Search results for: land use competition
448 The Effect of Compost Addition on Chemical and Nitrogen Characteristics, Respiration Activity and Biomass Production in Prepared Reclamation Substrates
Authors: L. Plošek, F. Nsanganwimana, B. Pourrut, J. Elbl, J. Hynšt, A. Kintl, D. Kubná, J. Záhora
Abstract:
Land degradation is of concern in many countries. People more and more must address the problems associated with the degradation of soil properties due to man. Increasingly, organic soil amendments, such as compost are being examined for their potential use in soil restoration and for preventing soil erosion. In the Czech Republic, compost is the most used to improve soil structure and increase the content of soil organic matter. Land reclamation / restoration is one of the ways to evaluate industrially produced compost because Czech farmers are not willing to use compost as organic fertilizer. The most common use of reclamation substrates in the Czech Republic is for the rehabilitation of landfills and contaminated sites.
This paper deals with the influence of reclamation substrates (RS) with different proportions of compost and sand on selected soil properties–chemical characteristics, nitrogen bioavailability, leaching of mineral nitrogen, respiration activity and plant biomass production. Chemical properties vary proportionally with addition of compost and sand to the control variant (topsoil). The highest differences between the variants were recorded in leaching of mineral nitrogen (varies from 1.36mg dm-3 in C to 9.09mg dm-3). Addition of compost to soil improves conditions for plant growth in comparison with soil alone. However, too high addition of compost may have adverse effects on plant growth. In addition, high proportion of compost increases leaching of mineral N. Therefore, mixture of 70% of soil with 10% of compost and 20% of sand may be recommended as optimal composition of RS.
Keywords: Biomass, Compost, Reclamation, Respiration.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2333447 Design and Development of a Prototype Vehicle for Shell Eco-Marathon
Authors: S. S. Dol
Abstract:
Improvement in vehicle efficiency can reduce global fossil fuels consumptions. For that sole reason, Shell Global Corporation introduces Shell Eco-marathon where student teams require to design, build and test energy-efficient vehicles. Hence, this paper will focus on design processes and the development of a fuel economic vehicle which satisfying the requirements of the competition. In this project, three components are designed and analyzed, which are the body, chassis and powertrain of the vehicle. Optimum design for each component is produced through simulation analysis and theoretical calculation in which improvement is made as the project progresses.
Keywords: Energy efficient vehicle, drag force, chassis, powertrain.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5745446 Wave Atom Transform Based Two Class Motor Imagery Classification
Authors: Nebi Gedik
Abstract:
Electroencephalography (EEG) investigations of the brain computer interfaces are based on the electrical signals resulting from neural activities in the brain. In this paper, it is offered a method for classifying motor imagery EEG signals. The suggested method classifies EEG signals into two classes using the wave atom transform, and the transform coefficients are assessed, creating the feature set. Classification is done with SVM and k-NN algorithms with and without feature selection. For feature selection t-test approaches are utilized. A test of the approach is performed on the BCI competition III dataset IIIa.
Keywords: motor imagery, EEG, wave atom transform, SVM, k-NN, t-test
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 492445 A Fuzzy Decision Making Approach for Supplier Selection in Healthcare Industry
Authors: Zeynep Sener, Mehtap Dursun
Abstract:
Supplier evaluation and selection is one of the most important components of an effective supply chain management system. Due to the expanding competition in healthcare, selecting the right medical device suppliers offers great potential for increasing quality while decreasing costs. This paper proposes a fuzzy decision making approach for medical supplier selection. A real-world medical device supplier selection problem is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed decision methodology.
Keywords: Fuzzy decision making, fuzzy multiple objective programming, medical supply chain, supplier selection.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2672444 The Evaluation of Gravity Anomalies Based on Global Models by Land Gravity Data
Authors: M. Yilmaz, I. Yilmaz, M. Uysal
Abstract:
The Earth system generates different phenomena that are observable at the surface of the Earth such as mass deformations and displacements leading to plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanism. The dynamic processes associated with the interior, surface, and atmosphere of the Earth affect the three pillars of geodesy: shape of the Earth, its gravity field, and its rotation. Geodesy establishes a characteristic structure in order to define, monitor, and predict of the whole Earth system. The traditional and new instruments, observables, and techniques in geodesy are related to the gravity field. Therefore, the geodesy monitors the gravity field and its temporal variability in order to transform the geodetic observations made on the physical surface of the Earth into the geometrical surface in which positions are mathematically defined. In this paper, the main components of the gravity field modeling, (Free-air and Bouguer) gravity anomalies are calculated via recent global models (EGM2008, EIGEN6C4, and GECO) over a selected study area. The model-based gravity anomalies are compared with the corresponding terrestrial gravity data in terms of standard deviation (SD) and root mean square error (RMSE) for determining the best fit global model in the study area at a regional scale in Turkey. The least SD (13.63 mGal) and RMSE (15.71 mGal) were obtained by EGM2008 for the Free-air gravity anomaly residuals. For the Bouguer gravity anomaly residuals, EIGEN6C4 provides the least SD (8.05 mGal) and RMSE (8.12 mGal). The results indicated that EIGEN6C4 can be a useful tool for modeling the gravity field of the Earth over the study area.
Keywords: Free-air gravity anomaly, Bouguer gravity anomaly, global model, land gravity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 978443 Cooperative Multi Agent Soccer Robot Team
Authors: Vahid Rostami, Saeed Ebrahimijam, P.khajehpoor, P.Mirzaei, Mahdi Yousefiazar
Abstract:
This paper introduces our first efforts of developing a new team for RoboCup Middle Size Competition. In our robots we have applied omni directional based mobile system with omnidirectional vision system and fuzzy control algorithm to navigate robots. The control architecture of MRL middle-size robots is a three layered architecture, Planning, Sequencing, and Executing. It also uses Blackboard system to achieve coordination among agents. Moreover, the architecture should have minimum dependency on low level structure and have a uniform protocol to interact with real robot.Keywords: Robocup, Soccer robots, Fuzzy controller, Multi agent.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1557442 Stimulus-Dependent Polyrhythms of Central Pattern Generator Hardware
Authors: Le Zhao, Alain Nogaret
Abstract:
We have built universal central pattern generator (CPG) hardware by interconnecting Hodgkin-Huxley neurons with reciprocally inhibitory synapses. We investigate the dynamics of neuron oscillations as a function of the time delay between current steps applied to individual neurons. We demonstrate stimulus dependent switching between spiking polyrhythms and map the phase portraits of the neuron oscillations to reveal the basins of attraction of the system. We experimentally study the dependence of the attraction basins on the network parameters: The neuron response time and the strength of inhibitory connections.
Keywords: Central pattern generator, winnerless competition principle.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1751441 Effect of Ionic Strength on Mercury Adsorption on Contaminated Soil
Authors: G. Petruzzelli, F. Pedron, I. Rosellini, E. Tassi, F. Gorini, B. Pezzarossa, M. Barbafieri
Abstract:
Mercury adsorption on soil was investigated at different ionic strengths using Ca(NO3)2 as a background electrolyte. Results fitted the Langmuir equation and the adsorption isotherms reached a plateau at higher equilibrium concentrations. Increasing ionic strength decreased the sorption of mercury, due to the competition of Ca ions for the sorption sites in the soils. The influence of ionic strength was related to the mechanisms of heavy metal sorption by the soil. These results can be of practical importance both in the agriculture and contaminated soils since the solubility of mercury in soils are strictly dependent on the adsorption and release process.Keywords: Heavy metals, bioavailability, remediation, competitive sorption.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2448440 Classification of Right and Left-Hand Movement Using Multi-Resolution Analysis Method
Authors: Nebi Gedik
Abstract:
The aim of the brain-computer interface studies on electroencephalogram (EEG) signals containing motor imagery is to extract the effective features that will provide the highest possible classification accuracy for the detection of the desired motor movement. However, achieving this goal is difficult as the most suitable frequency band and time frame vary from subject to subject. In this study, the classification success of the two-feature data obtained from raw EEG signals and the coefficients of the multi-resolution analysis method applied to the EEG signals were analyzed comparatively. The method was applied to several EEG channels (C3, Cz and C4) signals obtained from the EEG data set belonging to the publicly available BCI competition III.
Keywords: Motor imagery, EEG, wave atom transform, k-NN.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 589439 Using Seismic Base Isolation Systems in High-Rise Hospital Buildings and a Hybrid Proposal
Authors: E. Bakkaloğlu, N. Torunbalcı
Abstract:
Earthquakes are inevitable natural disasters in Turkey. Therefore, buildings must be prepared for this natural hazard. Especially in hospital buildings, earthquake resistance is an essential point because hospitals are one of the first places where people come after earthquake. Although hospital buildings are more suitable for horizontal architecture, it is necessary to construct and expand multi-story hospital buildings due to difficulties in finding suitable places as a result of excessive urbanization, difficulties in obtaining appropriate size land and decrease in suitable places and increase in land values. In Turkey, using seismic isolators in public hospitals, which are placed in first degree earthquake zone and have more than 100 beds, is made obligatory by general instruction. As a result of this decision, it may sometimes be necessary to construct seismic isolated multi-story hospital buildings in cities where those problems are experienced. Although there is widespread use of seismic isolators in Japan, there are few multi-story buildings in which seismic isolators are used in Turkey. As it is known, base isolation systems are the most effective methods of earthquake resistance, as the number of floors increases, the center of gravity moves away from the base in multi-story buildings, increasing the overturning effect and limiting use of these systems. In this context, it is aimed to investigate structural systems of multi-story buildings which are built using seismic isolation methods in the world. In addition to this, a working principle is suggested for the disseminating seismic isolator used in multi-story hospital buildings. The results to be obtained from the study will guide architects who design multi-story hospital buildings in their architectural designs, and engineers in terms of structural system design.
Keywords: Earthquake, energy absorbing systems, hospital, seismic isolation systems.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24438 Analysis of Permanence and Extinction of Enterprise Cluster Based On Ecology Theory
Authors: Ping Liu, Yongkun Li
Abstract:
This paper is concerned with the permanence and extinction problem of enterprises cluster constituted by m satellite enterprises and a dominant enterprise. We present the model involving impulsive effect based on ecology theory, which effectively describe the competition and cooperation of enterprises cluster in real economic environment. Applying comparison theorem of impulsive differential equation, we establish sufficient conditions which ultimately affect the fate of enterprises: permanence, extinction, and co-existence. Finally, we present numerical examples to explain the economical significance of mathematical results.
Keywords: Enterprise cluster, permanence, extinction, impulsive, comparison theorem.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1458437 Possible Futures for Doctoral Research Training in Design
Authors: D. Barron, M. Zeegers
Abstract:
In this paper, we argue that Design research is basic to countries- national productivity and competition agendas at the same time that vagaries of research training presents as one of the barriers faced by Design Higher Degree by Research students in engaging those agendas. We argue that, given industry requirements for research-trained recruits, students have the right to expect that research training will provide the foundations of a successful career on an academic or research pathway or a professional pathway, but that universities have yet to address problems in their provision of research training for Design doctoral students. We suggest that to facilitate this, rigorous research conducted on the provision of Doctoral programs in Design would serve to inform future activities in Design research in productive ways.
Keywords: Design, Doctoral Design Education, Research Training
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1437436 Dynamics, Hierarchy and Commensalities: A Study of Inter Caste Relationship in a North Indian Village
Authors: K. Pandey
Abstract:
The present study is a functional analysis of the relationship between castes which indicates the dynamics of the caste structure in the rural setting. The researcher has tried to show both the cooperation and competition on important ceremonial and social occasions. The real India exists in the villages, so we need to know about their solidarity and also what the village life is and has been shaping into. We need to emphasize a microcosmic study of Indian rural life. Furthermore, caste integration is an acute problem country faces today. To resolve this we are required to know the dynamics of behavior of the people of different castes and for the study of the caste dynamics a study of caste relations are needed. The present study is an attempt in this direction.Keywords: Hierarchial groups, jajmani system, functional dependence, commensalities.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2728435 Measuring the Influence of Functional Proximity on Environmental Urban Performance via Integrated Modification Methodology: Four Study Cases in Milan
Authors: M. Tadi, M. Hadi Mohammad Zadeh, Ozge Ogut
Abstract:
Although how cities’ forms are structured is studied, more efforts are needed on systemic comprehensions and evaluations of the urban morphology through quantitative metrics that are able to describe the performance of a city in relation to its formal properties. More research is required in this direction in order to better describe the urban form characteristics and their impact on the environmental performance of cities and to increase their sustainability stewardship. With the aim of developing a better understanding of the built environment’s systemic structure, the intention of this paper is to present a holistic methodology for studying the behavior of the built environment and investigate the methods for measuring the effect of urban structure to the environmental performance. This goal will be pursued through an inquiry into the morphological components of the urban systems and the complex relationships between them. Particularly, this paper focuses on proximity, referring to the proximity of different land-uses, is a concept with which Integrated Modification Methodology (IMM) explains how land-use allocation might affect the choice of mobility in neighborhoods, and especially, encourage or discourage non-motived mobility. This paper uses proximity to demonstrate that the structure attributes can quantifiably relate to the performing behavior in the city. The target is to devise a mathematical pattern from the structural elements and correlate it directly with urban performance indicators concerned with environmental sustainability. The paper presents some results of this rigorous investigation of urban proximity and its correlation with performance indicators in four different areas in the city of Milan, each of them characterized by different morphological features.
Keywords: Built environment, ecology, sustainable indicators, sustainability, urban morphology.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 629434 Stability of Alliances between Service Providers
Authors: Helene Le Cadre
Abstract:
Three service providers in competition, try to optimize their quality of service / content level and their service access price. But, they have to deal with uncertainty on the consumers- preferences. To reduce their uncertainty, they have the opportunity to buy information and to build alliances. We determine the Shapley value which is a fair way to allocate the grand coalition-s revenue between the service providers. Then, we identify the values of β (consumers- sensitivity coefficient to the quality of service / contents) for which allocating the grand coalition-s revenue using the Shapley value guarantees the system stability. For other values of β, we prove that it is possible for the regulator to impose a per-period interest rate maximizing the market coverage under equal allocation rules.Keywords: Alliance, Shapley value, Stability, Repeated game, Interest rate.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1261433 Novel Inhibitor of E. coli DNA Adenine Methyltransferase (Ecodam)
Authors: H. Elsawy, A. Jeltsch
Abstract:
EcoDam is an adenine-N6 DNA methyltransferase that methylates the GATC sites in the Escherichia coli genome. DNA-adenine methylation is not present in higher eukaryotes including humans. These observations raise the possibility that dam inhibitors may be used as anti-microbial agents. Polyphosphate (Poly(P)) is an important metabolite and signaling molecule in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Here, by using gel retardation experiments to investigate the competition of DNA binding by EcoDam in the presence of polyphosphate, we found that Poly (P) strongly interferes with DNA binding by EcoDam, while same concentration of monophosphate does not. In addition, we demonstrated that Poly (P) binding inhibits the activity of EcoDam and our results suggest that Poly (P) led to strong inhibition of the EcoDam catalytic activity, while monophosphate had only moderate effect.Keywords: Antibacterial drugs, EcoDam inhibitors, Polyphosphate.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2564432 Soil Evaluation for Cashew, Cocoa and Oil Palm in Akure, South-West Nigeria
Authors: Francis Bukola Dada, Samuel Ojo Ajayi, Babatunde Sunday Ewulo, Kehinde Oseni Saani
Abstract:
A key element in the sustainability of the soil-plant relationship in crop yield and performance is the soil's capacity to support tree crops prior to establishment. With the intention of determining the suitability and limitations of the soils of the locations, the northern and southern portions of Akure, a rainforest in Nigeria, were chosen for the suitability evaluation of land for tree crops. In the study area, 16 pedons were established with the help of the Global Positioning System (GPS), the locations were georeferenced and samples were taken from the pedons. The samples were subjected to standard physical and chemical testing. The findings revealed that soils in the research locations were deep to extremely deep, with pH ranging from highly acidic to slightly acidic (4.94 to 6.71). and that sand predominated. The soils had low levels of organic carbon, effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC), total nitrogen, and available phosphorus, whereas exchangeable cations were evaluated as low to moderate. The suitability result indicated that only Pedon 2 and Pedon 14 are currently highly suitable (S1) for the production of oil palms, while others ranged from moderately suitable to marginally suitable. Pedons 4, 12, and 16 were not suitable (N1), respectively, but other Pedons were moderately suitable (S2) and marginally suitable (S3) for the cultivation of cocoa. None of the study areas are currently highly suitable for the production of oil palms. The poor soil texture and low fertility status were the two main drawbacks found. Finally, sound management practices and soil conservation are essential for fertility sustainability.
Keywords: Cashew, cocoa, land evaluation, oil palm, soil fertility suitability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 451431 The Two Layers of Food Safety and GMOs in the Hungarian Agricultural Law
Authors: Gergely Horváth
Abstract:
The study presents the complexity of food safety dividing it into two layers. Beyond the basic layer of requirements, there is a more demanding higher level linked with quality and purity aspects. It would be important to give special prominence to both layers, given that massive illnesses are caused by foods even though officially licensed. Then the study discusses an exciting safety challenge stemming from the risks of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Furthermore, it features legal case examples that illustrate how certain liability questions are solved or not yet decided in connection with the production of genetically modified crops. In addition, a special kind of land grabbing, more precisely land grabbing from non-GMO farming systems can also be noticed as well as a new phenomenon eroding food sovereignty. Coexistence, the state where organic, conventional, and GM farming systems are standing alongside each other is an unsuitable experiment that cannot be successful, because of biophysical reasons (such as cross-pollination). Agricultural and environmental lawyers both try to find the optimal solution. Agri-environmental measures are introduced as a special subfield of law maintaining also food safety. The important steps of agri-environmental legislation are aiming at the protection of natural values, the environmental media and strengthening food safety as well, practically the quality of agricultural products intended for human consumption. The major findings of the study focus on searching for the appropriate approach capable of solving the security and safety problems of food production. The most interesting concepts of the Hungarian national and EU food law legislation are analyzed in more detail with descriptive, analytic and comparative methods.
Keywords: Food law, food safety, food security, GMO, agri-environmental measures.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1220430 Profit Efficiency and Competitiveness of Commercial Banks in Malaysia
Authors: Rosita Suhaimi, Firdaus Abdullah, Chong Fen Nee, Nurhani Aba Ibrahim
Abstract:
This paper attempts to identify the significance of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and competitiveness to the profit efficiency of commercial banks in Malaysia. The profit efficiency of commercial banks in Malaysia, the dependent variable, was estimated using the Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA) on a sample of unbalanced panel data, covering 23 commercial banks, between 1995 to 2007. Based on the empirical results, ICT was not found to exert a significant impact on profit efficiency, whereas competitiveness, non ICT stock expenditure and ownership were significant contributors. On the other hand, the size of banks was found to have significantly reduced profit efficiency, opening up for various interpretations of the interrelated role of ICT and competition.Keywords: Competitiveness, Profit Efficiency, Stochastic Frontier Analysis
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2876429 Financial Problems Met in the Tourism Sector in Turkey: A Survey on the Tourism Businesses
Authors: Raif Parlakkaya, Huseyin Cetin, Halil Akmese, Mesut Murat Adabali
Abstract:
As the economies of other countries in the Mediterranean Basin, the tourism sector in our country has a high denominator in economics. Tourism businesses, which are building blocks of tourism, sector faces with a variety of problems during their activities. These problems faced make business efficiency and competition conditions of the businesses difficult. Most of the problems faced by the tourism businesses and the information of consumers about consumers’ rights were used in this study, which is conducted to determine the problems of tourism businesses in the Central Anatolia Region. It is aimed to contribute the awareness of staff and executives working at tourism sector and to attract attention of businesses active concurrently with tourism sector and legislators.
Keywords: Financial Problems, The problems of Tourism businesses, Tourism Businesses, Tourism Sector in Turkey.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3696428 The Impact of the Information Technologies on the Accounting Department of the Romanian Companies
Authors: Valentin Florentin Dumitru
Abstract:
The need to use high volumes of data and the high competition are only two reasons which make necessary the use of information technologies. The objective of our research is to establish the impact of information technologies on the accounting department of the Romanian companies. In order to achieve it, starting from the literature review we made an empirical research based on a questionnaire. We investigated the types of technologies used, the reasons which led to the implementation of certain technologies, the benefits brought by the use of the information technologies, the difficulties brought by the implementation and the future effects of the applications. The conclusions show that there is an evolution in the degree of implementation of the information technologies in the Romanian companies, compared with the results of other studies conducted a few years before.Keywords: Information technologies, impact, company, Romania, empirical study.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1542427 An Evaluation of ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 9001:2015 Standard Changes in Quality Management System
Authors: Filiz Ersoz, Deniz Merdin, Taner Ersoz
Abstract:
The objective of this study provides an insight into enterprises, who need to carry on their sustainability in harmony with the changing competition conditions, technology and laws, regarding the ISO 9001:2015. In the study, ISO 9001:2015, which is planned to be put in force and exists as a draft, was studied and its differences from the previous standard, ISO 9001:2008, were determined. To find out the differences, a survey was conducted among enterprises that implement a quality system. According to the findings obtained at the end of the study, it was observed that the enterprises attach importance to quality and follow the developments about quality management system, and they find the changes in the new draft document necessary.
Keywords: ISO 9001, quality, quality management system, quality revision.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 993426 Investigation of Heavy Metals Uptake by Vegetable Crops from Metal-Contaminated Soil
Authors: Azita Behbahaninia, Seid Ahmad Mirbagheri
Abstract:
The use of sewage sludge and effluents from wastewater treatment plants for irrigation of agricultural lands is on the rise particularly in peri-urban areas of developing countries. The reuse of nutrients and organic matter in treated wastewater and sewage sludge via land application is a desirable goal. However, trace or heavy metals present in sludge pose the risk of human or phytotoxicity from land application. Long-term use of sewage sludge, heavy metals can accumulate to phytotoxic levels and results in reduced plants growth and/or enhanced metal concentrations in plants, which consumed by animals then enter the food chain. In this research, the amount of heavy metals was measured in plants irrigated with wastewater and sludge application. For this purpose, three pilots were made in a Shush treatment plant in south of Tehran. Three plants species, spinach, lettuce and radish were selected and planted in the pilots.First pilot was irrigated just with wastewater of treatment plant and second pilot was irrigated with wastewater and sludge application .Third pilot was irrigated with simulated heavy metals solution equal 50 years of irrigation. The results indicate that the average of amount of heavy metals Pb, Cd in three plant species in first pilot were lower than permissible limits .In second pilot, Cadmium accumulations are high in three species plants and more than the standard limits. Concentration of Cd , Pb have exceed their permitted limits in plants in third pilot . It was concluded that the use of wastewater and sludge application in agricultural lands enriched soils with heavy metals to concentrations that may pose potential environmental and health risks in the long-term.Keywords: Soil, contaminate, heavy metals, wastewater, sludge, plants.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2131425 From Individual Memory to Organizational Memory (Intelligence of Organizations)
Authors: A. Bencsik, 1V. Lıre, 2, I. Marosi
Abstract:
Intensive changes of environment and strong market competition have raised management of information and knowledge to the strategic level of companies. In a knowledge based economy only those organizations are capable of living which have up-to-date, special knowledge and they are able to exploit and develop it. Companies have to know what knowledge they have by taking a survey of organizational knowledge and they have to fix actual and additional knowledge in organizational memory. The question is how to identify, acquire, fix and use knowledge effectively. The paper will show that over and above the tools of information technology supporting acquisition, storage and use of information and organizational learning as well as knowledge coming into being as a result of it, fixing and storage of knowledge in the memory of a company play an important role in the intelligence of organizations and competitiveness of a company.Keywords: Individual memory, organizational memory, knowledge management, organizational intelligence.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1645424 Offline Signature Recognition using Radon Transform
Authors: M.Radmehr, S.M.Anisheh, I.Yousefian
Abstract:
In this work a new offline signature recognition system based on Radon Transform, Fractal Dimension (FD) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) is presented. In the first step, projections of original signatures along four specified directions have been performed using radon transform. Then, FDs of four obtained vectors are calculated to construct a feature vector for each signature. These vectors are then fed into SVM classifier for recognition of signatures. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the system several experiments are carried out. Offline signature database from signature verification competition (SVC) 2004 is used during all of the tests. Experimental result indicates that the proposed method achieved high accuracy rate in signature recognition.Keywords: Fractal Dimension, Offline Signature Recognition, Radon Transform, Support Vector Machine
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2601423 Schmitt Trigger Based SRAM Using Finfet Technology- Shorted Gate Mode
Authors: Vasundara Patel K. S., Harsha N. Bhushan, Kiran G. Gadag, Nischal Prasad B. N., Mohmmed Haroon
Abstract:
The most widely used semiconductor memory types are the Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and Static Random Access memory (SRAM). Competition among memory manufacturers drives the need to decrease power consumption and reduce the probability of read failure. A technology that is relatively new and has not been explored is the FinFET technology. In this paper, a single cell Schmitt Trigger Based Static RAM using FinFET technology is proposed and analyzed. The accuracy of the result is validated by means of HSPICE simulations with 32nm FinFET technology and the results are then compared with 6T SRAM using the same technology.
Keywords: Schmitt trigger based SRAM, FinFET, and Static Noise Margin.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2850422 Portfolio Simulation in GSM Cellular Telecommunication Industry for Company's Decision and Policies Making
Authors: M. Dachyar, Yudavedito
Abstract:
The rising growth of the GSM cellular phone industry has tightening competition level between providers in making strategies enhancing the market shares in Indonesia. Tsel, as one of those companies, has to determine the proper strategy to sustain as well as improve the market share without reducing its operational income level. Portfolio simulation model is designed with a dynamic system approach. The result of this research is a recommendation to the company by optimizing its technological policies, services, and promotions. The tariff policies and the signal quality should not be the main focus because this company has had a large number of customers and a good infrastructural condition.
Keywords: Telecommunication industry, simulation, dynamic system, portfolio, quality services.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1614421 Two Class Motor Imagery Classification via Wave Atom Sub-Bants
Authors: Nebi Gedik
Abstract:
The goal of motor image brain computer interface research is to create a link between the central nervous system and a computer or device. The most important signal for brain-computer interface is the electroencephalogram. The aim of this research is to explore a set of effective features from EEG signals, separated into frequency bands, using wave atom sub-bands to discriminate right and left-hand motor imagery signals. Over the transform coefficients, feature vectors are constructed for each frequency range and each transform sub-band, and their classification performances are tested. The method is validated using EEG signals from the BCI competition III dataset IIIa and classifiers such as support vector machine and k-nearest neighbors.
Keywords: motor imagery, EEG, Wave atom transform sub-bands, SVM, k-NN
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 598420 Dynamic Analyses for Passenger Volume of Domestic Airline and High Speed Rail
Authors: Shih-Ching Lo
Abstract:
Discrete choice model is the most used methodology for studying traveler-s mode choice and demand. However, to calibrate the discrete choice model needs to have plenty of questionnaire survey. In this study, an aggregative model is proposed. The historical data of passenger volumes for high speed rail and domestic civil aviation are employed to calibrate and validate the model. In this study, different models are compared so as to propose the best one. From the results, systematic equations forecast better than single equation do. Models with the external variable, which is oil price, are better than models based on closed system assumption.
Keywords: forecasting, passenger volume, dynamic competition model, external variable, oil price
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1463419 A Simulation Model for Bid Price Decision Making
Authors: R. Sammoura
Abstract:
In Lebanon, public construction projects are awarded to the contractor submitting the lowest bid price based on a competitive bidding process. The contractor has to make a strategic decision in choosing the appropriate bid price that will offer a satisfactory profit with a greater probability to win. A simulation model for bid price decision making based on the lowest bid price evaluation is developed. The model, built using Crystal Ball decisionengineering software, considers two main factors affecting the bidding process: the number of qualified bidders and the size of the project. The validity of the model is tested on twelve separate projects. The study also shows how to use the model to conduct risk analysis and help any specific contractor to decide on his bid price with associated certainty level in a scientific method.Keywords: Bid price, Competition, Decision making, Simulation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2774