Search results for: Consumption insurance
316 Nutritional Composition of Selected Wild Fruits from Minna Area of Niger State, Nigeria
Authors: John O. Jacob, Abdullahi Mann, Olanrewaju I. Adeshina, Mohammed M. Ndamitso
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Strychnos spinosa, Detarium microcarpum, Diospyros mespiliformis, Dialium guineese and Gardenia ternifolia are some of the wild fruits consume in the villages around Minna, Niger State. This investigation was conducted to assess the nutritional potentials of these fruits both for human consumption and for possible application in animal feed formulations. Standard analytical methods were employed in the determination of the various nutritional parameters. The proximate analysis results showed that the moisture contents ranged between (6.17-10.70%); crude fat (2.04-8.85%); crude protein (5.16-6.80%); crude fibre (7.23-19.65%); Ash (3.46-5.56%); carbohydrate (57.77-69.79%); energy value (284.49-407 kcal/mg); Vitamin C (7.2-39.93 mg/100g). The mineral analysis shows that the selected wild fruits could contribute considerable amount of both micro and macro elements to human nutrition potassium, sodium and calcium range between; potassium (343.27-764.71%); sodium (155.04-348.44%); calcium (52.47-101%). The macro element for the fruits pulp were in the order K>Na>Mg>Ca, hence, they could be included in diet to supplement daily nutrient requirement and in animal feed formulations. The domestication of these fruits is also encouraged.
Keywords: Minerals, nutrition, supplements, wild fruits.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2225315 Low Power and Less Area Architecture for Integer Motion Estimation
Authors: C Hisham, K Komal, Amit K Mishra
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Full search block matching algorithm is widely used for hardware implementation of motion estimators in video compression algorithms. In this paper we are proposing a new architecture, which consists of a 2D parallel processing unit and a 1D unit both working in parallel. The proposed architecture reduces both data access power and computational power which are the main causes of power consumption in integer motion estimation. It also completes the operations with nearly the same number of clock cycles as compared to a 2D systolic array architecture. In this work sum of absolute difference (SAD)-the most repeated operation in block matching, is calculated in two steps. The first step is to calculate the SAD for alternate rows by a 2D parallel unit. If the SAD calculated by the parallel unit is less than the stored minimum SAD, the SAD of the remaining rows is calculated by the 1D unit. Early termination, which stops avoidable computations has been achieved with the help of alternate rows method proposed in this paper and by finding a low initial SAD value based on motion vector prediction. Data reuse has been applied to the reference blocks in the same search area which significantly reduced the memory access.
Keywords: Sum of absolute difference, high speed DSP.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1492314 A Materialized View Approach to Support Aggregation Operations over Long Periods in Sensor Networks
Authors: Minsoo Lee, Julee Choi, Sookyung Song
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The increasing interest on processing data created by sensor networks has evolved into approaches to implement sensor networks as databases. The aggregation operator, which calculates a value from a large group of data such as computing averages or sums, etc. is an essential function that needs to be provided when implementing such sensor network databases. This work proposes to add the DURING clause into TinySQL to calculate values during a specific long period and suggests a way to implement the aggregation service in sensor networks by applying materialized view and incremental view maintenance techniques that is used in data warehouses. In sensor networks, data values are passed from child nodes to parent nodes and an aggregation value is computed at the root node. As such root nodes need to be memory efficient and low powered, it becomes a problem to recompute aggregate values from all past and current data. Therefore, applying incremental view maintenance techniques can reduce the memory consumption and support fast computation of aggregate values.Keywords: Aggregation, Incremental View Maintenance, Materialized view, Sensor Network.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1540313 Power Generation Potential of Dynamic Architecture
Authors: Ben Richard Hughes, Hassam Nasarullah Chaudhry
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The main aim of this work is to establish the capabilities of new green buildings to ascertain off-grid electricity generation based on the integration of wind turbines in the conceptual model of a rotating tower [2] in Dubai. An in depth performance analysis of the WinWind 3.0MW [3] wind turbine is performed. Data based on the Dubai Meteorological Services is collected and analyzed in conjunction with the performance analysis of this wind turbine. The mathematical model is compared with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) results based on a conceptual rotating tower design model. The comparison results are further validated and verified for accuracy by conducting experiments on a scaled prototype of the tower design. The study concluded that integrating wind turbines inside a rotating tower can generate enough electricity to meet the required power consumption of the building, which equates to a wind farm containing 9 horizontal axis wind turbines located at an approximate area of 3,237,485 m2 [14].Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, green building, horizontal axis wind turbine, rotating tower, velocity gradient.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3282312 Economical Analysis of Thermal Energy Storage by Partially Operation
Authors: Z. Noranai, M.Z. Md Yusof
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Building Sector is the major electricity consumer and it is costly to building owners. Therefore the application of thermal energy storage (TES) has gained attractive to reduce energy cost. Many attractive tariff packages are being offered by the electricity provider to promote TES. The tariff packages offered higher cost of electricity during peak period and lower cost of electricity during off peak period. This paper presented the return of initial investment by implementing a centralized air-conditioning plant integrated with thermal energy storage with partially operation strategies. Building load profile will be calculated hourly according to building specification and building usage trend. TES operation conditions will be designed according to building load demand profile, storage capacity, tariff packages and peak/off peak period. The Payback Period analysis method was used to evaluate economic analysis. The investment is considered a good investment where by the initial cost is recovered less than ten than seven years.Keywords: building load profile, energy consumption, payback period, thermal energy storage
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2011311 Cooperative Sensing for Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Julien Romieux, Fabio Verdicchio
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Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), which sense environmental data with battery-powered nodes, require multi-hop communication. This power-demanding task adds an extra workload that is unfairly distributed across the network. As a result, nodes run out of battery at different times: this requires an impractical individual node maintenance scheme. Therefore we investigate a new Cooperative Sensing approach that extends the WSN operational life and allows a more practical network maintenance scheme (where all nodes deplete their batteries almost at the same time). We propose a novel cooperative algorithm that derives a piecewise representation of the sensed signal while controlling approximation accuracy. Simulations show that our algorithm increases WSN operational life and spreads communication workload evenly. Results convey a counterintuitive conclusion: distributing workload fairly amongst nodes may not decrease the network power consumption and yet extend the WSN operational life. This is achieved as our cooperative approach decreases the workload of the most burdened cluster in the network.Keywords: Cooperative signal processing, power management, signal representation, signal approximation, wireless sensor networks.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1786310 Studies on Affecting Factors of Wheel Slip and Odometry Error on Real-Time of Wheeled Mobile Robots: A Review
Authors: D. Vidhyaprakash, A. Elango
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In real-time applications, wheeled mobile robots are increasingly used and operated in extreme and diverse conditions traversing challenging surfaces such as a pitted, uneven terrain, natural flat, smooth terrain, as well as wet and dry surfaces. In order to accomplish such tasks, it is critical that the motion control functions without wheel slip and odometry error during the navigation of the two-wheeled mobile robot (WMR). Wheel slip and odometry error are disrupting factors on overall WMR performance in the form of deviation from desired trajectory, navigation, travel time and budgeted energy consumption. The wheeled mobile robot’s ability to operate at peak performance on various work surfaces without wheel slippage and odometry error is directly connected to four main parameters, which are the range of payload distribution, speed, wheel diameter, and wheel width. This paper analyses the effects of those parameters on overall performance and is concerned with determining the ideal range of parameters for optimum performance.
Keywords: Wheeled mobile robot (WMR), terrain, wheel slippage, odometry error, navigation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1251309 Supply Chain Decarbonisation – A Cost-Based Decision Support Model in Slow Steaming Maritime Operations
Authors: Eugene Y. C. Wong, Henry Y. K. Lau, Mardjuki Raman
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CO2 emissions from maritime transport operations represent a substantial part of the total greenhouse gas emission. Vessels are designed with better energy efficiency. Minimizing CO2 emission in maritime operations plays an important role in supply chain decarbonisation. This paper reviews the initiatives on slow steaming operations towards the reduction of carbon emission. It investigates the relationship and impact among slow steaming cost reduction, carbon emission reduction, and shipment delay. A scenario-based cost-driven decision support model is developed to facilitate the selection of the optimal slow steaming options, considering the cost on bunker fuel consumption, available speed, carbon emission, and shipment delay. The incorporation of the social cost of cargo is reviewed and suggested. Additional measures on the effect of vessels sizes, routing, and type of fuels towards decarbonisation are discussed.
Keywords: Slow steaming, carbon emission, maritime logistics, sustainability, green supply chain.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2675308 Productivity and Energy Management in Desert Urban
Authors: Masoud Nasri, Rahele Hekmatpanah
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Growing world population has fundamental impacts and often catastrophic on natural habitat. The immethodical consumption of energy, destruction of the forests and extinction of plant and animal species are the consequence of this experience. Urban sustainability and sustainable urban development, that is so spoken these days, should be considered as a strategy, goal and policy, beyond just considering environmental issues and protection. The desert-s climate has made a bunch of problems for its residents. Very hot and dry climate in summers of the Iranian desert areas, when there was no access to modern energy source and mechanical cooling systems in the past, made Iranian architects to design a natural ventilation system in their buildings. The structure, like a tower going upward the roof, besides its ornamental application and giving a beautiful view to the building, was used as a spontaneous ventilation system. In this paper, it has been tried to name the problems of the area and it-s inconvenience, then some answers has pointed out in order to solve the problems and as an alternative solution BADGIR (wind-catcher) has been introduced as a solution knowing that it has been playing a major role in dealing with the problems.Keywords: Productivity, Sustainable development, hot aridzones, climate design, BADGIR (wind-catcher)
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1639307 Solar Energy Potential and Applications in Myanmar
Authors: Thet Thet Han Yee, Su Su Win, Nyein Nyein Soe
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Energy consumption is one of the indices in determining the levels of development of a nation. Therefore, availability of energy supply to all sectors of life in any country is crucial for its development. These exists shortage of all kinds of energy, particularly electricity which is badly needed for economic development. Electricity from the sun which is quite abundant in most of the developing countries is used in rural areas to meet basic electricity needs of a rural community. Today-s electricity supply in Myanmar is generated by fuel generators and hydroelectric power plants. However, far-flung areas which are away from National Grids cannot enjoy the electricity generated by these sources. Since Myanmar is a land of plentiful sunshine, especially in central and southern regions of the country, the first form of energy- solar energy could hopefully become the final solution to its energy supply problem. The direct conversion of solar energy into electricity using photovoltaic system has been receiving intensive installation not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. It is mainly intended to present solar energy potential and application in Myanmar. It is also wanted to get the benefits of using solar energy for people in remote areas which are not yet connected to the national grids because of the high price of fossil fuel.Keywords: Electricity supply in Myanmar, National Grids, solarenergy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7882306 Power Generation Scheduling of Thermal Units Considering Gas Pipelines Constraints
Authors: Sara Mohtashami, Habib Rajabi Mashhadi
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With the growth of electricity generation from gas energy gas pipeline reliability can substantially impact the electric generation. A physical disruption to pipeline or to a compressor station can interrupt the flow of gas or reduce the pressure and lead to loss of multiple gas-fired electric generators, which could dramatically reduce the supplied power and threaten the power system security. Gas pressure drops during peak loading time on pipeline system, is a common problem in network with no enough transportation capacity which limits gas transportation and causes many problem for thermal domain power systems in supplying their demand. For a feasible generation scheduling planning in networks with no sufficient gas transportation capacity, it is required to consider gas pipeline constraints in solving the optimization problem and evaluate the impacts of gas consumption in power plants on gas pipelines operating condition. This paper studies about operating of gas fired power plants in critical conditions when the demand of gas and electricity peak together. An integrated model of gas and electric model is used to consider the gas pipeline constraints in the economic dispatch problem of gas-fueled thermal generator units. Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2142305 An Overview of Georgia’s Economic Growth Since 2012: Current Status, Challenges, and Opportunities for Future Development
Authors: V. Benidze
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After the Rose Revolution of 2003, Georgia has achieved an unparalleled socioeconomic success. However, economic growth since 2012 has been sluggish and certainly not enough to rapidly improve the county’s standard of living that still remains substantially low compared to that in developed nations. Recent poor economic performance has shown that some key challenges need to be addressed if Georgia is to achieve high future economic growth that will decrease the poverty rate and create a middle class in the country. This paper offers in detail analysis of the economic performance of Georgia since 2012 and identifies key challenges facing the country’s economy. The main challenge going forward will be transforming Georgia from a consumption-driven to a production-oriented economy. It is identified that mobilizing domestic investment through savings, attracting foreign investment in tradable sectors and expanding the country’s export base will be crucial in the facilitation of the above-mentioned structural transformation. As the outcome of the research, the paper suggests a strategy for accelerating Georgia’ future economic growth and offers recommendations based on the relevant conclusions.
Keywords: Challenges, development, economic growth, economic policy, Georgia.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 961304 Micro-aerobic, Anaerobic and Two-stage Condition for Ethanol Production by enterobacter aerogenes from Biodiesel-derived Crude Glycerol
Authors: Kanokrat Saisaard, Irini Angelidaki, Poonsuk Prasertsan
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The microbial production of ethanol from biodiesel¬derived crude glycerol by Enterobacter aerogenes TISTR1468, under micro-aerobic and anaerobic conditions, was investigated. The experimental results showed that micro-aerobic conditions were more favorable for cellular growth (4.0 g/L DCW), ethanol production (20.7 g/L) as well as the ethanol yield (0.47 g/g glycerol) than anaerobic conditions (1.2 g/L DCW, 6.3 g/L ethanol and 0.72 g/g glycerol, respectively). Crude glycerol (100 g/L) was consumed completely with the rate of 1.80 g/L/h. Two-stage fermentation (combination of micro-aerobic and anaerobic condition) exhibited higher ethanol production (24.5 g/L) than using one-stage fermentation (either micro-aerobic or anaerobic condition. The two- stage configuration, exhibited slightly higher crude glycerol consumption rate (1.81 g/L/h), as well as ethanol yield (0.56 g/g) than the one-stage configuration. Therefore, two-stage process was selected for ethanol production from E. aerogenes TISTR1468 in scale-up studies.
Keywords: crude glycerol, ethanol, micro-aerobic, two-stage, Enterobacter aerogenes
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2369303 Cost Analysis of Hybrid Wind Energy Generating System Considering CO2 Emissions
Authors: M. A. Badr, M.N. El Kordy, A. N. Mohib, M. M. Ibrahim
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The basic objective of the research is to study the effect of hybrid wind energy on the cost of generated electricity considering the cost of reduction CO2 emissions. The system consists of small wind turbine(s), storage battery bank and a diesel generator (W/D/B). Using an optimization software package, different system configurations are investigated to reach optimum configuration based on the net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (COE) as economic optimization criteria. The cost of avoided CO2 is taken into consideration. The system is intended to supply the electrical load of a small community (gathering six families) in a remote Egyptian area. The investigated system is not connected to the electricity grid and may replace an existing conventional diesel powered electric supply system to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The simulation results showed that W/D energy system is more economic than diesel alone. The estimated COE is 0.308$/kWh and extracting the cost of avoided CO2, the COE reached 0.226 $/kWh which is an external benefit of wind turbine, as there are no pollutant emissions through operational phase.Keywords: Hybrid wind turbine systems, remote areas electrification, simulation of hybrid energy systems, techno-economic study.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1194302 Design and Experiment of Orchard Gas Explosion Subsoiling and Fertilizer Injection Machine
Authors: Xiaobo Xi, Ruihong Zhang
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At present, the orchard ditching and fertilizing technology has a series of problems, such as easy tree roots damage, high energy consumption and uneven fertilizing. In this paper, a gas explosion subsoiling and fertilizer injection machine was designed, which used high pressure gas to shock soil body and then injected fertilizer. The drill pipe mechanism with pneumatic chipping hammer excitation and hydraulic assistance was designed to drill the soil. The operation of gas and liquid fertilizer supply was controlled by PLC system. The 3D model of the whole machine was established by using SolidWorks software. The machine prototype was produced, and field experiments were carried out. The results showed that soil fractures were created and diffused by gas explosion, and the subsoiling effect radius reached 40 cm under the condition of 0.8 MPa gas pressure and 30 cm drilling depth. What’s more, the work efficiency is 0.048 hm2/h at least. This machine could meet the agronomic requirements of orchard, garden and city greening fertilization, and the tree roots were not easily damaged and the fertilizer evenly distributed, which was conducive to nutrient absorption of root growth.
Keywords: Gas explosion subsoiling, fertigation, pneumatic chipping hammer exciting, soil compaction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 957301 Design and Optimization of Parity Generator and Parity Checker Based On Quantum-dot Cellular Automata
Authors: Santanu Santra, Utpal Roy
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Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) is one of the most substitute emerging nanotechnologies for electronic circuits, because of lower power consumption, higher speed and smaller size in comparison with CMOS technology. The basic devices, a Quantum-dot cell can be used to implement logic gates and wires. As it is the fundamental building block on nanotechnology circuits. By applying XOR gate the hardware requirements for a QCA circuit can be decrease and circuits can be simpler in terms of level, delay and cell count. This article present a modest approach for implementing novel optimized XOR gate, which can be applied to design many variants of complex QCA circuits. Proposed XOR gate is simple in structure and powerful in terms of implementing any digital circuits. In order to verify the functionality of the proposed design some complex implementation of parity generator and parity checker circuits are proposed and simulating by QCA Designer tool and compare with some most recent design. Simulation results and physical relations confirm its usefulness in implementing every digital circuit.
Keywords: Clock, CMOS technology, Logic gates, QCA Designer, Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7836300 Assessment of Solar Hydrogen Production in an Energetic Hybrid PV-PEMFC System
Authors: H. Rezzouk, M. Hatti, H. Rahmani, S. Atoui
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This paper discusses the design and analysis of a hybrid PV-Fuel cell energy system destined to power a DC load. The system is composed of a photovoltaic array, a fuel cell, an electrolyzer and a hydrogen tank. HOMER software is used in this study to calculate the optimum capacities of the power system components that their combination allows an efficient use of solar resource to cover the hourly load needs. The optimal system sizing allows establishing the right balance between the daily electrical energy produced by the power system and the daily electrical energy consumed by the DC load using a 28 KW PV array, a 7.5 KW fuel cell, a 40KW electrolyzer and a 270 Kg hydrogen tank. The variation of powers involved into the DC bus of the hybrid PV-fuel cell system has been computed and analyzed for each hour over one year: the output powers of the PV array and the fuel cell, the input power of the elctrolyzer system and the DC primary load. Equally, the annual variation of stored hydrogen produced by the electrolyzer has been assessed. The PV array contributes in the power system with 82% whereas the fuel cell produces 18%. 38% of the total energy consumption belongs to the DC primary load while the rest goes to the electrolyzer.
Keywords: Electrolyzer, Hydrogen, Hydrogen Fueled Cell, Photovoltaic.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1587299 Optical Flow Based System for Cross Traffic Alert
Authors: Giuseppe Spampinato, Salvatore Curti, Ivana Guarneri, Arcangelo Bruna
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This document describes an advanced system and methodology for Cross Traffic Alert (CTA), able to detect vehicles that move into the vehicle driving path from the left or right side. The camera is supposed to be not only on a vehicle still, e.g. at a traffic light or at an intersection, but also moving slowly, e.g. in a car park. In all of the aforementioned conditions, a driver’s short loss of concentration or distraction can easily lead to a serious accident. A valid support to avoid these kinds of car crashes is represented by the proposed system. It is an extension of our previous work, related to a clustering system, which only works on fixed cameras. Just a vanish point calculation and simple optical flow filtering, to eliminate motion vectors due to the car relative movement, is performed to let the system achieve high performances with different scenarios, cameras and resolutions. The proposed system just uses as input the optical flow, which is hardware implemented in the proposed platform and since the elaboration of the whole system is really speed and power consumption, it is inserted directly in the camera framework, allowing to execute all the processing in real-time.
Keywords: Clustering, cross traffic alert, optical flow, real time, vanishing point.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 811298 Community-Based Destination Sustainable Development: Case of Cicada Walking Street, Hua Hin, Thailand
Authors: Pongsiri Kingkan
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This paper aims to study the role and activities of the participants and the impact of activities created in the local area in order to sustainably develop the local areas. This study applied both qualitative and quantitative approaches presented in descriptive style; the data was collected via survey, observation and in-depth interviews with samples. The results illustrated five sorts of roles of participants of the Cicada Walking-street and four types of creative activities; recreation based, art based, cultural based, and live events. Integration of local characteristics, arts and cultures were presented creatively and interestingly. Participants are various. The roles of the participants found in the Cicada Market are group of the property and area management, entrepreneurs, leisure (entertaining persons), local people, and tourists. The good impacts on local communities are those in terms of economy, environmental friendly and local arts and cultures promoting. On the other hand, the traffic congestion, waste and the increasing of energy consumption are negative impacts from area development.
Keywords: Creative Tourism Activity, Destination Development, Sustainable Development, Walking Street.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1725297 Variable Input Range Continuous-time Switched Current Delta-sigma Analog Digital Converter for RFID CMOS Biosensor Applications
Authors: Boram Kim, Shigeyasu Uno, Kazuo Nakazato
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Continuous-time delta-sigma analog digital converter (ADC) for radio frequency identification (RFID) complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) biosensor has been reported. This delta-sigma ADC is suitable for digital conversion of biosensor signal because of small process variation, and variable input range. As the input range of continuous-time switched current delta-sigma ADC (Dynamic range : 50 dB) can be limited by using current reference, amplification of biosensor signal is unnecessary. The input range is switched to wide input range mode or narrow input range mode by command of current reference. When the narrow input range mode, the input range becomes ± 0.8 V. The measured power consumption is 5 mW and chip area is 0.31 mm^2 using 1.2 um standard CMOS process. Additionally, automatic input range detecting system is proposed because of RFID biosensor applications.
Keywords: continuous time, delta sigma, A/D converter, RFID, biosensor, CMOS
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1563296 Gonadotoxic and Cytotoxic Effect of Induced obesity via Monosodium Glutamate on Mus musculus Testis Cytoarchitecture and Sperm Parameter
Authors: I. Nur Hilwani, R. Nasibah, S. Nurdiana, M. J. Norashirene
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Impaired fertility may be the result of indirect consumption of anti-fertility agents through food. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) has been widely used as food additive, flavour enhancer and included in vaccines. This study focuses in determining the gonadotoxic and cytotoxic effect of MSG on selected sperm parameters such as sperm viability, sperm membrane integrity and testes cytoarchitecture of male mice via histological examination to determine its effect on spermatogenesis. Twenty-four Mus musculus were randomly divided into 4 groups and given intraperitoneal injections (IP) daily for 14 days of different MSG concentrations at 250, 500 and 1000mg/kg MSG to body weight to induce obesity. Saline was given to control group. Mice were sacrificed and analysis revealed abnormalities in values for sperm parameters and damages to testes cytoarchitecture of male mice. The results recorded decreased viability (p<0.05) and integrity of sperm membrane (p>0.05) with degenerative structures in seminiferous tubule of testes. The results indicated various implications of MSG on male mice reproductive system which has consequences in fertility potential.
Keywords: Sperm parameter, sperm viability, sperm membrane integrity and testes histology.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2376295 Numerical Simulation of Flow Field in a Elliptic Bottom Stirred Tank with Bottom Baffles
Authors: Liu Xuedong , Liu Zhiyan
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When the crisscross baffles and logarithmic spiral baffles are placed on the bottom of the stirred tank with elliptic bottom, using CFD software FLUENT simulates the velocity field of the stirred tank with elliptic bottom and bottom baffles. Compare the velocity field of stirred tank with bottom crisscross baffle to the velocity field of stirred tank without bottom baffle and analysis the flow pattern on the same axis-section and different cross-sections. The sizes of the axial and radial velocity are compared respectively when the stirred tank with bottom crisscross baffles, bottom logarithmic spiral baffles and without bottom baffle. At the same time, the numerical calculations of mixing power are compared when the stirred tank with bottom crisscross baffles and bottom logarithmic spiral baffles. Research shows that bottom crisscross baffles and logarithmic spiral baffles have a great impact on flow pattern within the reactor and improve the mixing effect better than without baffle. It also has shown that bottom logarithmic spiral baffles has lower power consumption than bottom crisscross baffles.Keywords: Bottom baffle, Flow field, Numerical simulation, Stirred tank.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2015294 Life Cycle-Based Analysis of Meat Production: Ecosystem Impacts
Authors: Michelle Zeyuan Ma, Hermann Heilmeier
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Recently, meat production ecosystem impacts initiated many hot discussions and researchers, and it is a difficult implementation to reduce such impacts due to the demand of meat products. It calls for better management and control of ecosystem impacts from every aspects of meat production. This article analyzes the ecosystem impacts of meat production based on meat products life cycle. The analysis shows that considerable ecosystem impacts are caused by different meat production steps: initial establishment phase, animal raising, slaughterhouse processing, meat consumption, and wastes management. Based on this analysis, the impacts are summarized as: leading factor for biodiversity loss; water waste, land use waste and land degradation; greenhouse gases emissions; pollution to air, water, and soil; related major diseases. The article also provides a discussion on a solution-sustainable food system, which could help in reducing ecosystem impacts. The analysis method is based on the life cycle level, it provides a concept of the whole meat industry ecosystem impacts, and the analysis result could be useful to manage or control meat production ecosystem impacts from investor, producer and consumer sides.Keywords: Eutrophication, life cycle based analysis, sustainable food, waste management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1202293 Spatial Distribution of Local Sheep Breeds in Antalya Province
Authors: Serife Gulden Yilmaz, Suleyman Karaman
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Sheep breeding is important in terms of meeting both the demand of red meat consumption and the availability of industrial raw materials and the employment of the rural sector in Turkey. It is also very important to ensure the selection and continuity of the breeds that are raised in order to increase quality and productive products related to sheep breeding. The protection of local breeds and crossbreds also enables the development of the sector in the region and the reduction of imports. In this study, the data were obtained from the records of the Turkish Statistical Institute and Antalya Sheep & Goat Breeders' Association. Spatial distribution of sheep breeds in Antalya is reviewed statistically in terms of concentration at the local level for 2015 period spatially. For this reason; mapping, box plot, linear regression are used in this study. Concentration is introduced by means of studbook data on sheep breeding as locals and total sheep farm by mapping. It is observed that Pırlak breed (17.5%) and Merinos crossbreed (16.3%) have the highest concentration in the region. These breeds are respectively followed by Akkaraman breed (11%), Pirlak crossbreed (8%), Merinos breed (7.9%) Akkaraman crossbreed (7.9%) and Ivesi breed (7.2%).
Keywords: Antalya, sheep breeds, spatial distribution, local.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1231292 Evaluation of Antioxidant Activities of Cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata L.)
Authors: Rutanachai Thaipratum
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At present, it is widely-known that free radicals are the causes of illness such as cancers, coronary heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and aging. One method of protection from free radical is the consumption of antioxidant-containing foods or herbs. Several analytical methods have been used for qualitative and quantitative determination of antioxidants. This project aimed to evaluate antioxidant activity of ethanolic and aqueous extracts from cabbage (Brassicca oleracea L. var. capitata L.) measured by DPPH and Hydroxyl radical scavenging method. The results show that averaged antioxidant activity measured in ethanolic extract (µmol Ascorbic acid equivalent/g fresh mass) were 7.316 ± 0.715 and 4.66 ± 1.029 as determined by DPPH and Hydroxyl radical scavenging activity assays respectively. Averaged antioxidant activity measured in aqueous extract (µmol Ascorbic acid equivalent/g fresh mass) were 15.141 ± 2.092 and 4.955 ± 1.975 as determined by DPPH and Hydroxyl radical scavenging activity assays respectively.
Keywords: Free radical, antioxidant, cabbage, Brassicca oleracea L. var. capitata L.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2279291 Adopting Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning Techniques in Cloud Computing for Operational Efficiency
Authors: Sandesh Achar
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is being increasingly incorporated into many applications across various sectors such as health, education, security, and agriculture. Recently, there has been rapid development in cloud computing technology, resulting in AI’s implementation into cloud computing to enhance and optimize the technology service rendered. The deployment of AI in cloud-based applications has brought about autonomous computing, whereby systems achieve stated results without human intervention. Despite the amount of research into autonomous computing, work incorporating AI/ML into cloud computing to enhance its performance and resource allocation remains a fundamental challenge. This paper highlights different manifestations, roles, trends, and challenges related to AI-based cloud computing models. This work reviews and highlights investigations and progress in the domain. Future directions are suggested for leveraging AI/ML in next-generation computing for emerging computing paradigms such as cloud environments. Adopting AI-based algorithms and techniques to increase operational efficiency, cost savings, automation, reducing energy consumption and solving complex cloud computing issues are the major findings outlined in this paper.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, AI, cloud computing, deep learning, machine learning, ML, internet of things, IoT.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 628290 A Beacon Based Priority Routing Scheme for Solar Power Plants in WSNs
Authors: Ki-Sung Park, Dae-Hee Lee, Dae-Ho Won, Yeon-Mo Yang
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Solar power plants(SPPs) have shown a lot of good outcomes in providing a various functions depending on industrial expectations by deploying ad-hoc networking with helps of light loaded and battery powered sensor nodes. In particular, it is strongly requested to develop an algorithm to deriver the sensing data from the end node of solar power plants to the sink node on time. In this paper, based on the above observation we have proposed an IEEE802.15.4 based self routing scheme for solar power plants. The proposed beacon based priority routing Algorithm (BPRA) scheme utilizes beacon periods in sending message with embedding the high priority data and thus provides high quality of service(QoS) in the given criteria. The performance measures are the packet Throughput, delivery, latency, total energy consumption. Simulation results under TinyOS Simulator(TOSSIM) have shown the proposed scheme outcome the conventional Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector(AODV) Routing in solar power plants.Keywords: Solar Power Plants(SPPs), Self routing, Quality of Service(QoS), WPANs, WSNs, TinyOS, TOSSIM, IEEE802.15.4
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2170289 Evaluating Alternative Fuel Vehicles from Technical, Environmental and Economic Perspectives: Case of Light-Duty Vehicles in Iran
Authors: Vahid Aryanpur , Ehsan Shafiei
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This paper presents an environmental and technoeconomic evaluation of light duty vehicles in Iran. A comprehensive well-to-wheel (WTW) analysis is applied to compare different automotive fuel chains, conventional internal combustion engines and innovative vehicle powertrains. The study examines the competitiveness of 15 various pathways in terms of energy efficiencies, GHG emissions, and levelized cost of different energy carriers. The results indicate that electric vehicles including battery electric vehicles (BEV), fuel cell vehicles (FCV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) increase the WTW energy efficiency by 54%, 51% and 46%, respectively, compared to common internal combustion engines powered by gasoline. On the other hand, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per kilometer of FCV and BEV would be 48% lower than that of gasoline engines. It is concluded that BEV has the lowest total cost of energy consumption and external cost of emission, followed by internal combustion engines (ICE) fueled by CNG. Conventional internal combustion engines fueled by gasoline, on the other hand, would have the highest costs.Keywords: Well-to-Wheel analysis, Energy Efficiency, GHG emissions, Levelized cost of energy, Alternative fuel vehicles.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1749288 A Review on the Development and Challenges of Green Roof Systems in Malaysia
Authors: M. F. Chow, M. F. Abu Bakar
Abstract:
Green roof system is considered a relatively new concept in Malaysia even though it has been implemented widely in the developed countries. Generally, green roofs provide many benefits such as enhancing aesthetical quality of the built environment, reduce urban heat island effect, reduce energy consumption, improve stormwater attenuation, and reduce noise pollution. A better understanding on the implementation of green roof system in Malaysia is crucial, as Malaysia’s climate is different if compared with the climate in temperate countries where most of the green roof studies have been conducted. This study has concentrated on the technical aspect of green roof system which focuses on i) types of plants and method of planting; ii) engineering design for green roof system; iii) its hydrological performance on reducing stormwater runoff; and iv) benefits of green roofs with respect to energy. Literature review has been conducted to identify the development and obstacles associated with green roofs systems in Malaysia. The study had identified the challenges and potentials of green roofs development in Malaysia. This study also provided the recommendations on standard design and strategies on the implementation of green roofs in Malaysia in the near future.Keywords: Engineering design, green roof, sustainable development, tropical countries.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4659287 Research on the Impact on Building Temperature and Ventilation by Outdoor Shading Devices in Hot-Humid Area: Through Measurement and Simulation on an Office Building in Guangzhou
Authors: Hankun Lin, Yiqiang Xiao, Qiaosheng Zhan
Abstract:
Shading devices (SDs) are widely used in buildings in the hot-humid climate areas for reducing cooling energy consumption for interior temperature, as the result of reducing the solar radiation directly. Contrasting the surface temperature of materials of SDs to the glass on the building façade could give more analysis for the shading effect. On the other side, SDs are much more used as the independence system on building façade in hot-humid area. This typical construction could have some impacts on building ventilation as well. This paper discusses the outdoor SDs’ effects on the building thermal environment and ventilation, through a set of measurements on a 2-floors office building in Guangzhou, China, which install a dynamic aluminum SD-system around the façade on 2nd-floor. The measurements recorded the in/outdoor temperature, relative humidity, velocity, and the surface temperature of the aluminum panel and the glaze. After that, a CFD simulation was conducted for deeper discussion of ventilation. In conclusion, this paper reveals the temperature differences on the different material of the façade, and finds that the velocity of indoor environment could be reduced by the outdoor SDs.
Keywords: Outdoor shading devices, hot-humid area, temperature, ventilation, measurement, CFD.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1026