Search results for: factor extraction

Authors: Hadi Aghazadeh, Seyed Ebrahim Afjei, Alireza Siadatan

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In this paper, a proper approach is taken to assess a set of the most effective rotor design parameters for an external-rotor permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motor (PMaSynRM) and therefore to tackle the design complexity of the rotor structure. There are different advantages for introducing permanent magnets into the rotor flux barriers, some of which are to saturate the rotor iron ribs, to increase the motor torque density and to improve the power factor. Moreover, the d-axis and q-axis inductances are of great importance to simultaneously achieve maximum developed torque and low torque ripple. Therefore, sensitivity analysis of the rotor geometry of an 8-pole external-rotor permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motor is performed. Several magnetically accurate finite element analyses (FEA) are conducted to characterize the electromagnetic performance of the motor. The analyses validate torque and power factor equations for the proposed external-rotor motor. Based upon the obtained results and due to an additional term, permanent magnet torque, added to the reluctance torque, the electromagnetic torque of the PMaSynRM increases.

Keywords: permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motor, flux barrier, flux carrier, electromagnetic torque, and power factor

Procedia PDF Downloads 315

Authors: Yen-Mei Lee

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Mobile learning (m-learning) has been applied in the education field not only because it is an alternative to web-based learning but also it possesses the ‘anytime, anywhere’ learning features. However, most studies focus on the technology-related issue, such as usability and functionality instead of addressing m-learning from the motivational perspective. Accordingly, the main purpose of the current paper is to integrate critical factors from different motivational theories and related findings to have a better understand the catalysts of an individual’s learning motivation toward m-learning. The main research question for this study is stated as follows: based on different motivational perspectives, what factors of applying mobile devices as medium can facilitate people’s learning motivations? Self-Determination Theory (SDT), Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT), Malone and Lepper’s taxonomy of intrinsic motivation theory, and different types of motivation concepts were discussed in the current paper. In line with the review of relevant studies, three motivating factors with five essential elements are proposed. The first key factor is autonomy. Learning on one’s own path and applying personalized format are two critical elements involved in the factor of autonomy. The second key factor is to apply a build-in instant feedback system during m-learning. The third factor is creating an interaction system, including communication and collaboration spaces. These three factors can enhance people’s learning motivations when applying mobile devices as medium toward learning. To sum up, in the currently proposed paper, with different motivational perspectives to discuss the m-learning is different from previous studies which are simply focused on the technical or functional design. Supported by different motivation theories, researchers can clearly understand how the mobile devices influence people’s leaning motivation. Moreover, instructional designers and educators can base on the proposed factors to build up their unique and efficient m-learning environments.

Keywords: autonomy, learning motivation, mobile learning (m-learning), motivational perspective

Procedia PDF Downloads 162

Authors: Fares Elturki, Shaban Ismael Albrka Ali Zangena, H. A. M. Yahia

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Safety is an important consideration in the design and operation of streets and highways. Traffic and highway engineers working with law enforcement officials are constantly seeking for better methods to ensure safety for motorists and pedestrians. Also, a highway safety improvement process involves planning, implementation, and evaluation. The planning process requires that engineers collect and maintain traffic safety data, identify the hazards location, conduct studies and establish project priorities. Unfortunately, in Libya, the increase in demand for private transportation in recent years, due to poor or lack of public transportation led to some traffic problems especially in the capital (Tripoli). Also, the growth of private transportation has significant influences on the society regarding road traffic accidents (RTAs). This study investigates the most critical factors affect RTAs in Tripoli the capital city of Libya. Four main classifications were chosen to build the questionnaire, namely; human factors, road factors, vehicle factors and environmental factors. Moreover, a quantitative method was used to collect the data from the field, the targeted sample size 400 respondents include; drivers, pedestrian and passengers and relative importance index (RII) were used to rank the factors of one group and between all groups. The results show that the human factors have the most significant impacts compared with other factors. Also, 84% of respondents considered the over speeding as the most significant factor cusses of RTAs while 81% considered the disobedience to driving regulations as the second most influential factor in human factors. Also, the results showed that poor brakes or brake failure factor a great impact on the RTAs among the vehicle factors with nearly 74%, while 79% categorized poor or no street lighting factor as one of the most effective factors on RTAs in road factors and third effecting factor concerning all factors. The environmental factors have the slights influences compared with other factors.

Keywords: road traffic accidents, Libya, vehicle factors, human factors, relative importance index

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Authors: Sijuade A. A., Oguntoye J. P., Awodoye O. O., Adedapo O. A., Wahab W. B., Okediran O. O., Omidiora E. O., Olabiyisi S. O.

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Electronic voting systems have been introduced to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and transparency of the election process in many countries around the world, including Nigeria. However, concerns have been raised about the security and integrity of these systems. One way to address these concerns is through the implementation of electronic forensic election audit systems. This study aims to evaluate voters' intention to the adoption of electronic forensic election audit systems using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. In the study, the UTAUT model which is a widely used model in the field of information systems to explain the factors that influence individuals' intention to use a technology by integrating performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, cost factor and privacy factor to voters’ behavioural intention was proposed. A total of 294 sample data were collected from a selected population of electorates who had at one time or the other participated in at least an electioneering process in Nigeria. The data was then analyzed statistically using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results obtained show that all variables have a significant effect on the electorates’ behavioral intention to adopt the development and implementation of an electronic forensic election audit system in Nigeria.

Keywords: election Audi, voters, UTAUT, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating condition social influence, facilitating conditions, cost factor, privacy factor, behavioural intention

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Authors: Minzi Mao, Jianjun Ren, Yu Zhao

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Objectives: The absence of a uniform staging scheme for temporal bone carcinoma (TBC) seriously impedes the improvement of its management strategies. Therefore, this research was aimed to investigate the prognostic values of two currently applying staging schemes, namely, the modified Pittsburgh staging system (MPB) and Stell’s T classification (Stell-T) in patients with TBC. Methods: Areal-world single-institution retrospectivereview of patientsdiagnosed with TBC between2008 and 2019 was performed. Baseline characteristics were extracted, and patients were retrospectively staged by both the MPB and Stell-T classifications. Cox regression analyseswereconductedtocomparetheoverall survival (OS). Results: A total of 69 consecutive TBC patients were included in thisstudy. Univariate analysis showed that both Stell-T and T- classifications of the modified Pittsburgh staging system (MPB-T) were significant prognostic factors for all TBC patients as well as temporal bone squamous cell carcinoma (TBSCC, n=50) patients (P < 0.05). However, only Stell-T was confirmed to be an independent prognostic factor in TBSCC patients (P = 0.004). Conclusions: Tumor extensions, quantified by both Stell-T and MPB-T classifications, are significant prognostic factors for TBC patients, especially for TBSCC patients. However, only the Stell-T classification is an independent prognostic factor for TBSCC patients.

Keywords: modified pittsburgh staging system, overall survival, prognostic factor, stell’s T- classification, temporal bone carcinoma

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Authors: Kamalesh Kumar Singh

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Due to increasing trends of electronic waste, specially the ICT related gadgets, their green recycling is still a greater challenge. This article presents a two-stage, eco-friendly hydrometallurgical route for the recovery of gold from the delaminated metallic layers of waste mobile phone Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Initially, mobile phone PCBs are downsized (1x1 cm²) and treated with an organic solvent dimethylacetamide (DMA) for the separation of metallic fraction from non-metallic glass fiber. In the first stage, liberated metallic sheets are used for the selective dissolution of copper in an aqueous leaching reagent. Influence of various parameters such as type of leaching reagent, the concentration of the solution, temperature, time and pulp density are optimized for the effective leaching (almost 100%) of copper. Results have shown that 3M nitric acid is a suitable reagent for copper leaching at room temperature and considering chemical features, gold remained in solid residue. In the second stage, the separated residue is used for the recovery of gold by using sulphuric acid with a combination of halide salt. In this halide leaching, Cl₂ or Br₂ is generated as an in-situ oxidant to improve the leaching of gold. Results have shown that almost 92 % of gold is recovered at the optimized parameters.

Keywords: printed circuit boards, delamination, leaching, solvent extraction, recovery

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Authors: Darrol Stanley, Levan Efremidze, Jannie Rossouw

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We investigate the predictability of the USD/ZAR (South African Rand) exchange rate with sample entropy analytics for the period of 2004-2015. We calculate sample entropy based on the daily data of the exchange rate and conduct empirical implementation of several market timing rules based on these entropy signals. The dynamic investment portfolio based on entropy signals produces better risk adjusted performance than a buy and hold strategy. The returns are estimated on the portfolio values in U.S. dollars. These results are preliminary and do not yet account for reasonable transactions costs, although these are very small in currency markets.

Keywords: currency trading, entropy, market timing, risk factor model

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Authors: Senthuran Manoharan, Rathesan Sivagananalingam

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One of the main issues in system security is Authentication. Authentication can be defined as the process of recognizing the user's identity and it is the most important step in the access control process to safeguard data/resources from being accessed by unauthorized users. The static method of authentication cannot ensure the genuineness of the user. Due to this reason, more innovative authentication mechanisms came into play. At first two factor authentication was introduced and later, multi-factor authentication was introduced to enhance the security of the system. It also had some issues and later, adaptive authentication was introduced. In this research paper, the design of an adaptive authentication engine was put forward. The user risk profile was calculated based on the user parameters and then the user was challenged with a suitable authentication method.

Keywords: authentication, adaptive authentication, machine learning, security

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Authors: Hyehyeon Lee, Jiwon Yu, Juwon Kim, Raquel Kristina Leoni Tumiar, Taewon Kim, Juae Kim, Hongsuk Suh

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Photovoltaics, which have many advantages in cost, easy processing, and light-weight, have attracted attention. We synthesized pyrimidine-based conjugated polymers with 2-{4-[4,6-bis-(4-hexyl-thiophen-2-yl)-pyrimidin-2-yl]-phenyl}-thiazolo[5,4-b]pyridine (pPTP) which have an ability of powerful electron withdrawing and introduced into the PSCs. By Stille polymerization, we designed the conjugated polymers, pPTPBDT-12, pPTPBDT-EH, pPTPBDTT-EH and pPTPTTI. The HOMO energy levels of four polymers (pPTPBDT-12, pPTPBDT-EH, pPTPBDTT-EH and pPTPTTI) were at -5.61 ~ -5.89 eV, their LUMO (Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital) energy levels were at -3.95 ~ -4.09 eV. The device including pPTPBDT-12 and PC71BM (1:2) indicated a V_oc of 0.67 V, a J_sc of 1.33 mA/cm², and a fill factor (FF) of 0.25, giving a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.23%. The device including pPTPBDT-EH and PC71BM (1:2) indicated a V_oc of 0.72 V, a J_sc of 2.56 mA/cm², and a fill factor (FF) of 0.30, giving a power conversion efficiency of 0.56%. The device including pPTPBDTT-EH and PC71BM (1:2) indicated a V_oc of 0.72 V, a J_sc of 3.61 mA/cm², and a fill factor (FF) of 0.29, giving a power conversion efficiency of 0.74%. The device including pPTPTTI and PC71BM (1:2) indicated a V_oc of 0.83 V, a J_sc of 4.41 mA/cm², and a fill factor (FF) of 0.31, giving a power conversion efficiency of 1.13%. Therefore, pPTPBDT-12, pPTPBDT-EH, pPTPBDTT-EH, and pPTPTTI were synthesized by Stille polymerization. And We find one of the best efficiency for these polymers, called pPTPTTI. Their optical properties were measured and the results show that pyrimidine-based polymers especially like pPTPTTI have a great promise to act as the donor of the active layer.

Keywords: polymer solar cells, pyrimidine-based polymers, photovoltaics, conjugated polymer

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Authors: Belayihun Missaw

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Cotton cationization is an emerging area that solves the environmental problems associated with the reactive dyeing of cotton. In this study, keratin hydrolysate cationizing agent from chicken feather was extracted and optimized to eliminate the usage of salt during dyeing. Cationization of cotton using the extracted keratin hydrolysate and dyeing of the cationized cotton without salt was made. The effect of extraction parametric conditions like concentration of caustic soda, temperature and time were studied on the yield of protein from chicken feather and colour strength (K/S) values, and these process conditions were optimized. The optimum extraction conditions were. 25g/l caustic soda, at 500C temperature and 105 minutes with average yield = 91.2% and 4.32 colour strength value. The effect of salt addition, pH and concentration of cationizing agent on yield colour strength was also studied and optimized. It was observed that slightly acidic condition with 4% (% owf) concentration of cationizing agent gives a better dyeability as compared to normal cotton reactive dyeing. The physical properties of cationized-dyed fabric were assessed, and the result reveals that the cationization has a similar effect as normal dyeing of cotton. The cationization of cotton with keratin extract was found to be successful and economically viable.

Keywords: cotton materials, cationization, reactive dye, keratin hydrolysate

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Authors: Shuaibu Hassan Usman, Ishaq Oyebisi Oyefolahan

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This study was aimed to explore the latent factors in the web 2.0 enabled knowledge sharing practices instrument. Seven latent factors were identified through a factor analysis with orthogonal rotation and interpreted based on simple structure convergence, item loadings, and analytical statistics. The number of factors retains was based on the analysis of Kaiser Normalization criteria and Scree plot. The reliability tests revealed a satisfactory reliability scores on each of the seven latent factors of the web 2.0 enabled knowledge sharing practices. Limitation, conclusion, and future work of this study were also discussed.

Keywords: factor analysis, latent factors, knowledge sharing practices, students, web 2.0 enabled

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Authors: Balamurali Gunji, B. B. V. L. Deepak, B. B. Biswal, Amrutha Rout, Golak Bihari Mohanta

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Robots play an important role in the operations like pick and place, assembly, spot welding and much more in manufacturing industries. Out of those, assembly is a very important process in manufacturing, where 20% of manufacturing cost is wholly occupied by the assembly process. To do the assembly task effectively, Assembly Sequences Planning (ASP) is required. ASP is one of the multi-objective non-deterministic optimization problems, achieving the optimal assembly sequence involves huge search space and highly complex in nature. Many researchers have followed different algorithms to solve ASP problem, which they have several limitations like the local optimal solution, huge search space, and execution time is more, complexity in applying the algorithm, etc. By keeping the above limitations in mind, in this paper, a new automated optimal robotic assembly sequence planning using Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) Algorithm is proposed. In this algorithm, automatic extraction of assembly predicates is done using Computer Aided Design (CAD) interface instead of extracting the assembly predicates manually. Due to this, the time of extraction of assembly predicates to obtain the feasible assembly sequence is reduced. The fitness evaluation of the obtained feasible sequence is carried out using ABC algorithm to generate the optimal assembly sequence. The proposed methodology is applied to different industrial products and compared the results with past literature.

Keywords: assembly sequence planning, CAD, artificial Bee colony algorithm, assembly predicates

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Authors: Zehai Yu, Hui Zhu, Linglong Lin, Huawei Liang, Biao Yu, Weixin Huang

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With the development of intelligent vehicle systems, a high-precision road map is increasingly needed in many aspects. The automatic lane lines extraction and modeling are the most essential steps for the generation of a precise lane-level road map. In this paper, an automatic lane-level road map generation system is proposed. To extract the road markings on the ground, the multi-region Otsu thresholding method is applied, which calculates the intensity value of laser data that maximizes the variance between background and road markings. The extracted road marking points are then projected to the raster image and clustered using a two-stage clustering algorithm. Lane lines are subsequently recognized from these clusters by the shape features of their minimum bounding rectangle. To ensure the storage efficiency of the map, the lane lines are approximated to cubic polynomial curves using a Bayesian estimation approach. The proposed lane-level road map generation system has been tested on urban and expressway conditions in Hefei, China. The experimental results on the datasets show that our method can achieve excellent extraction and clustering effect, and the fitted lines can reach a high position accuracy with an error of less than 10 cm.

Keywords: curve fitting, lane-level road map, line recognition, multi-thresholding, two-stage clustering

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Authors: Areej Ali Baeshen

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Allelopathy is a complex phenomenon that depends on the concentration of allelochemicals. It has both inhibitory and stimulatory effects, which may be decided by concentration of allelochemicals present in extraction. In the present study, the allelopathic effects of Eruca sativa, Mentha peperina, and Coriandrum sativum water extract prepared by grinding fresh leaves of the medicinal plants in distilled water and three concentrations were taken from the crude extracts (100%, 50% and 25% in addition to 0% as control), and were tested for their effects on seed germination and some growth parameters of Zea mays. The experiment was conducted in sterilized Petri dishes under the natural laboratory conditions at temperature of 25°C, with a 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 96 h and 120 h time interval for seed germination and 24 h, 48 h and 72 h for radicle length. The effects of different concentrations of aqueous extract were compared to distilled water (control, 0%). In maize, germination percentage was suppressed when plants was treated with 100% extracts, however, 50% and 25% of M. peprina increased germination percentage by 4 times more than the control. Moreover, 50% and 25% extracts of M. peperina and 50% of C. sativum increased maize radicle and plumule length by 3 to 4 times that of the control. Results of plumule fresh and dry weights revealed that concentrations of water extracts of 100% and 50% M. peperina, E. sativa 100% and E. sativa 50% reported almost similar plumule fresh weight as in control plants. The most interesting finding is the reduction in harmful salts and TDS which could be a good factor in saline soils of Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: Zea mays, Eruca sativa, Mentha peperina, Coriandrum sativum, medicinal plants, allelochemicals, aqueous extract

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Authors: Ben Soltane Cheima, Ittansa Yonas Kelbesa

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Speaker Identification (SI) is the task of establishing identity of an individual based on his/her voice characteristics. The SI task is typically achieved by two-stage signal processing: training and testing. The training process calculates speaker specific feature parameters from the speech and generates speaker models accordingly. In the testing phase, speech samples from unknown speakers are compared with the models and classified. Even though performance of speaker identification systems has improved due to recent advances in speech processing techniques, there is still need of improvement. In this paper, a Closed-Set Tex-Independent Speaker Identification System (CISI) based on a Multiple Classifier System (MCS) is proposed, using Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficient (MFCC) as feature extraction and suitable combination of vector quantization (VQ) and Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) together with Expectation Maximization algorithm (EM) for speaker modeling. The use of Voice Activity Detector (VAD) with a hybrid approach based on Short Time Energy (STE) and Statistical Modeling of Background Noise in the pre-processing step of the feature extraction yields a better and more robust automatic speaker identification system. Also investigation of Linde-Buzo-Gray (LBG) clustering algorithm for initialization of GMM, for estimating the underlying parameters, in the EM step improved the convergence rate and systems performance. It also uses relative index as confidence measures in case of contradiction in identification process by GMM and VQ as well. Simulation results carried out on voxforge.org speech database using MATLAB highlight the efficacy of the proposed method compared to earlier work.

Keywords: feature extraction, speaker modeling, feature matching, Mel frequency cepstrum coefficient (MFCC), Gaussian mixture model (GMM), vector quantization (VQ), Linde-Buzo-Gray (LBG), expectation maximization (EM), pre-processing, voice activity detection (VAD), short time energy (STE), background noise statistical modeling, closed-set tex-independent speaker identification system (CISI)

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Authors: P. Zamani, S. Mohajerzadeh, R. Masoudinejad, K. Farhangdoost

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The riveting process is one of the important ways to keep fastening the lap joints in aircraft structures. Failure of aircraft lap joints directly depends on the stress field in the joint. An important application of riveting process is in the construction of aircraft fuselage structures. In this paper, a 3D finite element method is carried out in order to optimize residual stress field in a riveted lap joint and also to estimate its fatigue life. In continue, a number of experiments are designed and analyzed using design of experiments (DOE). Then, Taguchi method is used to select an optimized case between different levels of each factor. Besides that, the factor which affects the most on residual stress field is investigated. Such optimized case provides the maximum residual stress field. Fatigue life of the optimized joint is estimated by Paris-Erdogan law. Stress intensity factors (SIFs) are calculated using both finite element analysis and experimental formula. In addition, the effect of residual stress field, geometry, and secondary bending are considered in SIF calculation. A good agreement is found between results of such methods. Comparison between optimized fatigue life and fatigue life of other joints has shown an improvement in the joint’s life.

Keywords: fatigue life, residual stress, riveting process, stress intensity factor, Taguchi method

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Authors: Bright E. Owusu, Nittaya McNeil

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Rainfall is one of the most essential quantities in meteorology and hydrology. It has important impacts on people’s daily life and excess or inadequate of it could bring tremendous losses in economy and cause fatalities. Population increase around the globe tends to have a corresponding increase in settlement and industrialization. Some countries are affected by flood and drought occasionally due to climate change, which disrupt most of the daily activities. Knowledge of trends in spatial and temporal rainfall variability and their physical explanations would be beneficial in climate change assessment and to determine erosivity. This study describes the spatial-temporal variability of daily rainfall in Australia and their corresponding long-term trend during 1950-2013. The spatial patterns were investigated by using exploratory factor analysis and the long term trend in rainfall time series were determined by linear regression, Mann-Kendall rank statistics and the Sen’s slope test. The exploratory factor analysis explained most of the variations in the data and grouped Australia into eight distinct rainfall regions with different rainfall patterns. Significant increasing trends in annual rainfall were observed in the northern regions of Australia. However, the northeastern part was the wettest of all the eight rainfall regions.

Keywords: climate change, explanatory factor analysis, Mann-Kendall and Sen’s slope test, rainfall.

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Authors: Nipon Sasithornsaowapa

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This research aims to study the impact of personality and family status on women executives’ career success of the primary education department of Thailand. The independent variable includes three factors, namely family status, personality, and knowledge-skill-experience, while the dependent variable is the career success. The population of this study includes 2,179 female management officials in the department of primary education. A total of 400 female managers is interviewed and utilized as a sample group. A questionnaire is developed and used as a research tool for data collection. Content analysis is performed to get the quantitative data. Descriptive statistics in this research is conducted by SPSS program. The findings revealed that personality and family status of samples have an influence on the overall career success of women executives in terms of their objective career success. However, in terms of specific factors of personality or family status, it is found that there is no relevance of each factor on the women executives’ career success. It can be concluded that the factor affecting the women executives’ career success is subjective career success including the happiness and enjoyment with the job not factor concerning materials. Their success is the result of each individual working experience. However, their personal characteristics do not affect their success.

Keywords: career success, women executives, primary education, knowledge-skill-experience

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Authors: V. Jafari, M. Jafari

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When long-term changes in normal weather patterns happen in a certain area, it generally could be identified as climate change. Concentration of principal's greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, ozone, and water vapor will cause climate change and perhaps climate variability. Main climate factors are temperature, precipitation, air pressure, and humidity. Extreme events may be the result of the changing of carbon dioxide concentration levels in the atmosphere which cause a change in temperature. Extreme events in some ways will affect the productivity of crop and dairy livestock. In this research, the correlation of milk production and temperature as the main climate factor in ChaharMahal and Bakhtiari province in Iran has been considered. The methodology employed for this study consists, collect reports and published national and provincial data, available recorded data on climate factors and analyzing collected data using statistical software. Milk production in ChaharMahal and Bakhtiari province is in the same pattern as national milk production in Iran. According to the current study results, there is a significant negative correlation between milk production in ChaharMahal and Bakhtiari provinces and temperature as the main climate change factor.

Keywords: Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, climate change, impacts, Iran, milk production

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Authors: Emmanuel Dele Balogun

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This paper analyzes, using descriptive statistics and econometrics data which span the period 1981 to 2014 to gauge the effects of trade policy incentives on economic growth in Nigeria. It argues that the provided incentives penalize economic growth during pre-trade liberalization eras, but stimulated a rapid increase in total factor productivity during the post-liberalization period of 2000 to 2014. The trend analysis shows that Nigeria maintained high tariff walls in economic regulation eras which became low in post liberalization era. The protections were in favor of infant industries, which were mainly appendages of multinationals but against imports of competing food and finished consumer products. The trade openness index confirms the undue exposure of Nigeria’s economy to the vagaries of international market shocks; while banking sector recapitalization and new listing of telecommunications companies deepened the financial markets in post-liberalization era. The structure of economic incentives was biased in favor of construction, trade and services, but against the real sector despite protectionist policies. Total Factor Productivity (TFP) estimates show that the Nigerian economy suffered stagnation in pre-liberalization eras, but experienced rapid growth rates in post-liberalization eras. The regression results relating trade policy incentives to TFP growth rate yielded a significant but negative intercept suggesting that a non-interventionist policy could be detrimental to economic progress, while protective tariff which limits imports of competing products could spur productivity gains in domestic import substitutes beyond factor growth with market liberalization. The main constraint to the effectiveness of trade policy incentives is the failure of benefiting industries to leverage on the domestic factor endowments of the nation. This paper concludes that there is the need to review the current economic transformation strategies urgently with a view to provide policymakers with a better understanding of the most viable options that could make for rapid success.

Keywords: economic growth, macroeconomic incentives, total factor productivity, trade policies

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Authors: Fuzhang Zhao

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Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is becoming one of the most important swarm intelligent paradigms for solving global optimization problems. Although some progress has been made to improve PSO algorithms over the last two decades, additional work is still needed to balance parameters to achieve better numerical properties of accuracy, efficiency, and stability. In the optimal PSO algorithm, the optimal weightings of (√ 5 − 1)/2 and (3 − √5)/2 are used for the cognitive factor and the social factor, respectively. By the same token, the same optimal weightings have been applied for intensification searches and diversification searches, respectively. Perturbation and constriction effects are optimally balanced. Simulations of the de Jong, the Rosenbrock, and the Griewank functions show that the optimal PSO algorithm indeed achieves better numerical properties and outperforms the canonical PSO algorithm.

Keywords: diversification search, intensification search, optimal weighting, particle swarm optimization

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Authors: Faruk Ortes, Derya Karabulut, Yunus Ziya Arslan

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Myoelectric features gathering from musculature environment are considered on a preferential basis to perceive muscle activation and control human arm prostheses according to recent experimental researches. EMG (electromyography) signal based human arm prostheses have shown a promising performance in terms of providing basic functional requirements of motions for the amputated people in recent years. However, these assistive devices for neurorehabilitation still have important limitations in enabling amputated people to perform rather sophisticated or functional movements. Surface electromyogram (EMG) is used as the control signal to command such devices. This kind of control consists of activating a motion in prosthetic arm using muscle activation for the same particular motion. Extraction of clear and certain neural information from EMG signals plays a major role especially in fine control of hand prosthesis movements. Many signal processing methods have been utilized for feature extraction from EMG signals. The specific objective of this study was to compare widely used time domain features of EMG signal including integrated EMG(IEMG), root mean square (RMS) and waveform length(WL) for prediction of externally applied forces to human hands. Obtained features were classified using artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict the forces. EMG signals supplied to process were recorded during only type of muscle contraction which is isometric and isotonic one. Experiments were performed by three healthy subjects who are right-handed and in a range of 25-35 year-old aging. EMG signals were collected from muscles of the proximal part of the upper body consisting of: biceps brachii, triceps brachii, pectorialis major and trapezius. The force prediction results obtained from the ANN were statistically analyzed and merits and pitfalls of the extracted features were discussed with detail. The obtained results are anticipated to contribute classification process of EMG signal and motion control of powered human arm prosthetics control.

Keywords: assistive devices for neurorehabilitation, electromyography, feature extraction, force estimation, human arm prosthesis

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Authors: Urmi Khatri

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Capital asset pricing model (CAPM) draws a direct relationship between the risk and the expected rate of return. There was a criticism on the beta and the assumptions of CAPM, as they are not applicable in the real world. Fama French Three Factor Model and Fama French Five Factor Model have given different factors, which have an impact on the return of any asset like size, value, investment and profitability. This study proposes to see Capital Asset pricing Model through the lenses of the quality aspect. In the study, the six factors are studied. The Fama French Five Factor Model and addition of the quality dimension are studied. Here, Graham’s seven quality and quantity criteria are measured to determine the score of the sample firms. Thus, this study tries to check the model fit. The beta coefficient of the quality dimension and the R square value is seen to determine validity of the proposed model. The sample is drawn from the firms listed on Indian Stock Exchange (BSE). For the study, only nonfinancial firms are been selected. The time period of the study is from January 1999 to December 2019. Hence, the primary objective of the study is to check how robust the model becomes after giving the quality dimension to the capital asset pricing model in addition to the size, value, profitability and investment.

Keywords: asset pricing model, CAPM, Graham’s score, G-score, multifactor model, quality

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Authors: Zerroug Abdelhamid, Danielle Chassoux

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Various models are given to simulate homogeneous or heterogeneous cancerous tumors and extract in each case the boundary. The fractal dimension is then estimated by least squares method and compared to some previous methods.

Keywords: simulation, cancerous tumor, Markov fields, fractal dimension, extraction, recovering

Procedia PDF Downloads 350

Authors: Mohammad Kargar Shouraki, Naji Yazdi, Mohsen Emami

Abstract:

The environmental and social challenges have caused the organizations to put further attention and emphasis on sustainable growth and developing strategies for sustainability. Since human is both the target of development and the agent of development at the same time, one of the most important factors in the development of the sustainability strategy in organizations is the human factor. In addition, organizations have been facing the new challenge of digital transformation which impacts the human factor, meanwhile, undeniably, the human factor contributes to such transformation. Therefore, organizations are facing the challenge of digital human resource management (HRM). Thus, the present study aims to investigate how an HRM model should be so that it not only can help the consideration and of the business sustainability requirements but also can make the highest and the most appropriate positive, not destructive, utilization of the digital transformations. Furthermore, the success of the HRM regarding the two sustainability and digital transformation challenges requires dynamic human competencies, which are addressed as digital/sustainable human dynamic capabilities in this paper. The present study is conducted using a hybrid methodology consisting of the qualitative methods of meta-synthesis and content analysis and the quantitative method of interpretive-structural model (ISM). Finally, a rotatory model, including 3 approaches, 3 perspectives, and 9 dimensions, is presented.

Keywords: sustainable human resource management, digital human resource management, digital/sustainable human dynamic capabilities, talent management

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Authors: Athena Daniilidou, Maria Platsidou

Abstract:

Resilience is considered to greatly affect the personal and occupational wellbeing and efficacy of individuals; therefore, it has been widely studied in the social and behavioral sciences. Given its significance, several scales have been created to assess resilience of children and adults. However, most of these scales focus on examining only the internal protective or risk factors that affect the levels of resilience. The aim of the present study is to create a reliable scale that assesses both the internal and the external protective factors that affect Greek teachers’ levels of resilience. Participants were 136 secondary school teachers (89 females, 47 males) from urban areas of Greece. Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-Risc) and Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) were used to collect the data. First, exploratory factor analysis was employed to investigate the inner structure of each scale. For both scales, the analyses revealed a differentiated factor solution compared to the ones proposed by the creators. That prompt us to create a scale that would combine the best fitting subscales of the CD-Risc and the RSA. To this end, the items of the four factors with the best fit and highest reliability were used to create the ‘Teachers' resilience scale’. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the scale assesses the following protective/risk factors: Personal Competence and Strength (9 items, α=.83), Family Cohesion Spiritual Influences (7 items, α=.80), Social Competence and Peers Support (7 items, α=.78) and Spiritual Influence (3 items, α=.58). This four-factor model explained 49,50% of the total variance. In the next step, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the 26 items of the derived scale to test the above factor solution. The fit of the model to the data was good (χ2/292 = 1.245, CFI = .921, GFI = .829, SRMR = .074, CI90% = .026-,056, RMSEA = 0.43), indicating that the proposed scale can validly measure the aforementioned four aspects of teachers' resilience and thus confirmed its factorial validity. Finally, analyses of variance were performed to check for individual differences in the levels of teachers' resilience in relation to their gender, age, marital status, level of studies, and teaching specialty. Results were consistent to previous findings, thus providing an indication of discriminant validity for the instrument. This scale has the advantage of assessing both the internal and the external protective factors of resilience in a brief yet comprehensive way, since it consists 26 items instead of the total of 58 of the CD-Risc and RSA scales. Its factorial inner structure is supported by the relevant literature on resilience, as it captures the major protective factors of resilience identified in previous studies.

Keywords: protective factors, resilience, scale development, teachers

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Authors: Tengku Muhammad Rafi Nazmi Bin Tengku Razali, Habsah Alwi

Abstract:

This article based on effect of temperature towards extraction of Aquilaria Subintegra. Aquilaria Subintegra which its main habitat is in Asia-tropical and particularly often found in its native which is Thailand. There is claim which is Aquilaria Subintegra contains antipyretic properties that helps fight fever. Research nowadays also shown that paracetamol consumed bring bad effect towards consumers. This sample will first dry using Vacuum Far Infrared which provides better drying than conventional oven. Soxhlet extractor used to extract oil from sample. Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometer used to analyze sample to determine its compound. Objective from this research was to determine the active ingredients that exist in the Aquilaria Subintegra leaves and to determine whether compound of Acetaminophen exist or not inside the leaves. Moisture content from 400C was 80%, 500C was 620% and 600C was 36%. The greater temperature resulting lower moisture content inside sample leaves. 7 components were identified in sample T=400C while only 5 components were identified in sample at T=50C and T=60C. Four components were commonly identified in three sample which is 1n-Hexadecanoic acid, 9,12,15-Octadecatrienoic acid, methyl ester (z,z,z), Vitamin E and Squalene. Further studies are needed with new series of temperature to refine the best results.

Keywords: aquilaria subintegra, vacuum far infrared, SOXHLET extractor, gas chromatography mass spectrometer, paracetamol

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Authors: Akbar Khodavirdizadeh

Abstract:

Gougerd village landslide with area about 150 hectares is located in southwest of Khoy city in northwest of the Iran. This Landslide was commenced more than 21 years and caused some damages in houses like some fissures on walls and some cracks on ground and foundations. The main mechanism of landslide is rotational with the high different of top and foot is about 230 m. The thickness of slide mass based on geoelectrical investigation is about 16m obtained. The upper layer of slope is silty sand and the lower layer of clayey gravel. In this paper, the stability of landslide are analyzed based in static analysis under different groundwater surface conditions and at slope angle changes with limit eqlibrium method and the simplified Bishop method. The results of the 72 stability analysis showed that the slope stability of Gougerd landslide increased with increasing of the groundwater surface depth of slope crown. And especially when decreased of slope angle, the safety facter more than in previous state is increased. The required of safety factor for stability in groundwater surface depth from slope crown equal 14 m and with decreased of slope angle to 3 degree at decrease of groundwater surface depth from slope crown equal 6.5 m obtained. The safety factor in critical conditions under groundwater surface depth from slope crown equal 3.5 m and at decreased of slope angle to 3 degree equal 0.5 m obtained. At groudwater surface depth from slope crown of 3 m, 7 m and 10 m respectively equal to 0.97, 1.19 and 1.33 obtained. At groudwater surface depth from slope crown of 3 m, 7 m and 10 m with decreased of slope angle to 3 degree, respectively equal to 1.27, 1.54 and 1.72 obtained. According to the results of this study, for 1 m of groundwater level decrease, the safety factor increased by 5%, and for 1 degree of reduction of the slope angle, safety factor increased by 15%. And the effect of slope angle on Gougerd landslide stability was felt more than groundwater effect.

Keywords: Gougerd landslide, stability analysis, slope angle, groundwater, Khoy

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Authors: Daruliza Kernain, Shaharum Shamsuddin, See Too Wei Cun

Abstract:

CTCF is a unique, highly conserved and ubiquitously expressed 11 zinc finger (ZF) transcriptional factor with multiple target sites. It is able to bind to various target sequences to perform different regulatory roles including promoter activation or repression, creating hormone-responsive gene silencing element, and functional block of enhancer-promoter interactions. The binding of CTCF to the essential binding site is through the combination of different ZF domain. On the other hand, BORIS for brother of the regulator of imprinted sites, which expressed only in the testis and certain cancer cell line is homology to CTCF 11 ZF domains. Since both transcriptional factors share the same ZF domains hence there is a possibility for both to bind to the same target sequences. In this study, the interaction of these two proteins to multi-functional Y-box DNA/RNA-binding factor, YB-1 was determined. The protein-protein interaction between CTCF/YB-1 and BORIS/YB-1 were discovered by Co-immuno-precipitation (CO-IP) technique through reciprocal experiment from RGBM total cell lysate. The results showed that both CTCF and BORIS were able to interact with YB-1 in Glioma RGBM cell line. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first findings demonstrating the ability of BORIS and YB-1 to form a complex in vivo.

Keywords: immunoprecipitation, CTCF/BORIS/YB-1, transcription factor, molecular medicine

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Authors: Wee Tong Liaw, Elaine Wong Yee Sing

Abstract:

Since 2001, many companies in Singapore have voluntarily participated in the bi-annual Singapore HEALTH Award initiated by the Health Promotion Board of Singapore (HPB). The Singapore HEALTH Award (SHA), is an industry wide award and assessment process. SHA assesses and recognizes employers in Singapore for implementing a comprehensive and sustainable health promotion programme at their workplaces. The rationale for implementing a sustained health promoting workplace and participating in SHA is obvious when company management is convinced that healthier employees, business productivity, and profitability are positively correlated. However, performing research or empirical studies on the impact of a sustained health promoting workplace on stock returns are not likely to yield any interests in the absence of a systematic and independent assessment on the comprehensiveness and sustainability of a health promoting workplace in most developed economies. The principles of diversification and mean-variance efficient portfolio in Modern Portfolio Theory developed by Markowitz (1952) laid the foundation for the works of many financial economists and researchers, and among others, the development of the Capital Asset Pricing Model from the work of Sharpe (1964), Lintner (1965) and Mossin (1966), and the Fama-French Three-Factor Model of Fama and French (1992). This research seeks to support the rationale by studying whether there is a significant relationship or impact of a sustained health promoting workplace on the performance of companies listed on the SGX. The research shall form and test hypotheses pertaining to the impact of a sustained health promoting workplace on company’s performances, including stock returns, of companies that participated in the SHA and companies that did not participate in the SHA. In doing so, the research would be able to determine whether corporate and fund manager should consider the significance of a sustained health promoting workplace as a risk factor to explain the stock returns of companies listed on the SGX. With respect to Singapore’s stock market, this research will test the significance and relevance of a health promoting workplace using the Singapore Health Award as a proxy for non-diversifiable risk factor to explain stock returns. This study will examine the significance of a health promoting workplace on a company’s performance and study its impact on stock price performance and beta and examine if it has higher explanatory power than the traditional single factor asset pricing model CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model). To study the significance there are three key questions pertinent to the research study. I) Given a choice, would an investor be better off investing in a listed company with a sustained health promoting workplace i.e. a Singapore Health Award’s recipient? II) The Singapore Health Award has four levels of award starting from Bronze, Silver, Gold to Platinum. Would an investor be indifferent to the level of award when investing in a listed company who is a Singapore Health Award’s recipient? III) Would an asset pricing model combining FAMA-French Three Factor Model and ‘Singapore Health Award’ factor be more accurate than single factor Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Three Factor Model itself?

Keywords: asset pricing model, company's performance, stock prices, sustained health promoting workplace

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