Search results for: jitter; good linearity
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2122

Search results for: jitter; good linearity

1912 Distribution of Macrobenthic Polychaete Families in Relation to Environmental Parameters in North West Penang, Malaysia

Authors: Mohammad Gholizadeh, Khairun Yahya, Anita Talib, Omar Ahmad

Abstract:

The distribution of macrobenthic polychaetes along the coastal waters of Penang National Park was surveyed to estimate the effect of various environmental parameters at three stations (200m, 600m and 1200m) from the shoreline, during six sampling months, from June 2010 to April 2011.The use of polychaetes in descriptive ecology is surveyed in the light of a recent investigation particularly concerning the soft bottom biota environments. Polychaetes, often connected in the former to the notion of opportunistic species able to proliferate after an enhancement in organic matter, had performed a momentous role particularly with regard to effected soft-bottom habitats. The objective of this survey was to investigate different environment stress over soft bottom polychaete community along Teluk Ketapang and Pantai Acheh (Penang National Park) over a year period. Variations in the polychaete community were evaluated using univariate and multivariate methods. The results of PCA analysis displayed a positive relation between macrobenthic community structures and environmental parameters such as sediment particle size and organic matter in the coastal water. A total of 604 individuals were examined which was grouped into 23 families. Family Nereidae was the most abundant (22.68%), followed by Spionidae (22.02%), Hesionidae (12.58%), Nephtylidae (9.27%) and Orbiniidae (8.61%). It is noticeable that good results can only be obtained on the basis of good taxonomic resolution. We proposed that, in monitoring surveys, operative time could be optimized not only by working at a highertaxonomic level on the entire macrobenthic data set, but by also choosing an especially indicative group and working at lower taxonomic and good level.

Keywords: Polychaete families, environment parameters, Bioindicators, Pantai Acheh, Teluk Ketapang.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1949
1911 An Evaluation of Tourism Education in Nigeria’s Higher Institutions

Authors: Eldah Ephraim Buba

Abstract:

This paper evaluated the quality of tourism education in Nigeria higher education. The problem of poor quality of tourism education in Nigeria’s higher institutions prompted the study. Archival research was used with evaluation reports as secondary data, twenty evaluation reports for different polytechnics from the National board for technical education (NBTE) from 1995-2012 were assessed. The evidence from the documents shows that the quality of teaching and evaluation is fair. The programmes resources are fairly good, and most of the teachers do not have a postgraduate qualification in tourism related courses. It is therefore recommended that the institutions running tourism programmes in Nigeria need to introduce self -assessment of programmes and not rely on the NBTE accreditation which comes up in three years. Also there is need for a staff development policy that will encourage Tourism educators to further their education; The Tertiary Educational Trust Fund (TETFUND) should focus on developing staff of tourism education because it is an area of study in Nigeria that lacks qualified personnel. With the way higher institution in Nigeria are finding interest in tourism programmes, having good quality programmes will not only produce better professionals but it will help in offering better services in the industry and maximizing the impacts of the business.

Keywords: Education, evaluation tourism, quality.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 876
1910 Optical Properties of WO3-NiO Complementary Electrochromic Devices

Authors: Chih-Ming Wang, Chih-Yu Wen, Ying-Chung Chen, Chun-Chieh Wang, Chien-Chung Hsu, Jui-Yang Chang, Jyun-Min Lin

Abstract:

In this study, we developed a complementary electrochromic device consisting of WO3 and NiO films fabricated by rf-magnetron sputtered. The electrochromic properties of WO3 and NiO films were investigated using cyclic voltammograms (CV), performed on WO3 and NiO films immersed in an electrolyte of 1 M LiClO4 in propylene carbonate (PC). Optical and electrochemical of the films, as a function of coloration–bleaching cycle, were characterized using an UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer and cyclic voltammetry (CV). After investigating the properties of WO3 film, NiO film, and complementary electrochromic devices, we concluded that this device provides good reversibility, low power consumption of -2.5 V in color state, high variation of transmittance of 58.96%, changes in optical density of 0.81 and good memory effect under open-circuit conditions. In addition, electrochromic component penetration rate can be retained below 20% within 24h, showing preferred memory features; however, component coloring and bleaching response time are about 33s.

Keywords: Complementary electrochromic device, Rf-magnetron sputtered, Transmittance, Memory effect, Optical density change

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3165
1909 Design and Analysis of Universal Multifunctional Leaf Spring Main Landing Gear for Light Aircraft

Authors: Meiyuan Zheng, Jingwu He, Yuexi Xiong

Abstract:

A universal multi-function leaf spring main landing gear was designed for light aircraft. The main landing gear combined with the leaf spring, skidding, and wheels enables it to have a good takeoff and landing performance on various grounds such as the hard, snow, grass and sand grounds. Firstly, the characteristics of different landing sites were studied in this paper in order to analyze the load of the main landing gear on different types of grounds. Based on this analysis, the structural design optimization along with the strength and stiffness characteristics of the main landing gear has been done, which enables it to have good takeoff and landing performance on different types of grounds given the relevant regulations and standards. Additionally, the impact of the skidding on the aircraft during the flight was also taken into consideration. Finally, a universal multi-function leaf spring type of the main landing gear suitable for light aircraft has been developed.

Keywords: Landing gear, multi-function, leaf spring, skidding.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1919
1908 Development of a System for Measuring the Three-Axis Pedal Force in Cycling and Its Applications

Authors: Joo-Hack Lee, Jin-Seung Choi, Dong-Won Kang, Jeong-Woo Seo, Ju-Young Kim, Dae-Hyeok Kim, Seung-Tae Yang, Gye-Rae Tack

Abstract:

For cycling, the analysis of the pedal force is one of the important factors in the study of exercise ability assessment and overuse injuries. In past studies, a two-axis measurement sensor was used at the sagittal plane to measure the force only in the anterior, posterior, and vertical directions and to analyze the loss of force and the injury on the frontal plane due to the forces in the right and left directions. In this study, which is a basic study on diverse analyses of the pedal force that consider the forces on the sagittal plane and the frontal plane, a three-axis pedal force measurement sensor was developed to measure the anterior-posterior (Fx), medio-lateral (Fz), and vertical (Fy) forces. The sensor was fabricated with a size and shape similar to those of the general flat pedal, and had a 550g weight that allowed smooth pedaling. Its measurement range was ±1000 N for Fx and Fz and ±2000 N for Fy, and its non-linearity, hysteresis, and repeatability were approximately 0.5%. The data were sampled at 1000 Hz using a signal collector. To use the developed sensor, the pedaling efficiency (index of efficiency, IE) and the range of left and right (medio-lateral, ML) forces were measured with two seat heights (low and high). The results of the measurement showed that the IE was higher and the force range in the ML direction was lower with the high position than with the low position. The developed measurement sensor and its application results will be useful in understanding and explaining the complicated pedaling technique, and will enable diverse kinematic analyses of the pedal force on the sagittal plane and the frontal plane.

Keywords: Cycling, Index of effectiveness, Pedal force.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2537
1907 The Role of Planning and Memory in the Navigational Ability

Authors: Greeshma Sharma, Sushil Chandra, Vijander Singh, Alok Prakash Mittal

Abstract:

Navigational ability requires spatial representation, planning, and memory. It covers three interdependent domains, i.e. cognitive and perceptual factors, neural information processing, and variability in brain microstructure. Many attempts have been made to see the role of spatial representation in the navigational ability, and the individual differences have been identified in the neural substrate. But, there is also a need to address the influence of planning, memory on navigational ability. The present study aims to evaluate relations of aforementioned factors in the navigational ability. Total 30 participants volunteered in the study of a virtual shopping complex and subsequently were classified into good and bad navigators based on their performances. The result showed that planning ability was the most correlated factor for the navigational ability and also the discriminating factor between the good and bad navigators. There was also found the correlations between spatial memory recall and navigational ability. However, non-verbal episodic memory and spatial memory recall were also found to be correlated with the learning variable. This study attempts to identify differences between people with more and less navigational ability on the basis of planning and memory.

Keywords: Memory, planning navigational ability, virtual reality.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1396
1906 Work Motivation, Work Stress, and Job Satisfaction in between Taiwan and China - An Empitical Study

Authors: Tung-Liang Chen, Ming - Yi Huang, Tchiu-Hui Su

Abstract:

This study investigates the relationships between Work Motivation, Work Stress, and Job Satisfaction toward cross-strait employees. The target subjects are three manufacturing firms in Mainland China and Taiwan. Out of 450 distributed surveys, 352 valid surveys were obtained with the response rate of 78.22%.The findings have addressed three main pull factors toward cross-strait employees in choosing jobs, which are (1) high level of firm stability, (2) good firm image, and (3) good employee benefits. In addition, various employee attributes exert different impacts on Work Motivation, Work Stress, and Job Satisfaction. The comparison between expected and actual perceived Job Satisfaction toward cross-strait employees shows that “salary" ranks highest regarding expected Job Satisfaction whereas “co-worker relationship" ranks highest regarding actual perceived Job Satisfaction, which implies actual perceived Job Satisfaction do not match employee expectations. Therefore, this research further concludes that there exists differences between employees- expected and actual perceived Job Satisfaction.

Keywords: Cross-strait, job satisfaction, work motivation, work stress

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2424
1905 Lactic Acid-Chitosan Films’ Properties and Their in vivo Wound Healing Activity

Authors: T. S. Moe, T. A. Khaing

Abstract:

Chitosan is a derivative of chitin, a compound usually isolated from the shells of some crustaceans such as crab, lobster and shrimp. It has biocompatible, biodegradable, and antimicrobial properties. To use these properties of chitosan in biomedical fields, chitosan films (1%, 2%, 3% and 4%) were prepared by using l% lactic acid as solvent. The effects of chitosan films on tensile strength, elongation at break, degree of swelling, thickness, morphology, allergic and irritation reactions and antibacterial property were evaluated. Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were used as tested microorganisms. In vivo wound healing activities of chitosan films were investigated using mice model. As results, Chitosan films have similar appearance and good swelling properties and 4% chitosan film showed the better swelling activity and the greatest elongation ratio than the other chitosan films. They also showed their good activity of wound healing in mice model. Moreover, the results showed that the films did not produce any unwilling symptoms (allergy or irritation). In conclusion, it is evident that the chitosan film has the potentiality to use as wound healing biofilms in the biomedical fields.

Keywords: Chitosan, wound healing, antibacterial activity.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2586
1904 Developing Safety Behavior Practice Suitable for Thai Industrial Operators

Authors: Lertchai Ratana-Arporn, Aphisith Angkhanit

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to develop safety practices which is suitable for Thai industrial operators from Incident and Injury Free, IIF to create safety behavior and reduce the un-safe records in the petroleum industry. A number of 310 technicians i.e., 295 males and 15 females, in service maintenance section participated in this program. The safety attitude level and safety behavior level for pre-attended and post-attended the developed safety practices of the technicians were evaluated using questionnaire procedure and on-site observation. After applied the developed practice program, both of the safety attitudes and safety behavior were increased to be at very good level and good level, respectively. Evaluating the follow-up unsafe records, it was found that the injury was reduced from 0.11 to 0 case/month, the medical treatment case was reduced from 0.22 to 0 case/month and the first aid case was reduced from 1 to 0.33 case/month. The developed safety working practice was successfully implemented to Thai industrial operators.

Keywords: Incident and Injury Free, safety practices, Thai industrial operators, "WeCare".

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1109
1903 The Links between Cardiovascular Risk and Psychological Wellbeing in Elderly

Authors: Laura Sapranaviciute-Zabazlajeva, Abdonas Tamosiunas, Dalia Luksiene, Dalia Virviciute

Abstract:

The cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the EU, especially in the middle aged and elderly population. Psychological wellbeing (PWB) has been linked with better cardiovascular health and survival in the elderly. The aim of the study is to evaluate associations between CVD risk and PWB in middle-aged and elderly population. 10,940 middle aged and older Lithuanians of age 45-74 years, were invited to participate in the study. A study sample was a random and stratified by gender and age. In 2006-2008 7,087 responders participated in the survey, so the response rate was 64.8%. A follow-up study was conducted from 2006 till 2015. New CVD cases and deaths from CVD were evaluated using the Kaunas population-based CVD register and death register of Kaunas. Study results revealed that good PWB predicts longer life in female participants (Log Rank = 13.7, p < 0.001). In the fully adjusted model for socio-demographic, social and CVD risk factors, hazard ratio for CVD mortality risk was lower amongst women with good PWB (HR = 0.28, 95% CI 0.11-0.72), but not significantly for men. Our study concludes, that lower CVD mortality rates is being associated with better PWB in female aged 45-74 years.

Keywords: Psychological wellbeing, cardiovascular disease, elderly.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1479
1902 Quality Estimation of Video Transmitted overan Additive WGN Channel based on Digital Watermarking and Wavelet Transform

Authors: Mohamed S. El-Mahallawy, Attalah Hashad, Hazem Hassan Ali, Heba Sami Zaky

Abstract:

This paper presents an evaluation for a wavelet-based digital watermarking technique used in estimating the quality of video sequences transmitted over Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel in terms of a classical objective metric, such as Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) without the need of the original video. In this method, a watermark is embedded into the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) domain of the original video frames using a quantization method. The degradation of the extracted watermark can be used to estimate the video quality in terms of PSNR with good accuracy. We calculated PSNR for video frames contaminated with AWGN and compared the values with those estimated using the Watermarking-DWT based approach. It is found that the calculated and estimated quality measures of the video frames are highly correlated, suggesting that this method can provide a good quality measure for video frames transmitted over AWGN channel without the need of the original video.

Keywords: AWGN, DWT, PSNR, Watermarking, VideoQuality.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1793
1901 A Fuzzy Approach to Liver Tumor Segmentation with Zernike Moments

Authors: Abder-Rahman Ali, Antoine Vacavant, Manuel Grand-Brochier, Adélaïde Albouy-Kissi, Jean-Yves Boire

Abstract:

In this paper, we present a new segmentation approach for liver lesions in regions of interest within MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). This approach, based on a two-cluster Fuzzy CMeans methodology, considers the parameter variable compactness to handle uncertainty. Fine boundaries are detected by a local recursive merging of ambiguous pixels with a sequential forward floating selection with Zernike moments. The method has been tested on both synthetic and real images. When applied on synthetic images, the proposed approach provides good performance, segmentations obtained are accurate, their shape is consistent with the ground truth, and the extracted information is reliable. The results obtained on MR images confirm such observations. Our approach allows, even for difficult cases of MR images, to extract a segmentation with good performance in terms of accuracy and shape, which implies that the geometry of the tumor is preserved for further clinical activities (such as automatic extraction of pharmaco-kinetics properties, lesion characterization, etc.).

Keywords: Defuzzification, floating search, fuzzy clustering, Zernike moments.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2007
1900 Formulation and Characterization of Drug Loaded Niosomal Gel for Anti-Inflammatory Activity

Authors: Sunil Kamboj, Vipin Saini, Suman Bala, Gaurav Sharma

Abstract:

The main aim of the present research was to encapsulate mefenamic acid in niosomes andincorporate the prepared niosomes in the carbopol gel base for sustained therapeutic action. Mefenamic acid loaded niosomes were prepared by thin film hydration technique and evaluated for entrapment efficiency, vesicular size and zeta potential. The entrapment efficiency of the prepared niosomes was found to increase with decreasing the HLB values of surfactants and vesicle size was found to increase with increasing the cholesterol concentration. Niosomal vesicles with good entrapment efficiencies were incorporated in carbopol gel base to form the niosomal gel. The prepared niosomal gel was evaluated for pH, viscosity, spreadability, extrudability and skin permeation study across the rat skin. The results of permeation study revealed that the gel formulated with span 60 niosomes sustained the drug release for 12h. Further the in vivo study showed the good inhibition of inflammation by the gel prepared with span 60 niosomes.

Keywords: Mefenamic acid, niosomal gel, nonionic surfactants, sustained release.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3681
1899 Compact Dual-Band Bandpass Filter Based on Quarter Wavelength Stepped Impedance Resonators

Authors: Yu-Fu Chen, Zih-Jyun Dai, Chen-Te Chiu, Shiue-Chen Chiou, Yung-Wei Chen, Yu-Ming Lin, Kuan-Yu Chen, Hung-Wei Wu, Hsin-Ying Lee, Yan-Kuin Su, Shoou-Jinn Chang

Abstract:

This paper presents a compact dual-band bandpass filter that involves using the quarter wavelength stepped impedance resonators (SIRs) for achieving simultaneously compact circuit size and good dual-band performance. The filter is designed at 2.4 / 3.5 GHz and constructed by two pairs of quarter wavelength SIRs and source-load lines. By properly tuning the impedance ratio, length ratio and radius of via hole of the SIRs, dual-passbands performance can be easily determined. To improve the passband selectivity, the use of source-load lines is to increase coupling energy between the resonators. The filter is showing simple configuration, effective design method and small circuit size. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulation results.

Keywords: Dual-band, bandpass filter, stepped impedance resonators, SIR.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1861
1898 Efficiency of the Strain Based Approach Formulation for Plate Bending Analysis

Authors: Djamal Hamadi, Sifeddine Abderrahmani, Toufik Maalem, Oussama Temami

Abstract:

In recent years many finite elements have been developed for plate bending analysis. The formulated elements are based on the strain based approach. This approach leads to the representation of the displacements by higher order polynomial terms without the need for the introduction of additional internal and unnecessary degrees of freedom. Good convergence can also be obtained when the results are compared with those obtained from the corresponding displacement based elements, having the same total number of degrees of freedom. Furthermore, the plate bending elements are free from any shear locking since they converge to the Kirchhoff solution for thin plates contrarily for the corresponding displacement based elements. In this paper the efficiency of the strain based approach compared to well known displacement formulation is presented. The results obtained by a new formulated plate bending element based on the strain approach and Kirchhoff theory are compared with some others elements. The good convergence of the new formulated element is confirmed.

Keywords: Displacement fields, finite elements, plate bending, Kirchhoff theory, strain based approach.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2138
1897 Carbon-Based Electrochemical Detection of Pharmaceuticals from Water

Authors: M. Ardelean, F. Manea, A. Pop, J. Schoonman

Abstract:

The presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment and especially in water has gained increasing attention. They are included in emerging class of pollutants, and for most of them, legal limits have not been set-up due to their impact on human health and ecosystem was not determined and/or there is not the advanced analytical method for their quantification. In this context, the development of various advanced analytical methods for the quantification of pharmaceuticals in water is required. The electrochemical methods are known to exhibit the great potential for high-performance analytical methods but their performance is in direct relation to the electrode material and the operating techniques. In this study, two types of carbon-based electrodes materials, i.e., boron-doped diamond (BDD) and carbon nanofiber (CNF)-epoxy composite electrodes have been investigated through voltammetric techniques for the detection of naproxen in water. The comparative electrochemical behavior of naproxen (NPX) on both BDD and CNF electrodes was studied by cyclic voltammetry, and the well-defined peak corresponding to NPX oxidation was found for each electrode. NPX oxidation occurred on BDD electrode at the potential value of about +1.4 V/SCE (saturated calomel electrode) and at about +1.2 V/SCE for CNF electrode. The sensitivities for NPX detection were similar for both carbon-based electrode and thus, CNF electrode exhibited superiority in relation to the detection potential. Differential-pulsed voltammetry (DPV) and square-wave voltammetry (SWV) techniques were exploited to improve the electroanalytical performance for the NPX detection, and the best results related to the sensitivity of 9.959 µA·µM-1 were achieved using DPV. In addition, the simultaneous detection of NPX and fluoxetine -a very common antidepressive drug, also present in water, was studied using CNF electrode and very good results were obtained. The detection potential values that allowed a good separation of the detection signals together with the good sensitivities were appropriate for the simultaneous detection of both tested pharmaceuticals. These results reclaim CNF electrode as a valuable tool for the individual/simultaneous detection of pharmaceuticals in water.

Keywords: Boron-doped diamond electrode, carbon nanofiber-epoxy composite electrode, emerging pollutants, pharmaceuticals.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1218
1896 Microstructural and In-Vitro Characterization of Glass-Reinforced Hydroxyapatite Composites

Authors: Uma Batra, Seema Kapoor

Abstract:

Commercial hydroxyapatite (HA) was reinforced by adding 2, 5, and 10 wt % of 28.5%CaO-28.5%P2O5-38%Na2 O- 5%CaF2 based glass and then sintered. Although HA shows good biocompatibility with the human body, its applications are limited to non load-bearing areas and coatings due to its poor mechanical properties. These mechanical properties can be improved substantially with addition of glass ceramics by sintering. In this study, the effects of sintering hydroxyapatite with above specified phosphate glass additions are quantified. Each composition was sintered over a range of temperatures. Scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction were used to characterize the microstructure and phases of the composites. The density, microhardness, and compressive strength were measured using Archimedes Principle, Vickers Microhardness Tester (at 0.98 N), and Instron Universal Testing Machine (cross speed of 0.5 mm/min) respectively. These results were used to indicate which composition provided suitable material for use in hard tissue replacement. Composites containing 10 wt % glass additions formed dense HA/TCP (tricalcium phosphate) composite materials possessing good compressive strength and hardness than HA. In-vitro bioactivity was assessed by evaluating changes in pH and Ca2+ ion concentration of SBF-simulated body fluid on immersion of these composites in it for two weeks.

Keywords: Bioglass, Composite, Hydroxyapatite, Sintering.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1783
1895 The Effectiveness of Synthesizing A-Pillar Structures in Passenger Cars

Authors: Chris Phan, Yong Seok Park

Abstract:

The Toyota Camry is one of the best-selling cars in America. It is economical, reliable, and most importantly, safe. These attributes allowed the Camry to be the trustworthy choice when choosing dependable vehicle. However, a new finding brought question to the Camry’s safety. Since 1997, the Camry received a “good” rating on its moderate overlap front crash test through the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. In 2012, the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety introduced a frontal small overlap crash test into the overall evaluation of vehicle occupant safety test. The 2012 Camry received a “poor” rating on this new test, while the 2015 Camry redeemed itself with a “good” rating once again. This study aims to find a possible solution that Toyota implemented to reduce the severity of a frontal small overlap crash in the Camry during a mid-cycle update. The purpose of this study is to analyze and evaluate the performance of various A-pillar shapes as energy absorbing structures in improving passenger safety in a frontal crash. First, A-pillar structures of the 2012 and 2015 Camry were modeled using CAD software, namely SolidWorks. Then, a crash test simulation using ANSYS software, was applied to the A-pillars to analyze the behavior of the structures in similar conditions. Finally, the results were compared to safety values of cabin intrusion to determine the crashworthy behaviors of both A-pillar structures by measuring total deformation. This study highlights that it is possible that Toyota improved the shape of the A-pillar in the 2015 Camry in order to receive a “good” rating from the IIHS safety evaluation once again. These findings can possibly be used to increase safety performance in future vehicles to decrease passenger injury or fatality.

Keywords: A-pillar, crashworthiness, design synthesis, finite element analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 714
1894 Kinematic Hardening Parameters Identification with Respect to Objective Function

Authors: Marina Franulovic, Robert Basan, Bozidar Krizan

Abstract:

Constitutive modeling of material behavior is becoming increasingly important in prediction of possible failures in highly loaded engineering components, and consequently, optimization of their design. In order to account for large number of phenomena that occur in the material during operation, such as kinematic hardening effect in low cycle fatigue behavior of steels, complex nonlinear material models are used ever more frequently, despite of the complexity of determination of their parameters. As a method for the determination of these parameters, genetic algorithm is good choice because of its capability to provide very good approximation of the solution in systems with large number of unknown variables. For the application of genetic algorithm to parameter identification, inverse analysis must be primarily defined. It is used as a tool to fine-tune calculated stress-strain values with experimental ones. In order to choose proper objective function for inverse analysis among already existent and newly developed functions, the research is performed to investigate its influence on material behavior modeling.

Keywords: Genetic algorithm, kinematic hardening, material model, objective function

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3711
1893 Minimizing Risk Costs through Optimal Responses in NPD Projects

Authors: Chan-Sik Kim, Jong-Seong Kim, Se Won Lee, Hoo-Gon Choi

Abstract:

In rapidly changing market environment, firms are investing a lot of time and resources into new product development (NPD) projects to make profit and to obtain competitive advantage. However, failure rate of NPD projects is becoming high due to various internal and external risks which hinder successful NPD projects. To reduce the failure rate, it is critical that risks have to be managed effectively and efficiently through good strategy, and treated by optimal responses to minimize risk cost. Four strategies are adopted to handle the risks in this study. The optimal responses are characterized by high reduction of risk costs with high efficiency. This study suggests a framework to decide the optimal responses considering the core risks, risk costs, response efficiency and response costs for successful NPD projects. Both binary particles warm optimization (BPSO) and multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) methods are mainly used in the framework. Although several limitations exist in use for real industries, the frame work shows good strength for handling the risks with highly scientific ways through an example.

Keywords: NPD projects, risk cost, strategy, optimal responses, Particle Swarm Optimization.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1908
1892 Control of Building Ventilation with CO2 Gas Sensors Based on Doped Magnesium Ferrite Nanoparticles for the Development of Construction and Infrastructure Industry

Authors: Maryam Kiani, Abdul Basit Kiani

Abstract:

To develop construction and infrastructure industry, sensors are highly desired to control building ventilation. Zinc doped magnesium ferrite nanoparticles (Z@MFO) (Zn = 0.0, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) were prepared in this paper. Structural analyses confirmed the formation of spinel cubic nanostructures. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) data represent high reactive surface area due to small average particle size about 15 nm, which efficiently influences the gas sensing mechanism. The gas sensing property of Z@MFO for several gases was obtained by measuring the resistance as a function of different factors, such as composition and response time in air and in presence of gas. The sensitivity of spinel ferrite to CO2 at room temperature has been compared. The Z@MFO nano-structure exhibited high sensitivity represented good response time of (~1 min) to CO2, demonstrated that the material can be used in the field of gas sensors with high sensitivity and good selectivity at room temperature to control building ventilation. CO2 gas sensors play a vital role in ensuring the safety, comfort, and sustainability of modern building environments.

Keywords: MgFe2O4 nanoparticles, synthesis, gas sensing properties, X ray differentiation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 117
1891 Improving Gas Separation Performance of Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride) Based Membranes Containing Ionic Liquid

Authors: S. Al-Enezi, J. Samuel, A. Al-Banna

Abstract:

Polymer based membranes are one of the low-cost technologies available for the gas separation. Three major elements required for a commercial gas separating membrane are high permeability, high selectivity, and good mechanical strength. Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is a commercially available fluoropolymer and a widely used membrane material in gas separation devices since it possesses remarkable thermal, chemical stability, and excellent mechanical strength. The PVDF membrane was chemically modified by soaking in different ionic liquids and dried. The thermal behavior of modified membranes was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetry (TGA), and the results clearly show the best affinity between the ionic liquid and the polymer support. The porous structure of the PVDF membranes was clearly seen in the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. The CO₂ permeability of blended membranes was explored in comparison with the unmodified matrix. The ionic liquid immobilized in the hydrophobic PVDF support exhibited good performance for separations of CO₂/N₂. The improved permeability of modified membrane (PVDF-IL) is attributed to the high concentration of nitrogen rich imidazolium moieties.

Keywords: PVDF, gas permeability, polymer membrane, ionic liquid.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 988
1890 Numerical Simulations of Electronic Cooling with In-Line and Staggered Pin Fin Heat Sinks

Authors: Yue-Tzu Yang, Hsiang-Wen Tang, Jian-Zhang Yin, Chao-Han Wu

Abstract:

Three-dimensional incompressible turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer of pin fin heat sinks using air as a cooling fluid are numerically studied in this study. Two different kinds of pin fins are compared in the thermal performance, including circular and square cross sections, both are in-line and staggered arrangements. The turbulent governing equations are solved using a control-volume- based finite-difference method. Subsequently, numerical computations are performed with the realizable k - ԑ turbulence for the parameters studied, the fin height H, fin diameter D, and Reynolds number (Re) in the range of 7 ≤ H ≤ 10, 0.75 ≤ D ≤ 2, 2000 ≤ Re ≤ 126000 respectively. The numerical results are validated with available experimental data in the literature and good agreement has been found. It indicates that circular pin fins are streamlined in comparing with the square pin fins, the pressure drop is small than that of square pin fins, and heat transfer is not as good as the square pin fins. The thermal performance of the staggered pin fins is better than that of in-line pin fins because the staggered arrangements produce large disturbance. Both in-line and staggered arrangements show the same behavior for thermal resistance, pressure drop, and the entropy generation.

Keywords: Pin-fin, heat sinks, simulations, turbulent flow.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1211
1889 Computational Model for Predicting Effective siRNA Sequences Using Whole Stacking Energy (% G) for Gene Silencing

Authors: Reena Murali, David Peter S.

Abstract:

The small interfering RNA (siRNA) alters the regulatory role of mRNA during gene expression by translational inhibition. Recent studies show that upregulation of mRNA because serious diseases like cancer. So designing effective siRNA with good knockdown effects plays an important role in gene silencing. Various siRNA design tools had been developed earlier. In this work, we are trying to analyze the existing good scoring second generation siRNA predicting tools and to optimize the efficiency of siRNA prediction by designing a computational model using Artificial Neural Network and whole stacking energy (%G), which may help in gene silencing and drug design in cancer therapy. Our model is trained and tested against a large data set of siRNA sequences. Validation of our results is done by finding correlation coefficient of experimental versus observed inhibition efficacy of siRNA. We achieved a correlation coefficient of 0.727 in our previous computational model and we could improve the correlation coefficient up to 0.753 when the threshold of whole tacking energy is greater than or equal to -32.5 kcal/mol.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Network, Double Stranded RNA, RNA Interference, Short Interfering RNA.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2612
1888 Effects of School Facilities’ Mechanical and Plumbing Characteristics and Conditions on Student Attendance, Academic Performance and Health

Authors: Erica Cochran Hameen, Bobuchi Ken-Opurum, Shalini Priyadarshini, Berangere Lartigue, Sadhana Anath-Pisipati

Abstract:

School districts throughout the United States are constantly seeking measures to improve test scores, reduce school absenteeism and improve indoor environmental quality. It is imperative to identify key building investments which will provide the largest benefits to schools in terms of improving the aforementioned factors. This study uses Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests to statistically evaluate the impact of a school building’s mechanical and plumbing characteristics on a child’s educational performance. The educational performance is measured via three indicators, i.e. test scores, suspensions, and absenteeism. The study investigated 125 New York City school facilities to determine the potential correlations between 50 mechanical and plumbing variables and the performance indicators. Key findings from the tests revealed that elementary schools with pneumatic systems in “good” condition have 48.8% lower percentages of students scoring at the minimum English Language Arts (ELA) competency level compared with those with no pneumatic system. Additionally, elementary schools with “unit heaters/cabinet heaters” in “good to fair” conditions have 1.1% higher attendance rates compared to schools with no “unit heaters/cabinet heaters” or those in inferior condition. Furthermore, elementary schools with air conditioning have 0.6% higher attendance rates compared to schools with no air conditioning, and those with interior floor drains in “good” condition have 1.8% higher attendance rates compared to schools with interior drains in inferior condition.

Keywords: Academic attendance and performance, mechanical and plumbing systems, schools, student health.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 572
1887 Avicelase Production by a Thermophilic Geobacillus stearothermophilus Isolated from Soil using Sugarcane Bagasse

Authors: E. A. Makky

Abstract:

Studies were carried out on the comparative study of the production of Avicelase enzyme using sugarcane bagasse-SCB in two different statuses (i.e. treated and untreated SCB) by thermophilic Geobacillus stearothermophilus at 50ºC. Only four thermophilic bacterial isolates were isolated and assayed for Avicelase production using UntSCB and TSCB. Only one isolate selected as most potent and identified as G. stearothermophilus used in this study. A specific endo-β-1,4-D-glucanase (Avicelase EC 3.2.1.91) was partially purified from a thermophilic bacterial strain was isolated from different soil samples when grown on cellulose enrichment SCB substrate as the sole carbon source. Results shown that G. stearothermophilus was the better Avicelase producer strain. Avicelase had an optimum pH and temperature 7.0 and 50ºC for both UntSCB and TSCB and exhibited good pH stability between "5-8" and "4-9", however, good temperature stability between (30-80ºC) for UntSCB and TSCB, respectively. Other factors affecting the production of Avicelase were compared (i.e. SCB concentration, inoculum size and different incubation periods), all results observed and obtained were revealed that the TSCB was exhibited maximal enzyme activity in comparison with the results obtained from UntSCB, so, the TSCB was enhancing the Avicelase production.

Keywords: Geobacillus stearothermophilus, Avicelase, Sugarcane bagasse

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2766
1886 Statistical Distributions of the Lapped Transform Coefficients for Images

Authors: Vijay Kumar Nath, Deepika Hazarika, Anil Mahanta,

Abstract:

Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) based transform coding is very popular in image, video and speech compression due to its good energy compaction and decorrelating properties. However, at low bit rates, the reconstructed images generally suffer from visually annoying blocking artifacts as a result of coarse quantization. Lapped transform was proposed as an alternative to the DCT with reduced blocking artifacts and increased coding gain. Lapped transforms are popular for their good performance, robustness against oversmoothing and availability of fast implementation algorithms. However, there is no proper study reported in the literature regarding the statistical distributions of block Lapped Orthogonal Transform (LOT) and Lapped Biorthogonal Transform (LBT) coefficients. This study performs two goodness-of-fit tests, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test and the 2- test, to determine the distribution that best fits the LOT and LBT coefficients. The experimental results show that the distribution of a majority of the significant AC coefficients can be modeled by the Generalized Gaussian distribution. The knowledge of the statistical distribution of transform coefficients greatly helps in the design of optimal quantizers that may lead to minimum distortion and hence achieve optimal coding efficiency.

Keywords: Lapped orthogonal transform, Lapped biorthogonal transform, Image compression, KS test,

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1555
1885 MDA of Hexagonal Honeycomb Plates used for Space Applications

Authors: A. Boudjemai , M.H. Bouanane, Mankour, R. Amri, H. Salem, B. Chouchaoui

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to perform a multidisciplinary design and analysis (MDA) of honeycomb panels used in the satellites structural design. All the analysis is based on clamped-free boundary conditions. In the present work, detailed finite element models for honeycomb panels are developed and analysed. Experimental tests were carried out on a honeycomb specimen of which the goal is to compare the previous modal analysis made by the finite element method as well as the existing equivalent approaches. The obtained results show a good agreement between the finite element analysis, equivalent and tests results; the difference in the first two frequencies is less than 4% and less than 10% for the third frequency. The results of the equivalent model presented in this analysis are obtained with a good accuracy. Moreover, investigations carried out in this research relate to the honeycomb plate modal analysis under several aspects including the structural geometrical variation by studying the various influences of the dimension parameters on the modal frequency, the variation of core and skin material of the honeycomb. The various results obtained in this paper are promising and show that the geometry parameters and the type of material have an effect on the value of the honeycomb plate modal frequency.

Keywords: Satellite, honeycomb, finite element method, modal frequency, dynamic.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4027
1884 CFD Simulations to Validate Two and Three Phase Up-flow in Bubble Columns

Authors: Shyam Kumar, Nannuri Srinivasulu, Ashok Khanna

Abstract:

Bubble columns have a variety of applications in absorption, bio-reactions, catalytic slurry reactions, and coal liquefaction; because they are simple to operate, provide good heat and mass transfer, having less operational cost. The use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for bubble column becomes important, since it can describe the fluid hydrodynamics on both local and global scale. Euler- Euler two-phase fluid model has been used to simulate two-phase (air and water) transient up-flow in bubble column (15cm diameter) using FLUENT6.3. These simulations and experiments were operated over a range of superficial gas velocities in the bubbly flow and churn turbulent regime (1 to16 cm/s) at ambient conditions. Liquid velocity was varied from 0 to 16cm/s. The turbulence in the liquid phase is described using the standard k-ε model. The interactions between the two phases are described through drag coefficient formulations (Schiller Neumann). The objectives are to validate CFD simulations with experimental data, and to obtain grid-independent numerical solutions. Quantitatively good agreements are obtained between experimental data for hold-up and simulation values. Axial liquid velocity profiles and gas holdup profiles were also obtained for the simulation.

Keywords: Bubble column, Computational fluid dynamics, Gas holdup profile, k-ε model.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2667
1883 Successful Management of a Boy with Mild Persistent Asthma (A Longitudinal Case)

Authors: Lubis A., Setiawati L., Setyoningrum A. R., Suryawan A., Irwanto

Abstract:

Asthma is a condition that causing chronic health problems in children. In addition to basic therapy against disease, we must try to reduce the impact of chronic health problems and also optimize their medical aspect of growth and development. A boy with mild asthma attack frequent episode did not showed any improvement with medical treatment and his asthma control test was 11. From radiologic examination he got hyperaerated lung and billateral sinusitis maxillaris; skin test results were house dust, food and pet allergy; an overweight body; bad school grades; psychological and environmental problem. We followed and evaluated this boy in 6 months, treated holistically. Even we could not do much on environmental but no more psychological and school problems, his on a good bodyweight and his asthma control test was 22. A case of a child with mild asthma attack frequent episode was reported. Asthma clinical course show no significant improvement when other predisposing factor is not well-controlled and a child’s growth and development may be affected. Improving condition of the patient can be created with the help of loving and caring way of nurturing from the parents and supportive peer group. Therefore, continuous and consistent monitoring is required because prognosis of asthma is generally good when regularly and properly controlled.

Keywords: Asthma, chronic health problems, growth and development.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1600