Search results for: Networked Model Predictive Control
584 Application of Systems Engineering Tools and Methods to Improve Healthcare Delivery Inside the Emergency Department of a Mid-Size Hospital
Authors: Mohamed Elshal, Hazim El-Mounayri, Omar El-Mounayri
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Emergency department (ED) is considered as a complex system of interacting entities: patients, human resources, software and hardware systems, interfaces, and other systems. This paper represents a research for implementing a detailed Systems Engineering (SE) approach in a mid-size hospital in central Indiana. This methodology will be applied by “The Initiative for Product Lifecycle Innovation (IPLI)” institution at Indiana University to study and solve the crowding problem with the aim of increasing throughput of patients and enhance their treatment experience; therefore, the nature of crowding problem needs to be investigated with all other problems that leads to it. The presented SE methods are workflow analysis and systems modeling where SE tools such as Microsoft Visio are used to construct a group of system-level diagrams that demonstrate: patient’s workflow, documentation and communication flow, data systems, human resources workflow and requirements, leadership involved, and integration between ER different systems. Finally, the ultimate goal will be managing the process through implementation of an executable model using commercialized software tools, which will identify bottlenecks, improve documentation flow, and help make the process faster.Keywords: Systems modeling, ED operation, workflow modeling, systems analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1033583 FSM-based Recognition of Dynamic Hand Gestures via Gesture Summarization Using Key Video Object Planes
Authors: M. K. Bhuyan
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The use of human hand as a natural interface for humancomputer interaction (HCI) serves as the motivation for research in hand gesture recognition. Vision-based hand gesture recognition involves visual analysis of hand shape, position and/or movement. In this paper, we use the concept of object-based video abstraction for segmenting the frames into video object planes (VOPs), as used in MPEG-4, with each VOP corresponding to one semantically meaningful hand position. Next, the key VOPs are selected on the basis of the amount of change in hand shape – for a given key frame in the sequence the next key frame is the one in which the hand changes its shape significantly. Thus, an entire video clip is transformed into a small number of representative frames that are sufficient to represent a gesture sequence. Subsequently, we model a particular gesture as a sequence of key frames each bearing information about its duration. These constitute a finite state machine. For recognition, the states of the incoming gesture sequence are matched with the states of all different FSMs contained in the database of gesture vocabulary. The core idea of our proposed representation is that redundant frames of the gesture video sequence bear only the temporal information of a gesture and hence discarded for computational efficiency. Experimental results obtained demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed scheme for key frame extraction, subsequent gesture summarization and finally gesture recognition.
Keywords: Hand gesture, MPEG-4, Hausdorff distance, finite state machine.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2019582 Climatic Factors Affecting Influenza Cases in Southern Thailand
Authors: S. Youthao, M. Jaroensutasinee, K. Jaroensutasinee
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This study investigated climatic factors associated with influenza cases in Southern Thailand. The main aim for use regression analysis to investigate possible causual relationship of climatic factors and variability between the border of the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Southern Thailand had the highest Influenza incidences among four regions (i.e. north, northeast, central and southern Thailand). In this study, there were 14 climatic factors: mean relative humidity, maximum relative humidity, minimum relative humidity, rainfall, rainy days, daily maximum rainfall, pressure, maximum wind speed, mean wind speed, sunshine duration, mean temperature, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, and temperature difference (i.e. maximum – minimum temperature). Multiple stepwise regression technique was used to fit the statistical model. The results indicated that the mean wind speed and the minimum relative humidity were positively associated with the number of influenza cases on the Andaman Sea side. The maximum wind speed was positively associated with the number of influenza cases on the Gulf of Thailand side.Keywords: Influenza, Climatic Factor, Relative Humidity, Rainfall, Pressure, Wind Speed, sunshine duration, Temperature, Andaman Sea, Gulf of Thailand, Southern Thailand.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1614581 Reduction of Power Losses in Distribution Systems
Authors: Y. Al-Mahroqi, I.A. Metwally, A. Al-Hinai, A. Al-Badi
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Losses reduction initiatives in distribution systems have been activated due to the increasing cost of supplying electricity, the shortage in fuel with ever-increasing cost to produce more power, and the global warming concerns. These initiatives have been introduced to the utilities in shape of incentives and penalties. Recently, the electricity distribution companies in Oman have been incentivized to reduce the distribution technical and non-technical losses with an equal annual reduction rate for 6 years. In this paper, different techniques for losses reduction in Mazoon Electricity Company (MZEC) are addressed. In this company, high numbers of substation and feeders were found to be non-compliant with the Distribution System Security Standard (DSSS). Therefore, 33 projects have been suggested to bring non-complying 29 substations and 28 feeders to meet the planed criteria and to comply with the DSSS. The largest part of MZEC-s network (South Batinah region) was modeled by ETAP software package. The model has been extended to implement the proposed projects and to examine their effects on losses reduction. Simulation results have shown that the implementation of these projects leads to a significant improvement in voltage profile, and reduction in the active and the reactive power losses. Finally, the economical analysis has revealed that the implementation of the proposed projects in MZEC leads to an annual saving of about US$ 5 million.Keywords: Losses Reduction, Technical Losses, Non-Technical Losses, Cost Analysis
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9357580 Trajectory Guided Recognition of Hand Gestures having only Global Motions
Authors: M. K. Bhuyan, P. K. Bora, D. Ghosh
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One very interesting field of research in Pattern Recognition that has gained much attention in recent times is Gesture Recognition. In this paper, we consider a form of dynamic hand gestures that are characterized by total movement of the hand (arm) in space. For these types of gestures, the shape of the hand (palm) during gesturing does not bear any significance. In our work, we propose a model-based method for tracking hand motion in space, thereby estimating the hand motion trajectory. We employ the dynamic time warping (DTW) algorithm for time alignment and normalization of spatio-temporal variations that exist among samples belonging to the same gesture class. During training, one template trajectory and one prototype feature vector are generated for every gesture class. Features used in our work include some static and dynamic motion trajectory features. Recognition is accomplished in two stages. In the first stage, all unlikely gesture classes are eliminated by comparing the input gesture trajectory to all the template trajectories. In the next stage, feature vector extracted from the input gesture is compared to all the class prototype feature vectors using a distance classifier. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed trajectory estimator and classifier is suitable for Human Computer Interaction (HCI) platform.
Keywords: Hand gesture, human computer interaction, key video object plane, dynamic time warping.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2733579 Agile Methodology for Modeling and Design of Data Warehouses -AM4DW-
Authors: Nieto Bernal Wilson, Carmona Suarez Edgar
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The organizations have structured and unstructured information in different formats, sources, and systems. Part of these come from ERP under OLTP processing that support the information system, however these organizations in OLAP processing level, presented some deficiencies, part of this problematic lies in that does not exist interesting into extract knowledge from their data sources, as also the absence of operational capabilities to tackle with these kind of projects. Data Warehouse and its applications are considered as non-proprietary tools, which are of great interest to business intelligence, since they are repositories basis for creating models or patterns (behavior of customers, suppliers, products, social networks and genomics) and facilitate corporate decision making and research. The following paper present a structured methodology, simple, inspired from the agile development models as Scrum, XP and AUP. Also the models object relational, spatial data models, and the base line of data modeling under UML and Big data, from this way sought to deliver an agile methodology for the developing of data warehouses, simple and of easy application. The methodology naturally take into account the application of process for the respectively information analysis, visualization and data mining, particularly for patterns generation and derived models from the objects facts structured.
Keywords: Data warehouse, model data, big data, object fact, object relational fact, process developed data warehouse.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1471578 The Impact of Motivation, Trust, and National Cultural Differences on Knowledge Sharing within the Context of Electronic Mail
Authors: Said Abdullah Al Saifi
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The goal of this research is to examine the impact of trust, motivation, and national culture on knowledge sharing within the context of electronic mail. This study is quantitative and survey based. In order to conduct the research, 200 students from a leading university in New Zealand were chosen randomly to participate in a questionnaire survey. Motivation and trust were found to be significantly and positively related to knowledge sharing. The research findings illustrated that face saving, face gaining, and individualism positively moderates the relationship between motivation and knowledge sharing. In addition, collectivism culture negatively moderates the relationship between motivation and knowledge sharing. Moreover, the research findings reveal that face saving, individualism, and collectivism culture positively moderate the relationship between trust and knowledge sharing. In addition, face gaining culture negatively moderates the relationship between trust and knowledge sharing. This study sets out several implications for researchers and practitioners. The study produces an integrative model that shows how attributes of national culture impact knowledge sharing through the use of emails. A better understanding of the relationship between knowledge sharing and trust, motivation, and national culture differences will increase individuals’ ability to make wise choices when sharing knowledge with those from different cultures.Keywords: Knowledge sharing, motivation, national culture, trust.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1614577 Evaluation of Deformable Boundary Condition Using Finite Element Method and Impact Test for Steel Tubes
Authors: Abed Ahmed, Mehrdad Asadi, Jennifer Martay
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Stainless steel pipelines are crucial components to transportation and storage in the oil and gas industry. However, the rise of random attacks and vandalism on these pipes for their valuable transport has led to more security and protection for incoming surface impacts. These surface impacts can lead to large global deformations of the pipe and place the pipe under strain, causing the eventual failure of the pipeline. Therefore, understanding how these surface impact loads affect the pipes is vital to improving the pipes’ security and protection. In this study, experimental test and finite element analysis (FEA) have been carried out on EN3B stainless steel specimens to study the impact behaviour. Low velocity impact tests at 9 m/s with 16 kg dome impactor was used to simulate for high momentum impact for localised failure. FEA models of clamped and deformable boundaries were modelled to study the effect of the boundaries on the pipes impact behaviour on its impact resistance, using experimental and FEA approach. Comparison of experimental and FE simulation shows good correlation to the deformable boundaries in order to validate the robustness of the FE model to be implemented in pipe models with complex anisotropic structure.
Keywords: Dynamic impact, deformable boundary conditions, finite element modeling, FEM, finite element, FE, LS-DYNA, Stainless steel pipe.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 682576 Performance Assessment of Computational Gridon Weather Indices from HOAPS Data
Authors: Madhuri Bhavsar, Anupam K Singh, Shrikant Pradhan
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Long term rainfall analysis and prediction is a challenging task especially in the modern world where the impact of global warming is creating complications in environmental issues. These factors which are data intensive require high performance computational modeling for accurate prediction. This research paper describes a prototype which is designed and developed on grid environment using a number of coupled software infrastructural building blocks. This grid enabled system provides the demanding computational power, efficiency, resources, user-friendly interface, secured job submission and high throughput. The results obtained using sequential execution and grid enabled execution shows that computational performance has enhanced among 36% to 75%, for decade of climate parameters. Large variation in performance can be attributed to varying degree of computational resources available for job execution. Grid Computing enables the dynamic runtime selection, sharing and aggregation of distributed and autonomous resources which plays an important role not only in business, but also in scientific implications and social surroundings. This research paper attempts to explore the grid enabled computing capabilities on weather indices from HOAPS data for climate impact modeling and change detection.Keywords: Climate model, Computational Grid, GridApplication, Heterogeneous Grid
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1427575 Maximum Common Substructure Extraction in RNA Secondary Structures Using Clique Detection Approach
Authors: Shih-Yi Chao
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The similarity comparison of RNA secondary structures is important in studying the functions of RNAs. In recent years, most existing tools represent the secondary structures by tree-based presentation and calculate the similarity by tree alignment distance. Different to previous approaches, we propose a new method based on maximum clique detection algorithm to extract the maximum common structural elements in compared RNA secondary structures. A new graph-based similarity measurement and maximum common subgraph detection procedures for comparing purely RNA secondary structures is introduced. Given two RNA secondary structures, the proposed algorithm consists of a process to determine the score of the structural similarity, followed by comparing vertices labelling, the labelled edges and the exact degree of each vertex. The proposed algorithm also consists of a process to extract the common structural elements between compared secondary structures based on a proposed maximum clique detection of the problem. This graph-based model also can work with NC-IUB code to perform the pattern-based searching. Therefore, it can be used to identify functional RNA motifs from database or to extract common substructures between complex RNA secondary structures. We have proved the performance of this proposed algorithm by experimental results. It provides a new idea of comparing RNA secondary structures. This tool is helpful to those who are interested in structural bioinformatics.Keywords: Clique detection, labeled vertices, RNA secondary structures, subgraph, similarity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1447574 Broadband PowerLine Communications: Performance Analysis
Authors: Justinian Anatory, Nelson Theethayi, M. M. Kissaka, N. H. Mvungi
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Power line channel is proposed as an alternative for broadband data transmission especially in developing countries like Tanzania [1]. However the channel is affected by stochastic attenuation and deep notches which can lead to the limitation of channel capacity and achievable data rate. Various studies have characterized the channel without giving exactly the maximum performance and limitation in data transfer rate may be this is due to complexity of channel modeling being used. In this paper the channel performance of medium voltage, low voltage and indoor power line channel is presented. In the investigations orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with phase shift keying (PSK) as carrier modulation schemes is considered, for indoor, medium and low voltage channels with typical ten branches and also Golay coding is applied for medium voltage channel. From channels, frequency response deep notches are observed in various frequencies which can lead to reduce the achievable data rate. However, is observed that data rate up to 240Mbps is realized for a signal to noise ratio of about 50dB for indoor and low voltage channels, however for medium voltage a typical link with ten branches is affected by strong multipath and coding is required for feasible broadband data transfer.
Keywords: Powerline Communications, branched network, channel model, modulation, channel performance, OFDM.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1823573 Fire Resistance of High Alumina Cement and Slag Based Ultra High Performance Fibre-Reinforced Cementitious Composites
Authors: A. Q. Sobia, M. S. Hamidah, I. Azmi, S. F. A. Rafeeqi
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Fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) structures are susceptible to intense deterioration when exposed to elevated temperatures, particularly in the incident of fire. FRP has the tendency to lose bond with the substrate due to the low glass transition temperature of epoxy; the key component of FRP matrix. In the past few decades, various types of high performance cementitious composites (HPCC) were explored for the protection of RC structural members against elevated temperature. However, there is an inadequate information on the influence of elevated temperature on the ultra high performance fibre-reinforced cementitious composites (UHPFRCC) containing ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) as a replacement of high alumina cement (HAC) in conjunction with hybrid fibres (basalt and polypropylene fibres), which could be a prospective fire resisting material for the structural components. The influence of elevated temperatures on the compressive as well as flexural strength of UHPFRCC, made of HAC-GGBS and hybrid fibres, were examined in this study. Besides control sample (without fibres), three other samples, containing 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% of basalt fibres by total weight of mix and 1 kg/m3 of polypropylene fibres, were prepared and tested. Another mix was also prepared with only 1 kg/m3 of polypropylene fibres. Each of the samples were retained at ambient temperature as well as exposed to 400, 700 and 1000 °C followed by testing after 28 and 56 days of conventional curing. Investigation of results disclosed that the use of hybrid fibres significantly helped to improve the ambient temperature compressive and flexural strength of UHPFRCC, which was found to be 80 and 14.3 MPa respectively. However, the optimum residual compressive strength was marked by UHPFRCC-CP (with polypropylene fibres only), equally after both curing days (28 and 56 days), i.e. 41%. In addition, the utmost residual flexural strength, after 28 and 56 days of curing, was marked by UHPFRCC– CP and UHPFRCC– CB2 (1 kg/m3 of PP fibres + 1% of basalt fibres) i.e. 39% and 48.5% respectively.
Keywords: Fibre reinforced polymer materials, ground granulated blast furnace slag, high-alumina cement, hybrid fibres.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1125572 Evaluation of Aquifer Protective Capacity and Soil Corrosivity Using Geoelectrical Method
Authors: M. T. Tsepav, Y. Adamu, M. A. Umar
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A geoelectric survey was carried out in some parts of Angwan Gwari, an outskirt of Lapai Local Government Area on Niger State which belongs to the Nigerian Basement Complex, with the aim of evaluating the soil corrosivity, aquifer transmissivity and protective capacity of the area from which aquifer characterisation was made. The G41 Resistivity Meter was employed to obtain fifteen Schlumberger Vertical Electrical Sounding data along profiles in a square grid network. The data were processed using interpex 1-D sounding inversion software, which gives vertical electrical sounding curves with layered model comprising of the apparent resistivities, overburden thicknesses, and depth. This information was used to evaluate longitudinal conductance and transmissivities of the layers. The results show generally low resistivities across the survey area and an average longitudinal conductance variation from 0.0237Siemens in VES 6 to 0.1261Siemens in VES 15 with almost the entire area giving values less than 1.0 Siemens. The average transmissivity values range from 96.45 Ω.m2 in VES 4 to 299070 Ω.m2 in VES 1. All but VES 4 and VES14 had an average overburden greater than 400 Ω.m2, these results suggest that the aquifers are highly permeable to fluid movement within, leading to the possibility of enhanced migration and circulation of contaminants in the groundwater system and that the area is generally corrosive.
Keywords: Geoelectric survey, corrosivity, protective capacity, transmissivity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2233571 Topics of Blockchain Technology to Teach at Community College
Authors: Penn P. Wu, Jeannie Jo
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Blockchain technology has rapidly gained popularity in industry. This paper attempts to assist academia to answer four questions. First, should community colleges begin offering education to nurture blockchain-literate students for the job market? Second, what are the appropriate topical areas to cover? Third, should it be an individual course? And forth, should it be a technical or management course? This paper starts with identifying the knowledge domains of blockchain technology and the topical areas each domain has, and continues with placing them in appropriate academic territories (Computer Sciences vs. Business) and subjects (programming, management, marketing, and laws), and then develops an evaluation model to determine the appropriate topical area for community colleges to teach. The evaluation is based on seven factors: maturity of technology, impacts on management, real-world applications, subject classification, knowledge prerequisites, textbook readiness, and recommended pedagogies. The evaluation results point to an interesting direction that offering an introductory course is an ideal option to guide students through the learning journey of what blockchain is and how it applies to business. Such an introductory course does not need to engage students in the discussions of mathematics and sciences that make blockchain technologies possible. While it is inevitable to brief technical topics to help students build a solid knowledge foundation of blockchain technologies, community colleges should avoid offering students a course centered on the discussion of developing blockchain applications.
Keywords: Blockchain, pedagogies, blockchain technologies, blockchain course, blockchain pedagogies.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 915570 Testing a Flexible Manufacturing System Facility Production Capacity through Discrete Event Simulation: Automotive Case Study
Authors: Justyna Rybicka, Ashutosh Tiwari, Shane Enticott
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In the age of automation and computation aiding manufacturing, it is clear that manufacturing systems have become more complex than ever before. Although technological advances provide the capability to gain more value with fewer resources, sometimes utilisation of the manufacturing capabilities available to organisations is difficult to achieve. Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) provide a unique capability to manufacturing organisations where there is a need for product range diversification by providing line efficiency through production flexibility. This is very valuable in trend driven production set-ups or niche volume production requirements. Although FMS provides flexible and efficient facilities, its optimal set-up is key in achieving production performance. As many variables are interlinked due to the flexibility provided by the FMS, analytical calculations are not always sufficient to predict the FMS’ performance. Simulation modelling is capable of capturing the complexity and constraints associated with FMS. This paper demonstrates how discrete event simulation (DES) can address complexity in an FMS to optimise the production line performance. A case study of an automotive FMS is presented. The DES model demonstrates different configuration options depending on prioritising objectives: utilisation and throughput. Additionally, this paper provides insight into understanding the impact of system set-up constraints on the FMS performance and demonstrates the exploration into the optimal production set-up.
Keywords: Automotive, capacity performance, discrete event simulation, flexible manufacturing system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2922569 Production of Pre-Reduction of Iron Ore Nuggets with Lesser Sulphur Intake by Devolatisation of Boiler Grade Coal
Authors: Chanchal Biswas, Anrin Bhattacharyya, Gopes Chandra Das, Mahua Ghosh Chaudhuri, Rajib Dey
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Boiler coals with low fixed carbon and higher ash content have always challenged the metallurgists to develop a suitable method for their utilization. In the present study, an attempt is made to establish an energy effective method for the reduction of iron ore fines in the form of nuggets by using ‘Syngas’. By devolatisation (expulsion of volatile matter by applying heat) of boiler coal, gaseous product (enriched with reducing agents like CO, CO2, H2, and CH4 gases) is generated. Iron ore nuggets are reduced by this syngas. For that reason, there is no direct contact between iron ore nuggets and coal ash. It helps to control the minimization of the sulphur intake of the reduced nuggets. A laboratory scale devolatisation furnace designed with reduction facility is evaluated after in-depth studies and exhaustive experimentations including thermo-gravimetric (TG-DTA) analysis to find out the volatile fraction present in boiler grade coal, gas chromatography (GC) to find out syngas composition in different temperature and furnace temperature gradient measurements to minimize the furnace cost by applying one heating coil. The nuggets are reduced in the devolatisation furnace at three different temperatures and three different times. The pre-reduced nuggets are subjected to analytical weight loss calculations to evaluate the extent of reduction. The phase and surface morphology analysis of pre-reduced samples are characterized using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), carbon sulphur analyzer and chemical analysis method. Degree of metallization of the reduced nuggets is 78.9% by using boiler grade coal. The pre-reduced nuggets with lesser sulphur content could be used in the blast furnace as raw materials or coolant which would reduce the high quality of coke rate of the furnace due to its pre-reduced character. These can be used in Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) as coolant also.Keywords: Alternative ironmaking, coal devolatisation, extent of reduction, nugget making, syngas based DRI, solid state reduction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1477568 Preliminary Geophysical Assessment of Soil Contaminants around Wacot Rice Factory Argungu, North-Western Nigeria
Authors: A. I. Augie, Y. Alhassan, U. Z. Magawata
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Geophysical investigation was carried out at wacot rice factory Argungu north-western Nigeria, using the 2D electrical resistivity method. The area falls between latitude 12˚44′23ʺN to 12˚44′50ʺN and longitude 4032′18′′E to 4032′39′′E covering a total area of about 1.85 km. Two profiles were carried out with Wenner configuration using resistivity meter (Ohmega). The data obtained from the study area were modeled using RES2DIVN software which gave an automatic interpretation of the apparent resistivity data. The inverse resistivity models of the profiles show the high resistivity values ranging from 208 Ωm to 651 Ωm. These high resistivity values in the overburden were due to dryness and compactness of the strata that lead to consolidation, which is an indication that the area is free from leachate contaminations. However, from the inverse model, there are regions of low resistivity values (1 Ωm to 18 Ωm), these zones were observed and identified as clayey and the most contaminated zones. The regions of low resistivity thereby indicated the leachate plume or the highly leachate concentrated zones due to similar resistivity values in both clayey and leachate. The regions of leachate are mainly from the factory into the surrounding area and its groundwater. The maximum leachate infiltration was found at depths 1 m to 15.9 m (P1) and 6 m to 15.9 m (P2) vertically, as well as distance along the profiles from 67 m to 75 m (P1), 155 m to 180 m (P1), and 115 m to 192 m (P2) laterally.Keywords: Contaminant, leachate, soil, groundwater, 2D, electrical, resistivity, Argungu.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 566567 Parametric and Analysis Study of the Melting in Slabs Heated by a Laminar Heat Transfer Fluid in Downward and Upward Flows
Authors: Radouane Elbahjaoui, Hamid El Qarnia
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The present work aims to investigate numerically the thermal and flow characteristics of a rectangular latent heat storage unit (LHSU) during the melting process of a phase change material (PCM). The LHSU consists of a number of vertical and identical plates of PCM separated by rectangular channels. The melting process is initiated when the LHSU is heated by a heat transfer fluid (HTF: water) flowing in channels in a downward or upward direction. The proposed study is motivated by the need to optimize the thermal performance of the LHSU by accelerating the charging process. A mathematical model is developed and a fixed-grid enthalpy formulation is adopted for modeling the melting process coupling with convection-conduction heat transfer. The finite volume method was used for discretization. The obtained numerical results are compared with experimental, analytical and numerical ones found in the literature and reasonable agreement is obtained. Thereafter, the numerical investigations were carried out to highlight the effects of the HTF flow direction and the aspect ratio of the PCM slabs on the heat transfer characteristics and thermal performance enhancement of the LHSU.
Keywords: Phase change material, thermal energy storage, latent heat storage unit, melting.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 894566 Compressed Sensing of Fetal Electrocardiogram Signals Based on Joint Block Multi-Orthogonal Least Squares Algorithm
Authors: Xiang Jianhong, Wang Cong, Wang Linyu
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With the rise of medical IoT technologies, Wireless body area networks (WBANs) can collect fetal electrocardiogram (FECG) signals to support telemedicine analysis. The compressed sensing (CS)-based WBANs system can avoid the sampling of a large amount of redundant information and reduce the complexity and computing time of data processing, but the existing algorithms have poor signal compression and reconstruction performance. In this paper, a Joint block multi-orthogonal least squares (JBMOLS) algorithm is proposed. We apply the FECG signal to the Joint block sparse model (JBSM), and a comparative study of sparse transformation and measurement matrices is carried out. A FECG signal compression transmission mode based on Rbio5.5 wavelet, Bernoulli measurement matrix, and JBMOLS algorithm is proposed to improve the compression and reconstruction performance of FECG signal by CS-based WBANs. Experimental results show that the compression ratio (CR) required for accurate reconstruction of this transmission mode is increased by nearly 10%, and the runtime is saved by about 30%.
Keywords: telemedicine, fetal electrocardiogram, compressed sensing, joint sparse reconstruction, block sparse signal
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 476565 Image-Based UAV Vertical Distance and Velocity Estimation Algorithm during the Vertical Landing Phase Using Low-Resolution Images
Authors: Seyed-Yaser Nabavi-Chashmi, Davood Asadi, Karim Ahmadi, Eren Demir
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The landing phase of a UAV is very critical as there are many uncertainties in this phase, which can easily entail a hard landing or even a crash. In this paper, the estimation of relative distance and velocity to the ground, as one of the most important processes during the landing phase, is studied. Using accurate measurement sensors as an alternative approach can be very expensive for sensors like LIDAR, or with a limited operational range, for sensors like ultrasonic sensors. Additionally, absolute positioning systems like GPS or IMU cannot provide distance to the ground independently. The focus of this paper is to determine whether we can measure the relative distance and velocity of UAV and ground in the landing phase using just low-resolution images taken by a monocular camera. The Lucas-Konda feature detection technique is employed to extract the most suitable feature in a series of images taken during the UAV landing. Two different approaches based on Extended Kalman Filters (EKF) have been proposed, and their performance in estimation of the relative distance and velocity are compared. The first approach uses the kinematics of the UAV as the process and the calculated optical flow as the measurement. On the other hand, the second approach uses the feature’s projection on the camera plane (pixel position) as the measurement while employing both the kinematics of the UAV and the dynamics of variation of projected point as the process to estimate both relative distance and relative velocity. To verify the results, a sequence of low-quality images taken by a camera that is moving on a specifically developed testbed has been used to compare the performance of the proposed algorithm. The case studies show that the quality of images results in considerable noise, which reduces the performance of the first approach. On the other hand, using the projected feature position is much less sensitive to the noise and estimates the distance and velocity with relatively high accuracy. This approach also can be used to predict the future projected feature position, which can drastically decrease the computational workload, as an important criterion for real-time applications.
Keywords: Automatic landing, multirotor, nonlinear control, parameters estimation, optical flow.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 497564 A Family Cars- Life Cycle Cost (LCC)-Oriented Hybrid Modelling Approach Combining ANN and CBR
Authors: Xiaochuan Chen, Jianguo Yang, Beizhi Li
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Design for cost (DFC) is a method that reduces life cycle cost (LCC) from the angle of designers. Multiple domain features mapping (MDFM) methodology was given in DFC. Using MDFM, we can use design features to estimate the LCC. From the angle of DFC, the design features of family cars were obtained, such as all dimensions, engine power and emission volume. At the conceptual design stage, cars- LCC were estimated using back propagation (BP) artificial neural networks (ANN) method and case-based reasoning (CBR). Hamming space was used to measure the similarity among cases in CBR method. Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA) were used in ANN. The differences of LCC estimation model between CBR and artificial neural networks (ANN) were provided. ANN and CBR separately each method has its shortcomings. By combining ANN and CBR improved results accuracy was obtained. Firstly, using ANN selected some design features that affect LCC. Then using LCC estimation results of ANN could raise the accuracy of LCC estimation in CBR method. Thirdly, using ANN estimate LCC errors and correct errors in CBR-s estimation results if the accuracy is not enough accurate. Finally, economically family cars and sport utility vehicle (SUV) was given as LCC estimation cases using this hybrid approach combining ANN and CBR.Keywords: case-based reasoning, life cycle cost (LCC), artificialneural networks (ANN), family cars
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1952563 Long-Term Follow-up of Dynamic Balance, Pain and Functional Performance in Cruciate Retaining and Posterior Stabilized Total Knee Arthroplasty
Authors: Ahmed R. Z. Baghdadi, Mona H. Gamal Eldein
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Background: With the perceived pain and poor function experienced following knee arthroplasty, patients usually feel un-satisfied. Yet, a controversy still persists on the appropriate operative technique that doesn’t affect proprioception much. Purpose: This study compared the effects of Cruciate Retaining (CR) and Posterior Stabilized (PS) total knee arthroplasty (TKA on dynamic balance, pain and functional performance following rehabilitation. Methods: Thirty patients with CRTKA (group I), thirty with PSTKA (group II) and fifteen indicated for arthroplasty but weren’t operated on yet (group III) participated in the study. The mean age was 54.53±3.44, 55.13±3.48 and 55.33±2.32 years and BMI 35.7±3.03, 35.7±1.99 and 35.73±1.03 kg/m2 for groups I, II and III respectively. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS), WOMAC pain subscale and Timed Up-and-Go (TUG) and Stair-Climbing (SC) tests were used for assessment. Assessments were conducted four weeks preand post-operatively, three, six and twelve months post-operatively with the control group being assessed at the same time intervals. The post-operative rehabilitation involved hospitalization (1st week), home-based (2nd-4th weeks), and outpatient clinic (5th-12th weeks) programs, follow-up to all groups for twelve months. Results: The Mixed design MANOVA revealed that group I had significantly lower pain scores and SC time compared with group II three, six and twelve months post-operatively. Moreover, the BBS scores increased significantly and the pain scores and TUG and SC time decreased significantly six months post-operatively compared with four weeks pre- and post-operatively and three months postoperatively in groups I and II with the opposite being true four weeks post-operatively. But no significant differences in BBS scores, pain scores and TUG and SC time between six and twelve months postoperatively in groups I and II. Interpretation/Conclusion: CRTKA is preferable to PSTKA, possibly due to the preserved human proprioceptors in the un-excised PCL.
Keywords: Dynamic Balance, Functional Performance, Knee Arthroplasty, Long-Term.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2047562 A New Model for Economic Optimization of Water Diversion System during Dam Construction using PSO Algorithm
Authors: Saeed Sedighizadeh, Abbas Mansoori, Mohammad Reza Pirestani, Davoud Sedighizadeh
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The usual method of river flow diversion involves construction of tunnels and cofferdams. Given the fact that the cost of diversion works could be as high as 10-20% of the total dam construction cost, due attention should be paid to optimum design of the diversion works. The cost of diversion works depends, on factors, such as: the tunnel dimensions and the intended tunneling support measures during and after excavation; quality and characterizes of the rock through which the tunnel should be excavated; the dimensions of the upstream (and downstream) cofferdams; and the magnitude of river flood the system is designed to divert. In this paper by use of the cost of unit prices for tunnel excavation, tunnel lining, tunnel support (rock bolt + shotcrete) and cofferdam fill the cost function was determined. The function is then minimized by the aid of PSO Algorithm (particle swarm optimization). It is found that the optimum diameter and the total diversion cost are directly related to the river flood discharge (Q). It has also shown that in addition to optimum diameter design discharge (Q), river length, tunnel length, is mainly a function of the ratios (not the absolute values) of the unit prices and does not depend on the overall price levels in the respective country. The results of optimization use in some of the case study lead us to significant changes in the cost.
Keywords: Diversion Tunnel, Optimization, PSO Algorithm
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2714561 A Multiple-Objective Environmental Rationalization and Optimization for Material Substitution in the Production of Stone-Washed Jeans- Garments
Authors: Nabil A. Ibrahim, Nabil M. Abdel Moneim, Mohamed A. Ramadan, Marwa M. Hosni
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As the Textile Industry is the second largest industry in Egypt and as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up a great portion of this industry therein it is essential to apply the concept of Cleaner Production for the purpose of reducing pollution. In order to achieve this goal, a case study concerned with ecofriendly stone-washing of jeans-garments was investigated. A raw material-substitution option was adopted whereby the toxic potassium permanganate and sodium sulfide were replaced by the environmentally compatible hydrogen peroxide and glucose respectively where the concentrations of both replaced chemicals together with the operating time were optimized. In addition, a process-rationalization option involving four additional processes was investigated. By means of criteria such as product quality, effluent analysis, mass and heat balance; and cost analysis with the aid of a statistical model, a process optimization treatment revealed that the superior process optima were 50%, 0.15% and 50min for H2O2 concentration, glucose concentration and time, respectively. With these values the superior process ought to reduce the annual cost by about EGP 105 relative to the currently used conventional method.Keywords: Cleaner Production, Eco-friendly of jeans garments, Stone washing, Textile Industry, Textile Wet Processing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2063560 Research of Strong-Column-Weak-Beam Criteria of Reinforced Concrete Frames Subjected to Biaxial Seismic Excitation
Authors: Chong Zhang, Mu-Xuan Tao
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In several earthquakes, numerous reinforced concrete (RC) frames subjected to seismic excitation demonstrated a collapse pattern characterized by column hinges, though designed according to the Strong-Column-Weak-Beam (S-C-W-B) criteria. The effect of biaxial seismic excitation on the disparity between design and actual performance is carefully investigated in this article. First, a modified load contour method is proposed to derive a closed-form equation of biaxial bending moment strength, which is verified by numerical and experimental tests. Afterwards, a group of time history analyses of a simple frame modeled by fiber beam-column elements subjected to biaxial seismic excitation are conducted to verify that the current S-C-W-B criteria are not adequate to prevent the occurrence of column hinges. A biaxial over-strength factor is developed based on the proposed equation, and the reinforcement of columns is appropriately amplified with this factor to prevent the occurrence of column hinges under biaxial excitation, which is proved to be effective by another group of time history analyses.
Keywords: Biaxial bending moment strength, biaxial seismic excitation, fiber beam-column model, load contour method, strong-column-weak-beam.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 608559 All Types of Base Pair Substitutions Induced by γ-Rays in Haploid and Diploid Yeast Cells
Authors: Natalia Koltovaya, Nadezhda Zhuchkina, Ksenia Lyubimova
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We study the biological effects induced by ionizing radiation in view of therapeutic exposure and the idea of space flights beyond Earth's magnetosphere. In particular, we examine the differences between base pair substitution induction by ionizing radiation in model haploid and diploid yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. Such mutations are difficult to study in higher eukaryotic systems. In our research, we have used a collection of six isogenic trp5-strains and 14 isogenic haploid and diploid cyc1-strains that are specific markers of all possible base-pair substitutions. These strains differ from each other only in single base substitutions within codon-50 of the trp5 gene or codon-22 of the cyc1 gene. Different mutation spectra for two different haploid genetic trp5- and cyc1-assays and different mutation spectra for the same genetic cyc1-system in cells with different ploidy — haploid and diploid — have been obtained. It was linear function for dose-dependence in haploid and exponential in diploid cells. We suggest that the differences between haploid yeast strains reflect the dependence on the sequence context, while the differences between haploid and diploid strains reflect the different molecular mechanisms of mutations.
Keywords: Base pair substitutions, γ-rays, haploid and diploid cells, yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 838558 A Real Time Development Study for Automated Centralized Remote Monitoring System at Royal Belum Forest
Authors: Amri Yusoff, Shahrizuan Shafiril, Ashardi Abas, Norma Che Yusoff
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Nowadays, illegal logging has been causing many effects including flash flood, avalanche, global warming, and etc. The purpose of this study was to maintain the earth ecosystem by keeping and regulate Malaysia’s treasurable rainforest by utilizing a new technology that will assist in real-time alert and give faster response to the authority to act on these illegal activities. The methodology of this research consisted of design stages that have been conducted as well as the system model and system architecture of the prototype in addition to the proposed hardware and software that have been mainly used such as microcontroller, sensor with the implementation of GSM, and GPS integrated system. This prototype was deployed at Royal Belum forest in December 2014 for phase 1 and April 2015 for phase 2 at 21 pinpoint locations. The findings of this research were the capture of data in real-time such as temperature, humidity, gaseous, fire, and rain detection which indicate the current natural state and habitat in the forest. Besides, this device location can be detected via GPS of its current location and then transmitted by SMS via GSM system. All of its readings were sent in real-time for further analysis. The data that were compared to meteorological department showed that the precision of this device was about 95% and these findings proved that the system is acceptable and suitable to be used in the field.Keywords: Remote monitoring system, forest data, GSM, GPS, wireless sensor.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1617557 Oscillatory Electroosmotic Flow of Power-Law Fluids in a Microchannel
Authors: Rubén Bãnos, José Arcos, Oscar Bautista, Federico Méndez
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The Oscillatory electroosmotic flow (OEOF) in power law fluids through a microchannel is studied numerically. A time-dependent external electric field (AC) is suddenly imposed at the ends of the microchannel which induces the fluid motion. The continuity and momentum equations in the x and y direction for the flow field were simplified in the limit of the lubrication approximation theory (LAT), and then solved using a numerical scheme. The solution of the electric potential is based on the Debye-H¨uckel approximation which suggest that the surface potential is small,say, smaller than 0.025V and for a symmetric (z : z) electrolyte. Our results suggest that the velocity profiles across the channel-width are controlled by the following dimensionless parameters: the angular Reynolds number, Reω, the electrokinetic parameter, ¯κ, defined as the ratio of the characteristic length scale to the Debye length, the parameter λ which represents the ratio of the Helmholtz-Smoluchowski velocity to the characteristic length scale and the flow behavior index, n. Also, the results reveal that the velocity profiles become more and more non-uniform across the channel-width as the Reω and ¯κ are increased, so oscillatory OEOF can be really useful in micro-fluidic devices such as micro-mixers.Keywords: Oscillatory electroosmotic flow, Non-Newtonian fluids, power-law model, low zeta potentials.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 875556 Catalytic Gasification of Olive Mill Wastewater as a Biomass Source under Supercritical Conditions
Authors: Ekin Kıpçak, Mesut Akgün
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Recently, a growing interest has emerged on the development of new and efficient energy sources, due to the inevitable extinction of the nonrenewable energy reserves. One of these alternative sources which have a great potential and sustainability to meet up the energy demand is biomass energy. This significant energy source can be utilized with various energy conversion technologies, one of which is biomass gasification in supercritical water.
Water, being the most important solvent in nature, has very important characteristics as a reaction solvent under supercritical circumstances. At temperatures above its critical point (374.8oC and 22.1MPa), water becomes more acidic and its diffusivity increases. Working with water at high temperatures increases the thermal reaction rate, which in consequence leads to a better dissolving of the organic matters and a fast reaction with oxygen. Hence, supercritical water offers a control mechanism depending on solubility, excellent transport properties based on its high diffusion ability and new reaction possibilities for hydrolysis or oxidation.
In this study the gasification of a real biomass, namely olive mill wastewater (OMW), in supercritical water conditions is investigated with the use of Ru/Al2O3 catalyst. OMW is a by-product obtained during olive oil production, which has a complex nature characterized by a high content of organic compounds and polyphenols. These properties impose OMW a significant pollution potential, but at the same time, the high content of organics makes OMW a desirable biomass candidate for energy production.
The catalytic gasification experiments were made with five different reaction temperatures (400, 450, 500, 550 and 600°C) and five reaction times (30, 60, 90, 120 and 150s), under a constant pressure of 25MPa. Through these experiments, the effects of reaction temperature and time on the gasification yield, gaseous product composition and OMW treatment efficiency were investigated.
Keywords: Catalyst, Gasification, Olive mill wastewater, Ru/Al2O3, Supercritical water.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2267555 Experimental Testing of Statistical Size Effect in Civil Engineering Structures
Authors: Jana Kaděrová, Miroslav Vořechovský
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The presented paper copes with an experimental evaluation of a model based on modified Weibull size effect theory. Classical statistical Weibull theory was modified by introducing a new parameter (correlation length lp) representing the spatial autocorrelation of a random mechanical properties of material. This size effect modification was observed on two different materials used in civil engineering: unreinforced (plain) concrete and multi-filament yarns made of alkaliresistant (AR) glass which are used for textile-reinforced concrete. The behavior under flexural, resp. tensile loading was investigated by laboratory experiments. A high number of specimens of different sizes was tested to obtain statistically significant data which were subsequently corrected and statistically processed. Due to a distortion of the measured displacements caused by the unstiff experiment device, only the maximal load values were statistically evaluated. Results of the experiments showed a decreasing strength with an increasing sample length. Size effect curves were obtained and the correlation length was fitted according to measured data. Results did not exclude the existence of the proposed new parameter lp.
Keywords: Statistical size effect, concrete, multi filaments yarns, experiment, autocorrelation length.
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