Search results for: Mixed Methods
3707 Evaluation of the Displacement-Based and the Force-Based Adaptive Pushover Methods in Seismic Response Estimation of Irregular Buildings Considering Torsional Effects
Authors: R. Abbasnia, F. Mohajeri Nav, S. Zahedifar, A. Tajik
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Recent years, adaptive pushover methods have been developed for seismic analysis of structures. Herein, the accuracy of the displacement-based adaptive pushover (DAP) method, which is introduced by Antoniou and Pinho [2004], is evaluated for Irregular buildings. The results are compared to the force-based procedure. Both concrete and steel frame structures, asymmetric in plan and elevation are analyzed and also torsional effects are taking into the account. These analyses are performed using both near fault and far fault records. In order to verify the results, the Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) is performed.Keywords: Pushover Analysis, DAP, IDA, Torsion.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30773706 Investigation of Long-Term Thermal Insulation Performance of Vacuum Insulation Panels with Various Enveloping Methods
Authors: Inseok Yeo, Tae-Ho Song
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To practically apply vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) to buildings or home appliances, VIPs have demanded long-term lifespan with outstanding insulation performance. Service lives of VIPs enveloped with Al-foil and three-layer Al-metallized envelope are calculated. For Al-foil envelope, the service life is longer but edge conduction is too large compared with the Al-metallized envelope. To increase service life even more, the proposed double enveloping method and metal-barrier-added enveloping method are further analyzed. The service lives of the VIP to employ two enveloping methods are calculated. Also, pressure increase and thermal insulation performance characteristics are investigated. For the metalbarrier- added enveloping method, effective thermal conductivity increase with time is close to that of Al-foil envelope, especially, for getter-inserted VIPs. For double enveloping method, if water vapor is perfectly adsorbed, the effect of service life enhancement becomes much greater. From these methods, the VIP can be guaranteed for service life of more than 20 years.
Keywords: Vacuum insulation panels, Service life, Double enveloping, Metal-barrier-added enveloping, Edge conduction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24273705 Farmers’ Perception, Willingness and Capacity in Utilization of Household Sewage Sludge as Organic Resources for Peri-Urban Agriculture around Jos Nigeria
Authors: C. C. Alamanjo, A. O. Adepoju, H. Martin, R. N. Baines
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Peri-urban agriculture in Jos Nigeria serves as a major means of livelihood for both urban and peri-urban poor, and constitutes huge commercial inclination with a target market that has spanned beyond Plateau State. Yet, the sustainability of this sector is threatened by intensive application of urban refuse ash contaminated with heavy metals, as a result of the highly heterogeneous materials used in ash production. Hence, this research aimed to understand the current fertilizer employed by farmers, their perception and acceptability in utilization of household sewage sludge for agricultural purposes and their capacity in mitigating risks associated with such practice. Mixed methods approach was adopted, and data collection tools used include survey questionnaire, focus group discussion with farmers, participants and field observation. The study identified that farmers maintain a complex mixture of organic and chemical fertilizers, with mixture composition that is dependent on fertilizer availability and affordability. Also, farmers have decreased the rate of utilization of urban refuse ash due to labor and increased logistic cost and are keen to utilize household sewage sludge for soil fertility improvement but are mainly constrained by accessibility of this waste product. Nevertheless, farmers near to sewage disposal points have commenced utilization of household sewage sludge for improving soil fertility. Farmers were knowledgeable on composting but find their strategic method of dewatering and sun drying more convenient. Irrigation farmers were not enthusiastic for treatment, as they desired both water and sludge. Secondly, household sewage sludge observed in the field is heterogeneous due to nearness between its disposal point and that of urban refuse, which raises concern for possible cross-contamination of pollutants and also portrays lack of extension guidance as regards to treatment and management of household sewage sludge for agricultural purposes. Hence, farmers concerns need to be addressed, particularly in providing extension advice and establishment of decentralized household sewage sludge collection centers, for continuous availability of liquid and concentrated sludge. Urgent need is also required for the Federal Government of Nigeria to increase commitment towards empowering her subsidiaries for efficient discharge of corporate responsibilities.
Keywords: Ash, farmers, household, peri-urban, refuse, sewage, sludge, urban.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7443704 Presenting a Combinatorial Feature to Estimate Depth of Anesthesia
Authors: Toktam Zoughi, Reza Boostani
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Determining depth of anesthesia is a challenging problem in the context of biomedical signal processing. Various methods have been suggested to determine a quantitative index as depth of anesthesia, but most of these methods suffer from high sensitivity during the surgery. A novel method based on energy scattering of samples in the wavelet domain is suggested to represent the basic content of electroencephalogram (EEG) signal. In this method, first EEG signal is decomposed into different sub-bands, then samples are squared and energy of samples sequence is constructed through each scale and time, which is normalized and finally entropy of the resulted sequences is suggested as a reliable index. Empirical Results showed that applying the proposed method to the EEG signals can classify the awake, moderate and deep anesthesia states similar to BIS.Keywords: Depth of anesthesia, EEG, BIS, Wavelet transforms.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18323703 Patents as Indicators of Innovative Environment
Authors: S. Karklina, I. Erins
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The main problem is that there is a very low innovation performance in Latvia. Since Latvia is a Member State of European Union, it also shall have to fulfill the set targets and to improve innovative results.Universities are one of the main performers to provide innovative capacity of country. University, industry and government need to cooperate for getting best results.The intellectual property is one of the indicators to determine innovation level in the country or organization, and patents are one of the characteristics of intellectual property.The objective of the article is to determine indicators characterizing innovative environment in Latvia and influence of the development of universities on them.The methods that will be used in the article to achieve the objectives are quantitative and qualitative analysis of the literature, statistical data analysis and graphical analysis methods.
Keywords: HEI, innovations, Latvia, patents.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18613702 Object Tracking System Using Camshift, Meanshift and Kalman Filter
Authors: Afef Salhi, Ameni Yengui Jammaoussi
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This paper presents a implementation of an object tracking system in a video sequence. This object tracking is an important task in many vision applications. The main steps in video analysis are two: detection of interesting moving objects and tracking of such objects from frame to frame. In a similar vein, most tracking algorithms use pre-specified methods for preprocessing. In our work, we have implemented several object tracking algorithms (Meanshift, Camshift, Kalman filter) with different preprocessing methods. Then, we have evaluated the performance of these algorithms for different video sequences. The obtained results have shown good performances according to the degree of applicability and evaluation criteria.
Keywords: Tracking, meanshift, camshift, Kalman filter, evaluation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 82243701 Dissipation of Higher Mode using Numerical Integration Algorithm in Dynamic Analysis
Authors: Jin Sup Kim, Woo Young Jung, Minho Kwon
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In general dynamic analyses, lower mode response is of interest, however the higher modes of spatially discretized equations generally do not represent the real behavior and not affects to global response much. Some implicit algorithms, therefore, are introduced to filter out the high-frequency modes using intended numerical error. The objective of this study is to introduce the P-method and PC α-method to compare that with dissipation method and Newmark method through the stability analysis and numerical example. PC α-method gives more accuracy than other methods because it based on the α-method inherits the superior properties of the implicit α-method. In finite element analysis, the PC α-method is more useful than other methods because it is the explicit scheme and it achieves the second order accuracy and numerical damping simultaneously.Keywords: Dynamic, α-Method, P-Method, PC α-Method, Newmark method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30533700 Reduction of Peak Input Currents during Charge Pump Boosting in Monolithically Integrated High-Voltage Generators
Authors: Jan Doutreloigne
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This paper describes two methods for the reduction of the peak input current during the boosting of Dickson charge pumps. Both methods are implemented in the fully integrated Dickson charge pumps of a high-voltage display driver chip for smart-card applications. Experimental results reveal good correspondence with Spice simulations and show a reduction of the peak input current by a factor of 6 during boosting.Keywords: Bi-stable display driver, Dickson charge pump, highvoltage generator, peak current reduction, sub-pump boosting, variable frequency boosting.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15963699 Kinetics of Cu (II) Transport through Bulk Liquid Membrane with Different Membrane Materials
Authors: Siu Hua Chang, Ayub Md Som, Jagannathan Krishnan
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The kinetics of Cu(II) transport through a bulk liquid membrane with different membrane materials was investigated in this work. Three types of membrane materials were used: fresh cooking oil, waste cooking oil and kerosene, each of which was mixed with di-2-ethylhexylphosphoric acid (carrier) and tributylphosphate (modifier). Kinetic models derived from the kinetic laws of two consecutive irreversible first-order reactions were used to study the facilitated transport of Cu(II) across the source, membrane and receiving phases of bulk liquid membrane. It was found that the transport kinetics of Cu(II) across the source phase was not affected by different types of membrane materials but decreased considerably when the membrane materials changed from kerosene, waste cooking oil to fresh cooking oil. The rate constants of Cu(II) removal and recovery processes through the bulk liquid membrane were also determined.
Keywords: Transport kinetics, Cu(II), bulk liquid membrane, waste cooking oil.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16373698 Compression of Semistructured Documents
Authors: Leo Galambos, Jan Lansky, Katsiaryna Chernik
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EGOTHOR is a search engine that indexes the Web and allows us to search the Web documents. Its hit list contains URL and title of the hits, and also some snippet which tries to shortly show a match. The snippet can be almost always assembled by an algorithm that has a full knowledge of the original document (mostly HTML page). It implies that the search engine is required to store the full text of the documents as a part of the index. Such a requirement leads us to pick up an appropriate compression algorithm which would reduce the space demand. One of the solutions could be to use common compression methods, for instance gzip or bzip2, but it might be preferable if we develop a new method which would take advantage of the document structure, or rather, the textual character of the documents. There already exist a special compression text algorithms and methods for a compression of XML documents. The aim of this paper is an integration of the two approaches to achieve an optimal level of the compression ratioKeywords: Compression, search engine, HTML, XML.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15523697 Pseudo-Homogeneous Kinetic of Dilute-Acid Hydrolysis of Rice Husk for Ethanol Production: Effect of Sugar Degradation
Authors: Megawati, Wahyudi B. Sediawan, Hary Sulistyo, Muslikhin Hidayat
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Rice husk is a lignocellulosic source that can be converted to ethanol. Three hundreds grams of rice husk was mixed with 1 L of 0.18 N sulfuric acid solutions then was heated in an autoclave. The reaction was expected to be at constant temperature (isothermal), but before that temperature was achieved, reaction has occurred. The first liquid sample was taken at temperature of 140 0C and repeated every 5 minute interval. So the data obtained are in the regions of non-isothermal and isothermal. It was observed that the degradation has significant effects on the ethanol production. The kinetic constants can be expressed by Arrhenius equation with the frequency factors for hydrolysis and sugar degradation of 1.58 x 105 1/min and 2.29 x 108 L/mole/min, respectively, while the activation energies are 64,350 J/mole and 76,571 J/mole. The highest ethanol concentration from fermentation is 1.13% v/v, attained at 220 0C.Keywords: degradation, ethanol, hydrolysis, rice husk
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19563696 Pseudo-Homogeneous Kinetic of Dilute-Acid Hydrolysis of Rice Huskfor Ethanol Production: Effect of Sugar Degradation
Authors: Megawati, Wahyudi B. Sediawan, Hary Sulistyo, Muslikhin Hidayat
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Rice husk is a lignocellulosic source that can be converted to ethanol. Three hundreds grams of rice husk was mixed with 1 L of 0.18 N sulfuric acid solutions then was heated in an autoclave. The reaction was expected to be at constant temperature (isothermal), but before that temperature was achieved, reaction has occurred. The first liquid sample was taken at temperature of 140 0C and repeated every 5 minute interval. So the data obtained are in the regions of non-isothermal and isothermal. It was observed that the degradation has significant effects on the ethanol production. The kinetic constants can be expressed by Arrhenius equation with the frequency factors for hydrolysis and sugar degradation of 1.58 x 105 min-1 and 2.29 x 108 L/mole-min, respectively, while the activation energies are 64,350 J/mole and 76,571 J/mole. The highest ethanol concentration from fermentation is 1.13% v/v, attained at 220 0C.Keywords: degradation, ethanol, hydrolysis, rice husk.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20123695 A Single-Period Inventory Problem with Resalable Returns: A Fuzzy Stochastic Approach
Authors: Oshmita Dey, Debjani Chakraborty
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In this paper, a single period inventory model with resalable returns has been analyzed in an imprecise and uncertain mixed environment. Demand has been introduced as a fuzzy random variable. In this model, a single order is placed before the start of the selling season. The customer, for a full refund, may return purchased products within a certain time interval. Returned products are resalable, provided they arrive back before the end of the selling season and are found to be undamaged. Products remaining at the end of the season are salvaged. All demands not met directly are lost. The probabilities that a sold product is returned and that a returned product is resalable, both imprecise in a real situation, have been assumed to be fuzzy in nature.
Keywords: Fuzzy random variable, Modified graded meanintegration, Internet mail order, Inventory.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15053694 Assessing the Antimicrobial Activity of Chitosan Nanoparticles by Fluorescence-Labeling
Authors: Laidson P. Gomes, Cristina T. Andrade, Eduardo M. Del Aguila, Cameron Alexander, Vânia M. F. Paschoalin
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Chitosan is a natural polysaccharide prepared by the N-deacetylation of chitin. In this study, the physicochemical and antibacterial properties of chitosan nanoparticles, produced by ultrasound irradiation, were evaluated. The physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles were determined by dynamic light scattering and zeta potential analysis. Chitosan nanoparticles inhibited the growth of E. coli. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were lower than 0.5 mg/mL, and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values were similar or higher than MIC values. Confocal laser scanning micrographs (CLSM) were used to observe the interaction between E. coli suspensions mixed with FITC-labeled chitosan polymers and nanoparticles.
Keywords: Chitosan nanoparticles, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, confocal microscopy, antibacterial activity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10403693 Creativity: A Motivational Tool for Interest and Conceptual Understanding in Science Education
Authors: Thienhuong Hoang
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This qualitative, quantitative mixed-method study explores how students- motivation and interest in creative hands-on activities affected their conceptual understanding of science. The objectives of this research include developing a greater understanding about how creative activities, incorporated into the classroom as instructional strategies, increase student motivation and their learning or mastery of science concepts. The creative activities are viewed as a motivational tool, a specific type of task, which have an impact on student goals. Pre-and-post tests, pre-and-post interviews, and student responses measure motivational-goal theory variables, interest in the activity, and conceptual change. Implications for education and future research will be discussed.
Keywords: Science education, motivation, conceptual understanding, instructional strategies.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17823692 Determination of Cd, Zn, K, pH, TNV, Organic Material and Electrical Conductivity (EC) Distribution in Agricultural Soils using Geostatistics and GIS (Case Study: South- Western of Natanz- Iran)
Authors: Abbas Hani, Seyed Ali Hoseini Abari
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Soil chemical and physical properties have important roles in compartment of the environment and agricultural sustainability and human health. The objectives of this research is determination of spatial distribution patterns of Cd, Zn, K, pH, TNV, organic material and electrical conductivity (EC) in agricultural soils of Natanz region in Esfehan province. In this study geostatistic and non-geostatistic methods were used for prediction of spatial distribution of these parameters. 64 composite soils samples were taken at 0-20 cm depth. The study area is located in south of NATANZ agricultural lands with area of 21660 hectares. Spatial distribution of Cd, Zn, K, pH, TNV, organic material and electrical conductivity (EC) was determined using geostatistic and geographic information system. Results showed that Cd, pH, TNV and K data has normal distribution and Zn, OC and EC data had not normal distribution. Kriging, Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Local Polynomial Interpolation (LPI) and Redial Basis functions (RBF) methods were used to interpolation. Trend analysis showed that organic carbon in north-south and east to west did not have trend while K and TNV had second degree trend. We used some error measurements include, mean absolute error(MAE), mean squared error (MSE) and mean biased error(MBE). Ordinary kriging(exponential model), LPI(Local polynomial interpolation), RBF(radial basis functions) and IDW methods have been chosen as the best methods to interpolating of the soil parameters. Prediction maps by disjunctive kriging was shown that in whole study area was intensive shortage of organic matter and more than 63.4 percent of study area had shortage of K amount.Keywords: Electrical conductivity, Geostatistics, Geographical Information System, TNV
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26653691 Examining How Constraints Influence NCAA Division II Athlete’s Physical Performance
Authors: Timothy Hinchman, Carrie Taylor
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This quantitative quasi-experimental research investigated disparities in mean and median performance among millennial soccer players. According to research, the fear of failure causes millennials to struggle with difficult jobs. The application of specified limitations has been found to increase individual productivity. The study utilized the constraint-based model of novelty (C-BMN) framework and the game performance assessment instrument (GPAI) to assess data concerning constraint-type and its impact on the productivity of 18 soccer players. Individual components cooperation and trapping had statistical significance throughout the intervention, while positioning, passing, and dribbling did not. The GPAI was statistically significant between the control and both restriction types. A two-way mixed ANOVA revealed no significant interaction between limitations and temperaments, however only 72% of individuals completed the temperament exam.
Keywords: Constraints, temperament, physical performance, GPAI.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2903690 Event Information Extraction System (EIEE): FSM vs HMM
Authors: Shaukat Wasi, Zubair A. Shaikh, Sajid Qasmi, Hussain Sachwani, Rehman Lalani, Aamir Chagani
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Automatic Extraction of Event information from social text stream (emails, social network sites, blogs etc) is a vital requirement for many applications like Event Planning and Management systems and security applications. The key information components needed from Event related text are Event title, location, participants, date and time. Emails have very unique distinctions over other social text streams from the perspective of layout and format and conversation style and are the most commonly used communication channel for broadcasting and planning events. Therefore we have chosen emails as our dataset. In our work, we have employed two statistical NLP methods, named as Finite State Machines (FSM) and Hidden Markov Model (HMM) for the extraction of event related contextual information. An application has been developed providing a comparison among the two methods over the event extraction task. It comprises of two modules, one for each method, and works for both bulk as well as direct user input. The results are evaluated using Precision, Recall and F-Score. Experiments show that both methods produce high performance and accuracy, however HMM was good enough over Title extraction and FSM proved to be better for Venue, Date, and time.Keywords: Emails, Event Extraction, Event Detection, Finite state machines, Hidden Markov Model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22973689 Modeling and Investigation of Elongation in Free Explosive Forming of Aluminum Alloy Plate
Authors: R. Alipour, F.Najarian
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Because of high ductility, aluminum alloys, have been widely used as an important base of metal forming industries. But the main week point of these alloys is their low strength so in forming them with conventional methods like deep drawing, hydro forming, etc have been always faced with problems like fracture during of forming process. Because of this, recently using of explosive forming method for forming of these plates has been recommended. In this paper free explosive forming of A2024 aluminum alloy is numerically simulated and during it, explosion wave propagation process is studied. Consequences of this simulation can be effective in prediction of quality of production. These consequences are compared with an experimental test and show the superiority of this method to similar methods like hydro forming and deep drawing.
Keywords: Free explosive forming, CEL, Johnson cook.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22933688 A Numerical Simulation of the Indoor Air Flow
Authors: Karel Frana, Jianshun S. Zhang, Milos Muller
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The indoor airflow with a mixed natural/forced convection was numerically calculated using the laminar and turbulent approach. The Boussinesq approximation was considered for a simplification of the mathematical model and calculations. The results obtained, such as mean velocity fields, were successfully compared with experimental PIV flow visualizations. The effect of the distance between the cooled wall and the heat exchanger on the temperature and velocity distributions was calculated. In a room with a simple shape, the computational code OpenFOAM demonstrated an ability to numerically predict flow patterns. Furthermore, numerical techniques, boundary type conditions and the computational grid quality were examined. Calculations using the turbulence model k-omega had a significant effect on the results influencing temperature and velocity distributions.Keywords: natural and forced convections, numerical simulations, indoor airflows.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31863687 Application of Pattern Search Method to Power System Security Constrained Economic Dispatch
Authors: A. K. Al-Othman, K. M. EL-Nagger
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Direct search methods are evolutionary algorithms used to solve optimization problems. (DS) methods do not require any information about the gradient of the objective function at hand while searching for an optimum solution. One of such methods is Pattern Search (PS) algorithm. This paper presents a new approach based on a constrained pattern search algorithm to solve a security constrained power system economic dispatch problem (SCED). Operation of power systems demands a high degree of security to keep the system satisfactorily operating when subjected to disturbances, while and at the same time it is required to pay attention to the economic aspects. Pattern recognition technique is used first to assess dynamic security. Linear classifiers that determine the stability of electric power system are presented and added to other system stability and operational constraints. The problem is formulated as a constrained optimization problem in a way that insures a secure-economic system operation. Pattern search method is then applied to solve the constrained optimization formulation. In particular, the method is tested using one system. Simulation results of the proposed approach are compared with those reported in literature. The outcome is very encouraging and proves that pattern search (PS) is very applicable for solving security constrained power system economic dispatch problem (SCED).
Keywords: Security Constrained Economic Dispatch, Direct Search method, optimization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21873686 Corporate Cultures Management towards the Retention of Employees: Case Study Company in Thailand
Authors: Duangsamorn Rungsawanpho
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The objectives of this paper are to explore the corporate cultures management as determinants of employee retention company in Thailand. This study using mixed method methodology. Data collection using questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The statistics used for data analysis were percentage, mean, standard deviation and inferential statistics will include. The results show that the corporate management culture is perfect for any organization but it depends on the business and the industry because the situations or circumstances that corporate executives are met is different. Because the finding explained that the employees of the company determine the achievement of value-oriented by the corporate culture and international relations is perceived most value for their organizations. In additional we found the employees perceiving with participation can be interpreted as a positive example, many employees feel that they are part of management because they care about their opinions or ideas related with their work.
Keywords: Corporate culture, employee retention, retention of employees, management approaches.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7013685 Comparative Analysis of the Public Funding for Greek Universities: An Ordinal DEA/MCDM Approach
Authors: Yiannis Smirlis, Dimitris K. Despotis
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This study performs a comparative analysis of the 21 Greek Universities in terms of their public funding, awarded for covering their operating expenditure. First it introduces a DEA/MCDM model that allocates the fund into four expenditure factors in the most favorable way for each university. Then, it presents a common, consensual assessment model to reallocate the amounts, remaining in the same level of total public budget. From the analysis it derives that a number of universities cannot justify the public funding in terms of their size and operational workload. For them, the sufficient reduction of their public funding amount is estimated as a future target. Due to the lack of precise data for a number of expenditure criteria, the analysis is based on a mixed crisp-ordinal data set.Keywords: Data envelopment analysis, Greek universities, operating expenditures, ordinal data.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17363684 A Method to Saturation Modeling of Synchronous Machines in d-q Axes
Authors: Mohamed A. Khlifi, Badr M. Alshammari
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This paper discusses the general methods to saturation in the steady-state, two axis (d & q) frame models of synchronous machines. In particular, the important role of the magnetic coupling between the d-q axes (cross-magnetizing phenomenon), is demonstrated. For that purpose, distinct methods of saturation modeling of dumper synchronous machine with cross-saturation are identified, and detailed models synthesis in d-q axes. A number of models are given in the final developed form. The procedure and the novel models are verified by a critical application to prove the validity of the method and the equivalence between all developed models is reported. Advantages of some of the models over the existing ones and their applicability are discussed.Keywords: Cross-magnetizing, models synthesis, synchronous machine, saturated modeling, state-space vectors.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22123683 Mathematical Model and Solution Algorithm for Containership Operation/Maintenance Scheduling
Authors: Hun Go, Ji-Su Kim, Dong-Ho Lee
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This study considers the problem of determining operation and maintenance schedules for a containership equipped with components during its sailing according to a pre-determined navigation schedule. The operation schedule, which specifies work time of each component, determines the due-date of each maintenance activity, and the maintenance schedule specifies the actual start time of each maintenance activity. The main constraints are component requirements, workforce availability, working time limitation, and inter-maintenance time. To represent the problem mathematically, a mixed integer programming model is developed. Then, due to the problem complexity, we suggest a heuristic for the objective of minimizing the sum of earliness and tardiness between the due-date and the starting time of each maintenance activity. Computational experiments were done on various test instances and the results are reported.Keywords: Containerships, operation and preventive maintenance schedules, integer programming, heuristic
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15923682 The Practical MFCAV Riemann Solver is Applied to a New Cell-centered Lagrangian Method
Authors: Yan Liu, Weidong Shen, Dekang Mao, Baolin Tian
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The MFCAV Riemann solver is practically used in many Lagrangian or ALE methods due to its merit of sharp shock profiles and rarefaction corners, though very often with numerical oscillations. By viewing it as a modification of the WWAM Riemann solver, we apply the MFCAV Riemann solver to the Lagrangian method recently developed by Maire. P. H et. al.. The numerical experiments show that the application is successful in that the shock profiles and rarefaction corners are sharpened compared with results obtained using other Riemann solvers. Though there are still numerical oscillations, they are within the range of the MFCAV applied in onther Lagrangian methods.
Keywords: Cell-centered Lagrangian method, approximated Riemann solver, HLLC Riemann solver
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18193681 MIBiClus: Mutual Information based Biclustering Algorithm
Authors: Neelima Gupta, Seema Aggarwal
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Most of the biclustering/projected clustering algorithms are based either on the Euclidean distance or correlation coefficient which capture only linear relationships. However, in many applications, like gene expression data and word-document data, non linear relationships may exist between the objects. Mutual Information between two variables provides a more general criterion to investigate dependencies amongst variables. In this paper, we improve upon our previous algorithm that uses mutual information for biclustering in terms of computation time and also the type of clusters identified. The algorithm is able to find biclusters with mixed relationships and is faster than the previous one. To the best of our knowledge, none of the other existing algorithms for biclustering have used mutual information as a similarity measure. We present the experimental results on synthetic data as well as on the yeast expression data. Biclusters on the yeast data were found to be biologically and statistically significant using GO Tool Box and FuncAssociate.
Keywords: Biclustering, mutual information.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16003680 Evaluation of Introductory Programming Course for Non-Computer Science Majored Students
Authors: H. Varol
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Although students’ interest level in pursuing Computer Science and related degrees are lower than previous decade, fundamentals of computers, specifically introductory level programming courses are either listed as core or elective courses for a number of non-computer science majors. Universities accommodate these non-computer science majored students either via creating separate sections of a class for them or simply offering mixed-body classroom solutions, in which both computer science and non-computer science students take the courses together. In this work, we demonstrated how we handle introductory level programming course at Sam Houston State University and also provide facts about our observations on students’ success during the coursework. Moreover, we provide suggestions and methodologies that are based on students’ major and skills to overcome the deficiencies of mix-body type of classes.
Keywords: Computer science, non-computer science major, programming, programming education.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18113679 Mathematical Modeling of Asphaltene Precipitation: A Review
Authors: Josefina Barnachea Janier, Radzuan B. Razali, Afza Shafie, Brahim Belhaouari Samir
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In the Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) method, use of Carbon dioxide flooding whereby CO2 is injected into an oil reservoir to increase output when extracting oil resulted significant recovery worldwide. The carbon dioxide function as a pressurizing agent when mixed into the underground crude oil will reduce its viscosity and will enable a rapid oil flow. Despite the CO2’s advantage in the oil recovery, it may result to asphaltene precipitation a problem that will cause the reduction of oil produced from oil wells. In severe cases, asphaltene precipitation can cause costly blockages in oil pipes and machinery. This paper presents reviews of several studies done on mathematical modeling of asphaltene precipitation. The synthesized result from several researches done on this topic can be used as guide in order to better understand asphaltene precipitation. Likewise, this can be used as initial reference for students, and new researchers doing study on asphaltene precipitation.
Keywords: Asphaltene precipitation, crude oil, carbon dioxide flooding, enhanced oil recovery.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 39723678 Image Thresholding for Weld Defect Extraction in Industrial Radiographic Testing
Authors: Nafaâ Nacereddine, Latifa Hamami, Djemel Ziou
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In non destructive testing by radiography, a perfect knowledge of the weld defect shape is an essential step to appreciate the quality of the weld and make decision on its acceptability or rejection. Because of the complex nature of the considered images, and in order that the detected defect region represents the most accurately possible the real defect, the choice of thresholding methods must be done judiciously. In this paper, performance criteria are used to conduct a comparative study of thresholding methods based on gray level histogram, 2-D histogram and locally adaptive approach for weld defect extraction in radiographic images.
Keywords: 1D and 2D histogram, locally adaptive approach, performance criteria, radiographic image, thresholding, weld defect.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2321