Search results for: statistical area
1078 3D Shape Knitting: Loop Alignment on a Surface with Positive Gaussian Curvature
Authors: C. T. Cheung, R. K. P. Ng, T. Y. Lo, Zhou Jinyun
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This paper aims at manipulating loop alignment in knitting a three-dimensional (3D) shape by its geometry. Two loop alignment methods are introduced to handle a surface with positive Gaussian curvature. As weft knitting is a two-dimensional (2D) knitting mechanism that the knitting cam carrying the feeders moves in two directions only, left and right, the knitted fabric generated grows in width and length but not in depth. Therefore, a 3D shape is required to be flattened to a 2D plane with surface area preserved for knitting. On this flattened plane, dimensional measurements are taken for loop alignment. The way these measurements being taken derived two different loop alignment methods. In this paper, only plain knitted structure was considered. Each knitted loop was taken as a basic unit for loop alignment in order to achieve the required geometric dimensions, without the inclusion of other stitches which give textural dimensions to the fabric. Two loop alignment methods were experimented and compared. Only one of these two can successfully preserve the dimensions of the shape.Keywords: 3D knitting, 3D shape, loop alignment, positive Gaussian curvature.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15471077 Porous Ni Electrodes Modified with Au Nanoparticles for Hydrogen Production
Authors: V. Pérez-Herranz, C. González-Buch, E. M. Ortega, S. Mestre
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In this work new macroporous Ni electrodes modified with Au nanoparticles for hydrogen production have been developed. The supporting macroporous Ni electrodes have been obtained by means of the electrodeposition at high current densities. Then, the Au nanoparticles were synthesized and added to the electrode surface. The electrocatalytic behaviour of the developed electrocatalysts was studied by means of pseudo-steady-state polarization curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and hydrogen discharge curves. The size of the Au synthetized nanoparticles shows a monomodal distribution, with a very sharp band between 10 and 50 nm. The characteristic parameters d10, d50 and d90 were 14, 20 and 31 nm respectively. From Tafel polarization data has been concluded that the Au nanoparticles improve the catalytic activity of the developed electrodes towards the HER respect to the macroporous Ni electrodes. EIS permits to obtain the electrochemically active area by means of the roughness factor value. All the developed electrodes show roughness factor values in the same order of magnitude. From the activation energy results it can be concluded that the Au nanoparticles improve the intrinsic catalytic activity of the macroporous Ni electrodes.Keywords: Au nanoparticles, hydrogen evolution reaction, porous Ni electrodes.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20701076 The Effect of Vibration on the Absorption of CO2 with Chemical Reaction in Aqueous Solution of Calcium Hydroxide
Authors: B. Sohbi, M. Emtir, M. Elgarni
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An interesting method to produce calcium carbonate is based in a gas-liquid reaction between carbon dioxide and aqueous solutions of calcium hydroxide. The design parameters for gas-liquid phase are flow regime, individual mass transfer, gas-liquid specific interfacial area. Most studies on gas-liquid phase were devoted to the experimental determination of some of these parameters, and more specifically, of the mass transfer coefficient, kLa which depends fundamentally on the superficial gas velocity and on the physical properties of absorption phase. The principle investigation was directed to study the effect of the vibration on the mass transfer coefficient kLa in gas-liquid phase during absorption of CO2 in the in aqueous solution of calcium hydroxide. The vibration with a higher frequency increase the mass transfer coefficient kLa, but vibration with lower frequency didn-t improve it, the mass transfer coefficient kLa increase with increase the superficial gas velocity.
Keywords: Environment technology, mass transfer coefficient, absorption, CO2, calcium hydroxide.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18161075 Comparative Analysis of Machine Learning Tools: A Review
Authors: S. Sarumathi, M. Vaishnavi, S. Geetha, P. Ranjetha
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Machine learning is a new and exciting area of artificial intelligence nowadays. Machine learning is the most valuable, time, supervised, and cost-effective approach. It is not a narrow learning approach; it also includes a wide range of methods and techniques that can be applied to a wide range of complex realworld problems and time domains. Biological image classification, adaptive testing, computer vision, natural language processing, object detection, cancer detection, face recognition, handwriting recognition, speech recognition, and many other applications of machine learning are widely used in research, industry, and government. Every day, more data are generated, and conventional machine learning techniques are becoming obsolete as users move to distributed and real-time operations. By providing fundamental knowledge of machine learning tools and research opportunities in the field, the aim of this article is to serve as both a comprehensive overview and a guide. A diverse set of machine learning resources is demonstrated and contrasted with the key features in this survey.Keywords: Artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, machine learning algorithms, machine learning tools.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18481074 Hybrid Prefix Adder Architecture for Minimizing the Power Delay Product
Authors: P.Ramanathan, P.T.Vanathi
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Parallel Prefix addition is a technique for improving the speed of binary addition. Due to continuing integrating intensity and the growing needs of portable devices, low-power and highperformance designs are of prime importance. The classical parallel prefix adder structures presented in the literature over the years optimize for logic depth, area, fan-out and interconnect count of logic circuits. In this paper, a new architecture for performing 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit Parallel Prefix addition is proposed. The proposed prefix adder structures is compared with several classical adders of same bit width in terms of power, delay and number of computational nodes. The results reveal that the proposed structures have the least power delay product when compared with its peer existing Prefix adder structures. Tanner EDA tool was used for simulating the adder designs in the TSMC 180 nm and TSMC 130 nm technologies.Keywords: Parallel Prefix Adder (PPA), Dot operator, Semi-Dotoperator, Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS), Odd-dot operator, Even-dot operator, Odd-semi-dot operator andEven-semi-dot operator.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17261073 Numerical Simulation for the Formability Prediction of the Laser Welded Blanks (TWB)
Authors: Hossein Mamusi, Abolfazl Masoumi, Ramezanali Mahdavinezhad
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Tailor-welded Blanks (TWBs) are tailor made for different complex component designs by welding multiple metal sheets with different thicknesses, shapes, coatings or strengths prior to forming. In this study the Hemispherical Die Stretching (HDS) test (out-of-plane stretching) of TWBs were simulated via ABAQUS/Explicit to obtain the Forming Limit Diagrams (FLDs) of Stainless steel (AISI 304) laser welded blanks with different thicknesses. Two criteria were used to detect the start of necking to determine the FLD for TWBs and parent sheet metals. These two criteria are the second derivatives of the major and thickness strains that are given from the strain history of simulation. In the other word, in these criteria necking starts when the second derivative of thickness or major strain reaches its maximum. With having the time of onset necking, one can measure the major and minor strains at the critical area and determine the forming limit curve.Keywords: TWB, Forming Limit Diagram, Necking criteria, ABAQUS/Explicit
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16431072 Hexavalent Chromium Removal from Aqueous Solutions by Adsorption onto Synthetic Nano Size ZeroValent Iron (nZVI)
Authors: A.R. Rahmani, M.T. Samadi, R. Noroozi
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The present work was conducted for the synthesis of nano size zerovalent iron (nZVI) and hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) removal as a highly toxic pollutant by using this nanoparticles. Batch experiments were performed to investigate the effects of Cr(VI), nZVI concentration, pH of solution and contact time variation on the removal efficiency of Cr(VI). nZVI was synthesized by reduction of ferric chloride using sodium borohydrid. SEM and XRD examinations applied for determination of particle size and characterization of produced nanoparticles. The results showed that the removal efficiency decreased with Cr(VI) concentration and pH of solution and increased with adsorbent dosage and contact time. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were used for the adsorption equilibrium data and the Langmuir isotherm model was well fitted. Nanoparticle ZVI presented an outstanding ability to remove Cr(VI) due to high surface area, low particle size and high inherent activity.Keywords: Adsorption, aqueous solution, Chromium, nZVI, removal.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25651071 Dimensionality Reduction in Modal Analysis for Structural Health Monitoring
Authors: Elia Favarelli, Enrico Testi, Andrea Giorgetti
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Autonomous structural health monitoring (SHM) of many structures and bridges became a topic of paramount importance for maintenance purposes and safety reasons. This paper proposes a set of machine learning (ML) tools to perform automatic feature selection and detection of anomalies in a bridge from vibrational data and compare different feature extraction schemes to increase the accuracy and reduce the amount of data collected. As a case study, the Z-24 bridge is considered because of the extensive database of accelerometric data in both standard and damaged conditions. The proposed framework starts from the first four fundamental frequencies extracted through operational modal analysis (OMA) and clustering, followed by time-domain filtering (tracking). The fundamental frequencies extracted are then fed to a dimensionality reduction block implemented through two different approaches: feature selection (intelligent multiplexer) that tries to estimate the most reliable frequencies based on the evaluation of some statistical features (i.e., entropy, variance, kurtosis), and feature extraction (auto-associative neural network (ANN)) that combine the fundamental frequencies to extract new damage sensitive features in a low dimensional feature space. Finally, one-class classification (OCC) algorithms perform anomaly detection, trained with standard condition points, and tested with normal and anomaly ones. In particular, principal component analysis (PCA), kernel principal component analysis (KPCA), and autoassociative neural network (ANN) are presented and their performance are compared. It is also shown that, by evaluating the correct features, the anomaly can be detected with accuracy and an F1 score greater than 95%.
Keywords: Anomaly detection, dimensionality reduction, frequencies selection, modal analysis, neural network, structural health monitoring, vibration measurement.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7081070 Optimal Design and Simulation of a Grid-Connected Photovoltaic (PV) Power System for an Electrical Department in University of Tripoli-Libya
Authors: Mustafa A. Al-Refai
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This paper presents the optimal design and simulation of a grid-connected Photovoltaic (PV) system to supply electric power to meet the energy demand by Electrical Department in University of Tripoli Libya. Solar radiation is the key factor determining electricity produced by photovoltaic (PV) systems. This paper is designed to develop a novel method to calculate the solar photovoltaic generation capacity on the basis of Mean Global Solar Radiation data available for Tripoli Libya and finally develop a system design of possible plant capacity for the available roof area. MatLab/Simulink Programming tools and monthly average solar radiation data are used for this design and simulation. The specifications of equipments are provided based on the availability of the components in the market. Simulation results and analyses are presented to validate the proposed system configuration.
Keywords: Photovoltaic (PV), solar energy, solar irradiation, Simulink.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 34561069 Exploring Value of Time, Shopping Behavior and Shopping Motivation of International Tourists in the Chatuchak Weekend Market
Authors: Chanin Yoopetch, Natcha Toemtemsab
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The purpose of this study was to explore the demographic differences of international tourists according to three main factors, including the value of time, shopping behavior and shopping motivation. The Chatuchak Weekend Market is known as one of the biggest weekend markets in the world. Too little academic studies had been conducted in this area of weekend market, despite its growth and continuous development. In general, both domestic visitors and international tourists are attracted to the perception of cheap and bargaining prices the weekend market. However, systematic research study can provide reliable understanding of the perception of the visitors. This study focused on the group of international tourists who visited the market and aimed to provide better insights based on the differences in their demographic factors. Findings indicated that several differences in value of time, shopping behavior, and shopping motivation were identified by gender, income and age. Research implications and directions for further studies were discussed.Keywords: Value of Time, Shopping Behavior, Shopping Motivation, Chatuchak Weekend Market.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23091068 Real Time Acquisition and Psychoacoustic Analysis of Brain Wave
Authors: Shweta Singh, Dipali Bansal, Rashima Mahajan
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Psychoacoustics has become a potential area of research due to the growing interest of both laypersons and medical and mental health professionals. Non invasive brain computer interface like Electroencephalography (EEG) is widely being used in this field. An attempt has been made in this paper to examine the response of EEG signals to acoustic stimuli further analyzing the brain electrical activity. The real time EEG is acquired for 6 participants using a cost effective and portable EMOTIV EEG neuro headset. EEG data analysis is further done using EMOTIV test bench, EDF browser and EEGLAB (MATLAB Tool) application software platforms. Spectral analysis of acquired neural signals (AF3 channel) using these software platforms are clearly indicative of increased brain activity in various bands. The inferences drawn from such an analysis have significant correlation with subject’s subjective reporting of the experiences. The results suggest that the methodology adopted can further be used to assist patients with sleeping and depressive disorders.
Keywords: OM’ chant, Spectral analysis, EDF Browser, EEGLAB, EMOTIV, Real time Acquisition.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 35771067 Adsorptive Removal of Vapors of Toxic Sulfur Compounds using Activated Carbons
Authors: Meenakshi Goyal, Rashmi Dhawan
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Adsorption of CS2 vapors has been studied on different types of activated carbons obtained from different source raw materials. The activated carbons have different surface areas and are associated with varying amounts of the carbon-oxygen surface groups. The adsorption of CS2 vapors is not directly related to surface area, but is considerably influenced by the presence of carbonoxygen surface groups. The adsorption decreases on increasing the amount of carbon-oxygen surface groups on oxidation and increases when these surface groups are eliminated on degassing. The adsorption is maximum in case of the 950°-degassed carbon sample which is almost completely free of any associated oxygen. The kinetic data as analysed by Empirical diffusion model and Linear driving force mass transfer model indicate that the adsorption does not involve Fickian diffusion but may be considered as a pseudo first order mass transfer process. The activation energy of adsorption and isosteric enthalpies of adsorption indicate that the adsorption does not involve interaction between CS2 and carbon-oxygen surface groups, but hydrophobic interactions between CS2 and C-C atoms in the carbon lattice.Keywords: Adsorption, surface groups, adsorption kinetics, isosteric enthalpy of adsorption.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23151066 The Effect of Pyridoxine and Different Levels of Nitrogen on Physiological Indices of Corn(Zea Mays L.var.sc704)
Authors: Gholamreza Farrokhi, Babak Paykarestan
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One field experiment was conducted on corn (Zea mays L.Var. SC 704) to study the effect of three different basic levels of nitrogen (90, 140and 190 Kg/ha as urea) with 0.01% and 0.02% pyridoxine pre-sowing seed soaking for 8 hours. Water-soaked seeds were treated as controled. biomass production was recorded on 45, 70 and 95 days after sowing. Total dry material (TDM), leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), relative growth rate (RGR) and net assimilation rate (NAR) was calculated form 45until 95 days after sowing. Yield and its components such as kernel yield, grain weight, biologic yield, harvest index and protein percentage was measured at harvest. In general, 0.02% pyridoxine and 190 Kg pure nitrogen/ha was shown gave maximum value for growth and yield parameters. N190 + 0.02 % pyridoxine enhanced seed yield and biologic yield by 57.15% and 62.98% compared to 90kg N and water – soaked treatment.Keywords: Corn, Growth Indices, Nitrogen Levels, Physiological Indices, Pyridoxine.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17261065 Modal Analysis for Study of Minor Historical Architecture
Authors: Milorad Pavlovic, Anna Manzato, Antonella Cecchi
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Cultural heritage conservation is a challenge for contemporary society. In recent decades, significant resources have been allocated for the conservation and restoration of architectural heritage. Historical buildings were restored, protected and reinforced with the intent to limit the risks of degradation or loss, due to phenomena of structural damage and to external factors such as differential settlements, earthquake effects, etc. The wide diffusion of historic masonry constructions in Italy, Europe and the Mediterranean area requires reliable tools for the evaluation of their structural safety. In this paper is presented a free modal analysis performed on a minor historical architecture located in the village of Bagno Grande, near the city of L’Aquila in Italy. The location is characterized by a complex urban context, seriously damaged by the earthquake of 2009. The aim of this work is to check the structural behavior of a masonry building characterized by several boundary conditions imposed by adjacent buildings and infrastructural facilities.
Keywords: FEM, masonry, minor historical architecture, modal analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11161064 Environmental and Economic Scenario Analysis of the Redundant Golf Courses in Japan
Authors: Osamu Saito
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Commercial infrastructures intended for use as leisure retreats such as golf and ski resorts have been extensively developed in many rural areas of Japan. However, following the burst of the economic bubble in the 1990s, several existing resorts faced tough management decisions and some were forced to close their business. In this study, six alternative management options for restructuring the existing golf courses (park, cemetery, biofuel production, reforestation, pasturing and abandonment) are examined and their environmental and economic impacts are quantitatively assessed. In addition, restructuring scenarios of these options and an ex-ante assessment model are developed. The scenario analysis by Monte Carlo simulation shows a clear trade-off between GHG savings and benefit/cost (B/C) ratios, of which “Restoring Nature" scenario absorbs the most CO2 among the four scenarios considered, but its B/C ratio is the lowest. This study can be used to select or examine options and scenarios of golf course management and rural environmental management policies.Keywords: golf courses, restructuring and management options, scenario analysis, Tokyo Metropolitan Area.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16221063 Energy Communities from Municipality Level to Province Level: A Comparison Using Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average Model
Authors: Amro Issam Hamed Attia Ramadan, Marco Zappatore, Pasquale Balena, Antonella Longo
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Considering the energy crisis that is hitting Europe, it becomes increasingly necessary to change energy policies to depend less on fossil fuels and replace them with energy from renewable sources. This has triggered the urge to use clean energy, not only to satisfy energy needs and fulfill the required consumption, but also to decrease the danger of climatic changes due to harmful emissions. Many countries have already started creating energy communities based on renewable energy sources. The first step to understanding energy needs in any place is to perfectly know the consumption. In this work, we aim to estimate electricity consumption for a municipality that makes up part of a rural area located in southern Italy using forecast models that allow for the estimation of electricity consumption for the next 10 years, and we then apply the same model to the province where the municipality is located and estimate the future consumption for the same period to examine whether it is possible to start from the municipality level to reach the province level when creating energy communities.
Keywords: ARIMA, electricity consumption, forecasting models, time series.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2821062 Depletion Layer Parameters of Al-MoO3-P-CdTe-Al MOS Structures
Authors: A. C. Sarmah
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The Al-MoO3-P-CdTe-Al MOS sandwich structures were fabricated by vacuum deposition method on cleaned glass substrates. Capacitance versus voltage measurements were performed at different frequencies and sweep rates of applied voltages for oxide and semiconductor films of different thicknesses. In the negative voltage region of the C-V curve a high differential capacitance of the semiconductor was observed and at high frequencies (<10 kHz) the transition from accumulation to depletion and further to deep depletion was observed as the voltage was swept from negative to positive. A study have been undertaken to determine the value of acceptor density and some depletion layer parameters such as depletion layer capacitance, depletion width, impurity concentration, flat band voltage, Debye length, flat band capacitance, diffusion or built-in-potential, space charge per unit area etc. These were determined from C-V measurements for different oxide and semiconductor thicknesses.
Keywords: Debye length, Depletion width, flat band capacitance, impurity concentration.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15691061 Non-Timber Forest Products and Livelihood Linkages: A Case of Lamabagar, Nepal
Authors: Sandhya Rijal, Saroj Adhikari, Ramesh R. Pant
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Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) have attracted substantial interest in the recent years with the increasing recognition that these can provide essential community needs for improved and diversified rural livelihood and support the objectives of biodiversity conservation. Nevertheless, various challenges are witnessed in their sustainable harvest and management. Assuming that sustainable management with community stewardship can offer one of the solutions to existing challenges, the study assesses the linkages between NTFPs and rural livelihood in Lamabagar village of Dolakha, Nepal. The major objective was to document the status of NTFPs and their contributions in households of Lamabagar. For status documentation, vegetation sampling was done using systematic random sampling technique. 30 plots of 10 m × 10 m were laid down in six parallel transect lines at horizontal distance of 160 m in two different community forests. A structured questionnaire survey was conducted in 76 households (excluding non-response rate) using stratified random sampling technique for contribution analysis. Likewise, key informant interview and focus group discussions were also conducted for data triangulations. 36 different NTFPs were recorded from the vegetation sample in two community forests of which 50% were used for medicinal purposes. The other uses include fodder, religious value, and edible fruits and vegetables. Species like Juniperus indica, Daphne bholua Aconitum spicatum, and Lyonia ovalifolia were frequently used for trade as a source of income, which was sold in local market. The protected species like Taxus wallichiana and Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora were also recorded in the area for which the trade is prohibited. The protection of these species urgently needs community stewardship. More than half of the surveyed households (55%) were depending on NTFPs for their daily uses, other than economic purpose whereas 45% of them sold those products in the market directly or in the form of local handmade products as a source of livelihood. NTFPs were the major source of primary health curing agents especially for the poor and unemployed people in the study area. Hence, the NTFPs contributed to livelihood under three different categories: subsistence, supplement income and emergency support, depending upon the economic status of the households. Although the status of forest improved after handover to the user group, the availability of valuable medicinal herbs like Rhododendron anthopogon, Swertia nervosa, Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora, and Aconitum spicatum were declining. Inadequacy of technology, lack of easy transport access, and absence of good market facility were the major limitations for external trade of NTFPs in the study site. It was observed that people were interested towards conservation only if they could get some returns: economic in terms of rural settlements. Thus, the study concludes that NTFPs could contribute rural livelihood and support conservation objectives only if local communities are provided with the easy access of technology, market and capital.
Keywords: Contribution, medicinal, subsistence, sustainable harvest.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9611060 Flood Hazard Mapping in Dikrong Basin of Arunachal Pradesh (India)
Authors: Aditi Bhadra, Sutapa Choudhury, Daita Kar
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Flood zoning studies have become more efficient in recent years because of the availability of advanced computational facilities and use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In the present study, flood inundated areas were mapped using GIS for the Dikrong river basin of Arunachal Pradesh, India, corresponding to different return periods (2, 5, 25, 50, and 100 years). Further, the developed inundation maps corresponding to 25, 50, and 100 year return period floods were compared to corresponding maps developed by conventional methods as reported in the Brahmaputra Board Master Plan for Dikrong basin. It was found that, the average deviation of modelled flood inundation areas from reported map inundation areas is below 5% (4.52%). Therefore, it can be said that the modelled flood inundation areas matched satisfactorily with reported map inundation areas. Hence, GIS techniques were proved to be successful in extracting the flood inundation extent in a time and cost effective manner for the remotely located hilly basin of Dikrong, where conducting conventional surveys is very difficult.Keywords: Flood hazard mapping, GIS, inundation area, return period.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29971059 Seasonal Water Quality Trends in the Feitsui Reservoir Watershed, Taiwan
Authors: Pei-Te Chiueh, Hsiao-Ting Wu, Shang-Lien Lo
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Protecting is the sources of drinking water is the first barrier of contamination of drinking water. The Feitsui Reservoir watershed of Taiwan supplies domestic water for around 5 million people in the Taipei metropolitan area. Understanding the spatial patterns of water quality trends in this watershed is an important agenda for management authorities. This study examined 7 sites in the watershed for water quality parameters regulated in the standard for drinking water source. The non-parametric seasonal Mann-Kendall-s test was used to determine significant trends for each parameter. Significant trends of increasing pH occurred at the sampling station in the uppermost stream watershed, and in total phosphorus at 4 sampling stations in the middle and downstream watershed. Additionally, the multi-scale land cover assessment and average land slope were used to explore the influence on the water quality in the watershed. Regression models for predicting water quality were also developed.Keywords: Seasonal Mann-Kendall's test, Flow-adjusted concentrations, Water quality trends, Land-use
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16011058 Experimental Characterization of the Color Quality and Error Rate for an Red, Green, and Blue-Based Light Emission Diode-Fixture Used in Visible Light Communications
Authors: Juan F. Gutierrez, Jesus M. Quintero, Diego Sandoval
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An important feature of Lighting Emitting Diodes (LED) technology is the fast on-off commutation. This fact allows data transmission using modulation formats such as On-Off Keying (OOK) and Color Shift Keying (CSK). Since, CSK based on three color bands uses red, green, and blue monochromatic LED (RGB-LED) to define a pattern of chromaticities; this type of CSK provides poor color quality on the illuminated area. In this work, we present the design and implementation of a VLC system using RGB-based CSK with 16, 8, and 4 color points, mixing with a steady baseline of a phosphor white-LED, to improve the color quality of the LED-Fixture. The experimental system was assessed in terms of the Symbol Error Rate (SER) and the Color Rendering Index (CRI). Good color quality performance of the LED-Fixture was obtained with an acceptable SER. We describe the laboratory setup used to characterize and calibrate an LED-Fixture.
Keywords: Color rendering index, symbol error rate, color shift keying, visible light communications.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1731057 CFD Simulation of Condensing Vapor Bubble using VOF Model
Authors: Seong-Su Jeon, Seong-Jin Kim, Goon-Cherl Park
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In this study, direct numerical simulation for the bubble condensation in the subcooled boiling flow was performed. The main goal was to develop the CFD modeling for the bubble condensation and to evaluate the accuracy of the VOF model with the developed CFD modeling. CFD modeling for the bubble condensation was developed by modeling the source terms in the governing equations of VOF model using UDF. In the modeling, the amount of condensation was determined using the interfacial heat transfer coefficient obtained from the bubble velocity, liquid temperature and bubble diameter every time step. To evaluate the VOF model using the CFD modeling for the bubble condensation, CFD simulation results were compared with SNU experimental results such as bubble volume and shape, interfacial area, bubble diameter and bubble velocity. Simulation results predicted well the behavior of the actual condensing bubble. Therefore, it can be concluded that the VOF model using the CFD modeling for the bubble condensation will be a useful computational fluid dynamics tool for analyzing the behavior of the condensing bubble in a wide range of the subcooled boiling flow.
Keywords: Bubble condensation, CFD modeling, Subcooled boiling flow, VOF model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 67471056 A Novel Genetic Algorithm Designed for Hardware Implementation
Authors: Zhenhuan Zhu, David Mulvaney, Vassilios Chouliaras
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A new genetic algorithm, termed the 'optimum individual monogenetic genetic algorithm' (OIMGA), is presented whose properties have been deliberately designed to be well suited to hardware implementation. Specific design criteria were to ensure fast access to the individuals in the population, to keep the required silicon area for hardware implementation to a minimum and to incorporate flexibility in the structure for the targeting of a range of applications. The first two criteria are met by retaining only the current optimum individual, thereby guaranteeing a small memory requirement that can easily be stored in fast on-chip memory. Also, OIMGA can be easily reconfigured to allow the investigation of problems that normally warrant either large GA populations or individuals many genes in length. Local convergence is achieved in OIMGA by retaining elite individuals, while population diversity is ensured by continually searching for the best individuals in fresh regions of the search space. The results given in this paper demonstrate that both the performance of OIMGA and its convergence time are superior to those of a range of existing hardware GA implementations.
Keywords: Genetic algorithms, genetic hardware, machinelearning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20241055 Using the Transtheoretical Model to Investigate Stages of Change in Regular Volunteer Service among Seniors in Community
Authors: Pei-Ti Hsu, I-Ju Chen, Jeu-Jung Chen, Cheng-Fen Chang, Shiu-Yan Yang
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Background: Taiwan now is an aging society. Research on the elderly should not be confined to caring for seniors, but should also be focused on ways to improve health and the quality of life. Senior citizens who participate in volunteer services could become less lonely, have new growth opportunities, and regain a sense of accomplishment. Thus, the question of how to get the elderly to participate in volunteer service is worth exploring. Objective: Apply the Transtheoretical Model to understand stages of change in regular volunteer service and voluntary service behaviour among the seniors. Methods: 1525 adults over the age of 65 from the Renai district of Keelung City were interviewed. The research tool was a self-constructed questionnaire, and individual interviews were conducted to collect data. Then the data was processed and analyzed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 (Windows version) statistical software program. Results: In the past six months, research subjects averaged 9.92 days of volunteer services. A majority of these elderly individuals had no intention to change their regular volunteer services. We discovered that during the maintenance stage, the self-efficacy for volunteer services was higher than during all other stages, but self-perceived barriers were less during the preparation stage and action stage. Self-perceived benefits were found to have an important predictive power for those with regular volunteer service behaviors in the previous stage, and self-efficacy was found to have an important predictive power for those with regular volunteer service behaviors in later stages. Conclusions/Implications for Practice: The research results support the conclusion that community nursing staff should group elders based on their regular volunteer services change stages and design appropriate behavioral change strategies.
Keywords: Seniors, stages of change in regular volunteer services, volunteer service behavior, self-efficacy, self-perceived benefits.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19601054 The Importance of Compulsory Pre-School Education from the Parents’ Perspective in the Czech Republic
Authors: Beata Horníckova, Sona Lorencova
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The study deals with the presentation of the results of quantitatively oriented research. The research was conducted as part of a questionnaire survey with the aim to find out what are the attitudes of parents to compulsory preschool education in the Czech Republic. This research presents results from the area of importance of compulsory pre-school education from the parents’ perspective. The research method was a questionnaire, which was distributed to respondents through an online platform. The research involved 107 parents, who answered a total of 36 questions that found out their attitudes to last year’s compulsory preschool attendance. The results show that compulsory pre-school attendance has increased the importance of pre-school education. However, the results also show that the compulsory last year of preschool education is not more important according to parents than in previous years. Most participants consider compulsory pre-school attendance to be important and are happy that their child attends it. The results reveal the fact that the introduction of compulsory pre-school attendance has contributed to the importance of parents’ perceptions of pre-primary education.
Keywords: compulsory pre-school education, education of preschool children, kindergarten, parents
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5841053 Radar Charts Analysis to Compare the Level of Innovation in Mexico with Most Innovative Countries in Triple Helix Schema Economic and Human Factor Dimension
Authors: Peña Aguilar Juan M., Valencia Luis, Pastrana Alberto, Nava Estefany, Martinez A., Vivanco M., Castañeda A.
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This paper seeks to compare the innovation of Mexico from an economic and human perspective, with the seven most innovative countries according to the Global Innovation Index 2013, done by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The above analysis suggests nine dimensions: Expenditure on R & D, intellectual property, appropriate environment to conduct business, economic stability, triple helix for R & D, ICT Infrastructure, education, human resources and quality of life. Each dimension is represented by an indicator which is later used to construct a radial graph that compares the innovative capacity of the countries analyzed. As a result, it is proposed a new indicator of innovation called The Area of Innovation. Observations are made from the results, and finally as a conclusion, those items or dimensions in which Mexico suffers lag in innovation are identify.
Keywords: Dimension, measure, innovation level, economy, radar chart.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 37541052 Simulation of Heat Transfer in the Multi-Layer Door of the Furnace
Authors: U. Prasopchingchana
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The temperature distribution and the heat transfer rates through a multi-layer door of a furnace were investigated. The inside of the door was in contact with hot air and the other side of the door was in contact with room air. Radiation heat transfer from the walls of the furnace to the door and the door to the surrounding area was included in the problem. This work is a two dimensional steady state problem. The Churchill and Chu correlation was used to find local convection heat transfer coefficients at the surfaces of the furnace door. The thermophysical properties of air were the functions of the temperatures. Polynomial curve fitting for the fluid properties were carried out. Finite difference method was used to discretize for conduction heat transfer within the furnace door. The Gauss-Seidel Iteration was employed to compute the temperature distribution in the door. The temperature distribution in the horizontal mid plane of the furnace door in a two dimensional problem agrees with the one dimensional problem. The local convection heat transfer coefficients at the inside and outside surfaces of the furnace door are exhibited.Keywords: Conduction, heat transfer, multi-layer door, natural convection
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20971051 Evaluating the Understanding of the University Students (Basic Sciences and Engineering) about the Numerical Representation of the Average Rate of Change
Authors: Saeid Haghjoo, Ebrahim Reyhani, Fahimeh Kolahdouz
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The present study aimed to evaluate the understanding of the students in Tehran universities (Iran) about the numerical representation of the average rate of change based on the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO). In the present descriptive-survey research, the statistical population included undergraduate students (basic sciences and engineering) in the universities of Tehran. The samples were 604 students selected by random multi-stage clustering. The measurement tool was a task whose face and content validity was confirmed by math and mathematics education professors. Using Cronbach's Alpha criterion, the reliability coefficient of the task was obtained 0.95, which verified its reliability. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (chi-squared and independent t-tests) under SPSS-24 software. According to the SOLO model in the prestructural, unistructural, and multistructural levels, basic science students had a higher percentage of understanding than that of engineering students, although the outcome was inverse at the relational level. However, there was no significant difference in the average understanding of both groups. The results indicated that students failed to have a proper understanding of the numerical representation of the average rate of change, in addition to missconceptions when using physics formulas in solving the problem. In addition, multiple solutions were derived along with their dominant methods during the qualitative analysis. The current research proposed to focus on the context problems with approximate calculations and numerical representation, using software and connection common relations between math and physics in the teaching process of teachers and professors.
Keywords: Average rate of change, context problems, derivative, numerical representation, SOLO taxonomy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7611050 An Evaluation of the Oxide Layers in Machining Swarfs to Improve Recycling
Authors: J. Uka, B. McKay, T. Minton, O. Adole, R. Lewis, S. J. Glanvill, L. Anguilano
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Effective heat treatment conditions to obtain maximum aluminium swarf recycling are investigated in this work. Aluminium swarf briquettes underwent treatments at different temperatures and cooling times to investigate the improvements obtained in the recovery of aluminium metal. The main issue for the recovery of the metal from swarfs is to overcome the constraints due to the oxide layers present in high concentration in the swarfs since they have a high surface area. Briquettes supplied by Renishaw were heat treated at 650, 700, 750, 800 and 850 ℃ for 1-hour and then cooled at 2.3, 3.5 and 5 ℃/min. The resulting material was analysed using SEM EDX to observe the oxygen diffusion and aluminium coalescence at the boundary between adjacent swarfs. Preliminary results show that, swarf needs to be heat treated at a temperature of 850 ℃ and cooled down slowly at 2.3 ℃/min to have thin and discontinuous alumina layers between the adjacent swarf and consequently allowing aluminium coalescence. This has the potential to save energy and provide maximum financial profit in preparation of swarf briquettes for recycling.
Keywords: Aluminium, swarf, oxide layers, recycle, reuse.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5731049 Information Technologies in Human Resources Management - Selected Examples
Authors: A. Karasek
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Rapid growth of Information Technologies (IT) has had huge influence on enterprises, and it has contributed to its promotion and increasingly extensive use in enterprises. Information Technologies have to a large extent determined the processes taking place in an enterprise; what is more, IT development has brought the need to adopt a brand new approach to human resources management in an enterprise. The use of IT in human resource management (HRM) is of high importance due to the growing role of information and information technologies. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the use of information technologies in human resources management in enterprises. These practices will be presented in the following areas: recruitment and selection, development and training, employee assessment, motivation, talent management, personnel service. Results of conducted survey show diversity of solutions applied in particular areas of human resource management. In the future, further development in this area should be expected, as well as integration of individual HRM areas, growing mobile-enabled HR processes and their transfer into the cloud. Presented IT solutions applied in HRM are highly innovative, which is of great significance due to their possible implementation in other enterprises.Keywords: E-HR, human resources management, HRM practices, HRMS, information technologies.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5527