Search results for: Analytical hierarchy process

Authors: P. Pramod Kumar, Madhu Salumari, V. V. Subba Rao

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Due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, carbon nanotube (CNTs) reinforced polymer composites are being considered as one of the most promising nanocomposites which can improve the performance when used in structural applications. The buckling behavior is one of the most important parameter needs to be considered in the design of structural members like beams and plates. In the present paper, the elastic constants of CNT reinforced polymer composites are evaluated by using Mori-Tanaka micromechanics approach. Knowing the elastic constants, an analytical study is being conducted to investigate the buckling behavior of nanocomposites for different CNT volume fractions at different boundary conditions using first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The effect of stacking sequence and CNT radius on the buckling of beam has also been presented. This study is being conducted primarily with an intension to find the stiffening effect of CNTs when used in polymer composites as reinforcement.

Keywords: CNT, buckling, micromechanics, FSDT

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Authors: Cristiane R. Magalhaes

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Advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have led to changes in different sectors particularly in architecture, engineering, construction, and operation (AECO) industry. In this context, the advent of BIM (Building Information Modeling) has brought a number of opportunities in the field of the digital architectural design process bringing integrated design concepts that impact on the development, elaboration, coordination, and management of ventures. The project scope has begun to contemplate, from its original stage, the third dimension, by means of virtual environments (VEs), composed of models containing different specialties, substituting the two-dimensional products. The possibility to simulate the construction process of a venture in a VE starts at the beginning of the design process offering, through new technologies, many possibilities beyond geometrical digital modeling. This is a significant change and relates not only to form, but also to how information is appropriated in architectural and engineering models and exchanged among professionals. In order to achieve the main objective of this work, the Design Science Research Method will be adopted to elaborate an artifact containing strategies for the application and use of ICTs from BIM flows, with pre-construction cut-off to the execution of the building. This article intends to discuss and investigate how BIM can be extended to the site acting as a protagonist and link between the Virtual Environments and the Real-World, as well as its contribution to the integration of the value chain and the consequent increase of efficiency in the production of the building. The virtualization of the design process has reached high levels of development through the use of BIM. Therefore it is essential that the lessons learned with the virtual models be transposed to the actual building production increasing precision and efficiency. Thus, this paper discusses how the Fourth Industrial Revolution has impacted on property developments and how BIM could be the propellant acting as the main fuel and link between the virtual environment and the real production for the structuring of flows, information management and efficiency in this process. The results obtained are partial and not definite up to the date of this publication. This research is part of a doctoral thesis development, which focuses on the discussion of the impact of digital transformation in the construction of residential buildings in Brazil.

Keywords: building information modeling, building production, digital transformation, ICT

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Authors: Estela Macedo Alves

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This paper is an overview on public policy analysis focused on the study of Brazilian public policy making process. The methodology is based on the review of some theories on the subject, linking them to Brazilian reality. The study presents basic policy analysis concepts, such as policy, polity and politics. It is emphasized John Kingdon's Multiple Stream Model, because of its clarifying aspects concerning public policies formulation process in democratic countries. In this path it was possible to establish interpretations on environmental public policies in Brazil and understand its methods, instead of presenting only a case study. At the end, it is possible to connect theory with Brazilian reality, identifying negative and positive points of its political processes and structure.

Keywords: Brazilian policies, environmental public policy, multiple stream model, public policy analysis

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Authors: Betül Demirbağ, Nesrin Demir

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As a developmental period, early adulthood has a vital role in romantic relationships in young adult's life. lt's known that in this period, satisfaction of individual needs such as affiliation is essential for well-functioning and to be succeeded in sequent developmental task. Romantic relationships have an expected association with attachment style. But it's needed to get more information about indicators of romantic relationships in different cultural backgrounds. in this research it's aimed to investigate whether there is a relationship between romantic relationship beliefs and Ego identity status and also other possible indicators such as gender, age, socioeconomic status. Participants were undergraduate students training in various programs in Education Faculty in Adiyaman University. As data collection tool, Romantic Relationship Beliefs scale and Ego Identity Process Questionnaire which was adapted into Turkish were used. Results were discussed in the relevant literature.

Keywords: ego identity, romantic relationships, university counseling

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Authors: Jegede Kehinde Jacob, Ola Akeem Bayonle, Adewale Yemi Yekeen

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The rapid rate of urban growth in most developing countries of the world in recent times is alarming. Mass movement of people from rural areas to the urban centres, the consequence of the uncontrolled rapid urbanisation resulting to many un-conforming environmental challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, land, water and air pollution, poor environmental sanitation, poor and inadequate housing, urban degradation, sprawl and slums, urban violence, crime, robbery and prostitution as well as many other social vices that make the cities unsustainable. The resultant effects of all these are abysmal failure in the management of cities on the part of the governing authorities and other relevant stakeholders as well as unconducive and unwholesome condition of living of the people. This paper attempts to examine holistically the issue of environmental planning management (EPM) process development and management concept with a view for dynamic and interactive approach for various stakeholders as partners in achieving sustainable cities of our dream. The areas of discussion including conceptual and contextual issues, sustainable cities concept, good urban governance including literature review. The paper goes further to examine opportunities and challenges of built environment generally, the nature and context of environmental problems in particular, the role and duties of environmental planning and management (EPM) process in sustainable urban development. The paper further reviewed briefly the various levels of institutionalisation of EPM process with a typical case study of sustainable Ibadan project (SIP). The paper concludes with a list of recommendations to ensure effective and lasting solutions to cities problems through initiation of EPM process achievable in a sustainable manner.

Keywords: built environment, environmental planning, sustainable cities, sustainable development, urbanization

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Authors: Rojan Afrouz

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Introduction: The immigration is a complex process of transitioning and transformation. Immigrants are more likely to come from the patriarchal and hierarchical society with traditional gender roles and women’s stereotypes. Changing the perception of women’s gender roles may result in challenges between women and their family and community. In this article, Afghan women’s perspectives on gender roles and stereotypes have been investigated as well as their experience of changes in the new context of Australia. Australian initiatives of challenging gender roles have provided the opportunities for Afghan women to emancipate from the traditional gender roles and pursue the value of gender equality. In this process, they may face many challenges in intersectional levels within their family, community and wider society which is a complex conflate of oppressive factors that may not be addressed easily and straightforward. Methods: This qualitative study has been conducted among Afghan women who have lived in Australia less than ten years. Semi-structured interviews either face to face or by phone have been used to collect data for this study. The interviews have been audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Nvivo software has been used for data analysis. Findings: Many participants mentioned that they had been taught that a good Afghan woman is devoted, obedient and loyal to their family and community. They believed that for many Afghan families, Afghan women's natural place was inside the home as a housewife, mother, daughter involving so many responsibilities and expectation of making sacrifices. Many women stated that their attitudes toward gender roles and their feeling of being a woman had been changed since they came to Australia although the process of change for women was complex and diverse. Some had to deal with conflicts with their stereotypes, traditional gender roles as well as strong disagreement with their family and community. Conclusion: Moving to a different country with more gender equality is an opportunity for Afghan women to change their perceptions of gender roles and stereotypes. However, challenging traditional stereotypes and gender roles in the new context is a complex process comprising intersectional levels.

Keywords: stereotypes, gender role, immigration, Afghan women

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Authors: Elin Cahyaningsih, Dana Indra Sensuse, Wahyu Catur Wibowo, Sofiyanti Indriasari

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Bureaucracy reform program drives Indonesian government to change their management and supporting unit in order to enhance their organization performance. Information technology as one of supporting unit became one of strategic plan that organization tried to improve, because IT can automate and speed up process, reduce business process life cycle become more effective and efficient. Knowledge management system is a technology application for supporting knowledge management implementation in government which is requirement based on problem and potential functionality of each knowledge management process. Define knowledge management that suitable for each organization it is difficult, that why we should make the knowledge management system strategy as an alignment of knowledge management process in the organization. Knowledge management system is one of information system development in people perspective, because this system has high dependency in human interaction and participation. Strategic plan for developing knowledge management system can be determine using some of information system strategic methods. This research conducted to define type of strategic method of information system, stage of activity each method, the strategic method strength and weakness. The author use literature review methods for identify and classify strategic methods of information system for differentiate method type, categorize common activities, strength and weakness. Result of this research are determine and compare six strategic information system methods, there are Balanced Scorecard, Five Force Porter, SWOT analysis, Value Chain Analysis, Risk Analysis and Gap Analysis. Balanced Scorecard and Risk Analysis believe as common strategic method that usually used and have the highest excellence strength.

Keywords: knowledge management system, balanced scorecard, five force, risk analysis, gap analysis, value chain analysis, SWOT analysis

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Authors: Samira Boussema, Ben Hamed Salah

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Entrepreneurship was always considered to be the most appropriate remedy for various economies’ symptoms. It is presented as a complex process that faces several barriers thereby inhibiting a project’s implementation phase. In fact, after a careful review of the literature, we noticed that empirical researches on reasons behind non-developing entrepreneurial projects are very rare, suggesting a lack in modeling the process in general and the pre-start phase in particular. Therefore, in this study we try to identify the main environmental barriers to developing business projects in Tunisia through the study of a representative sample of undeveloped projects. To this end, we used a quantitative approach which allowed us to examine the various barriers encountered by young entrepreneurs during their projects’ implementation. Indeed, by modeling the phenomenon we found that these managers face barriers of legal, financial, educational and government support dimensions.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, environmental barriers, non-implementation of projects, structural modeling

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Authors: B. Zerouali, M. Kara, B. Hamaidi, H. Mahdjoub, S. Rouabhia

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In this paper, a safety analysis for crude oil tanks to prevent undesirable events that may cause catastrophic accidents. The estimation of the probability of damage to industrial systems is carried out through a series of steps, and in accordance with a specific methodology. In this context, this work involves developing an assessment tool and risk analysis at the level of crude oil tanks system, based primarily on identification of various potential causes of crude oil tanks fire and explosion by the use of Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), then improved risk modelling by Bayesian Networks (BNs). Bayesian approach in the evaluation of failure and quantification of risks is a dynamic analysis approach. For this reason, have been selected as an analytical tool in this study. Research concludes that the Bayesian networks have a distinct and effective method in the safety analysis because of the flexibility of its structure; it is suitable for a wide variety of accident scenarios.

Keywords: bayesian networks, crude oil tank, fault tree, prediction, safety

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Authors: Seyed Saeid Tabaee, Mohammad Afshari, Bahador Ziaeemehr, Omid Bahar

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Nowadays, using modern structural systems with specific capabilities, like Diagrid, is emerging around the world. In this paper, a new resisting system, a combination of both Diagrid axial behavior and proper seismic performance of regular moment frames in tall buildings, named 'Hybrid Diagrid' is presented. The scaled specimen of the suggested hybrid system was built and tested using IIEES shaking table. The natural frequency and structural response of the analytical model were updated with the real experimental results. In order to compare its performance with the traditional Diagrid and moment frame systems, time history analysis was carried out. Extensive analysis shows the efficient seismic responses and economical behavior of Hybrid Diagrid structure with respect to the other two systems.

Keywords: hybrid diagrid system, moment frame, shaking table, tall buildings, time history analysis

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Authors: Hsiang-Chun Lai, Hsien-Yin Liao, Yi-Wen Lin

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Migraine is a primary headache disorder which presented as recurrent and moderate to severe headaches and affects nearly fifteen percent of people’s daily life. In East Asia, acupuncture is a common treatment for migraine prevention. Acupuncture can modulate migraine through both peripheral and central mechanism and decrease the allodynia process. Molecular pathway suggests that acupuncture relief migraine by regulating neurotransmitters/neuromodulators. This process was also proven by neural imaging. Acupuncture decrease the headache frequency and intensity compared to routine care. We also review the most common chosen acupoints to treat migraine and its treatment protocol. As a result, we suggested that acupuncture can serve as an option to migraine treatment and prevention. However, more studies are needed to establish the mechanism and therapeutic roles of acupuncture in treating migraine.

Keywords: acupuncture, allodynia, headache, migraine

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Authors: Muhammad Umer Toor, Syed Imran Haider, Babar Afzaal

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Brexit nudged the British executive towards overriding parliamentary sovereignty in the UK. In 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to prorogue parliament to prevent it from debating withdrawal from the UK. In 2022, Pakistan's Prime Minister also tried to nullify the ability of parliament to vote on the constitutional mechanism of a no-confidence vote. In both cases, the apex courts intervened and restored the supremacy of Parliament, averting constitutional crises. This paper examines the legitimacy and power of said courts to intervene in sensitive political and constitutional questions. The research focuses on the administrative law area of judicial review. It examines how in UK and Pakistan practice of judicial review helps mediate constitutional deadlocks between institutions comparatively. This is secondary research employing qualitative, comparative, doctrinal, and analytical methodologies to research a specific area of law from two jurisdictions, using primary and secondary sources.

Keywords: administrative law, judicial review, law, constitutional law

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Authors: Ebrahim Ghanbari, Mohammad Reza Nematollahi

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Integrating deterministic and probabilistic safety assessment (IDPSA) is one of the most commonly used issues in the field of safety analysis of power plant accident. It has also been recognized today that the role of human error in creating these accidents is not less than systemic errors, so the human interference and system errors in fault and event sequences are necessary. The integration of these analytical topics will be reflected in the frequency of core damage and also the study of the use of water resources in an accident such as the loss of all electrical power of the plant. In this regard, the SBO accident was simulated for the pressurized water reactor in the deterministic analysis issue, and by analyzing the operator's behavior in controlling the accident, the results of the combination of deterministic and probabilistic assessment were identified. The results showed that the best performance of the plant operator would reduce the risk of an accident by 10%, as well as a decrease of 6.82 liters/second of the water sources of the plant.

Keywords: IDPSA, human error, SBO, risk

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Authors: Ali Kezmane, Said Boukais, Mohand Hamizi

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This paper presents an analytical study on the behavior of reinforced concrete walls with rectangular cross section. Several experiments on such walls have been selected to be studied. Database from various experiments were collected and nominal shear wall strengths have been calculated using formulas, such as those of the ACI (American), NZS (New Zealand), Mexican (NTCC), and Wood and Barda equations. Subsequently, nominal shear wall strengths from the formulas were compared with the ultimate shear wall strengths from the database. These formulas vary substantially in functional form and do not account for all variables that affect the response of walls. There is substantial scatter in the predicted values of ultimate shear strength. Two new semi empirical equations are developed using data from tests of 57 walls for transitions walls and 27 for slender walls with the objective of improving the prediction of peak strength of walls with the most possible accurate.

Keywords: shear strength, reinforced concrete walls, rectangular walls, shear walls, models

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Authors: Jorge Fernandes Teixeira Filho, André Oliveira Alcantara Fontenele, Érick Aragão Ribeiro

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The constant emergence of new technologies used in automated processes makes it necessary for teachers and traders to apply new technologies in their classes. This paper presents an application of a new technology that will be employed in a didactic plant, which represents an effluent treatment process located in a laboratory of a federal educational institution. At work were studied in the first place, all components to be placed on automation laboratory in order to determine ways to program, parameterize and organize the plant. New technologies that have been implemented to the process are basically an AS-i network and a Profinet network, a SCADA system, which represented a major innovation in the laboratory. The project makes it possible to carry out in the laboratory various practices of industrial networks and SCADA systems.

Keywords: automation, industrial networks, SCADA systems, lab automation

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Authors: Ahmadali Shirazytabar, Hamidreza Namazi

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The inherent irreversibility of thermo-acoustics primarily in the stack region causes poor efficiency of thermo-acoustic engines which is the major weakness of these devices. In view of the above, this study examines entropy generation in the stack of a thermo-acoustic system. For this purpose two parallel plates representative of the stack is considered. A general equation for entropy generation is derived based on the Second Law of thermodynamics. Assumptions such as Rott’s linear thermo-acoustic approximation, boundary layer type flow, etc. are made to simplify the governing continuity, momentum and energy equations to achieve analytical solutions for velocity and temperature. The entropy generation equation is also simplified based on the same assumptions and then is converted to dimensionless form by using characteristic entropy generation. A time averaged entropy generation rate followed by a global entropy generation rate are calculated and graphically represented for further analysis and inspecting the effect of different parameters on the entropy generation.

Keywords: thermo-acoustics, entropy, second law of thermodynamics, Rott’s linear thermo-acoustic approximation

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Authors: M. Shoukath Ali, Rajendra Prasad Singh

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Game Theory approaches and their application in improving the performance of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are discussed in this paper. The mathematical modeling and analysis of WSNs may have low success rate due to the complexity of topology, modeling, link quality, etc. However, Game Theory is a field, which can efficiently use to analyze the WSNs. Game Theory is related to applied mathematics that describes and analyzes interactive decision situations. Game theory has the ability to model independent, individual decision makers whose actions affect the surrounding decision makers. The outcome of complex interactions among rational entities can be predicted by a set of analytical tools. However, the rationality demands a stringent observance to a strategy based on measured of perceived results. Researchers are adopting game theory approaches to model and analyze leading wireless communication networking issues, which includes QoS, power control, resource sharing, etc.

Keywords: wireless sensor network, game theory, cooperative game theory, non-cooperative game theory

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Authors: Gurinder Singh Brar, Sarbjeet Singh, Harry Garg

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Wire Electric Discharge Machining (WEDM) is thermal machining process capable of machining very hard electrically conductive material irrespective of their hardness. WEDM is being widely used to machine micro-scale parts with the high dimensional accuracy and surface finish. The objective of this paper is to optimize the process parameters of wire EDM to fabricate the microchannels and to calculate the surface finish and material removal rate of microchannels fabricated using wire EDM. The material used is aluminum 6061 alloy. The experiments were performed using CNC wire cut electric discharge machine. The effect of various parameters of WEDM like pulse on time (TON) with the levels (100, 150, 200), pulse off time (TOFF) with the levels (25, 35, 45) and current (IP) with the levels (105, 110, 115) were investigated to study the effect on output parameter i.e. Surface Roughness and Material Removal Rate (MRR). Each experiment was conducted under different conditions of a pulse on time, pulse off time and peak current. For material removal rate, TON and Ip were the most significant process parameter. MRR increases with the increase in TON and Ip and decreases with the increase in TOFF. For surface roughness, TON and Ip have the maximum effect and TOFF was found out to be less effective.

Keywords: microchannels, Wire Electric Discharge Machining (WEDM), Metal Removal Rate (MRR), surface finish

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Authors: Oman Sukmana

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Geographically, Indonesia appears to be disaster-prone areas, whether for natural, nonnatural (man-made), or social disasters. This study aimed to construct the knowledge and social wisdom on the local community in the process of disaster management after the eruption of Mt. Kelud. This study, moreover, encompassed two major concerns: (1) the construction of knowledge and social wisdom on the local community in the process of disaster management after the eruption of Mt. Kelud; (2) the conceptual framework of disaster management on the basis of knowledge and social wisdom on the local community. The study was conducted by means of qualitative approach. The data were analyzed by using the qualitative-descriptive technique. The data collection techniques used in this study were in-depth interview, focus group discussion, observation, and documentation. It was conducted at Pandansari Village, Sub-district Ngantang, District Malang as the most at risk area of Mt. Kelud’s eruption. The purposive sampling was applied ad hoc to select the respondents including: the apparatus of Pandansari Village, the local figures of Pandansari Village, the Chief and Boards of the Forum of Disaster Risk Reduction (FPRB), the Head of Malang Regional Disaster Management Agency, and other agencies. The findings of this study showed that the local community has already possessed the adequate knowledge and social wisdom to overcome the disaster. Through the social wisdom, the local community could predict the potential eruption.

Keywords: knowledge, social and local wisdom, disaster management

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Authors: Mohammed Buhaya

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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the decision, implementation process and the outcomes of the introduction of the balanced scorecard in a developing country having particular regard to the impacts of agency and institutional, endogenous and exogenous. Design/methodology/approach: This study builds on a longitudinal explanatory case study, an institutional framework, especially Ter-Bogt and Scapens (2014) framework. Findings: Empirical findings drawn from a telecom company indicate that the dynamics of change of the company are influenced by the interconnection of external institutions and the company's situation and internal institutions encompassing issues of power, politics, and culture. Organizational practice introduced to secure external legitimacy is not always the case. The adoption of the balanced scorecard was the instrumental manner and had revolutionary change. Originality/value: In contrast to much previous research on management accounting practice, the paper analyses the process of change in one of developing country. The study also sheds new light on the power of religion as one of institutional logics and how this logic rises to potential to influence management accounting change among actors and achieving the company’s targets. This paper highlights how the culture and values can play a vital role in making the process of change smoother.

Keywords: balanced scorecard, institutional, management accounting practice, rules, and routines

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Authors: Robert Gilliland

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In any organization, a potential issue can arise and become a problem when management deviates from the standard norms set in the system development process of an IT system and the policies that pertain to it. In these instances, cybersecurity is a big challenge that organizations have to face in safeguarding the data that they generate and use. When a new idea, task, or process begins, specific standards must be followed, along with the policies and procedures that ensure the safeguard of data in the information system within the company. A good IT Strategy and Policy should have individuals who are in charge of overseeing the design, development, implementation, and auditing of these policies. Auditors are people who check to make sure that the issue conforms with the plan that is in place. Management has the ability through the role of the manager to potentially abuse power is given and to direct specific ideas, events, projects, and outcomes that are contrary to the vision or goals of the company.

Keywords: strategic policy, policy management, new policy, strategic planning

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Authors: Martin Camps

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The two-thousand-mile border that divides the United States and Mexico is a “contact zone” of cultural friction and unbalanced power relations as defined by Mary Louise Pratt. The interest of this paper is to analyze digital platforms created to address the study and comprehension of the borderlands with pedagogical and research reasons. The paper explores ways to engage students in archival and analytical practices to build a repository of resources, links, and digital tools and consider how to adapt them to the study of the borderlands. Sites such as “Torn Apart / Separados,” “Digital Borderlands,” “Borderlands Archives Cartography,” and “Juaritos Literario” show visualizations, mapping, and access to materials and marginal literature on the border phenomenon. Analyzing these projects contributes to highlighting digital projects and the study of the border and how to engage in activism via the study of literature and the representation of a human tragedy that underscores the divisions and biopolitics imposed on the Global South and imagine the digital border futures.

Keywords: borderlands, digital humanities, activism, border literature

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Authors: Said Boukais, Ali Kezmane, Kahil Amar, Mohand Hamizi, Hannachi Neceur Eddine

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This paper presents an analytical study on the behavior of rectangular reinforced concrete walls with an aspect ratio between one and tow. Several experiments on such walls have been selected to be studied. Database from various experiments were collected and nominal wall strengths have been calculated using formulas, such as those of the ACI (American), NZS (New Zealand), Mexican (NTCC), and Wood equation for shear and strain compatibility analysis for flexure. Subsequently, nominal ultimate wall strengths from the formulas were compared with the ultimate wall strengths from the database. These formulas vary substantially in functional form and do not account for all variables that affect the response of walls. There is substantial scatter in the predicted values of ultimate strength. New semi empirical equation are developed using data from tests of 46 walls with the objective of improving the prediction of ultimate strength of walls with the most possible accuracy and for all failure modes.

Keywords: prediction, ultimate strength, reinforced concrete walls, walls, rectangular walls

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Authors: Alexandre Barbosa de Almeida, Telma Woerle de Lima Soares

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Protein structure prediction is a challenging task in the bioinformatics field. The biological function of all proteins majorly relies on the shape of their three-dimensional conformational structure, but less than 1% of all known proteins in the world have their structure solved. This work proposes a deep learning model to address this problem, attempting to predict some aspects of the protein conformations. Throughout a process of multiobjective dominance, a recurrent neural network was trained to abstract the particular bias of each individual multiobjective algorithm, generating a heuristic that could be useful to predict some of the relevant aspects of the three-dimensional conformation process formation, known as protein folding.

Keywords: Ab initio heuristic modeling, multiobjective optimization, protein structure prediction, recurrent neural network

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Authors: Despina Vamvuka, Despina Pentari

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Forestry wastes are readily available in large quantities around the world. Based on European Green Deal for the deployment of renewable and decarbonized energy by 2050, as well as global energy crisis, energy recovery from such wastes reducing greenhouse gas emissions is very attractive. Gasification has superior environmental performance to combustion, producing a clean fuel gas utilized in internal combustion engines, gas turbines, solid oxide fuel cells, or for synthesis of liquid bio-fuels and value-added chemicals. In this work, pine needles, which are abundantly found in Mediterranean countries, were gasified by either steam or carbon dioxide via a two-step process to improve reactivity and eliminate tar, employing a fixed bed unit and a thermal analysis system. Solid, liquid and gaseous products from the whole process were characterized and their energy potential was determined. Thermal behaviour, reactivity, conversion and energy recovery were examined. The gasification process took place above 650°C. At 950°C conversion and energy recovery were 77% dry and 2 under a flow of steam and 85% dry and 2.9 under a flow of carbon dioxide, respectively. Organic matter was almost completely converted to syngas, the yield of which varied between 89% and 99%. The higher heating values of biochar, bio-oil and pyrolysis gas were 27.8 MJ/kg, 33.5 MJ/kg and 13.6 MJ/m3. Upon steam or carbon dioxide gasification, the higher heating value of syngas produced was 11.5 MJ/m3 and 12.7 MJ/m3, respectively.

Keywords: gasification, biomass, steam, carbon dioxide

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Authors: Liu M. Hanmin

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Wong Kar-Wai’s multi-genre film 2046, world premiered in 2004, comes with a vibrant mediascape made up of multiple named languages, code-switching, intertitles, news footage from the real world, and extra-linguistic means of communication. In film- and multilingual studies it is still a challenge to incorporate non-languages into an analytical framework with conventional languages. This paper uses translanguaging theory to read silent practices in Wong Kar-Wai’ 2046. Two scenes that feature the silence experience the most are taken as case studies. In these two scenes, we can identify two tropes of intersemiotic relationships that are co-articulated by silence: patriarchy and unfinished romance, respectively. The conclusion argues that silence in Wong Kar-Wai’s 2046 exerts multimodal agency by ‘speaking’ directly to the audience and in mutual directions to characters. Thereby, it moves beyond the passive role of merely accentuating or assisting the aural register of a film.

Keywords: translanguaging, Wong Kar-Wai, multimodality, semiotics, inter semiotics, Hong Kong media, film culture

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Authors: Olawale S. Fatoba, Stephen A. Akinlabi, Esther T. Akinlabi, Rezvan Gharehbaghi

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The performance of material surface under wear and corrosion environments cannot be fulfilled by the conventional surface modifications and coatings. Therefore, different industrial sectors need an alternative technique for enhanced surface properties. Titanium and its alloys possess poor tribological properties which limit their use in certain industries. This paper focuses on the effect of hybrid coatings Al-Cu-Fe on a grade five titanium alloy using laser metal deposition (LMD) process. Icosahedral Al-Cu-Fe as quasicrystals is a relatively new class of materials which exhibit unusual atomic structure and useful physical and chemical properties. A 3kW continuous wave ytterbium laser system (YLS) attached to a KUKA robot which controls the movement of the cladding process was utilized for the fabrication of the coatings. The titanium cladded surfaces were investigated for its hardness, corrosion and tribological behaviour at different laser processing conditions. The samples were cut to corrosion coupons, and immersed into 3.65% NaCl solution at 28oC using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and Linear Polarization (LP) techniques. The cross-sectional view of the samples was analysed. It was found that the geometrical properties of the deposits such as width, height and the Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) of each sample remarkably increased with increasing laser power due to the laser-material interaction. It was observed that there are higher number of aluminum and titanium presented in the formation of the composite. The indentation testing reveals that for both scanning speed of 0.8 m/min and 1m/min, the mean hardness value decreases with increasing laser power. The low coefficient of friction, excellent wear resistance and high microhardness were attributed to the formation of hard intermetallic compounds (TiCu, Ti2Cu, Ti3Al, Al3Ti) produced through the in situ metallurgical reactions during the LMD process. The load-bearing capability of the substrate was improved due to the excellent wear resistance of the coatings. The cladded layer showed a uniform crack free surface due to optimized laser process parameters which led to the refinement of the coatings.

Keywords: Al-Cu-Fe coating, corrosion, intermetallics, laser metal deposition, Ti-6Al-4V alloy, wear resistance

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Authors: W. Sun, W. Wen, J. Lu, A. A. Becker

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In this work, methods for determining creep properties which can be used to represent the full life until failure from miniature specimen creep tests based on analytical solutions are presented. Examples used to demonstrate the application of the methods include a miniature rectangular thin beam specimen creep test under three-point bending and a miniature two-material tensile specimen creep test subjected to a steady load. Mathematical expressions for deflection and creep strain rate of the two specimens were presented for the Kachanov-Rabotnov creep damage model. On this basis, an inverse procedure was developed which has potential applications for deriving the full life creep damage constitutive properties from a very small volume of material, in particular, for various microstructure constitutive  regions, e.g. within heat-affected zones of power plant pipe weldments. Further work on validation and improvement of the method is addressed.

Keywords: creep damage property, miniature specimen, inverse approach, finite element modeling

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Authors: Khalid Mujaljal, Hassan Alhajhoj

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This paper empirically investigates the influence of oil price fluctuations on the key macroeconomic variables of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using unrestricted VAR methodology. Two analytical tools- Granger-causality and variance decomposition are used. The Granger-causality test reveals that almost all specifications of oil price shocks significantly Granger-cause GDP and demonstrates evidence of causality between oil price changes and money supply (M3) and consumer price index percent (CPIPC) in the case of positive oil price shocks. Surprisingly, almost all specifications of oil price shocks do not Granger-cause government expenditure. The outcomes from variance decomposition analysis suggest that positive oil shocks contribute about 25 percent in causing inflation in the country. Also, contribution of symmetric linear oil price shocks and asymmetric positive oil price shocks is significant and persistent with 25 percent explaining variation in world consumer price index till end of the period.

Keywords: Granger causality, oil prices changes, Saudi Arabian economy, variance decomposition

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Authors: Sao-Jeng Chao, Wen-Cheng Chen, Wei-Humg Lu

Abstract:

In order to prevent encountering unpredictable factors, geotechnical engineers always conduct numerical analysis for braced excavation design. Simulation work in advance can predict the response of subsequent excavation and thus will be designed to increase the security coefficient of construction. The parameters that are considered include geological conditions, soil properties, soil distributions, loading types, and the analysis and design methods. National Ilan University is located on the LanYang plain, mainly deposited by clayey soil and loose sand, and thus is vulnerable to external influence displacement. National Ilan University experienced a construction of braced excavation with a complete program of monitoring excavation. This study takes advantage of a one-dimensional finite element method RIDO to simulate the excavation process. The predicted results from numerical simulation analysis are compared with the monitored results of construction to explore the differences between them. Numerical simulation analysis of the excavation process can be used to analyze retaining structures for the purpose of understanding the relationship between the displacement and supporting system. The resulting deformation and stress distribution from the braced excavation cab then be understand in advance. The problems can be prevented prior to the construction process, and thus acquire all the affected important factors during design and construction.

Keywords: excavation, numerical simulation, RIDO, retaining structure

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