Search results for: total variation.
1156 Mineral and Some Physico-Chemical Composition of 'Karayemis' (Prunus laurocerasus L.) Fruits Grown in Northeast Turkey
Authors: İsmail Hakkı Kalyoncu, Nilda Ersoy, Ayşe Yalcın Elidemir, Cansu Dolek
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Some physico-chemical characteristics and mineral composition of 'Karayemis' (Prunus laurocerasus L.) fruits which grown naturally in Norteast Turkey was studied. 28 minerals ( Al, Mg, B, Mn, Co, Na, Ca, Ni, Cd, P, Cr, Pb, Cu, S, Fe, Zn, K, Sr, Li, As, V, Ag, Ba, Br, Ga, In, Se, Ti) were analyzed and 19 minerals were present at ascertainable levels. Karayemis fruit was richest in potassium (7938.711 ppm), magnesium (1242.186 ppm) and calcium (1158.853 ppm). And some physico-chemical characteristics of Karayemis fruit was investigated. Fruit length, fruit width, fruit thickness, fruit weight, total soluble solids, colour, protein, crude ash, crude fiber, crude oil values were determined as 2.334 cm, 1.884 cm, 2.112 cm, 5.35 g, 20.1 %, S99M99Y99, 0.29 %, 0.22 %, 6.63 % and 0.001 %, respectively. The seed of fruit mean weight, length, width and thickness were found to be 0.41 g, 1.303 cm, 0.921 cm and 0.803, respectively.Keywords: Prunus laurocerasus L., physico-chemical properties, nutritional properties.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25181155 Steady State Rolling and Dynamic Response of a Tire at Low Frequency
Authors: Md Monir Hossain, Anne Staples, Kuya Takami, Tomonari Furukawa
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Tire noise has a significant impact on ride quality and vehicle interior comfort, even at low frequency. Reduction of tire noise is especially important due to strict state and federal environmental regulations. The primary sources of tire noise are the low frequency structure-borne noise and the noise that originates from the release of trapped air between the tire tread and road surface during each revolution of the tire. The frequency response of the tire changes at low and high frequency. At low frequency, the tension and bending moment become dominant, while the internal structure and local deformation become dominant at higher frequencies. Here, we analyze tire response in terms of deformation and rolling velocity at low revolution frequency. An Abaqus FEA finite element model is used to calculate the static and dynamic response of a rolling tire under different rolling conditions. The natural frequencies and mode shapes of a deformed tire are calculated with the FEA package where the subspace-based steady state dynamic analysis calculates dynamic response of tire subjected to harmonic excitation. The analysis was conducted on the dynamic response at the road (contact point of tire and road surface) and side nodes of a static and rolling tire when the tire was excited with 200 N vertical load for a frequency ranging from 20 to 200 Hz. The results show that frequency has little effect on tire deformation up to 80 Hz. But between 80 and 200 Hz, the radial and lateral components of displacement of the road and side nodes exhibited significant oscillation. For the static analysis, the fluctuation was sharp and frequent and decreased with frequency. In contrast, the fluctuation was periodic in nature for the dynamic response of the rolling tire. In addition to the dynamic analysis, a steady state rolling analysis was also performed on the tire traveling at ground velocity with a constant angular motion. The purpose of the computation was to demonstrate the effect of rotating motion on deformation and rolling velocity with respect to a fixed Newtonian reference point. The analysis showed a significant variation in deformation and rolling velocity due to centrifugal and Coriolis acceleration with respect to a fixed Newtonian point on ground.Keywords: Natural frequency, rotational motion, steady state rolling, subspace-based steady state dynamic analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13191154 Protecting Elephants from Poaching: Case Study of the Application of GIS for Elephants Conservation in Amboseli National Park in Kenya
Authors: Ahmed A. Hassan, Al-Ramadan Baqer
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Kenya Amboseli National Park hosts the largest elephant’s population in the country, protected and managed by the government under the Kenya Wildlife Service. The park has been experiencing highly organized poaching, in terms of both total elephant deaths and the level of sophistication employed by the poachers. The main objective of this study is to use GIS to map the entire park properly. GIS map of the park was produced including all leading roads, neighboring land use, main gates and water points with geographic co-ordinates well documented. The result obtained indicates the three main gates and the airport as the hotspot points that the tusks can be ferried out of the park. Therefore, this study recommends the government to put strong security measures on these areas. These procedures can lower the poaching threat and assist the game warders properly manage the endangered species.Keywords: Elephants, GIS, poaching, Amboseli National Park.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19051153 Optimization of Energy Consumption in Sequential Distillation Column
Authors: M.E. Masoumi, S. Kadkhodaie
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Distillation column is one of the most common operations in process industries and is while the most expensive unit of the amount of energy consumption. Many ideas have been presented in the related literature for optimizing energy consumption in distillation columns. This paper studies the different heat integration methods in a distillation column which separate Benzene, Toluene, Xylene, and C9+. Three schemes of heat integration including, indirect sequence (IQ), indirect sequence with forward energy integration (IQF), and indirect sequence with backward energy integration (IQB) has been studied in this paper. Using shortcut method these heat integration schemes were simulated with Aspen HYSYS software and compared with each other with regarding economic considerations. The result shows that the energy consumption has been reduced 33% in IQF and 28% in IQB in comparison with IQ scheme. Also the economic result shows that the total annual cost has been reduced 12% in IQF and 8% in IQB regarding with IQ scheme. Therefore, the IQF scheme is most economic than IQB and IQ scheme.Keywords: Optimization, Distillation Column Sequence, Energy Savings
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30131152 A Relative Analysis of Carbon and Dust Uptake by Important Tree Species in Tehran, Iran
Authors: Sahar Elkaee Behjati
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Air pollution, particularly with dust, is one of the biggest issues Tehran is dealing with, and the city's green space which consists of trees has a critical role in absorption of it. The question this study aimed to investigate was which tree species the highest uptake capacity of the dust and carbon have suspended in the air. On this basis, 30 samples of trees from two different districts in Tehran were collected, and after washing and centrifuging, the samples were oven dried. The results of the study revealed that Ulmus minor had the highest amount of deposited dust in both districts. In addition, it was found that in Chamran district Ailanthus altissima and in Gandi district Ulmus minor has had the highest absorption of deposited carbon. Therefore, it could be argued that decision making on the selection of species for urban green spaces should take the above-mentioned parameters into account.
Keywords: Dust, leaves, uptake total carbon, tehran, tree species.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7301151 Structural Optimization Method for 3D Reinforced Concrete Building Structure with Shear Wall
Authors: H. Nikzad, S. Yoshitomi
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In this paper, an optimization procedure is applied for 3D Reinforced concrete building structure with shear wall. In the optimization problem, cross sections of beams, columns and shear wall dimensions are considered as design variables and the optimal cross sections can be derived to minimize the total cost of the structure. As for final design application, the most suitable sections are selected to satisfy ACI 318-14 code provision based on static linear analysis. The validity of the method is examined through numerical example of 15 storied 3D RC building with shear wall. This optimization method is expected to assist in providing a useful reference in design early stage, and to be an effective and powerful tool for structural design of RC shear wall structures.
Keywords: Structural optimization, linear static analysis, ETABS, MATLAB, RC moment frame, RC shear wall structures.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13411150 A New blaVIM Gene in a Pseudomonas putida Isolated from ENT Units in Sulaimani Hospitals
Authors: Dalanya Asaad Mohammed, Dara Abdul Razaq
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A total of twenty tensile biopsies were collected from children undergoing tonsillectomy from teaching hospital ENT department and Kurdistan private hospital in sulaimani city. All biopsies were homogenized and cultured; the obtained bacterial isolates were purified and identified by biochemical tests and VITEK 2 compact system. Among the twenty studied samples, only one Pseudomonas putida with probability of 99% was isolated. Antimicrobial susceptibility was carried out by disk diffusion method, Pseudomonas putida showed resistance to all antibiotics used except vancomycin. The isolate further subjected to PCR and DNA sequence analysis of blaVIM gene using different set of primers for different regions of VIM gene. The results were found to be PCR positive for the blaVIM gene. To determine the sequence of blaVIM gene, DNA sequencing performed. Sequence alignment of blaVIM gene with previously recorded blaVIM gene in NCBI- database showed that P. putida isolate have different blaVIM gene.Keywords: Clinical isolates, Putida, Sulaimani, Vim gene.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16541149 Comparative Study of Drip and Furrow Irrigation Methods at Farmer-s Field in Umarkot
Authors: A. Tagar, F. A. Chandio, I. A. Mari, B. Wagan
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An experiment was conducted on the comparative study of drip and furrow irrigation methods at the farmer-s field in Umar Kot. The total area under experiment about 4000m2 was divided into two equal portions. One portion about 40m X 50m was occupied by drip and the other portion about 40m X 50m by furrow irrigation method. Soil at the experimental site was clay loam in texture for 0-60cm depth; average dry bulk density and field capacity was 1.16g/cm3 and 28.5% respectively. The results reveal that the drip irrigation method saved 56.4% water and gave 22% more yield as compared to that of furrow irrigation method. Higher water use efficiency about 4.87 was obtained in drip irrigation method; whereas lower water used efficiency about 1.66 was obtained in furrow irrigation method. The present study suggests farming community to adopt drip irrigation method instead of old traditional flooding methods.Keywords: Drip and furrow irrigations methods, water saving, yield of tomato crop.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 55691148 The Effect of Increment in Simulation Samples on a Combined Selection Procedure
Authors: Mohammad H. Almomani, Rosmanjawati Abdul Rahman
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Statistical selection procedures are used to select the best simulated system from a finite set of alternatives. In this paper, we present a procedure that can be used to select the best system when the number of alternatives is large. The proposed procedure consists a combination between Ranking and Selection, and Ordinal Optimization procedures. In order to improve the performance of Ordinal Optimization, Optimal Computing Budget Allocation technique is used to determine the best simulation lengths for all simulation systems and to reduce the total computation time. We also argue the effect of increment in simulation samples for the combined procedure. The results of numerical illustration show clearly the effect of increment in simulation samples on the proposed combination of selection procedure.Keywords: Indifference-Zone, Optimal Computing Budget Allocation, Ordinal Optimization, Ranking and Selection, Subset Selection.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12401147 Impediments to Female Sports Management and Participation: The Experience in the Selected Nigeria South West Colleges of Education
Authors: Saseyi Olaitan Olaoluwa, Osifeko Olalekan Remigious
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The study was meant to identify the impediments to female sports management and participation in the selected colleges. Seven colleges of education in the south west parts of the country were selected for the study. A total of one hundred and five subjects were sampled to supply data. Only one hundred adequately completed and returned, copies of the questionnaire were used for data analysis. The collected data were analysed descriptively. The result of the study showed that inadequate fund, personnel, facilities equipment, supplies, management of sports, supervision and coaching were some of the impediments to female sports management and participation. Athletes were not encouraged to participate. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the government should come to the aid of the colleges by providing fund and other needs that will make sports attractive for enhanced participation.Keywords: Female sports, impediments, management, Nigeria, south west, colleges.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16671146 Reducing Energy Consumption and GHG Emission by Integration of Flare Gas with Fuel Gas Network in Refinery
Authors: N. Tahouni, M. Gholami, M. H. Panjeshahi
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Gas flaring is one of the most GHG emitting sources in the oil and gas industries. It is also a major way for wasting such an energy that could be better utilized and even generates revenue. Minimize flaring is an effective approach for reducing GHG emissions and also conserving energy in flaring systems. Integrating waste and flared gases into the fuel gas networks (FGN) of refineries is an efficient tool. A fuel gas network collects fuel gases from various source streams and mixes them in an optimal manner, and supplies them to different fuel sinks such as furnaces, boilers, turbines, etc. In this article we use fuel gas network model proposed by Hasan et al. as a base model and modify some of its features and add constraints on emission pollution by gas flaring to reduce GHG emissions as possible. Results for a refinery case study showed that integration of flare gas stream with waste and natural gas streams to construct an optimal FGN can significantly reduce total annualized cost and flaring emissions.
Keywords: Flaring, Fuel gas network, GHG emissions.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13721145 Shading Percentage Effects on Energy Consumption for Bahraini Residential Buildings
Authors: Saad F. Al Nuaimi
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Energy consumption is a very important topic these days especially regarding air conditioning in residential buildings, since this takes the biggest amount of energy in buildings total consumption, residential buildings constitute the biggest percentage of energy consumption in Bahrain. This research reflects on the effects of shading percentage in different solar orientations on the energy consumption inside residential buildings (domestic dwellings). The research as found that, there are different effects of shading in changing building orientation: • 0.69% for the shading percentage 25% when the building is oriented to the north (0º); • 18.59% for 75% of shading in north-west orientation (325º); • The best effect for shading is in north-west orientation (315º); • The less effect for shading was in case of the building orientation is the north (0º).Keywords: Bahraini buildings, Building shading, energy consumption, residential buildings, shading effects.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19211144 Optimal Placement of DG in Distribution System to Mitigate Power Quality Disturbances
Authors: G.V.K Murthy, S. Sivanagaraju, S. Satyanarayana, B. Hanumantha Rao
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Distributed Generation (DG) systems are considered an integral part in future distribution system planning. Appropriate size and location of distributed generation plays a significant role in minimizing power losses in distribution systems. Among the benefits of distributed generation is the reduction in active power losses, which can improve the system performance, reliability and power quality. In this paper, Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm is proposed to determine the optimal DG-unit size and location by loss sensitivity index in order to minimize the real power loss, total harmonic distortion (THD) and voltage sag index improvement. Simulation study is conducted on 69-bus radial test system to verify the efficacy of the proposed method.
Keywords: Distributed generation, artificial bee colony method, loss reduction, radial distribution network.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28581143 Relationship between Codependency, Perceived Social Support, and Depression in Mothers of Children with Intellectual Disability
Authors: Sajed Yaghoubnezhad, Mina Karimi, Seyede Marjan Modirkhazeni
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The goal of this research was to study the relationship between codependency, perceived social support and depression in mothers of children with intellectual disability (ID). The correlational method was used in this study. The research population is comprised of mothers of educable children with ID in the age range of 25 to 61 years. From among this, a sample of 251 individuals, in the multistage cluster sampling method, was selected from educational districts in Tehran, who responded to the Spann-Fischer Codependency Scale (SFCDS), the Social Support Questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The findings of this study indicate that among mothers of children with ID depression has a positive and significant correlation with codependency (P<0.01, r=0.4) and a negative and significant correlation with the total score of social support (P<0.01, r=-0.34). Moreover, the results of stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that codependency is allocated a higher variance than social support in explaining depression (R2=0.023).
Keywords: Codependency, social support, depression, mothers of children with ID.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14701142 Behavior and Strength of Slab-Edge Beam-Column Connections under Shear Force and Moment
Authors: Omar M. Ben-Sasi
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A total of fourteen slab-edge beam-column connection specimens were tested gradually to failure under the effect of simultaneous action of shear force and moment. The objective was to investigate the influence of some parameters thought to be important on the behavior and strength of slab-column connections with edge beams encountered in flat slab flooring and roofing systems. The parameters included the existence and strength of edge beam, depth and width of edge beam, steel reinforcement ratio of slab, ratio of moment to shear force, and the existence of openings in the region next to the column.
Results obtained demonstrated the importance of the studied parameters on the strength and behavior of slab-column connections with edge beams.
Keywords: Strength, flat slab, slab-column connections, shear force, moment, behavior.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 44811141 Optimum Working Fluid Selection for Automotive Cogeneration System
Authors: Wonsim Cha, Kibum Kim, Kyungwook Choi, Kihyung Lee
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A co-generation system in automobile can improve thermal efficiency of vehicle in some degree. The waste heat from the engine exhaust and coolant is still attractive energy source that reaches around 60% of the total energy converted from fuel. To maximize the effectiveness of heat exchangers for recovering the waste heat, it is vital to select the most suitable working fluid for the system, not to mention that it is important to find the optimum design for the heat exchangers. The design of heat exchanger is out of scoop of this study; rather, the main focus has been on the right selection of working fluid for the co-generation system. Simulation study was carried out to find the most suitable working fluid that can allow the system to achieve the optimum efficiency in terms of the heat recovery rate and thermal efficiency.Keywords: Cycle Analysis, Heat Recovery, Rankine Cycle, Waste Heat Recovery, Working Fluid.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22211140 Optimization of the Nutrient Supplients for Cellulase Production with the Basal Medium Palm Oil Mill Effluent
Authors: Rashid S S, Alam M Z, Karim M I A, Salleh, M H
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A statistical optimization was studied to design a media composition to produce optimum cellulolytic enzyme where palm oil mill effluent (POME) as a basal medium and filamentous fungus, Trichoderma reesei RUT-C30 were used in the liquid state bioconversion(LSB). 2% (w/v) total suspended solid, TSS, of the POME supplemented with 1% (w/v) cellulose, 0.5%(w/v) peptone and 0.02% (v/v) Tween 80 was estimated to produce the optimum CMCase activity of 18.53 U/ml through the statistical analysis followed by the faced centered central composite design(FCCCD). The probability values of cellulose (<0.0011) and peptone (0.0021) indicated the significant effect on the production of cellulase with the determination coefficient (R2) of 0.995.
Keywords: Face centered central composite design (FCCCD), Liquid state bioconversion (LSB), Palm oil mill effluent, Trichoderma reesei RUT C-30.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21441139 Optimal Placement of Phasor Measurement Units Using Gravitational Search Method
Authors: Satyendra Pratap Singh, S. P. Singh
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This paper presents a methodology using Gravitational Search Algorithm for optimal placement of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) in order to achieve complete observability of the power system. The objective of proposed algorithm is to minimize the total number of PMUs at the power system buses, which in turn minimize installation cost of the PMUs. In this algorithm, the searcher agents are collection of masses which interact with each other using Newton’s laws of gravity and motion. This new Gravitational Search Algorithm based method has been applied to the IEEE 14-bus, IEEE 30-bus and IEEE 118-bus test systems. Case studies reveal optimal number of PMUs with better observability by proposed method.
Keywords: Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA), Law of Motion, Law of Gravity, Observability, Phasor Measurement Unit.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29051138 Forming of Nanodimentional Structure Parts in Carbon Steels
Authors: A. Korchunov, M. Chukin, N. Koptseva, M. Polyakova, A. Gulin
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A way of achieving nanodimentional structural elements in high carbon steel by special kind of heat treatment and cold plastic deformation is being explored. This leads to increasing interlamellar spacing of ferrite-carbide mixture. Decreasing the interlamellar spacing with cooling temperature increasing is determined. Experiments confirm such interlamellar spacing with which high carbon steel demonstrates the highest treatment and hardening capability. Total deformation degree effect on interlamellar spacing value in a ferrite-carbide mixture is obtained. Mechanical experiments results show that high carbon steel after heat treatment and repetitive cold plastic deformation possesses high tensile strength and yield strength keeping good percentage elongation.
Keywords: High-carbon steel, nanodimensional structural element, interlamellar spacing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13391137 Design of Reliable and Low Cost Substrate Heater for Thin Film Deposition
Authors: Ali Eltayeb Muhsin, Mohamed Elhadi Elsari
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The substrate heater designed for this investigation is a front side substrate heating system. It consists of 10 conventional tungsten halogen lamps and an aluminum reflector, total input electrical power of 5 kW. The substrate is heated by means of a radiation from conventional tungsten halogen lamps directed to the substrate through a glass window. This design allows easy replacement of the lamps and maintenance of the system. Within 2 to 6 minutes the substrate temperature reaches 500 to 830 C by varying the vertical distance between the glass window and the substrate holder. Moreover, the substrate temperature can be easily controlled by controlling the input power to the system. This design gives excellent opportunity to deposit many deferent films at deferent temperatures in the same deposition time. This substrate heater was successfully used for Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) of many thin films, such as Silicon, iron, etc.
Keywords: CVD, Halogen Lamp, Substrate Heater, Thin Films.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27361136 The Determinants of Senior Students' Behavioral Intention on the Blended E-Learning for the Ceramics Teaching Course at the Active Aging University
Authors: Horng-Jyh Chen, Yi-Fang Chen, Chien-Liang Lin
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In this paper, the authors try to investigate the determinants of behavioral intention of the blended E-learning course for senior students at the Active Ageing University in Taiwan. Due to lower proficiency in the use of computers and less experience on learning styles of the blended E-learning course for senior students will be expected quite different from those for most young students. After more than five weeks course for two years the questionnaire survey is executed to collect data for statistical analysis in order to understand the determinants of the behavioral intention for senior students. The object of this study is at one of the Active Ageing University in Taiwan total of 84 senior students in the blended E-learning for the ceramics teaching course. The research results show that only the perceived usefulness of the blended E-learning course has significant positive relationship with the behavioral intention.
Keywords: Active Aging University, blended E-learning, ceramics teaching course, behavioral intention
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17591135 Glutamate Dehydrogenase and the Changing Pattern of Excretory Ammonia and Urea in Heteropneustes fossilis
Authors: Shuvasish Roy Choudhury, Rita Mahanta, Aparajita Borkotoki
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Fishes, in general, follow ammonotelic mode of excretion. However, certain stress factors may provoke them to excrete urea. In the present study, the possible role of ureogenesis to avoid accumulation of toxic ammonia under water-restricted condition was tested in Heteropneustes fossilis. A total of hundred fishes were collected and sacrificed. Excretory urea and ammonia were estimated in the water of the aquarium and glutamate dehydrogenase acitivity was measured in the hepatic tissue. During the experimental period, excretory ammonia in Heteropneustes fossilis was found between 931% to 16% above the baseline ammonia and excretory urea was found between 112% to 898% above the baseline urea. A high degree of correlation with r (coefficient of correlation) above 0.9 is observed between excretory ammonia and urea in Heteropneustes fossilis. However, only a moderate degree of correlation is observed between the activity of glutamate dehydrogenase and excretory ammonia and urea.
Keywords: Ammonia, aquarium, glutamate dehydrogenase, urea, ureogenesis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17721134 A Framework for Successful TQM Implementation and Its Effect on the Organizational Sustainability Development
Authors: Redha Elhuni, M. Munir Ahmad
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The main purpose of this research is to construct a generic model for successful implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in Oil sector, and to find out the effects of this model on the organizational sustainability development (OSD) performance of Libyan oil and gas companies using the structured equation modeling (SEM) approach. The research approach covers both quantitative and qualitative methods. A questionnaire was developed in order to identify the quality factors that are seen by Libyan oil and gas companies to be critical to the success of TQM implementation. Hypotheses were developed to evaluate the impact of TQM implementation on O SD. Data analysis reveals that there is a significant positive effect of the TQM implementation on OSD. 24 quality factors are found to be critical and absolutely essential for successful TQM implementation. The results generated a structure of the TQMSD implementation framework based on the four major road map constructs (Top management commitment, employee involvement and participation, customer-driven processes, and continuous improvement culture).
Keywords: TQM, CQFs, Oil & Gas, OSD, Libya.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 42831133 Heavy Metals and Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Green Turtles are Indicators of Environmental Pollution
Authors: S. K. Al-Musharafi, I. Y. Mahmoud, S. N. Al-Bahry
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Freshly laid eggs from green turtles, Chelonia mydas, were randomly collected from Ras Al-Hadd Reserve, Oman. Eggshells taken from eggs and sand collected from the body chamber were analyzed for eight heavy metals (Al, Br, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, S, and Zn) using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP). Heavy metal concentrations varied significantly (P<0.05) between nest sand and eggshells. Zn values were significantly higher than the other heavy metals. A total of 60 heterotrophic bacteria belong to eight genera were isolated from fresh egg contents (albumen and yolk). Resistance of the isolates to Ak = amikacin, Ak = amikacin, Amp= ampicillin, Gm= gentamycin, Cn = chloramphenicol, Min = minocycline, N = Neomycin, S= streptomycin, Smx = sulphamethoxazole, Tmp = trimethoprim, Tob = tobramycin was tested. More than 40% of the isolates were multiple resistant to 2-10 antibiotics. Most of the resistant strains were also resistant to Zn. The value of these findings may indicate that the origin of pollution is of human contaminated effluents.
Keywords: Antibiotic resistance, bacteria, environment, heavy metals, sea turtles.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25331132 Off-State Leakage Power Reduction by Automatic Monitoring and Control System
Authors: S. Abdollahi Pour, M. Saneei
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This paper propose a new circuit design which monitor total leakage current during standby mode and generates the optimal reverse body bias voltage, by using the adaptive body bias (ABB) technique to compensate die-to-die parameter variations. Design details of power monitor are examined using simulation framework in 65nm and 32nm BTPM model CMOS process. Experimental results show the overhead of proposed circuit in terms of its power consumption is about 10 μW for 32nm technology and about 12 μW for 65nm technology at the same power supply voltage as the core power supply. Moreover the results show that our proposed circuit design is not far sensitive to the temperature variations and also process variations. Besides, uses the simple blocks which offer good sensitivity, high speed, the continuously feedback loop.Keywords: leakage current, leakage power monitor, body biasing, low power
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17381131 Laboratory Scale Extraction of Sugar Cane using High Electric Field Pulses
Authors: M. N. Eshtiaghi, N. Yoswathana
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The aim of this study was to extract sugar from sugarcane using high electric field pulse (HELP) as a non-thermal cell permeabilization method. The result of this study showed that it is possible to permeablize sugar cane cells using HELP at very short times (less than 10 sec.) and at room temperature. Increasing the field strength (from 0.5kV/cm to 2kV/cm) and pulse number (1 to 12) led to increasing the permeabilization of sugar cane cells. The energy consumption during HELP treatment of sugar cane (2.4 kJ/kg) was about 100 times less compared to thermal cell disintegration at 85 <=C (about 271.7 kJ/kg). In addition, it was possible to extract sugar cane at a moderate temperature (45 <=C) using HELP pretreatment. With combination of HELP pretreatment followed by thermal extraction at 75 <=C, extraction resulted in up to 3% more sugar (on the basis of total extractable sugar) compared to samples without HELP pretreatment.Keywords: Cell permeabilization, High electric field pulses, Non-thermal processing, Sugar cane extraction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27461130 A Virtual Electrode through Summation of Time Offset Pulses
Authors: Isaac Cassar, Trevor Davis, Yi-Kai Lo, Wentai Liu
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Retinal prostheses have been successful in eliciting visual responses in implanted subjects. As these prostheses progress, one of their major limitations is the need for increased resolution. As an alternative to increasing the number of electrodes, virtual electrodes may be used to increase the effective resolution of current electrode arrays. This paper presents a virtual electrode technique based upon time-offsets between stimuli. Two adjacent electrodes are stimulated with identical pulses with too short of pulse widths to activate a neuron, but one has a time offset of one pulse width. A virtual electrode of twice the pulse width was then shown to appear in the center, with a total width capable of activating a neuron. This can be used in retinal implants by stimulating electrodes with pulse widths short enough to not elicit responses in neurons, but with their combined pulse width adequate to activate a neuron in between them.
Keywords: Electrical stimulation, Neuroprosthesis, Retinal implant, Retinal Prosthesis, Virtual electrode.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17891129 Modeling and Performance Evaluation of LTE Networks with Different TCP Variants
Authors: Ghassan A. Abed, Mahamod Ismail, Kasmiran Jumari
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Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a 4G wireless broadband technology developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) release 8, and it's represent the competitiveness of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) for the next 10 years and beyond. The concepts for LTE systems have been introduced in 3GPP release 8, with objective of high-data-rate, low-latency and packet-optimized radio access technology. In this paper, performance of different TCP variants during LTE network investigated. The performance of TCP over LTE is affected mostly by the links of the wired network and total bandwidth available at the serving base station. This paper describes an NS-2 based simulation analysis of TCP-Vegas, TCP-Tahoe, TCPReno, TCP-Newreno, TCP-SACK, and TCP-FACK, with full modeling of all traffics of LTE system. The Evaluation of the network performance with all TCP variants is mainly based on throughput, average delay and lost packet. The analysis of TCP performance over LTE ensures that all TCP's have a similar throughput and the best performance return to TCP-Vegas than other variants.Keywords: LTE; EUTRAN; 3GPPP, SAE; TCP Variants; NS-2
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 32721128 Well-Being in Adolescence: Fitting Measurement Model
Authors: Azlina Abu Bakar, Abdul Fatah Wan Sidek
Abstract:
Well-being has been given special emphasis in quality of life. It involves living a meaningful, life satisfaction, stability and happiness in life. Well-being also concerns the satisfaction of physical, psychological, social needs and demands of an individual. The purpose of this study was to validate three-factor measurement model of well-being using structural equation modeling (SEM). The conceptions of well-being measured such dimensions as physical, psychological and social well-being. This study was done based on a total sample of 650 adolescents from east-coast of peninsular Malaysia. The Well-Being Scales which was adapted from [1] was used in this study. The items were hypothesized a priori to have nonzero loadings on all dimensions in the model. The findings of the SEM demonstrated that it is a good fitting model which the proposed model fits the driving theory; (x2df = 1.268; GFI = .994; CFI = .998; TLI= .996; p = .255; RMSEA = .021). Composite reliability (CR) was .93 and average variance extracted (AVE) was 58%. The model in this study fits with the sample of data and well-being is important to bring sustainable development to the mainstream.Keywords: Adolescence, Structural Equation Modeling, Sustainable Development, Well-Being.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30761127 The Influence of Basalt and Steel Fibers on the Flexural Behavior of RC Beams
Authors: Yasmin Z. Murad, Haneen M. Abdl-Jabbar
Abstract:
An experimental program is conducted in this research to investigate the influence of basalt fibers and steel fibers on the flexural behavior of RC beams. Reinforced concrete beams are constructed using steel fiber concrete and basalt fiber concrete. Steel and basalt fibers are included in a percentage of 15% and 2.5% of the total cement weight, respectively. Test results have shown that basalt fibers have increased the load carrying capacity of the beams up to 30% and the maximum deflection to almost 2.4 times that measured in the control specimen. It has also shown that steel fibers have increased the load carrying capacity of the beams up to 47% and the ultimate deflection is almost duplicated compared to the control beam. Steel and basalt fibers have increased the ductility of the reinforced concrete beams.
Keywords: Basalt fiber, steel fiber, reinforced concrete beams, flexural behavior.
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