Search results for: account compromisation

Authors: Rafia Afroz

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This article examines the perceptions, consciousness and attitudes of farmers on climate change in Kedah Malaysia. To reach the objectives of this study, a survey was conducted on 350 farmers and the collected data were used to perform multiple regression analysis. The results show that factors such as age, farm income, farm experience, limited agricultural prevalence, inadequacies in credit availability and farm size are factors influencing adjustment practices. Moreover, farmers have a positive attitude through adaptation strategies that are appropriate for climate change issues. However, the study found that various adaptation barriers prevented farmers from implementing climate change adjustment policies. At present, Malaysia does not seem to have a specific policy aimed at counteracting the impacts and productivity of climate change on individual sectors. For this reason, the findings of this study will help policymakers to comply with an appropriate policy framework that takes into account the best fit alignment strategies that can come across all relevant obstacles.

Keywords: climate change, adaptation, awareness, perception, attitude

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Authors: Ibrahim Naeimifar, Omid Naeemifar

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Evaluation of the excavation-induced ground movements is an important design aspect of support systems in urban areas. Geological and geotechnical conditions of an excavation area have significant effects on excavation-induced ground movements and the related damage. This paper is aimed at studying the performance of excavation walls supported by nails in jointed rock medium. The performance of nailed walls is investigated based on evaluating the excavation-induced ground movements. For this purpose, a set of calibrated 2D finite element models is developed by taking into account the nail-rock-structure interactions, the anisotropic properties of jointed rock, and the staged construction process. The results of this paper highlight effects of different parameters such as joint inclinations, the anisotropy of rocks and nail inclinations on deformation parameters of excavation wall supported by nails.

Keywords: finite element, jointed rock, nailing, performance

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Authors: A. Selmi, A. Bisharat

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Using Fourier transform and based on the Mindlin's 2^nd gradient model that involves two length scale parameters, the Green's function, the Eshelby tensor, and the Eshelby-like tensor for a spherical inclusion are derived. It is proved that the Eshelby tensor consists of two parts; the classical Eshelby tensor and a gradient part including the length scale parameters which enable the interpretation of the size effect. When the strain gradient is not taken into account, the obtained Green's function and Eshelby tensor reduce to its analogue based on the classical elasticity. The Eshelby tensor in and outside the inclusion, the volume average of the gradient part and the Eshelby-like tensor are explicitly obtained. Unlike the classical Eshelby tensor, the results show that the components of the new Eshelby tensor vary with the position and the inclusion dimensions. It is demonstrated that the contribution of the gradient part should not be neglected.

Keywords: Eshelby tensor, Eshelby-like tensor, Green’s function, Mindlin’s 2nd gradient model, spherical inclusion

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Authors: François Vallée, Jean-François Toubeau, Zacharie De Grève, Jacques Lobry

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When evaluating the capacity of a generation park to cover the load in transmission systems, traditional Loss of Load Expectation (LOLE) and Expected Energy not Served (EENS) indices can be used. If those indices allow computing the annual duration and severity of load non-covering situations, they do not take into account the fact that the load excess is generally shifted from one penury state (hour or quarter of an hour) to the following one. In this paper, a sequential Monte Carlo framework is introduced in order to compute adjusted LOLE and EENS indices. Practically, those adapted indices permit to consider the effect of load excess transfer on the global adequacy of a generation park, providing thus a more accurate evaluation of this quantity.

Keywords: expected energy not served, loss of load expectation, Monte Carlo simulation, reliability, wind generation

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Authors: Massra M. Sabeima, Myriam lamolle, Mohamedade Farouk Nanne

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Adapting the learning resources of an e-learning system to the characteristics of the learners is an important aspect to consider when designing an adaptive e-learning system. However, this adaptation is not a simple process; it requires the extraction, analysis, and modeling of user information. This implies a good representation of the user's profile, which is the backbone of the adaptation process. Moreover, during the e-learning process, collaboration with similar users (same geographic province or knowledge context) is important. Productive collaboration motivates users to continue or not abandon the course and increases the assimilation of learning objects. The contribution of this work is the following: we propose an adaptive e-learning semantic platform to recommend learning resources to learners, using ontology to model the user profile and the course content, furthermore an implementation of a multi-agent system able to progressively generate the learning graph (taking into account the user's progress, and the changes that occur) for each user during the learning process, and to synchronize the users who collaborate on a learning object.

Keywords: adaptative learning, collaboration, multi-agent, ontology

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Authors: Wilhelm Hoeflinger, Thomas Laminger, Johannes Wolfslehner

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For vacuum cleaned dust filters, used e. g. in textile industry, there exist no calculation methods to determine design parameters (e. g. traverse speed of the nozzle, filter area...). In this work a method to calculate the optimum traverse speed of the nozzle of an industrial-size flat dust filter at a given mean pressure drop and filter face velocity was elaborated. Well-known equations for the design of a cleanable multi-chamber bag-house-filter were modified in order to take into account a continuously regeneration of a dust filter by a nozzle. Thereby, the specific filter medium resistance and the specific cake resistance values are needed which can be derived from filter tests under constant operation conditions. A lab-scale filter test rig was used to derive the specific filter media resistance value and the specific cake resistance value for vacuum cleaned filter operation. Three different filter media were tested and the determined parameters were compared to each other.

Keywords: design of dust filter, dust removing, filter regeneration, operation parameters

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Authors: Ali Akbar Jabbari

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This study investigates the role of the prior acquired languages, Persian and English, concerning the acquisition of the third language (L3) French and German at the initial stages. The data were collected from two groups of L3 learners: 28 learners of L3 French and 21 learners of L3 German, in order to test the placement of the attributive adjectives and the noun adjuncts through a grammaticality judgment task and an element rearrangement task. The aim of the study was to investigate whether any of the models proposed in the L3 acquisition could account for the case of the present study. The results of the analysis revealed that the learners of L3 German and French were both affected by the typological similarity of the previous languages. The outperformance of the German learners is an indication of the facilitative effect of L2 English (which is typologically more similar to the German than that of French). English had also a non-facilitative role in the acquisition of French and this is proved in the lower performance of the French learners. This study provided evidence for the TPM as the most accepted model of L3 acquisition.

Keywords: cross-linguistic influence, multilingualism, third language acquisition, transfer

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Authors: Moustafa Ahmed, Ahmed Bakry, Fumio Koyama

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We report on the use of strong external optical feedback to enhance the modulation response of semiconductor lasers over a frequency passband around modulation frequencies higher than 60 GHz. We show that this modulation enhancement is a type of photon-photon resonance (PPR) of oscillating modes in the external cavity formed between the laser and the external reflector. The study is based on a time-delay rate equation model that takes into account both the strong feedback and multiple reflections in the external cavity. We examine the harmonic and intermodulation distortions associated with single and two-tone modulations in the mm-wave band of the resonant modulation. We show that compared with solitary lasers modulated around the carrier-photon resonance frequency, the present mm-wave modulated signal has lower distortions.

Keywords: semiconductor laser, optical feedback, modulation, harmonic distortion

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Authors: Hocine Hammoum, Karima Bouzelha, Lounis Ziani, Lounis Hamitouche

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In this paper, we study a complex structure which is an apartment building surmounted by a reinforced concrete water tank. The tank located on the top floor of the building is a container with capacity of 1000 m³. The building is complex in its design, its calculation and by its behavior under earthquake effect. This structure located in Algiers and aged of 53 years has been subjected to several earthquakes, but the earthquake of May 21^st, 2003 with a magnitude of 6.7 on the Richter scale that struck Boumerdes region at 40 Kms East of Algiers was fatal for it. It was downgraded after an investigation study because the central core sustained serious damage. In this paper, to estimate the degree of its damages, the seismic performance of the structure will be evaluated taking into account the hydrodynamic effect, using a static equivalent nonlinear analysis called pushover.

Keywords: performance analysis, building, reinforced concrete tank, seismic analysis, nonlinear analysis, hydrodynamic, pushover

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Authors: Wanqing He

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The current study explores aspects of exploratory behaviors and social capacities in urban Chinese infants to examine whether these factors mediate the link between infant walking and receptive and productive vocabularies. The linkage between the onset of walking and language attainment proves solid, but little is known about the factors that drive such link. This study examined whether joint attention, gesture use, and object activities mediate the association between locomotion and language development. Results showed that both the frequency (p = .05) and duration (p = .03) of carrying an object are strong mediators that afford opportunities for word comprehension. Also, accessing distal objects may be beneficial to infants’ language expression. Further studies on why object carrying may account for word comprehension and why infants with autism could not benefit from walking onset in terms of language development may yield valuable clinical implications.

Keywords: exploratory behaviors, infancy, language acquisition, motor development, social communicative skills

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Authors: Abdulrahman M. Homadi

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As a great source of renewable energy, solar energy is considered to be one of the most important in the world, since it will be one of solutions cover the energy shortage in the future. Photovoltaic (PV) is the most popular and widely used among solar energy technologies. However, PV efficiency is fairly low and remains somewhat expensive. High temperature has a negative effect on PV efficiency and cooling system for these panels is vital, especially in warm weather conditions. This paper presents the results of a simulation study carried out on silicon solar cells to assess the effects of elevation on enhancing the efficiency of solar panels. The study included four different terrains. The study also took into account the direction of the wind hitting the solar panels. To ensure the simulation mimics reality, six silicon solar panels are designed in two columns and three rows, facing to the south at an angle of 30 ^o. The elevations are assumed to change from 10 meters to 200 meters. The results show that maximum increase in efficiency occurs when the wind comes from the north, hitting the back of the panels.

Keywords: solar panels, elevation, wind direction, efficiency

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Authors: Marcel Kohler

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The effect of trade liberalization on environmental conditions has yielded a great deal of debate in the current energy economics literature. Although research on the relationship between income growth and CO2 emissions is not new in South Africa, few studies address the role that South Africa’s foreign trade plays in this context. This paper undertakes to investigate empirically the impact of South Africa’s foreign trade reforms over the last four decades on its energy consumption and CO2 emissions by taking into account not only the direct effect of trade on each, but also its indirect effect through income induced growth. Using co integration techniques we attempt to disentangle the long and short-run relationship between trade openness, income per capita and energy consumption and CO2 emissions in South Africa. The preliminary results of this study find support for a positive bi-directional relationship between output and CO2 emissions, as well as between trade openness and CO2. This evidence confirms the expectation that as the South African economy opens up to foreign trade and experiences growth in per capita income, the countries CO2 emissions will increase.

Keywords: trade openness, CO2 emissions, cointegration, South Africa

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Authors: Mohamed M. El Gendy, Ibrahim A. El Arabi, Rafeek W. Abdel-Missih, Omar A. Kandil

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Nonlinear analysis is one of the most important design and safety tools in structural engineering. Based on the finite-element method, a geometrical and material nonlinear analysis of large span reinforced concrete arches is carried out considering soil-structure interaction. The concrete section details and reinforcement distribution are taken into account. The behavior of soil is considered via Winkler's and continuum models. A computer program (NARC II) is specially developed in order to follow the structural behavior of large span reinforced concrete arches up to failure. The results obtained by the proposed model are compared with available literature for verification. This work confirmed that the geometrical and material nonlinearities, as well as soil structure interaction, have considerable influence on the structural response of reinforced concrete arches.

Keywords: nonlinear analysis, reinforced concrete arched structure, soil-structure interaction, geotechnical engineering

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Authors: Kherbache Radhwane

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We currently live in the world pressed by technological developments necessary for the construction, where the concept of sustainable development is truly rooted in recent years. Construction or demolitions of buildings necessarily generate environmental pollution, both inside and outside the site. Depending on the size and nature of work and the context surrounding these problems can be more or less important as is the case here in Algeria. They may affect the smooth running of the site. Moreover, there are regulations exist or are under development and should be taken into account by the various players in the act of building. This is, for example, the case of new obligations in terms of sorting and recycling of construction waste. Given this situation, it appears increasingly necessary to integrate the building sites in an effort to better respect the environment and its regulation. Several operations were performed according to this principle. The success of a project is that respects its environment through the involvement of each actor of the operation of the site with a low nuisance. As such, the client assisted by his driver and its operating contractor and the company plays a central role as an initiator of the process. It must ensure the establishment of appropriate means of organizational plans and contract.

Keywords: evolution, sustainable development, construction, demolition, building, nuisance, environmental, tailings, construction, regulations

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Authors: Ernesto Pineda Leon, Dante Tolentino Lopez, Janis Zapata Lopez

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The current paper shows the application of the boundary element method for the analysis of plates under shear stress causing plasticity. In this case, the shear deformation of a plate is considered by means of the Reissner’s theory. The probability of failure of a Reissner’s plate due to a proposed index plastic behavior is calculated taken into account the uncertainty in mechanical and geometrical properties. The problem is developed in two dimensions. The classic plasticity’s theory is applied and a formulation for initial stresses that lead to the boundary integral equations due to plasticity is also used. For the plasticity calculation, the Von Misses criteria is used. To solve the non-linear equations an incremental method is employed. The results show a relatively small failure probability for the ranges of loads between 0.6 and 1.0. However, for values between 1.0 and 2.5, the probability of failure increases significantly. Consequently, for load bigger than 2.5 the plate failure is a safe event. The results are compared to those that were found in the literature and the agreement is good.

Keywords: boundary element method, failure, plasticity, probability

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Authors: Hycham Aboutaleb, Bruno Monsuez

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Current systems' complexity has reached a degree that requires addressing conception and design issues while taking into account environmental, operational, social, legal, and financial aspects. Therefore, one of the main challenges is the way complex systems are specified and designed. The exponentially growing effort, cost, and time investment of complex systems in modeling phase emphasize the need for a paradigm, a framework, and an environment to handle the system model complexity. For that, it is necessary to understand the expectations of the human user of the model and his limits. This paper presents a generic framework for designing complex systems, highlights the requirements a system model needs to fulfill to meet human user expectations, and suggests a graph-based formalism for modeling complex systems. Finally, a set of transformations are defined to handle the model complexity.

Keywords: higraph-based, formalism, system engineering paradigm, modeling requirements, graph-based transformations

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Authors: Ashwani Kumar

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Use of NIR light for imaging the biological tissue and to quantify its optical properties is a good choice over other invasive methods. Optical tomography involves two steps. One is the forward problem and the other is the reconstruction problem. The forward problem consists of finding the measurements of transmitted light through the tissue from source to detector, given the spatial distribution of absorption and scattering properties. The second step is the reconstruction problem. In X-ray tomography, there is standard method for reconstruction called filtered back projection method or the algebraic reconstruction methods. But this method cannot be applied as such, in optical tomography due to highly scattering nature of biological tissue. A hybrid algorithm for reconstruction has been implemented in this work which takes into account the highly scattered path taken by photons while back projecting the forward data obtained during Monte Carlo simulation. The reconstructed image suffers from blurring due to point spread function.

Keywords: NIR light, tissue, blurring, Monte Carlo simulation

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Authors: Sukaesi Marianti

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This study aims to develop the Relational Mobility Scale for the Indonesian population and to investigate its psychometric properties. New items of the scale were created taking into account the Indonesian population which consists of two parallel forms (A and A’). This study uses 30 newly orchestrated items while keeping in mind the characteristics of the targeted population. The scale was administered to 433 public high school students in Malang, Indonesia. Construct validity of its factor structure was demonstrated using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The result exhibits that he model fits the data, and that the delayed alternate form method shows acceptable result. Results yielded that 21 items of the three-dimensional Relational Mobility Scale is suitable for measuring relational mobility in high school students of Indonesian population.

Keywords: confirmatory factor analysis, delayed alternate form, Indonesian population, relational mobility scale

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Authors: Dorsa Bakhshandehgeyazdi

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This article tries to comprehend the change of Turkish common military relations in an analogical viewpoint. The investigation is taking into account two criteria: institutional / legitimate systems and political oversight of the military's self-sufficiency. Examination of European furthermore, Middle Eastern common military relations models to the Turkish ideal model discloses grave contrasts in the middle of Turkish and Middle Eastern common military relations. The Turkish model in change for not less than 10 years is closer to the European show in both lawful and political perspectives. However, the article underscores that Turkish common military relations are still in change and despite the fact that the EU increase procedure has continuously democratized the legitimate arrangement of the nation, law based combining obliges further advances in the political area. A the result, stabilization in Turkey depends not just on withdrawing of the military from the political domain, additionally on the best possible civilization of the administration in hypothesis and practice.

Keywords: Turkish common military, institutional, legitimate systems, political oversight, middle Eastern common military

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Authors: Ho-Jun Jo, Wook-Won Kim, Yong-Sung Kim, Jin-O Kim

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The application of ESS (Energy Storage Systems) in the future grids has been the solution of the microgrid. However, high investment costs necessitate accurate modeling and control strategy of ESS to justify its economic viability and further underutilization. Therefore, the reasonable control strategy for ESS which is subjected to generator and usage helps to curtail the cost of investment and operation costs. The rated frequency in power system is decreased when the load is increasing unexpectedly; hence the thermal power is operated at the capacity of only its 95% for the Governor Free (GF) to adjust the frequency as reserve (5%) in practice. The ESS can be utilized with governor at the same time for the frequency response due to characteristic of its fast response speed and moreover, the cost of ESS is declined rapidly to the reasonable price. This paper presents the ESS control strategy to extend usage of the ESS taken account into governor’s ramp rate and reduce the governor’s intervention as well. All results in this paper are simulated by MATLAB.

Keywords: micro grid, energy storage systems, ramp rate, control strategy

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Authors: Fatima Naz, Ayesha Tariq

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In view of growing of the internet users for e-commerce and taking into account, the emergent impact of word of mouth phenomenon this research has different aims. The aims of this study were built following dissimilar discussion with teachers and colleagues enlightening that word of mouth information for online purchasing do not have the same effect for everybody. Then they were born following dissimilar researchers together with what was already done in previous researches and what was completed. As a result different aims were drawn; the initial aim of this research is to study the attention of the customers in the word of mouth to power their online purchasing activities. The next aim is to analyze the people influenced by the interest of word of mouth. The following aim is to examine the marketing behavior bearing in mind the internet progress and word of mouth, their consideration for word of mouth marketing. In the form of research questions the aims of the study are: 1) How community utilizes and multiplies word of mouth information about online purchasing experience? 2) How communities perceive the word of mouth marketing? 3) How marketers take the word of mouth phenomenon and how they handle it?

Keywords: belief, power, inspiration, self-expression, positive attitude to online marketing, forwarding of contents, purchasing decision, standard marketing

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Authors: André Luís Brasil Cavalcante, Juan Felix Rodriguez Rebolledo, Lucas Parreira de Faria Borges

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A methodology for the probabilistic analysis of active earth pressure on retaining wall for c-Φ soil backfill is described in this paper. The Rosenblueth point estimate method is used to measure the failure probability of a gravity retaining wall. The basic principle of this methodology is to use two point estimates, i.e., the standard deviation and the mean value, to examine a variable in the safety analysis. The simplicity of this framework assures to its wide application. For the calculation is required 2ⁿ repetitions during the analysis, since the system is governed by n variables. In this study, a probabilistic model based on the Rosenblueth approach for the computation of the overturning probability of failure of a retaining wall is presented. The obtained results have shown the advantages of this kind of models in comparison with the deterministic solution. In a relatively easy way, the uncertainty on the wall and fill parameters are taken into account, and some practical results can be obtained for the retaining structure design.

Keywords: retaining wall, active earth pressure, backfill, probabilistic analysis

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Authors: Xavier Ruiz Del Portal

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This paper incorporates mobility between the legal and black economies into a model of tax evasion with endogenous labor supply in which underreporting is possible in one sector but impossible in the other. We have found that the results of the effects along the extensive margin (number of evaders) become more robust and conclusive than those along the intensive margin (hours of illegal work) usually considered by the literature. In particular, it is shown that the following policies reduce the number of evaders: (a) larger and more progressive evasion penalties; (b) higher detection probabilities; (c) an increase in the legal sector wage rate; (d) a decrease in the moonlighting wage rate; (e) higher costs for creating opportunities to evade; (f) lower opportunities to evade, and (g) greater psychological costs of tax evasion. When tax concealment and illegal work also are taken into account, the effects do not vary significantly under the assumptions in Cowell (1985), except for the fact that policies (a) and (b) only hold as regards low- and middle-income groups and policies (e) and (f) as regards high-income groups.

Keywords: income taxation, tax evasion, extensive margin responses, the penalty system

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Authors: Feddaoui Amina

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Income smoothing represents an attempt on the part of the company's management to reduce variations in earnings through the manipulation of the accounting principles. In this study, we aimed to measure income smoothing practices in a sample of 30 French joint stock companies during the period (2007-2009), we used Dummy variables method and “ECKEL” model to measure income smoothing practices and Binomial test accourding to SPSS program, to confirm or refute our hypothesis. This study concluded that there are no significant statistical indicators of income smoothing practices in the sample studied of French companies during the period (2007-2009), so the income series in the same sample studied of is characterized by stability and non-volatility without any intervention of management through accounting manipulation. However, this type of accounting manipulation should be taken into account and efforts should be made by control bodies to apply Eckel model and generalize its use at the global level.

Keywords: income, smoothing, 'Eckel', French companies

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Authors: M. I. Youssef, A. E. Emam, M. Abd Elghany

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The performance of wireless communication systems is affected mainly by the environment of its associated channel, which is characterized by dynamic and unpredictable behavior. In this paper, different statistical earth-satellite channel models are studied with emphasize on two main models, first is the Rice-Log normal model, due to its representation for the environment including shadowing and multi-path components that affect the propagated signal along its path, and a three-state model that take into account different fading conditions (clear area, moderate shadow and heavy shadowing). The provided models are based on AWGN, Rician, Rayleigh, and log-normal distributions were their Probability Density Functions (PDFs) are presented. The transmission system Bit Error Rate (BER), Peak-Average-Power Ratio (PAPR), and the channel capacity vs. fading models are measured and analyzed. These simulations are implemented using MATLAB tool, and the results had shown the performance of transmission system over different channel models.

Keywords: fading channels, MIMO communication, RNS scheme, statistical modeling

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Authors: N. S. Achour, M. Hamdaoui, S. Ben Nasrallah

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Wicking and evaporation of water in porous knitted fabrics is investigated by combining experimental and analytical approaches: The standard wicking model from Lucas and Washburn is enhanced to account for evaporation and gravity effects. The goal is to model the effect of gravity and evaporation on wicking using simple analytical expressions and investigate the influence of fabrics geometrical parameters, such as porosity and thickness on evaporation impact on maximum reachable height values. The results show that fabric properties have a significant influence on evaporation effect. In this paper, an experimental study of determining water kinetics from different knitted fabrics were gravimetrically investigated permitting the measure of the mass and the height of liquid rising in fabrics in various atmospheric conditions. From these measurements, characteristic pore parameters (capillary radius and permeability) can be determined.

Keywords: evaporation, experimental study, geometrical parameters, model, porous knitted fabrics, wicking

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Authors: Aymen Sassi

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The equipment of vehicles with wireless communication capabilities is expected to be the key to the evolution to next generation intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The IEEE community has been continuously working on the development of an efficient vehicular communication protocol for the enhancement of Wireless Access in Vehicular Environment (WAVE). Vehicular communication systems, called V2X, support vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communications. The efficiency of such communication systems depends on several factors, among which the surrounding environment and mobility are prominent. Accordingly, this study focuses on the evaluation of the real performance of vehicular communication with special focus on the effects of the real environment and mobility on V2X communication. It starts by identifying the real maximum range that such communication can support and then evaluates V2I and V2V performances. The Arada LocoMate OBU transmission system was used to test and evaluate the impact of the transmission range in V2X communication. The evaluation of V2I and V2V communication takes the real effects of low and high mobility on transmission into account.

Keywords: IEEE 802.11p, V2I, V2X, mobility, PLR, Arada LocoMate OBU, maximum range

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Authors: Shunhong Qi, Hui Tian

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Triggered off by the forthcoming 2022 Winter Olympics, ski centers are blossoming in China, the number being 742 in 2018. Although the number of skier visits of ski resorts soared to 19.7 million in 2018, one-time skiers account for a considerable portion therein. In light of the extremely low return rates and skiing penetration level (0.5%) of leisure skiing in China, this study proposes and tests a leisure ski service performance framework which assesses the ski resorts’ service quality, skier satisfaction, as well as their impact on skiers’ behavioral intentions, with an aim to assess the success of ski resorts and provide suggestions for improvement. Three self-administered surveys and 16 interviews were conducted upon a convenience sample of leisure skiers in two major ski destinations within two hours’ drive from Beijing – Nanshan and Jundushan ski resorts. Of the 680 questionnaires distributed, 416 usable copies were returned, the response rate being 61.2%. The questionnaire used for the study was developed based on the existing literature of 'push' factors of skiers (intrinsic desire) and 'pull' factors (attractiveness of a destination), as well as leisure sport satisfaction. The scale comprises four parts: skiers’ demographic profiles, their perceived service quality (including ski resorts’ infrastructure, expense, safety and comfort, convenience, daily needs support, skill development support, and accessibility), their overall levels of satisfaction (satisfaction with the service and the experience), and their behavioral intentions (including loyalty, future visitation and greater tolerance of price increases). Skiers’ demographic profiles show that among the 220 males and 196 females in the survey, a vast majority of the skiers are age 17-39 (87.2%). 64.7% are not married, and nearly half (48.3%) of the skiers have a monthly family income exceeding 10,000 yuan (USD 1,424), and 80% are beginners or intermediate skiers. The regression examining the influence of service quality on skier satisfaction reveals that service quality accounts for 44.4% of the variance in skier satisfaction, the variables of safety and comfort, expense, skill development support, and accessibility contributing significantly in descending order. Another regression analyzing the influence of service quality as well as skier satisfaction on their behavioral intentions shows that service quality and skier satisfaction account for 39.1% of the variance in skiers’ behavioral intentions, and the significant predictors are skier satisfaction, safety and comfort, expense, and accessibility, in descending order, though a comparison between groups also indicates that for expert skiers, the significant variables are skier satisfaction, skill development support, safety, and comfort. Suggestions are thus made for ski resorts and other stakeholders to improve skier satisfaction and increase visitation: developing diversified ski courses to meet the demands of skiers of different skiing skills and to reduce crowding, adopting enough chairlifts and magic carpets, reinforcing safety measures and medical force; further exploring their various resources and lower the skiing expense on ski pass, equipment renting, accommodation and dining; adding more bus lines and/or develop platforms for skiers’ car-pooling, and offering diversified skiing activities with local flavors for better entertainment.

Keywords: behavioral intentions, leisure skiing, service quality, skier satisfaction

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Authors: S. Boulenouar, A. Boukli Hacene, S. Brahmi

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Quality is an old concept but which recently became omnipresent in the society. It is a pledge of the well done job and therefore the satisfaction of the customer. Now, dispensing pharmacies seem to be held away from this approach. Officinal staff is called to dispense drugs. However this essential function is rarely studied and taken into account. To contribute to the good use of medicines and to reduce the dangers, it is important to consider the dispensation of drugs practised in the pharmacies. It is a both descriptive and retrospective study .The descriptive part is to conduct a survey near to the dispensary pharmacists. The retrospective section concentrates on the analysis of medicine prescriptions dispensed to patients. Following the survey that we carried out near the pharmacists of dispensary of the town of Oran, it appears that in majority, they are not inclined, by themselves, to take up the challenge of quality at the dispensary. The approach requires time and a motivation that pharmacists do not have for the moment. Efforts are still needed on the part of pharmacists, but also of authorities and organizations in charge of quality in the dispensary. At the end of this work, it seems to us that the implementation of a quality approach is part of our reflection on the added value of the pharmacist of dispensary in the drug chain.

Keywords: customer satisfaction, dispensary, dispensing of the drug, quality approach

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Authors: Bothinah Altaf, Gary Montague, Elaine B. Martin

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This study involves the modeling and monitoring of an ammonia synthesis fixed-bed reactor using partial least squares (PLS) and its variants. The process exhibits complex dynamic behavior due to the presence of heat recycling and feed quench. One limitation of static PLS model in this situation is that it does not take account of the process dynamics and hence dynamic PLS was used. Although it showed, superior performance to static PLS in terms of prediction, the monitoring scheme was inappropriate hence adaptive PLS was considered. A limitation of adaptive PLS is that non-conforming observations also contribute to the model, therefore, a new adaptive approach was developed, robust adaptive dynamic PLS. This approach updates a dynamic PLS model and is robust to non-representative data. The developed methodology showed a clear improvement over existing approaches in terms of the modeling of the reactor and the detection of faults.

Keywords: ammonia synthesis fixed-bed reactor, dynamic partial least squares modeling, recursive partial least squares, robust modeling

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