Search results for: Load management.
2692 Analysing Environmental Risks and Perceptions of Risks to Assess Health and Well-being in Poor Areas of Abidjan
Authors: Kouassi Dongo, Christian Zurbrügg, Gueladio Cissé1, Brigit Obrist, Marcel Tanner, Jean Biémi
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This study analyzed environmental health risks and people-s perceptions of risks related to waste management in poor settlements of Abidjan, to develop integrated solutions for health and well-being improvement. The trans-disciplinary approach used relied on remote sensing, a geographic information system (GIS), qualitative and quantitative methods such as interviews and a household survey (n=1800). Mitigating strategies were then developed using an integrated participatory stakeholder workshop. Waste management deficiencies resulting in lack of drainage and uncontrolled solid and liquid waste disposal in the poor settlements lead to severe environmental health risks. Health problems were caused by direct handling of waste, as well as through broader exposure of the population. People in poor settlements had little awareness of health risks related to waste management in their community and a general lack of knowledge pertaining to sanitation systems. This unfortunate combination was the key determinant affecting the health and vulnerability. For example, an increased prevalence of malaria (47.1%) and diarrhoea (19.2%) was observed in the rainy season when compared to the dry season (32.3% and 14.3%). Concerted and adapted solutions that suited all the stakeholders concerned were developed in a participatory workshop to allow for improvement of health and well-being.Keywords: Abidjan, environmental health risks, informalsettlements, vulnerability, waste management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17502691 Financial Portfolio Optimization in Turkish Electricity Market via Value at Risk
Authors: F. Gökgöz, M. E. Atmaca
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Electricity has an indispensable role in human daily life, technological development and economy. It is a special product or service that should be instantaneously generated and consumed. Sources of the world are limited so that effective and efficient use of them is very important not only for human life and environment but also for technological and economic development. Competitive electricity market is one of the important way that provides suitable platform for effective and efficient use of electricity. Besides benefits, it brings along some risks that should be carefully managed by a market player like Electricity Generation Company. Risk management is an essential part in market players’ decision making. In this paper, risk management through diversification is applied with the help of Value at Risk methods for case studies. Performance of optimal electricity sale solutions are measured and the portfolio performance has been evaluated via Sharpe-Ratio, and compared with conventional approach. Biennial historical electricity price data of Turkish Day Ahead Market are used to demonstrate the approach.Keywords: Electricity market, portfolio optimization, risk management, Sharpe ratio, value at risk.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10412690 Designing a Model for Preparing Reports on the Automatic Earned Value Management Progress by the Integration of Primavera P6, SQL Database, and Power BI: A Case Study of a Six-Storey Concrete Building in Mashhad, Iran
Authors: Hamed Zolfaghari, Mojtaba Kord
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Project planners and controllers are frequently faced with the challenge of inadequate software for the preparation of automatic project progress reports based on actual project information updates. They usually make dashboards in Microsoft Excel, which is local and not applicable online. Another shortcoming is that Microsoft project does not store the data in database, so the data cannot automatically be imported from Microsoft Project into Microsoft Excel. This study aimed to propose a model for the preparation of reports on automatic online project progress based on actual project information updates by the integration of Primavera P6, SQL database, and Power BI (Business Intelligence) for a construction project. The designed model could be applicable to project planners and controller agents by enabling them to prepare project reports automatically and immediately after updating the project schedule using actual information. To develop the model, the data were entered into P6, and the information was stored on the SQL database. The proposed model could prepare a wide range of reports, such as earned value management, Human Resource (HR) reports, and financial, physical, and risk reports automatically on the Power BI application. Furthermore, the reports could be published and shared online.
Keywords: Primavera P6, SQL, Power BI, Earned Value Management, Integration Management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3962689 Experimental Investigation of Hydrogen Addition in the Intake Air of Compressed Engines Running on Biodiesel Blend
Authors: Hendrick Maxil Zárate Rocha, Ricardo da Silva Pereira, Manoel Fernandes Martins Nogueira, Carlos R. Pereira Belchior, Maria Emilia de Lima Tostes
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This study investigates experimentally the effects of hydrogen addition in the intake manifold of a diesel generator operating with a 7% biodiesel-diesel oil blend (B7). An experimental apparatus setup was used to conduct performance and emissions tests in a single cylinder, air cooled diesel engine. This setup consisted of a generator set connected to a wirewound resistor load bank that was used to vary engine load. In addition, a flowmeter was used to determine hydrogen volumetric flowrate and a digital anemometer coupled with an air box to measure air flowrate. Furthermore, a digital precision electronic scale was used to measure engine fuel consumption and a gas analyzer was used to determine exhaust gas composition and exhaust gas temperature. A thermopar was installed near the exhaust collection to measure cylinder temperature. In-cylinder pressure was measured using an AVL Indumicro data acquisition system with a piezoelectric pressure sensor. An AVL optical encoder was installed in the crankshaft and synchronized with in-cylinder pressure in real time. The experimental procedure consisted of injecting hydrogen into the engine intake manifold at different mass concentrations of 2,6,8 and 10% of total fuel mass (B7 + hydrogen), which represented energy fractions of 5,15, 20 and 24% of total fuel energy respectively. Due to hydrogen addition, the total amount of fuel energy introduced increased and the generators fuel injection governor prevented any increases of engine speed. Several conclusions can be stated from the test results. A reduction in specific fuel consumption as a function of hydrogen concentration increase was noted. Likewise, carbon dioxide emissions (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC) decreased as hydrogen concentration increased. On the other hand, nitrogen oxides emissions (NOx) increased due to average temperatures inside the cylinder being higher. There was also an increase in peak cylinder pressure and heat release rate inside the cylinder, since the fuel ignition delay was smaller due to hydrogen content increase. All this indicates that hydrogen promotes faster combustion and higher heat release rates and can be an important additive to all kind of fuels used in diesel generators.Keywords: Diesel engine, hydrogen, dual fuel, combustion analysis, performance, emissions.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13052688 Target and Kaizen Costing
Authors: Alireza Azimi Sani , Mahdi Allahverdizadeh
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increased competition and increased costs of designing made it important for the firms to identify the right products and the right methods for manufacturing the products. Firms should focus on customers and identify customer demands directly to design the right products. Several management methods and techniques that are currently available improve one or more functions or processes in an industry and do not take the complete product life cycle into consideration. On the other hand target costing is a method / philosophy that takes financial, manufacturing and customer aspects into consideration during designing phase and helps firms in making product design decisions to increase the profit / value of the company. It uses various techniques to identify customer demands, to decrease costs of manufacturing and finally to achieve strategic goals. Target Costing forms an integral part of total product design / redesign based on strategic plans.Keywords: Target Costing, Target Cost Management, Cost Management, Activity Based Costing, New product design
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 101452687 Simulation of a Boost PFC Converter with Electro Magnetic Interference Filter
Authors: P. Ram Mohan, M. Vijaya Kumar, O. V. Raghava Reddy
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This paper deals with the simulation of a Boost Power Factor Correction (PFC) Converter with Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) Filter. The diode rectifier with output capacitor gives poor power factor. The Boost Converter of PFC Circuit is analyzed and then simulated with diode rectifier. The Boost PFC Converter with EMI Filter is simulated for resistive load. The power factor is improved using the proposed converter.
Keywords: Boost Converter, Power Factor Correction, Electro Magnetic Interference, Diode Rectifier
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 34202686 Disaster Preparedness for Academic Libraries in Malaysia: An Exploratory Study
Authors: Siti Juryiah Mohd Khalid, Norazlina Dol
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Academic libraries in Malaysia are still not prepared for disaster even though several occasions have been reported. The study sets out to assess the current status of preparedness in disaster management among Malaysian academic libraries in the State of Selangor and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. To obtain a base level of knowledge on disaster preparedness of current practices, a questionnaire was distributed to chief librarians or their assignees in charge of disaster or emergency preparedness at 40 academic libraries and 34 responses were received. The study revolved around the current status of preparedness, on various issues including existence of disaster preparedness plan among academic libraries in Malaysia, disaster experiences by the academic libraries, funding, risk assessment activities and involvement of library staff in disaster management. Frequency and percentage tables were used in the analysis of the data collected. Some of the academic libraries under study have experienced one form of disaster or the other. Most of the academic libraries do not have a written disaster preparedness plan. The risk assessments and staff involvement in disaster preparedness by these libraries were generally adequate.Keywords: Academic libraries, disaster preparedness plan, disaster management, emergency plan.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 33142685 Comparison of Wind Fragility for Window System in the Simplified 10 and 15-Story Building Considering Exposure Category
Authors: Viriyavudh Sim, WooYoung Jung
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Window system in high rise building is occasionally subjected to an excessive wind intensity, particularly during typhoon. The failure of window system did not affect overall safety of structural performance; however, it could endanger the safety of the residents. In this paper, comparison of fragility curves for window system of two residential buildings was studied. The probability of failure for individual window was determined with Monte Carlo Simulation method. Then, lognormal cumulative distribution function was used to represent the fragility. The results showed that windows located on the edge of leeward wall were more susceptible to wind load and the probability of failure for each window panel increased at higher floors.Keywords: Wind fragility, window system, high rise building.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12782684 Developing a Multiagent Based Decision Support System for Realtime Multi-Risk Disaster Management
Authors: D. Moser, D. Pinto, A. Cipriano
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A Disaster Management System (DMS) is very important for countries with multiple disasters, such as Chile. In the world (also in Chile)different disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruption, fire or other natural or man-made disasters) happen and have an effect on the population. It is also possible that two or more disasters occur at the same time. This meansthata multi-risk situation must be mastered. To handle such a situation a Decision Support System (DSS) based on multiagents is a suitable architecture. The most known DMSs are concernedwith only a singledisaster (sometimes thecombination of earthquake and tsunami) and often with a particular disaster. Nevertheless, a DSS helps for a better real-time response. Analyze the existing systems in the literature and expand them for multi-risk disasters to construct a well-organized system is the proposal of our work. The here shown work is an approach of a multi-risk system, which needs an architecture and well defined aims. In this moment our study is a kind of case study to analyze the way we have to follow to create our proposed system in the future.
Keywords: Decision Support System, Disaster Management System, Multi-Risk, Multiagent System.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25932683 A Comparison of Shunt Active Power Filter Control Methods under Non-Sinusoidal and Unbalanced Voltage Conditions
Authors: H. Abaali, M. T. Lamchich, M. Raoufi
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There are a variety of reference current identification methods, for the shunt active power filter (SAPF), such as the instantaneous active and reactive power, the instantaneous active and reactive current and the synchronous detection method are evaluated and compared under ideal, non sinusoidal and unbalanced voltage conditions. The SAPF performances, for the investigated identification methods, are tested for a non linear load. The simulation results, using Matlab Power System Blockset Toolbox from a complete structure, are presented and discussed.
Keywords: Shunt active power filter, Current perturbation, Non sinusoidal and unbalanced voltage conditions.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25292682 Analysis of the Reasons behind the Deteriorated Standing of Engineering Companies during the Financial Crisis
Authors: Levan Sabauri
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In this paper, we discuss the deteriorated standing of engineering companies, some of the reasons behind it and the problems facing engineering enterprises during the financial crisis. We show the part that financial analysis plays in the detection of the main factors affecting the standing of a company, classify internal problems and the reasons influencing efficiency thereof. The publication contains the analysis of municipal engineering companies in post-Soviet transitional economies. In the wake of the 2008 world financial crisis the issue became even more poignant. It should be said though that even before the problem had been no less acute for some post-Soviet states caught up in a lengthy transitional period. The paper highlights shortcomings in the management of transportation companies, with new, more appropriate methods suggested. In analyzing the financial stability of a company, three elements need to be considered: current assets, investment policy and structural management of the funding sources leveraging the stability, should be focused on. Inappropriate management of the three may create certain financial problems, with timely and accurate detection thereof being an issue in terms of improved standing of an enterprise. In this connection, the publication contains a diagram reflecting the reasons behind the deteriorated financial standing of a company, as well as a flow chart thereof. The main reasons behind low profitability are also discussed.
Keywords: Efficiency, financial management, financial analysis funding structure, financial sustainability, investment policy, profitability, solvency, working capital.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15572681 The Role of the Studs Configuration in the Structural Response of Composite Bridges
Authors: M. M. Mohammadi Dehnavi, A. De Angelis, M. R. Pecce
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This paper deals with the role of studs in structural response for steel-concrete composite beams. A tri-linear slip-shear strength law is assumed according to literature and codes provisions for developing a finite element (FE) model of a case study of a composite deck. The variation of the strength and ductility of the connection is implemented in the numerical model carrying out nonlinear analyses. The results confirm the utility of the model to evaluate the importance of the studs capacity, ductility and strength, on the global response (ductility and strength) of the structures but also to analyse the trend of slip and shear at interface along the beams.
Keywords: Shear Load, slip, steel-concrete composite bridge, stud connectors.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3562680 Designing a Rescue System for Earthquake-Stricken Area with the Aim of Facilitation and Accelerating Accessibilities (Case Study: City of Tehran)
Authors: Naeleh Motamedi, Masoud Mahmoudkhan Shirazi, Nima Nouraei
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Natural disasters, including earthquake, kill many people around the world every year. Society rescue actions, which start after the earthquake and are called LAST in abbreviation, include locating, access, stabilization and transportation. In the present article, we have studied the process of local accessibility to the injured and transporting them to health care centers. With regard the heavy traffic load due to earthquake, the destruction of connecting roads and bridges and the heavy debris in alleys and street, which put the lives of the injured and the people buried under the debris in danger, accelerating the rescue actions and facilitating the accessibilities are of great importance, obviously. Tehran, the capital of Iran, is among the crowded cities in the world and is the center of extensive economic, political, cultural and social activities. Tehran has a population of about 9.5 millions and because of the immigration of people from the surrounding cities. Furthermore, considering the fact that Tehran is located on two important and large faults, a 6 Richter magnitude earthquake in this city could lead to the greatest catastrophe during the entire human history. The present study is a kind of review and a major part of the required information for it, has been obtained from libraries all of the rescue vehicles around the world, including rescue helicopters, ambulances, fire fighting vehicles and rescue boats, and their applied technology, and also the robots specifically designed for the rescue system and the advantages and disadvantages of them, have been investigated. The studies show that there is a significant relationship between the rescue team-s arrival time at the incident zone and the number of saved people; so that, if the duration of burial under debris 30 minutes, the probability of survival is %99.3, after a day is %81, after 2days is %19 and after 5days is %7.4. The exiting transport systems all have some defects. If these defects are removed, more people could be saved each hour and the preparedness against natural disasters is increased. In this study, transport system has been designed for the rescue team and the injured; which could carry the rescue team to the incident zone and the injured to the health care centers. In addition, this system is able to fly in the air and move on the earth as well; so that the destruction of roads and the heavy traffic load could not prevent the rescue team from arriving early at the incident zone. The system also has the equipment required firebird for debris removing, optimum transport of the injured and first aid.
Keywords: earthquake, accelerating, accessibilities transportation, rescue system
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15542679 Power System Contingency Analysis Using Multiagent Systems
Authors: Anant Oonsivilai, Kenedy A. Greyson
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The demand of the energy management systems (EMS) set forth by modern power systems requires fast energy management systems. Contingency analysis is among the functions in EMS which is time consuming. In order to handle this limitation, this paper introduces agent based technology in the contingency analysis. The main function of agents is to speed up the performance. Negotiations process in decision making is explained and the issue set forth is the minimization of the operating costs. The IEEE 14 bus system and its line outage have been used in the research and simulation results are presented.
Keywords: Agents, model, negotiation, optimal dispatch, powersystems.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21172678 Piezoelectric Micro-generator Characterization for Energy Harvesting Application
Authors: José E. Q. Souza, Marcio Fontana, Antonio C. C. Lima
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This paper presents analysis and characterization of a piezoelectric micro-generator for energy harvesting application. A low-cost experimental prototype was designed to operate as piezoelectric micro-generator in the laboratory. An input acceleration of 9.8m/s2 using a sine signal (peak-to-peak voltage: 1V, offset voltage: 0V) at frequencies ranging from 10Hz to 160Hz generated a maximum average power of 432.4μW (linear mass position = 25mm) and an average power of 543.3μW (angular mass position = 35°). These promising results show that the prototype can be considered for low consumption load application as an energy harvesting micro-generator.Keywords: Piezoelectric, microgenerator, energy harvesting, cantilever beam.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8852677 Tribological Behaviour of Si-Cu-Mo-Ni Alloyed Austempered Ductile Iron
Authors: Rajendra M. Galagali, R. G. Tikotkar
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Ductile iron samples alloyed with 2.5% Si, 0.78% Cu, 0.421% Mo and 0.151% Ni were austempered at 345 °C and 380 °C for 150 and 180 mins and then tested for wear strength. Ductile iron was also included in the study for comparison purposes. A pin-on-disc machine was employed for wear study. The investigations were carried out for a speed of 3 m/s, under the contact load of 29.43 N with varying sliding distances ranging from 1000 m to 5000 m. The experimental outcome indicates that ADI austempered at 345 °C is more wear resistant than the one austempered at 380 °C. Also for only a sliding distance of 3000 m, both exhibited almost same wear resistance. SEM analysis indicates running sliding marks more or less parallel to one another. Spalled layers and large voids which resemble delamination were observed on worn surface of ADI380. This indicated the occurrence of severe wear. Dark patches observed indicate oxidized surface.
Keywords: Austempered ductile iron, coefficient of friction, dry sliding wear, sliding distance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10312676 Real-Time Data Stream Partitioning over a Sliding Window in Real-Time Spatial Big Data
Authors: Sana Hamdi, Emna Bouazizi, Sami Faiz
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In recent years, real-time spatial applications, like location-aware services and traffic monitoring, have become more and more important. Such applications result dynamic environments where data as well as queries are continuously moving. As a result, there is a tremendous amount of real-time spatial data generated every day. The growth of the data volume seems to outspeed the advance of our computing infrastructure. For instance, in real-time spatial Big Data, users expect to receive the results of each query within a short time period without holding in account the load of the system. But with a huge amount of real-time spatial data generated, the system performance degrades rapidly especially in overload situations. To solve this problem, we propose the use of data partitioning as an optimization technique. Traditional horizontal and vertical partitioning can increase the performance of the system and simplify data management. But they remain insufficient for real-time spatial Big data; they can’t deal with real-time and stream queries efficiently. Thus, in this paper, we propose a novel data partitioning approach for real-time spatial Big data named VPA-RTSBD (Vertical Partitioning Approach for Real-Time Spatial Big data). This contribution is an implementation of the Matching algorithm for traditional vertical partitioning. We find, firstly, the optimal attribute sequence by the use of Matching algorithm. Then, we propose a new cost model used for database partitioning, for keeping the data amount of each partition more balanced limit and for providing a parallel execution guarantees for the most frequent queries. VPA-RTSBD aims to obtain a real-time partitioning scheme and deals with stream data. It improves the performance of query execution by maximizing the degree of parallel execution. This affects QoS (Quality Of Service) improvement in real-time spatial Big Data especially with a huge volume of stream data. The performance of our contribution is evaluated via simulation experiments. The results show that the proposed algorithm is both efficient and scalable, and that it outperforms comparable algorithms.Keywords: Real-Time Spatial Big Data, Quality Of Service, Vertical partitioning, Horizontal partitioning, Matching algorithm, Hamming distance, Stream query.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10412675 Blockchain’s Feasibility in Military Data Networks
Authors: Brenden M. Shutt, Lubjana Beshaj, Paul L. Goethals, Ambrose Kam
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Communication security is of particular interest to military data networks. A relatively novel approach to network security is blockchain, a cryptographically secured distribution ledger with a decentralized consensus mechanism for data transaction processing. Recent advances in blockchain technology have proposed new techniques for both data validation and trust management, as well as different frameworks for managing dataflow. The purpose of this work is to test the feasibility of different blockchain architectures as applied to military command and control networks. Various architectures are tested through discrete-event simulation and the feasibility is determined based upon a blockchain design’s ability to maintain long-term stable performance at industry standards of throughput, network latency, and security. This work proposes a consortium blockchain architecture with a computationally inexpensive consensus mechanism, one that leverages a Proof-of-Identity (PoI) concept and a reputation management mechanism.Keywords: Blockchain, command & control network, discrete-event simulation, reputation management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8162674 Integration Process of Industrial Design and Engineering Design
Authors: Kazuhide Sugiyama, Hiroshi Osada
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Lately management strategy that put Industrial Design (ID) in its core is recognized more important, as technology and price alone cannot differentiate a product. The needs to shorten the time to develop a product also shorten the development period of ID, and it necessitates the ID process management. This research analyzes the status of integration process of ID and Engineering Design (ED) of office equipment that requires the collaboration of ID and ED to clarify the issues for the efficiency of the development and to propose solutions.
Keywords: Industrial Design (ID), Engineering Design (ED), Integration process, Office equipment
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17992673 Evaluating the Australian Defense Force Environmental Awareness Training at Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Queensland, Australia
Authors: W. Wu, X. H. Wang, D. Paull
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This paper contributes to the field of Environmental Awareness Training (EAT) evaluation in terms of military activities. Environmental management of military activities is a growing concern for defence forces worldwide and the importance of EAT is becoming widely recognized. As one of Australia-s largest landowners, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) is extremely mindful of its duty as a joint environmental manager. It has an integrated Environmental Management System (EMS) to assist environmental management and EAT is an essential part of the ADF EMS model. This paper examines how EAT was conducted during the exercise Talisman Saber in 2009 (TS09) and evaluates its effectiveness, using Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA), one of the most significant military training areas and a significant protected area in Australia, as a case study. A questionnaire survey conducted showed, overall, that EAT was effective from the perspective of a sample of participants. Recommendations are made for the ADF to refine EAT for future exercises.Keywords: Australian Defence Force, effectiveness evaluation, Environmental Awareness Training, Shoalwater Bay Training Area
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17522672 Intellectual Capital and Competitive Advantage: An Analysis of the Biotechnology Industry
Authors: Campisi Domenico, Costa Roberta
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Intellectual capital measurement is a central aspect of knowledge management. The measurement and the evaluation of intangible assets play a key role in allowing an effective management of these assets as sources of competitiveness. For these reasons, managers and practitioners need conceptual and analytical tools taking into account the unique characteristics and economic significance of Intellectual Capital. Following this lead, we propose an efficiency and productivity analysis of Intellectual Capital, as a determinant factor of the company competitive advantage. The analysis is carried out by means of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI). These techniques identify Bests Practice companies that have accomplished competitive advantage implementing successful strategies of Intellectual Capital management, and offer to inefficient companies development paths by means of benchmarking. The proposed methodology is employed on the Biotechnology industry in the period 2007-2010.
Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis, Innovation, Intangible assets, Intellectual Capital, Malmquist Productivity Index.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19092671 Effect of Network Communication Overhead on the Performance of Adaptive Speculative Locking Protocol
Authors: Waqar Haque, Pai Qi
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The speculative locking (SL) protocol extends the twophase locking (2PL) protocol to allow for parallelism among conflicting transactions. The adaptive speculative locking (ASL) protocol provided further enhancements and outperformed SL protocols under most conditions. Neither of these protocols consider the impact of network latency on the performance of the distributed database systems. We have studied the performance of ASL protocol taking into account the communication overhead. The results indicate that though system load can counter network latency, it can still become a bottleneck in many situations. The impact of latency on performance depends on many factors including the system resources. A flexible discrete event simulator was used as the testbed for this study.
Keywords: concurrency control, distributed database systems, speculative locking
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16842670 The Analysis on Leadership Skills in UK Automobile Manufacturing Enterprises
Authors: Yanting Cao, Kazumitsu Nawata
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The UK has strong economic growth, which attracts other countries to invest there through globalization. This research process will be based on quantitative and qualitative descriptive analysis using interviews. The secondary analysis will involve a case study approach to understand the important aspects of leadership skills. The research outcomes will be identifying the strength and weakness of the leadership skills of UK automobile manufacturing enterprises and suggest the best practices adopted by the respective countries for better results.
Keywords: engineering management, leadership, industrial project management, project managers, automobile manufacturing
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13812669 Decolorization and Phenol Removal of Palm Oil Mill Effluent by Termite-Associated Yeast
Authors: P. Chaijak, M. Lertworapreecha, C. Sukkasem
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A huge of dark color palm oil mill effluent (POME) cannot pass the discharge standard. It has been identified as the major contributor to the pollution load into ground water. Here, lignin-degrading yeast isolated from a termite nest was tested to treat the POME. Its lignin-degrading and decolorizing ability was determined. The result illustrated that Galactomyces sp. was successfully grown in POME. The decolorizing test demonstrated that 40% of Galactomyces sp. could reduce the color of POME (50% v/v) about 74-75% in 5 days without nutrient supplement. The result suggested that G. reessii has a potential to apply for decolorizing the dark wastewater like POME and other industrial wastewaters.Keywords: Decolorization, palm oil mill effluent, ligninolytic enzyme, yeast, termite.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13042668 Early-Warning Lights Classification Management System for Industrial Parks in Taiwan
Authors: Yu-Min Chang, Kuo-Sheng Tsai, Hung-Te Tsai, Chia-Hsin Li
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This paper presents the early-warning lights classification management system for industrial parks promoted by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) since 2011, including the definition of each early-warning light, objectives, action program and accomplishments. All of the 151 industrial parks in Taiwan were classified into four early-warning lights, including red, orange, yellow and green, for carrying out respective pollution management according to the monitoring data of soil and groundwater quality, regulatory compliance, and regulatory listing of control site or remediation site. The Taiwan EPA set up a priority list for high potential polluted industrial parks and investigated their soil and groundwater qualities based on the results of the light classification and pollution potential assessment. In 2011-2013, there were 44 industrial parks selected and carried out different investigation, such as the early warning groundwater well networks establishment and pollution investigation/verification for the red and orange-light industrial parks and the environmental background survey for the yellow-light industrial parks. Among them, 22 industrial parks were newly or continuously confirmed that the concentrations of pollutants exceeded those in soil or groundwater pollution control standards. Thus, the further investigation, groundwater use restriction, listing of pollution control site or remediation site, and pollutant isolation measures were implemented by the local environmental protection and industry competent authorities; the early warning lights of those industrial parks were proposed to adjust up to orange or red-light. Up to the present, the preliminary positive effect of the soil and groundwater quality management system for industrial parks has been noticed in several aspects, such as environmental background information collection, early warning of pollution risk, pollution investigation and control, information integration and application, and inter-agency collaboration. Finally, the work and goal of self-initiated quality management of industrial parks will be carried out on the basis of the inter-agency collaboration by the classified lights system of early warning and management as well as the regular announcement of the status of each industrial park.
Keywords: Industrial park, soil and groundwater quality management, early-warning lights classification, SOP for reporting and treatment of monitored abnormal events.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19762667 Balanced and Unbalanced Voltage Sag Mitigation Using DSTATCOM with Linear and Nonlinear Loads
Authors: H. Nasiraghdam, A. Jalilian
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DSTATCOM is one of the equipments for voltage sag mitigation in power systems. In this paper a new control method for balanced and unbalanced voltage sag mitigation using DSTATCOM is proposed. The control system has two loops in order to regulate compensator current and load voltage. Delayed signal cancellation has been used for sequence separation. The compensator should protect sensitive loads against different types of voltage sag. Performance of the proposed method is investigated under different types of voltage sags for linear and nonlinear loads. Simulation results show appropriate operation of the proposed control system.Keywords: Custom power, power quality, voltage sagmitigation, current vector control.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28282666 NSBS: Design of a Network Storage Backup System
Authors: Xinyan Zhang, Zhipeng Tan, Shan Fan
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The first layer of defense against data loss is the backup data. This paper implements an agent-based network backup system used the backup, server-storage and server-backup agent these tripartite construction, and the snapshot and hierarchical index are used in the NSBS. It realizes the control command and data flow separation, balances the system load, thereby improving efficiency of the system backup and recovery. The test results show the agent-based network backup system can effectively improve the task-based concurrency, reasonably allocate network bandwidth, the system backup performance loss costs smaller and improves data recovery efficiency by 20%.
Keywords: Agent, network backup system, three architecture model, NSBS.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22142665 Application of Artificial Neural Network to Forecast Actual Cost of a Project to Improve Earned Value Management System
Authors: Seyed Hossein Iranmanesh, Mansoureh Zarezadeh
Abstract:
This paper presents an application of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to forecast actual cost of a project based on the earned value management system (EVMS). For this purpose, some projects randomly selected based on the standard data set , and it is produced necessary progress data such as actual cost ,actual percent complete , baseline cost and percent complete for five periods of project. Then an ANN with five inputs and five outputs and one hidden layer is trained to produce forecasted actual costs. The comparison between real and forecasted data show better performance based on the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) criterion. This approach could be applicable to better forecasting the project cost and result in decreasing the risk of project cost overrun, and therefore it is beneficial for planning preventive actions.
Keywords: Earned Value Management System (EVMS), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Estimate At Completion, Forecasting Methods, Project Performance Measurement.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27472664 Study on Various Measures for Flood in Specific Region: A Case Study of the 2008 Lao Flood
Authors: Douangmala Kounsana, Toru Takahashi
Abstract:
In recent years, the number of natural disasters in Laos has a trend to increase, especially the disaster of flood. To make a flood plan risk management in the future, it is necessary to understand and analyze the characteristics of the rainfall and Mekong River level data. To reduce the damage, this paper presents the flood risk analysis in Luangprabang and Vientiane, the prefecture of Laos. In detail, the relationship between the rainfall and the Mekong River level has evaluated and appropriate countermeasure for flood was discussed.
Keywords: Lao flood, Mekong river, rainfall, risk management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18142663 Reliability Analysis in Electrical Distribution System Considering Preventive Maintenance Applications on Circuit Breakers
Authors: Mahmud Fotuhi-Firuzabad, Saeed Afshar
Abstract:
This paper presents the results of a preventive maintenance application-based study and modeling of failure rates in breakers of electrical distribution systems. This is a critical issue in the reliability assessment of a system. In the analysis conducted in this paper, the impacts of failure rate variations caused by a preventive maintenance are examined. This is considered as a part of a Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) application program. A number of load point reliability indices is derived using the mathematical model of the failure rate, which is established using the observed data in a distribution system.
Keywords: Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM), failure rate, preventive maintenance (PM), Distribution System Reliability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2481