Search results for: time perspective

Authors: Jonalee Das Bajpai, Sandeep Shastri

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The Indian Textile and Garment Industry is one of the major contributors to the country’s economy. This industry is also one of the largest labour intensive industries after agriculture and livestock. This Indian garment industry caters to both the domestic and international market. Although this industry comes under the purview of Indian Labour Laws and other voluntary work place standards yet, this industry is often criticized for the undue exploitation of the workers. This paper explored the status of forced labour and discrimination at work place in the garment manufacturing units in Bengaluru. This study is conducted from the perspective of women sewing operators as majority of operators in Bengaluru are women. The research also explored to study the impact of social compliance certification in abolishing forced labour and discrimination at work place. Objectives of the Research: 1. To study the impact of 'Social Compliance Certification' on abolition of forced labour among the women workforce. 2. To study the impact of 'Social Compliance Certification' on abolition of discrimination at workplace among the women workforce. Sample Size and Data Collection Techniques: The main backbone of the data which is the primary data was collected through a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire attempted to explore the extent of prevalence of forced labour and discrimination against women workers from the perspective of women workers themselves. The sample size for the same was 600 (n) women sewing operators from the garment industry with minimum one year of work experience. Three hundred samples were selected from units with Social Compliance Certification like SA8000, WRAP, BSCI, ETI and so on. Other three hundred samples were selected from units without Social Compliance Certification. Out of these three hundred samples, one hundred and fifty samples were selected from units with Buyer’s Code of Conduct and another one hundred and fifty were from domestic units that do not come under the purview of any such certification. The responses of the survey were further authenticated through on sight visit and personal interactions. Comparative analysis of the workplace environment between units with Social Compliance certification, units with Buyer’s Code of Conduct and domestic units that do not come under the purview of any such voluntary workplace environment enabled to analyze the impact of Social Compliance certification on abolition of workplace environment and discrimination at workplace. Correlation analysis has been conducted to measure the relationship between impact of forced labour and discrimination at workplace on the level of job satisfaction. The result displayed that abolition of forced labour and abolition of discrimination at workplace have a higher level of job satisfaction among the women workers.

Keywords: discrimination, garment industry, forced labour, social compliance certification

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Authors: Murad A. Bein

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This paper empirically examines the time-varying relationship and spillover effects between the international crude oil price and ten emerging equity markets, namely three oil-exporting countries (Brazil, Mexico, and Russia) and seven Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia). The results revealed that there are spillover effects from oil markets into almost all emerging equity markets save Slovakia. Besides, the oil supply glut had a homogenous effect on the emerging markets, both net oil-exporting, and oil-importing countries (CEE). Further, the time variance drastically increased during financial turmoil. Indeed, the time variance remained high from 2009 to 2012 in response to aggregate demand shocks (global financial crisis and Eurozone debt crisis) and quantitative easing measures. Interestingly, the time variance was slightly higher for the oil-exporting countries than for some of the CEE countries. Decision-makers in emerging economies should therefore seek policy coordination when dealing with financial turmoil.

Keywords: crude oil, spillover effects, emerging equity, time-varying, aggregate demand shock

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Authors: Nasser Salah Eldin Mohammed Salih Shebka

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Current problematic issues in AI fields are mainly due to those of knowledge representation conceptual theories, which in turn reflected on the entire scope of cognitive sciences. Knowledge representation methods and tools are driven from theoretical concepts regarding human scientific perception of the conception, nature, and process of knowledge acquisition, knowledge engineering and knowledge generation. And although, these theoretical conceptions were themselves driven from the study of the human knowledge representation process and related theories; some essential factors were overlooked or underestimated, thus causing critical methodological deficiencies in the conceptual theories of human knowledge and knowledge representation conceptions. The evaluation criteria of human cumulative knowledge from the perspectives of nature and theoretical aspects of knowledge representation conceptions are affected greatly by the very materialistic nature of cognitive sciences. This nature caused what we define as methodological deficiencies in the nature of theoretical aspects of knowledge representation concepts in AI. These methodological deficiencies are not confined to applications of knowledge representation theories throughout AI fields, but also exceeds to cover the scientific nature of cognitive sciences. The methodological deficiencies we investigated in our work are: - The Segregation between cognitive abilities in knowledge driven models.- Insufficiency of the two-value logic used to represent knowledge particularly on machine language level in relation to the problematic issues of semantics and meaning theories. - Deficient consideration of the parameters of (existence) and (time) in the structure of knowledge. The latter requires that we present a more detailed introduction of the manner in which the meanings of Existence and Time are to be considered in the structure of knowledge. This doesn’t imply that it’s easy to apply in structures of knowledge representation systems, but outlining a deficiency caused by the absence of such essential parameters, can be considered as an attempt to redefine knowledge representation conceptual approaches, or if proven impossible; constructs a perspective on the possibility of simulating human cognition on machines. Furthermore, a redirection of the aforementioned expressions is required in order to formulate the exact meaning under discussion. This redirection of meaning alters the role of Existence and time factors to the Frame Work Environment of knowledge structure; and therefore; knowledge representation conceptual theories. Findings of our work indicate the necessity to differentiate between two comparative concepts when addressing the relation between existence and time parameters, and between that of the structure of human knowledge. The topics presented throughout the paper can also be viewed as an evaluation criterion to determine AI’s capability to achieve its ultimate objectives. Ultimately, we argue some of the implications of our findings that suggests that; although scientific progress may have not reached its peak, or that human scientific evolution has reached a point where it’s not possible to discover evolutionary facts about the human Brain and detailed descriptions of how it represents knowledge, but it simply implies that; unless these methodological deficiencies are properly addressed; the future of AI’s qualitative progress remains questionable.

Keywords: cognitive sciences, knowledge representation, ontological reasoning, temporal logic

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Authors: Leila Mohammadi

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This paper presents the impact of persuasive communication implemented by fertility clinics websites, and how this information influences women at their decision-making for undertaking this procedure. The influential factors for women decisions to do social egg freezing (SEF) are analyzed from a framing theory perspective, with a specific focus on the impact of persuasive information on women’s decision making. This study follows a quantitative approach. A two-phase survey has been conducted to examine the interest rate to undertake SEF. In the first phase, a questionnaire was available during a month (May 2015) to women to answer whether or not they knew enough information of this process, with a total of 230 answers. The second phase took place in the two last weeks of July 2015. All the respondents were invited to a seminars called ‘All about egg freezing’ and afretwards they were requested to answer the second questionnaire. After the seminar, in which they were given an extensive amount of information about egg freezing, a total of 115 women replied the questionnaire. The collected data during this process were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Most of the respondents changed their opinion in the second questionaire which was after receiving information. Although in the first questionnaire their self-evaluation of having knowledge about this process and the implemented technologies was very high, they realized that they still need to access more information from different sources in order to be able to make a decision. The study reached the conclusion that persuasive and framed information by clinics would affect the decisions of these women. Despite the reasons women have to do egg freezing and their motivations behind it, providing people necessary information and unprejudiced data about this process (such as its positive and negative aspects, requirements, suppositions, possibilities and consequences) would help them to make a more precise and reasonable decision about what they are buying.

Keywords: decision making, fertility clinics, framing theory, persuasive information, social egg freezing

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

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Corrosion of steel in reinforced concrete structures is a major problem worldwide. The volume expansion of corrosion products causes concrete cover cracking, which could lead to delamination of concrete cover. The time to cover cracking plays a key role to the assessment of serviceability of reinforced concrete structures subjected to corrosion. Many analytical, numerical, and empirical models have been developed to predict the time to cracking initiation due to corrosion. In this study, a numerical model based on finite element modeling of corrosion-induced cracking process is used. In order to predict the service life based on time to cover initiation, the numerical approach is coupled with a probabilistic procedure. In this procedure, all the influential factors affecting time to cover cracking are modeled as random variables. The results show that the time to cover cracking is highly variables. It is also shown that rust product expansion ratio and the size of more porous concrete zone around the rebar are the most influential factors in predicting service life of corrosion-affected structures.

Keywords: corrosion, crack width, probabilistic, service life

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Authors: Jang kyun Cho, Jeong-dong Lee

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The advent of the Internet, mobile communications, and social network services has stimulated social interactions among consumers, allowing people to affect one another’s innovation adoptions by exchanging information more frequently and more quickly. Previous diffusion models, such as the Bass model, however, face limitations in reflecting such recent phenomena in society. These models are weak in their ability to model interactions between agents; they model aggregated-level behaviors only. The agent based model, which is an alternative to the aggregate model, is good for individual modeling, but it is still not based on an economic perspective of social interactions so far. This study assumes the presence of social utility from other consumers in the adoption of innovation and investigates the effect of individual interactions on innovation diffusion by developing a new model called the interaction-based diffusion model. By comparing this model with previous diffusion models, the study also examines how the proposed model explains innovation diffusion from the perspective of economics. In addition, the study recommends the use of a small-world network topology instead of cellular automata to describe innovation diffusion. This study develops a model based on individual preference and heterogeneous social interactions using utility specification, which is expandable and, thus, able to encompass various issues in diffusion research, such as reservation price. Furthermore, the study proposes a new framework to forecast aggregated-level market demand from individual level modeling. The model also exhibits a good fit to real market data. It is expected that the study will contribute to our understanding of the innovation diffusion process through its microeconomic theoretical approach.

Keywords: innovation diffusion, agent based model, small-world network, demand forecasting

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Authors: Luyao Liu, Dekui Yuan, Xu Li

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As one of the most important bays of China, the water exchange capacity of Bohai Bay can influence the economic development and urbanization of surrounding cities. However, the rapid reclamation has influenced the weak water exchange capacity of this semi-enclosed bay in recent years. This paper sets two hydrodynamic models of Bohai Bay with two shorelines before and after reclamation. The mean value and distribution of Turn-over Time, the distribution of residual current, and the feature of the tracer path are compared. After comparison, it is found that Bohai Bay keeps these characteristics; the spending time of water exchange in the northern is longer than southern, and inshore is longer than offshore. However, the mean water exchange time becomes longer after reclamation. In addition, the material spreading is blocked because of the inwardly extending shorelines, and the direction changed from along the shoreline to towards the center after reclamation.

Keywords: Bohai Bay, water exchange, reclamation, turn-over time

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Authors: Surajj Sarode, G. Vidya Sagar, G. P. Vadnere

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The purpose of the present study was to prolong the gastric residence time of Stavudine by developing gastric floating drug delivery system (GFDDS). Moreover, to study influence of different polymers on its release rate using gas-forming agents, like sodium bicarbonate, citric acid. Floating tablets were prepared by wet granulation method using PVP K-30 as a binder and the other polymers include Pullulan Gum, HPMC K100M, six different formulations with the varying concentrations of polymers were prepared and the tablets were evaluated in terms of their pre-compression parameters like bulk density, tapped density, Haunsner ratio, angle of repose, compressibility index, post compression physical characteristics, in vitro release, buoyancy, floating lag time (FLT), total floating time (TFT) and swelling index. All the formulations showed good floating lag time i.e. less than 3 mins. The batch containing combination of Pullulan Gum and HPMC 100M (i.e. F-6) showed total floating lag time more than 12 h., the highest swelling index among all the prepared batches. The drug release was found to follow zero order kinetics.

Keywords: Suavudine, floating, total floating time (TFT), gastric residence

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Authors: Eunice Gan Ghee Wu, Marcus Goh Tian Xi, Alicia Chua Si Wen, Helen Bound, Lee Liang Ying, Albert Lee

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The Map of Dialogical Inquiry provides a conceptual basis of learning processes. According to the Map, dialogical inquiry motivates complex thinking, dialogue, reflection, and learner agency. For instance, classrooms that incorporated dialogical inquiry enabled learners to construct more meaning in their learning, to engage in self-reflection, and to challenge their ideas with different perspectives. While the Map contributes to the psychology of learning, its qualitative approach makes it hard to track and compare learning processes over time for both teachers and learners. Qualitative approach typically relies on open-ended responses, which can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. With these concerns, the present research aimed to develop and validate a quantifiable measure for the Map. Specifically, the Map of Dialogical Inquiry reflects the eight different learning processes and perspectives employed during a learner’s experience. With a focus on interpersonal and emotional learning processes, the purpose of the present study is to construct and validate a scale to measure the “Relating” aspect of learning. According to the Map, the Relating aspect of learning contains four conceptual components: using intuition and empathy, seeking personal meaning, building relationships and meaning with others, and likes stories and metaphors. All components have been shown to benefit learning in past research. This research began with a literature review with the goal of identifying relevant scales in the literature. These scales were used as a basis for item development, guided by the four conceptual dimensions in the “Relating” aspect of learning, resulting in a pool of 47 preliminary items. Then, all items were administered to 200 American participants via an online survey along with other scales of learning. Dimensionality, reliability, and validity of the “Relating” scale was assessed. Data were submitted to a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), revealing four distinct components and items. Items with lower factor loadings were removed in an iterative manner, resulting in 34 items in the final scale. CFA also revealed that the “Relating” scale was a four-factor model, following its four distinct components as described in the Map of Dialogical Inquiry. In sum, this research was able to develop a quantitative scale for the “Relating” aspect of the Map of Dialogical Inquiry. By representing learning as numbers, users, such as educators and learners, can better track, evaluate, and compare learning processes over time in an efficient manner. More broadly, this scale may also be used as a learning tool in lifelong learning.

Keywords: lifelong learning, scale development, dialogical inquiry, relating, social and emotional learning, socio-affective intuition, empathy, narrative identity, perspective taking, self-disclosure

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Authors: Mariana L. de Araújo, Pedro P. M. Menezes

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Research on strategic human resource management (SHRM) has made progress in the last few decades, showing a relationship between policies and practices of human resource management (HRM) and improving organizational results. That's because demonstrating the effectiveness of any HRM or other organizational practice, which means the extent that this can operate as a tool to achieve organizational performance, is a complex and arduous task to execute. Even today, there isn't consensus about "effectiveness," and the tools to measure the effectiveness are disconnected and not convincing. It is not different from the performance management system (PMS) effectiveness. A disproportionate focus on specific criteria adopted and an accumulation of studies that don't relate to the others, which damages the development of the field. Therefore, it aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the PMS through models, dimensions, criteria, and measures. The objective of this study is to propose a theoretical-integrative model for evaluating PMS based on the literature in the PMS field. So, the PRISMA protocol was applied to carry out a systematic review, resulting in 57 studies. After performing the content analysis, we identified six dimensions: learning, societal impact, reaction, financial results, operational results and transfer, and 22 categories. In this way, a theoretical-integrative model for assessing the effectiveness of PMS was proposed based on the findings of this study, in which it was possible to confirm that the effectiveness construct is somewhat complex when viewing that most of the reviewed studies considered multiple dimensions in their assessment. In addition, we identified that the most immediate and proximal results of PMS are the most adopted by the studies; conversely, the studies adopted less distal outcomes to assess the effectiveness of PMS. Another finding of this research is that the reviewed studies predominantly analyze from the individual or psychological perspective, even when it comes to criteria whose phenomena are at an organizational level. Therefore, this study converges with a trend recently identified when referring to a process of "psychologization" in which GP studies, in general, have demonstrated macro results of the GP system from an individual perspective. Therefore, given the identification of a methodological pattern, the predominant influence of individual and psychological aspects in studies on HRM in administration is highlighted, demonstrated by the reflection on the practically absolute way of measuring the effectiveness of PMS from perceptual and subjective measures. Therefore, based on the recognition of the patterns identified, the model proposed to promote studies on the subject more broadly and profoundly to broaden and deepen the perspective of the field of management's interests so that the evaluation of the effectiveness of PMS can promote inputs on the impact of the PMS system in organizational performance. Finally, the findings encourage reflections on assessing the effectiveness of PMS through the theoretical-integrative model developed so that the field can promote new theoretical and practical perspectives.

Keywords: performance management, strategic human resource management, effectiveness, organizational performance

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Authors: Agarana Michael C., Akinlabi Esther T., Pule Kholopane

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In order to sustain the advantages of an advanced manufacturing technique, such as laser sintering, minimization of total processing cost of the parts being produced is very important. An efficient time management would usually very important in optimal cost attainment which would ultimately result in an efficient advanced manufacturing process planning and control. During Laser Scanning Process Scanning (SLS) procedures it is possible to adjust various manufacturing parameters which are used to influence the improvement of various mechanical and other properties of the products. In this study, Modelling and mathematical analysis, including sensitivity analysis, of the laser sintering process time were carried out. The results of the analyses were represented with graphs, from where conclusions were drawn. It was specifically observed that achievement of optimal total scanning time is key for economic efficiency which is required for sustainability of the process.

Keywords: modeling and analysis, optimal planning and control, laser sintering process, scanning time

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Authors: Laura Bickel

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This paper aims to investigate to what extent Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of body memory serves as a viable resource for the enactive approach to cognitive science and its first-person experience-based research on ‘recurrent depressive disorder’ coded F33 in ICD-10. In pursuit of this goal, the analysis begins by revisiting the neuroreductive paradigm. This paradigm serves biological psychiatry to explain the condition of vital contact in terms of underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. It is demonstrated that the neuroreductive model cannot sufficiently account for the depressed person’s episodical withdrawal in causal terms. The analysis of the irregular loss of vital resonance requires integrating the body as the subject of experience and its phenomenological time. Then, it is shown that the enactive approach to depression as disordered sense-making is a promising alternative. The enactive model of perception implies that living beings do not register pre-existing meaning ‘out there’ but unfold ‘sense’ in their action-oriented response to the world. For the enactive approach, Husserl’s passive synthesis of inner time consciousness is fundamental for what becomes perceptually present for action. It seems intuitive to bring together the enactive approach to depression with the long-standing view in phenomenological psychopathology that explains the loss of vital contact by appealing to the disruption of the temporal structure of consciousness. However, this paper argues that the disruption of the temporal structure is not justified conceptually. Instead, one may integrate Merleau-Ponty’s concept of the past as the unconscious into the enactive approach to depression. From this perspective, the living being’s experiential and biological past inserts itself in the form of habit and bodily skills and ensures action-oriented responses to the environment. Finally, it is concluded that the depressed person’s withdrawal indicates the impairment of this application process. The person suffering from F33 cannot actualize sedimented meaning to respond to the valences and tasks of a given situation.

Keywords: depression, enactivism, neuroreductionsim, phenomenology, temporality

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Authors: C. Slim

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Traditional techniques for analyzing time series are based on the notion of stationarity of phenomena under study, but in reality most economic and financial series do not verify this hypothesis, which implies the implementation of specific tools for the detection of such behavior. In this paper, we study nonstationary non-seasonal time series tests in a non-exhaustive manner. We formalize the problem of nonstationary processes with numerical simulations and take stock of their statistical characteristics. The theoretical aspects of some of the most common unit root tests will be discussed. We detail the specification of the tests, showing the advantages and disadvantages of each. The empirical study focuses on the application of these tests to the exchange rate (USD/TND) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Tunisia, in order to compare the Power of these tests with the characteristics of the series.

Keywords: stationarity, unit root tests, economic time series, ADF tests

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Authors: Hussain Syed Asad, Richard Kwok Kit Yuen, Gongsheng Huang

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Real-time optimization has been considered an effective approach for improving energy efficient operation of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. In model-based real-time optimization, model mismatches cannot be avoided. When model mismatches are significant, the performance of the real-time optimization will be impaired and hence the expected energy saving will be reduced. In this paper, the model mismatches for chiller plant on real-time optimization are considered. In the real-time optimization of the chiller plant, simplified semi-physical or grey box model of chiller is always used, which should be identified using available operation data. To overcome the model mismatches associated with the chiller model, hybrid Genetic Algorithms (HGAs) method is used for online real-time training of the chiller model. HGAs combines Genetic Algorithms (GAs) method (for global search) and traditional optimization method (i.e. faster and more efficient for local search) to avoid conventional hit and trial process of GAs. The identification of model parameters is synthesized as an optimization problem; and the objective function is the Least Square Error between the output from the model and the actual output from the chiller plant. A case study is used to illustrate the implementation of the proposed method. It has been shown that the proposed approach is able to provide reliability in decision making, enhance the robustness of the real-time optimization strategy and improve on energy performance.

Keywords: energy performance, hybrid adaptive modeling, hybrid genetic algorithms, real-time optimization, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning

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Authors: Omnia Saidani Neffati, Rim Samia Kaabi, Naoufel Kraiem

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In this paper, we propose an approach aiming at (i) representing services at two levels: the intentional level and the organizational level, and (ii) establishing mechanisms allowing to make a transition from the first level to the second one in order to execute intentional services. An example is used to validate our approach.

Keywords: intentional service, business process, BPMN, MDE, intentional service execution

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Authors: Maitree Thamma, Witchupong Wiboonjaroen, Thanat Suknuan, Karan Homchat

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First order plus dead time (FOPDT) is a high dynamic system. Therefore, the controller must be intelligent. This paper presents the development and implementation of self-tuning Fuzzy-PID controller for controlling the FOPDT system. The water level process used represented FOPDT system and the mathematical model of the system was approximated by using System Identification toolbox in Matlab. The control programming and Fuzzy-PID algorithm used Matlab/Simulink and run on Microcontroller STM32.

Keywords: real-time control, self-tuning fuzzy-PID, FOPDT system, the water lever process

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Authors: Jared R. Chapman

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This study introduces a type of motivational information system called an educational engagement information system (EEIS). An EEIS draws on principles of behavioral economics, motivation theory, and learning cognition theory to design information systems that help students want to improve their performance. This study compares academic outcomes for course sections taught by part- and full-time instructors both with and without an EEIS. Without an EEIS, students in the part-time instructor's course sections demonstrated significantly higher failure rates (a 143.8% increase) and dropout rates (a 110.4% increase) with significantly fewer students scoring a B- or higher (39.8% decrease) when compared to students in the course sections taught by a full-time instructor. It is concerning that students in the part-time instructor’s course without an EEIS had significantly lower academic outcomes, suggesting less understanding of the course content. This could impact retention and continuation in a major. With an EEIS, when comparing part- and full-time instructors, there was no significant difference in failure and dropout rates or in the number of students scoring a B- or higher in the course. In fact, with an EEIS, the failure and dropout rates were statistically identical for part- and full-time instructor courses. When using an EEIS (compared with not using an EEIS), the part-time instructor showed a 62.1% decrease in failures, a 61.4% decrease in dropouts, and a 41.7% increase in the number of students scoring a B- or higher in the course. We are unaware of other interventions that yield such large improvements in academic performance. This suggests that using an EEIS such as Delphinium may compensate for part-time instructors’ limitations of expertise, time, or rewards that can have a negative impact on students’ academic outcomes. The EEIS had only a minimal impact on failure rates (7.7% decrease) and dropout rates (18.8% decrease) for the full-time instructor. This suggests there is a ceiling effect for the improvements that an EEIS can make in student performance. This may be because experienced instructors are already doing the kinds of things that an EEIS does, such as motivating students, tracking grades, and providing feedback about progress. Additionally, full-time instructors have more time to dedicate to students outside of class than part-time instructors and more rewards for doing so. Using adjunct and other types of part-time instructors will likely remain a prevalent practice in higher education management courses. Given that using part-time instructors can have a negative impact on student graduation and persistence in a field of study, it is important to identify ways we can augment part-time instructors’ performance. We demonstrated that when part-time instructors use an EEIS, it can result in significantly lower students’ failure and dropout rates and an increase in the rate of students earning a B- or above; and bring their students’ performance to parity with the performance of students taught by a full-time instructor.

Keywords: gamification, engagement, motivation, academic outcomes

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Authors: Jing Qingfeng, Wu Jiajia

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Due to the crowded orbits and shortage of frequency resources, utilizing of MIMO technology to improve spectrum efficiency and increase the capacity has become a necessary trend of broadband satellite communication. We analyze the main influenced factors and compare the BER performance of space-time block code (STBC) scheme and space-time trellis code (STTC) scheme. This paper emphatically studies the bit error rate (BER) performance of STTC and STBC under Rayleigh channel. The main emphasis is placed on the effects of the factors, such as terminal environment and elevation angles, on the BER performance of STBC and STTC schemes. Simulation results indicate that performance of STTC under Rayleigh channel is obviously improved with the increasing of transmitting and receiving antennas numbers, but the encoder state has little impact on the performance. Under Rayleigh channel, performance of Alamouti code is better than that of STTC.

Keywords: MIMO, space time block code (STBC), space time trellis code (STTC), Rayleigh channel

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Authors: Tünde Tifordiána Simonyi, Tímea Harmath-Tánczos

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The primary aim of the current research is to present the significance of a multicultural perspective in clinical neuropsychology and to present the test battery of the Multicultural Neuropsychological Scale (MUNS). The method includes the MUNS screening tool that involves stimuli common to most cultures in the world. The test battery measures general cognitive functioning focusing on five cognitive domains (memory, executive function, language, visual construction, and attention) tested with seven subtests that can be utilized within a wide age range (15-89), and lower and higher education participants. It is a scale that is sensitive to mild cognitive impairments. Our study presents the first results with the Hungarian translation of MUNS on a healthy sample. The education range was 4-25 years of schooling. The Hungarian sample was recruited by snowball sampling. Within the investigated population (N=151) the age curve follows an inverted U-shaped curve regarding cognitive performance with a high load on memory. Age, reading fluency, and years of education significantly influenced test scores. The sample was tested twice within a 14-49 days interval to determine test-retest reliability, which is satisfactory. Besides the findings of the study and the introduction of the test battery, the article also highlights its potential benefits for both research and clinical neuropsychological practice. The importance of adapting, validating and standardizing the test in other languages besides the Hungarian language context is also stressed. This test battery could serve as a helpful tool in mapping general cognitive functions in psychiatric and neurological disorders regardless of the cultural background of the patients.

Keywords: general cognitive functioning, multicultural, MUNS, neuropsychological test battery

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Authors: Sana Hamdi, Emna Bouazizi, Sami Faiz

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In recent years, real-time spatial applications, like location-aware services and traffic monitoring, have become more and more important. Such applications result dynamic environments where data as well as queries are continuously moving. As a result, there is a tremendous amount of real-time spatial data generated every day. The growth of the data volume seems to outspeed the advance of our computing infrastructure. For instance, in real-time spatial Big Data, users expect to receive the results of each query within a short time period without holding in account the load of the system. But with a huge amount of real-time spatial data generated, the system performance degrades rapidly especially in overload situations. To solve this problem, we propose the use of data partitioning as an optimization technique. Traditional horizontal and vertical partitioning can increase the performance of the system and simplify data management. But they remain insufficient for real-time spatial Big data; they can’t deal with real-time and stream queries efficiently. Thus, in this paper, we propose a novel data partitioning approach for real-time spatial Big data named VPA-RTSBD (Vertical Partitioning Approach for Real-Time Spatial Big data). This contribution is an implementation of the Matching algorithm for traditional vertical partitioning. We find, firstly, the optimal attribute sequence by the use of Matching algorithm. Then, we propose a new cost model used for database partitioning, for keeping the data amount of each partition more balanced limit and for providing a parallel execution guarantees for the most frequent queries. VPA-RTSBD aims to obtain a real-time partitioning scheme and deals with stream data. It improves the performance of query execution by maximizing the degree of parallel execution. This affects QoS (Quality Of Service) improvement in real-time spatial Big Data especially with a huge volume of stream data. The performance of our contribution is evaluated via simulation experiments. The results show that the proposed algorithm is both efficient and scalable, and that it outperforms comparable algorithms.

Keywords: real-time spatial big data, quality of service, vertical partitioning, horizontal partitioning, matching algorithm, hamming distance, stream query

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Authors: Mohammad H. Fattahi

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Chaotic analysis has been performed on the river flow time series before and after applying the wavelet based de-noising techniques in order to investigate the noise content effects on chaotic nature of flow series. In this study, 38 years of monthly runoff data of three gauging stations were used. Gauging stations were located in Ghar-e-Aghaj river basin, Fars province, Iran. The noise level of time series was estimated with the aid of Gaussian kernel algorithm. This step was found to be crucial in preventing removal of the vital data such as memory, correlation and trend from the time series in addition to the noise during de-noising process.

Keywords: chaotic behavior, wavelet, noise reduction, river flow

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Authors: Abrar Abuzaid, Maha Alaaeddine, Haya Alesayi

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This project is centered around understanding the usage and impact of Alexa, Amazon's popular virtual assistant, in everyday life. Alexa, known for its integration into devices like Amazon Echo, offers functionalities such as voice interaction, media control, providing real-time information, and managing smart home devices. Our primary focus is to conduct a straightforward survey aimed at uncovering how people use Alexa in their daily routines. We plan to reach out to a wide range of individuals to get a diverse perspective on how Alexa is being utilized for various tasks, the frequency and context of its use, and the overall user experience. The survey will explore the most common uses of Alexa, its impact on daily life, features that users find most beneficial, and improvements they are looking for. This project is not just about collecting data but also about understanding the real-world applications of a technology like Alexa and how it fits into different lifestyles. By examining the responses, we aim to gain a practical understanding of Alexa's role in homes and possibly in workplaces. This project will provide insights into user satisfaction and areas where Alexa could be enhanced to meet the evolving needs of its users. It’s a step towards connecting technology with everyday life, making it more accessible and user-friendly

Keywords: Amazon Alexa, artificial intelligence, smart speaker, natural language processing

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Authors: Olivier Delage, Hassan Bencherif, Alain Bourdier

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Signal decomposition approaches represent an important step in time series analysis, providing useful knowledge and insight into the data and underlying dynamics characteristics while also facilitating tasks such as noise removal and feature extraction. As most of observational time series are nonlinear and nonstationary, resulting of several physical processes interaction at different time scales, experimental time series have fluctuations at all time scales and requires the development of specific signal decomposition techniques. Most commonly used techniques are data driven, enabling to obtain well-behaved signal components without making any prior-assumptions on input data. Among the most popular time series decomposition techniques, most cited in the literature, are the empirical mode decomposition and its variants, the empirical wavelet transform and singular spectrum analysis. With increasing popularity and utility of these methods in wide ranging applications, it is imperative to gain a good understanding and insight into the operation of these algorithms. In this work, we describe all of the techniques mentioned above as well as their ability to denoise signals, to capture trends, to identify components corresponding to the physical processes involved in the evolution of the observed system and deduce the dimensionality of the underlying dynamics. Results obtained with all of these methods on experimental total ozone columns and rainfall time series will be discussed and compared

Keywords: denoising, empirical mode decomposition, singular spectrum analysis, time series, underlying dynamics, wavelet analysis

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Authors: Mohamed Elmeshad

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During the mid-1990's Egypt had become obliged to implement the Economic Reform and Structural Adjustment Program that included broad economic liberalization, expansion of the private sector and a contraction the size of government spending. This coincided as well with attempts to appear more democratic and open to liberalizing public space and discourse. At the same time, economic pressures and the proliferation of social media access and activism had led to increased pressure to open a mediascape and remove it from the clutches of the government, which had monopolized print and broadcast mass media for over 4 decades by that point. However, the mechanisms that governed the privatization of mass media allowed for sustained government control, even through the prism of ostensibly privately owned newspapers and television stations. These mechanisms involve barriers to entry from a financial and security perspective, as well as operational capacities of distribution and access to means of production. The power dynamics between mass media establishments and the state were moulded during this period in a novel way. Power dynamics within media establishments had also formed under such circumstances. The changes in the country's political economy itself somehow mirrored these developments. This paper will examine these dynamics and shed light on the political economy of Egypt's newly privatized mass media in the early 2000's especially. Methodology: This study will rely on semi-structured interviews from individuals involved with these changes from the perspective of the media organizations. It also will map out the process of media privatization by looking at the administrative, operative and legislative institutions and contexts in order to attempt to draw conclusions on methods of control and the role of the state during the process of privatization. Finally, a brief discourse analysis will be necessary in order to aptly convey how these factors ultimately reflected on media output. Findings and conclusion: The development of Egyptian private, “independent” mirrored the trajectory of transitions in the country’s political economy. Liberalization of the economy meant that a growing class of business owners would explore opportunities that such new markets would offer. However the regime’s attempts to control access to certain forms of capital, especially in sectors such as the media affected the structure of print and broadcast media, as well as the institutions that would govern them. Like the process of liberalisation, much of the regime’s manoeuvring with regards to privatization of media had been haphazardly used to indirectly expand the regime and its ruling party’s ability to retain influence, while creating a believable façade of openness. In this paper, we will attempt to uncover these mechanisms and analyse our findings in ways that explain how the manifestations prevalent in the context of a privatizing media space in a transitional Egypt provide evidence of both the intentions of this transition, and the ways in which it was being held back.

Keywords: business, mass media, political economy, power, privatisation

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Authors: Amitesh Goswami, Vishal Gulati, Annu Yadav

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In this paper, WEDM has been used to investigate the machining characteristics of Inconel-625 alloy. The machining characteristics namely material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR) have been investigated along with surface microstructure analysis using SEM and EDS of the machined surface. Taguchi’s L27 Orthogonal array design has been used by considering six varying input parameters viz. Pulse-on time (Ton), Pulse-off time (Toff), Spark Gap Set Voltage (SV), Peak Current (IP), Wire Feed (WF) and Wire Tension (WT) for the responses of interest. It has been found out that Pulse-on time (Ton) and Spark Gap Set Voltage (SV) are the most significant parameters affecting material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR) are. Microstructure analysis of workpiece was also done using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). It was observed that, variations in pulse-on time and pulse-off time causes varying discharge energy and as a result of which deep craters / micro cracks and large/ small number of debris were formed. These results were helpful in studying the effects of pulse-on time and pulse-off time on MRR and SR. Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS) was also done to check the compositional analysis of the material and it was observed that Copper and Zinc which were initially not present in the Inconel 625, later migrated on the material surface from the brass wire electrode during machining

Keywords: MRR, SEM, SR, taguchi, Wire Electric Discharge Machining

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Authors: Pengcheng Xiang Jr., Xueqing Sun, Dong Ngoduy

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In the context of rapid urbanization, urban sprawl has brought about extensive negative impacts on ecosystems and the environment, resulting in a gradual shift from "incremental growth" to ‘stock growth’ in cities. A detailed urban growth boundary is a prerequisite for urban renewal and management. This study takes Shenyang City, China, as the study area and evaluates the spatial distribution of urban spatial suitability in the study area from the perspective of spatial constraints-suitability using multi-source data and simulates the future rigid and elastic growth boundaries of the city in the study area using the CA-Markov model. The results show that (1) the suitable construction area and moderate construction area in the study area account for 8.76% and 19.01% of the total area, respectively, and the suitable construction area and moderate construction area show a trend of distribution from the urban centre to the periphery, mainly in Shenhe District, the southern part of Heping District, the western part of Dongling District, and the central part of Dadong District; (2) the area of expansion of construction land in the study area in the period of 2023-2030 is 153274.6977hm2, accounting for 44.39% of the total area of the study area; (3) the rigid boundary of the study area occupies an area of 153274.6977 hm2, accounting for 44.39% of the total area of the study area, and the elastic boundary of the study area contains an area of 75362.61 hm2, accounting for 21.69% of the total area of the study area. The study constructed a method for urban growth boundary delineation, which helps to apply remote sensing to guide future urban spatial growth management and urban renewal.

Keywords: urban growth boundary, spatial constraints, spatial suitability, urban sprawl

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Authors: Mehmet Ekici

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In this study, the fading time affecting the mechanical properties and microstructures of vermicular cast iron were studied. Pig iron and steel scrap weighing about 12 kg were charged into the high-frequency induction furnace crucible and completely melted for production of vermicular cast iron. The slag was skimmed using a common flux. After fading time was set at 1. 3 and 5 minutes. In this way, three vermicular cast iron was produced that same composition but different phase structures. The microstructure of specimens was investigated, and uni-axial tensile test and the Charpy impact test were performed, and their micro-hardness measurements were done in order to characterize the mechanical behaviours of vermicular cast iron.

Keywords: vermicular cast iron, fading time, hardness, tensile test and impact test

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Authors: Ben G. Weber, Michael Mateas

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We present a case-based reasoning technique for selecting build orders in a real-time strategy game. The case retrieval process generalizes features of the game state and selects cases using domain-specific recall methods, which perform exact matching on a subset of the case features. We demonstrate the performance of the technique by implementing it as a component of the integrated agent framework of McCoy and Mateas. Our results demonstrate that the technique outperforms nearest-neighbor retrieval when imperfect information is enforced in a real-time strategy game.

Keywords: case based reasoning, real time strategy systems, requirements elicitation, requirement analyst, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Niyongabo Elyse

Abstract:

Prefabricated building construction is a pioneering approach that combines design, production, and assembly to attain energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, and economic feasibility. Despite continuous development in the industry in China, the low technical maturity of standardized design, factory production, and construction assembly introduces uncertainties affecting prefabricated component production and on-site assembly processes. This research focuses on enhancing project management performance under uncertainty to help enterprises navigate these challenges and optimize project resources. The study introduces a perspective on how uncertain factors influence the implementation of prefabricated building construction projects. It proposes a theoretical model considering project process management ability, adaptability to uncertain environments, and collaboration ability of project participants. The impact of uncertain factors is demonstrated through case studies and quantitative analysis, revealing constraints on implementation time, cost, quality, and safety. To address uncertainties in prefabricated component production scheduling, a fuzzy model is presented, expressing processing times in interval values. The model utilizes a cooperative co-evolution evolution algorithm (CCEA) to optimize scheduling, demonstrated through a real case study showcasing reduced project duration and minimized effects of processing time disturbances. Additionally, the research addresses on-site assembly construction scheduling, considering the relationship between task processing times and assigned resources. A multi-objective model with fuzzy activity durations is proposed, employing a hybrid cooperative co-evolution evolution algorithm (HCCEA) to optimize project scheduling. Results from real case studies indicate improved project performance in terms of duration, cost, and resilience to processing time delays and resource changes. The study also introduces a multistage dynamic process control model, utilizing IoT technology for real-time monitoring during component production and construction assembly. This approach dynamically adjusts schedules when constraints arise, leading to enhanced project management performance, as demonstrated in a real prefabricated housing project. Key contributions include a fuzzy prefabricated components production scheduling model, a multi-objective multi-mode resource-constrained construction project scheduling model with fuzzy activity durations, a multi-stage dynamic process control model, and a cooperative co-evolution evolution algorithm. The integrated mathematical model addresses the complexity of prefabricated building construction project management, providing a theoretical foundation for practical decision-making in the field.

Keywords: prefabricated construction, project management performance, uncertainty, fuzzy scheduling

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Authors: Seyed Sadegh Naseralavi, Sadegh Balaghi, Ehsan Khojastehfar

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Time history seismic analysis is supposed to be the most accurate method to predict the seismic demand of structures. On the other hand, the required computational time of this method toward achieving the result is its main deficiency. While being applied in optimization process, in which the structure must be analyzed thousands of time, reducing the required computational time of seismic analysis of structures makes the optimization algorithms more practical. Apparently, the invented approximate methods produce some amount of errors in comparison with exact time history analysis but the recently proposed method namely, Complete Quadratic Combination (CQC) and Sum Root of the Sum of Squares (SRSS) drastically reduces the computational time by combination of peak responses in each mode. In the present research, the Basic Modal Displacement (BMD) method is introduced and applied towards estimation of seismic demand of main structure. Seismic demand of sampled structure is estimated by calculation of modal displacement of basic structure (in which the modal displacement has been calculated). Shear steel sampled structures are selected as case studies. The error applying the introduced method is calculated by comparison of the estimated seismic demands with exact time history dynamic analysis. The efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated by application of three types of earthquakes (in view of time of peak ground acceleration).

Keywords: time history dynamic analysis, basic modal displacement, earthquake-induced demands, shear steel structures

Procedia PDF Downloads 355