Search results for: capacity theory
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 8394

Search results for: capacity theory

8124 The Phenomenon of Nutrition as a 'Trading Zone' Approach in the Paradigm Shift between Humoral Theory and Modern Medicine

Authors: Dilay Merve Temur

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How knowledge is produced and how scientific knowledge progress are questions that science philosophers have investigated for centuries. When the scientific and technological developments reached the 20th century, Kuhn proposed a completely new view among all the approaches. In this article, firstly, Kuhn's theory is represented. Secondly, the criticisms of Kuhn's theory directed to him are examined, and Galison's proposal for the trade area term of the incommensurability thesis is shared. The interaction of Humoral Theory with nutrition has been illustrated extensively, and the transition to modern medicine has been described historically by including scientific and technological developments in the field of medicine. This paper will seek to see how the concept of nutrition is positioned as a trading zone within the medicine paradigm, which has experienced a revolution within the framework of the paradigm concept introduced by Kuhn.

Keywords: food studies, incommensurability, nutrition and dietetics, trading zone

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8123 Extreme Value Theory Applied in Reliability Analysis: Case Study of Diesel Generator Fans

Authors: Jelena Vucicevic

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Reliability analysis represents a very important task in different areas of work. In any industry, this is crucial for maintenance, efficiency, safety and monetary costs. There are ways to calculate reliability, unreliability, failure density and failure rate. In this paper, the results for the reliability of diesel generator fans were calculated through Extreme Value Theory. The Extreme Value Theory is not widely used in the engineering field. Its usage is well known in other areas such as hydrology, meteorology, finance. The significance of this theory is in the fact that unlike the other statistical methods it is focused on rare and extreme values, and not on average. It should be noted that this theory is not designed exclusively for extreme events, but for extreme values in any event. Therefore, this is a great opportunity to apply the theory and test if it could be applied in this situation. The significance of the work is the calculation of time to failure or reliability in a new way, using statistic. Another advantage of this calculation is that there is no need for technical details and it can be implemented in any part for which we need to know the time to fail in order to have appropriate maintenance, but also to maximize usage and minimize costs. In this case, calculations have been made on diesel generator fans but the same principle can be applied to any other part. The data for this paper came from a field engineering study of the time to failure of diesel generator fans. The ultimate goal was to decide whether or not to replace the working fans with a higher quality fan to prevent future failures. The results achieved in this method will show the approximation of time for which the fans will work as they should, and the percentage of probability of fans working more than certain estimated time. Extreme Value Theory can be applied not only for rare and extreme events, but for any event that has values which we can consider as extreme.

Keywords: extreme value theory, lifetime, reliability analysis, statistic, time to failure

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8122 Greening of the Hotel Industry in Malawi: An Examination of the Governance and Policing Tools

Authors: Lameck Zetu Khonje, Mulala Danny Simatele

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Malawi’s economy is agriculture based. Recently the government earmarked the tourism sector as an important economic sector which could support the agriculture sector to bring about sustainable economic development and help socioeconomic wellbeing of the local people. Greening of the hotel industry is one of the proven ideal ways of creating a sustainable tourism industry which brings about sustainable economic development in a country like Malawi. This study uses qualitative methodology to examine the efficacy of the governance and policing tools that Malawi uses to guide the development and general practices of the hotel sector to ascertain whether these tools are for greening or not. Grounded Theory method is used whereby semi-structured interviews and field visits were conducted to collect data for the study. The results of the study show that there are loopholes in the governance system in Malawi. The results also reveal gaps within the policing tools such that the hotel industry is not properly guided on green issues. Furthermore, the results show that there is a lack of collaboration for the enforcement of the green practices in the hotel industry. It is also revealed that there is a lack of knowledge of green issues within the governance structures. Awareness campaigns and capacity building would improve greening of the hotel industry in Malawi.

Keywords: governance, greening, Grounded Theory, Malawi

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8121 The Effect of Internal Auditing Function on the Quality of Financial Reporting: A Theoretical Framework

Authors: Hani Albogami

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The internal audit function is considered as one of the internal corporate governance mechanisms that may have an impact on improving earnings quality by constraining earnings management. The internal audit function is also a unique corporate governance mechanism because internal auditors have more involvement with the day-to-day operations comparing to the audit committee, and also internal auditors audit their companies the whole year compared to the external auditor who audits only a certain time of the year. The relationships between internal audit function and earnings management can be understood by some theories. Therefore, this paper provides a theoretical background of the influence of the quality of internal audit function on earnings management. In particular, the agency theory, institutional theory, singling theory, and resource dependency theory are adapted by this paper to provide some understanding and analyses that can be a basis for future research to contribute to the corporate governance academic studies.

Keywords: internal audit, corporate governance, earnings management, accounting

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8120 The Role of Piaget's Theory in Conjecture via Analogical Reasoning

Authors: Supratman Ahman Maedi

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The construction of knowledge is the goal of learning. The purpose of this research is to know how the role of Piaget theory in allegation via analogy reasoning. This study uses Think out loads when troubleshooting. To explore conjecturing via analogical reasoning is given the question of open analogy. The result: conjecture via analogical reasoning has been done by students in the construction of knowledge, in conjecture there are differences in thinking flow depending on the basic knowledge of the students, in the construction of knowledge occurs assimilation and accommodation problems, strategies and relationships.

Keywords: analogical reasoning, conjecturing, knowledge construction, Piaget's theory

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8119 Identifying the Challenges and Opportunities of Using Lesson Study in English Language Teaching Through the Lenses of In-Service Ecuadorian EFL Teachers

Authors: Cherres Sara, Cajas Diego

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This paper explores how EFL teachers understand the process of Lesson Study in Ecuadorian schools and the challenges and opportunities that it brings to the improvement of their teaching practice. Using a narrative research methodology, this study presents the results of the application of the four steps of Lesson Study carried out by seven teachers in four different schools located in the Southern part of Ecuador during four months. Before starting the implementation of the lesson study, 30 teachers were trained on this model. This training was opened to EFL teachers working in public and private schools without any charge. The criteria to select these teachers were first, to be minimum a one-year in-service teacher, second, to have a b2 level of English, and third, to be able to commit to follow the course guidelines. After the course, seven teachers decided to continue with the implementation of the Lesson Study in their respective institutions. During the implementation of the Lesson Study, data was collected through observations, in-depth interviews and teachers’ planning meetings; and analyzed using a thematic analysis. The results of this study are presented using the lenses of seven EFL teachers that explained the challenges and opportunities that the implementation of Lesson Study conveyed. The challenges identified were the limited capacity of reflection and recognition of the activities that required improvement after the class, limited capacity to provide truthful peer feedback, teachers wrong notions about their performance in their classes, difficulties to follow a collaborative lesson plan; and, the disconnection between class activities and the class content. The opportunities identified were teachers’ predisposition to collaborate, teachers’ disposition to attend professional development courses, their commitment to work extra hours in planning meetings, their openness and their desired to be observed in their classes; and, their willingness to share class materials and knowledge. On the other hand, the results show that there is a disconnection between teachers’ knowledge of ELT and its proper application in class (from theory to practice). There are also, rigid institutional conceptions of teaching that do not allow teaching innovations. The authors concluded that there is a disconnection between teachers’ knowledge of ELT and its proper application in class (from theory to practice). There are also, rigid institutional conceptions of teaching that do not allow teaching innovations for example: excessive institutional paperwork and activities that are not connected to the development of students’ competences.

Keywords: ELT, lesson study, teachers’ professional development, teachers’ collaboration

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8118 Finding the Theory of Riba Avoidance: A Scoping Review to Set the Research Agenda

Authors: Randa Ismail Sharafeddine

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The Islamic economic system is distinctive in that it implicitly recognizes money as a separate, independent component of production capable of assuming risk and so entitled to the same reward as other Entrepreneurial Factors of Production (EFP). Conventional theory does not identify money capital explicitly as a component of production; rather, interest is recognized as a reward for capital, the interest rate is the cost of money capital, and it is also seen as a cost of physical capital. The conventional theory of production examines how diverse non-entrepreneurial resources (Land, Labor, and Capital) are selected; however, the economic theory community is largely unaware of the reasons why these resources choose to remain as non-entrepreneurial resources as opposed to becoming entrepreneurial resources. Should land, labor, and financial asset owners choose to work for others in return for rent, income, or interest, or should they engage in entrepreneurial risk-taking in order to profit. This is a decision made often in the actual world, but it has never been effectively treated in economic theory. This article will conduct a critical analysis of the conventional classification of factors of production and propose a classification for resource allocation and income distribution (Rent, Wages, Interest, and Profits) that is more rational, even within the conventional theoretical framework for evaluating and developing production and distribution theories. Money is an essential component of production in an Islamic economy, and it must be used to sustain economic activity.

Keywords: financial capital, production theory, distribution theory, economic activity, riba avoidance, institution of participation

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8117 The Flexural Improvement of RC Beams Using an Inserted Plate between Concrete and FRP Bonding Surface

Authors: Woo Young Jung, Min Ho Kwon, Bu Seog Ju

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The primary objective of this research is to improve the flexural capacity of FRP strengthened RC Beam structures with Aluminum and Titanium laminates. FRP rupture of flexural strengthened RC beams using FRP plates generally occurs at the interface between FRP plate and the beam. Therefore, in order to prevent brittle rupture and improve the ductility of the system, this research was performed by using Aluminum and Titanium materials between the two different structural systems. The research also aims to provide various strengthening/retrofitting methods for RC beam structures and to conduct a preliminary analysis of the demands on the structural systems. This was achieved by estimation using the experimental data from this research to identify a flexural capacity for the systems. Ultimately, the preliminary analysis of current study showed that the flexural capacity and system demand ductility was significantly improved by the systems inserted with Aluminum and Titanium anchor plates. Further verification of the experimental research is currently on its way to develop a new or reliable design guideline to retrofit/strengthen the concrete-FRP structural system can be evaluated.

Keywords: reinforced concrete, FRP laminate, flexural capacity, ductility

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8116 Testing the Impact of Formal Interpreting Training on Working Memory Capacity: Evidence from Turkish-English Student-Interpreters

Authors: Elena Antonova Unlu, Cigdem Sagin Simsek

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The research presents two studies examining the impact of formal interpreting training (FIT) on Working Memory Capacity (WMC) of student-interpreters. In Study 1, the storage and processing capacities of the working memory (WM) of last-year student-interpreters were compared with those of last-year Foreign Language Education (FLE) students. In Study 2, the impact of FIT on the WMC of student-interpreters was examined via comparing their results on WM tasks at the beginning and the end of their FIT. In both studies, Digit Span Task (DST) and Reading Span Task (RST) were utilized for testing storage and processing capacities of WM. The results of Study 1 revealed that the last-year student-interpreters outperformed the control groups on the RST but not on the DST. The findings of Study 2 were consistent with Study 1 showing that after FIT, the student-interpreters performed better on the RST but not on the DST. Our findings can be considered as evidence supporting the view that FIT has a beneficial effect not only on the interpreting skills of student-interpreters but also on the central executive and processing capacity of their WM.

Keywords: working memory capacity, formal interpreting training, student-interpreters, cross-sectional and longitudinal data

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8115 Competitivity in Procurement Multi-Unit Discrete Clock Auctions: An Experimental Investigation

Authors: Despina Yiakoumi, Agathe Rouaix

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Laboratory experiments were run to investigate the impact of different design characteristics of the auctions, which have been implemented to procure capacity in the UK’s reformed electricity markets. The experiment studies competition among bidders in procurement multi-unit discrete descending clock auctions under different feedback policies and pricing rules. Theory indicates that feedback policy in combination with the two common pricing rules; last-accepted bid (LAB) and first-rejected bid (FRB), could affect significantly the auction outcome. Two information feedback policies regarding the bidding prices of the participants are considered; with feedback and without feedback. With feedback, after each round participants are informed of the number of items still in the auction and without feedback, after each round participants have no information about the aggregate supply. Under LAB, winning bidders receive the amount of the highest successful bid and under the FRB the winning bidders receive the lowest unsuccessful bid. Based on the theoretical predictions of the alternative auction designs, it was decided to run three treatments. First treatment considers LAB with feedback; second treatment studies LAB without feedback; third treatment investigates FRB without feedback. Theoretical predictions of the game showed that under FRB, the alternative feedback policies are indifferent to the auction outcome. Preliminary results indicate that LAB with feedback and FRB without feedback achieve on average higher clearing prices in comparison to the LAB treatment without feedback. However, the clearing prices under LAB with feedback and FRB without feedback are on average lower compared to the theoretical predictions. Although under LAB without feedback theory predicts the clearing price will drop to the competitive equilibrium, experimental results indicate that participants could still engage in cooperative behavior and drive up the price of the auction. It is showed, both theoretically and experimentally, that the pricing rules and the feedback policy, affect the bidding competitiveness of the auction by providing opportunities to participants to engage in cooperative behavior and exercise market power. LAB without feedback seems to be less vulnerable to market power opportunities compared to the alternative auction designs. This could be an argument for the use of LAB pricing rule in combination with limited feedback in the UK capacity market in an attempt to improve affordability for consumers.

Keywords: descending clock auctions, experiments, feedback policy, market design, multi-unit auctions, pricing rules, procurement auctions

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8114 Heat Capacity of a Soluble in Water Protein: Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Authors: A. Rajabpour, A. Hadizadeh Kheirkhah

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Heat transfer is of great importance to biological systems in order to function properly. In the present study, specific heat capacity as one of the most important heat transfer properties is calculated for a soluble in water Lysozyme protein. Using equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, specific heat capacities of pure water, dry lysozyme, and lysozyme-water solution are calculated at 300K for different weight fractions. It is found that MD results are in good agreement with ideal binary mixing rule at small weight fractions. Results of all simulations have been validated with experimental data.

Keywords: specific heat capacity, molecular dynamics simulation, lysozyme protein, equilibrium

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8113 Collision Theory Based Sentiment Detection Using Discourse Analysis in Hadoop

Authors: Anuta Mukherjee, Saswati Mukherjee

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Data is growing everyday. Social networking sites such as Twitter are becoming an integral part of our daily lives, contributing a large increase in the growth of data. It is a rich source especially for sentiment detection or mining since people often express honest opinion through tweets. However, although sentiment analysis is a well-researched topic in text, this analysis using Twitter data poses additional challenges since these are unstructured data with abbreviations and without a strict grammatical correctness. We have employed collision theory to achieve sentiment analysis in Twitter data. We have also incorporated discourse analysis in the collision theory based model to detect accurate sentiment from tweets. We have also used the retweet field to assign weights to certain tweets and obtained the overall weightage of a topic provided in the form of a query. Hadoop has been exploited for speed. Our experiments show effective results.

Keywords: sentiment analysis, twitter, collision theory, discourse analysis

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8112 Analysis of Preferences in Decision Making in a Bilateral Negotiation Context: An Experimental Approach from Game Theory

Authors: Laura V. Gonzalez, Juan B. Duarte, Luis A. Palacio

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Decision making can be conditioned by factors such as the environments, circumstances, behavioral biases, emotions, beliefs and preferences of the participants. The objective of this paper is to analyze the effect ‘amount of information’ and ‘number of options’, on the behavior of competitors under a bilateral negotiation context. For the above, it has been designed an experiment as a classroom game where they negotiate goods, under the condition that none of the players knows exactly the real value of the asset. The game is designed under the concept of zero-sum (non-cooperative game) and focuses on the fact that agents must anticipate the strategies of their opponent to improve their chances of winning in the negotiation. The empirical results show that, contrary to the traditional view of expected utility theory, players prefer to obtain low profits and losses, when faced with a higher expectation of losses, using sub-optimal strategies not in accordance with game theory.

Keywords: bilateral negotiation, classroom game, decision making, game theory

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8111 Variation in Orbital Elements of Mars and Jupiter Due to the Sun Oblateness by Using Secular Theory

Authors: Avaneesh Vaishwar, Badam Singh Kushvah, Devi Prasad Mishra

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We studied the variation in orbital elements of Mars and Jupiter for a time span of 200 thousand years by using secular theory. Here we took Sun oblateness into account and considered the first two zonal gravity constants (J2 and J4) for showing the effect of Sun oblateness on the orbital elements of Mars and Jupiter. We found that in both cases (with and without Sun oblateness) the variation in orbital elements of Mars and Jupiter is periodic moreover in case of the Sun oblateness, the period of variation in orbital elements is decreasing for both the planets.

Keywords: lagrange's planetary equation, orbital elements, planetary system, secular theory

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8110 Numerical Analysis of Reinforced Embankment on Algeria Sabkha Subgrade

Authors: N. Benmebarek, F. Berrabah, S. Benmebarek

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This paper is interested by numerical analysis using PLAXIS code of geosynthetic reinforced embankment crossing a section about 11 km on sabkha soil of Chott El Hodna in Algeria. The site observations indicated that the surface soil of this sabkha is very sensitive to moisture and complicated by the presence of locally weak zones. Therefore, serious difficulties were encountered during building the first embankment layer. This paper focuses on the use of geosynthetic to mitigate the difficulty encountered. Due to the absence of an accepted design methods, parametric studies are carried out to assess the effect of basal embankment reinforcement on both the bearing capacity and compaction conditions. The results showed the contribution conditions of geosynthetics to improve the bearing capacity of sabkha soil.

Keywords: reinforced embankment, numerical modelling, geosynthetics, weak bearing capacity

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8109 A Simulation Study on the Applicability of Overbooking Strategies in Inland Container Transport

Authors: S. Fazi, B. Behdani

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The inland transportation of maritime containers entails the use of different modalities whose capacity is typically booked in advance. Containers may miss their scheduled departure time at a terminal for several reasons, such as delays, change of transport modes, multiple bookings pending. In those cases, it may be difficult for transport service providers to find last minute containers to fill the vacant capacity. Similarly to other industries, overbooking could potentially limit these drawbacks at the cost of a lower service level in case of actual excess of capacity in overbooked rides. However, the presence of multiple modalities may provide the required flexibility in rescheduling and limit the dissatisfaction of the shippers in case of containers in overbooking. This flexibility is known with the term 'synchromodality'. In this paper, we evaluate via discrete event simulation the application of overbooking. Results show that in certain conditions overbooking can significantly increase profit and utilization of high-capacity means of transport, such as barges and trains. On the other hand, in case of high penalty costs and limited no-show, overbooking may lead to an excessive use of expensive trucks.

Keywords: discrete event simulation, flexibility, inland shipping, multimodality, overbooking

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8108 The Gap of Green Consumption Behavior: Driving from Attitude to Behavior

Authors: Yu Du, Jian-Guo Wang

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Green consumption is a key link to develop the ecological economy, and consumers are vital to carry out green consumption. With environmental awareness gradually being aroused, consumers often fail to turn their positive attitude into actual green consumption behavior. According to behavior reasoning theory, reasons for adoption have a direct (positive) influence on consumers’ attitude while reasons against adoption have a direct (negative) influence on consumers’ adoption intentions, the incongruous coexistence of which leads to the attitude-behavior gap of green consumption. Based on behavior reasoning theory, this research integrates reasons for adoption and reasons against adoption into a proposed model, in which reasons both for and against green consumption mediate the relationship between consumer’ values, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. It not only extends the conventional theory of reasoned action but also provides a reference for the government and enterprises to design the repairing strategy of green consumption attitude-behavior gap.

Keywords: green product, attitude-behavior gap, behavior reasoning theory, green consumption, SEM

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8107 The Characteristics of the Chairman of Board of Directors That Are Associated with Better Levels of Performance

Authors: Abilio Pires Zacarias

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Analyzing company boards of directors is a relevant and timely topic. As the representative of shareholders, the board is the most senior management body of this type of company. Therefore, ascertaining the best kind of candidates to nominate, namely the most appropriate characteristics for leading the board to achieve better levels of performance, is certainly of great interest. The companies selected for this study were the 1,000 largest non-financial companies and the 100 largest financial companies in Portugal according to the Instituto Nacional de Estatística for 2010. The information stemmed from a questionnaire addressed to the person in charge of daily company management and then processed through STATA 17 with the multivariate analysis of variables - MANOVA. The study may correspondingly report that the vast majority of boards in the sample operate a dual leadership structure. By in terms of its prevalence, unitary leadership represents only a minority. Agency theory and stewardship theory postulate different characteristics for the ideal chairman but neither receive confirmation from our results. On the other hand, our findings do validate the behavioral theory of firms (BToF), concluding that experience is associated with organizational performance. This study is also relevant due to its analysis of companies not listed on the financial markets not only because of their weighting in the economy but also because they remain only very poorly studied in this field and thus also correspondingly contributing to deepening the literature.

Keywords: agency theory, behavioral theory of the firm, board of directors, corporate governance, stewardship theory

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8106 Optimization Method of the Number of Berth at Bus Rapid Transit Stations Based on Passenger Flow Demand

Authors: Wei Kunkun, Cao Wanyang, Xu Yujie, Qiao Yuzhi, Liu Yingning

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The reasonable design of bus parking spaces can improve the traffic capacity of the station and reduce traffic congestion. In order to reasonably determine the number of berths at BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) stops, it is based on the actual bus rapid transit station observation data, scheduling data, and passenger flow data. Optimize the number of station berths from the perspective of optimizing the balance of supply and demand at the site. Combined with the classical capacity calculation model, this paper first analyzes the important factors affecting the traffic capacity of BRT stops by using SPSS PRO and MATLAB programming software, namely the distribution of BRT stops and the distribution of BRT stop time. Secondly, the method of calculating the number of the classic human capital management (HCM) model is optimized based on the actual passenger demand of the station, and the method applicable to the actual number of station berths is proposed. Taking Gangding Station of Zhongshan Avenue Bus Rapid Transit Corridor in Guangzhou as an example, based on the calculation method proposed in this paper, the number of berths of sub-station 1, sub-station 2 and sub-station 3 is 2, which reduces the road space of the station by 33.3% compared with the previous berth 3 of each sub-station, and returns to social vehicles. Therefore, under the condition of ensuring the passenger flow demand of BRT stations, the road space of the station is reduced, and the road is returned to social vehicles, the traffic capacity of social vehicles is improved, and the traffic capacity and efficiency of the BRT corridor system are improved as a whole.

Keywords: urban transportation, bus rapid transit station, HCM model, capacity, number of berths

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8105 Conspiracy Theory in Discussions of the Coronavirus Pandemic in the Gulf Region

Authors: Rasha Salameh

Abstract:

In light of the tense relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran, this research paper sheds some light on Al-Arabiya’s reporting of Coronavirus in the Gulf. Particularly because most of the cases, in the beginning, were coming from Iran, some programs of this Saudi channel embraced a conspiracy theory. Hate speech has been used in talking about the topic and discussing it. The results of these discussions will be detailed in this paper in percentages with regard to the research sample, which includes five programs on Al-Arabiya channel: ‘DNA’, ‘Marraya’ (Mirrors), ‘Panorama’, ‘Tafaolcom’ (Your Interaction) and the ‘Diplomatic Street’, in the period between January 19, that is, the date of the first case in Iran, and April 10, 2020. The research shows the use of a conspiracy theory in the programs, in addition to some professional violations. The surveyed sample also shows that the matter receded due to the Arab Gulf states' preoccupation with the successively increasing cases that have appeared there since the start of the pandemic. The results indicate that hate speech was present in the sample at a rate of 98.1% and that most of the programs that dealt with the Iranian issue under the Corona pandemic on Al Arabiya used the conspiracy theory at a rate of 75.5%.

Keywords: Al-Arabiya, Iran, Corona, hate speech, conspiracy theory, politicization of the pandemic

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8104 Key Success Factors of Customer Relationship Management: An Empirical Study of Tunisian Firms

Authors: Khlif Hamadi

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Customer Relationship Management has become the main interest of researchers and practitioners especially in the domains of Management and Information Systems (IS). This paper is an overview of success factors that could facilitate successful adoption of CRM. There are 2 factors: the organizational climate and the capacity for innovation. The survey was developed with 200 CRM users. Empirical research is in the positivist paradigm based on the hypothetico-deductive method. Indeed, the approach adopted is the quantitative approach based on a questionnaire complied by Tunisian companies operating in different sectors of activity. For the data analyses, the structural equations method was used to conduct our exploratory and confirmatory analysis. The results revealed that the creative organizational climate and high innovation capacity positively influence the success of CRM practice.

Keywords: CRM practices, innovation capacity, organizational climate, the structural equation

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8103 Effect of Confinement on the Bearing Capacity and Settlement of Spread Foundations

Authors: Tahsin Toma Sabbagh, Ihsan Al-Abboodi, Ali Al-Jazaairry

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Allowable-bearing capacity is the competency of soil to safely carries the pressure from the superstructure without experiencing a shear failure with accompanying excessive settlements. Ensuring a safe bearing pressure with respect to failure does not tolerate settlement of the foundation will be within acceptable limits. Therefore, settlement analysis should always be performed since most structures are settlement sensitive. When visualising the movement of a soil wedge in the bearing capacity criterion, both vertically and horizontally, it becomes clear that by confining the soil surrounding the foundation, both the bearing capacity and settlement values improve. In this study, two sizes of spread foundation were considered; (2×4) m and (3×5) m. These represent two real problem case studies of an existing building. The foundations were analysed in terms of dimension as well as position with respect to a confining wall (i.e., sheet piles on both sides). Assuming B is the least foundation dimension, the study comprised the analyses of three distances; (0.1 B), (0.5 B), and (0.75 B) between the sheet piles and foundations alongside three depths of confinement (0.5 B), (1 B), and (1.5 B). Nonlinear three-dimensional finite element analysis (ANSYS) was adopted to perform an analytical investigation on the behaviour of the two foundations contained by the case study. Results showed that confinement of foundations reduced the overall stresses near the foundation by 65% and reduced the vertical displacement by 90%. Moreover, the most effective distance between the confinement wall and the foundation was found to be 0.5 B.

Keywords: bearing capacity, cohesionless soils, soil confinement, soil modelling, spread footings

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8102 An Exhaustive All-Subsets Examination of Trade Theory on WTO Data

Authors: Masoud Charkhabi

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We examine trade theory with this motivation. The full set of World Trade Organization data are organized into country-year pairs, each treated as a different entity. Topological Data Analysis reveals that among the 16 region and 240 region-year pairs there exists in fact a distinguishable group of region-period pairs. The generally accepted periods of shifts from dissimilar-dissimilar to similar-similar trade in goods among regions are examined from this new perspective. The period breaks are treated as cumulative and are flexible. This type of all-subsets analysis is motivated from computer science and is made possible with Lossy Compression and Graph Theory. The results question many patterns in similar-similar to dissimilar-dissimilar trade. They also show indications of economic shifts that only later become evident in other economic metrics.

Keywords: econometrics, globalization, network science, topological data, analysis, trade theory, visualization, world trade

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8101 Effect of Reinforcement Density on the Behaviour of Reinforced Sand Under a Square Footing

Authors: Dhyaalddin Bahaalddin Noori Zangana

Abstract:

This study involves the behavior of reinforced sand under a square footing. A series of bearing capacity tests were performed on a small-scale laboratory model, which filled with a poorly-graded homogenous bed of sand, which was placed in a medium dense state using sand raining technique. The sand was reinforced with 40 mm wide household aluminum foil strips. The main studied parameters was to consider the effect of reinforcing strip length, with various linear density of reinforcement, number of reinforcement layers and depth of top layer of reinforcement below the footing, on load-settlement behavior, bearing capacity ratio and settlement reduction factor. The relation of load-settlement generally showed similar trend in all the tests. Failure was defined as settlement equal to 10% of the footing width. The recommended optimum reinforcing strip length, linear density of reinforcement, number of reinforcement layers and depth of top layer of reinforcing strips that give the maximum bearing capacity improvement and minimum settlement reduction factor were presented and discussed. Different bearing capacity ration versus length of the reinforcing strips and settlement reduction factor versus length of the reinforcing strips relations at failure were showed improvement of bearing capacity ratio by a factor of 3.82 and reduction of settlement reduction factor by a factor of 0.813. The optimum length of reinforcement was found to be 7.5 times the footing width.

Keywords: square footing, relative density, linear density of reinforcement, bearing capacity ratio, load-settlement behaviour

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8100 The Application of Fuzzy Set Theory to Mobile Internet Advertisement Fraud Detection

Authors: Jinming Ma, Tianbing Xia, Janusz Getta

Abstract:

This paper presents the application of fuzzy set theory to implement of mobile advertisement anti-fraud systems. Mobile anti-fraud is a method aiming to identify mobile advertisement fraudsters. One of the main problems of mobile anti-fraud is the lack of evidence to prove a user to be a fraudster. In this paper, we implement an application by using fuzzy set theory to demonstrate how to detect cheaters. The advantage of our method is that the hardship in detecting fraudsters in small data samples has been avoided. We achieved this by giving each user a suspicious degree showing how likely the user is cheating and decide whether a group of users (like all users of a certain APP) together to be fraudsters according to the average suspicious degree. This makes the process more accurate as the data of a single user is too small to be predictable.

Keywords: mobile internet, advertisement, anti-fraud, fuzzy set theory

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8099 Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Free Vibration of Graphene Sheets

Authors: Seyyed Feisal Asbaghian Namin, Reza Pilafkan, Mahmood Kaffash Irzarahimi

Abstract:

TThis paper considers vibration of single-layered graphene sheets using molecular dynamics (MD) and nonlocal elasticity theory. Based on the MD simulations, Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator (LAMMPS), an open source software, is used to obtain fundamental frequencies. On the other hand, governing equations are derived using nonlocal elasticity and first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and solved using generalized differential quadrature method (GDQ). The small-scale effect is applied in governing equations of motion by nonlocal parameter. The effect of different side lengths, boundary conditions and nonlocal parameter are inspected for aforementioned methods. Results are obtained from MD simulations is compared with those of the nonlocal elasticity theory to calculate appropriate values for the nonlocal parameter. The nonlocal parameter value is suggested for graphene sheets with various boundary conditions. Furthermore, it is shown that the nonlocal elasticity approach using classical plate theory (CLPT) assumptions overestimates the natural frequencies.

Keywords: graphene sheets, molecular dynamics simulations, fundamental frequencies, nonlocal elasticity theory, nonlocal parameter

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8098 Competency-Based Social Work Practice and Challenges in Child Case Management: Studies in the Districts Social Welfare Services, Malaysia

Authors: Sopian Brahim, Mohd Suhaimi Mohamad, Ezarina Zakaria, Norulhuda Sarnon

Abstract:

This study aims to explore the practical experience of child welfare case workers and professionalism in the child case management in Malaysia. This paper discusses the specific social work practice competency and challenges faced by child caseworkers in the fieldwork. This research is qualitative with Grounded Theory approach. Four sessions of Focused Group Discussion (FGD) have been conducted involving a total of 27 caseworkers (child protector and probation officers) in the Klang Valley. The study found that the four basic principles of knowledge in child case management namely: 1. Knowledge in child case management, 2. Professional values of caseworkers towards children, 3. skills in managing cases, and 4. Culturally competence practice in child case managemenr. In addition, major challenges faced in the child case management are the capacity and commitment of the family in children's rehabilitation program, the credibility of the case worker are being challenge and challenges in support system from intra and inter-agency. This study is important for policy makers to take into account the capacity and needs of the child's case worker in accordance with national social work competency framework thereby improving case management services for children more systematically in line with national standards.

Keywords: social work practice, child case management, competency-based knowledge, professionalism

Procedia PDF Downloads 304
8097 Instructional Leadership and Competency in Capacity Development among Principals: A Mediation with Self Efficacy in Moderate Performing Schools

Authors: Mohd Ibrahim K. Azeez, Mohammed Sani Ibrahim, Rosemawati Mustapa, Maisarah A. Malik, Chandrakala Varatharajoo, Wee Akina Sia Seng Lee

Abstract:

The leadership of the principals is known to be a key indicator in development and school performance. Therefore, this study was undertaken to assess the extent of the influence of instructional leadership in the field of supervision and curriculum focus on capacity development competence in the field of communication and teamwork. In addition, this study also examines self-efficacy mediator school leadership in the field of self-improvement and self-management of school principals. The study involved 383 guest teachers from 55 secondary schools for leadership in schools. Data was analyzed using SEM aid program AMOS 21. The final result shows partial mediation model was the best model fit to obtain the best goodness of fit of (X2/df = 4.663, CFI = 0.922, GFI = 0.778, TLI = 0914, NFI = 0.903, and RMSEA = 0.098) compared to the direct effect model of the findings (X2/df = 5.319, CFI = 0.908, GFI = 0755, TLI = 0.899, NFI = 0.889, and RMSEA = 0.106). While the findings of the fully mediator model with a self-efficacy refers principals as a mediator as follows (X2/df = 4.838, CFI = 0918, GFI = 0772, TLI = 0.910, NFI = 0.899, and RMSEA = 0.100). Therefore, it can be concluded that the findings clearly demonstrate self-efficacy variables principals become a mediator in the relationship between instructional leadership capacity and competency development.

Keywords: instructional leadership, capacity development, self-efficacy, competency

Procedia PDF Downloads 697
8096 Solution of Insurance Pricing Model Giving Optimum Premium Level for Both Insured and Insurer by Game Theory

Authors: Betul Zehra Karagul

Abstract:

A game consists of strategies that each actor has in his/her own choice strategies, and a game regulates the certain rules in the strategies that the actors choose, express how they evaluate their knowledge and the utility of output results. Game theory examines the human behaviors (preferences) of strategic situations in which each actor of a game regards the action that others will make in spite of his own moves. There is a balance between each player playing a game with the final number of players and the player with a certain probability of choosing the players, and this is called Nash equilibrium. The insurance is a two-person game where the insurer and insured are the actors. Both sides have the right to act in favor of utility functions. The insured has to pay a premium to buy the insurance cover. The insured will want to pay a low premium while the insurer is willing to get a high premium. In this study, the state of equilibrium for insurance pricing was examined in terms of the insurer and insured with game theory.

Keywords: game theory, insurance pricing, Nash equilibrium, utility function

Procedia PDF Downloads 332
8095 Capacity Oversizing for Infrastructure Sharing Synergies: A Game Theoretic Analysis

Authors: Robin Molinier

Abstract:

Industrial symbiosis (I.S) rely on two basic modes of cooperation between organizations that are infrastructure/service sharing and resource substitution (the use of waste materials, fatal energy and recirculated utilities for production). The former consists in the intensification of use of an asset and thus requires to compare the incremental investment cost to be incurred and the stand-alone cost faced by each potential participant to satisfy its own requirements. In order to investigate the way such a cooperation mode can be implemented we formulate a game theoretic model integrating the grassroot investment decision and the ex-post access pricing problem. In the first period two actors set cooperatively (resp. non-cooperatively) a level of common (resp. individual) infrastructure capacity oversizing to attract ex-post a potential entrant with a plug-and-play offer (available capacity, tariff). The entrant’s requirement is randomly distributed and known only after investments took place. Capacity cost exhibits sub-additive property so that there is room for profitable overcapacity setting in the first period under some conditions that we derive. The entrant willingness-to-pay for the access to the infrastructure is driven by both her standalone cost and the complement cost to be incurred in case she chooses to access an infrastructure whose the available capacity is lower than her requirement level. The expected complement cost function is thus derived, and we show that it is decreasing, convex and shaped by the entrant’s requirements distribution function. For both uniform and triangular distributions optimal capacity level is obtained in the cooperative setting and equilibrium levels are determined in the non-cooperative case. Regarding the latter, we show that competition is deterred by the first period investor with the highest requirement level. Using the non-cooperative game outcomes which gives lower bounds for the profit sharing problem in the cooperative one we solve the whole game and describe situations supporting sharing agreements.

Keywords: capacity, cooperation, industrial symbiosis, pricing

Procedia PDF Downloads 415