Search results for: learner management systems

Authors: Gennady P. Ginkul, Sergey Yu. Soloviov

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The article proposes to use so-called "quotation-based algorithm" for simulation of decision making process in distributed expert systems and multi-agent systems. The idea was adopted from the techniques for group decision-making. It is based on the assumption that one expert system to perform its logical inference may use rules from another expert system. The application of the algorithm was demonstrated on the example in which the consolidated decision is the decision that requires minimal quotation.

Keywords: backward chaining inference, distributed expert systems, group decision making, multi-agent systems

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Authors: Nurul Nadhirah Anuar, Muhammad Fauzi Abdul Ghani

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Scheduled waste management is very important in environmental and health aspects. Despite it is very important, the research study on schedule waste management is very little in the highway industry even though there is a rapid growth of highway operation in the Asian region. It should be noted that there are many unnoticeable wastes in highway industry that should be managed properly. This paper aims to define the scheduled waste, to provide a conceptual framework of the scheduled waste management in highway industry, to highlight the effect of improper management of scheduled waste and to encourage future researchers to identify and share the present practice of scheduled management in their country. The understanding on effective management of scheduled waste will help the operators of highway industry, the academicians, future researchers, and encourage a friendly environment around the world. The study on scheduled waste management in highway industry is very crucial as compared to factories in which the factories are located on specified areas whereas, highway transverse and run along kilometers crossing the various type of environment, residential and schools. Using Environmental Quality (Scheduled Waste) Regulations, 2005 as a guide, this conceptual paper highlight several scheduled wastes produced by highway industry in Malaysia and provide a conceptual framework of scheduled waste management that focused on the highway industry. Understanding on schedule waste management is vital in order to preserve the environment. Besides that, the waste substances are hazardous to human being. Many diseases have been associated with the improper management of scheduled waste such as cancer, throat irritation and respiration problem.

Keywords: Asia region, environment, highway industry, scheduled waste

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Authors: Esraa Alhadad

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Recently, there has been considerable debate surrounding the definition, conservation, and management of heritage. Over the past few years, there has been a growing call for the inclusion of local communities in heritage management. However, the perspectives on involvement, especially concerning key stakeholders like community members, often diverge significantly. While the theoretical foundation for community involvement is reasonably established, the application of this approach in heritage management has been sluggish. Achieving a balance to fulfill the diverse goals of stakeholders in any involvement project proves challenging in practice. Consequently, there is a dearth of empirical studies exploring the practical implications of effective tools in heritage management, and limited indication exists to persuade current authorities, such as governmental organizations, to share their influence with local community members. This research project delves into community involvement within heritage management as a potent means of constructing a robust management framework. Its objective is to assess both the extent and caliber of involvement within the management of heritage sites overall, utilizing a cultural mapping-centered methodology. The findings of this study underscore the significance of engaging the local community in both heritage management and planning endeavors. Ultimately, this investigation furnishes crucial empirical evidence and extrapolates valuable theoretical and practical insights that advance understanding of cultural mapping in pivotal areas, including the catalysts for involvement and collaborative decision-making processes.

Keywords: community involvement, heritage management, cultural mapping, stakeholder mangement

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Authors: Tomas Menard

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The design of control-law for engineering systems has been investigated for many decades. While many results are concerned with continuous systems with continuous output, nowadays, many controlled systems have to transmit their output measurements through network, hence making it discrete-time. But it is well known that the sampling of a system whose control-law is based on the continuous output may render the system unstable, especially when this sampling period is long compared to the system dynamics. The control design then has to be adapted in order to cope with this issue. In this paper, we consider systems which can be modeled as double integrator with uncertainty on the input since many mechanical systems can be put under such form. We present a control scheme based on an observer using only discrete time measurement and which provides continuous time estimation of the state, combined with a continuous control law, which stabilized a system with second-order dynamics even in the presence of uncertainty. It is further shown that arbitrarily long sampling periods can be dealt with properly setting the control scheme parameters.

Keywords: dynamical system, control law design, sampled output, observer design

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Authors: Wilson Enríquez, Daniel Cardenas

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This article proposes a filter bank format combined with the mathematical tool called polyphase decomposition and the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) with the purpose of improving the performance of the fifth-generation communication systems (5G). We started with a review of the literature and the study of the filter bank theory and its combination with DFT in order to improve the performance of wireless communications since it reduces the computational complexity of these communication systems. With the proposed technique, several experiments were carried out in order to evaluate the structures in 5G systems. Finally, the results are presented in graphical form in terms of bit error rate against the ratio bit energy/noise power spectral density (BER vs. Eb / No).

Keywords: multi-carrier system (5G), filter bank, polyphase decomposition, FIR equalizer

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Authors: Jiří Barta, Josef Krahulec, Jiří F. Urbánek

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Education and practical training crisis management members are a topical issue nowadays. The paper deals with the perspectives and possibilities of ‘smart solutions’ to education for crisis management staff. Currently, there are a large number of simulation tools, which notes that they are suitable for practical training of crisis management staff. The first part of the paper is focused on the introduction of the technology simulation tools. The simulators aim is to create a realistic environment for the practical training of extending units of crisis staff. The second part of the paper concerns the possibilities of using the simulation technology to the education process. The aim of this section is to introduce the practical capabilities and potential of the simulation programs for practical training of crisis management staff.

Keywords: crisis management staff, computer simulation, software, technological education

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Authors: Alexander P. Eremeev, Ivan E. Kurilenko, Pavel R. Varshavskiy

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In this paper, the problem of the application of temporal reasoning and case-based reasoning in intelligent decision support systems is considered. The method of case-based reasoning with temporal dependences for the solution of problems of real-time diagnostics and forecasting in intelligent decision support systems is described. This paper demonstrates how the temporal case-based reasoning system can be used in intelligent decision support systems of the car access control. This work was supported by RFBR.

Keywords: analogous reasoning, case-based reasoning, intelligent decision support systems, temporal reasoning

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Authors: Taiki Baba, Tomoaki Hashimoto

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The random dither quantization method enables us to achieve much better performance than the simple uniform quantization method for the design of quantized control systems. Motivated by this fact, the stochastic model predictive control method in which a performance index is minimized subject to probabilistic constraints imposed on the state variables of systems has been proposed for linear feedback control systems with random dither quantization. In other words, a method for solving optimal control problems subject to probabilistic state constraints for linear discrete-time control systems with random dither quantization has been already established. To our best knowledge, however, the feasibility of such a kind of optimal control problems has not yet been studied. Our objective in this paper is to investigate the feasibility of stochastic model predictive control problems for linear discrete-time control systems with random dither quantization. To this end, we provide the results of numerical simulations that verify the feasibility of stochastic model predictive control problems for linear discrete-time control systems with random dither quantization.

Keywords: model predictive control, stochastic systems, probabilistic constraints, random dither quantization

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Authors: Hidayah bt Rahmalan, Marhazli Kipli, Muhammad Suffian Sikandar Ghani, Maisarah Abu, Muhammad Faisal Ashaari, Norlizam Md Sukiban

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This study presents an example of activity management system for e-Masjid implementing elements of usability and sociability. It is expected to resolve the shortcomings of the most e-Masjid that provide lot of activities to their community. However, the data on handling a lot of activities or events in which involve a lot of people will be difficult to manipulate. Thus, this paper presents the usability and sociability element on an activity management system that not only eases the job for the user but being practical for future when the community join any events. For the time being, this activity management system was only applied for Sayyidina Abu Bakar Mosque in Utem, Malacca.

Keywords: e-masjid, usability, sociability, activity management system

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Authors: Ilona Buchem, Carolin Gellner

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Over the last few years, the call for the support of senior learners in the development of their digital literacy has become prevalent, mainly due to the progression towards ageing societies paired with advances in digitalisation in all spheres of life, including e-health and electronic patient record (EPA). While major research efforts in supporting senior learners in developing digital literacy have been invested so far in e-learning focusing on knowledge acquisition and cognitive tasks, little research exists in learning models which target virtual mentoring and coaching with the help of pedagogical agents and address the social dimensions of learning. Research from studies with students in the context of formal education has already provided methods for designing intelligent virtual agents in support of personalised learning. However, this research has mostly focused on cognitive skills and has not yet been applied to the context of mentoring/coaching of senior learners, who have different characteristics and learn in different contexts. In this paper, we describe how insights from previous research can be used to develop an intelligent virtual learning coach (agent) for senior learners with a focus on building the social relationship between the agent and the learner and the key task of the agent to socialize learners to the larger context of digital literacy with a focus on electronic health records. Following current approaches to mentoring and coaching, the agent is designed not to enhance and monitor the cognitive performance of the learner but to serve as a trusted friend and advisor, whose role is to provide one-to-one guidance and support sharing of experiences among learners (peers). Based on literature review and synopsis of research on virtual agents and current coaching/mentoring models under consideration of the specific characteristics and requirements of senior learners, we describe the design framework which was applied to design an intelligent virtual learning coach as part of the e-learning system for digital literacy of senior learners in the ePA-Coach project founded by the German Ministry of Education and Research. This paper also presents the results from the evaluation study, which compared the use of the first prototype of the virtual learning coach designed according to the design framework with a voice narration in a multimedia learning environment with senior learners. The focus of the study was to validate the agent design in the context of the persona effect (Lester et al., 1997). Since the persona effect is related to the hypothesis that animated agents are perceived as more socially engaging, the study evaluated possible impacts of agent coaching in comparison with voice coaching on motivation, engagement, experience, and digital literacy.

Keywords: virtual learning coach, virtual mentor, pedagogical agent, senior learners, digital literacy, electronic health records

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Authors: Sujit K. Basak

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This paper presents a comparison of reference management software between RefWorks and Zotero. The results were drawn by comparing two software and the novelty of this paper is the comparative analysis of software and it has shown that ReftWorks can import more information from the Google Scholar for the researchers. This finding could help to know researchers to use the reference management software.

Keywords: analysis, comparative analysis, reference management software, researchers

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Authors: Anocha Rojanapanich

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The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of earnings management on corporate transparency of the company in Dusit area workplace via financial reporting reliability and stakeholder acceptance as independent variable. And the company in Dusit are are taken as the population and sample. The questionnaire is used to collect data. Exploratory Factor Analysis is implemented to ensure construct validity, and correlation statistic is selected to test the relationship among all variable and the ordinary least squares regression is used to explore the hypothesized. The results show that earnings management has a significant and negative impact on financial reporting reliability, stakeholder acceptance, and corporate transparency. Both financial reporting reliability and stakeholder acceptance have an important and positive effect on corporate transparency, and they are then mediators of the earnings management-corporate transparency relationships.

Keywords: dusit area workplace, earnings management, financial report, business and marketing management

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Authors: Elizaveta Petelina, Anton Sizo

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Environmental remediation projects deal with a wide spectrum of data, including data collected during site assessment, execution of remediation activities, and environmental monitoring. Therefore, an appropriate data management is required as a key factor for well-grounded decision making. The Environmental Data Management System (EDMS) was developed to address all necessary data management aspects, including efficient data handling and data interoperability, access to historical and current data, spatial and temporal analysis, 2D and 3D data visualization, mapping, and data sharing. The system focuses on support of well-grounded decision making in relation to required mitigation measures and assessment of remediation success. The EDMS is a combination of enterprise and desktop level data management and Geographic Information System (GIS) tools assembled to assist to environmental remediation, project planning, and evaluation, and environmental monitoring of mine sites. EDMS consists of seven main components: a Geodatabase that contains spatial database to store and query spatially distributed data; a GIS and Web GIS component that combines desktop and server-based GIS solutions; a Field Data Collection component that contains tools for field work; a Quality Assurance (QA)/Quality Control (QC) component that combines operational procedures for QA and measures for QC; Data Import and Export component that includes tools and templates to support project data flow; a Lab Data component that provides connection between EDMS and laboratory information management systems; and a Reporting component that includes server-based services for real-time report generation. The EDMS has been successfully implemented for the Project CLEANS (Clean-up of Abandoned Northern Mines). Project CLEANS is a multi-year, multimillion-dollar project aimed at assessing and reclaiming 37 uranium mine sites in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The EDMS has effectively facilitated integrated decision-making for CLEANS project managers and transparency amongst stakeholders.

Keywords: data management, environmental remediation, geographic information system, GIS, decision making

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Authors: Ti-Jun Xiao, Zhe Xu

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Controllability is one of the fundamental issues in control systems. In this paper, we study the controllability of second order evolutional control systems in Hilbert spaces with memory and boundary controls, which model dynamic behaviors of some viscoelastic materials. Transferring the control problem into a moment problem and showing the Riesz property of a family of functions related to Cauchy problems for some integrodifferential equations, we obtain a general boundary controllability theorem for these second order evolutional control systems. This controllability theorem is applicable to various concrete 1D viscoelastic systems and recovers some previous related results. It is worth noting that Riesz sequences can be used for numerical computations of the control functions and the identification of new Riesz sequence is of independent interest for the basis-function theory. Moreover, using the Riesz sequences, we obtain the existence and uniqueness of (weak) solutions to these second order evolutional control systems in Hilbert spaces. Finally, we derive the exact boundary controllability of a viscoelastic beam equation, as an application of our abstract theorem.

Keywords: evolutional control system, controllability, boundary control, existence and uniqueness

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Authors: M. Erol Genevois, D. Celik, H. Z. Ulukan

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Automated teller machines (ATMs) can be considered among one of the most important service facilities in the banking industry. The investment in ATMs and the impact on the banking industry is growing steadily in every part of the world. The banks take into consideration many factors like safety, convenience, visibility, cost in order to determine the optimum locations of ATMs. Today, ATMs are not only available in bank branches but also at retail locations. Another important factor is the cash management in ATMs. A cash demand model for every ATM is needed in order to have an efficient cash management system. This forecasting model is based on historical cash demand data which is highly related to the ATMs location. So, the location and the cash management problem should be considered together. Although the literature survey on facility location models is quite large, it is surprising that there are only few studies which handle together ATMs location and cash management problem. In order to fulfill the gap, this paper provides a general review on studies, efforts and development in ATMs location and cash management problem.

Keywords: ATM location problem, cash management problem, ATM cash replenishment problem, literature review in ATMs

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Authors: Serhat Tüzün, Tufan Demirel

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Decision Support Systems (DSS) have been investigated by researchers and technologists for more than 35 years. This paper analyses the developments in the architecture and software of these systems, provides a systematic analysis for different Web-based DSS approaches and Intelligent Decision-making Technologies (IDT), with the suggestion for future studies. Decision Support Systems literature begins with building model-oriented DSS in the late 1960s, theory developments in the 1970s, and the implementation of financial planning systems and Group DSS in the early and mid-80s. Then it documents the origins of Executive Information Systems, online analytic processing (OLAP) and Business Intelligence. The implementation of Web-based DSS occurred in the mid-1990s. With the beginning of the new millennia, intelligence is the main focus on DSS studies. Web-based technologies are having a major impact on design, development and implementation processes for all types of DSS. Web technologies are being utilized for the development of DSS tools by leading developers of decision support technologies. Major companies are encouraging its customers to port their DSS applications, such as data mining, customer relationship management (CRM) and OLAP systems, to a web-based environment. Similarly, real-time data fed from manufacturing plants are now helping floor managers make decisions regarding production adjustment to ensure that high-quality products are produced and delivered. Web-based DSS are being employed by organizations as decision aids for employees as well as customers. A common usage of Web-based DSS has been to assist customers configure product and service according to their needs. These systems allow individual customers to design their own products by choosing from a menu of attributes, components, prices and delivery options. The Intelligent Decision-making Technologies (IDT) domain is a fast growing area of research that integrates various aspects of computer science and information systems. This includes intelligent systems, intelligent technology, intelligent agents, artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, neural networks, machine learning, knowledge discovery, computational intelligence, data science, big data analytics, inference engines, recommender systems or engines, and a variety of related disciplines. Innovative applications that emerge using IDT often have a significant impact on decision-making processes in government, industry, business, and academia in general. This is particularly pronounced in finance, accounting, healthcare, computer networks, real-time safety monitoring and crisis response systems. Similarly, IDT is commonly used in military decision-making systems, security, marketing, stock market prediction, and robotics. Even though lots of research studies have been conducted on Decision Support Systems, a systematic analysis on the subject is still missing. Because of this necessity, this paper has been prepared to search recent articles about the DSS. The literature has been deeply reviewed and by classifying previous studies according to their preferences, taxonomy for DSS has been prepared. With the aid of the taxonomic review and the recent developments over the subject, this study aims to analyze the future trends in decision support systems.

Keywords: decision support systems, intelligent decision-making, systematic analysis, taxonomic review

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Authors: Adenike Akinrotimi

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Globally, education has been identified as vital tool for any form of development for any society (community); be it economic, social, political and cultural development. It is the determinant level of prosperity, welfare, security and sustenance of the people of a particular community. Education could be formal, informal and non-formal. Cultural development of an individual and of the community as it were is a lifelong process, where individual learns from daily experiences, exposure to the environment at home, at work, at play and it enriches human and environmental potentials. This type of education can be referred to as cultural heritage. It is built on learner participation and assimilation. Preschool programme also referred to as Early Childhood Education is critical to holistic development of a child cultural development inclusive. This paper examines the impact that technology has on cultural heritage among preschool children.

Keywords: cultural heritage, education, pre-school, technology

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Authors: Sumaya Saqr

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Although many teachers regard academic research as the inclusive domain of academic researchers, teachers should contribute to the body of research guiding their own practice. Drawing on the qualitative analysis of 20 teachers’ reflection journals and interviews, this case study sheds light on the personal and professional benefits of teachers’ applications of collaborative action research in English language teaching context. The findings reveal that several aspects of teacher identity and classroom practice were changed. The present paper aspires to reveal the way in which collaborative action research process, as a learner-centered approach to staff development, would help teachers to become more independent and professionally autonomous and hence effecting change that is far greater than its initial purpose.

Keywords: change, collaborative action research, personal and professional benefits, professional development

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Authors: Dilina Janadith Nawarathne

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This article presents the initial development of a communication model (Model_isi) as the means of gathering, preserving and transferring indigenous knowledge in the field of knowledge management. The article first discusses the need for an appropriate complimentary model for indigenous knowledge management which differs from the existing methods and models. Then the paper suggests the newly developed model for indigenous knowledge management which generate as result of blending key aspects of different disciplines, which can be implemented as a complementary approach for the existing scientific method. The paper further presents the effectiveness of the developed method in reflecting upon a pilot demonstration carried out on selected indigenous communities of Sri Lanka.

Keywords: indigenous knowledge management, knowledge transferring, tacit knowledge, research model, asian centric philosophy

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Authors: Zainab Olabisi Tairu

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The human species is facing some of the most challenging issues encountered as civilization and development occurs. The most salient factors threatening all species globally are habitats loss and degradation, overexploitation, competition with unwanted invasive species, pollution, global climate and various individual lifestyles of indigenous species. In order to avoid or minimize the effect of our actions on the environment and to balance employee work life with their private life, Green Human Resource is important and must be practiced in every organization including Higher Learning Institutions. This study addressed Green HRM from an institutional perspective, University systems are involved in numerous and complex social, educational and extra-curricular activities. The University community must be challenged to rethink and re-construct their environmental policies and practices in order to contribute to sustainable development. Many institutions only look at sustainability from the technology improvement aspect and waste management. People are the principal actors for sustainability development at the institutional level. The aim of the study is to explore the concept of Green Human Resource Management at a case site. Divine Word University (DWU) an Institution of Higher Education that embraced the ‘Printing & Paper use Policy’, also commonly referred to as the ‘paperless policy’, the use of solar as an alternative source of energy, water conservation and improvement in internet technology (IT) with the aim of becoming a green institution in effort to help save the environment. This study used Participatory Action Research as the Overarching methodological framework and Egg of sustainability and Wellbeing as the theoretical perspective in analyzing the data, engaging Case study strategy and a mixed method design at DWU. Focus group interview were conducted with three departments at the University, semi-structure interviews with the senior managers, survey questionnaire administered to students and staff with a sample size of 176 participants, in addition, policy documents were also exploited as extra source of data. Waste management including e-waste appeared to be one of the main concerns at DWU. A vast majority of DWU staff and students expressed the need for their institution to do more on sustainability education. The findings revealed that members of the community are not fully integrated like the Egg of sustainability and wellbeing in order to achieve sustainable development goal. The concept of Green Human Resource Management in Universities lies with the idea that Universities must bear profound responsibilities to manage its stakeholders in an environmental friendly way. Human resource management can help local institutions to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production, consumption as well as the end product in order to combat or at least reduce human Induced which produce or aggravate it.

Keywords: sustainability, environmental management, higher education institutions, green human resource management

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Authors: Mallikarjuna Rao Yamarthy, Subramanyam Makam Venkata, Satya Prasad Kodati

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The main objective of the proposed work is to reduce the overall network traffic incurred by mobility management, packet delivery cost and to increase the resource utilization. The proposed algorithm, An Efficient Resource Management Algorithm (ERMA) for mobility management in wireless mesh networks, relies on pointer based mobility management scheme. Whenever a mesh client moves from one mesh router to another, the pointer is set up dynamically between the previous mesh router and current mesh router based on the distance constraints. The algorithm evaluated for signaling cost, data delivery cost and total communication cost performance metrics. The proposed algorithm is demonstrated for both internet sessions and intranet sessions. The proposed algorithm yields significantly better performance in terms of signaling cost, data delivery cost, and total communication cost.

Keywords: data delivery cost, mobility management, pointer forwarding, resource management, wireless mesh networks

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Authors: Spoorthi Srupad

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Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) stands as a critical engineering application facilitated by Earth Resources and Environmental Remote Sensing. Employing advanced technologies, this process enables a systematic evaluation of potential environmental impacts arising from engineering projects. Remote sensing techniques, including satellite imagery and geographic information systems (GIS), play a pivotal role in providing comprehensive data for assessing changes in land cover, vegetation, water bodies, and air quality. This abstract delves into the significance of EIA in engineering, emphasizing its role in ensuring sustainable and environmentally responsible practices. The integration of remote sensing technologies enhances the accuracy and efficiency of impact assessments, contributing to informed decision-making and the mitigation of adverse environmental consequences associated with engineering endeavors.

Keywords: environmental impact assessment, engineering applications, sustainability, environmental monitoring, remote sensing, geographic information systems, environmental management

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Authors: Yidnekachew Daget, Hong Zhang

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The decision-making process in order to select the suitable housing system for application in housing construction has been a challenge for many developing countries. This study evaluates the decision process to identify the suitable housing systems for adoption in Addis Ababa. Ten industrialized housing systems were considered as alternatives for comparison. These systems have been used in a housing development in different parts of the world. A relevant literature review and contextual analysis were conducted. An analytical hierarchy process and an Expert Choice Comparion platform were employed as a research technique and tool to evaluate the professionals’ level of preferences with regard to the housing systems. The findings revealed the priority rank and characteristics of the suitable housing systems to be adapted for application in housing development. The decision criteria and the analytical process used in this study can help the decision-makers and the housing developers in developing countries make effective evaluations and decisions.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process, decision-making, expert choice comparion, industrialized housing systems

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Authors: João Rato, Nuno Costa

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The human verbal communication is a two-way process which requires a mutual understanding that will result in some considerations. This kind of communication, also called dialogue, besides the supposed human agents it can also be performed between human agents and machines. The interaction between Men and Machines, by means of a natural language, has an important role concerning the improvement of the communication between each other. Aiming at knowing the performance of some speech recognition systems, this document shows the results of the accomplished tests according to the Word Error Rate evaluation method. Besides that, it is also given a set of information linked to the systems of Man-Machine communication. After this work has been made, conclusions were drawn regarding the Speech Recognition Systems, among which it can be mentioned their poor performance concerning the voice interpretation in noisy environments.

Keywords: automatic speech recognition, man-machine conversation, speech recognition, spoken dialogue systems, word error rate

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Authors: Shirekha Layangani, Suneth Dharmaparakrama

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When the manufacturing industry is concerned the Environment Management System (EMS) is a common term. Currently most organizations have obtained the environmental standard certification, ISO 14001. In the Sri Lankan context even though the organizations adopt Environmental Management, a very limited number of companies tend to calculate their Carbon Footprints. This research discusses the demotivating factors of manufacturing organizations in Sri Lanka to integrate calculation of carbon footprint into their supply chains. Further it also identifies the benefits that manufacturing organizations can gain by implementing calculation of carbon footprint. The manufacturing companies listed under “ISO 14001” certification were considered in this study in order to investigate the problems mentioned above. 100% enumeration was used when the surveys were carried out. In order to gather essential data two surveys were designed to be done among manufacturing organizations that are currently engaged in calculating their carbon footprint and the organizations that have not. The survey among the first set of manufacturing organizations revealed the benefits the organizations were able to gain by implementing calculation of carbon footprint. The latter set organizations revealed the demotivating factors that have influenced not to integrate calculation of carbon footprint into their supply chains. This paper has summarized the results obtained by the surveys and segregated depending on the market share of the manufacturing organizations. Further it has indicated the benefits that can be obtained by implementing carbon footprint calculation, depending on the market share of the manufacturing entity. Finally the research gives suggestions to manufacturing organizations on applicability of adopting carbon footprint calculation depending on the benefits that can be obtained.

Keywords: carbon footprint, environmental management systems (EMS), benefits of carbon footprint, ISO14001

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Authors: B. Alajmi, L. Marouf, A. S. Chaudhry

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In recent years, increasing emphasis has been placed upon issues concerning the evaluation of health care. In this regard, knowledge management has also been considered an important component of the evaluation process. KM facilitates the transfer of existing knowledge or the development of new knowledge among healthcare staff and patients. This research aimed to examine how hospitals in Kuwait employ knowledge management practices, including capturing, sharing, and generating, and the perceived impact of KM practices on performance of hospitals in Kuwait. Through adopting a quantitative survey method with 277 sample of doctors, the study found that in terms of the three major knowledge management practices – knowledge capturing, sharing, and generating – the adoption of KM practices were rated very low in the sampled hospitals in Kuwait. Hospitals paid little attention to the main activities that support the transfer of expertise among doctors in hospitals. However, as predicted by previous studies, knowledge management practices were perceived to have an impact on hospitals’ performance. Through knowledge capturing, sharing, and generating, hospitals could improve the services they provide through documenting best practices, transforming their hospitals into learning organizations in which lessons learned are captured, stored, and made available for others to learn from.

Keywords: knowledge management, hospitals, knowledge management practices, knowledge management tools, performance

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Authors: Lloyd A. Taylor

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An increase in the prevalence of Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) highlights the need to consider factors that may be exacerbating symptom presentation. Traditional diagnostic criteria provide a little framework for healthcare providers to consider as they attempt to diagnose and treat children with behavioral problems. In fact, aside from exclusion criteria, limited alternative considerations are available, and approaches fail to consider the impact of outside factors that could increase or decrease the likelihood of appropriate diagnosis and success of interventions. This paper will consider specific systems-based factors that influence behavior and intervention successes that, when not considered, could account for the upsurge of diagnoses. These include understanding (1) challenges in the healthcare system, (2) the influence and impact of educators and the educational system, (3) technology use, and (4) patient and parental attitudes about the diagnosis of ADHD. These factors must be considered both individually and as a whole when considering both the increase in diagnoses and the subsequent increases in prescriptions for psychostimulant medication. A theoretical model based on a risk management approach will be presented. Finally, data will be presented that demonstrates pediatric provider satisfaction with this approach to diagnoses and treatment of ADHD as it relates to practice trends.

Keywords: ADHD, diagnostic criteria, risk management model, pediatricians

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Authors: Oluwafemi Samuel Oyamakin

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The forest in Nigeria is currently estimated to extend to around 9.6 million hectares, but used to expand over central and southern Nigeria decades ago. The forest estate is shrinking due to long-term human exploitation for agricultural development, fuel wood demand, uncontrolled forest harvesting and urbanization, amongst other factors, compounded by population growth in rural areas. Nigeria has lost more than 50% of its forest cover since 1990 and currently less than 10% of the country is forested. The current deforestation rate is estimated at 3.7%, which is one of the highest in the world. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks constituted what is referred to as REDD+. This study evaluated some of the existing way of computing carbon stocks using eight indigenous tree species like Mansonia, Shorea, Bombax, Terminalia superba, Khaya grandifolia, Khaya senegalenses, Pines and Gmelina arborea. While these components are the essential elements of REDD+ programme, they can be brought under a broader framework of systems analysis designed to arrive at optimal solutions for future predictions through statistical distribution pattern of carbon sequestrated by various species of tree. Available data on height and diameter of trees in Ibadan were studied and their respective potentials of carbon sequestration level were assessed and subjected to tests so as to determine the best statistical distribution that would describe the carbon sequestration pattern of trees. The result of this study suggests a reasonable statistical distribution for carbons sequestered in simulation studies and hence, allow planners and government in determining resources forecast for sustainable development especially where experiments with real-life systems are infeasible. Sustainable management of forest can then be achieved by projecting future condition of forests under different management regimes thereby supporting conservation and REDD+ programmes in Nigeria.

Keywords: REDD+, carbon, climate change, height and diameter

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Authors: M. Mutemwa

Abstract:

A Cybersecurity Operation Centre (SOC) is a centralized hub for network event monitoring and incident response. SOCs are critical when determining an organization’s cybersecurity posture because they can be used to detect, analyze and report on various malicious activities. For most organizations, a SOC is not part of the initial design and implementation of the Information Technology (IT) environment but rather an afterthought. As a result, it is not natively a plug and play component; therefore, there are integration challenges when a SOC is introduced into an organization. A SOC is an independent hub that needs to be integrated with existing procedures, policies and IT systems of an organization such as the service desk, ticket logging system, reporting, etc. This paper discussed the challenges of integrating a newly developed SOC to an organization’s existing IT environment. Firstly, the paper begins by looking at what data sources should be incorporated into the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) such as which host machines, servers, network end points, software, applications, web servers, etc. for security posture monitoring. That is which systems need to be monitored first and the order by which the rest of the systems follow. Secondly, the paper also describes how to integrate the organization’s ticket logging system with the SOC SIEM. That is how the cybersecurity related incidents should be logged by both analysts and non-technical employees of an organization. Also the priority matrix for incident types and notifications of incidents. Thirdly, the paper looks at how to communicate awareness campaigns from the SOC and also how to report on incidents that are found inside the SOC. Lastly, the paper looks at how to show value for the large investments that are poured into designing, building and running a SOC.

Keywords: cybersecurity operation centre, incident response, priority matrix, procedures and policies

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Seppo Sirkemaa

Abstract:

Information systems infrastructure is the basis of business systems and processes in the company. It should be a reliable platform for business processes and activities but also have the flexibility to change business needs. The development of an infrastructure that is robust, reliable, and flexible is a challenge. Understanding technological capabilities and business needs is a key element in the development of successful information systems infrastructure.

Keywords: development, information technology, networks, technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 118