Search results for: radio signal service

Authors: Daniela Stephanie Kuenstle

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Complex industries such as banking or insurance experience slow growth in mobile sales. While today’s mobile applications are sophisticated and enable location based and personalized services, consumers prefer online or even face-to-face services to complete complex transactions. A possible reason for this reluctance is that the provided service within transactional mobile applications (apps) does not adequately correspond to users’ needs. Therefore, this paper examines the impact of the user context on mobile service (m-service) in m-commerce. Motivated by the potential which context-sensitive m-services hold for the future, the impact of temporal variations as a dimension of user context, on m-service design is examined. In particular, the research question asks: Does consumer urgency function as a determinant of m-service composition in transactional apps by moderating the relation between m-service type and m-service success? Thus, the aim is to explore the moderating influence of urgency on m-service types, which includes Technology Mediated Service and Technology Generated Service. While mobile applications generally comprise features of both service types, this thesis discusses whether unexpected urgency changes customer preferences for m-service types and how this consequently impacts the overall m-service success, represented by purchase intention, loyalty intention and service quality. An online experiment with a random sample of N=1311 participants was conducted. Participants were divided into four treatment groups varying in m-service types and urgency level. They were exposed to two different urgency scenarios (high/ low) and two different app versions conveying either technology mediated or technology generated service. Subsequently, participants completed a questionnaire to measure the effectiveness of the manipulation as well as the dependent variables. The research model was tested for direct and moderating effects of m-service type and urgency on m-service success. Three two-way analyses of variance confirmed the significance of main effects, but demonstrated no significant moderation of urgency on m-service types. The analysis of the gathered data did not confirm a moderating effect of urgency between m-service type and service success. Yet, the findings propose an additive effects model with the highest purchase and loyalty intention for Technology Generated Service and high urgency, while Technology Mediated Service and low urgency demonstrate the strongest effect for service quality. The results also indicate an antagonistic relation between service quality and purchase intention depending on the level of urgency. Although a confirmation of the significance of this finding is required, it suggests that only service convenience, as one dimension of mobile service quality, delivers conditional value under high urgency. This suggests a curvilinear pattern of service quality in e-commerce. Overall, the paper illustrates the complex interplay of technology, user variables, and service design. With this, it contributes to a finer-grained understanding of the relation between m-service design and situation dependency. Moreover, the importance of delivering situational value with apps depending on user context is emphasized. Finally, the present study raises the demand to continue researching the impact of situational variables on m-service design in order to develop more sophisticated m-services.

Keywords: mobile consumer behavior, mobile service design, mobile service success, self-service technology, situation dependency, user-context sensitivity

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Authors: M. Pramila Devi, J. Praveena

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In today’s industrial scenario, the expectations and demand of customers are reaching great heights. In order to satisfy the customer requirements the users are increasingly turning towards fourth party logistics (4PL) service providers to manage their total supply chain operations. In this present research, initially, the criteria for the selection of integrated service providers have been identified and an integrated modal based on their inter-relationship has been developed with help of shippers, with this idea of what factors to be considered and their inter-relationships while selecting integrated service provider. Later, various methods deriving the priority weights viz. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) have been employed for 4PL service provider selection. The derived priorities of 4PL alternatives using methods have been critically analyzed and compared for effective selection. The use of the modal indicates that the computed quantitative evaluation can be applied to improve the precision of the selection.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process, fourth party logistics, priority weight, criteria selection

Procedia PDF Downloads 432

Authors: Ying Han, Yuanxiang Chen, Yongtao Huang, Jia Fu, Kaile Li, Shangjing Lin, Jianguo Yu

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In long-haul and high-speed optical transmission system, the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal suffers various linear and non-linear impairments. In recent years, researchers have proposed compensation schemes for specific impairment, and the effects are remarkable. However, different impairment compensation algorithms have caused an increase in transmission delay. With the widespread application of deep neural networks (DNN) in communication, multi-impairment compensation based on DNN will be a promising scheme. In this paper, we propose and apply DNN to compensate multi-impairment of 16-QAM coherent optical OFDM signal, thereby improving the performance of the transmission system. The trained DNN models are applied in the offline digital signal processing (DSP) module of the transmission system. The models can optimize the constellation mapping signals at the transmitter and compensate multi-impairment of the OFDM decoded signal at the receiver. Furthermore, the models reduce the peak to average power ratio (PAPR) of the transmitted OFDM signal and the bit error rate (BER) of the received signal. We verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme for 16-QAM Coherent Optical OFDM signal and demonstrate and analyze transmission performance in different transmission scenarios. The experimental results show that the PAPR and BER of the transmission system are significantly reduced after using the trained DNN. It shows that the DNN with specific loss function and network structure can optimize the transmitted signal and learn the channel feature and compensate for multi-impairment in fiber transmission effectively.

Keywords: coherent optical OFDM, deep neural network, multi-impairment compensation, optical transmission

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Authors: Hassan Baji, Chun-Qing Li, Wei Yang

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Water seepage is one of the most common causes of damage in tunnel structures, which can cause direct and indirect e.g. reinforcement corrosion and calcium leaching damages. Estimation of water seepage or inflow is one of the main challenges in probabilistic assessment of tunnels. The methodology proposed in this study is an attempt for mathematically modeling the water seepage in tunnel structures and further predicting its service life. Using the time-dependent reliability, water seepage is formulated as a failure mode, which can be used for prediction of service life. Application of the formulated seepage failure mode to a case study tunnel is presented.

Keywords: water seepage, tunnels, time-dependent reliability, service life

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Authors: Sakapas Saengchai

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This research has objective to study and analysis, expending linkage of trading border of Thai-Myanmar and the way of development trading of Thai-Myanmar border. There are advantage of competition in ASEAN Community on collection data and observation, in-depth interview, group conversation and exchange opinion of public agency, entrepreneur and people. Result of study found that main development of border trade is 1) Cross-border service should be development infrastructure of land telecommunication, sea has support economics of cross-border trade, 2) International consumption service should be expand service with Myanmar and India for linkage with entrepreneur and trading from international to Thailand, 3) Establish business for provide service has development cooperation of logistics via Andaman of Thailand, and 4) Mobility personnel, exchange personnel including labor for development potential of border trade has competition advantage.

Keywords: border trade, development, service, ASEAN

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Authors: Tahir Saleem, Mohammad Usman, Nadeem Khan

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GPS signals are used for navigation and positioning purposes by a diverse set of users. However, this project intends to utilize the reflected GPS L5 signals for location of target in a region of interest by generating an image that highlights the positions of targets in the area of interest. The principle of bi-static radar is used to detect the targets or any movement or changes. The idea is confirmed by the results obtained during MATLAB simulations. A matched filter based technique is employed in the signal processing to improve the system resolution. The simulation is carried out under different conditions with moving receiver and targets. Noise and attenuation is also induced and atmospheric conditions that affect the direct and reflected GPS signals have been simulated to generate a more practical scenario. A realistic GPS L5 signal has been simulated, the simulation results verify that the detection and imaging of targets is possible by employing reflected GPS using L5 signals and matched filter processing technique with acceptable spatial resolution.

Keywords: GPS, L5 Signal, SAR, spatial resolution

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Authors: H. Emari, Z. Emari

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The main objective of this research was to determine the dimensions of service quality in the banking industry of Iran. For this purpose, the study empirically examined the European perspective suggesting that service quality consists of three dimensions, technical, functional and image. This research is an applied research and its strategy is casual strategy. A standard questionnaire was used for collecting the data. 287 customers of Melli Bank of Northwest were selected through cluster sampling and were studied. The results from a banking service sample revealed that the overall service quality is influenced more by a consumer’s perception of technical quality than functional quality. Accordingly, the Gronroos model is a more appropriate representation of service quality than the American perspective with its limited concentration on the dimension of functional quality in the banking industry of Iran. So, knowing the key dimensions of the quality of services in this industry and planning for their improvement can increase the satisfaction of customers and productivity of this industry.

Keywords: technical quality, functional quality, banking, image, mediating role

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Authors: Wajeeh Daher, Nimer Baya'a

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High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) are suggested today as essential for the cognitive development of students and as preparing them for real life skills. Teachers are encouraged to use HOTS activities in the classroom to help their students develop higher order skills and deep thinking. So it is essential to prepare pre-service teachers to write and use HOTS activities for their students. This paper describes a model for integrating HOTS activities with GeoGebra in pre-service teachers’ preparation. This model describes four aspects of HOTS activities and working with them: Activity components, preparation procedure, strategies and processes used in writing a HOTS activity and types of the HOTS activities. In addition, the paper describes the pre-service teachers' difficulties in preparing and working with HOTS activities, as well as their perceptions regarding the use of these activities and GeoGebra in the mathematics classroom. The paper also describes the contribution of a HOTS activity to pupils' learning of mathematics, where this HOTS activity was prepared and taught by one pre-service teacher.

Keywords: high order thinking skills, HOTS activities, pre-service teachers, professional development

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Authors: Hiroyuki Aoki

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The optoacoustic effect is the energy conversion phenomenon from light to sound. In recent years, this optoacoustic effect has been utilized for an imaging agent to visualize a tumor site in a living body. The optoacoustic imaging agent absorbs the light and emits the sound signal. The sound wave can propagate in a living organism with a small energy loss; therefore, the optoacoustic imaging method enables the molecular imaging of the deep inside of the body. In order to improve the imaging quality of the optoacoustic method, the more signal intensity is desired; however, it has been difficult to enhance the signal intensity of the optoacoustic imaging agent because the fundamental mechanism of the signal generation is unclear. This study deals with the mechanism to generate the sound wave signal from the optoacoustic imaging agent following the light absorption by experimental and theoretical approaches. The optoacoustic signal efficiency for the nano-particles consisting of metal and polymer were compared, and it was found that the polymer particle was better. The heat generation and transfer process for optoacoustic agents of metal and polymer were theoretically examined. It was found that heat generated in the metal particle rapidly transferred to the water medium, whereas the heat in the polymer particle was confined in itself. The confined heat in the small particle induces the massive volume expansion, resulting in the large optoacoustic signal for the polymeric particle agent. Thus, we showed that heat confinement is a crucial factor in designing the highly efficient optoacoustic imaging agent.

Keywords: nano-particle, opto-acoustic effect, in vivo imaging, molecular imaging

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Authors: G. R. Kavitha, T. S. Indumathi

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With the constantly rising demands of the multimedia services, the requirements of long haul transport network are constantly changing in the area of optical network. Maximum data transmission using optimization of the communication channel poses the biggest challenge. Although there has been a constant focus on this area from the past decade, there was no evidence of a significant result that has been accomplished. Hence, after reviewing some potential design of optical network from literatures, it was understood that optical signal to noise ratio was one of the elementary attributes that can define the performance of the optical network. In this paper, we propose a framework termed as ECON (Enhanced Constraint-based Optical Network) that primarily optimize the optical signal to noise ratio using ROADM. The simulation is performed in Matlab and optical signal to noise ratio is extracted considering the system matrix. The outcome of the proposed study shows that optimized OSNR as compared to the existing studies.

Keywords: component, optical network, reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer, optical signal-to-noise ratio

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Authors: Alexander Peikos, Carole Binsfeld

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The aim of this paper is to determine a thermally comfortable air temperature in an automated living room. This calculated temperature should serve as input for a user-specific and dynamic heating control in such a living space. In addition to the usual physical factors (air temperature, humidity, air velocity, and radiation temperature), individual clothing and activity should be taken into account. The calculation of such a temperature is based on different methods and indices which are usually used for the evaluation of the thermal comfort. The thermal insulation of the worn clothing is determined with a Radio Frequency Identification system. The activity performed is only taken into account indirectly through the generated heart rate. All these methods are ultimately very well suited for use in temperature regulation in an automated home, but still require further research and extensive evaluation.

Keywords: smart home, thermal comfort, predicted mean vote, radio frequency identification

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Authors: Duckyong Kim, Jong Kang Park, Jong Tae Kim

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DOA (Direction of Arrival) estimation is an important method in array signal processing and has a wide range of applications such as direction finding, beam forming, and so on. In this paper, we briefly introduce the MUSIC (Multiple Signal Classification) Algorithm, one of DOA estimation methods for analyzing several targets. Then we apply the MUSIC algorithm to the two-dimensional antenna array to analyze DOA estimation in 3D space through MATLAB simulation. We also analyze the design factors that can affect the accuracy of DOA estimation through simulation, and proceed with further consideration on how to apply the system.

Keywords: DOA estimation, MUSIC algorithm, spatial spectrum, array signal processing

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Authors: Ahmad Mohsin, Syda Fatima, Falak Nawaz, Aman Ullah Khan

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Selection of an appropriate architectural style is vital to the success of target web service under development. The nature of architecture design and selection for service-oriented computing applications is quite different as compared to traditional software. Web Services have complex and rigorous architectural styles to choose. Due to this, selection for accurate architectural style for web services development has become a more complex decision to be made by architects. Architectural style selection is a multi-criteria decision and demands lots of experience in service oriented computing. Decision support systems are good solutions to simplify the selection process of a particular architectural style. Our research suggests a new approach using DSS for selection of architectural styles while developing a web service to cater FRs and NFRs. Our proposed DSS helps architects to select right web service architectural pattern according to the domain and non-functional requirements. In this paper, a rule base DSS has been developed using CLIPS (C Language Integrated Production System) to support decisions using multi-criteria requirements. This DSS takes architectural characteristics, domain requirements and software architect preferences for NFRs as input for different architectural styles in use today in service-oriented computing. Weighted sum model has been applied to prioritize quality attributes and domain requirements. Scores are calculated using multiple criterions to choose the final architecture style.

Keywords: software architecture, web-service, rule-based, DSS, multi-criteria requirements, quality attributes

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Authors: Siti Aisyah binti Jumpaan

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21ˢᵗ century skills (PAK-21) integration has made its way into Malaysian curriculum when Ministry of Education introduce its implementation since 2016. This study was conducted to explore pre-service teachers’ readiness in integrating 21st century skills in the classroom via the digital storytelling (DST) method and to find gaps between theory and practice that can be integral towards pre-service teachers’ professional growth. Qualitative research method was used in this research involving six respondents who were selected using a purposive sampling method. Their response from interviews and lesson plan analysis were analysed using narrative analysis. The findings showed that pre-service teachers showed a moderate level of readiness in integrating 21st century skills using DST. Pre-service teachers demonstrated high level of preparedness in writing their lesson plan, but their interview revealed that they faced struggles in implementation due to several factors, such as lack of technology and failure to obtain students’ participation. This study further strengthens the need for specialised curriculum for pre-service teachers in teaching 21st century skills via DST.

Keywords: digital storytelling, 21ˢᵗ century skills, preservice teachers, teacher training

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Authors: T. M. Al Muhareb

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Any organization should take into consideration the customers’ satisfaction while providing any service to their customers. The quality of services is always considered as the main aspect that attracts the customers’ attention and helps the airports to develop their services and operations. King Khalid International Airport is considered as the gateway of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to identify the quality service in the departure area at in King Khalid Airport. The SERVQUAL questionnaire was distributed among the passengers in King Khalid International Airport and the respondents have reached to 500 passengers. The results that are obtained from the SERVQUAL questionnaire showed that the quality of airport’s services is low.

Keywords: service quality, SERVQUAL methodology, King Khalid International Airport (KKIA), customers’ satisfaction

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Authors: Liya Shan, Qing Liao, Qinyue Hu, Shantao Jiang, Tao Wang

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In this paper, a Quality of Experience (QoE)-driven cross-layer resource allocation scheme for high traffic service over Open Wireless Network (OWN) downlink is proposed, and the related problem about the users in the whole cell including the users in overlap region of different cells has been solved.A method, in which assess models of the BestEffort service and the no-reference assess algorithm for video service are adopted, to calculate the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) value for high traffic service has been introduced. The cross-layer architecture considers the parameters in application layer, media access control layer and physical layer jointly. Based on this architecture and the MOS value, the Binary Constrained Particle Swarm Optimization (B_CPSO) algorithm is used to solve the cross-layer resource allocation problem. In addition,simulationresults show that the proposed scheme significantly outperforms other schemes in terms of maximizing average users’ MOS value for the whole system as well as maintaining fairness among users.

Keywords: high traffic service, cross-layer resource allocation, QoE, B_CPSO, OWN

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Authors: Nicolas Haber

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The study addresses the design process of integrated product-service offerings as a measure of answering environmental sustainability concerns by replacing stand-alone physical artefacts with comprehensive solutions relying on functional results rather than conventional product sales. However, views regarding this transformation are dissimilar and differentiated: The study discusses the importance and requirements of product-service systems before analysing the theoretical studies accomplished in the extent of their design and development processes. Based on this, a framework, built on a design science approach, is proposed, where the distinct approaches from the literature are merged towards a unified structure serving as a generic methodology to designing product-service systems. Each stage of this model is then developed to present a holistic design proposal called the Functional Engineered Product-Service System (FEPSS) model. Product-service systems are portrayed as customisable solutions tailored to specific settings and defined circumstances. Moreover, the approaches adopted to guide the design process are diversified. A thorough analysis of the design strategies and development processes however, allowed the extraction of a design backbone, valid to varied situations and contexts whether they are product-oriented, use-oriented or result-oriented. The goal is to guide manufacturers towards an eased adoption of these integrated offerings, given their inherited environmental benefits, by proposing a robust all-purpose design process.

Keywords: functional product, integrated product-service offerings, product-service systems, sustainable design

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Authors: Adekunle K. O, Adeniyi A. E, Kolawole E

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One of the most dramatic trends in the communications market in recent years has been the growth of prepaid services. Today, prepaid no longer constitutes the low-revenue, basic-service segment. It is driven by a high margin, value-add service customers who view it as a convenient way of retaining control over their usage and communication spending while expecting high service levels. To service providers, prepaid services offer the advantage of reducing bad accounts while allowing them to predict usage and plan network resources. Yet, the real-time demands of prepaid services require a scalable, real-time platform to manage customers through their entire life cycle. It delivers integrated real-time rating, voucher management, recharge management, customer care and service provisioning for the generation of new prepaid services. It carries high scalability that can handle millions of prepaid customers in real-time through their entire life cycle.

Keywords: prepaid billing, voucher management, customers, automated, security

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Authors: Tawfik Thelaidjia, Salah Chenikher

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Bearing fault diagnosis has attracted significant attention over the past few decades. It consists of two major parts: vibration signal feature extraction and condition classification for the extracted features. In this paper, feature extraction from faulty bearing vibration signals is performed by a combination of the signal’s Kurtosis and features obtained through the preprocessing of the vibration signal samples using Db2 discrete wavelet transform at the fifth level of decomposition. In this way, a 7-dimensional vector of the vibration signal feature is obtained. After feature extraction from vibration signal, the support vector machine (SVM) was applied to automate the fault diagnosis procedure. To improve the classification accuracy for bearing fault prediction, particle swarm optimization (PSO) is employed to simultaneously optimize the SVM kernel function parameter and the penalty parameter. The results have shown feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach

Keywords: condition monitoring, discrete wavelet transform, fault diagnosis, kurtosis, machine learning, particle swarm optimization, roller bearing, rotating machines, support vector machine, vibration measurement

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Authors: Saddikuti Venkataramanaiah, N Ravichandran

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The main focus of this paper is to highlight the challenges faced by the world’s largest pilgrimage center in providing free-of-cost luggage handling services to visiting pilgrims. The service was managed by a third-party agency selected based on a competitive bidding process. The third-party agency is responsible for providing timely, reliable, and secure services to the pilgrims. The methodology includes field visits and interaction with pilgrims, service providers, and other stakeholders of the system. Based on a detailed analysis of the information/data gathered, various innovations implemented and implications for policy making and sustainable service delivery were suggested.

Keywords: luggage handling, sustainable, service delivery, third party logistics, innovation

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Authors: Fatemeh Babaeian, Nemai Chandra Karmakar

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Chipless RFID system is a wireless system for tracking and identification which use passive tags for encoding data. The advantage of using chipless RFID tag is having a planar tag which is printable on different low-cost materials like paper and plastic. The printed tag can be attached to different items in the labelling level. Since the price of chipless RFID tag can be as low as a fraction of a cent, this technology has the potential to compete with the conventional optical barcode labels. However, due to the passive structure of the tag, data processing of the reflection signal is a crucial challenge. The captured reflected signal from a tag attached to an item consists of different components which are the reflection from the reader antenna, the reflection from the item, the tag structural mode RCS component and the antenna mode RCS of the tag. All these components are summed up in both time and frequency domains. The effect of reflection from the item and the structural mode RCS component can distort/saturate the frequency domain signal and cause difficulties in extracting the desired component which is the antenna mode RCS. Therefore, it is required to study the reflection of the tag in both time and frequency domains to have a better understanding of the nature of the captured chipless RFID signal. The other benefits of this study can be to find an optimised encoding technique in tag design level and to find the best processing algorithm the chipless RFID signal in decoding level. In this paper, the reflection from a typical backscattered chipless RFID tag with six resonances is analysed, and different components of the signal are separated in both time and frequency domains. Moreover, the time domain signal corresponding to each resonator of the tag is studied. The data for this processing was captured from simulation in CST Microwave Studio 2017. The outcome of this study is understanding different components of a measured signal in a chipless RFID system and a discovering a research gap which is a need to find an optimum detection algorithm for tag ID extraction.

Keywords: antenna mode RCS, chipless RFID tag, resonance, structural mode RCS

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Authors: Anthoni Jeorge

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Throughout the history of the world, servant leadership has been researched, and favourable results such as individual, team, and organizational have been linked to the construct. This research paper designates St. Camillus de Lellis, a practitioner of servant leadership and founder of the Ministers of the Sick as a servant leader in his approach to care for the sick. Service is the visible face of his servant leadership. First of all, despite many challenges, St. Camillus de Lellis practiced leadership by the example of compassionate service to the sick. Second, he made service to the sick the highest priority of his life. Third, Camillus displayed servant leadership such that his manner of leadership gave birth to a New School of Service to the Sick. The paper identifies the distinctive dimensions and essential elements which characterized his service-centered leadership. Furthermore, discuss the six major characteristics of a servant leader as set forth by St. Camillus’s life example. The research illustrates the transformational power of servant leadership infield healthcare in general and, in doing so, provides servant leadership seekers ways servant leadership can transform elder care in one’s own field (St. Camillus Health Systems). Thus, it ascertains that servant leadership is best-fit for humanized elder care. Supported by the review of literature, the paper ascertains that Camillus, by identifying himself with the sick, gained deeper insights concerning the pain and suffering of the population. Uniquely drawn from his true grit, Camillus’ service-centered leadership is value-based, people-oriented, and compassion-filled. His way of service to the sick is the prolongation of gestures of mercy and compassion. It is hoped that the results of this study will help health care workers and servant leadership practitioners to humanize elder care and cultivate servant leadership attitude in their health care services to the sick. By incorporating such service-oriented elements into their leadership orientation, health care workers will be true servant leaders of the sick.

Keywords: leadership, service, healthcare, compassion

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Authors: Amina Boukelkoul, Rahil Boukelkoul, Leila Maachia

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The cumulative vapors emitted from the service stations may represent a hazard to the environment and the population. Besides fuel spill and their penetration into deep soil layers are the main contributors to soil and ground-water contamination in the vicinity of the petrol stations. The amount of the effluents from the service stations depends on strategy of maintenance and the policy adopted by the management to reduce the pollution. One key of the proposed approach is the idea of managing the effluents from the service stations which can be captured via use of a finite state Markov chain. Such a model can be embedded within a probabilistic operation and maintenance simulation reflecting the action to be done. In this paper, an approach of estimating a probabilistic percentage of the amount of emitted pollutants is presented. The finite state Markov model is used for decision problems with number of determined periods (life cycle) to predict the amount according to various options of operation.

Keywords: environment, markov modeling, pollution, service station

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Authors: Chiedza Lebogang Gutu, Nester Rufaro Manuwa, Jean-Marie Mbuya

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In Johannesburg, Metropolitan customer expectations in the hospitality industry have rapidly been increasing which has lead to the need of improving service quality to help satisfy customer expectations. Businesses need to make sure that customer expectations are met, or find ways to control customer expectations. Therefore the purpose of the study is to investigate how customer expectations of services in bed and breakfast establishments affect the perceived quality of service. A quantitative approach was used through random sampling to collect descriptive and correlation study between customer expectations and perceived quality. Findings of the study indicated that customers at bed and breakfast generally expect a clean, friendly and safe environment that has a homely feel, while they are away from home. In addition, findings of the study also emphasised that the age-groups between 20 and 35 are more likely to travel, for business and vacation purposes, staying for more or less 3, have high expectations towards modern facilities and extras in the room such as coffee machines, and are more concerned about the service being provided quickly and right, and taking extra care to deal with problems promptly.

Keywords: Customer satisfaction, Service quality, Bed and breakfast, Customer retention

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Authors: Sirimanee Banjong

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This study aimed to 1) develop pre-service teachers’ leadership skills through camp-based learning, and 2) develop pre-service teachers’ teamwork skills through camp-based learning. An applied research methodology was used. The target group was derived from a purposive selection. It involved 32 fourth-year students in Early Childhood Education Program enrolling in a course entitled Seminar in Early Childhood Education provided during the second semester of the academic year 2013. The treatment was camp-based learning activities which applied a PDCA process including four stages: 1) plan, 2) do, 3) check, and 4) act. Research instruments were a learning camp program, a camp-based learning management plan, a 5-level assessment form for leadership skills and a 5-level assessment form for assessing teamwork skills. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results were: 1) pre-service teachers’ leadership skills yielded the before treatment average score at ¯("x" )=3.4, S.D.= 0.62 and the after-treatment average score at ¯("x" ) 4.29, S.D.=0.66 pre-service teachers’ teamwork skills yielded the before-treatment average score at ¯("x" )=3.31, S.D.= 0.60 and the after-treatment average score at ¯("x" )=4.42, S.D.= 0.66. Both differences were statistically significant at the .05 level. Thus, the pre-service teachers’ leadership and teamwork skills were significantly improved through the camp-based learning approach.

Keywords: learning camp, leadership skills, teamwork skills, pre-service teachers

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Authors: Daniella Kucsma

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The examination of the Privat Service Organization’s performance evaluation includes several steps that help Public organizations to develop a more efficient system. Public sector organizations have different characteristics than the competitive sector, so it can be stated that other/new elements become more important in their performance processes. The literature in this area is diverse, so highlighting an indicator system can be useful for introducing a system, but it is also worthwhile to measure the specific elements of the organization. In the case of a public service organization, due to the service obligation, it is usually possible to talk about a high number of users, so compliance is more difficult. For the organization, it is an important target to place great emphasis on the increase of service standards and the development of related processes. In this research, the health sector is given a prominent role, as it is a sensitive area where both organizational and individual performance is important for all participants. As a primary step, the content of the strategy is decisive, as this is important for the efficient structure of the process. When designing any system, it is important to review the expectations of the stakeholders, as this is primary when considering the design. The goal of this paper is to build the foundations of a performance management and indexing framework that can help a hospital to provide effective feedback and a direction that is important in assessing and developing a service and can become a management philosophy.

Keywords: health sector, public sector, performance management, strategy

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Authors: Leena Wanganoo

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In this digital age with the mushrooming of online companies across the globe has led to an unprecedented new business model. The frequency of online purchasing varies across the globe, but trend shows a steep upward movement. From Generation X to the Millennial the consumer not only wants to order the product with the click of mouse but also very demanding service quality during pre to post-transaction stage. The existing research examines the impact of website quality on the on behavioral intentions in e-services customers and has not adequately recognized the quality of e-commerce logistics perceived by the customer.In order to address this gap, this study examines the relationship among the logistics service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty. Drawing upon a sample of 350 millennial customers from various regions of UAE will work within the framework of structural equation modeling (SEM). Finally, the study would use Importance-Performance analysis (IPA) to discuss the relations of the level of customers’ expected logistics service quality and level of customers’ perceived logistics serviced quality.

Keywords: logistics service quality, customer satisfaction, loyalty, electronic commerce

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Authors: Frederic Fovet

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Inclusive provisions have been statutorily mandated in North America for now over two decades. Despite a growing body of literature around inclusive practices, many in-service teachers continue to express difficulties when it comes to tangible implementation of inclusion in the everyday classroom. While there is debate around the various forms inclusion can take (UDL, differentiation, personalization, etc.), there appears to be a more significant hurdle in getting in-service teachers to fully embrace inclusion both as a goal and a practice. This paper investigates teachers’ degree of awareness around the Social Model of Disability. It argues that teachers often lack basic awareness of disability studies, more particularly of the Social Model of Disability, and that this has a direct impact on their capacity to conceptualize and embrace inclusion. The paper draws from the researcher’s experience as a graduate instructor with in-service teachers, as well as from his experience as a consultant working with schools and school boards. The methodology chosen here is phenomenology, and it draws on tools such as auto-ethnography. The paper opens a discussion around the reform and transformation of pre-service teacher training. It argues that disability studies should be integrated into teacher training as it plays a key role in having teachers develop a theoretical understanding of disability as a social construct.

Keywords: disability, K-12, inclusion, social model, in-service teachers

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Authors: Animut Meseret Simachew

Abstract:

Parallel Code Phase Search Acquisition (PCSA) Algorithm has been considered as a promising method in GPS software receivers for detection and estimation of the accurate correlation peak between the received Global Positioning System (GPS) signal and locally generated replicas. GPS signal acquisition in highly dense multipath environments is the main research challenge. In this work, we proposed a robust variable step-size (RVSS) PCSA algorithm based on fast frequency transform (FFT) filtering technique to mitigate short time delay multipath signals. Simulation results reveal the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm over the conventional PCSA algorithm. The proposed RVSS-PCSA algorithm equalizes the received carrier wiped-off signal with locally generated C/A code.

Keywords: adaptive PCSA, detection and estimation, GPS signal acquisition, GPS software receiver

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Authors: Arslan Murtaza

Abstract:

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and WSN (Wireless sensor network) are two significant wireless technologies that have extensive diversity of applications and provide limitless forthcoming potentials. RFID is used to identify existence and location of objects whereas WSN is used to intellect and monitor the environment. Incorporating RFID with WSN not only provides identity and location of an object but also provides information regarding the condition of the object carrying the sensors enabled RFID tag. It can be widely used in stock management, asset tracking, asset counting, security, military, environmental monitoring and forecasting, healthcare, intelligent home, intelligent transport vehicles, warehouse management, and precision agriculture. This assessment presents a brief introduction of RFID, WSN, and integration of WSN and RFID, and then applications related to both RFID and WSN. This assessment also deliberates status of the projects on RFID technology carried out in different computing group projects to be taken on WSN and RFID technology.

Keywords: wireless sensor network, RFID, embedded sensor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, integration, time saving, cost efficient

Procedia PDF Downloads 334