Search results for: spatial structure orientation impact
4364 The Impact of Treatment of Latent Tuberculosis on the Incidence : The Case of Algeria
Authors: Schehrazad Selmane
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We present a deterministic model which describes the dynamics of tuberculosis in Algerian population where the vaccination program with BCG is in place since 1969 and where the WHO recommendations regarding the DOTS (directly-observed treatment, short course) strategy are in application. The impact of an intervention program, targeting recently infected people among all close contacts of active cases and their treatment to prevent endogenous reactivation, on the incidence of tuberculosis, is investigated. We showed that a widespread treatment of latently infected individuals for some years is recommended to shift from higher to lower equilibrium state and thereafter relaxation is recommended.
Keywords: Deterministic model, reproduction number, stability, tuberculosis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20034363 Prediction of Seismic Damage Using Scalar Intensity Measures Based On Integration of Spectral Values
Authors: Konstantinos G. Kostinakis, Asimina M. Athanatopoulou
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A key issue in seismic risk analysis within the context of Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering is the evaluation of the expected seismic damage of structures under a specific earthquake ground motion. The assessment of the seismic performance strongly depends on the choice of the seismic Intensity Measure (IM), which quantifies the characteristics of a ground motion that are important to the nonlinear structural response. Several conventional IMs of ground motion have been used to estimate their damage potential to structures. Yet, none of them has been proved to be able to predict adequately the seismic damage. Therefore, alternative, scalar intensity measures, which take into account not only ground motion characteristics but also structural information have been proposed. Some of these IMs are based on integration of spectral values over a range of periods, in an attempt to account for the information that the shape of the acceleration, velocity or displacement spectrum provides. The adequacy of a number of these IMs in predicting the structural damage of 3D R/C buildings is investigated in the present paper. The investigated IMs, some of which are structure specific and some are non structure-specific, are defined via integration of spectral values. To achieve this purpose three symmetric in plan R/C buildings are studied. The buildings are subjected to 59 bidirectional earthquake ground motions. The two horizontal accelerograms of each ground motion are applied along the structural axes. The response is determined by nonlinear time history analysis. The structural damage is expressed in terms of the maximum interstory drift as well as the overall structural damage index. The values of the aforementioned seismic damage measures are correlated with seven scalar ground motion IMs. The comparative assessment of the results revealed that the structure-specific IMs present higher correlation with the seismic damage of the three buildings. However, the adequacy of the IMs for estimation of the structural damage depends on the response parameter adopted. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the widely used spectral acceleration at the fundamental period of the structure is a good indicator of the expected earthquake damage level.
Keywords: Damage measures, Bidirectional excitation, Spectral based IMs, R/C buildings.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23804362 NOHIS-Tree: High-Dimensional Index Structure for Similarity Search
Authors: Mounira Taileb, Sami Touati
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In Content-Based Image Retrieval systems it is important to use an efficient indexing technique in order to perform and accelerate the search in huge databases. The used indexing technique should also support the high dimensions of image features. In this paper we present the hierarchical index NOHIS-tree (Non Overlapping Hierarchical Index Structure) when we scale up to very large databases. We also present a study of the influence of clustering on search time. The performance test results show that NOHIS-tree performs better than SR-tree. Tests also show that NOHIS-tree keeps its performances in high dimensional spaces. We include the performance test that try to determine the number of clusters in NOHIS-tree to have the best search time.Keywords: High-dimensional indexing, k-nearest neighborssearch.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14444361 Structure Improvement of Aluminothermic Welding Joints by Using Modifiers
Authors: Mihai Brânzei, Tudor Coman
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Aluminothermic rail welding was from the beginning a great success because its low price even in 1895 in Germany. This method is now, widely used all over the world for the railways construction, maintenance and modernization. Instructions give you guidelines for preparing papers for conferences or journals. After 1989, the welding needs of the potentials beneficiaries (Romanian Railways, Urban Transportation Companies) keep raise because of the railways maintenance and modernization necessity. The main materials that determine the Thermit (T) composition result from manufacturing scraps all over the country. This can help the environment by consuming these scraps. The Romanian need for alumino-thermic welding is now by 11300 per year, and in a favourable economical environment, this amount can reach 30000 units. This paper tries to show the effect of two types of modifiers introduced in the T composition on the structure and properties of an alumino-thermic welding.Keywords: aluminothermic rail welding, modifier, Thermit.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22084360 The Impact of Water Reservoirs on Biodiversity and Food Security and the Creation of Adaptation Mechanisms
Authors: Inom S. Normatov, Abulqosim Muminov, Parviz I. Normatov
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Problems of food security and the preservation of reserved zones in the region of Central Asia under the conditions of the climate change induced by the placement and construction of large reservoirs are considered. The criteria for the optimum placement and construction of reservoirs that entail the minimum impact on the environment are established. The need for the accounting of climatic parameters is shown by the calculation of the water quantity required for the irrigation of agricultural lands.Keywords: Reservoir, Central Asia, food, reserved zones, adaptation, agriculture.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13484359 Genetic Combined with a Simplex Algorithm as an Efficient Method for the Detection of a Depressed Ellipsoidal Flaw using the Boundary Element Method
Authors: Clio G. Vossou, Ioannis N. Koukoulis, Christopher G. Provatidis
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The present work encounters the solution of the defect identification problem with the use of an evolutionary algorithm combined with a simplex method. In more details, a Matlab implementation of Genetic Algorithms is combined with a Simplex method in order to lead to the successful identification of the defect. The influence of the location and the orientation of the depressed ellipsoidal flaw was investigated as well as the use of different amount of static data in the cost function. The results were evaluated according to the ability of the simplex method to locate the global optimum in each test case. In this way, a clear impression regarding the performance of the novel combination of the optimization algorithms, and the influence of the geometrical parameters of the flaw in defect identification problems was obtained.
Keywords: Defect identification, genetic algorithms, optimization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12904358 Placement of Implants in Palatum of a Teenager without Maxillary Incisor Teeth
Authors: Luan Mavriqi, Ilma Robo, Emin Kuzimi, Egresa Baca
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The process of skeletal growth in an adolescent significantly affects the displacement of implants placed in the palatine suture. The problems caused by this process have an impact on the dental function and aesthetics of the affected data. If fixed prostheses are placed based on implants, the whole structure would impede maxillary growth. This is the significant difference between the maxilla and the mandible, as the lower jaw has no growth process that affects the movement of the implants or the latter to inhibit the growth of the jaw. In a teenager patient an accident occurred accompanied by loss of maxillary central incisors. The main complaint of patients is aesthetics and phonetics. Dental history of patients refers to the presence of a Maryland bridge that was accompanied by dissatisfaction on the part of the patient. Implant placement is not indicated as jaw augmentation may lead to displacement of the implant. The treatment plan includes the placement of implants in the palatum where this bone thickness allows as a procedure.in this article only the first stage of treatment is presented. Implant treatment is ongoing, will be followed by the second phase of treatment when the patient has reached the age of 18 years.
Keywords: Implants, palatum, adolescent, primary incisor teeth.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3944357 Efficient Moment Frame Structure
Authors: Mircea I. Pastrav, Cornelia Baera, Florea Dinu
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A different concept for designing and detailing of reinforced concrete precast frame structures is analyzed in this paper. The new detailing of the joints derives from the special hybrid moment frame joints. The special reinforcements of this alternative detailing, named modified special hybrid joint, are bondless with respect to both column and beams. Full scale tests were performed on a plan model, which represents a part of 5 story structure, cropped in the middle of the beams and columns spans. Theoretical approach was developed, based on testing results on twice repaired model, subjected to lateral seismic type loading. Discussion regarding the modified special hybrid joint behavior and further on widening research needed concludes the presentation.
Keywords: Acceptance criteria, modified hybrid joint, repair, seismic loading type.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20134356 Modeling of a Vehicle Wheel System Having a Built-in Suspension Structure Consisted of Radially Deployed Colloidal Spokes between Hub and Rim
Authors: Barenten Suciu
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In this work, by replacing the traditional solid spokes with colloidal spokes, a vehicle wheel with a built-in suspension structure is proposed. Following the background and description of the wheel system, firstly, a vibration model of the wheel equipped with colloidal spokes is proposed, and based on such model the equivalent damping coefficients and spring constants are identified. Then, a modified model of a quarter-vehicle moving on a rough pavement is proposed in order to estimate the transmissibility of vibration from the road roughness to vehicle body. In the end, the optimal design of the colloidal spokes and the optimum number of colloidal spokes are decided in order to minimize the transmissibility of vibration, i.e., to maximize the ride comfort of the vehicle.
Keywords: Built-in suspension, colloidal spoke, intrinsic spring, vibration analysis, wheel.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19364355 Fuzzy Set Approach to Study Appositives and Its Impact Due to Positional Alterations
Authors: E. Mike Dison, T. Pathinathan
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Computing with Words (CWW) and Possibilistic Relational Universal Fuzzy (PRUF) are the two concepts which widely represent and measure the vaguely defined natural phenomenon. In this paper, we study the positional alteration of the phrases by which the impact of a natural language proposition gets affected and/or modified. We observe the gradations due to sensitivity/feeling of a statement towards the positional alterations. We derive the classification and modification of the meaning of words due to the positional alteration. We present the results with reference to set theoretic interpretations.
Keywords: Appositive, computing with words, PRUF, semantic sentiment analysis, set theoretic interpretations.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8404354 Optimism, Hope and Mental Health: Optimism, Hope, Psychological Well-Being and Psychological Distress among Students, University of Pune, India
Authors: Mustafa Jahanara
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The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationships between hope, optimism and mental health (psychological well-being and psychological distress) among students. A total of 222 students (132 males and 90 females) at the University of Pune from India completed inventories Revision of the Life Orientation Test (LOT-R), the Trait Hope Scale (THS) and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI) that assessed their optimism, hope and psychological well-being and psychological distress. The results of the study showed that optimism and hope were significantly correlated with each other. Optimism is positively related to psychological well-being and optimism is negatively related to psychological distress. Also, hope was positively related to psychological well-being. However, the findings suggest that optimism and hope could influence on mental health.
Keywords: Hope, optimism, psychological distress, psychological well-being.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29504353 Landcover Mapping Using Lidar Data and Aerial Image and Soil Fertility Degradation Assessment for Rice Production Area in Quezon, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
Authors: Eliza. E. Camaso, Guiller. B. Damian, Miguelito. F. Isip, Ronaldo T. Alberto
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Land-cover maps were important for many scientific, ecological and land management purposes and during the last decades, rapid decrease of soil fertility was observed to be due to land use practices such as rice cultivation. High-precision land-cover maps are not yet available in the area which is important in an economy management. To assure accurate mapping of land cover to provide information, remote sensing is a very suitable tool to carry out this task and automatic land use and cover detection. The study did not only provide high precision land cover maps but it also provides estimates of rice production area that had undergone chemical degradation due to fertility decline. Land-cover were delineated and classified into pre-defined classes to achieve proper detection features. After generation of Land-cover map, of high intensity of rice cultivation, soil fertility degradation assessment in rice production area due to fertility decline was created to assess the impact of soils used in agricultural production. Using Simple spatial analysis functions and ArcGIS, the Land-cover map of Municipality of Quezon in Nueva Ecija, Philippines was overlaid to the fertility decline maps from Land Degradation Assessment Philippines- Bureau of Soils and Water Management (LADA-Philippines-BSWM) to determine the area of rice crops that were most likely where nitrogen, phosphorus, zinc and sulfur deficiencies were induced by high dosage of urea and imbalance N:P fertilization. The result found out that 80.00 % of fallow and 99.81% of rice production area has high soil fertility decline.
Keywords: Aerial image, land-cover, LiDAR, soil fertility degradation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11424352 Active Control Improvement of Smart Cantilever Beam by Piezoelectric Materials and On-Line Differential Artificial Neural Networks
Authors: P. Karimi, A. H. Khedmati Bazkiaei
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The main goal of this study is to test differential neural network as a controller of smart structure and is to enumerate its advantages and disadvantages in comparison with other controllers. In this study, the smart structure has been considered as a Euler Bernoulli cantilever beam and it has been tried that it be under control with the use of vibration neural network resulting from movement. Also, a linear observer has been considered as a reference controller and has been compared its results. The considered vibration charts and the controlled state have been recounted in the final part of this text. The obtained result show that neural observer has better performance in comparison to the implemented linear observer.Keywords: Smart material, on-line differential artificial neural network, active control, finite element method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8154351 Organizational Socialization Levels in Nurses
Authors: M. Aslan, A. Karaaslan, S. Selcuk
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The research was conducted in order to determine the organizational socialization levels of nurses working in hospitals in the form of a descriptive study. The research population was composed of nurses employed in public and private sector hospitals in the province of Konya with 0-3 years of professional experience in the hospitals (N=1200); and the sample was composed of 495 nurses that accepted to take part in the study voluntarily. Statistical evaluation of data was conducted in SPSS.16 software. The results of the study revealed that the total score taken by nurses at the organizational socialization scale was 262.95; and this was close to the maximum score. Particularly the departmental socialization sub-dimension proved to be higher in comparison to the other two dimensions (organization socialization and task socialization). Statistically meaningful differences were found in the levels of organization socialization in relation to the status of organizational orientation training, level of education and age group.Keywords: Nurses, Newcomers, Organizational Socialization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17454350 Evaluating the Logistic Performance Capability of Regeneration Processes
Authors: Thorben Kuprat, Julian Becker, Jonas Mayer, Peter Nyhuis
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For years now, it has been recognized that logistic performance capability contributes enormously to a production enterprise’s competitiveness and as such is a critical control lever. In doing so, the orientation on customer wishes (e.g. delivery dates) represents a key parameter not only in the value-adding production but also in product regeneration. Since production and regeneration processes have different characteristics, production planning and control measures cannot be directly transferred to regeneration processes. As part of a special research project, the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics Hannover is focused on increasing the logistic performance capability of regeneration processes for complex capital goods. The aim is to ensure logistic targets are met by implementing a model specifically designed to align the capacities and load in regeneration processes.
Keywords: Capacity planning, complex capital goods, logistic performance, regeneration process.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17444349 Technological Innovation Persistence Organizational Innovation Matters
Authors: H. Naciba, C. Le Bas, C. Mothe, T.U. Nguyen-Thi
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Organizational innovation favors technological innovation, but does it also influence technological innovation persistence? This article investigates empirically the pattern of technological innovation persistence and tests the potential impact of organizational innovation using firm-level data from three waves of the French Community Innovation Surveys. Evidence shows a positive effect of organizational innovation on technological innovation persistence, according to various measures of organizational innovation. Moreover, this impact is more significant for complex innovators (i.e., those who innovate in both products and processes). These results highlight the complexity of managing organizational practices with regard to the firm-s technological innovation. They also add to comprehension of the drivers of innovation persistence, through a focus on an often forgotten dimension of innovation in a broader sense.Keywords: Organizational Innovation, Technological Innovation, Persistence
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14674348 Robust Integrated Design for a Mechatronic Feed Drive System of Machine Tools
Authors: Chin-Yin Chen, Chi-Cheng Cheng
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This paper aims at to develop a robust optimization methodology for the mechatronic modules of machine tools by considering all important characteristics from all structural and control domains in one single process. The relationship between these two domains is strongly coupled. In order to reduce the disturbance caused by parameters in either one, the mechanical and controller design domains need to be integrated. Therefore, the concurrent integrated design method Design For Control (DFC), will be employed in this paper. In this connect, it is not only applied to achieve minimal power consumption but also enhance structural performance and system response at same time. To investigate the method for integrated optimization, a mechatronic feed drive system of the machine tools is used as a design platform. Pro/Engineer and AnSys are first used to build the 3D model to analyze and design structure parameters such as elastic deformation, nature frequency and component size, based on their effects and sensitivities to the structure. In addition, the robust controller,based on Quantitative Feedback Theory (QFT), will be applied to determine proper control parameters for the controller. Therefore, overall physical properties of the machine tool will be obtained in the initial stage. Finally, the technology of design for control will be carried out to modify the structural and control parameters to achieve overall system performance. Hence, the corresponding productivity is expected to be greatly improved.
Keywords: Machine tools, integrated structure and control design, design for control, multilevel decomposition, quantitative feedback theory.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19484347 Environmental Impact Assessment of Gotv and Hydro-Electric Dam on the Karoon River Using ICOLD Technique
Authors: A. Sayadi, A. Khodadadi D., S. Partani
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Today Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is known as one of the most important tools for decision makers in the construction of civil and industrial projects towards sustainable development. In the past, projects were evaluated based on cost and benefit analysis regardless of the physical and biological environmental effects and its socio-economical impacts. According to the Department of Environment (DOE) of Iran's regulations, the construction of hydroelectric dams is an activity that requires an EIA report. In this paper the environmental impact assessment of the Gotvand hydro-electrical dam has been evaluated in the three environment elements, biological, Physical-chemical and cultural units. This dam is one of the largest dams in Iran with a volume of 4500 MCM and is going to be the last dam on the Karoon River in the south of Iran. In this paper the ICOLD (International Commission on Large Dams) technique was employed for the environmental impact assessment of the dam. The research includes all socio economical and environmental effects of the dam during the construction and operation of the hydro electric dam and Environmental management, monitoring and mitigation of negative impacts were analyzed. In this project the results led to using some techniques to protect the destructive impacts on biological aspects beside the effective long time period impacts on the biological aspects. The impacts on physical aspects are temporary and negative commonly that could be restored and rehabilitated in natural process in the long time in operation period.
Keywords: "Gotvand Hydro Electric Dam", "EIA", "ICOLD and Leopold matrices"
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 33874346 Using Dempster-Shafer Theory in XML Information Retrieval
Authors: F. Raja, M. Rahgozar, F. Oroumchian
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XML is a markup language which is becoming the standard format for information representation and data exchange. A major purpose of XML is the explicit representation of the logical structure of a document. Much research has been performed to exploit logical structure of documents in information retrieval in order to precisely extract user information need from large collections of XML documents. In this paper, we describe an XML information retrieval weighting scheme that tries to find the most relevant elements in XML documents in response to a user query. We present this weighting model for information retrieval systems that utilize plausible inferences to infer the relevance of elements in XML documents. We also add to this model the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence to express the uncertainty in plausible inferences and Dempster-Shafer rule of combination to combine evidences derived from different inferences.Keywords: Dempster-Shafer theory, plausible inferences, XMLinformation retrieval.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15304345 Experimental Study on Mechanical Properties of Commercially Pure Copper Processed by Severe Plastic Deformation Technique-Equal Channel Angular Extrusion
Authors: Krishnaiah Arkanti, Ramulu Malothu
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The experiments have been conducted to study the mechanical properties of commercially pure copper processing at room temperature by severe plastic deformation using equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) through a die of 90oangle up to 3 passes by route BC i.e. rotating the sample in the same direction by 90o after each pass. ECAE is used to produce from existing coarse grains to ultra-fine, equiaxed grains structure with high angle grain boundaries in submicron level by introducing a large amount of shear strain in the presence of hydrostatic pressure into the material without changing billet shape or dimension. Mechanical testing plays an important role in evaluating fundamental properties of engineering materials as well as in developing new materials and in controlling the quality of materials for use in design and construction. Yield stress, ultimate tensile stress and ductility are structure sensitive properties and vary with the structure of the material. Microhardness and tensile tests were carried out to evaluate the hardness, strength and ductility of the ECAE processed materials. The results reveal that the strength and hardness of commercially pure copper samples improved significantly without losing much ductility after each pass.Keywords: Equal Channel Angular Extrusion, Severe Plastic Deformation, Copper, Mechanical Properties.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16674344 Globalization - Opportunity or Threat to the Rural Areas in Poland
Authors: Marian Woźniak, Alicja Sobkowiak
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The world is entering a new path of development which is becoming the driving force of globalization. It is seen as an irreversible process of the present reality and has a significant impact on the transformation of economic, social and cultural rights. This also applies to changes in the rural environment which while emphasizing the global development should also maintain its identity and locality, and a rural community should do more to recognize the globalization of an opportunity than a threat to the Polish countryside. The paper discusses theoretical problems of rural development and the importance of diversification in rural areas and preserving the countryside life and there werepresente the opinions of residents of the Polish countryside on the impact of globalization on the development.
Keywords: globalization, rural areas
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19484343 Three Dimensional Dynamic Analysis of Water Storage Tanks Considering FSI Using FEM
Authors: S. Mahdi S. Kolbadi, Ramezan Ali Alvand, Afrasiab Mirzaei
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In this study, to investigate and analyze the seismic behavior of concrete in open rectangular water storage tanks in two-dimensional and three-dimensional spaces, the Finite Element Method has been used. Through this method, dynamic responses can be investigated together in fluid storages system. Soil behavior has been simulated using tanks boundary conditions in linear form. In this research, in addition to flexibility of wall, the effects of fluid-structure interaction on seismic response of tanks have been investigated to account for the effects of flexible foundation in linear boundary conditions form, and a dynamic response of rectangular tanks in two-dimensional and three-dimensional spaces using finite element method has been provided. The boundary conditions of both rigid and flexible walls in two-dimensional finite element method have been considered to investigate the effect of wall flexibility on seismic response of fluid and storage system. Furthermore, three-dimensional model of fluid-structure interaction issue together with wall flexibility has been analyzed under the three components of earthquake. The obtained results show that two-dimensional model is also accurately near to the results of three-dimension as well as flexibility of foundation leads to absorb received energy and relative reduction of responses.
Keywords: Dynamic behavior, water storage tank, fluid-structure interaction, flexible wall.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9804342 Active Learning Strategies to Develop Student Skills in Information Systems for Management
Authors: F. Castro Lopes, S. Fernandes
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Active learning strategies are at the center of any change process aimed to improve the development of student skills. This paper aims to analyze the impact of teaching strategies, including problem-based learning (PBL), in the curricular unit of information system for management, based on students’ perceptions of how they contribute to develop the desired learning outcomes of the curricular unit. This course is part of the 1st semester and 3rd year of the graduate degree program in management at a private higher education institution in Portugal. The methodology included an online questionnaire to students (n = 40). Findings from students reveal a positive impact of the teaching strategies used. In general, 35% considered that the strategies implemented in the course contributed to the development of courses’ learning objectives. Students considered PBL as the learning strategy that better contributed to enhance the courses’ learning outcomes. This conclusion brings forward the need for further reflection and discussion on the impact of student feedback on teaching and learning processes.
Keywords: Higher education, active learning strategies, skills development, student assessment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 594341 Protein Residue Contact Prediction using Support Vector Machine
Authors: Chan Weng Howe, Mohd Saberi Mohamad
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Protein residue contact map is a compact representation of secondary structure of protein. Due to the information hold in the contact map, attentions from researchers in related field were drawn and plenty of works have been done throughout the past decade. Artificial intelligence approaches have been widely adapted in related works such as neural networks, genetic programming, and Hidden Markov model as well as support vector machine. However, the performance of the prediction was not generalized which probably depends on the data used to train and generate the prediction model. This situation shown the importance of the features or information used in affecting the prediction performance. In this research, support vector machine was used to predict protein residue contact map on different combination of features in order to show and analyze the effectiveness of the features.Keywords: contact map, protein residue contact, support vector machine, protein structure prediction
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18964340 Optimization of CO2 Emissions and Cost for Composite Building Design with NSGA-II
Authors: Ji Hyeong Park, Ji Hye Jeon, Hyo Seon Park
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Environmental pollution problems have been globally main concern in all fields including economy, society and culture into the 21st century. Beginning with the Kyoto Protocol, the reduction on the emissions of greenhouse gas such as CO2 and SOX has been a principal challenge of our day. As most buildings unlike durable goods in other industries have a characteristic and long life cycle, they consume energy in quantity and emit much CO2. Thus, for green building construction, more research is needed to reduce the CO2 emissions at each stage in the life cycle. However, recent studies are focused on the use and maintenance phase. Also, there is a lack of research on the initial design stage, especially the structure design. Therefore, in this study, we propose an optimal design plan considering CO2 emissions and cost in composite buildings simultaneously by applying to the structural design of actual building.Keywords: Multi-objective optimization, CO2 emissions, structural cost, encased composite structure
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21654339 Comparative Analysis of Vibration between Laminated Composite Plates with and without Holes under Compressive Loads
Authors: Bahi-Eddine Lahouel, Mohamed Guenfoud
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In this study, a vibration analysis was carried out of symmetric angle-ply laminated composite plates with and without square hole when subjected to compressive loads, numerically. A buckling analysis is also performed to determine the buckling load of laminated plates. For each fibre orientation, the compression load is taken equal to 50% of the corresponding buckling load. In the analysis, finite element method (FEM) was applied to perform parametric studies, the effects of degree of orthotropy and stacking sequence upon the fundamental frequencies and buckling loads are discussed. The results show that the presence of a constant compressive load tends to reduce uniformly the natural frequencies for materials which have a low degree of orthotropy. However, this reduction becomes non-uniform for materials with a higher degree of orthotropy.Keywords: Vibration, Buckling, Cutout, Laminated composite, FEM
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20544338 Application of SDS/LABS in Recovery Improvement from Fractured Models
Authors: Rasool Razmi, Mohammad Hossein Sedaghat, Reza Janamiri, Amir Hatampou
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This work concerns on experimentally investigation of surfactant flooding in fractured porous media. In this study a series of water and surfactant injection processes were performed on micromodels initially saturated with a heavy crude oil. Eight fractured glass micromodels were used to illustrate effects of surfactant types and concentrations on oil recovery efficiency in presence of fractures with different properties i.e. fracture orientation, length and number of fractures. Two different surfactants with different concentrations were tested. The results showed that surfactant flooding would be more efficient by using SDS surfactant aqueous solution and also by locating injection well in a proper position respect to fracture properties. This study demonstrates different physical and chemical conditions that affect the efficiency of this method of enhanced oil recovery.Keywords: Displacement, Fractured five-spot systems, Heavy oil, Surfactant flooding.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18944337 Computation of the Filtering Properties of Photonic Crystal Waveguide Discontinuities Using the Mode Matching Method
Authors: Athanasios Theoharidis, Thomas Kamalakis, Ioannis Neokosmidis, Thomas Sphicopoulos
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In this paper, the application of the Mode Matching (MM) method in the case of photonic crystal waveguide discontinuities is presented. The structure under consideration is divided into a number of cells, which supports a number of guided and evanescent modes. These modes can be calculated numerically by an alternative formulation of the plane wave expansion method for each frequency. A matrix equation is then formed relating the modal amplitudes at the beginning and at the end of the structure. The theory is highly efficient and accurate and can be applied to study the transmission sensitivity of photonic crystal devices due to fabrication tolerances. The accuracy of the MM method is compared to the Finite Difference Frequency Domain (FDFD) and the Adjoint Variable Method (AVM) and good agreement is observed.Keywords: Optical Communications, Integrated Optics, Photonic Crystals, Optical Waveguide Discontinuities.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15784336 Operational Risk – Scenario Analysis
Authors: Milan Rippel, Petr Teply
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This paper focuses on operational risk measurement techniques and on economic capital estimation methods. A data sample of operational losses provided by an anonymous Central European bank is analyzed using several approaches. Loss Distribution Approach and scenario analysis method are considered. Custom plausible loss events defined in a particular scenario are merged with the original data sample and their impact on capital estimates and on the financial institution is evaluated. Two main questions are assessed – What is the most appropriate statistical method to measure and model operational loss data distribution? and What is the impact of hypothetical plausible events on the financial institution? The g&h distribution was evaluated to be the most suitable one for operational risk modeling. The method based on the combination of historical loss events modeling and scenario analysis provides reasonable capital estimates and allows for the measurement of the impact of extreme events on banking operations.Keywords: operational risk, scenario analysis, economic capital, loss distribution approach, extreme value theory, stress testing
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24294335 Waterproofing Agent in Concrete for Tensile Improvement
Authors: Muhamad Azani Yahya, Umi Nadiah Nor Ali, Mohammed Alias Yusof, Norazman Mohamad Nor, Vikneswaran Munikanan
Abstract:
In construction, concrete is one of the materials that can commonly be used as for structural elements. Concrete consists of cement, sand, aggregate and water. Concrete can be added with admixture in the wet condition to suit the design purpose such as to prolong the setting time to improve workability. For strength improvement, concrete is being added with other hybrid materials to increase strength; this is because the tensile strength of concrete is very low in comparison to the compressive strength. This paper shows the usage of a waterproofing agent in concrete to enhance the tensile strength. High tensile concrete is expensive because the concrete mix needs fiber and also high cement content to be incorporated in the mix. High tensile concrete being used for structures that are being imposed by high impact dynamic load such as blast loading that hit the structure. High tensile concrete can be defined as a concrete mix design that achieved 30%-40% tensile strength compared to its compression strength. This research evaluates the usage of a waterproofing agent in a concrete mix as an element of reinforcement to enhance the tensile strength. According to the compression and tensile test, it shows that the concrete mix with a waterproofing agent enhanced the mechanical properties of the concrete. It is also show that the composite concrete with waterproofing is a high tensile concrete; this is because of the tensile is between 30% and 40% of the compression strength. This mix is economical because it can produce high tensile concrete with low cost.
Keywords: High tensile concrete, waterproofing agent, concrete, rheology.
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