Search results for: context modeling
1686 Evaluating and Selecting Optimization Software Packages: A Framework for Business Applications
Authors: Waleed Abohamad, Amr Arisha
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Owing the fact that optimization of business process is a crucial requirement to navigate, survive and even thrive in today-s volatile business environment, this paper presents a framework for selecting a best-fit optimization package for solving complex business problems. Complexity level of the problem and/or using incorrect optimization software can lead to biased solutions of the optimization problem. Accordingly, the proposed framework identifies a number of relevant factors (e.g. decision variables, objective functions, and modeling approach) to be considered during the evaluation and selection process. Application domain, problem specifications, and available accredited optimization approaches are also to be regarded. A recommendation of one or two optimization software is the output of the framework which is believed to provide the best results of the underlying problem. In addition to a set of guidelines and recommendations on how managers can conduct an effective optimization exercise is discussed.Keywords: Complex Business Problems, Optimization, Selection Criteria, Software Evaluation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29101685 Automatic Generation of OWL Ontologies from UML Class Diagrams Based on Meta- Modelling and Graph Grammars
Authors: Aissam Belghiat, Mustapha Bourahla
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Models are placed by modeling paradigm at the center of development process. These models are represented by languages, like UML the language standardized by the OMG which became necessary for development. Moreover the ontology engineering paradigm places ontologies at the center of development process; in this paradigm we find OWL the principal language for knowledge representation. Building ontologies from scratch is generally a difficult task. The bridging between UML and OWL appeared on several regards such as the classes and associations. In this paper, we have to profit from convergence between UML and OWL to propose an approach based on Meta-Modelling and Graph Grammars and registered in the MDA architecture for the automatic generation of OWL ontologies from UML class diagrams. The transformation is based on transformation rules; the level of abstraction in these rules is close to the application in order to have usable ontologies. We illustrate this approach by an example.
Keywords: ATOM3, MDA, Ontology, OWL, UML
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 249051684 Using Discrete Event Simulation Approach to Reduce Waiting Times in Computed Tomography Radiology Department
Authors: Mwafak Shakoor
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The purpose of this study was to reduce patient waiting times, improve system throughput and improve resources utilization in radiology department. A discrete event simulation model was developed using Arena simulation software to investigate different alternatives to improve the overall system delivery based on adding resource scenarios due to the linkage between patient waiting times and resource availability. The study revealed that there is no addition investment need to procure additional scanner but hospital management deploy managerial tactics to enhance machine utilization and reduce the long waiting time in the department.
Keywords: Arena, Computed Tomography (CT), Discrete event simulation, Healthcare modeling, Radiology department, Waiting time.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 35511683 Application of GAMS and GA in the Location and Penetration of Distributed Generation
Authors: Alireza Dehghani Pilehvarani, Mojtaba Hakimzadeh, Mohammad Jafari Far, Reza Sedaghati
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Distributed Generation (DG) can help in reducing the cost of electricity to the costumer, relieve network congestion and provide environmentally friendly energy close to load centers. Its capacity is also scalable and it provides voltage support at distribution level. Hence, DG placement and penetration level is an important problem for both the utility and DG owner. DG allocation and capacity determination is a nonlinear optimization problem. The objective function of this problem is the minimization of the total loss of the distribution system. Also high levels of penetration of DG are a new challenge for traditional electric power systems. This paper presents a new methodology for the optimal placement of DG and penetration level of DG in distribution system based on General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) and Genetic Algorithm (GA).
Keywords: Distributed Generation, Location, Loss Reduction, Distribution Network, GA, GAMS.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26341682 Simulation and Configuration of Hydrogen Assisted Renewable Energy Power System
Authors: V. Karri, W. K. Yap, J. Titchen
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A renewable energy system discussed in this paper is a stand-alone wind-hydrogen system for a remote island in Australia. The analysis of an existing wind-diesel power system was performed. Simulation technique was used to model the power system currently employed on the island, and simulated different configurations of additional hydrogen energy system. This study aims to determine the suitable hydrogen integrated configuration to setting up the prototype system for the island, which helps to reduce the diesel consumption on the island. A set of configurations for the hydrogen system and associated parameters that consists of wind turbines, electrolysers, hydrogen internal combustion engines, and storage tanks has been purposed. The simulation analyses various configurations that perfectly balances the system to meet the demand on the island.Keywords: Hydrogen power systems, hydrogen internal combustion engine, modeling and simulation of hydrogen power systems.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21841681 Identification of Nonlinear Systems Using Radial Basis Function Neural Network
Authors: C. Pislaru, A. Shebani
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This paper uses the radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) for system identification of nonlinear systems. Five nonlinear systems are used to examine the activity of RBFNN in system modeling of nonlinear systems; the five nonlinear systems are dual tank system, single tank system, DC motor system, and two academic models. The feed forward method is considered in this work for modelling the non-linear dynamic models, where the KMeans clustering algorithm used in this paper to select the centers of radial basis function network, because it is reliable, offers fast convergence and can handle large data sets. The least mean square method is used to adjust the weights to the output layer, and Euclidean distance method used to measure the width of the Gaussian function.
Keywords: System identification, Nonlinear system, Neural networks, RBF neural network.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28641680 Study on the Mechanical Behavior of the Varactor of a Micro-Phase Shifter
Authors: Mehrdad Nouri Khajavi, Sajjad Ahoui Ghazvin, Ghader Rezazadeh, Mohammad Fathalilou
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In this paper static and dynamic response of a varactor of a micro-phase shifter to DC, step DC and AC voltages have been studied. By presenting a mathematical modeling Galerkin-based step by step linearization method (SSLM) and Galerkin-based reduced order model have been used to solve the governing static and dynamic equations, respectively. The calculated static and dynamic pull-in voltages have been validated by previous experimental and theoretical results and a good agreement has been achieved. Then the frequency response and phase diagram of the system has been studied. It has been shown that applying the DC voltage shifts down the phase diagram and frequency response. Also increasing the damping ratio shifts up the phase diagram.Keywords: MEMS, Phase Shifter, Pull-in Voltage, PhaseDiagram
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16861679 Family Bonding and Self-Concept: An Indirect Effect Mediated by School Experiences among Students
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School experiences, family bonding and self-concept had always been a crucial factor in influencing all aspects of a student-s development. The purpose of this study is to develop and to validate a priori model of self-concept among students. The study was tested empirically using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to validate the structural model. To address these concerns, 1167 students were randomly selected and utilized the Cognitive Psycho-Social University of Malaya instrument (2009).Resulted demonstrated there is indirect effect from family bonding to self-concept through school experiences among secondary school students as a mediator. Besides school experiences, there is a direct effect from family bonding to self-concept and family bonding to school experiences among students.Keywords: Confirmatory Factor Analysis, self-concept, family bonding, and school experience
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15981678 CART Method for Modeling the Output Power of Copper Bromide Laser
Authors: Iliycho P. Iliev, Desislava S. Voynikova, Snezhana G. Gocheva-Ilieva
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This paper examines the available experiment data for a copper bromide vapor laser (CuBr laser), emitting at two wavelengths - 510.6 and 578.2nm. Laser output power is estimated based on 10 independent input physical parameters. A classification and regression tree (CART) model is obtained which describes 97% of data. The resulting binary CART tree specifies which input parameters influence considerably each of the classification groups. This allows for a technical assessment that indicates which of these are the most significant for the manufacture and operation of the type of laser under consideration. The predicted values of the laser output power are also obtained depending on classification. This aids the design and development processes considerably.
Keywords: Classification and regression trees (CART), Copper Bromide laser (CuBr laser), laser generation, nonparametric statistical model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18241677 Gated Community: The Past and Present in China
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Gated community has gained its dominant in residential areas development that it has become the standard development pattern of the newly built residential areas in contemporary China. The form of gated community has its own advantages and rationality that meet the needs of quite a lot of residents, but it-s also believed by researchers that the form has great damage to the urban morphology and development, and has a negative impact on residents- living style. However, there is still a considerable controversy of the origins and outcomes. Though recognized as a global phenomenon, gated community developed in China is greatly to do with the specific local forces, respect to the unique historical, political and socio-cultural momentums. A historical review of the traditional settlements in China and the trends that how Gated community has gained its contemporary form, is indispensable for comprehending the local forces, and provide a new perspective to solve the controversy.
Keywords: Gated community, Traditional form of settlements, modeling process.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 42761676 Prediction of Solidification Behavior of Al Alloy in a Cube Mold Cavity
Authors: N. P. Yadav, Deepti Verma
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This paper focuses on the mathematical modeling for solidification of Al alloy in a cube mold cavity to study the solidification behavior of casting process. The parametric investigation of solidification process inside the cavity was performed by using computational solidification/melting model coupled with Volume of fluid (VOF) model. The implicit filling algorithm is used in this study to understand the overall process from the filling stage to solidification in a model metal casting process. The model is validated with past studied at same conditions. The solidification process is analyzed by including the effect of pouring velocity as well as natural convection from the wall and geometry of the cavity. These studies show the possibility of various defects during solidification process.Keywords: Buoyancy driven flow, natural convection driven flow, residual flow, secondary flow, volume of fluid.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23151675 EDULOGIC+ - Knowledge Management through Data Analysis in Education
Authors: Alok Sharma, Dr. Harvinder S. Saini, Raviteja Tiruvury
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This paper outlines the application of Knowledge Management (KM) principles in the context of Educational institutions. The paper caters to the needs of the engineering institutions for imparting quality education by delineating the instruction delivery process in a highly structured, controlled and quantified manner. This is done using a software tool EDULOGIC+. The central idea has been based on the engineering education pattern in Indian Universities/ Institutions. The data, contents and results produced over contiguous years build the necessary ground for managing the related accumulated knowledge. Application of KM has been explained using certain examples of data analysis and knowledge extraction.Keywords: Education software system, information system, knowledge management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17531674 Mathematical Modeling for Dengue Transmission with the Effect of Season
Authors: R. Kongnuy., P. Pongsumpun
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Mathematical models can be used to describe the transmission of disease. Dengue disease is the most significant mosquito-borne viral disease of human. It now a leading cause of childhood deaths and hospitalizations in many countries. Variations in environmental conditions, especially seasonal climatic parameters, effect to the transmission of dengue viruses the dengue viruses and their principal mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti. A transmission model for dengue disease is discussed in this paper. We assume that the human and vector populations are constant. We showed that the local stability is completely determined by the threshold parameter, 0 B . If 0 B is less than one, the disease free equilibrium state is stable. If 0 B is more than one, a unique endemic equilibrium state exists and is stable. The numerical results are shown for the different values of the transmission probability from vector to human populations.Keywords: Dengue disease, mathematical model, season, threshold parameters.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22131673 Özsoy: The First Turkish Opera That Was Desired by Ataturk
Authors: Hilmi Yazıcı
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M. Kemal Ataturk was a great leader who was fond of art and he had displayed his being fond of art many times. In his speeches and writings you can see that he had showed his approval to art and the importance of artists and art for the society. During the foundation of republic, he also wanted renovation in art as in other fields and ordered many novelties both in art and society. One of the greatest steps in realizing this was to prepare a national Turkish opera. In this study, it was studied how a Turkish opera, Özsoy was prepared in the context of social and political conditions of that time and what kind of processes it passed. As a result, it is seen that there was two main aims for Ataturk with this opera. First, Ataturk wanted to abolish the sectarian conflict between Iran and Turkey going on for centuries. The second and maybe the most important is that he wanted to make a revolution in the field of art and aimed to reach the level of civilized countries.
Keywords: Opera, Atatürk, Özsoy, Adnan Saygun, The first Turkish opera.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 38281672 Aliasing Free and Additive Error in Spectra for Alpha Stable Signals
Authors: R. Sabre
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This work focuses on the symmetric alpha stable process with continuous time frequently used in modeling the signal with indefinitely growing variance, often observed with an unknown additive error. The objective of this paper is to estimate this error from discrete observations of the signal. For that, we propose a method based on the smoothing of the observations via Jackson polynomial kernel and taking into account the width of the interval where the spectral density is non-zero. This technique allows avoiding the “Aliasing phenomenon” encountered when the estimation is made from the discrete observations of a process with continuous time. We have studied the convergence rate of the estimator and have shown that the convergence rate improves in the case where the spectral density is zero at the origin. Thus, we set up an estimator of the additive error that can be subtracted for approaching the original signal without error.
Keywords: Spectral density, stable processes, aliasing, p-adic.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5851671 Dynamic Control Modeling and Simulation of a UPFC-SMES Compensator in Power Systems
Authors: K. Saravanan, R. Anita
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Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) is granting a new group of advanced power electronic devices emerging for enhancement of the power system performance. Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) is a recent version of FACTS devices for power system applications. The back-up energy supply system incorporated with UPFC is providing a complete control of real and reactive power at the same time and hence is competent to improve the performance of an electrical power system. In this article, backup energy supply unit such as superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) is integrated with UPFC. In addition, comparative exploration of UPFC–battery, UPFC–UC and UPFC–SMES performance is evaluated through the vibrant simulation by using MATLAB/Simulink software.
Keywords: Power system, FACTS, UPFC, DC-DC chopper, battery, UC, SMES.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19561670 Technology Assessment: Exploring Possibilities to Encounter Problems Faced by Intellectual Property through Blockchain
Authors: M. Ismail, E. Grifell-Tatjé, A. Paz
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A significant discussion on the topic of blockchain as a solution to the issues of intellectual property highlights the relevance that this topic holds. Some experts label this technology as destructive since it holds immense potential to change course of traditional practices. The extent and areas to which this technology can be of use are still being researched. This paper provides an in-depth review on the intellectual property and blockchain technology. Further it explores what makes blockchain suitable for intellectual property, the practical solutions available and the support different governments are offering. This paper further studies the framework of universities in context of its outputs and how can they be streamlined using blockchain technology. The paper concludes by discussing some limitations and future research question.Keywords: Blockchain, decentralization, open innovation, intellectual property, patents, university-industry relationship.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9211669 Modeling User Behaviour by Planning
Authors: Alfredo Milani, Silvia Suriani
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A model of user behaviour based automated planning is introduced in this work. The behaviour of users of web interactive systems can be described in term of a planning domain encapsulating the timed actions patterns representing the intended user profile. The user behaviour recognition is then posed as a planning problem where the goal is to parse a given sequence of user logs of the observed activities while reaching a final state. A general technique for transforming a timed finite state automata description of the behaviour into a numerical parameter planning model is introduced. Experimental results show that the performance of a planning based behaviour model is effective and scalable for real world applications. A major advantage of the planning based approach is to represent in a single automated reasoning framework problems of plan recognitions, plan synthesis and plan optimisation.Keywords: User behaviour, Timed Transition Automata, Automated Planning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13471668 Methodology of the Energy Supply Disturbances Affecting Energy System
Authors: J. Augutis, R. Krikstolaitis, L. Martisauskas
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Recently global concerns for the energy security have steadily been on the increase and are expected to become a major issue over the next few decades. Energy security refers to a resilient energy system. This resilient system would be capable of withstanding threats through a combination of active, direct security measures and passive or more indirect measures such as redundancy, duplication of critical equipment, diversity in fuel, other sources of energy, and reliance on less vulnerable infrastructure. Threats and disruptions (disturbances) to one part of the energy system affect another. The paper presents methodology in theoretical background about energy system as an interconnected network and energy supply disturbances impact to the network. The proposed methodology uses a network flow approach to develop mathematical model of the energy system network as the system of nodes and arcs with energy flowing from node to node along paths in the network.Keywords: Energy Security, Energy Supply Disturbances, Modeling of Energy System, Network Flow
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14041667 Attributions by Team Members for Team Outcomes in Finnish Working Life
Authors: Maarit Valo, Pertti Hurme
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This study focuses on teamwork in Finnish working life. Through a wide cross-section of teams the study examines the causes to which team members attribute the outcomes of their teams. Qualitative data was collected from 314 respondents. They wrote 616 stories to describe memorable experiences of success and failure in teamwork. The stories revealed 1930 explanations. The findings indicate that both favorable and unfavorable team outcomes are perceived as being caused by the characteristics of team members, relationships between members, team communication, team structure, team goals, team leadership, and external forces. The types represent different attribution levels in the context of organizational teamwork.Keywords: Team, teamwork, team outcomes, workplace, working life.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15981666 Performance Prediction Methodology of Slow Aging Assets
Authors: M. Ben Slimene, M.-S. Ouali
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Asset management of urban infrastructures faces a multitude of challenges that need to be overcome to obtain a reliable measurement of performances. Predicting the performance of slowly aging systems is one of those challenges, which helps the asset manager to investigate specific failure modes and to undertake the appropriate maintenance and rehabilitation interventions to avoid catastrophic failures as well as to optimize the maintenance costs. This article presents a methodology for modeling the deterioration of slowly degrading assets based on an operating history. It consists of extracting degradation profiles by grouping together assets that exhibit similar degradation sequences using an unsupervised classification technique derived from artificial intelligence. The obtained clusters are used to build the performance prediction models. This methodology is applied to a sample of a stormwater drainage culvert dataset.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, clustering, culvert, regression model, slow degradation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4541665 Strength Optimization of Induction Hardened Splined Shaft – Material and Geometric Aspects
Authors: I. Barsoum, F. Khan
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the current study presents a modeling framework to determine the torsion strength of an induction hardened splined shaft by considering geometry and material aspects with the aim to optimize the static torsion strength by selection of spline geometry and hardness depth. Six different spline geometries and seven different hardness profiles including non-hardened and throughhardened shafts have been considered. The results reveal that the torque that causes initial yielding of the induction hardened splined shaft is strongly dependent on the hardness depth and the geometry of the spline teeth. Guidelines for selection of the appropriate hardness depth and spline geometry are given such that an optimum static torsion strength of the component can be achieved.
Keywords: Static strength, splined shaft, torsion, induction hardening, hardness profile, finite element, optimization, design.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 49701664 Binary Mixture of Copper-Cobalt Ions Uptake by Zeolite using Neural Network
Authors: John Kabuba, Antoine Mulaba-Bafubiandi, Kim Battle
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In this study a neural network (NN) was proposed to predict the sorption of binary mixture of copper-cobalt ions into clinoptilolite as ion-exchanger. The configuration of the backpropagation neural network giving the smallest mean square error was three-layer NN with tangent sigmoid transfer function at hidden layer with 10 neurons, linear transfer function at output layer and Levenberg-Marquardt backpropagation training algorithm. Experiments have been carried out in the batch reactor to obtain equilibrium data of the individual sorption and the mixture of coppercobalt ions. The obtained modeling results have shown that the used of neural network has better adjusted the equilibrium data of the binary system when compared with the conventional sorption isotherm models.Keywords: Adsorption isotherm, binary system, neural network; sorption
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20431663 Proposition of a Knowledge Management Approach Based on the Cloud Computing
Authors: Imane Chikhi, Hafida Abed
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The significant growth in the use of technologies in all life domains created numerous hurdles that derailed many knowledge management projects. Cloud computing choices are commencement to untangle these obstacles. Linking Cloud computing with knowledge management (KM) is a challenging task. Small amount of researches have been done regarding cloud computing and KM. In this paper, we consider Cloud-based KM as a new KM approach, and study the contribution of Cloud Computing to organizational KM. In fact, KM and cloud computing have many things in common, this similarity allows deriving very interesting features. Our approach is based on these features and focuses on the advantages of Cloud computing in the context of organizational KM. Finally, we highlight some challenges that have to be addressed when adopting a Cloud Computing approach to KM.
Keywords: Knowledge management, cloud computing, knowledge management approaches, cloud-based knowledge management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14251662 Design and Analysis of an Automobile Bumper with the Capacity of Energy Release Using GMT Materials
Authors: A.R. Mortazavi Moghaddam, M. T. Ahmadian
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Bumpers play an important role in preventing the impact energy from being transferred to the automobile and passengers. Saving the impact energy in the bumper to be released in the environment reduces the damages of the automobile and passengers. The goal of this paper is to design a bumper with minimum weight by employing the Glass Material Thermoplastic (GMT) materials. This bumper either absorbs the impact energy with its deformation or transfers it perpendicular to the impact direction. To reach this aim, a mechanism is designed to convert about 80% of the kinetic impact energy to the spring potential energy and release it to the environment in the low impact velocity according to American standard1. In addition, since the residual kinetic energy will be damped with the infinitesimal elastic deformation of the bumper elements, the passengers will not sense any impact. It should be noted that in this paper, modeling, solving and result-s analysis are done in CATIA, LS-DYNA and ANSYS V8.0 software respectively.Keywords: Bumper, Composite material, Energy Release, GMT, Impact
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 66261661 Building Resilient Communities: The Traumatic Effect of Wildfire on Mati, Greece
Authors: K. Vallianou, T. Alexopoulos, V. Plaka, M. K. Seleventi, V. Skanavis, C. Skanavis
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The present research addresses the role of place attachment and emotions in community resiliency and recovery within the context of a disaster. Natural disasters represent a disruption in the normal functioning of a community, leading to a general feeling of disorientation. This study draws on the trauma caused by a natural hazard such as a forest fire. The changes of the sense of togetherness are being assessed. Finally this research determines how the place attachment of the inhabitants was affected during the reorientation process of the community. The case study area is Mati, a small coastal town in eastern Attica, Greece. The fire broke out on July 23rd, 2018. A quantitative research was conducted through questionnaires via phone interviews, one year after the disaster, to address community resiliency in the long-run. The sample was composed of 159 participants from the rural community of Mati plus 120 coming from Skyros Island that was used as a control group. Inhabitants were prompted to answer items gauging their emotions related to the event, group identification and emotional significance of their community, and place attachment before and a year after the fire took place. Importantly, the community recovery and reorientation were examined within the context of a relative absence of government backing and official support. Emotions related to the event were aggregated into 4 clusters related to: activation/vigilance, distress/disorientation, indignation, and helplessness. The findings revealed a decrease in the level of place attachment in the impacted area of Mati as compared to the control group of Skyros Island. Importantly, initial distress caused by the fire prompted the residents to identify more with their community and to report more positive feelings toward their community. Moreover, a mediation analysis indicated that the positive effect of community cohesion on place attachment one year after the disaster was mediated by the positive feelings toward the community. Finally, place attachment contributes to enhanced optimism and a more positive perspective concerning Mati’s future prospects. Despite an insufficient state support to this affected area, the findings suggest an important role of emotions and place attachment during the process of recovery. Implications concerning the role of emotions and social dynamics in meshing place attachment during the disaster recovery process as well as community resiliency are discussed.
Keywords: Community resilience, natural disasters, place attachment, wildfire.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8041660 Micromechanical Modeling of Fiber-Matrix Debonding in Unidirectional Composites
Authors: M. Palizvan, M. T. Abadi, M. H. Sadr
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Due to variations in damage mechanisms in the microscale, the behavior of fiber-reinforced composites is nonlinear and difficult to model. To make use of computational advantages, homogenization method is applied to the micro-scale model in order to minimize the cost at the expense of detail of local microscale phenomena. In this paper, the effective stiffness is calculated using the homogenization of nonlinear behavior of a composite representative volume element (RVE) containing fiber-matrix debonding. The damage modes for the RVE are considered by using cohesive elements and contacts for the cohesive behavior of the interface between fiber and matrix. To predict more realistic responses of composite materials, different random distributions of fibers are proposed besides square and hexagonal arrays. It was shown that in some cases, there is quite different damage behavior in different fiber distributions. A comprehensive comparison has been made between different graphs.
Keywords: Homogenization, cohesive zone model, fiber-matrix debonding, RVE.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7871659 Modeling of Reusability of Object Oriented Software System
Authors: Parvinder S. Sandhu, Harpreet Kaur, Amanpreet Singh
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Automatic reusability appraisal is helpful in evaluating the quality of developed or developing reusable software components and in identification of reusable components from existing legacy systems; that can save cost of developing the software from scratch. But the issue of how to identify reusable components from existing systems has remained relatively unexplored. In this research work, structural attributes of software components are explored using software metrics and quality of the software is inferred by different Neural Network based approaches, taking the metric values as input. The calculated reusability value enables to identify a good quality code automatically. It is found that the reusability value determined is close to the manual analysis used to be performed by the programmers or repository managers. So, the developed system can be used to enhance the productivity and quality of software development.Keywords: Neural Network, Software Reusability, Software Metric, Accuracy, MAE, RMSE.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20811658 An Investigation on the Effects of Injection Spray Cone on Propulsive Droplets in a Duct
Authors: M. Mojtahedpoor
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This paper addresses one important aspect of combustion system analysis, the spray evaporation and dispersion modeling. In this study we assume an empty cylinder which is as a simulator for a ramjet engine and the cylinder has been studied by cold flow. Four nozzles have the duties of injection which are located in the entrance of cylinder. The air flow comes into the cylinder from one side and injection operation will be done. By changing injection velocity and entrance air flow velocity, we have studied droplet sizing and efficient mass fraction of fuel vapor near and at the exit area. We named the mass of fuel vapor inside the flammability limit as the efficient mass fraction. Further, we decreased the initial temperature of fuel droplets and we have repeated the investigating again. To fulfill the calculation we used a modified version of KIVA-3V.Keywords: Ramjet, droplet sizing, injection velocity, air flowvelocity, efficient mass fraction..
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13961657 An Investigation into the Use of an Atomistic, Hermeneutic, Holistic Approach in Education Relating to the Architectural Design Process
Authors: N. Pritchard
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Within architectural education, students arrive fore-armed with; their life-experience; knowledge gained from subject-based learning; their brains and more specifically their imaginations. The learning-by-doing that they embark on in studio-based/project-based learning calls for supervision that allows the student to proactively undertake research and experimentation with design solution possibilities. The degree to which this supervision includes direction is subject to debate and differing opinion. It can be argued that if the student is to learn-by-doing, then design decision making within the design process needs to be instigated and owned by the student so that they have the ability to personally reflect on and evaluate those decisions. Within this premise lies the problem that the student's endeavours can become unstructured and unfocused as they work their way into a new and complex activity. A resultant weakness can be that the design activity is compartmented and not holistic or comprehensive, and therefore, the student's reflections are consequently impoverished in terms of providing a positive, informative feedback loop. The construct proffered in this paper is that a supportive 'armature' or 'Heuristic-Framework' can be developed that facilitates a holistic approach and reflective learning. The normal explorations of architectural design comprise: Analysing the site and context, reviewing building precedents, assimilating the briefing information. However, the student can still be compromised by 'not knowing what they need to know'. The long-serving triad 'Firmness, Commodity and Delight' provides a broad-brush framework of considerations to explore and integrate into good design. If this were further atomised in subdivision formed from the disparate aspects of architectural design that need to be considered within the design process, then the student could sieve through the facts more methodically and reflectively in terms of considering their interrelationship conflict and alliances. The words facts and sieve hold the acronym of the aspects that form the Heuristic-Framework: Function, Aesthetics, Context, Tectonics, Spatial, Servicing, Infrastructure, Environmental, Value and Ecological issues. The Heuristic could be used as a Hermeneutic Model with each aspect of design being focused on and considered in abstraction and then considered in its relation to other aspect and the design proposal as a whole. Importantly, the heuristic could be used as a method for gathering information and enhancing the design brief. The more poetic, mysterious, intuitive, unconscious processes should still be able to occur for the student. The Heuristic-Framework should not be seen as comprehensive prescriptive formulaic or inhibiting to the wide exploration of possibilities and solutions within the architectural design process.
Keywords: Atomistic, hermeneutic, holistic, approach architectural design studio education.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1365