Search results for: flexible packaging

Authors: Jinsiang Shaw, Shih-Chieh Tseng

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Active vibration control is good for low frequency excitation, with advantages of light weight and adaptability. This paper use a macro-fiber composite (MFC) actuator for vibration suppression in a cantilevered beam due to its higher output force to suppress the disturbance. A fuzzy sliding mode controller is developed and applied to this system. Experimental results illustrate that the controller and MFC actuator are very effective in attenuating the structural vibration near the first resonant freuqency. Furthermore, this controller is shown to outperform the traditional skyhook controller, with nearly 90% of the vibration suppressed at the first resonant frequency of the structure.

Keywords: Fuzzy sliding mode controller, macro-fiber-composite actuator, skyhook controller, vibration suppression

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Authors: Nishant Singh, Christian Huyck, Vaibhav Gandhi, Alexander Jones

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A robotic arm and hand controlled by simulated neurons is presented. The robot makes use of a biological neuron simulator using a point neural model. The neurons and synapses are organised to create a finite state automaton including neural inputs from sensors, and outputs to effectors. The robot performs a simple pick-and-place task. This work is a proof of concept study for a longer term approach. It is hoped that further work will lead to more effective and flexible robots. As another benefit, it is hoped that further work will also lead to a better understanding of human and other animal neural processing, particularly for physical motion. This is a multidisciplinary approach combining cognitive neuroscience, robotics, and psychology.

Keywords: cell assembly, force sensitive resistor, robot, spiking neuron

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Authors: L. Ponomarenko, Rachid Kaouar

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Morocco has rejoined the African Union and more than 30 years after it left the continental body due to the recognition of the Arabic Republic of Western Sahara. Morocco was readmitted after a one year campaign led by the King himself, who was visiting the Eastern African country with the aim to expend the kingdom presence in new region in Africa after that it managed to build a large influence net in the West Africa region. The return of Morocco can be a beginning of a new era in the foreign policy of Morocco, specially, in the policy towards the state-quo of the Western Sahara conflict, which is considerate as one the biggest obstacle for the cooperation and integration process in the region of North Africa. As a member-state of the African Union Morocco has lot more to lose, according to that the Moroccan position must be more flexible.

Keywords: African Union, Algeria, Morocco, North African Region, Western Sahara

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Authors: Kay Fielden, Eelin Tan, Lan Nguyen

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In this research project, data was gathered at a Covid 19 Conference held in June 2021 from industry leaders who discussed the impact of the global pandemic on the status of the New Zealand hospitality industry. Panel discussions on financials, human resources, health and safety, and recovery were conducted. The themes explored for the finance panel were customer demographics, hospitality sectors, financial practices, government impact, and cost of compliance. The aim was to see how the hospitality industry has responded to the global pandemic and the steps that have been taken for the industry to recover or sustain their business. The main research question for this qualitative study is: What are the factors that have impacted on finance for the hospitality industry in New Zealand due to Covid 19? For financials, literature has been gathered to study global effects, and this is being compared with the data gathered from the discussion panel through the lens of resilience theory. Resilience theory applied to the hospitality industry suggests that the challenges imposed by Covid 19 have been the catalyst for government initiatives, technical innovation, engaging local communities, and boosting confidence. Transformation arising from these ground shifts have been a move towards sustainability, wellbeing, more awareness of climate change, and community engagement. Initial findings suggest that there has been a shift in customer base that has prompted regional accommodation providers to realign offers and to become more flexible to attract and maintain this realigned customer base. Dynamic pricing structures have been required to meet changing customer demographics. Flexible staffing arrangements include sharing staff between different accommodation providers, owners with multiple properties adopting different staffing arrangements, maintaining a good working relationship with the bank, and conserving cash. Uncertain times necessitate changing revenue strategies to cope with external factors. Financial support offered by the government has cushioned the financial downturn for many in the hospitality industry, and managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) arrangements have offered immediate financial relief for those hotels involved. However, there is concern over the long-term effects. Compliance with mandated health and safety requirements has meant that the hospitality industry has streamlined its approach to meeting those requirements and has invested in customer relations to keep paying customers informed of the health measures in place. Initial findings from this study lie within the resilience theory framework and are consistent with findings from the literature.

Keywords: global pandemic, hospitality industry, new Zealand, resilience

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Authors: R. Mehta, M. Ghogomu, B. Schoel

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Reports appeared in 2020 about China detecting SARS-Cov-2 (Covid-19) on frozen meat, shrimp, and food packaging material. In this study, we examined the use of swabs for the detection of Covid-19 on meat samples, and chicken breast (CB) was used as a model. Methods: Heat inactivated SARS-Cov-2 virus (IV) from Microbiologics was loaded onto the CB, swabbing was done, and the recovered inactivated virus was subjected to the Machery & Nagel NucleoSpin RNAVirus kit for RNA isolation according to manufacturer's instructions. For RT-PCR, the IDT 2019-nCoV RUO Covid-19 test kit was used with the Taqman Fast Virus 1-step master mix. The limit of detection (LOD) of viral load recovered from the CB was determined under various conditions: first on frozen CB where the IV was introduced on a defined area, then on frozen CB, with IV spread-out, and finally, on thawed CB. Results: The lowest amount of IV which can be reliably detected on frozen CB was a load of 1,000 - 2,000 IV copies where the IV was loaded on one spot of about 1 square inch. Next, the IV was spread out over a whole frozen CB about 16 square inches. The IV could be recovered at a lowest load of 4,000 to 8,000 copies. Furthermore, the effects of temperature change on viral load recovery was investigated i.e., if raw unfrozen meat became contaminated and remains for 1 hour at 4°C or gets refrozen. The amount of IV recovered successfully from CB kept at 4°C and the refrozen CB was similar to the recovery gotten from loading the IV directly on the frozen CB. In conclusion, an assay using swabs was successfully established for the detection of SARS-Cov-2 on frozen or raw (unfrozen) CB with a minimal load of up to 8,000 copies spread over 16 square inches.

Keywords: assay, COVID-19, meat, SARS-Cov-2

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Authors: Amjaad Alsalamah, Liyakathunsia Syed

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Transportation is an essential need for many people to go to their work, school, and home. In particular, the main common method inside many cities is to drive the car. Driving a car can be an easy job to reach the destination and load all stuff in a reasonable time. However, deciding to find a parking lot for a car can take a long time using the traditional system that can issue a paper ticket for each customer. The old system cannot guarantee a parking lot for all customers. Also, payment methods are not always available, and many customers struggled to find their car among a numerous number of cars. As a result, this research focuses on providing an online smart parking system in order to save time and budget. This system provides a flexible management system for both parking owner and customers by receiving all request via the online system and it gets an accurate result for all available parking and its location.

Keywords: smart parking system, IoT, tracking system, process model, cost, time

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Authors: Jose D. Herrera, Mario A. Rios

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This paper deals with the coordinated tuning of the Power System Stabilizer (PSS) controller and Power Oscillation Damping (POD) Controller of Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) in a multi-machine power systems. The coordinated tuning is based on the critical eigenvalues of the power system and a model reduction technique where the Hankel Singular Value method is applied. Through the linearized system model and the parameter-constrained nonlinear optimization algorithm, it can compute the parameters of both controllers. Moreover, the parameters are optimized simultaneously obtaining the gains of both controllers. Then, the nonlinear simulation to observe the time response of the controller is performed.

Keywords: electromechanical oscillations, power system stabilizers, power oscillation damping, hankel singular values

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Authors: Ayşin Sev, Meltem Ezel

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Sustainability, being the urgent issue of our time, is closely related with the innovations in technology. Nanotechnology (NT), although not a new science, can be regarded relatively a new science for buildings with brand new materials and applications. This paper tends to give a research review of current and near future applications of nanotechnology (NT) for achieving high-performance and healthy buildings for a sustainable future. In the introduction, the driving forces for the sustainability of construction industry are explained. Then, the term NT is defined, and significance of innovations in NT for a sustainable construction industry is revealed. After presenting the application areas of NT and nanomaterials for buildings with a number of cases, challenges in the adoption of this technology are put forward, and finally the impacts of nanoparticles and nanomaterials on human health and environment are discussed.

Keywords: nanomaterial, self-healing concrete, self cleaning sensor, nanosensor, steel, wood, aerogel, flexible solar panel

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Authors: Pramod Ghadge, Swadesh Srivastava

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Revenue generation of a logistics company depends on how the logistics cost of a shipment is calculated. Logistics cost of a shipment is a function of distance & speed of the shipment travel in a particular network, its volumetric size and dead weight. Logistics billing is based mainly on the consumption of the scarce resource (space or weight carrying capacity of a carrier). Shipment’s size or deadweight is a function of product and packaging weight, dimensions and flexibility. Hence, to arrive at a standard methodology to compute accurate cost to bill the customer, the interplay among above mentioned physical attributes along with their measurement plays a key role. This becomes even more complex for an ecommerce company, like Flipkart, which caters to shipments from both warehouse and marketplace in an unorganized non-standard market like India. In this paper, we will explore various methodologies to define a standard way of billing the non-standard shipments across a wide range of size, shape and deadweight. Those will be, usage of historical volumetric/dead weight data to arrive at a factor which can be used to compute the logistics cost of a shipment, also calculating the real/contour volume of a shipment to address the problem of irregular shipment shapes which cannot be solved by conventional bounding box volume measurements. We will also discuss certain key business practices and operational quality considerations needed to bring standardization and drive appropriate ownership in the ecosystem.

Keywords: contour volume, logistics, real volume, volumetric weight

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Authors: Mohammad Hadi Jalali, Behrooz Shahriari, Mostafa Ghayour, Saeed Ziaei-Rad, Shahram Yousefi

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Most flexible rotors can be considered as beam-like structures. In many cases, rotors are modeled as one-dimensional bodies, made basically of beam-like shafts with rigid bodies attached to them. This approach is typical of rotor dynamics, both analytical and numerical, and several rotor dynamic codes, based on the finite element method, follow this trend. In this paper, a finite element model based on Timoshenko beam elements is utilized to analyze the lateral dynamic behavior of a certain rotor-bearing system in operating conditions.

Keywords: finite element method, Timoshenko beam elements, operational deflection shape, unbalance response

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Authors: Jinsiang Shaw, Jeng-Jie Huang

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Active vibration control is good for low frequency excitation, with advantages of light weight and adaptability. This paper employs a macro-fiber composite (MFC) actuator for vibration suppression in a cantilevered beam due to its higher output force to reject the disturbance. A notch filter with an adaptive tuning algorithm, the leaky filtered-X least mean square algorithm (leaky FXLMS algorithm), is developed and applied to the system. Experimental results show that the controller and MFC actuator was very effective in attenuating the structural vibration. Furthermore, this notch filter controller was compared with the traditional skyhook controller. It was found that its performance was better, with over 88% vibration suppression near the first resonant frequency of the structure.

Keywords: macro-fiber composite, notch filter, skyhook controller, vibration suppression

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Authors: Vixen Joshua Tan, Siyuan He

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Scanners have been implemented within single point laser rangefinders, to determine the ranges within an environment by sweeping the laser spot across the surface of interest. The research motivation is to exploit a smaller and cheaper alternative scanning component for the emitting portion within current designs of laser rangefinders. This research implements an FPCB (Flexible Programmable Circuit Board) Electromagnetic 1-Dimensional scanning micro-mirror as a scanning component for laser rangefinding by means of triangulation. The prototype uses a laser module, micro-mirror, and receiver. The laser module is infrared (850 nm) with a power output of 4.5 mW. The receiver consists of a 50 mm convex lens and a 45mm 1-dimensional PSD (Position Sensitive Detector) placed at the focal length of the lens at 50 mm. The scanning component is an elliptical Micro-Mirror attached onto an FPCB Structure. The FPCB structure has two miniature magnets placed symmetrically underneath it on either side, which are then electromagnetically actuated by small solenoids, causing the FPCB to mechanically rotate about its torsion beams. The laser module projects a laser spot onto the micro-mirror surface, hence producing a scanning motion of the laser spot during the rotational actuation of the FPCB. The receiver is placed at a fixed distance from the micro-mirror scanner and is oriented to capture the scanning motion of the laser spot during operation. The elliptical aperture dimensions of the micro-mirror are 8mm by 5.5 mm. The micro-mirror is supported by an FPCB with two torsion beams with dimensions of 4mm by 0.5mm. The overall length of the FPCB is 23 mm. The voltage supplied to the solenoids is sinusoidal with an amplitude of 3.5 volts and 4.5 volts to achieve optical scanning angles of +/- 10 and +/- 17 degrees respectively. The operating scanning frequency during experiments was 5 Hz. For an optical angle of +/- 10 degrees, the prototype is capable of detecting objects within the ranges from 0.3-1.2 meters with an error of less than 15%. As for an optical angle of +/- 17 degrees the measuring range was from 0.3-0.7 meters with an error of 16% or less. Discrepancy between the experimental and actual data is possibly caused by misalignment of the components during experiments. Furthermore, the power of the laser spot collected by the receiver gradually decreased as the object was placed further from the sensor. A higher powered laser will be tested to potentially measure further distances more accurately. Moreover, a wide-angled lens will be used in future experiments when higher scanning angles are used. Modulation within the current and future higher powered lasers will be implemented to enable the operation of the laser rangefinder prototype without the use of safety goggles.

Keywords: FPCB electromagnetic 1-D scanning micro-mirror, laser rangefinder, position sensitive detector, PSD, triangulation

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Authors: Hsien-Tsen Wang

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Business Intelligence (BI) has long helped organizations make informed decisions based on data-driven insights and gain competitive advantages in the marketplace. In the past two decades, businesses witnessed not only the dramatically increasing volume and heterogeneity of business data but also the emergence of new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Semantic Web (SW), Cloud Computing, and Big Data. It is plausible that the convergence of these technologies would bring more value out of business data by establishing linked data frameworks and connecting in ways that enable advanced analytics and improved data utilization. In this paper, we first review and summarize current BI applications and methodology. Emerging technologies that can be integrated into BI applications are then discussed. Finally, we conclude with a proposed synergy framework that aims at achieving a more flexible, scalable, and intelligent BI solution.

Keywords: business intelligence, artificial intelligence, semantic web, big data, cloud computing

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Authors: Mallikarjunachari G., Venkata Ravi M.

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The objective of this research work is to evaluate the mechanical properties such as elastic modulus and critical rupture load of tomato fruits. Determination of mechanical properties of tomato fruits is essential in various material handling applications, especially as related to robot harvesting, packaging, and transportation. However, extracting meaningful mechanical properties of tomato fruits are extremely challenging due to its layered structure, i.e., the combination of exocarp, mesocarp, and locular gel tissues. Apart from this layered structure, other physical parameters such as diameter, sphericity, locule number, and, the surface to volume ratio also influence the mechanical properties. In this research work, tomato fruits are cultivated in two different ways, namely organic and inorganic farming. Static compression tests are performed to extract the mechanical properties of tomato fruits. Finite element simulations are done to complement the experimental results. It is observed that the effective modulus decreases as the compression depth increase from 0.5 mm to 10 mm and also a critical load of fracture decreases as the locule number increases from 3 to 5. Significant differences in mechanical properties are observed between organically and inorganically cultivated tomato fruits. The current study significantly helps in the design of material handling systems to avoid damage of tomato fruits.

Keywords: elastic modulus, critical load of fracture, locule number, finite element analysis

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Authors: Reza Babajanivalashedi, Stefania Lo Feudo, Jean-Luc Dion

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Liquid sloshing is a crucial problem for the dynamic of moving containers in the packaging industries. Sloshing issues have been so far mainly modeled within the framework of fluid dynamics or by using equivalent mechanical models with different kinds of movements and shapes of containers. Nevertheless, these approaches do not allow to determinate the shape of the free surface of the liquid in case of the irregular shape of the moving containers, so that experimental measurements may be required. If there is too much slosh in the moving tank, the liquid can be splashed out on the packages. So, the free surface oscillation must be controlled/reduced to eliminate the splashing. The purpose of this research is to propose an optimization algorithm for finding an optimum command law to reduce surface elevation. In the first step, the free surface of the liquid is simulated based on the separation variable and weak formulation models. Then Genetic and Gradient algorithms are developed for finding the optimum command law. The optimum command law is compared with existing command laws, and the results show that there is a significant difference in surface oscillation between optimum and existing command laws. This algorithm is applicable for different varieties of bottles in case of using the camera for detecting the liquid elevation, and it can produce new command laws for different kinds of tanks to reduce the surface oscillation and remove the splashing phenomenon.

Keywords: sloshing phenomenon, separation variables, weak formulation, optimization algorithm, command law

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Authors: Yujeong Shin, Seong Jin Cho, Jin Ho Kim

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In the textile-weaving machine, the reed is the core component to separate thousands of strands of yarn and to produce the fabric in a continuous high-speed movement. In addition, the reed affects the quality of the fiber. Therefore, the wire forming analysis of the main raw materials of the reed needs to be considered. Roll-forming is a key technology among the manufacturing process of reed wire using textile machine. A simulation of roll-forming line in accordance with the reduction rate is performed using LS-DYNA. The upper roller, fixed roller and reed wire are modeled by finite element. The roller is set to be rigid body and the wire of SUS430 is set to be flexible body. We predict the variation of the cross-sectional shape of the wire depending on the reduction ratio.

Keywords: textile machine, reed, rolling, reduction ratio, wire

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Authors: Zahra Raeisi, Reza Akbari

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Contracting is known as one of the important tasks in virtual organization creation. Contracting is a costly process in terms of time and effort. One way to cut the time and effort is conducting contract electronically. The online contracting enable us to form virtual organization (VO) dynamically. This work presents an agent-service oriented framework for online contracting in virtual organizations. The proposed framework considers the main aspects and steps of traditional contracting process and uses the efficiency of service and agent based methodologies in order to provide a flexible and efficient way to establish contracts electronically in a VO.

Keywords: service oriented architecture, online contracts, agent-oriented architecture, virtual organization

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Authors: Zurina Khairuddin

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The objective of this study is to explore the identities constructed and negotiated by Malaysian students in the UK and Malaysia when they interact in seminars. The study utilised classroom observation, interview and focus group discussion to collect the data. The participants of this study are the first year Malaysian students studying in the UK and Malaysia. The data collected was analysed utilising a combination of Conversation Analysis and framework. This study postulates that Malaysian students in the UK construct and negotiate flexible and different identities depending on the contexts they were in. It also shows that most Malaysian students in the UK and Malaysia are similar in the identities they construct and negotiate. This study suggests implications and recommendations for Malaysian students in the UK and Malaysia, and other stakeholders such as UK and Malaysian academic community.

Keywords: conversation analysis, interaction patterns, Malaysian students, students' identity

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Authors: Vlad Andrei Raducanu, Mariana Lucia Angelescu, Ion Cinca, Vasile Danut Cojocaru, Doina Raducanu

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By using smart digital tools, such as generative design (GD) and digital fabrication (DF), problems of high actuality concerning resources optimization (materials, energy, time) can be solved and applications or products of free-form type can be created. In the new digital technology materials are active, designed in response to a set of performance requirements, which impose a total rethinking of old material practices. The article presents the design procedure key steps of a free-form architectural object - a column type one with connections to get an adaptive 3D surface, by using the parametric design methodology and by exploiting the properties of conventional metallic materials. In parametric design the form of the created object or space is shaped by varying the parameters values and relationships between the forms are described by mathematical equations. Digital parametric design is based on specific procedures, as shape grammars, Lindenmayer - systems, cellular automata, genetic algorithms or swarm intelligence, each of these procedures having limitations which make them applicable only in certain cases. In the paper the design process stages and the shape grammar type algorithm are presented. The generative design process relies on two basic principles: the modeling principle and the generative principle. The generative method is based on a form finding process, by creating many 3D spatial forms, using an algorithm conceived in order to apply its generating logic onto different input geometry. Once the algorithm is realized, it can be applied repeatedly to generate the geometry for a number of different input surfaces. The generated configurations are then analyzed through a technical or aesthetic selection criterion and finally the optimal solution is selected. Endless range of generative capacity of codes and algorithms used in digital design offers various conceptual possibilities and optimal solutions for both technical and environmental increasing demands of building industry and architecture. Constructions or spaces generated by parametric design can be specifically tuned, in order to meet certain technical or aesthetical requirements. The proposed approach has direct applicability in sustainable architecture, offering important potential economic advantages, a flexible design (which can be changed until the end of the design process) and unique geometric models of high performance.

Keywords: parametric design, algorithmic procedures, free-form architectural object, sustainable architecture

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Authors: Teboho J. Mosikari, Johannes T. Tsoku, Diteboho L. Xaba

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The increase of capital mobility across emerging economies has become an interesting topic for many economic policy makers. The current study tests the validity of Feldstein–Horioka puzzle for 5 BRICS countries. The sample period of the study runs from 2001 to 2014. The study uses the following parameter estimates well known as the Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS), and Dynamic OLS (DOLS). The results of the study show that investment and savings are cointegrated in the long run. The parameters estimated using FMOLS and DOLS are 0.85 and 0.74, respectively. These results imply that policy makers within BRICS countries have to consider flexible monetary and fiscal policy instruments to influence the mobility of capital with the bloc.

Keywords: Feldstein and Horioka puzzle, saving and investment, panel models, BRICS countries

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Authors: Zoltan Theisz, Gergely Mezei

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Modern industrial automation relies on service oriented concepts of Internet of Things (IoT) device modeling in order to provide a flexible and extendable environment for service meta-repository. However, state-of-the-art meta-modeling techniques prefer design-time modeling, which results in a heavy usage of class sometimes unnecessary static subtyping. Although this approach benefits from clear-cut object-oriented design principles, it also seals the model repository for further dynamic extensions. In this paper, a dynamic multi-level modeling approach is introduced that enables dynamic subtyping through a more relaxed partial instantiation mechanism. The approach is demonstrated on a simple sensor network example.

Keywords: meta-modeling, dynamic subtyping, DMLA, industrial automation, arrowhead

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Authors: Troy M. Houser

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The successor representation balances flexible and efficient reinforcement learning by learning to predict the future, given the present. As such, the successor representation models stimuli as what future states they lead to. Therefore, two stimuli that are perceptually dissimilar but lead to the same future state will come to be represented more similarly. This is very similar to an older behavioral paradigm -the acquired equivalence paradigm, which measures the generalization of learned associations. Here, we test via computational modeling the plausibility that the successor representation is the mechanism by which people generalize knowledge learned in the acquired equivalence paradigm. Computational evidence suggests that this is a plausible mechanism for acquired equivalence and thus can guide future empirical work on individual differences in associative-based generalization.

Keywords: acquired equivalence, successor representation, generalization, decision-making

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Authors: Anyia Nduka, Aslan Bin Amad Senin, Ayu Azrin Bte Abdul Aziz

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A management practice characterised by a value chain as its relatively flexible culture is replacing the old bureaucratic model of organisational practice that was built on dominance. Using a management practice fruition paradigm, the study delves into the implications of organisational culture and leadership. Developing a theory of leadership called the “cultural model” of organisational leadership by explaining how the shift from bureaucracy to management practises altered the roles and interactions of leaders. This model is well-grounded in leadership theory, considering the concept's adaptability to different leadership ideologies. In organisations where operational procedures and borders are not clearly defined, hierarchies are flattened, and work collaborations are sometimes based on contracts rather than employment. This cultural model of organizational leadership is intended to be a useful tool for predicting how effectively a leader will perform.

Keywords: leadership, organizational culture, management practices, efficiency

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Authors: Zahara Abdulhussan Al-Awadai

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In recent years, serious games have started to gain an increasing interest as a tool to support learning across different educational and training fields. It began to serve as a powerful educational tool for improving learning outcomes. In this research, we discuss the potential of virtual experiences and games research outside of the games industry and explore the multifaceted impact of serious games and related technologies on various aspects of our lives. We highlight the usage of serious games as a tool to improve education and other applications with a purpose beyond the entertainment industry. One of the main contributions of this research is proposing a model that facilitates the design and development of serious games in a flexible and easy-to-use way. This is achieved by exploring different requirements to develop a model that describes a serious game structure with a focus on both aspects of serious games (educational and entertainment aspects).

Keywords: game development, requirements, serious games, serious game model

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Authors: Salman Ali Nisar, Koshi Suzuki

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Precedence Diagram Method (PDM) with its additional relationships i.e., start-to-start, finish-to-finish, and start-to-finish, between activities provides more flexible schedule than traditional Critical Path Method (CPM). But, changing the duration of critical activities in PDM network will have anomalous effect on critical path. Researchers have proposed some classification of critical activity effects. In this paper, we do further study on classifications of critical activity effect and provide more information in detailed. Furthermore, we determine the maximum amount of time for each class of critical activity effect by which the project managers can control the dynamic feature (shortening/lengthening) of critical activities and project duration more efficiently.

Keywords: construction project management, critical path method, project scheduling, precedence diagram method

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Authors: Peter Burggräf, Matthias Dannapfel, Hanno Voet, Patrick-Benjamin Bök, Jérôme Uelpenich, Julian Hoppe

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The increasing digitalization of value chains can help companies to handle rising complexity in their processes and thereby reduce the steadily increasing planning and control effort in order to raise performance limits. Due to technological advances, companies face the challenge of smart value chains for the purpose of improvements in productivity, handling the increasing time and cost pressure and the need of individualized production. Therefore, companies need to ensure quick and flexible decisions to create self-optimizing processes and, consequently, to make their production more efficient. Lean production, as the most commonly used paradigm for complexity reduction, reaches its limits when it comes to variant flexible production and constantly changing market and environmental conditions. To lift performance limits, which are inbuilt in current value chains, new methods and tools must be applied. Digitalization provides the potential to derive these new methods and tools. However, companies lack the experience to harmonize different digital technologies. There is no practicable framework, which instructs the transformation of current value chains into digital pervasive value chains. Current research shows that a connection between lean production and digitalization exists. This link is based on factors such as people, technology and organization. In this paper, the introduced method for the determination of digitally pervasive value chains takes the factors people, technology and organization into account and extends existing approaches by a new dimension. It is the first systematic approach for the digital transformation of lean production and consists of four steps: The first step of ‘target definition’ describes the target situation and defines the depth of the analysis with regards to the inspection area and the level of detail. The second step of ‘analysis of the value chain’ verifies the lean-ability of processes and lies in a special focus on the integration capacity of digital technologies in order to raise the limits of lean production. Furthermore, the ‘digital evaluation process’ ensures the usefulness of digital adaptions regarding their practicability and their integrability into the existing production system. Finally, the method defines actions to be performed based on the evaluation process and in accordance with the target situation. As a result, the validation and optimization of the proposed method in a German company from the electronics industry shows that the digital transformation of current value chains based on lean production achieves a raise of their inbuilt performance limits.

Keywords: digitalization, digital transformation, Industrie 4.0, lean production, value chain

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Authors: Bahar Basturk, Secil Celik Erbas, Sevket Can Sarikaya

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Composites combining the particulates and polymer components have attracted great interest in various application areas such as packaging, furniture, electronics and automotive industries. For strengthening the plastic matrices, the utilization of natural fillers instead of traditional reinforcement materials has received increased attention. The properties of natural filler based polymer composites (NFPC) may be improved by applying proper surface modification techniques to the powder phase of the structures. In this study, acorn powder-epoxy and pine corn powder-epoxy composites containing up to 45% weight percent particulates were prepared by casting method. Alkali treatment and acetylation techniques were carried out to the natural particulates for investigating their influences under mechanical forces. The effects of filler type and content on the tensile properties of the composites were compared with neat epoxy. According to the quasi-static tensile tests, the pine cone based composites showed slightly higher rigidity and strength properties compared to the acorn reinforced samples. Furthermore, the structures independent of powder type and surface modification technique, showed higher tensile properties with increasing the particle content.

Keywords: natural fillers, polymer composites, surface modifications, tensile properties

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Authors: Michele C. Mesomo, Madeline de Souza Correa, Roberta L. Kruger, Luis R. S. Kanda, Marcos L. Corazza

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Natural extracts of plants have been used for many years for different purposes and recently they have been screened for their potential use as alternative remedies and food preservatives. Inflorescences of M. paradisiaca L., also known as the heart of the banana, have great economic interest due to its fruit. All parts of the banana are used for many different purposes, including use in folk medicine. The use of extraction via supercritical technology has grown in recent years, though it is still necessary to obtain experimental information for the construction of industrial plants. This work reports the extraction of Musa paradisiaca L. using compressed propane as solvent. The effects of the supercritical extraction conditions, pressure and temperature on the yield were evaluated. The raw material, inflorescences banana, was dried at 313.15 K and milled. The particle size used for the packaging of the extraction cell was 12 mesh (23.5%), 16 mesh (23.5%), 32 mesh (34.5%), 48 mesh (18.5%). The extractions were performed in a laboratory scale unit at pressures of 3.0 MPa, 6.5 MPa and 10.0 MPa and at 308.15 K, 323.15 K and 338.15 K. The operating conditions tested achieved a maximum yield of 2.94 wt% for the CO2 extraction at 10.0 MPa and 338.15 K, higher pressure and temperature. The lower yield, 2.29 wt%, was obtained in the condition of lower pressure and higher temperature. Temperature presented significant and positive effect on the extraction yield with supercritical CO2, while pressure had no effect on the yield. The overall extraction curves showed typical behavior obtained for the supercritical extraction procedure and and reached a constant extraction rate of about 80 to 100 min. The largest amount of extract was obtained at the beginning of the process, within 10 to 60 min.

Keywords: banana, natural products, supercritical extraction, temperature

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Authors: Alison Power

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Games-based learning aims to enhance students’ engagement with and enjoyment of learning opportunities using games-related principles to create a fun yet productive learning environment. Motivating students to learn in an online setting can be particularly challenging, so a cross-Faculty synchronous online session provided students with the opportunity to engage with ‘GAMING’: an interactive, flexible and scalable e-resource for students to work synchronously in groups to complete a series of e-tivities designed to enhance their skills of leadership, collaboration and negotiation. Findings from a post-session online survey found the majority of students had a positive learning experience, finding 'GAMING' to be an innovative and engaging e-resource which motivated their group to learn.

Keywords: collaboration, games-based learning, groupwork, synchronous online learning, teamwork

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Authors: Dalia Rimawi, Walid Salameh, Amal Al-Omari, Hadeel AbdelKhaleq

Abstract:

Predication of Survival time of patients with cancer, is a core factor that influences oncologist decisions in different aspects; such as offered treatment plans, patients’ quality of life and medications development. For a long time proportional hazards Cox regression (ph. Cox) was and still the most well-known statistical method to predict survival outcome. But due to the revolution of data sciences; new predication models were employed and proved to be more flexible and provided higher accuracy in that type of studies. Artificial neural network is one of those models that is suitable to handle time to event predication. In this study we aim to compare ph Cox regression with artificial neural network method according to data handling and Accuracy of each model.

Keywords: Cox regression, neural networks, survival, cancer.

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