Search results for: data making better

Authors: Yan Wang; Mathis Stock

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The World Heritage Site of Honghe Hani rice terrace, also a marginal rural region in Southern China, is undergoing rapid change because of urbanization and heritage tourism. Influenced by out-migration and changing ways of living in the urbanization process, the place sees a tendency of losing its rice terrace landscape, traditional housings and other forms of cultural traditions. However, heritage tourism tends to keep the past, valorize them for tourism purposes and diversifies rural livelihood strategies. The place stands at this development trajectories, where the same resources are subjected to different uses by different actors. The research seeks to answer the questions of how the site is transformed and co-constructed by different institutions, practices and actors, and the how heritage tourism affects local livelihood. The research aims to describe the transformation of villages, rice terraces, and cultural traditions, analyze the place-making process, and assess the role of heritage tourism in local livelihood transition. The research uses a mixed of methods including direct observation, participant observation, interviews; collects various data of images, words, narratives, and statistics, and analyze them qualitatively and qualitatively. Theoretically, it is hoped that the research would reexamine the concept of heritage, the world heritage practice from UNESCO, reveal the conflicts it entails in development and brings more thoughts from a functional perspective on heritage in relation to rural development. Practically, it is also anticipated that the research could access the linkage between heritage tourism and local livelihood, and generate concrete suggestions on how tourism could engage locals and improve their livelihood.

Keywords: cultural landscape, Hani rice terraces, heritage tourism, livelihood strategy, place making, rural development, transformation

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Authors: Jacky Liu

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This paper develops a team sports outcome prediction system with potential for wide-ranging applications across various disciplines. Despite significant advancements in predictive analytics, existing studies in sports outcome predictions possess considerable limitations, including insufficient feature engineering and underutilization of advanced machine learning techniques, among others. To address these issues, we extend the Sports Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (SRP-CRISP-DM) framework and propose a unique, comprehensive predictive system, using National Basketball Association (NBA) data as an example to test this extended framework. Our approach follows a holistic methodology in feature engineering, employing both Time Series and Non-Time Series Data, as well as conducting Explanatory Data Analysis and Feature Selection. Furthermore, we contribute to the discourse on target variable choice in team sports outcome prediction, asserting that point spread prediction yields higher profits as opposed to game-winner predictions. Using machine learning algorithms, particularly XGBoost, results in a significant improvement in predictive accuracy of team sports outcomes. Applied to point spread betting strategies, it offers an astounding annual return of approximately 900% on an initial investment of $100. Our findings not only contribute to academic literature, but have critical practical implications for sports betting. Our study advances the understanding of team sports outcome prediction a burgeoning are in complex system predictions and pave the way for potential profitability and more informed decision making in sports betting markets.

Keywords: machine learning, team sports, game outcome prediction, sports betting, profits simulation

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Authors: Erine van Niekerk, Jason Holland

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In Māori culture water is considered to be the foundation of all life and has its own mana (spiritual power) and mauri (life force). Water classification for cultural values therefore includes categories like waitapu (sacred water), waimanawa-whenua (water from under the land), waipuna (freshwater springs), the relationship between water quantity and quality and the relationship between surface and groundwater. Particular rivers and lakes have special significance to iwi and hapu for their rohe (tribal areas). The Mararoa River, including its freshwater springs and wetlands, is an example of such an area. There is currently little information available about the sources, characteristics and behavior of these important water resources and this study on the water quality of the Mararoa River and adjacent freshwater springs will provide valuable information to be used in informed decisions about water management. The regional council of Southland, Environment Southland, is required to make changes under their water quality policy in order to comply with the requirements for the New National Standards for Freshwater to consult with Maori to determine strategies for decision making. This requires an approach that includes traditional knowledge combined with scientific knowledge in the decision-making process. This study provided the scientific data that can be used in future for decision making on fresh water springs combined with traditional values for this particular area. Several parameters have been tested in situ as well as in a laboratory. Parameters such as temperature, salinity, electrical conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids, Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus, Total Suspended Solids, and Escherichia coli among others show that recorded values of all test parameters fall within recommended ANZECC guidelines and Environment Southland standards and do not raise any concerns for the water quality of the springs and the river at the moment. However, the destruction of natural areas, particularly due to changes in farming practices, and the changes to water quality by the introduction of Didymosphenia geminate (Didymo) means Māori have already lost many of their traditional mahinga kai (food sources). There is a major change from land use such as sheep farming to dairying in Southland which puts freshwater resources under pressure. It is, therefore, important to draw on traditional knowledge and spirituality alongside scientific knowledge to protect the waters of the Mararoa River and waipuna. This study hopes to contribute to scientific knowledge to preserve the cultural values of these significant waters.

Keywords: cultural values, freshwater springs, Maori, water quality

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Authors: Beulah Rani Inbanathan

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In the present era, it is vivid from the numerous outcomes that data privacy is being compromised in various ways. Machine learning is one technology that uses the centralized server, and then data is given as input which is being analyzed by the algorithms present on this mentioned server, and hence outputs are predicted. However, each time the data must be sent by the user as the algorithm will analyze the input data in order to predict the output, which is prone to threats. The solution to overcome this issue is federated learning, where the models alone get updated while the data resides on the local machine and does not get exchanged with the other local models. Nevertheless, even on these local models, there are chances of data poisoning, and it is crystal clear from various experiments done by many people. This paper delves into many ways where data poisoning occurs and the many methods through which it is prevalent that data poisoning still exists. It includes the poisoning attacks on IoT devices, Edge devices, Autoregressive model, and also, on Industrial IoT systems and also, few points on how these could be evadible in order to protect our data which is personal, or sensitive, or harmful when exposed.

Keywords: data poisoning, federated learning, Internet of Things, edge computing

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Authors: Lisete Barlach, Guilherme Ary Plonski

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Innovative ideas are not always synonymous with business opportunities. Any idea can be creative and not recognized as a potential project in which money and time will be invested, among other resources. Even in firms that promote and enhance innovation, there are two 'check-points', the first corresponding to the acknowledgment of the idea as creative and the second, its consideration as a business opportunity. Both the recognition of new business opportunities or new ideas involve cognitive and psychological frameworks which provide individuals with a basis for noticing connections between seemingly independent events or trends as if they were 'connecting the dots'. It also involves prototypes-representing the most typical member of a certain category–functioning as 'templates' for this recognition. There is a general assumption that these kinds of evaluation processes develop through experience, explaining why expertise plays a central role in this process: the more experienced a professional, the easier for him (her) to identify new opportunities in business. But, paradoxically, an increase in expertise can lead to the inflexibility of thought due to automation of procedures. And, besides this, other cognitive biases can also be present, because new ideas or business opportunities generally depend on heuristics, rather than on established algorithms. The paper presents a literature review about the Einstellung effect by tracking famous cases of rejected ideas, extracted from historical records. It also presents the results of empirical research, with data upon rejected ideas gathered from two different environments: projects rejected during first semester of 2017 at a large incubator center in Sao Paulo and ideas proposed by employees that were rejected by a well-known business company, at its Brazilian headquarter. There is an implicit assumption that Einstellung effect tends to be more and more present in contemporaneity, due to time pressure upon decision-making and idea generation process. The analysis discusses desirability, viability, and feasibility as elements that affect decision-making.

Keywords: cognitive biases, Einstellung effect, recognition of business opportunities, rejected ideas

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Authors: Tomola Obamuyi

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The banking system in Nigeria adopted innovative banking, with the aim of enhancing financial inclusion, and making financial services readily and cheaply available to majority of the people, and to contribute to the efficiency of the financial system. Some of the innovative services include: Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs), National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), Point of Sale (PoS), internet (Web) banking, Mobile Money payment (MMO), Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), agent banking, among others. The introduction of these payment systems is expected to increase bank efficiency and customers' satisfaction, culminating in better performance for the commercial banks. However, opinions differ on the possible effects of the various innovative payment systems on the performance of commercial banks in the country. Thus, this study empirically determines how commercial banks use innovation to gain competitive advantage in the specific context of Nigeria's finance and business. The study also analyses the effects of financial innovation on the performance of commercial banks, when different periods of analysis are considered. The study employed secondary data from 2009 to 2018, the period that witnessed aggressive innovation in the financial sector of the country. The Vector Autoregression (VAR) estimation technique forecasts the relative variance of each random innovation to the variables in the VAR, examine the effect of standard deviation shock to one of the innovations on current and future values of the impulse response and determine the causal relationship between the variables (VAR granger causality test). The study also employed the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) to rank the innovations and the performance criteria of Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE). The entropy method of MCDM was used to determine which of the performance criteria better reflect the contributions of the various innovations in the banking sector. On the other hand, the Range of Values (ROV) method was used to rank the contributions of the seven innovations to performance. The analysis was done based on medium term (five years) and long run (ten years) of innovations in the sector. The impulse response function derived from the VAR system indicated that the response of ROA to the values of cheques transaction, values of NEFT transactions, values of POS transactions was positive and significant in the periods of analysis. The paper also confirmed with entropy and range of value that, in the long run, both the CHEQUE and MMO performed best while NEFT was next in performance. The paper concluded that commercial banks would enhance their performance by continuously improving on the services provided through Cheques, National Electronic Fund Transfer and Point of Sale since these instruments have long run effects on their performance. This will increase the confidence of the populace and encourage more usage/patronage of these services. The banking sector will in turn experience better performance which will improve the economy of the country. Keywords: Bank performance, financial innovation, multi-criteria decision making, vector autoregression,

Keywords: Bank performance, financial innovation, multi-criteria decision making, vector autoregression

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Authors: Khin Mar Yee, Mu Mu Than, Kyi Lint, Aye Aye Oo, Chan Mya Hmway, Khin Zar Chi Winn

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The dynamic changes of Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes in Yangon have generally resulted the improvement of human welfare and economic development since the last twenty years. Making map of LULC is crucially important for the sustainable development of the environment. However, the exactly data on how environmental factors influence the LULC situation at the various scales because the nature of the natural environment is naturally composed of non-homogeneous surface features, so the features in the satellite data also have the mixed pixels. The main objective of this study is to the calculation of accuracy based on change detection of LULC changes by Support Vector Machines (SVMs). For this research work, the main data was satellite images of 1996, 2006 and 2015. Computing change detection statistics use change detection statistics to compile a detailed tabulation of changes between two classification images and Support Vector Machines (SVMs) process was applied with a soft approach at allocation as well as at a testing stage and to higher accuracy. The results of this paper showed that vegetation and cultivated area were decreased (average total 29 % from 1996 to 2015) because of conversion to the replacing over double of the built up area (average total 30 % from 1996 to 2015). The error matrix and confidence limits led to the validation of the result for LULC mapping.

Keywords: land use and land cover change, change detection, image processing, support vector machines

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Authors: Monika Kulikowska-Pawlak, Katarzyna Bratnicka-Myśliwiec, Tomasz Ingram

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This study seeks to contribute to the literature on firm competitiveness by advancing the perspective of organizational politics that views this process as a driver which creates identifiable differences in firm performance. The hypothesized relationships were tested on the basis of data from 355 Polish medium and large-sized enterprises. Data were analyzed using correlation analysis, EFA and robustness tests. The main result of the conducted analyses proved the coexistence, previously examined in the literature, of corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance. The obtained research findings made it possible to add organizational politics to a wide range of elements determining corporate entrepreneurship, followed by competitive advantage, in addition to antecedents such as strategic leadership, corporate culture, opportunity-oriented resource-based management, etc. Also, the empirical results suggest that four dimensions of organizational politics (dominant coalition, influence exertion, making organizational changes, and information openness) are positively related to firm competitiveness. In addition, these findings seem to underline a supposition that corporate entrepreneurship is an important mediator which strengthens the competitive effects of organizational politics.

Keywords: corporate entrepreneurship, firm competitiveness, organizational politics, sensemaking

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Authors: Manuela Nayantara Jeyaraj

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PostgreSQL is an Object-Relational Database Management System (ORDBMS) with an architecture that ensures optimal quality data management. But due to the shading growth of similar ORDBMS, PostgreSQL has not been renowned among the database user community. Despite having its features and in-built functionalities shadowed, PostgreSQL renders a vast range of utilities for data manipulation and hence calling for it to be upheld more among users. But introducing PostgreSQL in order to stimulate its advantageous features among users, mandates endorsing learn-ability as an add-on as the target groups considered consist of both amateur as well as professional PostgreSQL users. The scope of this paper deliberates providing easy contemplation of query formulations and flows through a visual editor designed according to user interface principles that standby to support every aspect of making PostgreSQL learn-able by self-operation and creation of queries within the visual editor. This paper tends to scrutinize the importance of choosing PostgreSQL as the working database environment, the visual perspectives that influence human behaviour and ultimately learning, the modes in which learn-ability can be provided via visualization and the advantages reaped by the implementation of the proposed system features.

Keywords: database, learn-ability, PostgreSQL, query, visual-editor

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Authors: T. Wanyama, B. Far

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Automatic irrigation systems usually conveniently protect landscape investment. While conventional irrigation systems are known to be inefficient, automated ones have the potential to optimize water usage. In fact, there is a new generation of irrigation systems that are smart in the sense that they monitor the weather, soil conditions, evaporation and plant water use, and automatically adjust the irrigation schedule. In this paper, we present an agent based smart irrigation system. The agents are built using a mix of commercial off the shelf software, including MATLAB, Microsoft Excel and KEPServer Ex5 OPC server, and custom written code. The Irrigation Scheduler Agent uses fuzzy logic to integrate the information that affect the irrigation schedule. In addition, the Multi-Agent system uses Open Platform Connectivity (OPC) technology to share data. OPC technology enables the Irrigation Scheduler Agent to communicate over the Internet, making the system scalable to a municipal or regional agent based water monitoring, management, and optimization system. Finally, this paper presents simulation and pilot installation test result that show the operational effectiveness of our system.

Keywords: community water usage, fuzzy logic, irrigation, multi-agent system

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Authors: Busari Lasisi

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Literary works are often devalued to mere fictions and are left with no essence and contributions to history. The sub-structured rational delineating literary works from history is anchored on the aesthetic and flowery expressions that are therein embedded for artistic enrichment. This does not distance a literary work (from whichever genres it is drawn) reflecting the socio-economic, cultural and political cum religious perspectives of a given people and society. This is the very reason justifying the veracity that a writer does not anchor his writing outside of his society. He writes mirroring (his or a given society’s) events, places and duration of consciousness thereby making history evident. In the light of this reality, literary works are not just seen as fictions, imaginative and unrealistic pieces; for they are never unconnected to history. Thus, making authors of literary works historians and their works engrafted useful historical documents. Using the works of Ahmadou Korouma, a renown Ivorian writer, the praxis of this paper therefore in New Historicism approach postulates that literary works are underlying unexplored historic materials, and literature a jumelle to history.

Keywords: literature, history, New Historicism, authors

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Authors: R. M. Kalayappan, N. Kathiravan

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In automobile industries, Controller Area Network (CAN) is widely used to reduce the system complexity and inter-task communication. Therefore, this paper proposes the hardware implementation of data frame communication between one controller to other. The CAN data frames and protocols will be explained deeply, here. The data frames are transferred without any collision or corruption. The simulation is made in the KEIL vision software to display the data transfer between transmitter and receiver in CAN. ARM7 micro-controller is used to transfer data’s between the controllers in real time. Data transfer is verified using the CRO.

Keywords: control area network (CAN), automotive electronic control unit, CAN 2.0, industry

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Authors: Rosni Lakandri

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With the development of science and technology, there has been a complete transformation in the domain of information technology. Particularly after the Second World War and Cold War period, the role of media and communication technology in shaping the political, economic, socio-cultural proceedings across the world has been tremendous. It performs as a channel between the governing bodies of the state and the general masses. As we have seen the international community constantly talking about the onset of Asian Century, India and China happens to be the major player in this. Both have the civilization history, both are neighboring countries, both are witnessing a huge economic growth and, important of all, both are considered the rising powers of Asia. Not negating the fact that both countries have gone to war with each other in 1962 and the common people and even the policy makers of both the sides view each other till now from this prism. A huge contribution to this perception of people goes to the media coverage of both sides, even if there are spaces of cooperation which they share, the negative impacts of media has tended to influence the people’s opinion and government’s perception about each other. Therefore, analysis of media’s impression in both the countries becomes important in order to know their effect on the larger implications of foreign policy towards each other. It is usually said that media not only acts as the information provider but also acts as ombudsman to the government. They provide a kind of check and balance to the governments in taking proper decisions for the people of the country but in attempting to answer this hypothesis we have to analyze does the media really helps in shaping the political landscape of any country? Therefore, this study rests on the following questions; 1.How do China and India depict each other through their respective News media? 2.How much and what influences they make on the policy making process of each country? How do they shape the public opinion in both the countries? In order to address these enquiries, the study employs both primary and secondary sources available, and in generating data and other statistical information, primary sources like reports, government documents, and cartography, agreements between the governments have been used. Secondary sources like books, articles and other writings collected from various sources and opinion from visual media sources like news clippings, videos in this topic are also included as a source of on ground information as this study is not based on field study. As the findings suggest in case of China and India, media has certainly affected people’s knowledge about the political and diplomatic issues at the same time has affected the foreign policy making of both the countries. They have considerable impact on the foreign policy formulation and we can say there is some mediatization happening in foreign policy issues in both the countries.

Keywords: China, foreign policy, India, media, public opinion

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Authors: Rajbir Cheema

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In order to introduce an integrated research information system, this will provide scientific institutions with the necessary information on research activities and research results in assured quality. Since data collection, duplication, missing values, incorrect formatting, inconsistencies, etc. can arise in the collection of research data in different research information systems, which can have a wide range of negative effects on data quality, the subject of data quality should be treated with better results. This paper examines the data quality problems in research information systems and presents the new techniques that enable organizations to improve their quality of research information.

Keywords: Research information systems (RIS), research information, heterogeneous sources, data quality, data cleansing, science system, standardization

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Authors: Thodoris Tsagkaris, Marios Stavropoulos, Panagiotis Theodosis-Nobelos, Charalampos Triantis

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Isotretinoin is a widely used therapeutic for the treatment of acne vulgaris and various other skin disorders. However, since its approval, many side effects and contraindications have been described, particularly important, such as teratogenicity as well as liver disease and dermal deterioration. In a very important allegation, isotretinoin has been linked with psychiatric symptoms like depression, suicidal ideation, schizophrenia, and hypervitaminosis A syndrome characteristics. These adverse effects have raised significant concerns regarding the safety of isotretinoin. Numerous studies and research have associated isotretinoin with side effects on the mental health of patients and have proposed plausible mechanisms regarding this suspected causative relationship. However, the evidence is still contradicting, and the data disperse, making their validity less valuable. Thus, in the present study, we aim to analyze further the available literature and present a complete analysis of the side effects of isotretinoin, with particular emphasis on the effects it may have on the mental health of patients. The review is based on international articles from broad scientific electronic databases like PubMed and Scopus. This review concludes that although many studies have associated isotretinoin with mental effects like depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and suicidal ideation, the data are still insufficient and often contradictory. In fact, additional studies with accurate data and larger double-blinded samples, and more analytic systematic reviews are required. It is especially important to monitor the dose and the intervals that isotretinoin has to be administered in order to potentially cause mental health problems, as well as the duration of treatment and the role that the patient's medical and pharmaceutical history may play.

Keywords: acne, depression, isotretinoin, mental health

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Authors: Mojtaba Saeedinezhad, Sarah Yousefi

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In this paper, we present a hybrid subspace approach for Time Delay Estimation (TDE) in multivariable systems. While several methods have been proposed for time delay estimation in SISO systems, delay estimation in MIMO systems were always a big challenge. In these systems the existing TDE methods have significant limitations because most of procedures are just based on system response estimation or correlation analysis. We introduce a new hybrid method for TDE in MIMO systems based on subspace identification and explicit output error method; and compare its performance with previously introduced procedures in presence of different noise levels and in a statistical manner. Then the best method is selected with multi objective decision making technique. It is shown that the performance of new approach is much better than the existing methods, even in low signal-to-noise conditions.

Keywords: system identification, time delay estimation, ARX, OE, merit ratio, multi variable decision making

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Authors: Desmond Wade, Alfredo Ormazabal

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Background: Ever since it commenced its registration process of pre-hospital practitioners in the year 2000 through the Irish Government Statute Instrument (SI 109 of 2000) process, the approach to education of its professionals has changed drastically. The progression from the traditional behaviouristic to the current constructivist approach has been based on experiences from other sectors and industries, nationally and internationally. Today, the delivery of a safe and efficient ambulance service heavily depends on its practitioners’ range of technical skills, academic knowledge, and overall competences. As these increase, so does the level of complexity of paramedics’ everyday practice. This has made it inevitable to consider the 'Human Factor' as a source of potential risk and made formative institutions like the National Ambulance Service College to include it in their curriculum. Methods: This paper used a mixed-method approach, where both, an online questionnaire and a set of semi-structured interviews were the source of primary data. An analysis of this data was carried out using qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Conclusions: The evidence presented leads to the conclusion that in the National Ambulance Service there is a considerable lack of education of Human Factors and the levels in understanding of how to manage Human Factors in practice vary across its spectrum. Paramedic Practitioners in Ireland seem to understand that the responsibility of patient care lies on the team, rather than on the most hierarchically senior practitioner present in the scene.

Keywords: human factors, ergonomics, stress, decision making, pre-hospital care, paramedic, education

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Authors: Anna Sikharulidze, Gia Sirbiladze

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For the evaluation of unreliability levels of movement on the closed routes in the vehicle routing problem, the fuzzy operators family is constructed. The interactions between routing factors in extreme conditions on the roads are considered. A multi-criteria decision-making model (MCDM) is constructed. Constructed aggregations are based on the Choquet integral and the associated probability class of a fuzzy measure. Propositions on the correctness of the extension are proved. Connections between the operators and the compositions of dual triangular norms are described. The conjugate connections between the constructed operators are shown. Operators reflect interactions among all the combinations of the factors in the fuzzy MCDM process. Several variants of constructed operators are used in the decision-making problem regarding the assessment of unreliability and possibility levels of movement on closed routes.

Keywords: vehicle routing problem, associated probabilities of a fuzzy measure, choquet integral, fuzzy aggregation operator

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Authors: Echo Wang, Andrew Li

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Transparency could be defined as the voluntary release of information by institutions that is relevant to their own evaluation. Transparency based on information disclosure is recognised to be vital for the Third Sector, as civil society organisations are under pressure to become more transparent to answer the call for accountability. The growing importance of social enterprises as hybrid organisations emerging from the nexus of the public, the private and the Third Sector makes their transparency a topic worth exploring. However, transparency for social enterprises has not yet been studied: as a new form of organisation that combines non-profit missions with commercial means, it is unclear to both the practical and the academic world if the shift in operational logics from non-profit motives to for-profit pursuits has significantly altered their transparency. This is especially so in China, where informational governance and practices of information disclosure by local governments, industries and civil society are notably different from other countries. This study investigates the transparency-seeking behaviour of social enterprises in Greater China to understand what factors at the organisational level may affect their transparency, measured by their willingness to disclose financial information. We make use of the Survey on the Models and Development Status of Social Enterprises in the Greater China Region (MDSSGCR) conducted in 2015-2016. The sample consists of more than 300 social enterprises from the Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. While most respondents have provided complete answers to most of the questions, there is tremendous variation in the respondents’ demonstrated level of transparency in answering those questions related to the financial aspects of their organisations, such as total revenue, net profit, source of revenue and expense. This has led to a lot of missing data on such variables. In this study, we take missing data as data. Specifically, we use missing values as a proxy for an organisation’s level of transparency. Our dependent variables are constructed from missing data on total revenue, net profit, source of revenue and cost breakdown. In addition, we also take into consideration the quality of answers in coding the dependent variables. For example, to be coded as being transparent, an organization must report the sources of at least 50% of its revenue. We have four groups of predictors of transparency, namely nature of organization, decision making body, funding channel and field of concentration. Furthermore, we control for an organisation’s stage of development, self-identity and region. The results show that social enterprises that are at their later stages of organisational development and are funded by financial means are significantly more transparent than others. There is also some evidence that social enterprises located in the Northeast region in China are less transparent than those located in other regions probably because of local political economy features. On the other hand, the nature of the organisation, the decision-making body and field of concentration do not systematically affect the level of transparency. This study provides in-depth empirical insights into the information disclosure behaviour of social enterprises under specific social context. It does not only reveal important characteristics of Third Sector development in China, but also contributes to the general understanding of hybrid institutions.

Keywords: China, information transparency, organisational behaviour, social enterprise

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Authors: Qiang Yang, Ping-An Du

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Group decision making with multiple attribute has attracted intensive concern in the decision analysis area. This paper assumes that the contributions of all the decision makers (DMs) are not equal to the decision process based on different knowledge and experience in group setting. The aim of this paper is to develop a novel approach to determine weights of DMs in the group decision making problems. In this paper, the weights of DMs are determined in the group decision environment via angle cosine and projection method. First of all, the average decision of all individual decisions is defined as the ideal decision. After that, we define the weight of each decision maker (DM) by aggregating the angle cosine and projection between individual decision and ideal decision with associated direction indicator μ. By using the weights of DMs, all individual decisions are aggregated into a collective decision. Further, the preference order of alternatives is ranked in accordance with the overall row value of collective decision. Finally, an example in a chemical company is provided to illustrate the developed approach.

Keywords: angel cosine, ideal decision, projection method, weights of decision makers

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Authors: Digvijaysingh S. Bana, Kiran R. Trivedi

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This paper introduces various methods for the alpha wave to detect the difference between two states of brain. One healthy subject participated in the experiment. EEG was measured on the forehead above the eye (FP1 Position) with reference and ground electrode are on the ear clip. The data samples are obtained in the form of EEG raw data. The time duration of reading is of one minute. Various test are being performed on the alpha band EEG raw data.The readings are performed in different time duration of the entire day. The statistical analysis is being carried out on the EEG sample data in the form of various tests.

Keywords: electroencephalogram(EEG), biometrics, authentication, EEG raw data

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Authors: Berna Yaylalı, Isin Can Traunmüller

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This paper explores the emergent bottom-up practices in the fields of architecture and urban design within comparative perspectives of two cities. As a temporary, easily affordable intervention that gives the possibility of transforming neglected spaces into vibrant public spaces, tactical urbanism, together with creative place-making strategies, presents alternative ways of creating sustainable developments in derelict and underused areas. This study examines the potential of social and physical developments through a reading of case studies of two creative spatial practices: a pop-up garden transformed from an unused derelict space in Favoriten, Vienna, and an urban community garden in Kuzguncuk, Istanbul. Two cities are chosen according to their multicultural population and diversity. Istanbul was selected as a design city by UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2017, and Vienna was declared an open and livable city by its local government. This research will use media archives and reports, interviews with locals and local governments, site observations, and visual recordings as methods to provide a critical reading on creative public spaces from the view of local users in these neighborhoods. Reflecting on these emergent ways, this study aims at discussing the production process of tactile urbanism with the practices of locals and the decision-making process with cases from İstanbul and Vienna. The comparison between their place-making strategies in tactical urbanism will give important insights for future developments.

Keywords: creative city, tactical urbanism, neglected area, public space

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Authors: Jakia Rajoana

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The key aim of this research is to achieve Sustainable Rural Tourism (SRT) through women’s empowerment in the Sundarbans area of Bangladesh. Women in rural areas in developing countries depend on biomass for their survival and that of their family. Yet they have an unequal access to resources as well as decision making, thus making them more vulnerable to any changes in the environment. Women in the developing countries experience gender inequality which is culturally embedded resulting into women having less access to and control over financial and material resources, information, and also a lack of recognition of their contribution as compared to men. Their disadvantaged social position is augmented by their extreme poverty, little or no power they have over their own lives vis-à-vis the disproportionate burden they bear in reproduction and child-raising. Despite the significance of the need to pay attention to gender related issues in sustainable rural tourism (SRT), research remains rather scant. For instance, there is very little research that illustrates the role of women in tourism in the Sundarbans area. Thus empirically, this research seeks to fill a significant gap by focusing on rural areas and in particular focus on considerably under-researched area, namely the Sundarbans women’s role in tourism. In order to fully comprehend their experiences and life stories, this research will apply the empowerment theory and consider it along with the research on sustainable rural tourism. Since, women’s empowerment can act as a potential tool for SRT development and also examine the role tourism plays in the lives of Sundarbans’ women. Methodologically, this study will follow a qualitative research design using an ethnographic approach. Participant observation, semi- structured interviews, and documentation will be the primary data collection instruments in four communities – Shayamnagar, Koyra, Mongla and Sarankhola – in the Sundarbans area. It is hoped that by focusing on the life stories of these invisible women, research is better able to engage with nuances inherent in marginal and significantly under-researched communities.

Keywords: gender, sustainable rural tourism, women empowerment, Sundarbans

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Authors: M. A. Amezcua-Allieri, E. Torres, J. A. Zermeño Eguía-Lis, M. Magdaleno, L. A. Melgarejo, E. Palmerín, A. Rosas, D. López, J. Aburto

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The use of biomass to produce renewable energy is one of the forms that can be used to reduce the impact of energy production. Like any other energy resource, there are limitations for biomass use, and it must compete not only with fossil fuels but also with other renewable energy sources such as solar or wind energy. Combustion is currently the most efficient and widely used waste-to-energy process, in the areas where direct use of biomass is possible, without the need to make large transfers of raw material. Many industrial facilities can use agricultural or forestry waste, straw, chips, bagasse, etc. in their thermal systems without making major transformations or adjustments in the feeding to the ovens, making this waste an attractive and cost-effective option in terms of availability, access, and costs. In spite of the facilities and benefits, the environmental reasons (emission of gases and particulate material) are decisive for its use for energy purpose. This paper describes a valorization of residues from forest industry to generate energy, using a case study.

Keywords: bioenergy, forest waste, life-cycle assessment, waste-to-energy, electricity

Procedia PDF Downloads 305

Authors: M. V. Shivaani, P. K. Jain, Surendra S. Yadav

Abstract:

Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), being government-owned organizations have commitments for the economic and social wellbeing of the society; this commitment needs to be reflected in their risk-taking, decision-making and governance structures. Therefore, the primary objective of the study is to suggest measures that may lead to improvement in performance of PSUs. To achieve this objective two normative frameworks (one relating to risk levels and other relating to governance structure) are being put forth. The risk index is based on nine risks, such as, solvency risk, liquidity risk, accounting risk, etc. and each of the risks have been scored on a scale of 1 to 5. The governance index is based on eleven variables, such as, board independence, diversity, risk management committee, etc. Each of them are scored on a scale of 1 to five. The sample consists of 39 PSUs that featured in Nifty 500 index and, the study covers a 10 year period from April 1, 2005 to March, 31, 2015. Return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) have been used as proxies of firm performance. The control variables used in the model include, age of firm, growth rate of firm and size of firm. A dummy variable has also been used to factor in the effects of recession. Given the panel nature of data and possibility of endogeneity, dynamic panel data- generalized method of moments (Diff-GMM) regression has been used. It is worth noting that the corporate governance index is positively related to both ROA and ROE, indicating that with the improvement in governance structure, PSUs tend to perform better. Considering the components of CGI, it may be suggested that (i). PSUs ensure adequate representation of women on Board, (ii). appoint a Chief Risk Officer, and (iii). constitute a risk management committee. The results also indicate that there is a negative association between risk index and returns. These results not only validate the framework used to develop the risk index but also provide a yardstick to PSUs benchmark their risk-taking if they want to maximize their ROA and ROE. While constructing the CGI, certain non-compliances were observed, even in terms of mandatory requirements, such as, proportion of independent directors. Such infringements call for stringent penal provisions and better monitoring of PSUs. Further, if the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) bring about such reforms in the PSUs and make mandatory the adherence to the normative frameworks put forth in the study, PSUs may have more effective and efficient decision-making, lower risks and hassle free management; all these ultimately leading to better ROA and ROE.

Keywords: PSU, risk governance, diff-GMM, firm performance, the risk index

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Authors: Prasansha Kumari

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Financial Literacy is the possession of knowledge and understanding of financial matters. Financial Literacy often entails the knowledge of properly making decisions pertaining to certain personal financial areas like real estate, insurance investing, and savings. This paper intends to identify and analyze the financial knowledge among university undergraduates by using 200 undergraduates in four faculties of University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Collected data will be analyzed by descriptive research method using SPSS package. Expected outcomes are considerable percentage of undergraduates have basic knowledge on financial matters while it has a law percentage for advanced financial literacy among undergraduates. Students from faculty of Commerce and Management and Science have good understanding about financial matters than undergraduates in other two faculties

Keywords: advanced finance, undergraduates, financial literacy, savings

Procedia PDF Downloads 344

Authors: Martin Pellon Consunji

Abstract:

Due to the rise in popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto assets as a store of wealth and speculative investment, there is an ever-growing demand for automated trading tools, such as bots, in order to gain an advantage over the market. Traditionally, trading in the stock market was done by professionals with years of training who understood patterns and exploited market opportunities in order to gain a profit. However, nowadays a larger portion of market participants are at minimum aided by market-data processing bots, which can generally generate more stable signals than the average human trader. The rise in trading bot usage can be accredited to the inherent advantages that bots have over humans in terms of processing large amounts of data, lack of emotions of fear or greed, and predicting market prices using past data and artificial intelligence, hence a growing number of approaches have been brought forward to tackle this task. However, the general limitation of these approaches can still be broken down to the fact that limited historical data doesn’t always determine the future, and that a lot of market participants are still human emotion-driven traders. Moreover, developing markets such as those of the cryptocurrency space have even less historical data to interpret than most other well-established markets. Due to this, some human traders have gone back to the tried-and-tested traditional technical analysis tools for exploiting market patterns and simplifying the broader spectrum of data that is involved in making market predictions. This paper proposes a method which uses neuro evolution techniques on both sentimental data and, the more traditionally human-consumed, technical analysis data in order to gain a more accurate forecast of future market behavior and account for the way both automated bots and human traders affect the market prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This study’s approach uses evolutionary algorithms to automatically develop increasingly improved populations of bots which, by using the latest inflows of market analysis and sentimental data, evolve to efficiently predict future market price movements. The effectiveness of the approach is validated by testing the system in a simulated historical trading scenario, a real Bitcoin market live trading scenario, and testing its robustness in other cryptocurrency and stock market scenarios. Experimental results during a 30-day period show that this method outperformed the buy and hold strategy by over 260% in terms of net profits, even when taking into consideration standard trading fees.

Keywords: neuro-evolution, Bitcoin, trading bots, artificial neural networks, technical analysis, evolutionary algorithms

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Authors: Ji Eun Shin, Dong Hoon Lim

Abstract:

Data clustering is a common technique used in data analysis and is used in many applications, such as artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, economics, ecology, psychiatry and marketing. K-means clustering is a well-known clustering algorithm aiming to cluster a set of data points to a predefined number of clusters. In this paper, we implement K-means algorithm based on MapReduce framework with RHadoop to make the clustering method applicable to large scale data. RHadoop is a collection of R packages that allow users to manage and analyze data with Hadoop. The main idea is to introduce a combiner as a function of our map output to decrease the amount of data needed to be processed by reducers. The experimental results demonstrated that K-means algorithm using RHadoop can scale well and efficiently process large data sets on commodity hardware. We also showed that our K-means algorithm using RHadoop with combiner was faster than regular algorithm without combiner as the size of data set increases.

Keywords: big data, combiner, K-means clustering, RHadoop

Procedia PDF Downloads 440

Authors: H. C. Chinwenyi, H. D. Ibrahim, F. A. Ahmed

Abstract:

In modern financial mathematics, valuing derivatives such as options is often a tedious task. This is simply because their fair and correct prices in the future are often probabilistic. This paper examines three different Stochastic Differential Equation (SDE) models in finance; the Constant Elasticity of Variance (CEV) model, the Balck-Karasinski model, and the Heston model. The various Martingales option price valuation formulas for these three models were obtained using the replicating portfolio method. Also, the numerical solution of the derived Martingales options price valuation equations for the SDEs models was carried out using the Monte Carlo method which was implemented using MATLAB. Furthermore, results from the numerical examples using published data from the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), all share index data show the effect of increase in the underlying asset value (stock price) on the value of the European Put Option for these models. From the results obtained, we see that an increase in the stock price yields a decrease in the value of the European put option price. Hence, this guides the option holder in making a quality decision by not exercising his right on the option.

Keywords: equivalent martingale measure, European put option, girsanov theorem, martingales, monte carlo method, option price valuation formula

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: M. Panidou, F. Kilipiris, E. Christou, K. Alexandris

Abstract:

This study intends to investigate the travel preferences of Generation Z (born between 1996 and 2012), focusing on their inclination towards unique and unconventional travel experiences, prioritization of authentic cultural immersion and local experiences over traditional tourist attractions, and their value for flexibility and spontaneity in travel plans. By examining these aspects, the research aims to provide insights into the preferences and behaviors of Generation Z travelers, contributing to a better understanding of their travel choices and informing the tourism industry in catering to their needs and desires. Secondary data was gathered from academic literature and industry reports to offer a thorough study of the topic. A quantitative method was used, and primary data was collected through an online questionnaire. One hundred Greek people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-seven were the study's sample. SPSS software was used to assist in the analysis of the data. The findings of the research showed that Gen Z is attracted to unusual and distinctive travel experiences, prioritizing genuine cultural immersion over typical tourist attractions, and they highly value flexibility in their travel decision-making. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of how Gen Z travelers are reshaping the travel industry. Travel companies, marketers, and destination management organizations will find the findings useful in adjusting their products to suit this influential demographic's changing demands and preferences. Considering the limitations of the sample size, future studies could expand the sample size to include individuals from different cultural backgrounds for a more comprehensive understanding.

Keywords: cultural immersion, flexibility, generation Z, travel preferences, unique experiences

Procedia PDF Downloads 60