Search results for: Software tool design
1387 Sustainability Model for Rural Telecenter Using Business Intelligence Technique
Authors: Razak Rahmat, Azizah Ahmad, Rafidah Razak, Roshidi Din, Azizi Abas
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Telecenter is a place where communities can access computers, the Internet, and other digital technologies to enable them to gather information, create, learn, and communicate with others. However, previous studies found that sustainability issues related to economic, political and institutional, social and technology is one of the major problem faced by the telecenter. Based on that problem this research is planning to design a possible solution on rural telecenters sustainability with the support of business intelligence (BI). The empirical study will be conducted through qualitative and quantitative method including interviews and observations with a range of stakeholders including ministry officers, telecenters managers and operators. Result from the data collection will be analyzed using causal modeling approach of SEM SmartPLS for the validity. The expected finding from this research is the Business Intelligent Requirement Model as a guild for sustainability of the rural telecenters.
Keywords: Rural ICT Telecenter (RICTT), Business Intelligence, Sustainability, Requirement Analysis Modal.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29011386 CFD Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation for Empty and Packed Fixed Bed Reactor in Catalytic Cracking of Naphtha
Authors: D. Salari, A. Niaei, P. Chitsaz Yazdi, M. Derakhshani, S. R. Nabavi
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This work aims to test the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to fixed bed catalytic cracking reactors. Studies of CFD with a fixed bed design commonly use a regular packing with N=2 to define bed geometry. CFD allows us to obtain a more accurate view of the fluid flow and heat transfer mechanisms present in fixed bed equipment. Naphtha was used as feedstock and the reactor length was 80cm. It is divided in three sections that catalyst bed packed in the middle section of the reactor. The reaction scheme was involved one primary reaction and 24 secondary reactions. Because of high CPU times in these simulations, parallel processing have been used. In this study the coke formation process in fixed bed and empty tube reactor was simulated and coke in these reactors are compared. In addition, the effect of steam ratio and feed flow rate on coke formation was investigated.Keywords: Coke Formation, CFD Simulation, Fixed Bed, Catalyitic Cracking.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25081385 A Review on Electrical Behavior of Different Substrates, Electrodes and Membranes in Microbial Fuel Cell
Authors: Bharat Mishra, Sanjay Kumar Awasthi, Raj Kumar Rajak
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The devices, which convert the energy in the form of electricity from organic matters, are called microbial fuel cell (MFC). Recently, MFCs have been given a lot of attention due to their mild operating conditions, and various types of biodegradable substrates have been used in the form of fuel. Traditional MFCs were included in anode and cathode chambers, but there are single chamber MFCs. Microorganisms actively catabolize substrate, and bioelectricities are produced. In the field of power generation from non-conventional sources, apart from the benefits of this technique, it is still facing practical constraints such as low potential and power. In this study, most suitable, natural, low cost MFCs components are electrodes (anode and cathode), organic substrates, membranes and its design is selected on the basis of maximum potential (voltage) as an electrical parameter, which indicates a vital role of affecting factor in MFC for sustainable power production.
Keywords: Substrates, electrodes, membranes, microbial fuel cells, voltage.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14391384 Advanced Compound Coating for Delaying Corrosion of Fast-Dissolving Alloy in High Temperature and Corrosive Environment
Authors: Lei Zhao, Yi Song, Tim Dunne, Jiaxiang (Jason) Ren, Wenhan Yue, Lei Yang, Li Wen, Yu Liu
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Fasting dissolving magnesium (DM) alloy technology has contributed significantly to the “Shale Revolution” in oil and gas industry. This application requires DM downhole tools dissolving initially at a slow rate, rapidly accelerating to a high rate after certain period of operation time (typically 8 h to 2 days), a contradicting requirement that can hardly be addressed by traditional Mg alloying or processing itself. Premature disintegration has been broadly reported in downhole DM tool from field trials. To address this issue, “temporary” thin polymers of various formulations are currently coated onto DM surface to delay its initial dissolving. Due to conveying parts, harsh downhole condition, and high dissolving rate of the base material, the current delay coatings relying on pure polymers are found to perform well only at low temperature (typical < 100 ℃) and parts without sharp edges or corners, as severe geometries prevent high quality thin film coatings from forming effectively. In this study, a coating technology combining Plasma Electrolytic Oxide (PEO) coatings with advanced thin film deposition has been developed, which can delay DM complex parts (with sharp corners) in corrosive fluid at 150 ℃ for over 2 days. Synergistic effects between porous hard PEO coating and chemical inert elastic-polymer sealing leads to its delaying dissolution improvement, and strong chemical/physical bonding between these two layers has been found to play essential role. Microstructure of this advanced coating and compatibility between PEO and various polymer selections has been thoroughly investigated and a model is also proposed to explain its delaying performance. This study could not only benefit oil and gas industry to unplug their High Temperature High Pressure (HTHP) unconventional resources inaccessible before, but also potentially provides a technical route for other industries (e.g., bio-medical, automobile, aerospace) where primer anti-corrosive protection on light Mg alloy is highly demanded.
Keywords: Dissolvable magnesium, coating, plasma electrolytic oxide, sealer.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5811383 Performance Evaluation of XMAC and BMAC Routing Protocol under Static and Mobility Scenarios in Wireless Sensor Network
Authors: M. V. Ramana Rao, T. Adilakshmi
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Based on application requirements, nodes are static or mobile in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Mobility poses challenges in protocol design, especially at the link layer requiring mobility adaptation algorithms to localize mobile nodes and predict link quality to be established with them. This study implements XMAC and Berkeley Media Access Control (BMAC) routing protocols to evaluate performance under WSN’s static and mobility conditions. This paper gives a comparative study of mobility-aware MAC protocols. Routing protocol performance, based on Average End to End Delay, Average Packet Delivery Ratio, Average Number of hops, and Jitter is evaluated.Keywords: Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), Medium Access Control (MAC), Berkeley Media Access Control (BMAC), mobility.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23821382 Performance Comparison between Conventional and Flexible Box Erecting Machines Using Dispatching Rules
Authors: Min Kyu Kim, Eun Young Lee, Dong Woo Son, Yoon Seok Chang
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In this paper, we introduce a flexible box erecting machine (BEM) that swiftly and automatically transforms cardboard into a three dimensional box. Recently, the parcel service and home-shopping industries have grown rapidly, and there is an increasing need for various box types to ship various products. However, workers cannot fold thousands of boxes manually in a day. As such, automatic BEMs are garnering greater attention. This study takes equipment operation into consideration as well as mechanical improvements in order to design a BEM that is able to outperform its conventional counterparts. We analyzed six dispatching rules – First In First Out (FIFO), Shortest Processing Time (SPT), Earliest Due Date (EDD), Setup Avoidance, EDD + SPT, and EDD + Setup Avoidance – to determine which one was most suitable for BEM operation. Consequently, SPT and Setup Avoidance were found to be the most critical rules, followed by EDD + Setup Avoidance, EDD + SPT, EDD, and FIFO. This hierarchy was valid for both our conventional BEM and our new flexible BEM from the viewpoint of processing time. We believe that this research can contribute to flexible BEM management, which has the potential to increase productivity and convenience.Keywords: Automation, box erecting machine, dispatching rule, setup time.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14961381 Development of a New Piezoelectrically Actuated Micropump for Liquid and Gas
Authors: Chiang-Ho Cheng, An-Shik Yang, Chih-Jer Lin, Chun-Ying Lee
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This paper aims to present the design, fabrication and test of a novel piezoelectric actuated, check-valves embedded micropump having the advantages of miniature size, light weight and low power consumption. This device is designed to pump gases and liquids with the capability of performing the self-priming and bubble-tolerant work mode by maximizing the stroke volume of the membrane as well as the compression ratio via minimization of the dead volume of the micropump chamber and channel. By experiment apparatus setup, we can get the real-time values of the flow rate of micropump, the displacement of the piezoelectric actuator and the deformation of the check valve, simultaneously. The micropump with check valve 0.4 mm in thickness obtained higher output performance under the sinusoidal waveform of 120 Vpp. The micropump achieved the maximum pumping rates of 42.2 ml/min and back pressure of 14.0 kPa at the corresponding frequency of 28 and 20 Hz. The presented micropump is able to pump gases with a pumping rate of 196 ml/min at operating frequencies of 280 Hz under the sinusoidal waveform of 120 Vpp.
Keywords: Actuator, Check-valve, Micropump, Piezoelectric.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21891380 Earphone Style Wearable Device for Automatic Guidance Service with Position Sensing
Authors: Dawei Cai
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This paper describes a design of earphone style wearable device that may provide an automatic guidance service for visitors. With both position information and orientation information obtained from NFC and terrestrial magnetism sensor, a high level automatic guide service may be realized. To realize the service, a algorithm for position detection using the packet from NFC tags, and developed an algorithm to calculate the device orientation based on the data from acceleration and terrestrial magnetism sensors called as MEMS. If visitors want to know some explanation about an exhibit in front of him, what he has to do is only move to the object and stands for a moment. The identification program will automatically recognize the status based on the information from NFC and MEMS, and start playing explanation content about the exhibit. This service should be useful for improving the understanding of the exhibition items and bring more satisfactory visiting experience without less burden.Keywords: Wearable device, MEMS sensor, NFC, ubiquitous computing, guide system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9751379 Cultural Production and Urban Regeneration: The Case Study of Amphawa District, Thailand
Authors: P. Techaratpong
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This research aims to study the role of cultural production in urban regeneration and argue that cultural production, if properly used, can play a vital role in reviving cities and create substantial positive impacts to the cities. The argument can be elucidated by the case study of Amphawa, a district in Samutsongkram province, Thailand, as an example of successful use of cultural productions. The conceptual framework is based on the model of culture contributions in regeneration to examine the impacts.
The research methodology is qualitative. This study found that cultural productions can revive cities into vibrant ones and exert considerable impacts: physical, social and economic.
It is suggested that, despite that there is not one-fit-all model, cultural production can be an important initiative for any city transformation if it is appropriately implemented. The city planners and authorities ought to consider the conditions and factors and design a specific plan to fit the city context and integrated with other planning.
Keywords: Cultural production, culture, cultural planning, impact, urban regeneration.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27861378 Bi-Directional Evolutionary Topology Optimization Based on Critical Fatigue Constraint
Authors: Khodamorad Nabaki, Jianhu Shen, Xiaodong Huang
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This paper develops a method for considering the critical fatigue stress as a constraint in the Bi-directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization (BESO) method. Our aim is to reach an optimal design in which high cycle fatigue failure does not occur for a specific life time. The critical fatigue stress is calculated based on modified Goodman criteria and used as a stress constraint in our topology optimization problem. Since fatigue generally does not occur for compressive stresses, we use the p-norm approach of the stress measurement that considers the highest tensile principal stress in each point as stress measure to calculate the sensitivity numbers. The BESO method has been extended to minimize volume an object subjected to the critical fatigue stress constraint. The optimization results are compared with the results from the compliance minimization problem which shows clearly the merits of our newly developed approach.
Keywords: Topology optimization, BESO method, p-norm, fatigue constraint.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10711377 Performance Evaluation of Karanja Oil Based Biodiesel Engine Using Modified Genetic Algorithm
Authors: G. Bhushan, S. Dhingra, K. K. Dubey
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This paper presents the evaluation of performance (BSFC and BTE), combustion (Pmax) and emission (CO, NOx, HC and smoke opacity) parameters of karanja biodiesel in a single cylinder, four stroke, direct injection diesel engine by considering significant engine input parameters (blending ratio, compression ratio and load torque). Multi-objective optimization of performance, combustion and emission parameters is also carried out in a karanja biodiesel engine using hybrid RSM-NSGA-II technique. The pareto optimum solutions are predicted by running the hybrid RSM-NSGA-II technique. Each pareto optimal solution is having its own importance. Confirmation tests are also conducted at randomly selected few pareto solutions to check the authenticity of the results.Keywords: Karanja biodiesel, single cylinder direct injection diesel engine, response surface methodology, central composite rotatable design, genetic algorithm.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11521376 GSM Based Automated Embedded System for Monitoring and Controlling of Smart Grid
Authors: Amit Sachan
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The purpose of this paper is to acquire the remote electrical parameters like Voltage, Current, and Frequency from Smart grid and send these real time values over GSM network using GSM Modem/phone along with temperature at power station. This project is also designed to protect the electrical circuitry by operating an Electromagnetic Relay. The Relay can be used to operate a Circuit Breaker to switch off the main electrical supply. User can send commands in the form of SMS messages to read the remote electrical parameters. This system also can automatically send the real time electrical parameters periodically (based on time settings) in the form of SMS. This system also send SMS alerts whenever the Circuit Breaker trips or whenever the Voltage or Current exceeds the predefined limits.
Keywords: GSM Modem, Initialization of ADC module of microcontroller, PIC-C compiler for Embedded C programming, PIC kit 2 programmer for dumping code into Micro controller, Express SCH for Circuit design, Proteus for hardware simulation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 94811375 Mechanical Simulation with Electrical and Dimensional Tests for AISHa Containment Chamber
Authors: F. Noto, G. Costa, L. Celona, F. Chines, G. Ciavola, G. Cuttone, S. Gammino, O. Leonardi, S. Marletta, G. Torrisi
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At Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare – Laboratorio Nazionale del Sud (INFN-LNS), a broad experience in the design, construction and commissioning of ECR and microwave ion sources is available. The AISHa ion source has been designed by taking into account the typical requirements of hospital-based facilities, where the minimization of the mean time between failures (MTBF) is a key point together with the maintenance operations, which should be fast and easy. It is intended to be a multipurpose device, operating at 18 GHz, in order to achieve higher plasma densities. It should provide enough versatility for future needs of the hadron therapy, including the ability to run at larger microwave power to produce different species and highly charged ion beams. The source is potentially interesting for any hadron therapy facility using heavy ions. In this paper, we analyzed the dimensional test and electrical test about an innovative solution for the containment chamber that allows us to solve our isolation and structural problems.
Keywords: FEM Analysis, ECR ion source, dielectrical measurement.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10971374 Effect of Hooked-End Steel Fibres Geometry on Pull-Out Behaviour of Ultra-High Performance Concrete
Authors: Sadoon Abdallah, Mizi Fan, Xiangming Zhou
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In this study, a comprehensive approach has been adopted to examine in detail the effect of various hook geometries on bond-slip characteristics. Extensive single fibre pull-out tests on ultra-high performance matrix with three different W/B ratios and embedded lengths have been carried out. Test results showed that the mechanical deformation of fibre hook is the main mechanism governing the pull-out behaviour. Furthermore, the quantitative analyses have been completed to compare the hook design contribution of 3D, 4D and 5D fibres to assess overall pull-out behaviour. It was also revealed that there is a strong relationship between the magnitude of hook contribution and W/B ratio (i.e. matrix strength). Reducing the W/B ratio from 0.20 to 0.11 greatly optimizes the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) and enables better mobilization, straightening of the hook and results in bond-slip-hardening behaviour.
Keywords: Bond mechanisms, fibre-matrix interface, hook geometry, pullout behaviour and water to binder ratio.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16921373 Study on Connecting Method of Box Pontoons
Authors: Young-Jun You, Youn-Ju Jeong, Min-Su Park, Du-Ho Lee
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Due to a lot of limited conditions, a large box type floating structure is inevitably constructed by connecting many pontoons. When a floating structure is made with concrete, concrete shear key with saw-teeth shape is often used to carry shear force. Match casting for the shear key and precise construction on a sea are very important for making separated two pontoons as one body but those are not easy work and may increase construction time and cost. To solve this problem, one-way shear key is studied in this paper for a connected part where there is some difference between upward and downward shear force. It has only one inclined plane and can resist shear force in one direction. Big shear force is resisted by concrete which forms an inclined plane and small shear force is resisted by steel bar. This system can reduce manufacturing cost of individual pontoon and construction time and cost for constructing a floating structure on a sea. In this paper, the feasibility study about one-way shear key system is performed by comparing with design example.
Keywords: Connection, floating container terminal, pontoon, pre-stressing, shear key.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31121372 Effects of PEG and NaCl Stress on Two Cultivars of Corn (Zea mays L.) at Germination and Early Seedling Stages
Authors: A. Farsiani, M. E. Ghobadi
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To study on effect of PEG and NaCl stress on germination and early seedling stages on two cultivar of corn, two separated experiment were laid out at physiology laboratory, faculty of Agriculture, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran in 2009. This investigation was performed as factorial experiment under Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. Cultivar factor contains of two varieties (sweet corn SC403 and Flint corn SC704) and five levels of stress (0, -2, -4, -6 and -8 bar). The principal aim of current study was to compare the two varieties of maize in relative to the stress conditions. Results indicated that significant decrease was observed in percentage of germination, germination rate, length of radicle and plumule and radicle and plumule dry matter. On the basis of the results, NaCl as compared with PEG had more effect on germination and early seedling stage and sweet corn had more resistant than flint corn in both stress conditions.Keywords: Corn, Early Seedling Stage, Germination, PEG andNaCl Stress.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27451371 Reliability Assessment of Bangladesh Power System Using Recursive Algorithm
Authors: Nahid-Al-Masood, Jubaer Ahmed, Amina Hasan Abedin, S. R. Deeba, Faeza Hafiz, Mahmuda Begum
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An electric utility-s main concern is to plan, design, operate and maintain its power supply to provide an acceptable level of reliability to its users. This clearly requires that standards of reliability be specified and used in all three sectors of the power system, i.e., generation, transmission and distribution. That is why reliability of a power system is always a major concern to power system planners. This paper presents the reliability analysis of Bangladesh Power System (BPS). Reliability index, loss of load probability (LOLP) of BPS is evaluated using recursive algorithm and considering no de-rated states of generators. BPS has sixty one generators and a total installed capacity of 5275 MW. The maximum demand of BPS is about 5000 MW. The relevant data of the generators and hourly load profiles are collected from the National Load Dispatch Center (NLDC) of Bangladesh and reliability index 'LOLP' is assessed for the period of last ten years.
Keywords: Recursive algorithm, LOLP, forced outage rate, cumulative probability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23541370 Mechanisms in Regulating Language Practices in Electronics Engineering: A Program Plan for Outcomes-Based Education
Authors: Analiza Acuña-Villacorte
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The underlying principle behind the harmonization in international education does not solely aim for the comparability but also the compatibility of outputs produced. The international standard in the different professions particularly in engineering defines the required graduate attributes to attain suitable qualifications and recognitions. This study described the language practices of the Electronics Engineering students of Bulacan State University, Philippines who will be deployed for their internship program. The purpose of the study was achieved by determining the language proficiency of the students in terms of speaking, listening, reading, and writing, and checking the adherence of the University to the commitment of intensifying community building for the Association of Southeast Asian Nation Vision 2020. The analysis of variance of the variables defined the significance between the causal variables and dependent variables. Thus, this study identified the mechanism that would regulate language practices in the Electronics Engineering program.
Keywords: Communicative competence, descriptive design, language practices, mechanisms, outcomes-based education.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15941369 Architecture for Smart Cities’ Sustainable Modular Houses
Authors: Khaled Elbehiery, Hussam Elbehiery
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Smart cities are a framework of technologies along with sustainable infrastructure to provide their citizens an improved quality of life, safer environment, affordability, and more, which in turn helps with the society's economic growth. The proposed research will focus on the primary building block of the smart city; the infrastructure of the house itself. The traditional method of building houses has been, for a long time, nothing but a costly manufacturing process, and consequently, buying a house becomes not an option for everyone anymore. The smart cities' Modular Houses are not using traditional building construction materials; the design reduces the common lengthy construction times and associated high costs. The Modular Houses are technological homes, low-cost and customizable based on a family's requirements. In addition, the Modular Houses are environmentally friendly and healthy enough to assist with the pandemic situation.
Keywords: Smart cities, modular houses, single-unit property, multi-unit property, mobility features, chain-supply, livable environment, carbon footprint.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3181368 Automation of Web-Portal Construction Processes with SQL Server for the Black Sea Ecosystem Monitoring
Authors: Gia Surguladze, Nino Topuria, Ana Gavardashvili, Tsatsa Namchevadze
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The present article discusses design and development of Information System for monitoring ecology within the Black Sea basin of Georgia. Sea parameters, river, estuary, vulnerable district, water sample, etc. were considered as the major parameters of the sea ecosystem. A conceptual schema has been developed for the Black Sea ecosystem based on object-role model. The experimental database for the Black Sea ecosystem has been constructed using Ms SQL Server, while the object-role model NORMA has been developed using graphical instrument Ms Visual Studio within the integrated environment of .NET Framework 4.5. Web portal has been designed based on Ms SharePoint Server. The server database connection with web-portal has been carried out by means of External List of Ms SharePoint Server Designer.
Keywords: Web-application, service-oriented architecture, database, object-role modelling, SharePoint, Black sea, river, estuary, ecology, monitoring system, automation of data processing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13091367 Replacing Fibre Reinforced Concrete with Bitumen Asphalt in Airports
Authors: Y. Mohammadi, H. M. Ghasemzadeh, T. B. Talari, M. A. Ghorbani
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Concrete pavement has superior durability and longer structural life than asphalt pavement. Concrete pavement requires less maintenance compared to asphalt pavement which requires maintenance and major rehabilitation. Use of the concrete pavement has been grown over the past decade in developing countries. Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) has been successfully used in design of concrete pavement in past decade. In this research, the effect of fibre volume fraction in modulus of rupture, load-deflection, equivalent flexural strength (fe,3) and the equivalent flexural strength ratio (Re,3) has been used in different fibre volume fraction. Crimped-type flat steel fibre of size 50 x 2.0 x 0.6 mm was used with 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% volume fraction. Beam specimens of size 500 x 100 x 100 mm were used for flexural as well as with JCI method for analysis flexural toughness, equivalent flexural strength. It was obtained as the 2% fibre volume fractions; reduce 45% of the concrete pavement thickness.Keywords: Concrete pavement, Equivalent flexural strength, Fibre, Load-deflection curves.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24571366 Prevalence of Psychological Resistance to Voluntary Counselling and Testing of HIV/AIDS among Students of Tertiary Institutions in Kano State, Nigeria
Authors: A. S. Haruna
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The incessant discomfort for Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) exhibited by students in some tertiary institutions in Kano State, Nigeria is capable of causing Psychological Resistance as well as jeopardizing the purpose of HIV intervention. This study investigated the Prevalence of Psychological Resistance to VCT of HIV/AIDS among students of tertiary institutions in the state. Two null hypotheses were postulated and tested. Cross- Sectional Survey Design was employed in which 1512 sample was selected from a student population of 104,841 following Stratified Random Sampling technique. A self-developed 20-item scale whose reliability coefficient is 0.83 was used for data collection. Data analyzed via Chi-square and t-test reveals a prevalence of 38% with males (Mean=0.34; SD=0.475) constituting 60% and females (Mean=0.45; SD=0.498) 40%. Also, the calculated chi-square and ttest were not significant at 0.05 as such the null hypotheses were upheld. Recommendation offered suggests the use of reinforcement and social support for students who patronize HIV/AIDS counselling.
Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Prevalence rate, Psychological Resistance, VCT.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26091365 Analytical Modelling of Average Bond Stress within the Anchorage of Tensile Reinforcing Bars in Reinforced Concrete Members
Authors: Maruful H. Mazumder, Raymond I. Gilbert, Zhen- T. Chang
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A reliable estimate of the average bond stress within the anchorage of steel reinforcing bars in tension is critically important for the design of reinforced concrete member. This paper describes part of a recently completed experimental research program in the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety (CIES) at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia aimed at assessing the effects of different factors on the anchorage requirements of modern high strength steel reinforcing bars. The study found that an increase in the anchorage length and bar diameter generally leads to a reduction of the average ultimate bond stress. By the extension of a well established analytical model of bond and anchorage, it is shown here that the differences in the average ultimate bond stress for different anchorage lengths is associated with the variable degree of plastic deformation in the tensile zone of the concrete surrounding the bar.Keywords: Anchorage, Bond stress, Development length, Reinforced concrete.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31061364 A PSO-based SSSC Controller for Improvement of Transient Stability Performance
Authors: Sidhartha Panda, N. P. Padhy
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The application of a Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC) controller to improve the transient stability performance of a power system is thoroughly investigated in this paper. The design problem of SSSC controller is formulated as an optimization problem and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) Technique is employed to search for optimal controller parameters. By minimizing the time-domain based objective function, in which the deviation in the oscillatory rotor angle of the generator is involved; transient stability performance of the system is improved. The proposed controller is tested on a weakly connected power system subjected to different severe disturbances. The non-linear simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller and its ability to provide efficient damping of low frequency oscillations. It is also observed that the proposed SSSC controller improves greatly the voltage profile of the system under severe disturbances.
Keywords: Particle swarm optimization, transient stability, power system oscillations, SSSC.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26901363 Collaborative and Experimental Cultures in Virtual Reality Journalism: From the Perspective of Content Creators
Authors: Radwa Mabrook
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Virtual Reality (VR) content creation is a complex and an expensive process, which requires multi-disciplinary teams of content creators. Grant schemes from technology companies help media organisations to explore the VR potential in journalism and factual storytelling. Media organisations try to do as much as they can in-house, but they may outsource due to time constraints and skill availability. Journalists, game developers, sound designers and creative artists work together and bring in new cultures of work. This study explores the collaborative experimental nature of VR content creation, through tracing every actor involved in the process and examining their perceptions of the VR work. The study builds on Actor Network Theory (ANT), which decomposes phenomena into their basic elements and traces the interrelations among them. Therefore, the researcher conducted 22 semi-structured interviews with VR content creators between November 2017 and April 2018. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques allowed the researcher to recruit fact-based VR content creators from production studios and media organisations, as well as freelancers. Interviews lasted up to three hours, and they were a mix of Skype calls and in-person interviews. Participants consented for their interviews to be recorded, and for their names to be revealed in the study. The researcher coded interviews’ transcripts in Nvivo software, looking for key themes that correspond with the research questions. The study revealed that VR content creators must be adaptive to change, open to learn and comfortable with mistakes. The VR content creation process is very iterative because VR has no established work flow or visual grammar. Multi-disciplinary VR team members often speak different languages making it hard to communicate. However, adaptive content creators perceive VR work as a fun experience and an opportunity to learn. The traditional sense of competition and the strive for information exclusivity are now replaced by a strong drive for knowledge sharing. VR content creators are open to share their methods of work and their experiences. They target to build a collaborative network that aims to harness VR technology for journalism and factual storytelling. Indeed, VR is instilling collaborative and experimental cultures in journalism.
Keywords: Collaborative culture, content creation, experimental culture, virtual reality.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7891362 Bayesian Meta-Analysis to Account for Heterogeneity in Studies Relating Life Events to Disease
Authors: Elizabeth Stojanovski
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Associations between life events and various forms of cancers have been identified. The purpose of a recent random-effects meta-analysis was to identify studies that examined the association between adverse events associated with changes to financial status including decreased income and breast cancer risk. The same association was studied in four separate studies which displayed traits that were not consistent between studies such as the study design, location, and time frame. It was of interest to pool information from various studies to help identify characteristics that differentiated study results. Two random-effects Bayesian meta-analysis models are proposed to combine the reported estimates of the described studies. The proposed models allow major sources of variation to be taken into account, including study level characteristics, between study variance and within study variance, and illustrate the ease with which uncertainty can be incorporated using a hierarchical Bayesian modelling approach.
Keywords: Random-effects, meta-analysis, Bayesian, variation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6591361 A Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm of Neural Network for Medical Diseases Problems
Authors: Sultan Noman Qasem
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This paper presents an evolutionary algorithm for solving multi-objective optimization problems-based artificial neural network (ANN). The multi-objective evolutionary algorithm used in this study is genetic algorithm while ANN used is radial basis function network (RBFN). The proposed algorithm named memetic elitist Pareto non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-based RBFN (MEPGAN). The proposed algorithm is implemented on medical diseases problems. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm is viable, and provides an effective means to design multi-objective RBFNs with good generalization capability and compact network structure. This study shows that MEPGAN generates RBFNs coming with an appropriate balance between accuracy and simplicity, comparing to the other algorithms found in literature.
Keywords: Radial basis function network, Hybrid learning, Multi-objective optimization, Genetic algorithm.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22531360 Performance Trade-Off of File System between Overwriting and Dynamic Relocation on a Solid State Drive
Authors: Choulseung Hyun, Hunki Kwon, Jaeho Kim, Eujoon Byun, Jongmoo Choi, Donghee Lee, Sam H. Noh
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Most file systems overwrite modified file data and metadata in their original locations, while the Log-structured File System (LFS) dynamically relocates them to other locations. We design and implement the Evergreen file system that can select between overwriting or relocation for each block of a file or metadata. Therefore, the Evergreen file system can achieve superior write performance by sequentializing write requests (similar to LFS-style relocation) when space utilization is low and overwriting when utilization is high. Another challenging issue is identifying performance benefits of LFS-style relocation over overwriting on a newly introduced SSD (Solid State Drive) which has only Flash-memory chips and control circuits without mechanical parts. Our experimental results measured on a SSD show that relocation outperforms overwriting when space utilization is below 80% and vice versa.Keywords: Evergreen File System, Overwrite, Relocation, Solid State Drive.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14771359 Damping of Power System Oscillations by using coordinated tuning of POD and PSS with STATCOM
Authors: A. S. P.Kanojia, B. Dr.V.K.Chandrakar
Abstract:
Static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) is a shunt connected voltage source converter (VSC), which can affect rapid control of reactive flow in the transmission line by controlling the generated a.c. voltage. The main aim of the paper is to design a power system installed with a Static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) and demonstrates the application of the linearised Phillips-heffron model in analyzing the damping effect of the STATCOM to improve power system oscillation stability. The proposed PI controller is designed to coordinate two control inputs: Voltage of the injection bus and capacitor voltage of the STATCOM, to improve the Dynamic stability of a SMIB system .The power oscillations damping (POD) control and power system stabilizer (PSS) and their coordinated action with proposed controllers are tested. The simulation result shows that the proposed damping controllers provide satisfactory performance in terms of improvements of dynamic stability of the system.
Keywords: Damping oscillations, FACTS, STATCOM, dynamic stability, PSS, POD, Coordination.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25321358 Design of a CMOS Highly Linear Front-end IC with Auto Gain Controller for a Magnetic Field Transceiver
Authors: Yeon-kug Moon, Kang-Yoon Lee, Yun-Jae Won, Seung-Ok Lim
Abstract:
This paper describes a low-voltage and low-power channel selection analog front end with continuous-time low pass filters and highly linear programmable gain amplifier (PGA). The filters were realized as balanced Gm-C biquadratic filters to achieve a low current consumption. High linearity and a constant wide bandwidth are achieved by using a new transconductance (Gm) cell. The PGA has a voltage gain varying from 0 to 65dB, while maintaining a constant bandwidth. A filter tuning circuit that requires an accurate time base but no external components is presented. With a 1-Vrms differential input and output, the filter achieves -85dB THD and a 78dB signal-to-noise ratio. Both the filter and PGA were implemented in a 0.18um 1P6M n-well CMOS process. They consume 3.2mW from a 1.8V power supply and occupy an area of 0.19mm2.Keywords: component ; Channel selection filters, DC offset, programmable gain amplifier, tuning circuit
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2140