Search results for: displacement based design
1316 The Phatic Function and the Socializing Element of Personal Blogs
Authors: Emelia Noronha, Milind Malshe
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The phatic function of communication is a vital element of any conversation. This research paper looks into this function with respect to personal blogs maintained by Indian bloggers. This paper is a study into the phenomenon of phatic communication maintained by bloggers through their blogs. Based on a linguistic analysis of the posts of twenty eight Indian bloggers, writing in English, studied over a period of three years, the study indicates that though the blogging phenomenon is not conversational in the same manner as face-to-face communication, it does make ample provision for feedback that is conversational in nature. Ordinary day to day offline conversations use conventionalized phatic utterances; those on the social media are in a perpetual mode of innovation and experimentation in order to sustain contact with its readers. These innovative methods and means are the focus of this study. Though the personal blogger aims to chronicle his/her personal life through the blog, the socializing function is crucial to these bloggers. In comparison to the western personal blogs which focus on the presentation of the ‘bounded individual self’, we find Indian personal bloggers engage in the presentation of their ‘social selves’. These bloggers yearn to reach out to the readers on the internet and the phatic function serves to initiate, sustain and renew social ties on the blogosphere thereby consolidating the social network of readers and bloggers.Keywords: Personal blogs, phatic, social-selves, blog readers.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19401315 Suitable Partner Node Selection and Resource Allocation in Cooperative Wireless Communication Using the Trade-Off Game
Authors: Oluseye A. Adeleke, Mohd. F. M. Salleh
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The performance of any cooperative communication system depends largely on the selection of a proper partner. Another important factor to consider is an efficient allocation of resource like power by the source node to help it in forwarding information to the destination. In this paper, we look at the concepts of partner selection and resource (power) allocation for a distributed communication network. A type of non-cooperative game referred to as Trade-Off game is employed so as to jointly consider the utilities of the source and relay nodes, where in this case, the source is the node that requires help with forwarding of its information while the partner is the node that is willing to help in forwarding the source node’s information, but at a price. The approach enables the source node to maximize its utility by selecting a partner node based on (i) the proximity of the partner node to the source and destination nodes, and (ii) the price the partner node will charge for the help being rendered. Our proposed scheme helps the source locate and select the relay nodes at ‘better’ locations and purchase power optimally from them. It also aids the contending relay nodes maximize their own utilities as well by asking proper prices. Our game scheme is seen to converge to unique equilibrium.
Keywords: Cooperative communication, game theory, node, power allocation, trade-off, utility.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19381314 Fabrication of Powdery Composites Based Alumina and Its Consolidation by Hot Pressing Method in OXY-GON Furnace
Authors: T. Kuchukhidze, N. Jalagonia, T. Korkia, V. Gabunia, N. Jalabadze, R. Chedia
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In this work, obtaining methods of ultrafine alumina powdery composites and high temperature pressing technology of matrix ceramic composites with different compositions have been discussed. Alumina was obtained by solution combustion synthesis and sol-gel methods. Metal carbides containing powdery composites were obtained by homogenization of finishing powders in nanomills, as well as by their single-step high temperature synthesis .Different types of matrix ceramics composites (α-Al2O3-ZrO2-Y2O3, α-Al2O3- Y2O3-MgO, α-Al2O3-SiC-Y2O3, α-Al2O3-WC-Co-Y2O3, α-Al2O3- B4C-Y2O3, α-Al2O3- B4C-TiB2 etc.) were obtained by using OXYGON furnace. Consolidation of powders were carried out at 1550- 1750°C (hold time - 1 h, pressure - 50 MPa). Corundum ceramics samples have been obtained and characterized by high hardness and fracture toughness, absence of open porosity, high corrosion resistance. Their density reaches 99.5-99.6% TD. During the work, the following devices have been used: High temperature vacuum furnace OXY-GON Industries Inc (USA), Electronic Scanning Microscopes Nikon Eclipse LV 150, Optical Microscope NMM- 800TRF, Planetary mill Pulverisette 7 premium line, Shimadzu Dynamic Ultra Micro Hardness Tester DUH-211S, Analysette 12 Dynasizer.Keywords: α-Alumina, Consolidation, Matrix Ceramics, Powdery composites.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10951313 Hybrid Structure Learning Approach for Assessing the Phosphate Laundries Impact
Authors: Emna Benmohamed, Hela Ltifi, Mounir Ben Ayed
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Bayesian Network (BN) is one of the most efficient classification methods. It is widely used in several fields (i.e., medical diagnostics, risk analysis, bioinformatics research). The BN is defined as a probabilistic graphical model that represents a formalism for reasoning under uncertainty. This classification method has a high-performance rate in the extraction of new knowledge from data. The construction of this model consists of two phases for structure learning and parameter learning. For solving this problem, the K2 algorithm is one of the representative data-driven algorithms, which is based on score and search approach. In addition, the integration of the expert's knowledge in the structure learning process allows the obtainment of the highest accuracy. In this paper, we propose a hybrid approach combining the improvement of the K2 algorithm called K2 algorithm for Parents and Children search (K2PC) and the expert-driven method for learning the structure of BN. The evaluation of the experimental results, using the well-known benchmarks, proves that our K2PC algorithm has better performance in terms of correct structure detection. The real application of our model shows its efficiency in the analysis of the phosphate laundry effluents' impact on the watershed in the Gafsa area (southwestern Tunisia).
Keywords: Classification, Bayesian network; structure learning, K2 algorithm, expert knowledge, surface water analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5131312 Stability and Kinetic Analysis during Vermicomposting of Sewage Sludge
Authors: Ashish Kumar Nayak, Dhamodharan K., Ajay S. Kalamdhad
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The present study is aimed at alteration of sewage sludge into stable compost product using vermicomposting of sewage sludge mixed with cattle manure and saw dust in five different proportions based on C/N ratios (C/N 15 (R1), 20 (R2), 25 (R3) and 30 (R4); and control (R5)) by employing an epigeic earthworm Eisenia fetida. Higher reductions in C/N ratio, CO2 evolution and OUR were observed in R4 demonstrated the compost stability. In addition, R4 proved to be best combination for the growth of the earthworms. In order to observe the optimal degradation, kinetics for degradation of organic matter in vermicomposting were quantitatively evaluated. An approach model was developed by assuming that composting process is carried out in a homogeneous way and the kinetics for decomposition reaction is represented by a Monod-type equation. The results exhibit comparable variations in the kinetic constants Km and K3 under varying parameters during vermicomposting process. Results suggested that higher R2 value in R4, enhanced suitability towards Lineweaver-Burke plot. R4 yields higher degradability coefficient (K) reveals that the occurrence of optimal nutrient balance, which not only enhanced the affinity of enzymes towards substrate but also improved its degradation process. Therefore, it can be proved that R4 provided to be the best feed combination for vermicomposting process as compared to other reactors.
Keywords: Vermicomposting, Eisenia fetida, Sewage sludge, C/N ratio, Stability, Enzyme kinetics concept.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23501311 The Importance and Role of Sukuk Marketing as an Islamic Bond in the Economy
Authors: Ilhan Keskin, Hasan Bulent Kantarcı
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In this study, one of the tools of Islamic financing known as “Sukuk” a non-interest bearing investment which has started to be implemented in Turkey and the world as a whole is discussed. In order to increase the vitality and efficiency of the economy, by taking lessons from the recent economic crisis new developments in the banking and investment sector are being expanded. The purpose of all investors is to obtain more revenue through the use of capital. The inability of traditional investment tools to meet the expectations of investors and the interest based financial system where one investor benefits at the expense of another there has been the need for a different, reliable and noninterest bearing financial market that is consistent with the Islamic rule. As a result an alternative and more reliable interest free financing tool “Sukuk” rental certificates covering people who are sensitive to Islamic rules, appeal to all segments, hidden remaining capital that contributes to the economy, reduce disparities in income distribution, common risk sharing system of profit and loss sharing has emerged. Today, for the structural countries by examining the state of the world market economy the applicability, enactment and future issues associated with this attractive kind of Islamic finance namely the “Sukuk” market has been explained.Keywords: Islamic finance, Islamic markets, non-interest bearing, rental certificates.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26201310 The Morphology of Sri Lankan Text Messages
Authors: Chamindi Dilkushi Senaratne
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Communicating via a text or an SMS (Short Message Service) has become an integral part of our daily lives. With the increase in the use of mobile phones, text messaging has become a genre by itself worth researching and studying. It is undoubtedly a major phenomenon revealing language change. This paper attempts to describe the morphological processes of text language of urban bilinguals in Sri Lanka. It will be a typological study based on 500 English text messages collected from urban bilinguals residing in Colombo. The messages are selected by categorizing the deviant forms of language use apparent in text messages. These stylistic deviations are a deliberate skilled performance by the users of the language possessing an in-depth knowledge of linguistic systems to create new words and thereby convey their linguistic identity and individual and group solidarity via the message. The findings of the study solidifies arguments that the manipulation of language in text messages is both creative and appropriate. In addition, code mixing theories will be used to identify how existing morphological processes are adapted by bilingual users in Sri Lanka when texting. The study will reveal processes such as omission, initialism, insertion and alternation in addition to other identified linguistic features in text language. The corpus reveals the most common morphological processes used by Sri Lankan urban bilinguals when sending texts.Keywords: Bilingual, deviations, morphology, texts.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19771309 Recycled Asphalt Pavement with Warm Mix Additive for Sustainable Road Construction
Authors: Meor Othman Hamzah, Lillian Gungat, Nur Izzi Md. Yusoff, Jan Valentin
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The recent hike in raw materials costs and the quest for preservation of the environment has prompted asphalt industries to adopt greener road construction technology. This paper presents a study on such technology by means of asphalt recycling and use of warm mix asphalt (WMA) additive. It evaluates the effects of a WMA named RH-WMA on binder rheological properties and asphalt mixture performance. The recycled asphalt, obtained from local roads, was processed, fractionated, and incorporated with virgin aggregate and binder. For binder testing, the recycled asphalt was extracted and blended with virgin binder. The binder and mixtures specimen containing 30 % and 50 % recycled asphalt contents were mixed with 3 % RH-WMA. The rheological properties of the binder were evaluated based on fundamental, viscosity, and frequency sweep tests. Indirect tensile strength and resilient modulus tests were carried out to assess the mixture’s performances. The rheological properties and strength performance results showed that the addition of RH-WMA slightly reduced the binder and mixtures stiffness. The percentage of recycled asphalt increased the stiffness of binder and mixture, and thus improves the resistance to rutting. Therefore, the integration of recycled asphalt and RH-WMA can be an alternative material for road sustainable construction for countries in the tropics.
Keywords: Recycled asphalt, warm mix additive, rheological, mixture performance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23051308 Cuban Shelf Results of Exploration and Petroleum Potential
Authors: Vasilii V. Ananev
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Oil-and-gas potential of Cuba is found through the discoveries among which there are the most large-scale deposits, such as the Boca de Jaruco and Varadero fields of heavy oils. Currently, the petroleum and petroleum products needs of the island state are satisfied by own sources by less than a half. The prospects of the hydrocarbon resource base development are connected with the adjacent water area of the Gulf of Mexico where foreign companies had been granted license blocks for geological study and further development since 2001. Two Russian companies - JSC Gazprom Neft and OJSC Zarubezhneft, among others, took part in the development of the Cuban part of the Gulf of Mexico. Since 2004, five oil wells have been drilled by various companies in the deep waters of the exclusive economic zone of Cuba. Commercial oil-and-gas bearing prospects have been established in neither of them for both geological and technological reasons. However, only a small part of the water area has been covered by drilling and the productivity of the drill core has been tested at the depth of Cretaceous sediments only. In our opinion, oil-and-gas bearing prospects of the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Cuba in the Gulf of Mexico remain undervalued and the mentioned water area needs additional geological exploration. The planning of exploration work in this poorly explored region shall be carried out systematically and it shall be based on the results of the regional scientific research.
Keywords: Cuba, Catoche, geology, exploration.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13891307 Performance Evaluation of Clustered Routing Protocols for Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Awatef Chniguir, Tarek Farah, Zouhair Ben Jemaa, Safya Belguith
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Optimal routing allows minimizing energy consumption in wireless sensor networks (WSN). Clustering has proven its effectiveness in organizing WSN by reducing channel contention and packet collision and enhancing network throughput under heavy load. Therefore, nowadays, with the emergence of the Internet of Things, heterogeneity is essential. Stable election protocol (SEP) that has increased the network stability period and lifetime is the first clustering protocol for heterogeneous WSN. SEP and its descendants, namely SEP, Threshold Sensitive SEP (TSEP), Enhanced TSEP (ETSSEP) and Current Energy Allotted TSEP (CEATSEP), were studied. These algorithms’ performance was evaluated based on different metrics, especially first node death (FND), to compare their stability. Simulations were conducted on the MATLAB tool considering two scenarios: The first one demonstrates the fraction variation of advanced nodes by setting the number of total nodes. The second considers the interpretation of the number of nodes while keeping the number of advanced nodes permanent. CEATSEP outperforms its antecedents by increasing stability and, at the same time, keeping a low throughput. It also operates very well in a large-scale network. Consequently, CEATSEP has a useful lifespan and energy efficiency compared to the other routing protocol for heterogeneous WSN.Keywords: Clustering, heterogeneous, stability, scalability, throughput, IoT, WSN.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4251306 Bond Graph Modeling of Inter-Actuator Interactions in a Multi-Cylinder Hydraulic System
Authors: Mutuku Muvengei, John Kihiu
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In this paper, a bond graph dynamic model for a valvecontrolled hydraulic cylinder has been developed. A simplified bond graph model of the inter-actuator interactions in a multi-cylinder hydraulic system has also been presented. The overall bond graph model of a valve-controlled hydraulic cylinder was developed by combining the bond graph sub-models of the pump, spool valve and the actuator using junction structures. Causality was then assigned in order to obtain a computational model which could be simulated. The causal bond graph model of the hydraulic cylinder was verified by comparing the open loop state responses to those of an ODE model which had been developed in literature based on the same assumptions. The results were found to correlate very well both in the shape of the curves, magnitude and the response times, thus indicating that the developed model represents the hydraulic dynamics of a valve-controlled cylinder. A simplified model for interactuator interaction was presented by connecting an effort source with constant pump pressure to the zero-junction from which the cylinders in a multi-cylinder system are supplied with a constant pressure from the pump. On simulating the state responses of the developed model under different situations of cylinder operations, indicated that such a simple model can be used to predict the inter-actuator interactions.Keywords: Bond graphs, Inter-actuator interactions, Valvecontrolledhydraulic cylinder.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30361305 Impact of Electronic Word-of-Mouth to Consumer Adoption Process in the Online Discussion Forum: A Simulation Study
Authors: Aussadavut Dumrongsiri
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Web-based technologies have created numerous opportunities for electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication. There are many factors that affect customer adoption and decisionmaking process. However, only a few researches focus on some factors such as the membership time of forum and propensity to trust. Using a discrete-time event simulation to simulate a diffusion model along with a consumer decision model, the study shows the effect of each factor on adoption of opinions on on-line discussion forum. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of factor affecting information adoption and decision making process. The model is constructed to test quantitative aspects of each factor. The simulation study shows the membership time and the propensity to trust has an effect on information adoption and purchasing decision. The result of simulation shows that the longer the membership time in the communities and the higher propensity to trust could lead to the higher demand rates because consumers find it easier and faster to trust the person in the community and then adopt the eWOM. Other implications for both researchers and practitioners are provided.Keywords: word of mouth, simulation, consumer behavior, ebusiness, marketing, diffusion process.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31971304 SIFT Accordion: A Space-Time Descriptor Applied to Human Action Recognition
Authors: Olfa.Ben Ahmed, Mahmoud. Mejdoub, Chokri. Ben Amar
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Recognizing human action from videos is an active field of research in computer vision and pattern recognition. Human activity recognition has many potential applications such as video surveillance, human machine interaction, sport videos retrieval and robot navigation. Actually, local descriptors and bag of visuals words models achieve state-of-the-art performance for human action recognition. The main challenge in features description is how to represent efficiently the local motion information. Most of the previous works focus on the extension of 2D local descriptors on 3D ones to describe local information around every interest point. In this paper, we propose a new spatio-temporal descriptor based on a spacetime description of moving points. Our description is focused on an Accordion representation of video which is well-suited to recognize human action from 2D local descriptors without the need to 3D extensions. We use the bag of words approach to represent videos. We quantify 2D local descriptor describing both temporal and spatial features with a good compromise between computational complexity and action recognition rates. We have reached impressive results on publicly available action data setKeywords: Accordion, Bag of Features, Human action, Motion, Moving point, Space-Time Descriptor, SIFT, Video.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21081303 Experimental on Free and Forced Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Copper Oxide-Heat Transfer Oil Nanofluid in Horizontal and Inclined Microfin Tube
Authors: F. Hekmatipour, M. A. Akhavan-Behabadi, B. Sajadi
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In this paper, the combined free and forced convection heat transfer of the Copper Oxide-Heat Transfer Oil (CuO-HTO) nanofluid flow in horizontal and inclined microfin tubes is studied experimentally. The flow regime is laminar, and pipe surface temperature is constant. The effect of nanoparticle and microfin tube on the heat transfer rate is investigated with the Richardson number which is between 0.1 and 0.7. The results show an increasing nanoparticle concentration between 0% and 1.5% leads to enhance the combined free and forced convection heat transfer rate. According to the results, five correlations are proposed to provide estimating the free and forced heat transfer rate as the increasing Richardson number from 0.1 to 0.7. The maximum deviation of both correlations is less than 16%. Moreover, four correlations are suggested to assess the Nusselt number based on the Rayleigh number in inclined tubes from 1800000 to 7000000. The maximum deviation of the correlation is almost 16%. The Darcy friction factor of the nanofluid flow has been investigated. Furthermore, CuO-HTO nanofluid flows in inclined microfin tubes.
Keywords: Nanofluid; heat transfer oil; mixed convection; inclined tube; laminar flow.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6721302 Dynamic Metadata Schemes in the Neutron and Photon Science Communities: A Case Study of X-Ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy
Authors: Amir Tosson, Mohammad Reza, Christian Gutt
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Metadata is one of the most important aspects for advancing data management practices within all research communities. Definitions and schemes of metadata are inter alia of particular significance in the domain of neutron and photon scattering experiments covering a broad area of different scientific disciplines. The demand of describing continuously evolving highly non-standardized experiments, including the resulting processed and published data, constitutes a considerable challenge for a static definition of metadata. Here, we present the concept of dynamic metadata for the neutron and photon scientific community, which enriches a static set of defined basic metadata. We explore the idea of dynamic metadata with the help of the use case of X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS), which is a synchrotron-based scattering technique that allows the investigation of nanoscale dynamic processes. It serves here as a demonstrator of how dynamic metadata can improve data acquisition, sharing, and analysis workflows. Our approach enables researchers to tailor metadata definitions dynamically and adapt them to the evolving demands of describing data and results from a diverse set of experiments. We demonstrate that dynamic metadata standards yield advantages that enhance data reproducibility, interoperability, and the dissemination of knowledge.
Keywords: Big data, metadata, schemas, XPCS, X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1491301 Nonlinear Absorption and Scattering in Wide Band Gap Silver Sulfide Nanoparticles Colloid and Their Effects on the Optical Limiting
Authors: Hoda Aleali, Nastaran Mansour, Maryam Mirzaie
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In this paper, we study the optical nonlinearities of Silver sulfide (Ag2S) nanostructures dispersed in the Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) under exposure to 532 nm, 15 nanosecond (ns) pulsed laser irradiation. Ultraviolet–visible absorption spectrometry (UV-Vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are used to characterize the obtained nanocrystal samples. The band gap energy of colloid is determined by analyzing the UV–Vis absorption spectra of the Ag2S NPs using the band theory of semiconductors. Z-scan technique is used to characterize the optical nonlinear properties of the Ag2S nanoparticles (NPs). Large enhancement of two photon absorption effect is observed with increase in concentration of the Ag2S nanoparticles using open Zscan measurements in the ns laser regime. The values of the nonlinear absorption coefficients are determined based on the local nonlinear responses including two photon absorption. The observed aperture dependence of the Ag2S NP limiting performance indicates that the nonlinear scattering plays an important role in the limiting action of the sample. The concentration dependence of the optical liming is also investigated. Our results demonstrate that the optical limiting threshold decreases with increasing the silver sulfide NPs in DMSO.Keywords: Nanoscale materials, Silver sulfide nanoparticles, Nonlinear absorption, Nonlinear scattering, Optical limiting.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20681300 Statistical Relation between Vegetation Cover and Land Surface Temperature in Phnom Penh City
Authors: Gulam Mohiuddin, Jan-Peter Mund
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This study assessed the correlation between Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST) in Phnom Penh City (Cambodia) from 2016 to 2020. Understanding the LST and NDVI can be helpful to understand the Urban Heat Island (UHI) scenario, and it can contribute to planning urban greening and combating the effects of UHI. The study used Landsat-8 images as the data for analysis. They have 100 m spatial resolution (per pixel) in the thermal band. The current study used an approach for the statistical analysis that considers every pixel from the study area instead of taking few sample points or analyzing descriptive statistics. Also, this study is examining the correlation between NDVI and LST with a spatially explicit approach. The study found a strong negative correlation between NDVI and LST (coefficient range -0.56 to -0.59), and this relationship is linear. This study showed a way to avoid the probable error from the sample-based approach in examining two spatial variables. The method is reproducible for a similar type of analysis on the correlation between spatial phenomena. The findings of this study will be used further to understand the causation behind LST change in that area triangulating LST, NDVI and land-use changes.
Keywords: Land Surface Temperature, NDVI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, remote sensing, methodological development.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4711299 Antimicrobial Effect of Essential Oil of Plant Schinus molle on Some Bacteria Pathogens
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Humans use plants for thousands of years to treat various ailments, in many developing countries; much of the population relies on traditional doctors and their collections of medicinal plants to cure them.
Essential oils have many therapeutic properties. In herbal medicine, they are used for their antiseptic properties against infectious diseases of fungal origin, against dermatophytes, those of bacterial origin.
The aim of our study is to determine the antimicrobial effect of essential oils of the plant Schinus molle on some pathogenic bacteria. It is a medicinal plant used in traditional therapy. Essential oils have many therapeutic properties. In herbal medicine, they are used for their antiseptic properties against infectious diseases of fungal origin, against dermatophytes, those of bacterial origin.
The test adopted, is based on the diffusion method on solid medium (Antibiogram), this method allows to determine the susceptibility or resistance of an organism according to the sample studied.
Our study reveals that the essential oil of the plant Schinus molle has a different effect on the resistance of germs: for Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain is a moderately sensitive with an inhibition zone of 10mm, further Enterobacter, Escherichia coli and Proteus are strains that represent a high sensitivity, a zone of inhibition equal to 14.66 mm.
Keywords: Essential oil, microorganism, antibiogram, Shinus molle.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28611298 Model of High-Speed Train Energy Consumption
Authors: Romain Bosquet, Pierre-Olivier Vandanjon, Alex Coiret, Tristan Lorino
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In the hardening energy context, the transport sector which constitutes a large worldwide energy demand has to be improving for decrease energy demand and global warming impacts. In a controversial situation where subsists an increasing demand for long-distance and high-speed travels, high-speed trains offer many advantages, as consuming significantly less energy than road or air transports. At the project phase of new rail infrastructures, it is nowadays important to characterize accurately the energy that will be induced by its operation phase, in addition to other more classical criteria as construction costs and travel time. Current literature consumption models used to estimate railways operation phase are obsolete or not enough accurate for taking into account the newest train or railways technologies. In this paper, an updated model of consumption for high-speed is proposed, based on experimental data obtained from full-scale tests performed on a new high-speed line. The assessment of the model is achieved by identifying train parameters and measured power consumptions for more than one hundred train routes. Perspectives are then discussed to use this updated model for accurately assess the energy impact of future railway infrastructures.Keywords: High-speed train, energy, model, track profile, infrastructure
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 52091297 Effect of Installation of Long Cylindrical External Store on Performance, Stability, Control and Handling Qualities of Light Transport Aircraft
Authors: Ambuj Srivastava, Narender Singh
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This paper presents the effect of installation of cylindrical external store on the performance, stability, control and handling qualities of light transport category aircraft. A pair of long cylindrical store was installed symmetrically on either side of the fuselage (port and starboard) ahead of the wing and below the fuselage bottom surface running below pilot and co-pilot window. The cylindrical store was installed as hanging from aircraft surface through specially designed brackets. The adjoining structure was sufficiently reinforced for bearing aerodynamic loads. The length to diameter ratio of long cylindrical store was ~20. Based on academic studies and flow simulation analysis, a considerable detrimental effect on single engine second segment climb performance was found which was later validated through extensive flight testing exercise. The methodology of progressive flight envelope opening was adopted. The certification was sought from Regional airworthiness authorities and for according approval.Keywords: Second segment climb, maximum operating speed, cruise performance, single engine and twin engine, minimum control speed, and additional trim required.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12371296 Measuring Relative Efficiency of Korean Construction Company using DEA/Window
Authors: Jung-Lo Park, Sung-Sik Kim, Sun-Young Choi, Ju-Hyung Kim, Jae-Jun Kim
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Sub-prime mortgage crisis which began in the US is regarded as the most economic crisis since the Great Depression in the early 20th century. Especially, hidden problems on efficient operation of a business were disclosed at a time and many financial institutions went bankrupt and filed for court receivership. The collapses of physical market lead to bankruptcy of manufacturing and construction businesses. This study is to analyze dynamic efficiency of construction businesses during the five years at the turn of the global financial crisis. By discovering the trend and stability of efficiency of a construction business, this study-s objective is to improve management efficiency of a construction business in the ever-changing construction market. Variables were selected by analyzing corporate information on top 20 construction businesses in Korea and analyzed for static efficiency in 2008 and dynamic efficiency between 2006 and 2010. Unlike other studies, this study succeeded in deducing efficiency trend and stability of a construction business for five years by using the DEA/Window model. Using the analysis result, efficient and inefficient companies could be figured out. In addition, relative efficiency among DMU was measured by comparing the relationship between input and output variables of construction businesses. This study can be used as a literature to improve management efficiency for companies with low efficiency based on efficiency analysis of construction businesses.Keywords: Construction Company, DEA, DEA/Window, Efficiency Analysis
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19851295 The Concept of an Agile Enterprise Research Model
Authors: Maja Sajdak
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The aim of this paper is to present the concept of an agile enterprise model and to initiate discussion on the research assumptions of the model presented. The implementation of the research project "The agility of enterprises in the process of adapting to the environment and its changes" began in August 2014 and is planned to last three years. The article has the form of a work-inprogress paper which aims to verify and initiate a debate over the proposed research model. In the literature there are very few publications relating to research into agility; it can be concluded that the most controversial issue in this regard is the method of measuring agility. In previous studies the operationalization of agility was often fragmentary, focusing only on selected areas of agility, for example manufacturing, or analysing only selected sectors. As a result the measures created to date can only be treated as contributory to the development of precise measurement tools. This research project aims to fill a cognitive gap in the literature with regard to the conceptualization and operationalization of an agile company. Thus, the original contribution of the author of this project is the construction of a theoretical model that integrates manufacturing agility (consisting mainly in adaptation to the environment) and strategic agility (based on proactive measures). The author of this research project is primarily interested in the attributes of an agile enterprise which indicate that the company is able to rapidly adapt to changing circumstances and behave pro-actively.Keywords: Agile company, acuity, entrepreneurship, flexibility, research model, strategic leadership.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24881294 Automatic Generation Control of Multi-Area Electric Energy Systems Using Modified GA
Authors: Gayadhar Panda, Sidhartha Panda, C. Ardil
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A modified Genetic Algorithm (GA) based optimal selection of parameters for Automatic Generation Control (AGC) of multi-area electric energy systems is proposed in this paper. Simulations on multi-area reheat thermal system with and without consideration of nonlinearity like governor dead band followed by 1% step load perturbation is performed to exemplify the optimum parameter search. In this proposed method, a modified Genetic Algorithm is proposed where one point crossover with modification is employed. Positional dependency in respect of crossing site helps to maintain diversity of search point as well as exploitation of already known optimum value. This makes a trade-off between exploration and exploitation of search space to find global optimum in less number of generations. The proposed GA along with decomposition technique as developed has been used to obtain the optimum megawatt frequency control of multi-area electric energy systems. Time-domain simulations are conducted with trapezoidal integration along with decomposition technique. The superiority of the proposed method over existing one is verified from simulations and comparisons.
Keywords: Automatic Generation Control (AGC), Reheat, Proportional Integral (PI) controller, Dead Band, Genetic Algorithm(GA).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26581293 Comparison between Turbo Code and Convolutional Product Code (CPC) for Mobile WiMAX
Authors: Ahmed Ebian, Mona Shokair, Kamal Awadalla
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Mobile WiMAX is a broadband wireless solution that enables convergence of mobile and fixed broadband networks through a common wide area broadband radio access technology and flexible network architecture. It adopts Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) for improved multi-path performance in Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) environments. Scalable OFDMA (SOFDMA) is introduced in the IEEE 802e[1]. WIMAX system uses one of different types of channel coding but The mandatory channel coding scheme is based on binary nonrecursive Convolutional Coding (CC). There are other several optional channel coding schemes such as block turbo codes, convolutional turbo codes, and low density parity check (LDPC). In this paper a comparison between the performance of WIMAX using turbo code and using convolutional product code (CPC) [2] is made. Also a combination between them had been done. The CPC gives good results at different SNR values compared to both the turbo system, and the combination between them. For example, at BER equal to 10-2 for 128 subcarriers, the amount of improvement in SNR equals approximately 3 dB higher than turbo code and equals approximately 2dB higher than the combination respectively. Several results are obtained at different modulating schemes (16QAM and 64QAM) and different numbers of sub-carriers (128 and 512).Keywords: Turbo Code, Convolutional Product Code (CPC), Convolutional Product Code (CPC).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 33971292 Effects of Particle Size Distribution of Binders on the Performance of Slag-Limestone Ternary Cement
Authors: Zhuomin Zou, Thijs Van Landeghem, Elke Gruyaert
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Using supplementary cementitious materials, such as ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) and limestone to replace Portland cement (PC) is a promising method to reduce the carbon emissions from cement production. To efficiently use GGBFS and limestone, it is necessary to carefully select the particle size distribution (PSD) of the binders. This study investigated the effects of the PSD of binders on the performance of slag-limestone ternary cement. Based on the PSD parameters of the binders, three types of ternary cements with a similar overall PSD were designed, i.e., No.1 fine GGBFS, medium PC, and coarse limestone; No.2 fine limestone, medium PC, and coarse GGBFS; No.3. fine PC, medium GGBFS, and coarse limestone. The binder contents in the ternary cements were 50% PC, 40% slag, and 10% limestone. The mortar performance of the three ternary cements was investigated in terms of flow table value, strength at 28 days, carbonation resistance and non-steady state chloride migration resistance at 28 days. Results show that ternary cement with fine limestone (No.2) has the weakest performance among the three ternary cements. Ternary cements with fine slag (No.1) show an overall comparable performance to ternary cement with fine PC (No.3). Moreover, the chloride migration coefficient of ternary cements with fine slag (No.1) is significantly lower than the other two ternary cements.
Keywords: Limestone, particle size distribution, slag, ternary cement.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3581291 Mining Genes Relations in Microarray Data Combined with Ontology in Colon Cancer Automated Diagnosis System
Authors: A. Gruzdz, A. Ihnatowicz, J. Siddiqi, B. Akhgar
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MATCH project [1] entitle the development of an automatic diagnosis system that aims to support treatment of colon cancer diseases by discovering mutations that occurs to tumour suppressor genes (TSGs) and contributes to the development of cancerous tumours. The constitution of the system is based on a) colon cancer clinical data and b) biological information that will be derived by data mining techniques from genomic and proteomic sources The core mining module will consist of the popular, well tested hybrid feature extraction methods, and new combined algorithms, designed especially for the project. Elements of rough sets, evolutionary computing, cluster analysis, self-organization maps and association rules will be used to discover the annotations between genes, and their influence on tumours [2]-[11]. The methods used to process the data have to address their high complexity, potential inconsistency and problems of dealing with the missing values. They must integrate all the useful information necessary to solve the expert's question. For this purpose, the system has to learn from data, or be able to interactively specify by a domain specialist, the part of the knowledge structure it needs to answer a given query. The program should also take into account the importance/rank of the particular parts of data it analyses, and adjusts the used algorithms accordingly.Keywords: Bioinformatics, gene expression, ontology, selforganizingmaps.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19741290 Numerical Analysis of Flow in the Gap between a Simplified Tractor-Trailer Model and Cross Vortex Trap Device
Authors: Terrance Charles, Zhiyin Yang, Yiling Lu
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Heavy trucks are aerodynamically inefficient due to their un-streamlined body shapes, leading to more than of 60% engine power being required to overcome the aerodynamics drag at 60 m/hr. There are many aerodynamics drag reduction devices developed and this paper presents a study on a drag reduction device called Cross Vortex Trap Device (CVTD) deployed in the gap between the tractor and the trailer of a simplified tractor-trailer model. Numerical simulations have been carried out at Reynolds number 0.51×106 based on inlet flow velocity and height of the trailer using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach. Three different configurations of CVTD have been studied, ranging from single to three slabs, equally spaced on the front face of the trailer. Flow field around three different configurations of trap device have been analysed and presented. The results show that a maximum of 12.25% drag reduction can be achieved when a triple vortex trap device is used. Detailed flow field analysis along with pressure contours are presented to elucidate the drag reduction mechanisms of CVTD and why the triple vortex trap configuration produces the maximum drag reduction among the three configurations tested.
Keywords: Aerodynamic drag, cross vortex trap device, truck, RANS.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6491289 The Development of Smart School Condition Assessment Based on Condition Survey Protocol (CSP) 1 Matrix: A Literature Review
Authors: N. Hamzah, M. Mahli, A. I. Che-Ani, M. M Tahir, N. A. G. Abdullah, N. M Tawil
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Building inspection is one of the key components of building maintenance. The primary purpose of performing a building inspection is to evaluate the building-s condition. Without inspection, it is difficult to determine a built asset-s current condition, so failure to inspect can contribute to the asset-s future failure. Traditionally, a longhand survey description has been widely used for property condition reports. Surveys that employ ratings instead of descriptions are gaining wide acceptance in the industry because they cater to the need for numerical analysis output. These kinds of surveys are also in keeping with the new RICS HomeBuyer Report 2009. In this paper, we propose a new assessment method, derived from the current rating systems, for assessing the specifically smart school building-s condition and rating the seriousness of each defect identified. These two assessment criteria are then multiplied to find the building-s score, which we called the Condition Survey Protocol (CSP) 1 Matrix. Instead of a longhand description of a building-s defects, this matrix requires concise explanations about the defects identified, thus saving on-site time during a smart school building inspection. The full score is used to give the building an overall rating: Good, Fair or Dilapidated.
Keywords: Assessment matrix, building condition survey, rating system, smart school and survey protocol.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24581288 Complex-Valued Neural Network in Signal Processing: A Study on the Effectiveness of Complex Valued Generalized Mean Neuron Model
Authors: Anupama Pande, Ashok Kumar Thakur, Swapnoneel Roy
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A complex valued neural network is a neural network which consists of complex valued input and/or weights and/or thresholds and/or activation functions. Complex-valued neural networks have been widening the scope of applications not only in electronics and informatics, but also in social systems. One of the most important applications of the complex valued neural network is in signal processing. In Neural networks, generalized mean neuron model (GMN) is often discussed and studied. The GMN includes a new aggregation function based on the concept of generalized mean of all the inputs to the neuron. This paper aims to present exhaustive results of using Generalized Mean Neuron model in a complex-valued neural network model that uses the back-propagation algorithm (called -Complex-BP-) for learning. Our experiments results demonstrate the effectiveness of a Generalized Mean Neuron Model in a complex plane for signal processing over a real valued neural network. We have studied and stated various observations like effect of learning rates, ranges of the initial weights randomly selected, error functions used and number of iterations for the convergence of error required on a Generalized Mean neural network model. Some inherent properties of this complex back propagation algorithm are also studied and discussed.Keywords: Complex valued neural network, Generalized Meanneuron model, Signal processing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17301287 Thermal Behavior of a Ventilated Façade Using Perforated Ceramic Bricks
Authors: H. López-Moreno, A. Rodríguez-Sánchez, C. Viñas-Arrebola, C. Porras-Amores
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The ventilated façade has great advantages when compared to traditional façades as it reduces the air conditioning thermal loads due to the stack effect induced by solar radiation in the air chamber. Optimizing energy consumption by using a ventilated façade can be used not only in newly built buildings but also it can be implemented in existing buildings, opening the field of implementation to energy building retrofitting works. In this sense, the following three prototypes of façade where designed, built and further analyzed in this research: non-ventilated façade (NVF); slightly ventilated façade (SLVF) and strongly ventilated façade (STVF). The construction characteristics of the three facades are based on the Spanish regulation of building construction “Technical Building Code”. The façades have been monitored by type-k thermocouples in a representative day of the summer season in Madrid (Spain). Moreover, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures, studying the thermal lag in the ventilated and no-ventilated façades has been designed. Results show that STVF façade presents higher levels of thermal inertia as the thermal lag reduces up to 17% (daily mean) compared to the non-ventilated façade. In addition, the statistical analysis proves that an increase of the ventilation holes size in STVF façades can improve the thermal lag significantly (p >0.05) when compared to the SLVF façade.Keywords: Energy efficiency, experimental study, statistical analysis, thermal behavior, ventilated façade.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4117