Search results for: experience quality
1596 Communication Styles of Business Students: A Comparison of Four National Cultures
Authors: Tiina Brandt, Isaac Wanasika
Abstract:
Culturally diverse global companies need to understand cultural differences between leaders and employees from different backgrounds. Communication is culturally contingent and has a significant impact on effective execution of leadership goals. The awareness of cultural variations related to communication and interactions will help leaders modify their own behavior, and consequently improve the execution of goals and avoid unnecessary faux pas. Our focus is on young adults that have experienced cultural integration, culturally diverse surroundings in schools and universities, and cultural travels. Our central research problem is to understand the impact of different national cultures on communication. We focus on four countries with distinct national cultures and spatial distribution. The countries are Finland, Indonesia, Russia and USA. Our sample is based on business students (n = 225) from various backgrounds in the four countries. Their responses of communication and leadership styles were analyzed using ANOVA and post-hoc test. Results indicate that culture impacts on communication behavior. Even young culturally-exposed adults with cultural awareness and experience demonstrate cultural differences in their behavior. Apparently, culture is a deeply seated trait that cannot be completely neutralized by environmental variables. Our study offers valuable input for leadership training programs and for expatriates when recognizing specific differences on leaders’ behavior due to culture.
Keywords: Culture, communication, Finland, Indonesia, Russia, USA.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6701595 Energetic Considerations for Sputter Deposition Processes
Authors: Dirk Hegemann, Martin Amberg
Abstract:
Sputter deposition processes, especially for sputtering from metal targets, are well investigated. For practical reasons, i.e. for industrial processes, energetic considerations for sputter deposition are useful in order to optimize the sputtering process. In particular, for substrates at floating conditions it is required to obtain energetic conditions during film growth that enables sufficient dense metal films of good quality. The influence of ion energies, energy density and momentum transfer is thus examined both for sputtering at the target as well as during film growth. Different regimes dominated by ion energy, energy density and momentum transfer were identified by using different plasma sources and by varying power input, pressure and bias voltage.
Keywords: Energy density, film growth, momentum transfer, sputtering.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24471594 Design of Smart Urban Lighting by Using Social Sustainability Approach
Authors: Mohsen Noroozi, Maryam Khalili
Abstract:
Creating cities, objects and spaces that are economically, environmentally and socially sustainable and which meet the challenge of social interaction and generation change will be one of the biggest tasks of designers. Social sustainability is about how individuals, communities and societies live with each other and set out to achieve the objectives of development model which they have chosen for themselves. Urban lightning as one of the most important elements of urban furniture that people constantly interact with it in public spaces; can be a significant object for designers. Using intelligence by internet of things for urban lighting makes it more interactive in public environments. It can encourage individuals to carry out appropriate behaviors and provides them the social awareness through new interactions. The greatest strength of this technology is its strong impact on many aspects of everyday life and users' behaviors. The analytical phase of the research is based on a multiple method survey strategy. Smart lighting proposed in this paper is an urban lighting designed on results obtained from a collective point of view about the social sustainability. In this paper, referring to behavioral design methods, the social behaviors of the people has been studied. Data show that people demands for a deeper experience of social participation, safety perception and energy saving with the meaningful use of interactive and colourful lighting effects. By using intelligent technology, some suggestions are provided in the field of future lighting to consider the new forms of social sustainability.
Keywords: Behavior model, internet of things, social sustainability, urban lighting.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9281593 Optimized Weight Vector for QoS Aware Web Service Selection Algorithm Using Particle Swarm Optimization
Authors: N. Arulanand, P. M. Ananth
Abstract:
Quality of Service (QoS) attributes as part of the service description is an important factor for service attribute. It is not easy to exactly quantify the weight of each QoS conditions since human judgments based on their preference causes vagueness. As web services selection requires optimization, evolutionary computing based on heuristics to select an optimal solution is adopted. In this work, the evolutionary computing technique Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is used for selecting a suitable web services based on the user’s weightage of each QoS values by optimizing the QoS weight vector and thereby finding the best weight vectors for best services that is being selected. Finally the results are compared and analyzed using static inertia weight and deterministic inertia weight of PSO.Keywords: QoS, Optimization, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), weight vector, web services, web service selection.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20131592 The Experiences of Hong Kong Chinese Divorced Wives in Facing the Cancer Death of Their Ex-Husbands
Authors: M. L. Yeung
Abstract:
With the surge of divorce rate and male cancer onset/death rates, the phenomenon of divorced wives in the facing cancer death of their ex-husbands is not uncommon in Hong Kong. Yet, there is a dearth of study on the experiences of bereaved-divorced wives in the Hong Kong cultural context. This project fills the knowledge gap by conducting a qualitative study for having interviewed four bereaved ex-wives, who returned to ex-husbands’ end-of-life caregiving and eventually grieved for the ex-spousal’s death. From the perspectives of attachment theory and disenfranchised grief in the Hong Kong cultural context, a ‘double-loss’ experience is found in which interviewees suffer from the first loss of divorce and the second loss of ex-husbands’ death. Traumatic childhood experiences, attachment needs, role ambiguity, unresolved emotions and unrecognized grief are found significant in their lived experiences which alert the ‘double-loss’ is worthy of attention. Extending a family-centered end-of-life and bereavement care services to divorced couples is called for, in which validation on the attachment needs, ex-couple reconciliation, and acknowledgement on the disenfranchised grief are essential for social work practice on this group of clienteles specifically in Hong Kong cultural context.Keywords: Changing family, disenfranchised grief, divorce, ex-spousal death, marriage.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12401591 Calculus Logarithmic Function for Image Encryption
Authors: Adil AL-Rammahi
Abstract:
When we prefer to make the data secure from various attacks and fore integrity of data, we must encrypt the data before it is transmitted or stored. This paper introduces a new effective and lossless image encryption algorithm using a natural logarithmic function. The new algorithm encrypts an image through a three stage process. In the first stage, a reference natural logarithmic function is generated as the foundation for the encryption image. The image numeral matrix is then analyzed to five integer numbers, and then the numbers’ positions are transformed to matrices. The advantages of this method is useful for efficiently encrypting a variety of digital images, such as binary images, gray images, and RGB images without any quality loss. The principles of the presented scheme could be applied to provide complexity and then security for a variety of data systems such as image and others.
Keywords: Linear Systems, Image Encryption, Calculus.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24011590 Improvement of Bit-Error-Rate in Optical Fiber Receivers
Authors: Hadj Bourdoucen, Amer Alhabsi
Abstract:
In this paper, a post processing scheme is suggested for improvement of Bit Error-Rate (BER) in optical fiber transmission receivers. The developed scheme has been tested on optical fiber systems operating with a non-return-to-zero (NRZ) format at transmission rates of up to 10Gbps. The transmission system considered is based on well known transmitters and receivers blocks operating at wavelengths in the region of 1550 nm using a standard single mode fiber. Performance of improved detected signals has been evaluated via the analysis of quality factor and computed bit error rates. Numerical simulations have shown a noticeable improvement of the system BER after implementation of the suggested post processing operation on the detected electrical signals.Keywords: BER improvement, Optical fiber, transmissionperformance, NRZ.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21501589 Reversible Watermarking for H.264/AVC Videos
Authors: Yih-Chuan Lin, Jung-Hong Li
Abstract:
In this paper, we propose a reversible watermarking scheme based on histogram shifting (HS) to embed watermark bits into the H.264/AVC standard videos by modifying the last nonzero level in the context adaptive variable length coding (CAVLC) domain. The proposed method collects all of the last nonzero coefficients (or called last level coefficient) of 4×4 sub-macro blocks in a macro block and utilizes predictions for the current last level from the neighbor block-s last levels to embed watermark bits. The feature of the proposed method is low computational and has the ability of reversible recovery. The experimental results have demonstrated that our proposed scheme has acceptable degradation on video quality and output bit-rate for most test videos.Keywords: Reversible data hiding, H.264/AVC standard, CAVLC, Histogram shifting
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20311588 Input Data Balancing in a Neural Network PM-10 Forecasting System
Authors: Suk-Hyun Yu, Heeyong Kwon
Abstract:
Recently PM-10 has become a social and global issue. It is one of major air pollutants which affect human health. Therefore, it needs to be forecasted rapidly and precisely. However, PM-10 comes from various emission sources, and its level of concentration is largely dependent on meteorological and geographical factors of local and global region, so the forecasting of PM-10 concentration is very difficult. Neural network model can be used in the case. But, there are few cases of high concentration PM-10. It makes the learning of the neural network model difficult. In this paper, we suggest a simple input balancing method when the data distribution is uneven. It is based on the probability of appearance of the data. Experimental results show that the input balancing makes the neural networks’ learning easy and improves the forecasting rates.
Keywords: AI, air quality prediction, neural networks, pattern recognition, PM-10.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8261587 Performance Analysis of IDMA Scheme Using Quasi-Cyclic Low Density Parity Check Codes
Authors: Anurag Saxena, Alkesh Agrawal, Dinesh Kumar
Abstract:
The next generation mobile communication systems i.e. fourth generation (4G) was developed to accommodate the quality of service and required data rate. This project focuses on multiple access technique proposed in 4G communication systems. It is attempted to demonstrate the IDMA (Interleave Division Multiple Access) technology. The basic principle of IDMA is that interleaver is different for each user whereas CDMA employs different signatures. IDMA inherits many advantages of CDMA such as robust against fading, easy cell planning; dynamic channel sharing and IDMA increase the spectral efficiency and reduce the receiver complexity. In this, performance of IDMA is analyzed using QC-LDPC coding scheme further it is compared with LDPC coding and at last BER is calculated and plotted in MATLAB.
Keywords: 4G, QC-LDPC, CDMA, IDMA.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19891586 Use Cases Analysis of Free Space Optical Communication System
Authors: K. Saab, F. Bart, Y.-M. Seveque
Abstract:
The deployment of Free Space Optical Communications (FSOC) systems requires the development of robust and reliable Optical Ground Stations (OGS) that can be easily installed and operated. To this end, the Engineering Department of Airbus Defence and Space is actively working on the development of innovative and compact OGS solutions that can be deployed in various environments and provide high-quality connectivity under different atmospheric conditions. This article presents an overview of our recent developments in this field, including an evaluation study of different use cases of the FSOC with respect to different atmospheric conditions. The goal is to provide OGS solutions that are both simple and highly effective, allowing for the deployment of high-speed communication networks in a wide range of scenarios.
Keywords: End-to-end optical communication, laser propagation, optical ground station, turbulence.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1391585 Landscape Pattern Evolution and Optimization Strategy in Wuhan Urban Development Zone, China
Abstract:
With the rapid development of urbanization process in China, its environmental protection pressure is severely tested. So, analyzing and optimizing the landscape pattern is an important measure to ease the pressure on the ecological environment. This paper takes Wuhan Urban Development Zone as the research object, and studies its landscape pattern evolution and quantitative optimization strategy. First, remote sensing image data from 1990 to 2015 were interpreted by using Erdas software. Next, the landscape pattern index of landscape level, class level, and patch level was studied based on Fragstats. Then five indicators of ecological environment based on National Environmental Protection Standard of China were selected to evaluate the impact of landscape pattern evolution on the ecological environment. Besides, the cost distance analysis of ArcGIS was applied to simulate wildlife migration thus indirectly measuring the improvement of ecological environment quality. The result shows that the area of land for construction increased 491%. But the bare land, sparse grassland, forest, farmland, water decreased 82%, 47%, 36%, 25% and 11% respectively. They were mainly converted into construction land. On landscape level, the change of landscape index all showed a downward trend. Number of patches (NP), Landscape shape index (LSI), Connection index (CONNECT), Shannon's diversity index (SHDI), Aggregation index (AI) separately decreased by 2778, 25.7, 0.042, 0.6, 29.2%, all of which indicated that the NP, the degree of aggregation and the landscape connectivity declined. On class level, the construction land and forest, CPLAND, TCA, AI and LSI ascended, but the Distribution Statistics Core Area (CORE_AM) decreased. As for farmland, water, sparse grassland, bare land, CPLAND, TCA and DIVISION, the Patch Density (PD) and LSI descended, yet the patch fragmentation and CORE_AM increased. On patch level, patch area, Patch perimeter, Shape index of water, farmland and bare land continued to decline. The three indexes of forest patches increased overall, sparse grassland decreased as a whole, and construction land increased. It is obvious that the urbanization greatly influenced the landscape evolution. Ecological diversity and landscape heterogeneity of ecological patches clearly dropped. The Habitat Quality Index continuously declined by 14%. Therefore, optimization strategy based on greenway network planning is raised for discussion. This paper contributes to the study of landscape pattern evolution in planning and design and to the research on spatial layout of urbanization.
Keywords: Landscape pattern, optimization strategy, ArcGIS, Erdas, landscape metrics, landscape architecture.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8541584 CAD-Based Modelling of Surface Roughness in Face Milling
Authors: C. Felho, J. Kundrak
Abstract:
The quality of machined surfaces is an important characteristic of cutting processes and surface roughness has strong effects on the performance of sliding, moving components. The ability to forecast these values for a given process has been of great interests among researchers for a long time. Different modeling procedures and algorithms have been worked-out, and each has its own advantages and drawbacks. A new method will be introduced in this paper which will make it possible to calculate both the profile (2D) and surface (3D) parameters of theoretical roughness in the face milling of plain surfaces. This new method is based on an expediently developed CAD model, and uses a professional program for the roughness evaluation. Cutting experiments were performed on 42CrMo4 specimens in order to validate the accuracy of the model. The results have revealed that the method is able to predict surface roughness with good accuracy.
Keywords: CAD-based modeling, face milling, surface roughness, theoretical roughness.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30691583 Investigating Quality Metrics for Multimedia Traffic in OLSR Routing Protocol
Authors: B. Prabhakara Rao, M. V. H. Bhaskara Murthy
Abstract:
An Ad hoc wireless network comprises of mobile terminals linked and communicating with each other sans the aid of traditional infrastructure. Optimized Link State Protocol (OLSR) is a proactive routing protocol, in which routes are discovered/updated continuously so that they are available when needed. Hello messages generated by a node seeks information about its neighbor and if the latter fails to respond to a specified number of hello messages regulated by neighborhood hold time, the node is forced to assume that the neighbor is not in range. This paper proposes to evaluate OLSR routing protocol in a random mobility network having various neighborhood hold time intervals. The throughput and delivery ratio are also evaluated to learn about its efficiency for multimedia loads.Keywords: Ad hoc Network, Optimized Link State Routing, Multimedia traffic
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19481582 Assamese Numeral Corpus for Speech Recognition using Cooperative ANN Architecture
Authors: Mousmita Sarma, Krishna Dutta, Kandarpa Kumar Sarma
Abstract:
Speech corpus is one of the major components in a Speech Processing System where one of the primary requirements is to recognize an input sample. The quality and details captured in speech corpus directly affects the precision of recognition. The current work proposes a platform for speech corpus generation using an adaptive LMS filter and LPC cepstrum, as a part of an ANN based Speech Recognition System which is exclusively designed to recognize isolated numerals of Assamese language- a major language in the North Eastern part of India. The work focuses on designing an optimal feature extraction block and a few ANN based cooperative architectures so that the performance of the Speech Recognition System can be improved.Keywords: Filter, Feature, LMS, LPC, Cepstrum, ANN.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23851581 Hybrid Temporal Correlation Based on Gaussian Mixture Model Framework for View Synthesis
Authors: Deng Zengming, Wang Mingjiang
Abstract:
As 3D video is explored as a hot research topic in the last few decades, free-viewpoint TV (FTV) is no doubt a promising field for its better visual experience and incomparable interactivity. View synthesis is obviously a crucial technology for FTV; it enables to render images in unlimited numbers of virtual viewpoints with the information from limited numbers of reference view. In this paper, a novel hybrid synthesis framework is proposed and blending priority is explored. In contrast to the commonly used View Synthesis Reference Software (VSRS), the presented synthesis process is driven in consideration of the temporal correlation of image sequences. The temporal correlations will be exploited to produce fine synthesis results even near the foreground boundaries. As for the blending priority, this scheme proposed that one of the two reference views is selected to be the main reference view based on the distance between the reference views and virtual view, another view is chosen as the auxiliary viewpoint, just assist to fill the hole pixel with the help of background information. Significant improvement of the proposed approach over the state-of –the-art pixel-based virtual view synthesis method is presented, the results of the experiments show that subjective gains can be observed, and objective PSNR average gains range from 0.5 to 1.3 dB, while SSIM average gains range from 0.01 to 0.05.
Keywords: View synthesis, Gaussian mixture model, hybrid framework, fusion method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9931580 The Southwestern Bangladesh’s Experience of Tidal River Management: An Analysis of Effectiveness and Challenges
Authors: Md. SajadulAlam, I. Ahmed, A. Naqib Jimmy, M. Haque Munna, N. Ahsan Khan
Abstract:
The construction of coastal polders to reduce salinity ingress at greater Khulna-Jashore region area was initiated in the 1960s by Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB). Although successful in a short run the, the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP) and its predecessors are often held accountable for the entire ecological disasters that affected many people. To overcome the water-logging crisis the first Tidal River Management (TRM) at Beel Bhaiana, Bhabodaho was implemented by the affected local people in an unplanned. TRM is an eco-engineering, low cost and participatory approach that utilizes the natural tidal characteristics and the local community’s indigenous knowledge for design and operation of watershed management. But although its outcomes were overwhelming in terms of reducing water-logging, increasing navigability etc. at Beel Bhaina the outcomes of its consequent schemes were debatable. So this study aims to examine the effectiveness and impact of the TRM schemes. Primary data were collected through questionnaire survey, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Key Informant Interview (KII) so as to collect mutually complementary quantitative and qualitative information along with extensive literature review. The key aspects that were examined include community participation, community perception on effectiveness and operational challenges.
Keywords: Sustainable, livelihood, salinity, water-logging, shrimp fry collectors, coastal region.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5471579 NOx Emission and Computational Analysis of Jatropha Curcus Fuel and Crude Oil
Authors: Vipan Kumar Sohpal, Rajesh K Sharma
Abstract:
Diminishing of conventional fuels and hysterical vehicles emission leads to deterioration of the environment, which emphasize the research to work on biofuels. Biofuels from different sources attract the attention of research due to low emission and biodegradability. Emission of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and H-C reduced drastically using Biofuels (B-20) combustion. Contrary to the conventional fuel, engine emission results indicated that nitrous oxide emission is higher in Biofuels. So this paper examines and compares the nitrogen oxide emission of Jatropha Curcus (JCO) B-20% blends with the vegetable oil. In addition to that computational analysis of crude non edible oil performed to assess the impact of composition on emission quality. In conclusion, JCO have the potential feedstock for the biodiesel production after the genetic modification in the plant.
Keywords: Jatropha Curcus, computational analysis, emissions, biofuels.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16541578 Application of Smooth Ergodic Hidden Markov Model in Text to Speech Systems
Authors: Armin Ghayoori, Faramarz Hendessi, Asrar Sheikh
Abstract:
In developing a text-to-speech system, it is well known that the accuracy of information extracted from a text is crucial to produce high quality synthesized speech. In this paper, a new scheme for converting text into its equivalent phonetic spelling is introduced and developed. This method is applicable to many applications in text to speech converting systems and has many advantages over other methods. The proposed method can also complement the other methods with a purpose of improving their performance. The proposed method is a probabilistic model and is based on Smooth Ergodic Hidden Markov Model. This model can be considered as an extension to HMM. The proposed method is applied to Persian language and its accuracy in converting text to speech phonetics is evaluated using simulations.Keywords: Hidden Markov Models, text, synthesis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15491577 Designing an Integrated Platform for Real-Time Recommendations Sharing among the Aged and People Living with Cancer
Authors: Adekunle O. Afolabi, Pekka Toivanen
Abstract:
The world is expected to experience growth in the number of ageing population, and this will bring about high cost of providing care for these valuable citizens. In addition, many of these live with chronic diseases that come with old age. Providing adequate care in the face of rising costs and dwindling personnel can be challenging. However, advances in technologies and emergence of the Internet of Things are providing a way to address these challenges while improving care giving. This study proposes the integration of recommendation systems into homecare to provide real-time recommendations for effective management of people receiving care at home and those living with chronic diseases. Using the simplified Training Logic Concept, stakeholders and requirements were identified. Specific requirements were gathered from people living with cancer. The solution designed has two components namely home and community, to enhance recommendations sharing for effective care giving. The community component of the design was implemented with the development of a mobile app called Recommendations Sharing Community for Aged and Chronically Ill People (ReSCAP). This component has illustrated the possibility of real-time recommendations, improved recommendations sharing among care receivers and between a physician and care receivers. Full implementation will increase access to health data for better care decision making.
Keywords: Recommendation systems, healthcare, internet of things, real-time, homecare.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9361576 Human Capital and the Innovation System – Case Study of the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
Authors: Maria E. Eggink
Abstract:
Innovation plays an important role in economic growth and development. Evolutionary economics has entrepreneurs at the centre of the innovation system, but includes all other participants as contributors to the performance of the innovation system. Education and training institutions, one of the participants in the innovation system, contributes in different ways to human capital. The gap in literature on the competence building as part of human capital in the analysis of innovation systems is addressed in this paper. The Mpumalanga Province of South Africa is used as a case study. It was found that the absence of a university, the level of education, the quality and performance in the education sector and the condition of the education infrastructure have not been conducive to learning.
Keywords: Education institutions, human capital, innovation systems, Mpumalanga Province.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20331575 Using Finite Element Analysis on Dynamic Characteristics in a Micro Stepping Mill
Authors: Bo Wun Huang, Pu Ping Yu, Jao-Hwa Kuang
Abstract:
For smaller mechatronic device, especially for micro Electronic system, a micro machining is a must. However, most investigations on vibration of a mill have been limited to the traditional type mill. In this article, vibration and dynamic characteristics of a micro mill were investigated in this study. The trend towards higher precision manufacturing technology requires producing miniaturized components. To improve micro-milled product quality, obtain a higher production rate and avoid milling breakage, the dynamic characteristics of micro milling must be studied. A stepped pre-twisted mill is used to simulate the micro mill. The finite element analysis is employed in this work. The flute length and diameter effects of the micro mill are considered. It is clear that the effects of micro mill shape parameters on vibration in a micro mill are significant.Keywords: micro system, micro mill, vibration.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18781574 Potential of Lavender (Lavandula vera L.) for Phytoremediation of Soils Contaminated with Heavy Metals
Authors: Violina R. Angelova, Dimitar F. Grekov, Veselin K. Kisyov, Krasimir I. Ivanov
Abstract:
A field study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of lavender for phytoremediation of contaminated soils. The experiment was performed on an agricultural fields contaminated by the Non-Ferrous-Metal Works near Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The concentrations of Pb, Zn and Cd in lavender (roots, stems, leaves and inflorescences) and in the essential oils of lavender were determined. Lavender is a plant which is tolerant to heavy metals and can be grown on contaminated soils, and which can be referred to the hyperaccumulators of lead and the accumulators of cadmium and zinc, and can be successfully used in the phytoremediation of heavy metal contaminated soils. Favorable is also the fact that heavy metals do not influence the development of the lavender, as well as on the quality and quantity of the essential oil. The possibility of further industrial processing will make lavender economically interesting crops for farmers of phytoextraction technology.Keywords: Heavy metals, lavender, phytoremediation, polluted soils.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 44331573 The Effect of Molybdate on Corrosion Behaviour of AISI 316Ti Stainless Steel in Chloride Environment
Authors: Viera Zatkalíková, Lenka Markovičová, Aneta Tor-Swiatek
Abstract:
The effect of molybdate addition to chloride environment on resistance of AISI 316Ti stainless steel to pitting corrosion was studied. Potentiodynamic polarisation tests were performed in 1 M and 0.1 M chloride acidified solutions with various additions of sodium molybdate at room temperature. The presented results compare the effect of molybdate anions on quality of passive film (expressed by the pitting potential) in both chloride solutions. The pitting potential increases with the increase inhibitor concentration. The inhibitive effect of molybdate ions is stronger in chloride solution of lower aggressiveness (0.1M).
Keywords: AISI 316Ti steel, molybdate inhibitor, pitting corrosion, pitting potential, potentiodynamic polarization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21881572 High-Speed Train Planning in France, Lessons from Mediterranean TGV-Line
Authors: Stéphanie Leheis
Abstract:
To fight against the economic crisis, French Government, like many others in Europe, has decided to give a boost to high-speed line projects. This paper explores the implementation and decision-making process in TGV projects, their evolutions, especially since the Mediterranean TGV-line. This project was probably the most controversial, but paradoxically represents today a huge success for all the actors involved. What kind of lessons we can learn from this experience? How to evaluate the impact of this project on TGV-line planning? How can we characterize this implementation and decision-making process regards to the sustainability challenges? The construction of Mediterranean TGV-line was the occasion to make several innovations: to introduce more dialog into the decisionmaking process, to take into account the environment, to introduce a new project management and technological innovations. That-s why this project appears today as an example in terms of integration of sustainable development. In this paper we examine the different kinds of innovations developed in this project, by using concepts from sociology of innovation to understand how these solutions emerged in a controversial situation. Then we analyze the lessons which were drawn from this decision-making process (in the immediacy and a posteriori) and the way in which procedures evolved: creation of new tools and devices (public consultation, project management...). Finally we try to highlight the impact of this evolution on TGV projects governance. In particular, new methods of implementation and financing involve a reconfiguration of the system of actors. The aim of this paper is to define the impact of this reconfiguration on negotiations between stakeholders.Keywords: High-speed train, innovation, governance, sustainability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23521571 A Robust Data Hiding Technique based on LSB Matching
Authors: Emad T. Khalaf, Norrozila Sulaiman
Abstract:
Many researchers are working on information hiding techniques using different ideas and areas to hide their secrete data. This paper introduces a robust technique of hiding secret data in image based on LSB insertion and RSA encryption technique. The key of the proposed technique is to encrypt the secret data. Then the encrypted data will be converted into a bit stream and divided it into number of segments. However, the cover image will also be divided into the same number of segments. Each segment of data will be compared with each segment of image to find the best match segment, in order to create a new random sequence of segments to be inserted then in a cover image. Experimental results show that the proposed technique has a high security level and produced better stego-image quality.Keywords: steganography; LSB Matching; RSA Encryption; data segments
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22201570 Comparative Studies on the Concentration of Some Heavy Metal in Urban Particulate Matter, Bangkok, Thailand
Authors: Sivapan Choo-In
Abstract:
The main objective of this study was to investigate particulate matter concentration on main and secondary roadsides in urban area and study the concentration of some heavy metals including lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and cadmium (Cd) in particulate matter in the Bangkok area.
The averaged particle concentration for main roadsides is higher than secondary roadsides. The particulate matter less than 10 micron concentration contribute the majority of the Total Suspended Particulate matter for main roads and zinc concentrations were higher than copper and lead for both sites.
Keywords: Air Pollution, Air Quality, Pollution and monitoring.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20331569 Quantifying Key Factors Affecting Leagile Manufacturing System
Authors: Naveen Virmani, Rajeev Saha, Rajeshwar Sahai
Abstract:
In today’s market, striving hard has become necessary for the industries to survive due to the intense competition and globalization. In earlier days, there were few sellers and limited numbers of buyers, so customers were having fewer options to buy the product. But today, the market is highly competitive and volatile. Industries are focusing on robotics, advance manufacturing methods like AJM (Abrasive Jet Machining), EDM (Electric Discharge Machining), ECM (Electrochemical Machining) etc., CAD/CAM, CAE to make quality products and market them in shortest possible time. Leagile manufacturing system is ensuring best available solution at minimum cost to meet the market demand. This paper tries to assimilate the concept of Leagile manufacturing system in today’s scenario and evaluating key factors affecting Leagile manufacturing using digraph technique.
Keywords: Agile manufacturing, digraph, lean manufacturing, leagile manufacturing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10851568 Derivative Spectrophotometry Applied to the Determination of Triprolidine Hydrochloride and Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride in Tablets and Dissolution Testing
Authors: L. Sriphong, A. Chaidedgumjorn, K. Chaisuroj
Abstract:
A spectrophotometric method was developed for simultaneous quantification of pseudoephedrine hydrochloride (PSE) triprolidine hydrochloride (TRI) using second derivative method (zero-crossing technique). The second derivative amplitudes of PSE and TRI were measured at 271 and 321 nm, respectively. The calibration curves were linear in the range of 200 to 1,000 g/ml for PSE and 10 to 50 g/ml for TRI. The method was validated for specificity, accuracy, precision, limit of detection and limit of quantitation. The proposed method was applied to the assaying and dissolution of PSE and TRI in commercial tablets without any chemical separation. The results were compared with those obtained by the official USP31 method and statistical tests showed that there is no significant between the methods at 95% confidence level. The proposed method is simple, rapid and suitable for the routine quality control application. KeywordsTriprolidine, Pseudoephedrine, Derivative spectrophotometry, Dissolution testing.
Keywords: Triprolidine, Pseudoephedrine, Derivative spectrophotometry, Dissolution testing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22511567 Hygrothermal Assessment of Internally Insulated Prefabricated Concrete Wall in Polish Climatic Condition
Authors: D. Kaczorek
Abstract:
Internal insulation of external walls is often problematic due to increased moisture content in the wall and interstitial or surface condensation risk. In this paper, the hygrothermal performance of prefabricated, concrete, large panel, external wall typical for WK70 system, commonly used in Poland in the 70’s, with inside, additional insulation was investigated. Thermal insulation board made out of hygroscopic, natural materials with moisture buffer capacity and extruded polystyrene (EPS) board was used as interior insulation. Experience with this natural insulation is rare in Poland. The analysis was performed using WUFI software. First of all, the impact of various standard boundary conditions on the behavior of the different wall assemblies was tested. The comparison of results showed that the moisture class according to the EN ISO 13788 leads to too high values of total moisture content in the wall since the boundary condition according to the EN 15026 should be usually applied. Then, hygrothermal 1D-simulations were conducted by WUFI Pro for analysis of internally added insulation, and the weak point like the joint of the wall with the concrete ceiling was verified using 2D simulations. Results showed that, in the Warsaw climate and the indoor conditions adopted in accordance with EN 15026, in the tested wall assemblies, regardless of the type of interior insulation, there would not be any problems with moisture - inside the structure and on the interior surface.
Keywords: Concrete large panel wall, hygrothermal simulation, internal insulation, moisture related issues.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 719