Search results for: design and analysis of algorithms

Authors: Hamid Abbasdokht , Ahmad Gholami

Abstract:

In order to study of The Effect of seed inoculation with Pseudomonas putida+Bacillus lentus on yield and yield components of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars, an experiment was carried out as factorial based on Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in Agricultural Research Station of Shahrood University of Technology. Results showed that inoculation with Pseudomonas putida+Bacillus lentus promoted seed germination. Also, inoculation with Pseudomonas putida+Bacillus lentus significantly affected grain yield, Number of spikes per m2, Number of grain per spike and 1000-seed weight and There was not statistically significant difference between Chamran and Pishtaz cultivars . Finally, the dosages of chemical fertilizers currently applied in commercial wheat field in Iran (Shahrood region) could be reduced through proper combination of Pseudomonas putida+Bacillus lentus inoculation plus fertilization.

Keywords: Seed inoculation, wheat, yield, yield components

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2151

Authors: Y. T. Tsai, Jin H. Huang

Abstract:

The sound pressure level (SPL) of the moving-coil loudspeaker (MCL) is often simulated and analyzed using the lumped parameter model. However, the SPL of a MCL cannot be simulated precisely in the high frequency region, because the value of cone effective area is changed due to the geometry variation in different mode shapes, it is also related to affect the acoustic radiation mass and resistance. Herein, the paper presents the inverse method which has a high ability to measure the value of cone effective area in various frequency points, also can estimate the MCL electroacoustic parameters simultaneously. The proposed inverse method comprises the direct problem, adjoint problem, and sensitivity problem in collaboration with nonlinear conjugate gradient method. Estimated values from the inverse method are validated experimentally which compared with the measured SPL curve result. Results presented in this paper not only improve the accuracy of lumped parameter model but also provide the valuable information on loudspeaker cone design.

Keywords: Inverse problem, cone effective area, loudspeaker, nonlinear conjugate gradient method.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2544

Authors: Zunaira Asif, Zhi Chen

Abstract:

The sustainable measures on air quality management are recognized as one of the most serious environmental concerns in the mining region. The mining operations emit various types of pollutants which have significant impacts on the environment. This study presents a stochastic control strategy by developing the air pollution control model to achieve a cost-effective solution. The optimization method is formulated to predict the cost of treatment using linear programming with an objective function and multi-constraints. The constraints mainly focus on two factors which are: production of metal should not exceed the available resources, and air quality should meet the standard criteria of the pollutant. The applicability of this model is explored through a case study of an open pit metal mine, Utah, USA. This method simultaneously uses meteorological data as a dispersion transfer function to support the practical local conditions. The probabilistic analysis and the uncertainties in the meteorological conditions are accomplished by Monte Carlo simulation. Reasonable results have been obtained to select the optimized treatment technology for PM_2.5, PM₁₀, NO_x, and SO₂. Additional comparison analysis shows that baghouse is the least cost option as compared to electrostatic precipitator and wet scrubbers for particulate matter, whereas non-selective catalytical reduction and dry-flue gas desulfurization are suitable for NO_x and SO₂ reduction respectively. Thus, this model can aid planners to reduce these pollutants at a marginal cost by suggesting control pollution devices, while accounting for dynamic meteorological conditions and mining activities.

Keywords: Air pollution, linear programming, mining, optimization, treatment technologies.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1597

Authors: Kyung Bae Park, Sung Ho Ha

Abstract:

Online user-generated contents (UGC) significantly change the way customers behave (e.g., shop, travel), and a pressing need to handle the overwhelmingly plethora amount of various UGC is one of the paramount issues for management. However, a current approach (e.g., sentiment analysis) is often ineffective for leveraging textual information to detect the problems or issues that a certain management suffers from. In this paper, we employ text mining of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) on a popular online review site dedicated to complaint from users. We find that the employed LDA efficiently detects customer complaints, and a further inspection with the visualization technique is effective to categorize the problems or issues. As such, management can identify the issues at stake and prioritize them accordingly in a timely manner given the limited amount of resources. The findings provide managerial insights into how analytics on social media can help maintain and improve their reputation management. Our interdisciplinary approach also highlights several insights by applying machine learning techniques in marketing research domain. On a broader technical note, this paper illustrates the details of how to implement LDA in R program from a beginning (data collection in R) to an end (LDA analysis in R) since the instruction is still largely undocumented. In this regard, it will help lower the boundary for interdisciplinary researcher to conduct related research.

Keywords: Latent Dirichlet allocation, R program, text mining, topic model, user generated contents, visualization.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1210

Authors: Magdi M. E. Zumrawi, Mohamed Awad

Abstract:

Determination of Resilient Modulus (M_R) is quite important for characterizing materials in pavement design and evaluation. The main focus of this study is to develop a correlation that predict the resilient modulus of subgrade soils from simple and easy measured soil index properties. To achieve this objective, three subgrade soils representing typical Khartoum soils were selected and tested in the laboratory for measuring resilient modulus. Other basic laboratory tests were conducted on the soils to determine their physical properties. Several soil samples were prepared and compacted at different moisture contents and dry densities and then tested using resilient modulus testing machine. Based on experimental results, linear relationship of M_R with the consistency factor ‘F_c’ which is a combination of dry density, void ratio and consistency index had been developed. The results revealed that very good linear relationship found between the M_R and the consistency factor with a coefficient of linearity (R²) more than 0.9. The consistency factor could be used for the prediction of the M_R of compacted subgrade soils with precise and reliable results.

Keywords: Consistency factor, resilient modulus, subgrade soil, properties.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1888

Authors: Panagiotis Karadimos, Leonidas Anthopoulos

Abstract:

Predicting the actual cost and duration in construction projects concern a continuous and existing problem for the construction sector. This paper addresses this problem with modern methods and data available from past public construction projects. 39 bridge projects, constructed in Greece, with a similar type of available data were examined. Considering each project’s attributes with the actual cost and the actual duration, correlation analysis is performed and the most appropriate predictive project variables are defined. Additionally, the most efficient subgroup of variables is selected with the use of the WEKA application, through its attribute selection function. The selected variables are used as input neurons for neural network models through correlation analysis. For constructing neural network models, the application FANN Tool is used. The optimum neural network model, for predicting the actual cost, produced a mean squared error with a value of 3.84886e-05 and it was based on the budgeted cost and the quantity of deck concrete. The optimum neural network model, for predicting the actual duration, produced a mean squared error with a value of 5.89463e-05 and it also was based on the budgeted cost and the amount of deck concrete.

Keywords: Actual cost and duration, attribute selection, bridge projects, neural networks, predicting models, FANN TOOL, WEKA.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1188

Authors: Tausif A. Ishtiaque, Zarrin T. Tasin, Kazi S. Akter

Abstract:

Current trend of urban expansion, especially in the developing countries has caused significant changes in land cover, which is generating great concern due to its widespread environmental degradation. Energy consumption of the cities is also increasing with the aggravated heat island effect. Distribution of land surface temperature (LST) is one of the most significant climatic parameters affected by urban land cover change. Recent increasing trend of LST is causing elevated temperature profile of the built up area with less vegetative cover. Gradual change in land cover, especially decrease in vegetative cover is enhancing the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect in the developing cities around the world. Increase in the amount of urban vegetation cover can be a useful solution for the reduction of UHI intensity. LST and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) have widely been accepted as reliable indicators of UHI and vegetation abundance respectively. Chittagong, the second largest city of Bangladesh, has been a growth center due to rapid urbanization over the last several decades. This study assesses the intensity of UHI in Chittagong city by analyzing the relationship between LST and NDVI based on the type of land use/land cover (LULC) in the study area applying an integrated approach of Geographic Information System (GIS), remote sensing (RS), and regression analysis. Land cover map is prepared through an interactive supervised classification using remotely sensed data from Landsat ETM+ image along with NDVI differencing using ArcGIS. LST and NDVI values are extracted from the same image. The regression analysis between LST and NDVI indicates that within the study area, UHI is directly correlated with LST while negatively correlated with NDVI. It interprets that surface temperature reduces with increase in vegetation cover along with reduction in UHI intensity. Moreover, there are noticeable differences in the relationship between LST and NDVI based on the type of LULC. In other words, depending on the type of land usage, increase in vegetation cover has a varying impact on the UHI intensity. This analysis will contribute to the formulation of sustainable urban land use planning decisions as well as suggesting suitable actions for mitigation of UHI intensity within the study area.

Keywords: Land cover change, land surface temperature, normalized difference vegetation index, urban heat island.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1446

Authors: Ahmed N. Shmroukh, Gamal Tag Abdel-Jaber, Rashed D. Aldughpassi

Abstract:

The feasibility of improving the performance of the proposed solar still unit which operated in very hot climate is investigated numerically and verified with experimental data. This solar desalination unit with proposed auxiliary device as seawater preheating system using petrol based textherm oil was used to produce pure fresh water from seawater. The effective evaporation area of basin is about 1 m². The unit was tested in two main operation modes which are normal and with seawater preheating system. The results showed that, there is good agreement between the theoretical data and the experimental data; this means that the numerical model can be accurately dependable for predicting the proposed solar still performance and design parameters. The results also showed that the fresh water productivity of the solar still in the modified preheating case which is higher than normal case, leads to an increase in productivity of 42%.

Keywords: Improving productivity, seawater desalination, solar stills, theoretical model.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 760

Authors: Summiya Moheuddin, Afzel Noore, Muhammad Choudhry

Abstract:

This paper proposes a novel solution for optimizing the size and communication overhead of a distributed multiagent system without compromising the performance. The proposed approach addresses the challenges of scalability especially when the multiagent system is large. A modified spectral clustering technique is used to partition a large network into logically related clusters. Agents are assigned to monitor dedicated clusters rather than monitor each device or node. The proposed scalable multiagent system is implemented using JADE (Java Agent Development Environment) for a large power system. The performance of the proposed topologyindependent decentralized multiagent system and the scalable multiagent system is compared by comprehensively simulating different fault scenarios. The time taken for reconfiguration, the overall computational complexity, and the communication overhead incurred are computed. The results of these simulations show that the proposed scalable multiagent system uses fewer agents efficiently, makes faster decisions to reconfigure when a fault occurs, and incurs significantly less communication overhead.

Keywords: Multiagent system, scalable design, spectral clustering, reconfiguration.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1377

Authors: Ming-Jen Huang, Chun-Fang Huang, Chiching Wei

Abstract:

With the recent advance of the deep neural network, we observe new applications of NLP (natural language processing) and CV (computer vision) powered by deep neural networks for processing business documents. However, creating a real-world document processing system needs to integrate several NLP and CV tasks, rather than treating them separately. There is a need to have a unified approach for processing documents containing textual and graphical elements with rich formats, diverse layout arrangement, and distinct semantics. In this paper, a framework that fulfills this unified approach is presented. The framework includes a representation model definition for holding the information generated by various tasks and specifications defining the coordination between these tasks. The framework is a blueprint for building a system that can process documents with rich formats, styles, and multiple types of elements. The flexible and lightweight design of the framework can help build a system for diverse business scenarios, such as contract monitoring and reviewing.

Keywords: Document processing, framework, formal definition, machine learning.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 626

Authors: Florian Müller, Christian Kukla, Thomas Lucyshyn, Clemens Holzer

Abstract:

In this paper, the influencing parameters of a novel purely mechanical wireless in-mould injection moulding sensor were investigated. The sensor is capable of detecting the melt front at predefined locations inside the mould. The sensor comprises a movable pin which acts as the sensor element generating structure-borne sound triggered by the passing melt front. Due to the sensor design, melt pressure is the driving force. For pressure level measurement during pin movement a pressure transducer located at the same position as the movable pin. By deriving a mathematical model for the mechanical movement, dominant process parameters could be investigated towards their impact on the melt front detection characteristic. It was found that the sensor is not affected by the investigated parameters enabling it for reliable melt front detection. In addition, it could be proved that the novel sensor is in comparable range to conventional melt front detection sensors.

Keywords: Injection Moulding, In-Mould Sensor, Structure-Borne Sound, Wireless Sensor

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2062

Authors: Y. Duvarci, S. Mizokami

Abstract:

Today, the preferences and participation of the TD groups such as the elderly and disabled is still lacking in decision-making of transportation planning, and their reactions to certain type of policies are not well known. Thus, a clear methodology is needed. This study aimed to develop a method to extract the preferences of the disabled to be used in the policy-making stage that can also guide to future estimations. The method utilizes the combination of cluster analysis and data filtering using the data of the Arao city (Japan). The method is a process that follows: defining the TD group by the cluster analysis tool, their travel preferences in tabular form from the household surveys by policy variableimpact pairs, zones, and by trip purposes, and the final outcome is the preference probabilities of the disabled. The preferences vary by trip purpose; for the work trips, accessibility and transit system quality policies with the accompanying impacts of modal shifts towards public mode use as well as the decreasing travel costs, and the trip rate increase; for the social trips, the same accessibility and transit system policies leading to the same mode shift impact, together with the travel quality policy area leading to trip rate increase. These results explain the policies to focus and can be used in scenario generation in models, or any other planning purpose as decision support tool.

Keywords: Transportation Disadvantaged, Disabled, Mixed Preference, Stated Preference Data.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1072

Authors: Rung-Shiang Cheng, Wei-Jun Hong, Jheng-Syun Wang, Kawuu W. Lin

Abstract:

Users rely increasingly on Location-Based Services (LBS) and automated navigation/guidance systems nowadays. However, while such services are easily implemented in outdoor environments using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, a requirement still exists for accurate localization and guidance schemes in indoor settings. Accordingly, the present study presents a methodology based on GPS, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons, and Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Through establishing graphic information and the design of algorithm, this study develops a guidance system for indoor and outdoor on smartphones, with aim to provide users a smart life through this system. The presented system is implemented on a smartphone and evaluated on a student campus environment. The experimental results confirm the ability of the presented app to switch automatically from an outdoor mode to an indoor mode and to guide the user to the requested target destination via the shortest possible route.

Keywords: Beacon, BLE, Dijkstra algorithm, indoor, GPS, near field communication technology.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1260

Authors: M.G.A. Nassef, Linghan Li, C. Schenck, B. Kuhfuss

Abstract:

Design and modeling of nonlinear systems require the knowledge of all inside acting parameters and effects. An empirical alternative is to identify the system-s transfer function from input and output data as a black box model. This paper presents a procedure using least squares algorithm for the identification of a feed drive system coefficients in time domain using a reduced model based on windowed input and output data. The command and response of the axis are first measured in the first 4 ms, and then least squares are applied to predict the transfer function coefficients for this displacement segment. From the identified coefficients, the next command response segments are estimated. The obtained results reveal a considerable potential of least squares method to identify the system-s time-based coefficients and predict accurately the command response as compared to measurements.

Keywords: feed drive systems, least squares algorithm, onlineparameter identification, short time window

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2090

Authors: Ramy H. Mohammed

Abstract:

Understanding the behavior of airflow in a room is essential for building designers to provide the most efficient design of ventilation system, and having acceptable indoor air quality. This trend is the motive to solve the relationship between airflow parameters and thermal comfort. This paper investigates airflow characteristics, indoor air quality (IAQ), and the thermal comfort (TC) in a ventilated room with a displacement ventilation system using three dimensional CFD code [AirPak 2.0.6]. After validation of the code, a numerical study is executed for a typical room with dimensions of 5m by 3m by 3m height according to a variety of supply air velocities, supply air temperature and supply air relative humidity. The finite volume method and the indoor zero equation turbulence models are employed for solving the governing equations numerically. The temperature field and the mean age of air (MAA) in the modeled room for a displacement ventilation system are determined according to a variety of the above parameters. The variable air volume (VAV) systems with different supply air velocity are applicable to control room air temperature for a displacement ventilation system.

Keywords: Displacement ventilation, AirPak, Indoor zero equation, MAA.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3120

Authors: Ahmed Arkoazi, Hussein Znad, Ranjeet Utikar

Abstract:

The synergistic impact and optimization of gas flow rate, concentration of CO₂, and light intensity on CO₂ biofixation rate were investigated using wastewater as a medium to cultivate Chlorella vulgaris under different conditions (gas flow rate 1-8 L/min), CO₂ concentration (0.03-7%), and light intensity (150-400 µmol/m².s)). Response Surface Methodology and Box-Behnken experimental Design were applied to find optimum values for gas flow rate, CO₂ concentration, and light intensity. The optimum values of the three independent variables (gas flow rate, concentration of CO₂, and light intensity) and desirability were 7.5 L/min, 3.5%, and 400 µmol/m².s, and 0.904, respectively. The highest amount of biomass produced and CO₂ biofixation rate at optimum conditions were 5.7 g/L, 1.23 gL^-1d^-1, respectively. The synergistic effect between gas flow rate and concentration of CO₂, and between gas flow rate and light intensity was significant on the three responses, while the effect between CO₂ concentration and light intensity was less significant on CO₂ biofixation rate. The results of this study could be highly helpful when using microalgae for CO₂ biofixation in wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Synergistic impact, optimization, CO2 biofixation, airlift reactor.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 725

Authors: C. Arunachalaperumal, B. Chandru, J. M. Mathana

Abstract:

In recent years parasitic antenna play major role in MIMO systems because of their gain and spectral efficiency. In this paper, single RF chain MIMO transmitter is designed using reconfigurable parasitic antenna. The Spatial Modulation (SM) is a recently proposed scheme in MIMO scenario which activates only one antenna at a time. The SM entirely avoids ICI and IAS, and only requires a single RF chain at the transmitter. This would switch ON a single transmit-antenna for data transmission while all the other antennas are kept silent. The purpose of the parasitic elements is to change the radiation pattern of the radio waves which is emitted from the driven element and directing them in one direction and hence introduces transmit diversity. Diode is connect between the patch and ground by changing its state (ON and OFF) the parasitic element act as reflector and director and also capable of steering azimuth and elevation angle. This can be achieved by changing the input impedance of each parasitic element through single RF chain. The switching of diode would select the single parasitic antenna for spatial modulation. This antenna is expected to achieve maximum gain with desired efficiency.

Keywords: MIMO system, single RF chain, Parasitic Antenna.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2066

Authors: K. Prajindra Sankar, S.K. Tiong, S.P. Johnny Koh

Abstract:

This paper presents a tested research concept that implements a complex evolutionary algorithm, genetic algorithm (GA), in a multi-microcontroller environment. Parallel Distributed Genetic Algorithm (PDGA) is employed in adaptive beam forming technique to reduce power usage of adaptive antenna at WCDMA base station. Adaptive antenna has dynamic beam that requires more advanced beam forming algorithm such as genetic algorithm which requires heavy computation and memory space. Microcontrollers are low resource platforms that are normally not associated with GAs, which are typically resource intensive. The aim of this project was to design a cooperative multiprocessor system by expanding the role of small scale PIC microcontrollers to optimize WCDMA base station transmitter power. Implementation results have shown that PDGA multi-microcontroller system returned optimal transmitted power compared to conventional GA.

Keywords: Microcontroller, Genetic Algorithm, Adaptiveantenna, Power optimization.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1779

Authors: Muhammed Yousoof, Mohd Sapiyan, Khaja Kamaluddin

Abstract:

Learning programming is difficult for many learners. Some researches have found that the main difficulty relates to cognitive load. Cognitive overload happens in programming due to the nature of the subject which is intrinisicly over-bearing on the working memory. It happens due to the complexity of the subject itself. The problem is made worse by the poor instructional design methodology used in the teaching and learning process. Various efforts have been proposed to reduce the cognitive load, e.g. visualization softwares, part-program method etc. Use of many computer based systems have also been tried to tackle the problem. However, little success has been made to alleviate the problem. More has to be done to overcome this hurdle. This research attempts at understanding how cognitive load can be managed so as to reduce the problem of overloading. We propose a mechanism to measure the cognitive load during pre instruction, post instruction and in instructional stages of learning. This mechanism is used to help the instruction. As the load changes the instruction is made to adapt itself to ensure cognitive viability. This mechanism could be incorporated as a sub domain in the student model of various computer based instructional systems to facilitate the learning of programming.

Keywords: Cognitive load, Working memory, Cognitive Loadmeasurement.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2552

Authors: Alaa-Aldin Abdul Rahim A. Al Athmay

Abstract:

E-governance is an emerging and challenging initiative in developing countries. It is not only concerning the provision of services through the use ICT but rather entails building external interactions with citizen and businesses, enhancing democracy and trust of the political institutions of government. It embraces among other principles, openness, accountability and citizen engagement in public policy process. This study aims at finding users’ satisfaction with three chosen dimensions of e-governance, namely: openness, collaborative governance, and participation. These dimensions of e-governance are neither studied before in the context of Arab countries and nor explored earlier in relation to some demographics variables. A study of 900 users of e-government in United Arab Emirates (UAE) was undertaken to examine how gender, age, education, nationality, and employment affect their satisfaction with e-governance. Generally, satisfaction ratings vary significantly with these variables. However, the overall level of satisfaction with the three attributes was less favorable. Knowing the differences of  citizen’s perceptions towards e-governance services would help policymakers in the design of effective e-governance strategy.   

Keywords: E-governance, United Arab Emirates, Citizens' perceptions.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4606

Authors: Xiaoshu Lu, Päivi Leino-Arjas, Kustaa Piha, Akseli Aittomäki, Peppiina Saastamoinen, Ossi Rahkonen, Eero Lahelma

Abstract:

Sickness absence represents a major economic and social issue. Analysis of sick leave data is a recurrent challenge to analysts because of the complexity of the data structure which is often time dependent, highly skewed and clumped at zero. Ignoring these features to make statistical inference is likely to be inefficient and misguided. Traditional approaches do not address these problems. In this study, we discuss model methodologies in terms of statistical techniques for addressing the difficulties with sick leave data. We also introduce and demonstrate a new method by performing a longitudinal assessment of long-term absenteeism using a large registration dataset as a working example available from the Helsinki Health Study for municipal employees from Finland during the period of 1990-1999. We present a comparative study on model selection and a critical analysis of the temporal trends, the occurrence and degree of long-term sickness absences among municipal employees. The strengths of this working example include the large sample size over a long follow-up period providing strong evidence in supporting of the new model. Our main goal is to propose a way to select an appropriate model and to introduce a new methodology for analysing sickness absence data as well as to demonstrate model applicability to complicated longitudinal data.

Keywords: Sickness absence, longitudinal data, methodologies, mix-distribution model.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2265

Authors: Siphiwe P. Mandina, Tinashe Shamuyashe

Abstract:

Tourism has become a topical issue amongst academics and practitioners due to its potential to contribute significantly towards an economy’s GDP. The problem underpinning this research is the fact that the major attraction, Victoria Falls, is being marketed in neighboring countries like South Africa, Botswana and Zambia with tour operators providing just day trips to the Victoria Falls. This has deprived Zimbabwe of income from tourism with tourists making day trips and actually not spending nights in Zimbabwe. This therefore calls for cutting edge marketing strategies that are superior to or inimitable by competing nations such as South Africa and Zambia. This study proposes a shift towards an experience management paradigm in the tourism sector. A qualitative research was adopted for this study, and findings of this study were generalized across different tourism contexts, therefore making the survey based research design more appropriate. The target population for this study is tourists visiting Zimbabwe over the period 2016 and ZTA visitor database acquired from the Department of Immigration will form the sampling frame for the purposes of this study.

Keywords: Competitiveness, tourist arrivals, tourist experience, Zimbabwe.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1092

Authors: Karuppsamy K., Eswara Prasad C. R.

Abstract:

In this paper analysis of an infinite beam resting on tensionless extensible geosynthetic reinforced granular bed overlying soft soil strata under moving load with constant velocity is presented. The beam is subjected to a concentrated load moving with constant velocity. The upper reinforced granular bed is modeled by a rough elastic membrane embedded in Pasternak shear layer overlying a series of compressible nonlinear Winkler springs representing the under-lied very poor soil. The tensionless extensible geosynthetic layer has been assumed to deform such that at interface the geosynthetic and the soil have some deformation. Nonlinear behavior of granular fill and the very poor soil has been considered in the analysis by means of hyperbolic constitutive relationships. Detailed parametric study has been conducted to study the influence of various parameters on the response of soil foundation system under consideration by means of deflection and bending moment in the beam and tension mobilized in the geosynthetic layer. This study clearly observed that the comparisons of tension and tensionless foundation and magnitude of applied load, relative compressibility of granular fill and ultimate resistance of poor soil has significant influence on the response of soil foundation system.

Keywords: Infinite Beams, Tensionless Extensible Geosynthetic, Granular layer, Moving Load and Nonlinear behavior of poor soil

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2035

Authors: M. Zamurad Shah, M. Kemal Özgören, Raza Samar

Abstract:

This paper presents a 3D guidance scheme for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The proposed guidance scheme is based on the sliding mode approach using nonlinear sliding manifolds. Generalized 3D kinematic equations are considered here during the design process to cater for the coupling between longitudinal and lateral motions. Sliding mode based guidance scheme is then derived for the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system using the proposed nonlinear manifolds. Instead of traditional sliding surfaces, nonlinear sliding surfaces are proposed here for performance and stability in all flight conditions. In the reaching phase control inputs, the bang-bang terms with signum functions are accompanied with proportional terms in order to reduce the chattering amplitudes. The Proposed 3D guidance scheme is implemented on a 6-degrees-of-freedom (6-dof) simulation of a UAV and simulation results are presented here for different 3D trajectories with and without disturbances.

Keywords: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Sliding mode control, 3D Guidance, Path following, trajectory tracking, nonlinear sliding manifolds.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2696

Authors: Gheorghe Romanescu, IonuŃ V. Jora, Cristian Constantin Stoleriu

Abstract:

The influence of human activities produced by dams along the river beds is minor, but the location of accumulation of water directly influences the hydrological regime. The most important effect of the influence of damming on the way water flows decreases the frequency of floods. The water rate controls the water flow of the dams. These natural reservoirs become dysfunctional and, as a result, a new distribution of flow in the downstream sector, where maximum flow is, brings about, in this case, higher values. In addition to fishing, middle and lower courses of rivers located by accumulation also have a role in mitigating flood waves, thus providing flood protection. The Vaslui also ensures a good part of the needs of the town water supply. The most important lake is Solesti, close to the Vaslui River, opened in 1974. A hydrological regime of accumulation is related to an anthropogenic and natural drainage system. The design conditions and their manoeuvres drain or fill the water courses.

Keywords: Hydraulic works, hydrological regime, average flow, repeat flow.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1474

Authors: Zia Abbas, Giuseppe Scotti, Mauro Olivieri

Abstract:

Current mode circuits like current conveyors are getting significant attention in current analog ICs design due to their higher band-width, greater linearity, larger dynamic range, simpler circuitry, lower power consumption and less chip area. The second generation current controlled conveyor (CCCII) has the advantage of electronic adjustability over the CCII i.e. in CCCII; adjustment of the X-terminal intrinsic resistance via a bias current is possible. The presented approach is based on the CMOS implementation of second generation positive (CCCII+), negative (CCCII-) and dual Output Current Controlled Conveyor (DOCCCII) and its application as Universal filter. All the circuits have been designed and simulated using 65nm CMOS technology model parameters on Cadence Virtuoso / Spectre using 1V supply voltage. Various simulations have been carried out to verify the linearity between output and input ports, range of operation frequency, etc. The outcomes show good agreement between expected and experimental results.

Keywords: CCCII+, CCCII-, DOCCCII, Electronic tunability, Universal filter

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4697

Authors: Masoud Nasri, Sadat Feiznia, Mohammad Jafari, Hasan Ahmadi

Abstract:

Today, incorrect use of lands and land use changes, excessive grazing, no suitable using of agricultural farms, plowing on steep slopes, road construct, building construct, mine excavation etc have been caused increasing of soil erosion and sediment yield. For erosion and sediment estimation one can use statistical and empirical methods. This needs to identify land unit map and the map of effective factors. However, these empirical methods are usually time consuming and do not give accurate estimation of erosion. In this study, we applied GIS techniques to estimate erosion and sediment of Menderjan watershed at upstream Zayandehrud river in center of Iran. Erosion faces at each land unit were defined on the basis of land use, geology and land unit map using GIS. The UTM coordinates of each erosion type that showed more erosion amounts such as rills and gullies were inserted in GIS using GPS data. The frequency of erosion indicators at each land unit, land use and their sediment yield of these indices were calculated. Also using tendency analysis of sediment yield changes in watershed outlet (Menderjan hydrometric gauge station), was calculated related parameters and estimation errors. The results of this study according to implemented watershed management projects can be used for more rapid and more accurate estimation of erosion than traditional methods. These results can also be used for regional erosion assessment and can be used for remote sensing image processing.

Keywords: Erosion and sedimentation, Gully, Rill, GIS, GPS, Menderjan Watershed

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1901

Authors: Sabri Mrayed, David Maccioni, Greg Leslie

Abstract:

Seawater desalination has been accepted as one of the most effective solutions to the growing problem of a diminishing clean drinking water supply. Currently two desalination technologies dominate the market – the thermally driven multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) and the membrane based reverse osmosis (RO). However, in recent years membrane distillation (MD) has emerged as a potential alternative to the established means of desalination. This research project intended to determine the viability of MD as an alternative process to MSF and RO for seawater desalination. Specifically the project involves conducting thermodynamic analysis of the process based on the second law of thermodynamics to determine the efficiency of the MD. Data was obtained from experiments carried out on a laboratory rig. To determine exergy values required for the exergy analysis, two separate models were built in Engineering Equation Solver – the ’Minimum Separation Work Model’ and the ‘Stream Exergy Model’. The efficiency of MD process was found to be 17.3 % and the energy consumption was determined to be 4.5 kWh to produce one cubic meter of fresh water. The results indicate MD has potential as a technique for seawater desalination compared to RO and MSF. However it was shown that this was only the case if an alternate energy source such as green or waste energy was available to provide the thermal energy input to the process. If the process was required to power itself, it was shown to be highly inefficient and in no way thermodynamically viable as a commercial desalination process.

Keywords: Desalination, Exergy, Membrane distillation, Second law efficiency.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2325

Authors: S. Talabgaew, V. Laemlaksakul

Abstract:

A new generation product made from bamboo strips, known as laminated bamboo, has gained importance. The objective of this research was to experiment the effect of three factors on the mechanical property of laminated bamboo. The interested factors for experimental design were (A) four bamboo species, namely Bambusa blumeana Schultes (Pai See Suk), Dendrocalamus asper Backer (Pai Tong), Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees (Pai Hok) and Dendrocalamus sericeus Munro (Pai Sang Mon), (B) two types of glue adhesive, polyvinyl acetate emulsion (PVAC) fortified with urea-formaldehyde (UF) and urea-formaldehyde (UF) to make parallel-oriented bamboo strips laminates and (C) glue weight per strip area, 150 g/m2 and 190 g/m2. Experimental results showed that Dendrocalamus asper Backer (Pai Tong) and Dendrocalamus sericeus Munro (Pai Sang Mon) were best used for manufacturing due to their highest MOR and MOE. The amount of glue weight 150 g/m2 yielded higher MOR and MOE than the amount of glue weight 190 g/m2. At the conclusion, the laminated bamboo manufacturers can benefit from this research in order to select right materials according to strength, cost and accessibility.

Keywords: Laminated Bamboo, Mechanical Property, 3-WayANOVA.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2081

Authors: Devdutt, M. L. Aggarwal

Abstract:

The development of vehicles having best ride comfort and safety of travelling passengers is of great interest for automotive manufacturers. The effect of transmitted vibrations from car body to passenger seat is required to be controlled for achieving the same. The application of magneto-rheological (MR) shock absorber in suspension system has been considered to achieve significant benefits in this regard. This paper introduces a secondary suspension controlled semi-active quarter car system using MR shock absorber for effective vibration control. Fuzzy logic control system is used for design of controller for actual damping force generation by MR shock absorber. Performance evaluations are done related to passenger seat acceleration and displacement in time and frequency domains, in order to see the effectiveness of the proposed semi-active suspension system. Simulation results show that the semi-active suspension system provides better results compared to passive suspension system in terms of passenger ride comfort improvement.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic control, MR shock absorber, Quarter car model, Semi-active suspension system.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3137