Construction and safety aspects for the arrangement of mobile explosive deposits

The execution of the blasting works involves the management of the problem of storage of explosive materials. This aspect is easier to solve in the case of mines activities with long exploitation time and where storage capacities are arranged, according to the legislation that provides constructive and safety criteria depending on the type and quantity of explosive materials stored. In the case of isolated blasting works, those for road construction, building demolition, underwater or forestry, etc., storage facilities must be arranged for shorter periods of time and smaller capacity, but which must comply with security, environmental and risk requirements, such as high-capacity deposits with long duration of activity. Considering that for the execution of such blasting works, the national legislation provides the possibility of arranging temporary explosive depots, of small capacity, but without specifying the constructive details and the necessary safety requirements to be observed, mentioning only that they must be executed on the basis of a specialized project. This paper presents a series of tests conducted by INSEMEX, in order to establish recommendations regarding the constructive and safety requirements that must be observed when designing and building mobile explosive depots.

Impacts of Metering-Based Dynamic Priority Schemes

Several works published over the last two decades have shown for a stylized set-up with homogeneous users that metering-based priority (MBP) schemes may generate Pareto improving departure time adjustments similar to those induced by congestion pricing, but without any financial transaction. We investigate whether MBP (i) still generates significant savings and (ii) remains Pareto-improving, with various sources of heterogeneity (in schedule flexibility, desired arrival time, and capacity usage). We consider two types of schemes: one where the priority status is allocated randomly (R-MBP) and another (HOV-MBP), which only prioritizes users with small capacity usage (e.g., carpoolers). We find that the relative total cost savings of R-MBP decrease with heterogeneity in flexibility, but may increase with heterogeneity in desired arrival time. It fails however to be Pareto-improving, as nonprioritized users are almost systematically worse-off. HOV-MBP circumvents this issue by generating an ordering effect and a modal shift, which both contribute to a better distribution of benefits among users. Under favorable circumstances, they may even restore a Pareto improvement. Overall, MBP appears as a realistic way to alleviate congestion, scoring well both in terms of efficiency and social acceptability.

Battery Sizing for Mild P2 HEVs Considering the Battery Pack Thermal Limitations

Small capacity and passively cooled battery packs are widely used in mild hybrid electric vehicles (MHEV). In this regard, continuous usage of electric traction could cause thermal runaway of the battery, reducing its life and increasing the risk of fire incidence. Hence, thermal limitations on the battery could be implemented in a supervisory controller to avoid such risks. A vast literature on the topic shows that the problem of battery thermal runaway is solved by applying active cooling or by implementing penalty factors on electric energy utilization for large capacity battery packs. However, they do not address the problem in the case of passive cooled, small capacity battery packs. In this paper, an experimentally validated electro-thermal model of the battery pack is integrated with the hybrid electric vehicle simulator. A supervisory controller using the equivalent consumption minimization strategy with, and without, consideration of thermal limitations are discussed. The results of a simulation of an MHEV with a 0.9 kWh battery pack showed that the thermal limitations of the battery pack caused a 2–3% fuel consumption increase compared to the case without such limitations; however, the limitations led to battery temperatures as high as 180 °C. The same simulation showed that the adoption of a 1.8 kWh battery pack led to a fuel consumption reduction of 8–13% without thermal implications.

Riverbank Filtration – A Potential Water Source Exploitation for the Red River Delta Region

Riverbank filtration technology has been widely applied worldwide because of its high-capacitycollection and good water quality throughout natural purification processes. Infiltration water can beextracted from Holocene (qh) layer or the Pleistocene deep layer (qp), replenished with water from theriver through hydrogeological windows. Hydrodynamic and isotopic signatures were employed todetermine water seepage capacity. The results show that infiltrated water is found in the sand layers alongthe rivers. However, the seepage rate shows a heterogeneously spatial variation ranging from 30 m3/d inthe Dinh Dao river to 33,600 m3/d. Km along the shoreline in the Red River (RRD). Also, the exploitationcapacity of seepage water differs widely in order of large (> 3,000 m3/d), medium (1,000-3,000 m3/d),small (500-1,000 m3/d), and very small capacity (200-500 m3/d). This study indicated that RRD couldapply riverbank filtration techniques to overcome freshwater scarcity in the delta due to increasing surfacepollution and discharge reduction.

Simulation Of the Conical Gravitational Water Vortex Turbine (GWVT) Design in Producing Optimum Force for Energy Production

Sustainable electricity power supply is crucial especially for less populated rural area. Micro hydropower generation in rural area is important in providing electricity especially in off-grid electricity area. This study aims to predict and harness power from micro hydropower generation through conical gravitational water vortex turbine (GWVT) via SOLIDWORKS flow simulation. Conical GWVT under study was designed as fully enclosed system with conical turbine basin. Two different turbine orientations were simulated i.e., vertical and horizontal at different blade angle designs i.e., 25°, 45°, 75°, 90°, and 120° and with different number of blades i.e., 8, 12, and 18 while forces were harnessed at tangential (z-axis) direction. The simulation results showed that it was possible to run and produce force from conical GWVT design in a fully enclosed system. It was found that vertical turbine orientation produced a slightly higher force than horizontally orientated turbine, using 12 runner blades at 90° angles where the distributed forces were 15.31N and 14.12N respectively, at tangential (z-axis) direction. The results are useful to predict turbine’s torque for small capacity micro hydropower electricity generation prior to actual conical GWVT set up, in rural area, to minimise cost implication and construction issues.

Interoperability between Real and Virtual Environments Connected by a GAN for the Path-Planning Problem

Path planning is a fundamental issue in robotic systems because it requires coordination between the environment and an agent. The path-planning generator is composed of two modules: perception and planning. The first module scans the environment to determine the location, detect obstacles, estimate objects in motion, and build the planner module’s restrictions. On the other hand, the second module controls the flight of the system. This process is computationally expensive and requires adequate performance to avoid accidents. For this reason, we propose a novel solution to improve conventional robotic systems’ functions, such as systems having a small-capacity battery, a restricted size, and a limited number of sensors, using fewer elements. A navigation dataset was generated through a virtual simulator and a generative adversarial network to connect the virtual and real environments under an end-to-end approach. Furthermore, three path generators were analyzed using deep-learning solutions: a deep convolutional neural network, hierarchical clustering, and an auto-encoder. Since the path generators share a characteristic vector, transfer learning approaches complex problems by using solutions with fewer features, minimizing the costs and optimizing the resources of conventional system architectures, thus improving the limitations with respect to the implementation in embedded devices. Finally, a visualizer applying augmented reality was used to display the path generated by the proposed system.

INDEPENDENT ANIMAL FEED PROCESSING TO IMPROVE THE ECONOMY OF THE COMMUNITY IN SIMPANG VILLAGE, PASAMAN, WEST SUMATRA

Background: The absence of a corn processing machine is one of the problems experienced by Aur Serumpun farmer groups at Nagari Simpang. Methodology: The team of community services from Andalas University handed over a corn grinder that can be used to process dry corn into animal feed. The corn milling machine delivered is an electric machine with a small capacity that can be used for small-scale production. Conclusion: Members of the farming group have expressed their gratitude for the procedure of transferring the grinder. The existence of this tool benefits the community significantly because it allows them to make their own feed and sell it to other villages at a lesser cost.

Demand-Driven Optimization Method for Microtransit Services

Many shared mobility solutions have been developed over recent decades. In the case of mobile technological innovations, new solutions that are more flexible to user demands have emerged. These dynamic solutions allow users to be served by optimizing different aspects such as the detour to pick up a passenger or the waiting time for users. Such methods make it possible to satisfy requests quickly and to match as closely as possible user expectations. However, these approaches usually use fleets composed of numerous small-capacity vehicles to serve each user. By contrast, microtransit aims to serve a more massive demand than conventional shared mobility methods. Our study falls within this context. It aims to identify recurrent patterns of mobility and to verify the possibility of implementing microtransit lines to serve them. In other words, the proposed method identifies spatial and temporal areas where the implementation of a flexible transport line would meet a potential mobility demand. The recurrence of trips in these specific areas provides a guarantee of the reliability of the designed lines.