Scale Projects Research Articles

Graphical Analysis of Local Sliding Failure of Roller Slope

In this paper, for some typical local slump problems, through the site survey of engineering conditions, we observe the local slumping parts, collect a large number of production data, and adopt the Chiping polar projection method to evaluate the initial stability of the problem area. The unstable structure is combined with the solid scale projection to analyze the sliding direction, the sliding surface, the sliding amount, and the like. The study has a clearer understanding of the local slump problem, and based on the stability judgment results, combined with the site conditions, ultimately serves the engineering examples.

Dietary effect of autolysed yeast on broilers (Levabon®, Biomin Austria) on broiler growth

A pilot scale project of 4 weeks feeding trial using 1500 broiler chicks was conducted in a commercial poultry shed, hired for this purpose to study the comparative growth performance of a flock raised on levabon supplemented feed to that raised on the same feed without levabon (control). A total 1500 broiler chicks were divided in to 3 groups, control and treated (1g/kg and 1.5g/kg). Each group was further divided in to 10 replicates, containing 50 birds per replicate. Feed intake was not influenced by supplementation of levabon during this experiment (p>0.005), however slightly higher numerical values were observed in treated group. While overall weight gain and feed conversion ratio was significantly Higher (p>0.05) in birds fed on Levabon supplemented feed (1.5g/kg) as compared to the control group (feed without levabon). Dressing percentage, giblet weight was not significantly influenced by dietary treatment of Levabon (auto-lysed yeast), mortality was significantly reduced by supplementation of levabon (p>0.05) during this trail. The net income per bird was significantly higher in treatment group than control. This study suggests the inclusion of autolysed yeast in broiler diet for getting better performance of broiler chicken. Keywords: Autolysis yeast; Dietary effect levabon; Economics; Performance http://dx.doi.org/10.19045/bspab.2019.80064

Standardisation of legal documentation in Islamic home financing in Malaysia

PurposeThis paper aims to provide an analytical literature survey of selective studies on legal documentation in Islamic home financing with particular reference to Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts the legal positivist methodology, with particular reference to inclusive legal positivism which takes into consideration the possibility of moral values challenging positive law. Within the context of this study, though positive law provides for rules that govern contractual matters in Islamic home financing, standardisation is a functionality of maslahah (or public interest) which transcends the mandatory provisions of positive law but helps to protect the interest of all stakeholders. This is analysed through a systematic literature review which aims to provide practical insights into industry practices relating to Islamic home financing in Malaysia.FindingsThis paper provides information on the standard documentation used by conventional banks and existing practices of diverse models of legal documentation in the home financing sector within the Islamic financial services industry in Malaysia. It also recognises the need for standard documentation that is not only Sharīʿah-compliant but also consumer-friendly, as the terms of any standard financing agreement ought to ensure consumer protection. There is also the need for a Shari’ah-compliant Sales and Purchase Agreement, as it forms part of the complete set of legal documentation for Islamic home financing.Research limitations/implicationsIt is not an exhaustive study, as it did not consider practices in other jurisdictions offering Islamic financial services and products but only focusses on Malaysia. Though one may not generalise the findings of this study, Malaysia remains a leading model and a global hub for Islamic financial services and products.Practical implicationsA very useful source of information on the current state of legal documentation in Islamic home financing in Malaysia and the prevailing practices in the industry, which may serve as a guide for policymakers such as the Association of Islamic Banks in Malaysia (AIBIM) to embark on a full scale project of standardisation of all the legal documentation used in Islamic home financing.Originality/valueThis study fulfils an identified need of standardisation of legal documentation used in Islamic home financing in Malaysia and offers practical help to policymakers and future researchers starting out on systemic reforms.

Modeling, Simulation, and Optimization of Geological Sequestration of CO2

With heightened concerns on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from coal power plants, there has been a major emphasis in recent years on development of safe and economical geological carbon sequestration (GCS) technology. However, the detailed multiphase fluid dynamics and processes of GCS are not fully understood because various CO2 trapping mechanisms in geological formations have large variations in both spatial and temporal scales. As a result, there remain many uncertainties in determining the sequestration capacity of the reservoir and the safety of sequestered CO2 due to leakage. Furthermore, the sequestration efficiency is highly dependent on the CO2 injection strategy, which includes injection rate, injection pressure, and type of injection well, and its orientation, etc. The goal of GCS is to maximize the sequestration capacity and minimize the plume migration by optimizing the GCS operation. In this paper, first the basic fluid dynamics and trapping mechanisms for CO2 sequestration are briefly discussed. They are followed by a brief summary of current GCS projects worldwide with special emphasis on those in the United States. Majority of the paper is devoted to the numerical modeling, simulation, and optimization of CO2 sequestration in saline aquifers at macro spatial scales of a few to hundreds of kilometers and macro temporal scales of a few to hundreds of years. Examples of numerical simulations of a few large industrial scale projects are presented. The optimization studies include the investigation of various injection and well placement strategies to determine the optimal approach for maximizing the storage and minimizing the plume migration.

The CO2 Geologic Storage (CGS) Technology Development Experience: Applications to Oil and Gas Reservoir Management and Subsurface Integrity (SSI)

Geological CO2 storage (GCS) as a GHG mitigation technology has advanced from a concept in the late 1980s to the present-day where dozens of field projects have been concluded and several “commercial” scale projects are currently operating or under construction. In the intervening period, R&D programs have focused on addressing stakeholder concerns, particularly around operational and long-term (post-closure) HSE assurance. Earlier efforts to lend credence to GCS assurance entailed leveraging of oil and gas (O&G) industry technology, particularly CO2 EOR, acid gas injection and natural gas storage. Subsequent and ongoing modelling, simulation, experiments and field test results have advanced GCS subsurface workflow and technology elements to the point where they can be leveraged back to O&G exploration and production (E&P) efficiency including reservoir management (RM) linked to subsurface integrity (SSI), thus “returning the favour”.

Balancing Projects and Operations to Improve Organizational Capability

Radiation therapy projects are necessary to improve organizational performance, implement new technology, and integrate evidence-based practices into the clinical environment. Although large-scale projects may have dedicated resources, relatively smaller scale projects may instead redirect resources from operational activities. This article explores how to facilitate continuous improvement by applying project management principles to health care projects at the level of the clinical team or department. Concepts described will focus on understanding the operational value of projects, common project management methodologies that can be applied, and strategies to resource smaller scale projects while continuing to meet operational demands.

The global goal of media education in the information society

The following paper actualizes the problem of media education in the conditions of modern Russian society, allowing to master the skills and abilities to work effectively with information. It is substantiated that media education contributes to training the younger generation, first of all, for life in modern conditions, for effective perception of information and its comprehension, for understanding the impact of various types of information on the psyche, as well as for mastering modern technical means of nonverbal communication. The role of media education in the transformation of young people into creators of their own content, their development as harmonious individuals - development of emotions, intelligence, development of worldview, familiarization with moral values. The role of mass media in the development of media culture and information literacy of the population in general and of children and young people in particular is indicated. It is substantiated that the global goal of media education in the conditions of the information society is to build an ideological foundation of society. It is argued that one of the important tasks aimed at achieving the global goal of media education is the formation of patriotism, as one of the basic Russian values. The relationship between patriotic education and the media education process is indicated. The content of the multimedia patriotic media education project (festival) of the federal scale, the First All-Russian Media Competition Russian Cosmos, promotes development of the individual through media, acquires historical knowledge of local lore and familiarizes with the greatest pages of the history of his/her native country. The conclusion is made about the important role of media education for training children, adolescents and young people to live in a new technological structure, to work in conditions of the multipolarity of the virtual world and an endless stream of multidirectional information.

Multiview Three-Dimensional Interferometric Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar

Three-dimensional (3D) inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging has been proven feasible by combining traditional ISAR imaging and interferometry. Such technique, namely Inteferometric ISAR (InISAR), allows for the main target scattering centers to be mapped into a 3-D spatial domain, therefore forming 3-D images under the form of 3-D point clouds. 3-D InISAR overcomes some main limitations of traditional 2-D ISAR imaging, such as the problem of cross-range scaling and unknown image projection plane. Despite the great advantage of 3-D imaging over traditional 2-D imaging, some issues remain, such as scatterer scintillation, shadowing effects, poor SNR, etc., which limit the effectiveness of 3-D imaging. A solution to these issues can be found in the use of multiple 3-D views, which can be obtained exploiting either multitemporal or multiperspective configurations or a combination of both. This paper proposes this concept and develops the image fusion algorithms that are necessary to produce multiview 3-D ISAR images. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is tested by using real data collected with a multistatic InISAR system.

Do you cov me? Effect of coverage reduction on species identification and genome reconstruction in complex biological matrices by metagenome shotgun high-throughput sequencing

Shotgun metagenomics sequencing is a powerful tool for the characterization of complex biological matrices, enabling analysis of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms and viruses in a single experiment, with the possibility of reconstructing de novo the whole metagenome or a set of genes of interest. One of the main factors limiting the use of shotgun metagenomics on wide scale projects is the high cost associated with the approach. However, we demonstrate that—for some applications—it is possible to use shallow shotgun metagenomics to characterize complex biological matrices while reducing costs. We measured the variation of several summary statistics simulating a decrease in sequencing depth by randomly subsampling a number of reads. The main statistics that were compared are alpha diversity estimates, species abundance, detection threshold, and ability of reconstructing the metagenome in terms of length and completeness. Our results show that a classification of prokaryotic, eukaryotic and viral communities can be accurately performed even using very low number of reads, both in mock communities and in real complex matrices. With samples of 100,000 reads, the alpha diversity estimates were in most cases comparable to those obtained with the full sample, and the estimation of the abundance of all the present species was in excellent agreement with those obtained with the full sample. On the contrary, any task involving the reconstruction of the metagenome performed poorly, even with the largest simulated subsample (1M reads). The length of the reconstructed assembly was smaller than the length obtained with the full dataset, and the proportion of conserved genes that were identified in the meta-genome was drastically reduced compared to the full sample. Shallow shotgun metagenomics can be a useful tool to describe the structure of complex matrices, but it is not adequate to reconstruct—even partially—the metagenome.

Estimating Capital Requirements to Scale Health Microinsurance Serving Rural Poor Populations

Objective The objective is to estimate the amount of money health microinsurance plans (a.k.a. Community-based health insurance - CBHI) require to launch, scale and reach sustainable operations in rural India. Methods We develop the methodology to calculate the capital required for a CBHI plan to reach sustainability. It includes algorithms to estimate operating costs, capital requirements, loan requirements, interest earned, loan repayment installments and scaling projections. We apply these methods to examine the sustainability of a prototype plan. We check the plausibility of assumptions posited for the model with data of 2 CBHI plans. Results A prototype CBHI plan, covering 40k persons requires US$ 62,477 to offset deficits in the initial years. Repayment of principal and interest requires 15 years. Plans could bear up to 14% p.a. Assuming 10.96% interest in local currency (INR) ≈ 5% in US$, the NPV is US$ 18,455 or 30% of the original investment. When expressed per person, this amount is US$1.56, and per policy-year (over 20 years) it is a mere US$0.10. Even the poorest populations can pay such overhead (while simultaneously paying the claims and operations costs). The per-capita operating costs drop as enrollment and renewal rates and average insured household size increase. Even with very low per capita annual premiums (US$ 3.51 to US$ 4.71), cumulative claims ratios stabilize around 70% (benchmark: 73% and 69%, in Bihar and Nepal, respectively). The CBHI plans can generate considerable additional resources as premiums for healthcare, estimated at US$52 (over 15 years) and US$85 (over 20 years) for every US$1 borrowed at inception. Conclusions The financial gains to investors flow from interest payments. Impact investors and CBHI plans have a margin to negotiate the interest rate from zero to 14 percent. The financial gains to the insured consist of the assets accumulated over and beyond payments of benefits. The amounts and the income smoothing effects are considerable. The social effects include extending health insurance to uninsured rural populations. The governance gains flow from large-scale standardization of rule-based participatory management of these mutual-aid plans. This investment opportunity is scalable from a small to substantial ticket size because the amount per CBHI plan is modest. The size of the investment determines the scale of populations covered. Governments and policymakers may contribute by creating a supportive regulatory environment. Governments could also consider collateral arrangements. Such investments cum supportive regulations may enable the development of a new market for reinsurance of outlier risks written by CBHI plans.

Fuelling the Fires: The Contribution of Wood Charcoal Analysis to a Landscape Scale Project at and Around Pre-Conquest Iron Age Silchester and a Reflection on Its Wider Implications

ABSTRACTThe contribution of targeted wood charcoal analysis (anthracology) to understanding of the 1st millennium BC Pre-Conquest Late Iron Age oppidum and transition to Early Roman town life at Silchester and nearby late prehistoric hinterland sites investigated by the Silchester Environs project is considered. Attention is given to whether substantive differences in charcoal assemblages of varying size and origin are discernible through time and space, and to their value in elucidating landscape, environment, woodland structure, taphonomy, site function and lifestyles. This paper aims to take stock of the work so far and reflect on what lessons can be learned within and beyond the project. Site-level data are summarised and contrasted for the reader, while full context-level interpretation is published elsewhere [Barnett Forthcoming a. “The Early Roman Wood Charcoal and Waterlogged Wood at Silchester.” In Silchester Insula IX: The Claudio-Neronian occupation of the Iron Age Oppidum. Britannia Monograph Series, edited by M. G. Fulford, A. Clarke, E. Durham, and N. Pankhurst. London: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies; and Barnett Forthcoming c. “Overview of the Archaeobotanical Evidence.” In Silchester Environs: The Landscape Context of Iron Age Calleva, edited by C. Barnett, and M. G. Fulford. Oxford: Oxbow Books monograph].

Geotechnical Characteristics of Subsoil for Different Sectors of Islamabad

Geotechnical site investigations are essential in determining subsoil stratigraphy and soil strength and is considered mandatory for design of foundations. This study presents the generalized profiles for subsurface stratigraphy and insitu soil strength (average SPT N values) for different sectors of Islamabad on the basis of wide-ranging experimental work carried out by several agencies in fieldand laboratory testing carried out at the number of locations in the study area. Data from 208 geotechnical site investigations of Islamabad have been collected and subsurface profiling for those sectors is carried out that had more than four data points. The experimental data of the study area has shown potential for development of profile map for 11 different sectors of Islamabad using data of 144 geotechnical site investigations. Generalized soil profile and average SPT N values for each sector have been generated to a depth of 7m which is considered sufficient for lightly loaded structures with shallow foundations. Average SPT N value profile coupled with soil stratigraphy for each zone is established that can used to determine shear strength parameters and bearing capacity of soil using SPT based empirical correlations. The generalized soil profiles will be helpful during feasibility study and planning geotechnical site investigations for mega projects and can also be used to determine engineering properties of subsoil for small scale projects.

Agile on a Large Scale

Agile is sometimes seen as an approach that’s best suited to small project and small teams. Julian M. Bass FBCS shows how, through methods and practice, Agile can work equally well on global scale projects too.

Context-aware energy optimization for perpetual IoT-based safe communities

The IoT revolution has provided a promising opportunity to build powerful perpetual awareness systems. Perpetual awareness systems are sensing systems characterized by continuous monitoring and ubiquitous sensing; they are essential to many safety and mission-critical applications, e.g. assisted living, healthcare and public safety. In this paper, we present SAFER, a perpetual heterogeneous IoT system; deployed in homes to detect critical events (injury, hazardous-environment) that must trigger immediate action and response. A key challenge here is the energy consumption associated with perpetual operations. We propose a novel energy-aware perpetual home IoT system where battery-operated and wall-powered IoT devices co-execute to ensure safety of occupants. We use a semantic approach that utilizes context of extracted activities of daily living (ADLs) from device data to drive energy optimized sensor activations. To validate our approach, we developed an elderly fall detection system using multi-personal and in-situ sensing devices derived from real world deployments in SCALE project which has been deployed in Montgomery county, MD. Using initial measurements to drive larger simulations, we show that proposed Cost-Function-Gradient algorithm can achieve greater than 4X reductions in energy dissipation and doubling system of battery powered devices lifetime without loss of sensing accuracy.

Creating a prototype of a robotic human hand for people with permanent disabilities

Robotics is the technology of designing, constructing and exploiting robots with major applications. One such application is to use robots in assisting people with physical disabilities. The goal of this work is to create a prototype of a robotic human hand. The basic components used in designing the hand prototype are Arduino UNO based on ATMEL microcontroller development board, breadboard for easy assembly of electronic circuits, jumper cables, 3D printed components from PLA and ABS, servo motors, reinforced cord, linking elements and other elements for stability of the prototype. For printing the 3D hand model, a 3D fused-deposition modelling printer with two plastic printing materials, PLA and ABS, was used. The software solution for controlling the fingers and the basic safety of overturning/under-turning the fingers is C-based. The program was compiled and uploaded using the built-in IDE for Arduino. The project was completed in a 2-months period time. The result is a working and anatomically correct prototype of the human hand. Presently, the prototype can simulate normal contraction and relaxation of the fingers digitus quartus manus and digitus minimus manus, also known as the ring and pinky finger. This initial development is used as a base for a large scale project for creating a modern and functional design of robotic human hand. Depending on the patient needs, an individual model will be designed, allowing customization, depending on the patient’s age, size and other factors, and will be produced. Acknowledgements This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 692097.

SIMULATION MODEL FOR RATIONAL UNIFIED PROCESS (RUP) SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE

In software development there are several types of methodologies that can be used, one of which is Rational Unified Process (RUP). RUP is of software development process used in various software companies. There are various types of projects in RUP software development, small scale project, large-scale projects and re-engineering projects. Each type of project has different needs, especially in the use of each role. In RUP there are several important roles that cannot be done by an individual because they have to work at the same time. Basically the purpose of the RUP is to be able to produce high quality software. This cannot be achieved if the inappropriate role is used. This study proposes the number of roles needed for software development using RUP by creating simulation models. The purpose of simulation model is to determine the appropriate role based on each type of project. The results of the simulation model are in the form of a percentage of each role needed, the project manager has the largest percentage compared to other roles, which is 70% in small-scale projects and 65% in large-scale projects.

Potential CO2 and brine leakage through wellbore pathways for geologic CO2 sequestration using the National Risk Assessment Partnership tools: Application to the Big Sky Regional Partnership

Geologic CO2 sequestration (GCS) has received high-level attention from the global scientific community as a response to climate change due to higher concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere. However, GCS in saline aquifers poses certain risks including CO2/brine leakage through wells or non-sealing faults into groundwater or to the earth’s surface. Understanding crucial reservoir parameters and other geologic features affecting the likelihood of these leakage occurrences will aid the decision-making process regarding GCS operations. In this study, we develop a science-based methodology for quantifying risk profiles at geologic CO2 sequestration sites as part of US DOE’s National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP). We apply NRAP tools to a field scale project in a fractured saline aquifer located at Kevin Dome, Montana, which is part of DOE’s Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership project. Risks associated with GCS injection and monitoring are difficult to quantify due to a dearth of data and uncertainties. One solution is running a large number of numerical simulations of the primary CO2 injection reservoir, shallow reservoirs/aquifers, faults, and wells to address leakage risks and uncertainties. However, a full-physics simulation is not computationally feasible because the model is too large and requires fine spatial and temporal discretization to accurately reproduce complex multiphase flow processes. We employ the NRAP Integrated Assessment Model (NRAP-IAM), a hybrid system model developed by the US-DOE for use in performance and quantitative risk assessment of CO2 sequestration. The IAM model requires reduced order models (ROMs) developed from numerical reservoir simulations of a primary CO2 injection reservoir. The ROMs are linked with discrete components of the NRAP-IAM including shallow reservoirs/aquifers and the atmosphere through potential leakage pathways. A powerful stochastic framework allows NRAP-IAM to be used to explore complex interactions among a large number of uncertain variables and to help evaluate the likely performance of potential sequestration sites. Using the NRAP-IAM, we find that the potential amount of CO2 leakage is most sensitive to values of permeability, end-point CO2 relative permeability, hysteresis of CO2 relative permeability, capillary pressure, and permeability of confining rocks. In addition to demonstrating the application of the NRAP risk assessment tools, this work shows that GCS in the Kevin Dome has a higher probability of encountering injectivity limitations during injection of CO2 into the Middle Duperow formation than previous studies have calculated. Finally, we estimate very low risk of CO2 leakage to the atmosphere unless the quality of the legacy well completions is extremely poor.

Using FDD for Small Project: An Empirical Case Study

Empirical analysis evaluates the proposed system via practical experience and reveals its pros and cons. Such type of evaluation is one of the widely used validation approach in software engineering. Conventional software process models were performed well till mid 1990s but then gradually were replaced by agile methodologies. This happened due to the various features, the agile family offered, which the conventional models failed to provide. However besides the advantages, agile models lacked at some areas as well. To get the extreme benefits from any agile model, it is necessary to eliminate the weaknesses of that model by customizing its development structure. Feature Driven Development (FDD) is one of the widely used agile models in software industry particularly for large scale projects. This model has been criticized by many researchers due to its weaknesses such as explicit dependency on experienced staff, little or no guidance for requirement gathering, rigid nature to accommodate requirement changes and heavy development structure. All these weaknesses make the FDD model suitable only for large scale projects where the requirements are less likely to change. This paper deals with the empirical evaluation of FDD during the development of a small scale web project so that the areas and practices of this model can be identified with empirical proof, which make this model suitable only for large projects. For effective evaluation, the results of FDD case study are compared with a published case study of Extreme Programing (XP), which is widely used for small scale projects.

The Compilation of the Adversity Quotient Scale for College Students

Research objective: The purpose of this study is to compile the adversity quotient scale (AQS) for college students and to test its reliability and validity in order to provide a measuring tool for studying of college students. Methods: By means of literature review, open investigation and other methods, the initial project of adversity quotient scale for college students is formed. The test was conducted on 578 students from 4 local universities in Guangdong Province, and the final scale was formed through project analysis, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Results: The adversity quotient scale for college students consists of 43 questions and 6 dimensions. The result of Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the extracted six factor models fit well (x2/df=2.595, NNFI=0.835, RMSEA=0.058, CFI=0.844, RMR=0.07, GFI=0.814, AGFI=0.794), The reliability coefficient of each dimension of the scale is between 0.684~0.917. The correlation validity between the adversity quotient scale and the social adaptability scale (SAS) was 0.291, which was significant at the level of 0.01. Conclusion: the adversity quotient scale has good and high reliability and validity, which is able to be used as an effective tool to measure the inverse quotient of college students.

On Setting the Level of Seismic Effect in Seismic Intensity Scales and Design Standards

It is noted in the article that the increase in peak ground acceleration (PGA) by a factor of about 1.4 proposed by seismologists in a project of seismic intensity scale clearly reflects the lessons learned from earthquakes of the past. However, the use of suggested PGA values in the design codes and standards requires modification of the codes and standards themselves, as well as differentiated approach to defining the design level of PGA. Engineers should consider the dependence of the design PGA on the oscillation periods of structures, whereas seismologists should differentiate the PGA value depending on the prevailing period of the seismic effect. Transition to the new seismic scale affects the design and maximum design earthquakes differently. The intensity of a design earthquake for objects of massive structure does not exceed VII on the MSK scale, and in this aspect the new seismic scale does not differ considerably from the existing one. For maximum design earthquakes, PGA increases significantly, but the criterion of seismic resistance changes from acceleration of the structure to the work of plastic deformation forces. In this case, possible destruction depends little on PGA, but rather on such energy seismic effect characteristics as the Arias intensity, absolute cumulative velocity, and seismic energy density. A correct approach to calculation when carrying out the performance-based design and transition to the new intensity scale would not lead to higher costs for most buildings and structures. Moreover, if one does not use the new scale, transition to modern methods of performance-based design will be impossible.