Search results for: alternative selection tool

Authors: Cyril Ekuaze

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This paper was instigated by a set of assumption drawn at the introduction to a research work on alternative institutional arrangements for sustaining rural infrastructure in developing countries. Of one of such assumption is the one held that, a problem facing developing countries is the sustaining of infrastructural investment long enough to allow the facility to at least repay the cost of the development as been due to insufficient maintenance. On the contrary, this work argues that, most international partnerships relation with developing nations in developing infrastructures is “vertical modeling” with the hierarchical authority and command flow from top to bottom. The work argued that where international donor partners/agencies set out infrastructural development agenda in the developing nations without cognizance of design suitability and capacity for maintenance by the recipient nations; and where public administrative capacity building in the field of science, technology and engineering requisite for design, development and sustenance of infrastructure in the recipient countries are negated, prospective output becomes problematic.

Keywords: vertical partnerships, responsive failure, infrastructural development, developing countries

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Authors: Asmaa Al Shafiee, Erdin Ibraim

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Stabilizing slopes by using vegetation is considered as a cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative to the conventional methods. The main aim of this study is to investigate the mechanical effect of analogue root systems on the shear strength of different soil types. Three objectives were defined to achieve the main aim of this paper. Firstly, explore the effect of root architectural design to shear strength parameters. Secondly, study the effect of root area ratio (RAR) on the shear strength of two different soil types. Finally, to investigate how different kinds of soil can affect the behavior of the roots during shear failure. 3D printing tool was used to develop different analogue tap root models with different architectural designs. Direct shear tests were performed on Leighton Buzzard (LB) fraction B sand, which represents a coarse sand and Huston sand, which represent medium-coarse sand. All tests were done with the same relative density for both kinds of sand. The results of the direct shear test indicated that using plant roots will increase both friction angle and cohesion of soil. Additionally, different root designs affected differently the shear strength of the soil. Furthermore, the directly proportional relationship was found between root area ratio for the same root design and shear strength parameters of soil. Finally, the root area ratio effect should be combined with branches penetrating the shear plane to get the highest results.

Keywords: leighton buzzard sand, root area ratio, rooted soil, shear strength, slope stabilization

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Authors: Zenab Naseem, Sadia Imran

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One of the key solutions to the climate change crisis is to develop renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind power and biogas. This paper explores the socioeconomic and environmental viability of solar energy, based on a case study of the Soan Valley Development Program. Under this project, local farmers were provided solar water pumps at subsidized rates. These have been functional for the last seven years and have gained popularity among the local communities. The study measures the economic viability of using solar energy in agriculture, based on data from 36 households, of which 12 households each use diesel, electric and solar water pumps. Our findings are based on the net present value of each technology type. We also carry out a qualitative assessment of the social impact of solar water pumps relative to diesel and electric pumps. Finally, we conduct an environmental impact assessment, using the lifecycle assessment approach. All three analyses indicate that solar energy is a viable alternative to diesel and electricity.

Keywords: alternative energy sources, pollution control adoption and costs, solar energy pumps, sustainable development

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Authors: Ç. Erdoğan, T. Turan

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Pediatric cancer patients experience multiple distressing, challenges, physical symptom such as fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance, and balance impairment that continue years after treatment completion. In recent years, yoga is often used in children with cancer to cope with these symptoms. Yoga practice is defined as a unique physical activity that combines physical practice, breath work and mindfulness/meditation. Yoga is an increasingly popular mind-body practice also characterized as a mindfulness mode of exercise. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of yoga intervention of children with cancer. This article planned searching the literature in this field. It has been determined that individualized yoga is feasible and provides benefits for inpatient children, improves health-related quality of life, physical activity levels, physical fitness. After yoga program, children anxiety score decreases significantly. Additionally, individualized yoga is feasible for inpatient children receiving intensive chemotherapy. As a result, yoga is an alternative and complementary medicine that can be safely used in children with cancer.

Keywords: cancer treatment, children, nursing, yoga

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Authors: Rodrigo Pacheco-Ruiz, Jonathan Adams, Felix Pedrotti

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This paper introduces the applicability of underwater photogrammetric survey within challenging conditions as the main tool to enhance and enrich the process of documenting archaeological excavation through the creation of 4D models. Photogrammetry was being attempted on underwater archaeological sites at least as early as the 1970s’ and today the production of traditional 3D models is becoming a common practice within the discipline. Photogrammetry underwater is more often implemented to record exposed underwater archaeological remains and less so as a dynamic interpretative tool.  Therefore, it tends to be applied in bright environments and when underwater visibility is > 1m, reducing its implementation on most submerged archaeological sites in more turbid conditions. Recent years have seen significant development of better digital photographic sensors and the improvement of optical technology, ideal for darker environments. Such developments, in tandem with powerful processing computing systems, have allowed underwater photogrammetry to be used by this research as a standard recording and interpretative tool. Using multi-source photogrammetry (5, GoPro5 Hero Black cameras) this paper presents the accumulation of daily (4D) underwater surveys carried out in the Early Bronze Age (3,300 BC) to Late Ottoman (17th Century AD) archaeological site of Ropotamo in the Bulgarian Black Sea under challenging conditions (< 0.5m visibility). It proves that underwater photogrammetry can and should be used as one of the main recording methods even in low light and poor underwater conditions as a way to better understand the complexity of the underwater archaeological record.

Keywords: 4D modelling, Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project, multi-source photogrammetry, low visibility underwater survey

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Authors: Davies Obaromi, Qin Yongsong, James Ndege, Azeez Adeboye, Akinwumi Odeyemi

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The basic model usually used in disease mapping, is the Besag, York and Mollie (BYM) model and which combines the spatially structured and spatially unstructured priors as random effects. Bayesian Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) model is a disease mapping method that is commonly used for smoothening the relative risk of any disease as used in the Besag, York and Mollie (BYM) model. This model (CAR), which is also usually assigned as a prior to one of the spatial random effects in the BYM model, successfully uses information from adjacent sites to improve estimates for individual sites. To our knowledge, there are some unrealistic or counter-intuitive consequences on the posterior covariance matrix of the CAR prior for the spatial random effects. In the conventional BYM (Besag, York and Mollie) model, the spatially structured and the unstructured random components cannot be seen independently, and which challenges the prior definitions for the hyperparameters of the two random effects. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to construct and utilize an extended Bayesian spatial CAR model for studying tuberculosis patterns in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, and then compare for flexibility with some existing CAR models. The results of the study revealed the flexibility and robustness of this alternative extended CAR to the commonly used CAR models by comparison, using the deviance information criteria. The extended Bayesian spatial CAR model is proved to be a useful and robust tool for disease modeling and as a prior for the structured spatial random effects because of the inclusion of an extra hyperparameter.

Keywords: Besag2, CAR models, disease mapping, INLA, spatial models

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Authors: Rose-Michelle Smith, Musandji Fuamba, Salomon Salumu

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Water is vital for life. Access to drinking water and sanitation for humans is one of the Sustainable Development Goals (specifically the sixth) approved by United Nations Member States in September 2015. There are various problems identified relating to water: insufficient fresh water, inequitable distribution of water resources, poor water management in certain places on the planet, detection of water-borne diseases due to poor water quality, and the negative impacts of climate change on water. One of the major challenges in the world is finding ways to ensure that people and the environment have enough water resources to sustain and support their existence. Thus, this research project aims to develop a tool to assess the availability, quality and needs of water in current and future situations with regard to climate change. This tool was tested using threshold values for three regions in three countries: the Metropolitan Community of Montreal (Canada), Normandie Region (France) and North Department (Haiti). The WEAP software was used to evaluate the available quantity of water resources. For water quality, two models were performed: the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) and the Malaysian Water Quality Index (WQI). Preliminary results showed that the ratio of the needs could be estimated at 155, 308 and 644 m3/capita in 2023 for Normandie, Cap-Haitian and CMM, respectively. Then, the Water Quality Index (WQI) varied from one country to another. Other simulations regarding the water availability and quality are still in progress. This tool will be very useful in decision-making on projects relating to water use in the future; it will make it possible to estimate whether the available resources will be able to satisfy the needs.

Keywords: climate change, water needs, balance sheet, water quality

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Authors: Yasmine Salehy, Yann Leroy, Francois Cluzel, Hong-Minh Hoang, Laurence Fournaison, Anthony Delahaye, Bernard Yannou

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Taking into consideration all the life cycle of a product is now an important step in the eco-design of a product or a technology. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a standard tool to evaluate the environmental impacts of a system or a process. Despite the improvement in refrigerant regulation through protocols, the environmental damage of refrigeration systems remains important and needs to be improved. In this paper, the environmental impacts of refrigeration systems in a typical supermarket are compared using the LCA methodology under different conditions. The system is used to provide cold at two levels of temperature: medium and low temperature during a life period of 15 years. The most commonly used architectures of supermarket cold production systems are investigated: centralized direct expansion systems and indirect systems using a secondary loop to transport the cold. The variation of power needed during seasonal changes and during the daily opening/closure periods of the supermarket are considered. R134a as the primary refrigerant fluid and two types of secondary fluids are considered. The composition of each system and the leakage rate of the refrigerant through its life cycle are taken from the literature and industrial data. Twelve scenarios are examined. They are based on the variation of three parameters, 1. location: France (Paris), Spain (Toledo) and Sweden (Stockholm), 2. different sources of electric consumption: photovoltaic panels and low voltage electric network and 3. architecture: direct and indirect refrigeration systems. OpenLCA, SimaPro softwares, and different impact assessment methods were compared; CML method is used to evaluate the midpoint environmental indicators. This study highlights the significant contribution of electric consumption in environmental damages compared to the impacts of refrigerant leakage. The secondary loop allows lowering the refrigerant amount in the primary loop which results in a decrease in the climate change indicators compared to the centralized direct systems. However, an exhaustive cost evaluation (CAPEX and OPEX) of both systems shows more important costs related to the indirect systems. A significant difference between the countries has been noticed, mostly due to the difference in electric production. In Spain, using photovoltaic panels helps to reduce efficiently the environmental impacts and the related costs. This scenario is the best alternative compared to the other scenarios. Sweden is a country with less environmental impacts. For both France and Sweden, the use of photovoltaic panels does not bring a significant difference, due to a less sunlight exposition than in Spain. Alternative solutions exist to reduce the impact of refrigerating systems, and a brief introduction is presented.

Keywords: eco-design, industrial engineering, LCA, refrigeration system

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Authors: Sarah Nauwelaerts, Koen De Cremer, Alfred Bernard, Meredith Verlooy, Kristel Heremans, Natalia Bustos Sierra, Katrien Tersago, Tim Nawrot, Jordy Vercauteren, Christophe Stroobants, Sigrid C. J. De Keersmaecker, Nancy Roosens

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Projected climate changes could lead to exacerbation of respiratory disorders associated with reduced air quality. Air pollution and climate changes influence each other through complex interactions. The poor air quality in urban and rural areas includes high levels of particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), representing a major threat to public health and especially for the most vulnerable population strata, and especially young children. In this study, we aim to develop generic standardized policy supporting tools and methods that allow evaluating in future follow-up larger scale epidemiological studies the risks of the combined short-term effects of O3 and PM on the cardiorespiratory system of children. We will use non-invasive indicators of airway damage/inflammation and of genetic or epigenetic variations by using urine or saliva as alternative to blood samples. Therefore, a multi-phase field study will be organized in order to assess the sensitivity and applicability of these tests in large cohorts of children during episodes of air pollution. A first test phase was planned in March 2018, not yet taking into account ‘critical’ pollution periods. Working with non-invasive samples, choosing the right set-up for the field work and the volunteer selection were parameters to consider, as they significantly influence the feasibility of this type of study. During this test phase, the selection of the volunteers was done in collaboration with medical doctors from the Centre for Student Assistance (CLB), by choosing a class of pre-pubertal children of 9-11 years old in a primary school in Flemish Brabant, Belgium. A questionnaire, collecting information on the health and background of children and an informed consent document were drawn up for the parents as well as a simplified cartoon-version of this document for the children. A detailed study protocol was established, giving clear information on the study objectives, the recruitment, the sample types, the medical examinations to be performed, the strategy to ensure anonymity, and finally on the sample processing. Furthermore, the protocol describes how this field study will be conducted in relation with the prevision and monitoring of air pollutants for the future phases. Potential protein, genetic and epigenetic biomarkers reflecting the respiratory function and the levels of air pollution will be measured in the collected samples using unconventional technologies. The test phase results will be used to address the most important bottlenecks before proceeding to the following phases of the study where the combined effect of O3 and PM during pollution peaks will be examined. This feasibility study will allow identifying possible bottlenecks and providing missing scientific knowledge, necessary for the preparation, implementation and evaluation of federal policies/strategies, based on the most appropriate epidemiological studies on the health effects of air pollution. The research leading to these results has been funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office through contract No.: BR/165/PI/PMOLLUGENIX-V2.

Keywords: air pollution, biomarkers, children, field study, feasibility study, non-invasive

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Authors: K. Subbaiah

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Friction stir welding is a solid state welding process. Friction stir welding process eliminates the defects found in fusion welding processes. It is environmentally friend process. 5000 and 6000 series aluminum alloys are widely used in the transportation industries. The Al-Mg-Mn (5000) and Al-Mg-Si (6000) alloys are preferably offer best combination of use in Marine construction. The medium strength and high corrosion resistant 5000 series alloys are the aluminum alloys, which are found maximum utility in the world. In this review, the tool pin profile, process parameters such as hardness, yield strength and tensile strength, and microstructural evolution of friction stir welding of Al-Mg alloys 5000 Series and 6000 series have been discussed.

Keywords: 5000 series and 6000 series Al alloys, friction stir welding, tool pin profile, microstructure and properties

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Authors: Douglas A. Menezes, Isabel D. Nunes, Ulrich Schiel

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Most Virtual Learning Environments do not provide support mechanisms for the integrated planning, construction and follow-up of Instructional Design supported by Learning Analytic results. The present work aims to present an authoring tool that will be responsible for constructing the structure of an Instructional Design (ID), without the data being altered during the execution of the course. The visual interface aims to present the critical situations present in this ID, serving as a support tool for the course follow-up and possible improvements, which can be made during its execution or in the planning of a new edition of this course. The model for the ID is based on High-Level Petri Nets and the visualization forms are determined by the specific kind of the data generated by an e-course, a population of students generating sequentially dependent data.

Keywords: educational data visualization, high-level petri nets, instructional design, learning analytics

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Authors: Nawel Mansouri

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Weblog as a form of internet-based resources has become popular as an authentic and constructive learning tool, especially in the language classroom. This research explores the use of weblog storytelling as a pedagogical tool to develop Algerian EFL students’ creative writing. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of weblog- writing and the attitudes of both Algerian EFL students and teachers towards weblog storytelling. It also seeks to explore the potential benefits and problems that may affect the use of weblog and investigate the possible solutions to overcome the problems encountered. The research work relies on a mixed-method approach which combines both qualitative and quantitative methods. A questionnaire will be applied to both EFL teachers and students as a means to obtain preliminary data. Interviews will be integrated in accordance with the primary data that will be gathered from the questionnaire with the aim of validating its accuracy or as a strategy to follow up any unexpected results. An intervention will take place on the integration of weblog- writing among 15 Algerian EFL students for a period of two months where students are required to write five narrative essays about their personal experiences, give feedback through the use of a rubric to two or three of their peers, and edit their work based on the feedback. After completion, questionnaires and interviews will also take place as a medium to obtain both the students’ perspectives towards the use of weblog as an innovative teaching approach. This study is interesting because weblog storytelling has recently been emerged as a new form of digital communication and it is a new concept within Algerian context. Furthermore, the students will not just develop their writing skill through weblog storytelling but it can also serve as a tool to develop students’ critical thinking, creativity, and autonomy.

Keywords: Weblog writing, EFL writing, EFL learners' attitudes, EFL teachers' views

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Authors: Clotilde Guyon, Nada Jmari, Yen-Chin Li, Jean Denoyel, Noriyuki Fujikado, Christophe Blanchet, David Root, Matthieu Giraud

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Aire induces ectopic expression of a large repertoire of tissue-specific antigen (TSA) genes in thymic medullary epithelial cells (MECs), driving immunological self-tolerance in maturing T cells. Although important mechanisms of Aire-induced transcription have recently been disclosed through the identification and the study of Aire’s partners, the fine transcriptional functions underlied by a number of them and conferred to Aire are still unknown. Alternative cleavage and polyadenylation (APA) is an essential mRNA processing step regulated by the termination complex consisting of 85 proteins, 10 of them have been related to Aire. We evaluated APA in MECs in vivo by microarray analysis with mRNA-spanning probes and RNA deep sequencing. We uncovered the preference of Aire-dependent transcripts for short-3’UTR isoforms and for proximal poly(A) site selection marked by the increased binding of the cleavage factor Cstf-64. RNA interference of the 10 Aire-related proteins revealed that Clp1, a member of the core termination complex, exerts a profound effect on short 3’UTR isoform preference. Clp1 is also significantly upregulated in the MECs compared to 25 mouse tissues in which we found that TSA expression is associated with longer 3’UTR isoforms. Aire-dependent transcripts escape a global 3’UTR lengthening associated with MEC differentiation, thereby potentiating the repressive effect of microRNAs that are globally upregulated in mature MECs. Consistent with these findings, RNA deep sequencing of actinomycinD-treated MECs revealed the increased stability of short 3’UTR Aire-induced transcripts, resulting in TSA transcripts accumulation and contributing for their enrichment in the MECs.

Keywords: Aire, central tolerance, miRNAs, transcription termination

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Authors: Jaci Marie Mastrandrea, Rosario Haro

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Background: The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recommends that healthcare institutions have established processes for integrating palliative care (PC) into cancer treatment and that all cancer patients be screened for PC needs upon initial diagnosis as well as throughout the entire continuum of care (National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 2021). Early PC screening and intervention is directly associated with improved patient outcomes. The Sky Lakes Cancer Treatment Center (SLCTC) is an institution that has access to PC services yet does not have protocols in place for identifying patients with palliative needs or a standardized referral process. The aim of this quality improvement project was to improve early access to PC services by establishing a standardized screening and referral process for outpatient oncology patients. Method: The sample population included all adult patients with an oncology diagnosis who presented to the SLCTC for treatment during the project timeline. The “Palliative and Supportive Needs Assessment'' (PSNA) screening tool was developed from validated, evidence-based PC referral criteria. The tool was initially implemented using paper forms, and data was collected over a period of eight weeks. Patients were screened by nurses on the SLCTC oncology treatment team. Nurses responsible for screening patients received an educational inservice prior to implementation. Patients with a PSNA score of three or higher received an educational handout on the topic of PC and education about PC and symptom management. A score of five or higher indicates that PC referral is strongly recommended, and the patient’s EHR is flagged for the oncology provider to review orders for PC referral. The PSNA tool was approved by Sky Lakes administration for full integration into Epic-Beacon. The project lead collaborated with the Sky Lakes’ information systems team and representatives from Epic on the tool’s aesthetic and functionality within the Epic system. SLCTC nurses and physicians were educated on how to document the PSNA within Epic and where to view results. Results: Prior to the implementation of the PSNA screening tool, the SLCTC had zero referrals to PC in the past year, excluding referrals to hospice. Data was collected from the completed screening assessments of 100 patients under active treatment at the SLCTC. Seventy-three percent of patients met criteria for PC referral with a score greater than or equal to three. Of those patients who met referral criteria, 53.4% (39 patients) were referred for a palliative and supportive care consultation. Patients that were not referred to PC upon meeting criteria were flagged in EPIC for re-screening within one to three months. Patients with lung cancer, chronic hematologic malignancies, breast cancer, and gastrointestinal malignancy most frequently met the criteria for PC referral and scored highest overall on the scale of 0-12. Conclusion: The implementation of a standardized PC screening tool at the SLCTC significantly increased awareness of PC needs among cancer patients in the outpatient setting. Additionally, data derived from this quality improvement project supports the national recommendation for PC to be an integral component of cancer treatment across the entire continuum of care.

Keywords: oncology, palliative and supportive care, symptom management, outpatient oncology, palliative screening tool

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Authors: C. V. Aravinda, H. N. Prakash

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In this paper, we tried to convey fusion and state of art pertaining to SIL character recognition systems. In the first step, the text is preprocessed and normalized to perform the text identification correctly. The second step involves extracting relevant and informative features. The third step implements the classification decision. The three stages which involved are Data acquisition and preprocessing, Feature extraction, and Classification. Here we concentrated on two techniques to obtain features, Feature Extraction & Feature Selection. Edge-hinge distribution is a feature that characterizes the changes in direction of a script stroke in handwritten text. The edge-hinge distribution is extracted by means of a windowpane that is slid over an edge-detected binary handwriting image. Whenever the mid pixel of the window is on, the two edge fragments (i.e. connected sequences of pixels) emerging from this mid pixel are measured. Their directions are measured and stored as pairs. A joint probability distribution is obtained from a large sample of such pairs. Despite continuous effort, handwriting identification remains a challenging issue, due to different approaches use different varieties of features, having different. Therefore, our study will focus on handwriting recognition based on feature selection to simplify features extracting task, optimize classification system complexity, reduce running time and improve the classification accuracy.

Keywords: word segmentation and recognition, character recognition, optical character recognition, hand written character recognition, South Indian languages

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Authors: Sudha T., Naveen C.

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Dengue is a serious public health issue that causes significant annual economic and welfare burdens on nations. However, enhanced optimization techniques and quantitative modeling approaches can predict the incidence of dengue. By advocating for a data-driven approach, public health officials can make informed decisions, thereby improving the overall effectiveness of sudden disease outbreak control efforts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are two of the U.S. Federal Government agencies from which this study uses environmental data. Based on environmental data that describe changes in temperature, precipitation, vegetation, and other factors known to affect dengue incidence, many predictive models are constructed that use different machine learning methods to estimate weekly dengue cases. The first step involves preparing the data, which includes handling outliers and missing values to make sure the data is prepared for subsequent processing and the creation of an accurate forecasting model. In the second phase, multiple feature selection procedures are applied using various machine learning models and optimization techniques. During the third phase of the research, machine learning models like the Huber Regressor, Support Vector Machine, Gradient Boosting Regressor (GBR), and Support Vector Regressor (SVR) are compared with several optimization techniques for feature selection, such as Harmony Search and Genetic Algorithm. In the fourth stage, the model's performance is evaluated using Mean Square Error (MSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) as assistance. Selecting an optimization strategy with the least number of errors, lowest price, biggest productivity, or maximum potential results is the goal. In a variety of industries, including engineering, science, management, mathematics, finance, and medicine, optimization is widely employed. An effective optimization method based on harmony search and an integrated genetic algorithm is introduced for input feature selection, and it shows an important improvement in the model's predictive accuracy. The predictive models with Huber Regressor as the foundation perform the best for optimization and also prediction.

Keywords: deep learning model, dengue fever, prediction, optimization

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Authors: Zarema Urustamova, Chunsheng Shi, Ghulam Mujtaba Kayani 

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This research paper helps to understand the comparative analysis of recruitment problems which majorly faced by HRD of Public/Semi-Govt. and private sectors of Russia. The natures of different recruitment problems faced by HRD are different in both sector of Russia. Recruitment is one of very critical and important decision taken by HR department and some recruitment problems are highly faced by HR department of public/semi Govt. sector but are not major problems for private sector. Moreover, some problems are majorly influence in private sector but are not major problems in public/semi-govt. sector of Russia in recruitment. It is also identified that some recruitment problems are majorly affect in recruitment in both sectors. This paper helps to understand the recruitment problems faced by HR department while recruiting the new employee in both sectors. This paper also identified that “environment” and “prejudice” in public sector have higher affect and considered as a major problems in employee recruitment and “reference”, “selection standards” are considered as a least affecting problems of recruitment in public sector. Further, in private sector, “prejudice” and “culture” are major issues and “selection standards” and “reference” is considered as least affecting recruitment problems in private sector of Russia. So, HR department will be able to hire right person on right time, and it is possible when different HR departments focus to overcome these recruitment problems more efficiently and effectively.

Keywords: Govt. /Semi-Govt. vs. private sector, HR department, recruitment problems, Russia

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Authors: Ahmad Afif, Teuku Yuri M. Zagloel

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Sustainable supply chain management is a new pattern that has emerged recently in industry and companies. The procurement process is one of the key factors for efficiency in supply chain management practices. Partnership is one of the procurement strategies for strategic items. The success factors of the partnership must be determined to avoid things that endanger the financial and operational status of the company. The current supplier partnership research focuses on the selection of general criteria and sustainable supplier selection. Currently, there is still limited research on the success factors of supplier partnerships that focus on strategic items in the coal mining industry. Meanwhile, the procurement of coal mining has its own characteristics, and there are regulations related to the procurement of goods. Therefore, this research was conducted to determine the categories of goods that are included in the strategic items and to design the success factors of supplier partnerships. The main factors studied are general, financial, production, reputation, synergies, and sustainable. The research was conducted using the Kraljic method to determine the categories of goods that are included in the strategic items. To design a supplier partnership success factor using the Hybrid Multi Criteria Decision Making method. Integrated Fuzzy AHP-Fuzzy TOPSIS is used to determine the weight of the success factors of supplier partnerships and to rank suppliers on the factors used.

Keywords: supplier, partnership, strategic item, success factors, and coal mining industry

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Authors: C. Brecher, M. Fey, F. Du Bois-Reymond, S. Neus

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Additive manufacturing has emerged into a fast-growing section within the manufacturing technologies. Established machine tool manufacturers, such as DMG MORI, recently presented machine tools combining milling and laser welding. By this, machine tools can realize a higher degree of flexibility and a shorter production time. Still there are challenges that have to be accounted for in terms of maintaining the necessary machining accuracy - especially due to thermal effects arising through the use of high power laser processing units. To study the thermal behavior of laser-integrated machine tools, it is essential to analyze and simulate the thermal behavior of machine components, individual and assembled. This information will help to design a geometrically stable machine tool under the influence of high power laser processes. This paper presents an approach to decrease the loss of machining precision due to thermal impacts. Real effects of laser machining processes are considered and thus enable an optimized design of the machine tool, respective its components, in the early design phase. Core element of this approach is a matched FEM model considering all relevant variables arising, e.g. laser power, angle of laser beam, reflective coefficients and heat transfer coefficient. Hence, a systematic approach to obtain this matched FEM model is essential. Indicating the thermal behavior of structural components as well as predicting the laser beam path, to determine the relevant beam intensity on the structural components, there are the two constituent aspects of the method. To match the model both aspects of the method have to be combined and verified empirically. In this context, an essential machine component of a five axis machine tool, the turn-swivel table, serves as the demonstration object for the verification process. Therefore, a turn-swivel table test bench as well as an experimental set-up to measure the beam propagation were developed and are described in the paper. In addition to the empirical investigation, a simulative approach of the described types of experimental examination is presented. Concluding, it is shown that the method and a good understanding of the two core aspects, the thermo-elastic machine behavior and the laser beam path, as well as their combination helps designers to minimize the loss of precision in the early stages of the design phase.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, laser beam machining, machine tool, thermal effects

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Authors: Rowland R. Ogunrinde, Yusmadi Y. Jusoh, Noraini Che Pa, Wan Nurhayati W. Rahman, Azizol B. Abdullah

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Enterprise Applications (EAs) aid the organizations achieve operational excellence and competitive advantage. Over time, most Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which are known to be the major drivers of most thriving global economies, use the costly on-premise versions of these applications thereby making business difficult to competitively thrive in the same market environment with their large enterprise counterparts. The advent of cloud computing presents the SMEs an affordable offer and great opportunities as such EAs can be cloud-hosted and rented on a pay-per-use basis which does not require huge initial capital. However, as there are numerous Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) offering EAs as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), there is a challenge of choosing a suitable provider with Quality of Service (QoS) that meet the organizations’ customized requirements. The proposed model takes care of that and goes a step further to select the most affordable among a selected few of the CSPs. In the earlier stage, before developing the instrument and conducting the pilot test, the researchers conducted a structured interview with three experts to validate the proposed model. In conclusion, the validity and reliability of the instrument were tested through experts, typical respondents, and analyzed with SPSS 22. Results confirmed the validity of the proposed model and the validity and reliability of the instrument.

Keywords: cloud service provider, enterprise application, quality of service, selection criteria, small and medium enterprise

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Authors: Heungwook Son, Sungjoo Lee

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Recently, due to intensifying competition in several industries, the importance of meeting customer requirements has increased. The role that service plays in satisfying customer‘s requirements is key area of focus. Thus, the concept of using product development-research in the service system has been actively practiced. As strategic decision making tool, various types of the technology roadmap were suggested in the product-service system (PSS). However, the technology roadmap was configured a top-down form around the technologies of the elements. The limitation is that it hard for it to indicate a variety of interrelations. In response, this paper suggests using the planning support tool of PSS for a DSM for the technology roadmap; it consists of the relationship of product-service-technology as a bottom-up form. Therefore, nine types of the technology roadmap of PSS exist. The first defines the relationship of product-service-technology. The second phase identifies output when of the technology roadmaps are adapted to the DSM process. Finally, the DSM-based forms of each type of technology roadmap are presented through case studies.

Keywords: DSM, technology roadmap, PSS, product-service system, bottom-up

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Authors: Monica Lia

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This paper has set the objective of researching how education is influenced by the information society. The first step was to define more precisely the information space. Second step was to identify how information space intersects the family space and institutional space educational levels represented by pre-school / school and pre-university (kindergarten, at elementary / middle school / high school). Interrelationship between the above-mentioned areas was another objective of the research. All these elements have been investigated through the original intention to identify how the information space can become an educational tool to support for the family space, education and institutional space. In addition, the aim of this research is to offer some solutions in this regard. Often the educational efforts appear to be blocked by the existence of this space. However, this paper demonstrates that Informational space can be an enemy of the educational system or be support systems if we know the internal structure and mechanisms. We can make the Informational Space to work for accomplish the educational objectives.

Keywords: informational space, education, educational tool, social diagram, information, information structure, lessons

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Authors: Urianni Merlin, Đeni Zuliani Blašković

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Inspired by the Reggio Pedagogy approach that explores light from physical, mathematical, artistic, and natural perspectives, emphasizes the value of visual tools in light exploring that opens up a wide area of experiential discovery and knowledge, especially if used in kindergartens with children. While there is some literature evidence of visual tool usage for light exploring in kindergartens in the Republic of Slovenia, in the Republic of Croatia there are few researches, and those published are focused at shadow exploring, exploring of physical characteristics and teatrical play of light and shadow. The objectives of this research are to assess how much visual tools are used for light exploring by preschool teachers from geographical Istria kindergartens as part of the activities offered to children and if the usage of the visual tool for light exploring it’s different regarding the work environment (Slovenian and Croatian Istria kindergartens; city vs. village kindergartens; preschool teachers age and length of service). One hundred one preschool teachers from Croatian Istria Region and 70 preschool teachers from Slovenian Istria Region responded to a self-made questionnaire regarding visual tool usage habits in their work. As predicted, results show significant differences in visual tool usage regarding preschool teachers' work environment, length of service, and age. Preschool teachers from Slovenian Istria that work in kindergartens located in the city that have from 15 to 19 years of service and are more than 30 years of age use significantly more visual tools for light exploring. The results highlight the differences in visual tools usage for light exploring in the small Istria peninsula that can be attributed to different University art curricula in Slovenia and Croatia or lifelong education offered in Slovenia that is more open to Italian reggio pedagogy influence and are further used by older preschool teachers with more service experience. Considering the small number of researches, this research significantly contributes to science and motivates preschool teachers and scientists to implement the use of light tools in the preschool and university curriculum, especially in Croatia.

Keywords: activities with light, light exploring, preschool children, visual tools

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Authors: Mansur Ahmed Kazaure

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The emergence of internet-based social media has made it possible for one person to communication with hundreds or even thousands of people about a company goods and services and the companies that provides them. Thus, the impact of customer-to-customer communications has been significantly magnified in the marketplace. Therefore, the essence of this paper is to critically evaluate the literature of social media and their implication for practice, but the author pay attention on twitter as a new marketing communication tools. The author found out that, despite the implication of using social media especially twitter by the companies as part of their marketing communication tool, but still it can enhance the opportunity for the companies to develop and maintain long-term customer relationship. The paper concludes that, using twitter as a marketing communication tool is a market trend and it is the best way for marketers to add value to their customer, however with the Twitter marketers can get a feedback about the performance of their product and its brand in the marketplace. The paper is purely a conceptual discourse based on secondary data.

Keywords: social media, marketing communication, marketing communication tools, Twitter, Facebook

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Authors: Panatda Intanin, Sangutid Thongsawad, Chirapha Tannanonta, Todsaporn Fuangrod

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Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a highly precision delivery technique that requires comprehensive quality assurance (QA) tests prior to treatment delivery. An isocenter of delivery beam plays a critical role that affect the treatment accuracy. The uncertainty of isocenter is traditionally accessed using circular cone equipment, Winston-Lutz (WL) phantom and film. This technique is considered time consuming and highly dependent on the observer. In this work, the development of multileaf collimator (MLC)-based isocenter verification tool using electronic portal imaging device (EPID) was proposed and evaluated. A mechanical isocenter alignment with ball bearing diameter 5 mm and circular cone diameter 10 mm fixed to gantry head defines the radiation field was set as the conventional WL test method. The conventional setup was to compare to the proposed setup; using MLC (10 x 10 mm) to define the radiation filed instead of cone. This represents more realistic delivery field than using circular cone equipment. The acquisition from electronic portal imaging device (EPID) and radiographic film were performed in both experiments. The gantry angles were set as following: 0°, 90°, 180° and 270°. A software tool was in-house developed using MATLAB/SIMULINK programming to determine the centroid of radiation field and shadow of WL phantom automatically. This presents higher accuracy than manual measurement. The deviation between centroid of both cone-based and MLC-based WL tests were quantified. To compare between film and EPID image, the deviation for all gantry angle was 0.26±0.19mm and 0.43±0.30 for cone-based and MLC-based WL tests. For the absolute deviation calculation on EPID images between cone and MLC-based WL test was 0.59±0.28 mm and the absolute deviation on film images was 0.14±0.13 mm. Therefore, the MLC-based isocenter verification using EPID present high sensitivity tool for SRS QA.

Keywords: isocenter verification, quality assurance, EPID, SRS

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Authors: Anca Maria Cimpean, Serban Comsa

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Chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) is a well vascularised in vivo experimental model used as a platform for testing the behavior of different implants inserted on it from tumor fragments to therapeutic agents or various biomaterials. Five types of collagen-based biomaterials with 2D and 3D structure (MotifMesh, Optimaix2D, Optimaix3D, Dual Layer Collagen and Xenoderm) were implanted on CAM and continuously evaluated by stereomicroscope for up to 5 days post-implant with an emphasis of their ability to requisite and develop new blood vessels (BVs) followed by microscopic analysis. MotifMEsh did not induce any angiogenic response lacking to be invaded by BVs from the CAM, but it induced intense inflammatory response necrosis and fibroblastic reaction around the implant. Optimaix2D has good adherence. CAM with minimal or no inflammatory reaction, a good integration of the CAM between the collagen mesh’s fibers, consistent adhesion of the cells to the collagen fibers,and a good ability to form pseudo-vascular channels filled with cells. Optimaix3D induced the highest angiogenic effects on CAM. The material shows good integration on CAM. The collagen fibers of the material show the ability to organize themselves into linear and tubular structures. It is possible to see blood elements, especially at the periphery of the implant. Dual-layer collagen behaves similar to Optimaix 3D, while Xenoderm induced a moderate angiogenic effect on CAM. Based on these data, we may conclude that collagen-based materials have variable ability to requisite and develop new blood vessels. A proper selection of collagen-based biomaterial scaffolds may crucially influence the acquisition and development of blood vessels during angiogenesis assays.

Keywords: chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane, collagen scaffolds, blood vessels, vascular microenvironment

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Authors: Saleh Alzahrani

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The studies in the field of International Comparative Education in the Arabic world and the middle east are scarcity. However, some International Comparative Education Researchers and post graduates face a challenge concerning of a selection of a distinguished study to improve their national education system. It requires a considerable effort. According to that, the matrix of scientific research in comparative and international education is designed to help specialists, researchers and graduate students in generating a variety of research ideas in a short time in this field. The matrix is built by using content analysis method of comparative education research published in the Arab journals from 1980 to 2017. Then, qualitative input with the in-depth focus analysis tool is utilized according to the root theory. The matrix consists of two axes; vertical (X) and horizontal (Y). The number of fields in the vertical axis are 6 domains, including 105 variables. The horizontal axis is two fields which are pre-university education that incorporate educational stages and contemporary formulations including (23) variables. The second field is the university education in its public universities and contemporary formulas including (15) variables. The researcher can access topics, ideas and research points through the matrix of scientific research in comparative and international education by selecting of any subject on the vertical axis (X) from (1) to (105) and selecting of any subject on the horizontal axis (Y) from (B) to (U). The cell where the axes intersect with the chosen fields can generate an idea or a research point conveniently and easily through the words that have been monitored by the user. These steps can be repeated to generate new ideas and research points. Many graduate researchers have been trained on using of this matrix which gave them more potential to generate an appropriate study serving the national education.

Keywords: content analysis method, comparative education, international education, matrix, root theory

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Deeman Yousif Mahmood, Mohammed Abdullah Hussein

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The goal of a network-based intrusion detection system is to classify activities of network traffics into two major categories: normal and attack (intrusive) activities. Nowadays, data mining and machine learning plays an important role in many sciences; including intrusion detection system (IDS) using both supervised and unsupervised techniques. However, one of the essential steps of data mining is feature selection that helps in improving the efficiency, performance and prediction rate of proposed approach. This paper applies unsupervised K-means clustering algorithm with information gain (IG) for feature selection and reduction to build a network intrusion detection system. For our experimental analysis, we have used the new NSL-KDD dataset, which is a modified dataset for KDDCup 1999 intrusion detection benchmark dataset. With a split of 60.0% for the training set and the remainder for the testing set, a 2 class classifications have been implemented (Normal, Attack). Weka framework which is a java based open source software consists of a collection of machine learning algorithms for data mining tasks has been used in the testing process. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is very accurate with low false positive rate and high true positive rate and it takes less learning time in comparison with using the full features of the dataset with the same algorithm.

Keywords: information gain (IG), intrusion detection system (IDS), k-means clustering, Weka

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Authors: Gulshan Kumar Jawa, Sandeep Mohan Ahuja

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With the increase in industrialization, the presence of heavy metals in wastewater streams has turned into a serious concern for the ecosystem. The metals diffuse through the food chains, causing various health hazards. Conventional methods used to remove these heavy metals from water have some limitations, such as cost, secondary pollution due to sludge formation, recovery of metal, economic viability at low metal concentrations, etc. Many of the biomaterials have been investigated by researchers for the adsorption of heavy metals from water solutions as an alternative technique for the last two decades and have found promising results. In this paper, the batch study on the use of pods of acacia karoo for the adsorption of Cd(II) and Pb(II) from aqueous solutions has been reported. The effect of various parameters on the removal of metal ions, such as pH, contact time, stirring speed, initial metal ion concentration, adsorbent dose, and temperature, have been established to find the optimum parameters through one parameter optimization. Further, kinetic, equilibrium, and thermodynamic studies have been conducted. The pods of acacia karoo have shown great potential for adsorption of Cd(II) and Pb(II) from aqueous solutions and have proven to be a better and more economical alternative for the purpose.

Keywords: adsorption, heavy metals, biomaterials, Cadmium(II), Lead(II), pods of acacia karoo

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Authors: Zeynep Ayfer Bozat

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As traditional innovation has already taken its place in managers’ to do lists; managers and companies have started to look for new ways to go beyond the traditional innovation. Because of its cost, traditional innovation became a burden for companies since they only use inner sources. Companies have intended to use outer innovation sources to decrease the innovation costs and Open Innovation has become a new solution for companies at this point. Crowdsourcing is a tool of Open Innovation and it consists of two words: Outsourcing and crowd. Crowdsourcing aims to benefit from the efforts and ideas of a virtual crowd via Internet technologies. In addition to that, crowdsourcing can help entrepreneurs to innovate and grow their businesses. They can crowd source anything they can use to grow their businesses: Ideas, investment, new business, new partners, new solutions, new policies, data, insight, marketing or talent. Therefore, the aim of the study is to be able to show some possible ways for entrepreneurs to benefit from crowdsourcing to expand or foster their businesses. In the study, the term crowdsourcing has been given in details and these possible ways have been searched and given.

Keywords: crowdsourcing, entrepreneurship, innovation, open innovation

Procedia PDF Downloads 289