase was modeled using the kinetic theory of granular flow. The results show that the present model giving a promise way in its capability and sensitivity for the parameter affects that influence the gasification process.
Keywords: Computational fluid dynamics, gasification, biomass fuel, fixed bed gasifier
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2826648 Representing Uncertainty in Computer-Generated Forces
Authors: Ruibiao J. Guo, Brad Cain, Pierre Meunier
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The Integrated Performance Modelling Environment (IPME) is a powerful simulation engine for task simulation and performance analysis. However, it has no high level cognition such as memory and reasoning for complex simulation. This article introduces a knowledge representation and reasoning scheme that can accommodate uncertainty in simulations of military personnel with IPME. This approach demonstrates how advanced reasoning models that support similarity-based associative process, rule-based abstract process, multiple reasoning methods and real-time interaction can be integrated with conventional task network modelling to provide greater functionality and flexibility when modelling operator performance.Keywords: Computer-Generated Forces, Human Behaviour Representation, IPME, Modelling and Simulation, Uncertainty Reasoning
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2117647 2D Fracture Analysis of the First Compression Piston Ring
Authors: I. Razmi, N. Choupani
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The incidence of mechanical fracture of an automobile piston rings prompted development of fracture analysis method on this case. The three rings (two compression rings and one oil ring) were smashed into several parts during the power-test (after manufacturing the engine) causing piston and liner to be damaged. The radial and oblique cracking happened on the failed piston rings. The aim of the fracture mechanics simulations presented in this paper was the calculation of particular effective fracture mechanics parameters, such as J-integrals and stress intensity factors. Crack propagation angles were calculated as well. Two-dimensional fracture analysis of the first compression ring has been developed in this paper using ABAQUS CAE6.5-1 software. Moreover, SEM fractography was developed on fracture surfaces and is discussed in this paper. Results of numerical calculations constitute the basis for further research on real object.Keywords: Compression piston ring, Crack, Fracture mechanics, SEM fractography.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2379646 Auto Classification for Search Intelligence
Authors: Lilac A. E. Al-Safadi
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This paper proposes an auto-classification algorithm of Web pages using Data mining techniques. We consider the problem of discovering association rules between terms in a set of Web pages belonging to a category in a search engine database, and present an auto-classification algorithm for solving this problem that are fundamentally based on Apriori algorithm. The proposed technique has two phases. The first phase is a training phase where human experts determines the categories of different Web pages, and the supervised Data mining algorithm will combine these categories with appropriate weighted index terms according to the highest supported rules among the most frequent words. The second phase is the categorization phase where a web crawler will crawl through the World Wide Web to build a database categorized according to the result of the data mining approach. This database contains URLs and their categories.Keywords: Information Processing on the Web, Data Mining, Document Classification.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1619645 Intelligent Network-Based Stepping Stone Detection Approach
Authors: Mohd Nizam Omar, Rahmat Budiarto
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This research intends to introduce a new usage of Artificial Intelligent (AI) approaches in Stepping Stone Detection (SSD) fields of research. By using Self-Organizing Map (SOM) approaches as the engine, through the experiment, it is shown that SOM has the capability to detect the number of connection chains that involved in a stepping stones. Realizing that by counting the number of connection chain is one of the important steps of stepping stone detection and it become the research focus currently, this research has chosen SOM as the AI techniques because of its capabilities. Through the experiment, it is shown that SOM can detect the number of involved connection chains in Network-based Stepping Stone Detection (NSSD).
Keywords: Artificial Intelligent, Self-Organizing Map (SOM), Stepping Stone Detection, Tracing Intruder.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1476644 Hybrid Optimization of Emission and Economic Dispatch by the Sigmoid Decreasing Inertia Weight Particle Swarm Optimization
Authors: Joko Pitono, Adi Soeprijanto, Takashi Hiyama
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This paper present an efficient and reliable technique of optimization which combined fuel cost economic optimization and emission dispatch using the Sigmoid Decreasing Inertia Weight Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO) to reduce the cost of fuel and pollutants resulting from fuel combustion by keeping the output of generators, bus voltages, shunt capacitors and transformer tap settings within the security boundary. The performance of the proposed algorithm has been demonstrated on IEEE 30-bus system with six generating units. The results clearly show that the proposed algorithm gives better and faster speed convergence then linearly decreasing inertia weight.
Keywords: Optimal Power Flow, Combined Economic Emission Dispatch, Sigmoid decreasing Inertia Weight, Particle Swarm Optimization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1689643 Anti-Aging Effects of Retinol and Alpha Hydroxy Acid on Elastin Fibers of Artificially Photo-Aged Human Dermal Fibroblast Cell Lines
Authors: M. Jarrar, S. Behl, N. Shaheen, A. Fatima, R. Nasab
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Skin aging is a slow multifactorial process influenced by both internal as well as external factors. Ultra-violet radiations (UV), diet, smoking and personal habits are the most common environmental factors that affect skin aging. Fat contents and fibrous proteins as collagen and elastin are core internal structural components. The direct influence of UV on elastin integrity and health is central on aging of skin especially by time. The deposition of abnormal elastic material is a major marker in a photo-aged skin. Searching for compounds that may protect against cutaneous photodamage is exceedingly valued. Retinoids and alpha hydroxy acids have been endorsed by some researchers as possible candidates for protecting and or repairing the effect of UV damaged skin. For consolidating a better system of anti- and protective effects of such anti-aging agents, we evaluated the combinatory effects of various dosages of lactic acid and retinol on the dermal fibroblast’s elastin levels exposed to UV. The UV exposed cells showed significant reduction in the elastin levels. A combination of drugs with a higher concentration of lactic acid (30 -35 mM) and a lower concentration of retinol (10-15mg/mL) showed to work better in maintaining elastin concentration in UV exposed cells. We assume this preservation could be the result of increased tropo-elastin gene expression stimulated by retinol whereas lactic acid probably repaired the UV irradiated damage by enhancing the amount and integrity of the elastin fibers.
Keywords: Alpha Hydroxy Acid, Elastin, Retinol, Ultraviolet radiations.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3094642 Environmental Impacts of Point and Non-Point Source Pollution in Krishnagiri Reservoir: A Case Study in South India
Authors: N. K. Ambujam, V. Sudha
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Reservoirs are being contaminated all around the world with point source and Non-Point Source (NPS) pollution. The most common NPS pollutants are sediments and nutrients. Krishnagiri Reservoir (KR) has been chosen for the present case study, which is located in the tropical semi-arid climatic zone of Tamil Nadu, South India. It is the main source of surface water in Krishnagiri district to meet the freshwater demands. The reservoir has lost about 40% of its water holding capacity due to sedimentation over the period of 50 years. Hence, from the research and management perspective, there is a need for a sound knowledge on the spatial and seasonal variations of KR water quality. The present study encompasses the specific objectives as (i) to investigate the longitudinal heterogeneity and seasonal variations of physicochemical parameters, nutrients and biological characteristics of KR water and (ii) to examine the extent of degradation of water quality in KR. 15 sampling points were identified by uniform stratified method and a systematic monthly sampling strategy was selected due to high dynamic nature in its hydrological characteristics. The physicochemical parameters, major ions, nutrients and Chlorophyll a (Chl a) were analysed. Trophic status of KR was classified by using Carlson's Trophic State Index (TSI). All statistical analyses were performed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences programme, version-16.0. Spatial maps were prepared for Chl a using Arc GIS. Observations in KR pointed out that electrical conductivity and major ions are highly variable factors as it receives inflow from the catchment with different land use activities. The study of major ions in KR exhibited different trends in their values and it could be concluded that as the monsoon progresses the major ions in the water decreases or water quality stabilizes. The inflow point of KR showed comparatively higher concentration of nutrients including nitrate, soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), total phosphors (TP), total suspended phosphorus (TSP) and total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) during monsoon seasons. This evidently showed the input of significant amount of nutrients from the catchment side through agricultural runoff. High concentration of TDP and TSP at the lacustrine zone of the reservoir during summer season evidently revealed that there was a significant release of phosphorus from the bottom sediments. Carlson’s TSI of KR ranged between 81 and 92 during northeast monsoon and summer seasons. High and permanent Cyanobacterial bloom in KR could be mainly due to the internal loading of phosphorus from the bottom sediments. According to Carlson’s TSI classification Krishnagiri reservoir was ranked in the hyper-eutrophic category. This study provides necessary basic data on the spatio-temporal variations of water quality in KR and also proves the impact of point and NPS pollution from the catchment area. High TSI warrants a greater threat for the recovery of internal P loading and hyper-eutrophic condition of KR. Several expensive internal measures for the reduction of internal loading of P were introduced by many scientists. However, the outcome of the present research suggests for the innovative algae harvesting technique for the removal of sediment nutrients.
Keywords: Hyper-eutrophication, Krishnagiri reservoir, nutrients, NPS pollution.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1622641 Zhou Enlai’s Impact to the Foreign Folicy of China
Authors: Nazira B. Boldurukova
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The main aim of this article is to give the information about life and social and diplomatic work of Zhou Enlai, to prove his identity in his impact to the history of the world; to show his place in the organization of internal and foreign policy and in the peaceful international relationships of China with other countries.
Keywords: China, foreign policy of China, identity, politician, diplomacy, Zhou Enlai.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2963640 Using Vulnerability to Reduce False Positive Rate in Intrusion Detection Systems
Authors: Nadjah Chergui, Narhimene Boustia
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Intrusion Detection Systems are an essential tool for network security infrastructure. However, IDSs have a serious problem which is the generating of massive number of alerts, most of them are false positive ones which can hide true alerts and make the analyst confused to analyze the right alerts for report the true attacks. The purpose behind this paper is to present a formalism model to perform correlation engine by the reduction of false positive alerts basing on vulnerability contextual information. For that, we propose a formalism model based on non-monotonic JClassicδє description logic augmented with a default (δ) and an exception (є) operator that allows a dynamic inference according to contextual information.Keywords: Context, exception, default, IDS, Non-monotonic Description Logic JClassicδє, vulnerability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1430639 Organizational Culture and Innovation Adoption/Generation: A Proposed Model for Architectural Firms
Authors: Kong-Seng, Lai, Nor'Aini Yusof
Abstract:
Organizational culture fosters innovation, and innovation is the main engine to be sustained within the uncertainty market. Like other countries, the construction industry significantly contributes to the economy, society and technology of Malaysia, yet, innovation is still considered slow compared to other industries such as manufacturing. Given the important role of an architect as the key player and the contributor of new ideas in the construction industry, there is a call to identify the issue and improve the current situation by focusing on the architectural firms. In addition, the existing studies tend to focus only on a few dimensions of organizational culture and very few studies consider whether innovation is being generated or adopted. Hence, the present research tends to fill in the gap by identifying the organizational cultures that foster or hinder innovation generation and/or innovation adoption, and propose a model of organizational culture and innovation generation and/or adoption.
Keywords: Innovation adoption, innovation generation, architectural firm, organizational culture
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1389638 Experimental Study of Flow Effects of Solid Particles’ Size in Porous Media
Authors: S. Akridiss, E. El Tabach, K. Chetehouna, N. Gascoin, M. S. Kadiri
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Transpiration cooling combined to regenerative cooling is a technique that could be used to cool the porous walls of the future ramjet combustion chambers; it consists of using fuel that will flow through the pores of the porous material consisting of the chamber walls, as coolant. However, at high temperature, the fuel is pyrolysed and generates solid coke particles inside the porous materials. This phenomenon can lead to a significant decrease of the material permeability and can affect the efficiency of the cooling system. In order to better understand this phenomenon, an experimental laboratory study was undertaken to determine the transport and deposition of particles in a sintered porous material subjected to steady state flow. The test bench composed of a high-pressure autoclave is used to study the transport of different particle size (35
Keywords: Experimental study, permeability, porous material, suspended particles.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 833637 Internal Surface Measurement of Nanoparticle with Polarization-interferometric Nonlinear Confocal Microscope
Authors: Chikara Egami, Kazuhiro Kuwahara
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Polarization-interferometric nonlinear confocal microscopy is proposed for measuring a nano-sized particle with optical anisotropy. The anisotropy in the particle was spectroscopically imaged through a three-dimensional distribution of third-order nonlinear dielectric polarization photoinduced.Keywords: nanoparticle, optical storage, microscope
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1364636 Effects of IPPC Permits on Ambient Air Quality
Authors: C. Cafaro, P. Ceci, L. De Giorgi
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The aim of this paper is to give an assessment of environmental effects of IPPC permit conditions of installations that are in specific territory with high concentration of industrial activities. The IPPC permit is the permit that each operator should hold to operate the installation as stated by the directive 2010/75/UE on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control), known as IED (Industrial Emissions Directive). The IPPC permit includes all the measures necessary to achieve a high level of protection of the environment as a whole, also defining the monitoring requirements as measurement methodology, frequency and evaluation procedure. The emissions monitoring of a specific plant may also give indications of the contribution of these emissions on the air quality of a definite area. So, it is clear that the IPPC permits are important tools both to improve the environmental framework and to achieve the air quality standards, assisting to assess the possible industrial sources contributions to air pollution.
Keywords: IPPC, IED, emissions, permits, air quality, large combustion plants.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2298635 Convective Heat Transfer of Internal Electronic Components in a Headlight Geometry
Authors: Jan Langebach, Peter Fischer, Christian Karcher
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A numerical study is presented on convective heat transfer in enclosures. The results are addressed to automotive headlights containing new-age light sources like Light Emitting Diodes (LED). The heat transfer from the heat source (LED) to the enclosure walls is investigated for mixed convection as interaction of the forced convection flow from an inlet and an outlet port and the natural convection at the heat source. Unlike existing studies, inlet and outlet port are thermally coupled and do not serve to remove hot fluid. The input power of the heat source is expressed by the Rayleigh number. The internal position of the heat source, the aspect ratio of the enclosure, and the inclination angle of one wall are varied. The results are given in terms of the global Nusselt number and the enclosure Nusselt number that characterize the heat transfer from the source and from the interior fluid to the enclosure walls, respectively. It is found that the heat transfer from the source to the fluid can be maximized if the source is placed in the main stream from the inlet to the outlet port. In this case, the Reynolds number and heat source position have the major impact on the heat transfer. A disadvantageous position has been found where natural and forced convection compete each other. The overall heat transfer from the source to the wall increases with increasing Reynolds number as well as with increasing aspect ratio and decreasing inclination angle. The heat transfer from the interior fluid to the enclosure wall increases upon decreasing the aspect ratio and increasing the inclination angle. This counteracting behaviour is caused by the variation of the area of the enclosure wall. All mixed convection results are compared to the natural convection limit.Keywords: Enclosure, heat source, heat transfer, mixed convection.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1790634 Integrating the Theory of Constraints and Six Sigma in Manufacturing Process Improvement
Authors: Kai Jin, Hyder Abdul-Razzak, Yousri Elkassabgi, Hong Zhou, Aaron Herrera
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Six Sigma is a well known discipline that reduces variation using complex statistical tools and the DMAIC model. By integrating Goldratts-s Theory of Constraints, the Five Focusing Points and System Thinking tools, Six Sigma projects can be selected where it can cause more impact in the company. This research defines an integrated model of six sigma and constraint management that shows a step-by-step guide using the original methodologies from each discipline and is evaluated in a case study from the production line of a Automobile engine monoblock V8, resulting in an increase in the line capacity from 18.7 pieces per hour to 22.4 pieces per hour, a reduction of 60% of Work-In-Process and a variation decrease of 0.73%.Keywords: Constraint Management, Manufacturing Process Improvement, Six Sigma, System Thinking.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1763633 Application of “Multiple Risk Communicator“ to the Personal Information Leakage Problem
Authors: Mitsuhiro Taniyama, Yuu Hidaka, Masato Arai, Satoshi Kai, Hiromi Igawa, Hiroshi Yajima, Ryoichi Sasaki
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Along with the progress of our information society, various risks are becoming increasingly common, causing multiple social problems. For this reason, risk communications for establishing consensus among stakeholders who have different priorities have become important. However, it is not always easy for the decision makers to agree on measures to reduce risks based on opposing concepts, such as security, privacy and cost. Therefore, we previously developed and proposed the “Multiple Risk Communicator" (MRC) with the following functions: (1) modeling the support role of the risk specialist, (2) an optimization engine, and (3) displaying the computed results. In this paper, MRC program version 1.0 is applied to the personal information leakage problem. The application process and validation of the results are discussed.Keywords: Decision Making, Personal Information Leakage Problem, Risk Communication, Risk Management
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1608632 The Preparation of Silicon and Aluminum Extracts from Tuncbilek and Orhaneli Fly Ashes by Alkali Fusion
Authors: M. Sari Yilmaz, N. Karamahmut Mermer
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Coal fly ash is formed as a solid waste product from the combustion of coal in coal fired power stations. Huge amounts of fly ash are produced globally every year and are predicted to increase. Nowadays, less than half of the fly ash is used as a raw material for cement manufacturing, construction and the rest of it is disposed as a waste causing yet another environmental concern. For this reason, the recycling of this kind of slurries into useful materials is quite important in terms of economical and environmental aspects. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Orhaneli and Tuncbilek coal fly ashes for utilization in some industrial applications. Therefore the mineralogical and chemical compositions of these fly ashes were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, ourier-transform infrared spectrometer, and X-ray diffraction. The silicon (Si) and aluminum (Al) in the fly ashes were activated by alkali fusion technique with sodium hydroxide. The obtained extracts were analyzed for Si and Al content by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry.Keywords: Extraction, Fly ash, Fusion, XRD.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1894631 Ecological Risk Assessment of Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the North Port, Malaysia
Authors: Belin Tavakoly Sany, Aishah Salleh, Abdul Halim Sulaiman, Ghazaleh Monazami Tehrani
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The pollution of sediments sampled from the North Port by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was investigated. Concentrations of PAHs estimated in the port sediments ranged from 199 to 2851.2 μg/kg dw. The highest concentration was found which is closed to the Berth line, this locations affected by intensive shipping activities and Land based runoff and they were dominated by the high molecular weight PAHs (4–6- rings). Source identification showed that PAHs originated mostly from the pyrogenic source either from the combustion of fossil fuels, grass, wood and coal (majority of the samples). Ecological Risk Assessment on the port sediments presented that slightly adverse ecological effects to biological community are expected to occur at the vicinity of the stations 1 and 4. Thus PAHs are not considered as pollutants of concern in the North Port.Keywords: PAHs, North Port, Ecological Risk, sediment
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1841630 Improving the Software Homologation Process through Peer Review: An Experience Report on Android Development Environment
Authors: Camila Bernardon, Diana Lemos, Mario Garcia, Thiago Souto, Bruno Bonifacio
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In the current technological market environment, ensuring the quality of new products has become a complex challenge. In this scenario, companies have been investing in solutions that aim to reduce the execution time of software testing and lead to cost efficiency. However, companies that have a complex and specialized testing environment usually face barriers related to costly testing processes, especially in distributed settings. Sidia Institute of Technology works on research and development for the Android platform for mobile devices in Latin America. As we work in a global software development (GSD) scope, we have faced barriers caused by failures detected lately that have caused delays in the homologation release process on Android projects. Thus, we adopt an Internal Review process, using as an alternative to reduce these failures. In this paper it was presented the experience of a homologation team adopting an Internal Review process in order to increase the performance through of improving test efficiency. Using this approach, it was possible to realize a substantial improvement in quality, reliability and timeliness of our deliveries. Through the quantitative analyses, it was possible identify a positive growth in homologation efficiency of 6% after adoption of the process. In addition, we performed a qualitative analysis from the collected data through an online questionnaire. In particular, results show that association between failure reduction and review process adoption provides the most quality that has a positive effect on project milestones. We hope this report can be helpful to other companies and the scientific community to improve their process thereby increasing competitive advantages.
Keywords: Android, GSD, improvement quality process, mobile products.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 487629 Forecasting Foreign Direct Investment with Modified Diffusion Model
Authors: Bi-Huei Tsai
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Prior research has not effectively investigated how the profitability of Chinese branches affect FDIs in China [1, 2], so this study for the first time incorporates realistic earnings information to systematically investigate effects of innovation, imitation, and profit factors of FDI diffusions from Taiwan to China. Our nonlinear least square (NLS) model, which incorporates earnings factors, forms a nonlinear ordinary differential equation (ODE) in numerical simulation programs. The model parameters are obtained through a genetic algorithms (GA) technique and then optimized with the collected data for the best accuracy. Particularly, Taiwanese regulatory FDI restrictions are also considered in our modified model to meet the realistic conditions. To validate the model-s effectiveness, this investigation compares the prediction accuracy of modified model with the conventional diffusion model, which does not take account of the profitability factors. The results clearly demonstrate the internal influence to be positive, as early FDI adopters- consistent praises of FDI attract potential firms to make the same move. The former erects a behavior model for the latter to imitate their foreign investment decision. Particularly, the results of modified diffusion models show that the earnings from Chinese branches are positively related to the internal influence. In general, the imitating tendency of potential consumers is substantially hindered by the losses in the Chinese branches, and these firms would invest less into China. The FDI inflow extension depends on earnings of Chinese branches, and companies will adjust their FDI strategies based on the returns. Since this research has proved that earning is an influential factor on FDI dynamics, our revised model explicitly performs superior in prediction ability than conventional diffusion model.Keywords: diffusion model, genetic algorithms, nonlinear leastsquares (NLS) model, prediction error.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1613628 Assets Integrity Management in Oil and Gas Production Facilities Through Corrosion Mitigation and Inspection Strategy: A Case Study of Sarir Oilfield
Authors: Iftikhar Ahmad, Youssef Elkezza
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Sarir oilfield is in North Africa. It has facilities of oil and gas production. The assets of the Sarir oilfield can be divided into five following categories, namely: (i) Well bore and wellheads; (ii) Vessels such as separators, desalters, and gas processing facilities; (iii) Pipelines including all flow lines, trunk lines, and shipping lines; (iv) storage tanks; (v) Other assets such as turbines and compressors, etc. The nature of the petroleum industry recognizes the potential human, environmental and financial consequences that can result from failing to maintain the integrity of wellheads, vessels, tanks, pipelines, and other assets. The importance of effective asset integrity management increases as the industry infrastructure continues to age. The primary objective of assets integrity management (AIM) is to maintain assets in a fit-for-service condition while extending their remaining life in the most reliable, safe, and cost-effective manner. Corrosion management is one of the important aspects of successful asset integrity management. It covers corrosion mitigation, monitoring, inspection, and risk evaluation. External corrosion on pipelines, well bores, buried assets, and bottoms of tanks is controlled with a combination of coatings by cathodic protection, while the external corrosion on surface equipment, wellheads, and storage tanks is controlled by coatings. The periodic cleaning of the pipeline by pigging helps in the prevention of internal corrosion. Further, internal corrosion of pipelines is prevented by chemical treatment and controlled operations. This paper describes the integrity management system used in the Sarir oil field for its oil and gas production facilities based on standard practices of corrosion mitigation and inspection.
Keywords: Assets integrity management, corrosion prevention in oilfield assets, corrosion management in oilfield, corrosion prevention and inspection activities.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 172627 Indonesian News Classification using Support Vector Machine
Authors: Dewi Y. Liliana, Agung Hardianto, M. Ridok
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Digital news with a variety topics is abundant on the internet. The problem is to classify news based on its appropriate category to facilitate user to find relevant news rapidly. Classifier engine is used to split any news automatically into the respective category. This research employs Support Vector Machine (SVM) to classify Indonesian news. SVM is a robust method to classify binary classes. The core processing of SVM is in the formation of an optimum separating plane to separate the different classes. For multiclass problem, a mechanism called one against one is used to combine the binary classification result. Documents were taken from the Indonesian digital news site, www.kompas.com. The experiment showed a promising result with the accuracy rate of 85%. This system is feasible to be implemented on Indonesian news classification.Keywords: classification, Indonesian news, text processing, support vector machine
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3489626 A New Empirical Expression of the Breakdown Voltage for Combined Variations of Temperature and Pressure
Authors: Elyse Sili, Jean Pascal Cambronne
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In aircraft applications, according to the nature of electrical equipment its location may be in unpressurized area or very close to the engine; thus, the environmental conditions may change from atmospheric pressure to less than 100 mbar, and the temperature may be higher than the ambient one as in most real working conditions of electrical equipment. Then, the classical Paschen curve has to be replotted since these parameters may affect the discharge ignition voltage. In this paper, we firstly investigate the domain of validity of two corrective expressions on the Paschen-s law found in the literature, in case of changing the air environment and known as Peek and Dunbar corrections. Results show that these corrections are no longer valid for combined variation of temperature and pressure. After that, a new empirical expression for breakdown voltage is proposed and is validated in the case of combined variations of temperature and pressure.Keywords: Gas breakdown, gas density, Paschen curve, temperature effects
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4894625 Incineration of Sludge in a Fluidized-Bed Combustor
Authors: Chien-Song Chyang, Yu-Chi Wang
Abstract:
For sludge disposal, incineration is considered to be better than direct burial because of regulations and space limitations in Taiwan. Additionally, burial after incineration can effectively prolong the lifespan of a landfill. Therefore, it is the most satisfactory method for treating sludge at present. Of the various incineration technologies, the fluidized bed incinerator is a suitable choice due to its fuel flexibility. In this work, sludge generated from industrial plants was treated in a pilot-scale vortexing fluidized bed. The moisture content of the sludge was 48.53%, and its LHV was 454.6 kcal/kg. Primary gas and secondary gas were fixed at 3 Nm3/min and 1 Nm3/min, respectively. Diesel burners with on-off controllers were used to control the temperature; the bed temperature was set to 750±20 °C, and the freeboard temperature was 850±20 °C. The experimental data show that the NO emission increased with bed temperature. The maximum NO emission is 139 ppm, which is in agreement with the regulation. The CO emission is low than 100 ppm through the operation period. The mean particle size of fly ash collected from baghouse decreased with operating time. The ration of bottom ash to fly ash is about 3. Compared with bottom ash, the potassium in the fly ash is much higher. It implied that the potassium content is not the key factor for aggregation of bottom ash.
Keywords: Sludge incineration, fluidized bed combustion, fly ash, bottom ash.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 941624 Long-Term Durability of Roller-Compacted Concrete Pavement
Authors: Jun Hee Lee, Young Kyu Kim, Seong Jae Hong, Chamroeun Chhorn, Seung Woo Lee
Abstract:
Roller-compacted concrete pavement (RCCP), an environmental friendly pavement of which load carry capacity benefitted from both hydration and aggregate interlock from roller compacting, demonstrated a superb structural performance for a relatively small amount of water and cement content. Even though an excellent structural performance can be secured, it is required to investigate roller-compacted concrete (RCC) under environmental loading and its long-term durability under critical conditions. In order to secure long-term durability, an appropriate internal air-void structure is required for this concrete. In this study, a method for improving the long-term durability of RCCP is suggested by analyzing the internal air-void structure and corresponding durability of RCC. The method of improving the long-term durability involves measurements of air content, air voids, and air-spacing factors in RCC that experiences changes in terms of type of air-entraining agent and its usage amount. This test is conducted according to the testing criteria in ASTM C 457, 672, and KS F 2456. It was found that the freezing-thawing and scaling resistances of RCC without any chemical admixture was quite low. Interestingly, an improvement of freezing-thawing and scaling resistances was observed for RCC with appropriate the air entraining (AE) agent content; Relative dynamic elastic modulus was found to be more than 80% for those mixtures. In RCC with AE agent mixtures, large amount of air was distributed within a range of 2% to 3%, and an air void spacing factor ranging between 200 and 300 μm (close to 250 μm, recommended by PCA) was secured. The long-term durability of RCC has a direct relationship with air-void spacing factor, and thus it can only be secured by ensuring the air void spacing factor through the inclusion of the AE in the mixture.
Keywords: RCCP, durability, air spacing factor, surface scaling resistance test, freezing and thawing resistance test.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1174623 Study of Carbon Monoxide Oxidation in a Monolithic Converter
Authors: S. Chauhan, T. P. K. Grewal, S. K. Agrawal, V. K. Srivastava
Abstract:
Combustion of fuels in industrial and transport sector has lead to an alarming release of polluting gases to the atmosphere. Carbon monoxide is one such pollutant, which is formed as a result of incomplete oxidation of the fuel. In order to analyze the effect of catalyst on the reduction of CO emissions to the atmosphere, two catalysts Mn2O3 and Hopcalite are considered. A model was formed based on mass and energy balance equations. Results show that Hopcalite catalyst as compared to Mn2O3 catalyst helped in faster conversion of the polluting gas as the operating temperature of the hopcalite catalyst is much lower as compared to the operating temperature of Mn2O3 catalyst.
Keywords: Carbon monoxide, modeling, hopcalite, manganese oxide.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1701