Search results for: business process model and notation

Authors: Taha Anjamrooz, Sareh Rajabi, Salwa Bheiry

Abstract:

Selection between the available projects in bidding processes for the contractor is one of the essential areas to concentrate on. It is important for the contractor to choose the right projects within its portfolio during the tendering stage based on certain criteria. It should align the bidding process with its origination strategies and goals as a screening process to have the right portfolio pool to start with. Secondly, it should set the proper framework and use a suitable technique in order to optimize its selection process for concertation purpose and higher efforts during the tender stage with goals of success and winning. In this research paper, a two steps framework proposed to increase the efficiency of the contractor’s bidding process and the winning chance of getting the new projects awarded. In this framework, initially, all the projects pass through the first stage screening process, in which the portfolio basket will be evaluated and adjusted in accordance with the organization strategies to the reduced version of the portfolio pool, which is in line with organization activities. In the second stage, the contractor uses linear programming to optimize the portfolio pool based on available resources such as manpower, light equipment, heavy equipment, financial capability, return on investment, and success rate of winning the bid. Therefore, this optimization model will assist the contractor in utilizing its internal resource to its maximum and increase its winning chance for the new project considering past experience with clients, built-relation between two parties, and complexity in the exertion of the projects. The objective of this research will be to increase the contractor's winning chance in the bidding process based on the success rate and expected return on investment.

Keywords: bidding process, internal resources, optimization, contracting portfolio management

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Zoran Barac, Maja Martinovic

Abstract:

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are a special kind of organization, with its unique purpose and combination of actors. From the societal point of view, they are central institutions in the society that are involved in the activities of education, research, and innovation. At the same time, their societal function derives complex relationships between involved actors, ranging from students, faculty and administration, business community and corporate partners, government agencies, to the general public. HEIs are also particularly interesting as objects of governance research because of their unique public purpose and combination of stakeholders. Furthermore, they are the special type of institutions from an organizational viewpoint. HEIs are often described as “loosely coupled systems” or “organized anarchies“ that implies the challenging nature of their governance models. Governance models of HEIs describe roles, constellations, and modes of interaction of the involved actors in the process of strategic direction and holistic control of institutions, taking into account each particular context. Many governance models of the HEIs are primarily based on the balance of power among the involved actors. Besides the actors’ power and influence, leadership style and environmental contingency could impact the governance model of an HEI. Analyzing them through the frameworks of institutional and contingency theories, HEI governance models originate as outcomes of their institutional and contingency adaptation. HEIs tend to fit to institutional context comprised of formal and informal institutional rules. By fitting to institutional context, HEIs are converging to each other in terms of their structures, policies, and practices. On the other hand, contingency framework implies that there is no governance model that is suitable for all situations. Consequently, the contingency approach begins with identifying contingency variables that might impact a particular governance model. In order to be effective, the governance model should fit to contingency variables. While the institutional context creates converging forces on HEI governance actors and approaches, contingency variables are the causes of divergence of actors’ behavior and governance models. Finally, an HEI governance model is a balanced adaptation of the HEIs to the institutional context and contingency variables. It also encompasses roles, constellations, and modes of interaction of involved actors influenced by institutional and contingency pressures. Actors’ adaptation to the institutional context brings benefits of legitimacy and resources. On the other hand, the adaptation of the actors’ to the contingency variables brings high performance and effectiveness. HEI governance models outlined and analyzed in this paper are collegial, bureaucratic, entrepreneurial, network, professional, political, anarchical, cybernetic, trustee, stakeholder, and amalgam models.

Keywords: governance, governance models, higher education institutions, institutional context, situational context

Procedia PDF Downloads 332

Authors: Geuna Kim, Sanghyun Kim

Abstract:

This study investigates various factors that may influence the ISM process, including the organization’s internal needs and external pressure, and examines the role of regulatory pressure in ISM development and performance. The 105 sets of data collected in a survey were tested against the research model using SEM. The results indicate that NP and TP had positive effects on the ISM process, except for perceived benefits. Regulatory pressure had a positive effect on the relationship between ISM awareness and ISM development and performance.

Keywords: information security management, need pull, technology push, regulatory pressure

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Virgo Sulakatko

Abstract:

The reduction of energy consumption of the built environment has been one of the topics tackled by European Commission during the last decade. Increased energy efficiency requirements have increased the renovation rate of apartment buildings covered with External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS). Due to fast and optimized application process, a large extent of quality assurance is depending on the specific activities of artisans and are often not controlled. The on-site degradation factors (DF) have the technical influence to the façade and cause future costs to the owner. Besides the thermal conductivity, the building envelope needs to ensure the mechanical resistance and stability, fire-, noise-, corrosion and weather protection, and long-term durability. As the shortcomings of the construction phase become problematic after some years, the common value of the renovation is reduced. Previous work on the subject has identified and rated the relevance of DF to the technical requirements and developed a method to reveal the economic value of repair works. The future costs can be traded off to increased the quality assurance during the construction process. The proposed framework is describing the joint simulation of the technical importance and economic value of the on-site DFs of ETICS. The model is providing new knowledge to improve the resource allocation during the construction process by enabling to identify and diminish the most relevant degradation factors and increase economic value to the owner.

Keywords: ETICS, construction technology, construction management, life cycle costing

Procedia PDF Downloads 416

Authors: V. Nikkhah Rashidabad, M. Manteghian, M. Masoumi, S. Mousavian

Abstract:

In this research, the changes in bubbles diameter and number that may occur due to the change in heat flux of pure water during pool boiling process. For this purpose, test equipment was designed and developed to collect test data. The bubbles were graded using Caliper Screen software. To calculate the growth and nucleation rates of bubbles under different fluxes, population balance model was employed. The results show that the increase in heat flux from q=20 kw/m2 to q=102 kw/m2 raised the growth and nucleation rates of bubbles.

Keywords: heat flux, bubble growth, bubble nucleation, population balance model

Procedia PDF Downloads 472

Authors: S. Benkraouda, Z. Djelloul-Khedda, B. Yagoubi

Abstract:

we present a method for early detection of forest fires from a thermal infrared satellite image, using the image matrix of the probability of belonging. The principle of the method is to compare a theoretical mathematical model to an experimental model. We considered that each line of the image matrix, as an embodiment of a non-stationary random process. Since the distribution of pixels in the satellite image is statistically dependent, we divided these lines into small stationary and ergodic intervals to characterize the image by an adequate mathematical model. A standard deviation was chosen to generate random variables, so each interval behaves naturally like white Gaussian noise. The latter has been selected as the mathematical model that represents a set of very majority pixels, which we can be considered as the image background. Before modeling the image, we made a few pretreatments, then the parameters of the theoretical Gaussian model were extracted from the modeled image, these settings will be used to calculate the probability of each interval of the modeled image to belong to the theoretical Gaussian model. The high intensities pixels are regarded as foreign elements to it, so they will have a low probability, and the pixels that belong to the background image will have a high probability. Finally, we did present the reverse of the matrix of probabilities of these intervals for a better fire detection.

Keywords: forest fire, forest fire detection, satellite image, normal distribution, theoretical gaussian model, thermal infrared matrix image

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Isabel Medina, Mario Duran

Abstract:

Although Problem-based learning provides students with multiple opportunities for rigorous instructional experiences in which students are challenged to address problems in the community; there are still gaps in connecting community leaders to the PBL process. At a south Texas high school, community participation serves as an integral component of the PBL process. Problem-based learning (PBL) has recently gained momentum due to the increase in global communities that value collaboration and critical thinking. As an instructional approach, PBL engages high school students in meaningful learning experiences. Furthermore, PBL focuses on providing students with a connection to real-world situations that require effective peer collaboration. For PBL leaders, providing students with a meaningful process is as important as the final PBL outcome. To achieve this goal, STEM high school strategically created a space for community involvement to be woven within the PBL fabric. This study examines the impact community members had on PBL students attending a STEM high school in South Texas. At STEM High School, community members represent a support system that works through the PBL process to ensure students receive real-life mentoring from business and industry leaders situated in the community. A phenomenological study using a semi-structured approach was used to collect data about students’ perception of community involvement within the PBL process for one South Texas high school. In our proposed presentation, we will discuss how community involvement in the PBL process academically impacted the educational experience of high school students at STEM high school. We address the instructional concerns PBL critics have with the lack of direct instruction, by providing a representation of how STEM high school utilizes community members to assist in impacting the academic experience of students.

Keywords: phenomenological, STEM education, student engagement, community involvement

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: Tommi Mahlamaki, Mika Ojala

Abstract:

Digitalization is changing our lives in many ways. As consumers, we are accustomed using different online interactive sales systems. However, while many online selling sites offer systems that have evolved from simple selling functions, the change has not been as rapid in business-to-business (B2B) markets. This is because many B2B companies rely on personal sales and personal communication. The main objective of this research is to clarify perceptions towards digital interactive sales systems and, more specifically, sales configurators. It also aims to identify trends towards the use of sales configurators. To reach these objectives, an online questionnaire was created that targets Finnish B2B distributors who are, by definition, part of B2B markets. The questionnaire was sent to 340 distributors, and it was returned by 150 respondents. The results showed that 82% of respondents had heard about sales configurators, and 64% had used them. The results also showed that 48% of respondents felt that the use of sales configurators would increase in the future, while only 2% felt they would be used less. The future use of sales configurators was not seen as affecting the level of personal sales. In light of the results, we recommend that B2B companies create marketing strategies that integrate and complement traditional sales processes with digital interactive systems.

Keywords: digitalization, interactive systems, marketing, sales process

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: Laurie Prange-Martin, Romeo Turcan, Norman Fraser

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to identify the conditions required and describe the process of emergence for a new economic sector created from new or established businesses. A systematic literature review of English-language studies published from 1983 to 2016 was conducted using the following databases: ABI/INFORM Complete; Business Source Premiere; Google Scholar; Scopus; and Web of Science. The two main terms of business sector and emergence were used in the systematic literature search, along with another seventeen synonyms for each these main terms. From the search results, 65 publications met the requirements of an empirical study discussing and reporting the conditions of new sector emergence. A meta-analysis of the literature examined suggest that there are six favourable conditions and five key individuals or groups required for new sector emergence. In addition, the results from the meta-analysis showed that there are eighteen theories used in the literature to explain the phenomenon of new sector emergence, which can be grouped in three study disciplines. With such diversity in theoretical frameworks used in the 65 empirical studies, the authors of this paper propose the development of a new theory of sector emergence.

Keywords: economic geography, new sector emergence, economic diversification, regional economies

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: Rohit Agarwal, Mrityunjay K. Singh, Soma Ghosh, Ramesh Shankar, Biswajit Ghosh, Vinay V. Mahashabde

Abstract:

Thermo-mechanical treatment (TMT) of rebars is a critical process to impart sufficient strength and ductility to rebar. TMT rebars are produced by the Tempcore process, involves an 'in-line' heat treatment in which hot rolled bar (temperature is around 1080°C) is passed through water boxes where it is quenched under high pressure water jets (temperature is around 25°C). The quenching rate dictates composite structure consisting (four non-homogenously distributed phases of rebar microstructure) pearlite-ferrite, bainite, and tempered martensite (from core to rim). The ferrite and pearlite phases present at core induce ductility to rebar while martensitic rim induces appropriate strength. The TMT process is difficult to model as it brings multitude of complex physics such as heat transfer, highly turbulent fluid flow, multicomponent and multiphase flow present in the control volume. Additionally the presence of film boiling regime (above Leidenfrost point) due to steam formation adds complexity to domain. A coupled heat transfer and fluid flow model based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been developed at product technology division of Tata Steel, India which efficiently predicts temperature profile and percentage martensite rim thickness of rebar during quenching process. The model has been validated with 16 mm rolling of New Bar mill (NBM) plant of Tata Steel Limited, India. Furthermore, based on the scenario analyses, optimal configuration of nozzles was found which helped in subsequent increase in rolling speed.

Keywords: boiling, critical heat flux, nozzles, thermo-mechanical treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 211

Authors: Romeo Botes, Imelda Smit

Abstract:

In today’s modern age of technology vast amounts of data needs to be processed in real-time to keep users satisfied. This data comes from various sources and in many formats, including electronic and mobile devices such as GPRS modems and GPS devices. They make use of different protocols including TCP, UDP, and HTTP/s for data communication to web servers and eventually to users. The data obtained from these devices may provide valuable information to users, but are mostly in an unreadable format which needs to be processed to provide information and business intelligence. This data is not always current, it is mostly historical data. The data is not subject to implementation of consistency and redundancy measures as most other data usually is. Most important to the users is that the data are to be pre-processed in a readable format when it is entered into the database. To accomplish this, programmers build processing programs and scripts to decode and process the information stored in databases. Programmers make use of various techniques in such programs to accomplish this, but sometimes neglect the effect some of these techniques may have on database performance. One of the techniques generally used,is to pull data from the database server, process it and push it back to the database server in one single step. Since the processing of the data usually takes some time, it keeps the database busy and locked for the period of time that the processing takes place. Because of this, it decreases the overall performance of the database server and therefore the system’s performance. This paper follows on a paper discussing the performance increase that may be achieved by utilizing array lists along with a pull-process-push data processing technique split in three steps. The purpose of this paper is to expand the number of clients when comparing the two techniques to establish the impact it may have on performance of the CPU storage and processing time.

Keywords: performance measures, algorithm techniques, data processing, push data, process data, array list

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: Maria Jose Granero Paris, Ana Isabel Jimenez Zarco, Agustin Pablo Alvarez Herranz

Abstract:

In the industrial sector collaboration with suppliers is key to the development of innovations in the field of processes. Access to resources and expertise that are not available in the business, obtaining a cost advantage, or the reduction of the time needed to carry out innovation are some of the benefits associated with the process. However, the success of this collaborative process is compromised, when from the beginning not clearly rules have been established that govern the relationship. Abundant studies developed in the field of innovation emphasize the strategic importance of the concept of “Governance”. Despite this, there have been few papers that have analyzed how the governance process of the relationship must be designed and managed to ensure the success of the collaboration process. The lack of literature in this area responds to the wide diversity of contexts where collaborative processes to innovate take place. Thus, in sectors such as the car industry there is a strong collaborative tradition between manufacturers and suppliers being part of the value chain. In this case, it is common to establish mechanisms and procedures that fix formal and clear objectives to regulate the relationship, and establishes the rights and obligations of each of the parties involved. By contrast, in other sectors, collaborative relationships to innovate are not a common way of working, particularly when their aim is the development of process improvements. It is in this case, it is when the lack of mechanisms to establish and regulate the behavior of those involved, can give rise to conflicts, and the failure of the cooperative relationship. Because of this the present paper analyzes the similarities and differences in the processes of governance in collaboration with suppliers in the European aerospace industry With these ideas in mind, we present research is twofold: Understand the importance of governance as a key element of the success of the collaboration in the development of product and process innovations, Establish the mechanisms and procedures to ensure the proper management of the processes of collaboration. Following the methodology of the case study, we analyze the way in which manufacturers and suppliers cooperate in the development of new products and processes in two industries with different levels of technological intensity and collaborative tradition: the automotive and aerospace. The identification of those elements playing a key role to establish a successful governance and relationship management and the compression of the mechanisms of regulation and control in place at the automotive sector can be use to propose solutions to some of the conflicts that currently arise in aerospace industry. The paper concludes by analyzing the strategic implications for the aerospace industry entails the adoption of some of the practices traditionally used in other industrial sectors. Finally, it is important to highlight that in this paper are presented the first results of a research project currently in progress describing a model of governance that explains the way to manage outsourced services to suppliers in the European aerospace industry, through the analysis of companies in the sector located in Germany, France and Spain.

Keywords: supplier collaboration, supplier relationship governance, innovation management, product innovation, process innovation

Procedia PDF Downloads 449

Authors: Isaiah Oluranti Olurinola, Michael Kayode Bolarinwa, Ebenezer Bowale, Ifeoluwa Ogunrinola

Abstract:

Abstract - While much literature exists on microfinancing and its impact on the development of micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSME), yet little is known in respect of the impact of different types of education of owner-managers on the performances as well as innovative possibilities of such enterprises. This paper aims at contributing to the understanding of the impact of different types of education (academic, technical, apprenticeship, etc) that influence the performance of micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME). This study utilises a recent and larger data-set collected in six states and FCT Abuja, Nigeria in the year 2014. Furthermore, the study carries out a comparative analysis of business performance among the different geo-political zones in Nigeria, given the educational attainment of the owner-managers. The data set were enterprise-based and were collected by the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER) in the year 2014. Six hundred and eighty eight enterprises were covered in the survey. The method of data analysis for this study is the use of basic descriptive statistics in addition to the Logistic Regression model used in the prediction of the log of odds of business performance in relation to any of the identified educational attainment of the owner-managers in the sampled enterprises. An OLS econometric technique is also used to determine the effects of owner-managers' different educational types on the performance of the sampled MSME. Policy measures that will further enhance the contributions of education to MSME performance will be put forward.

Keywords: Business Performance, Education, Microfinancing, Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises

Procedia PDF Downloads 517

Authors: S. Bouharati, F. Allag, M. Belmahdi, M. Bounechada

Abstract:

In terms of ecology forecast effects of desertification, the purpose of this study is to develop a predictive model of growth and adaptation of species in arid environment and bioclimatic conditions. The impact of climate change and the desertification phenomena is the result of combined effects in magnitude and frequency of these phenomena. Like the data involved in the phytopathogenic process and bacteria growth in arid soil occur in an uncertain environment because of their complexity, it becomes necessary to have a suitable methodology for the analysis of these variables. The basic principles of fuzzy logic those are perfectly suited to this process. As input variables, we consider the physical parameters, soil type, bacteria nature, and plant species concerned. The result output variable is the adaptability of the species expressed by the growth rate or extinction. As a conclusion, we prevent the possible strategies for adaptation, with or without shifting areas of plantation and nature adequate vegetation.

Keywords: climate changes, dry soil, phytopathogenicity, predictive model, fuzzy logic

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: Ari Alamäki, Timo Kaski

Abstract:

The value of co-creation has gained much attention in sales research, but less is known about how salespeople and customers interact in the authentic business to business (B2B) sales meetings. The study presented in this paper empirically contributes to existing research by presenting authentic B2B sales meetings that were video recorded and analyzed using observation and qualitative content analysis methods. This paper aims to study key elements of successful sales interactions between salespeople and customers/buyers. This study points out that salespeople are selling value rather than the products or services themselves, which are only enablers in realizing business benefits. Therefore, our findings suggest that promoting and easing open discourse is an essential part of a successful sales encounter. A better understanding of how salespeople and customers successfully interact would help salespeople to develop their interpersonal sales skills.

Keywords: personal selling, relationship, sales management, value co-creation

Procedia PDF Downloads 392

Authors: Pichamon Chansuchai

Abstract:

The objective of this research were to investigate electronic payment system on the internet and offer the guidelines for proper internal control of the payment system based on international standard security control (ISO/IEC 17799:2005),in a case study of payment of the internet, Thailand. The guidelines covered five important areas: (1) business requirement for access control, (2) information systems acquisition, development and maintenance, (3) information security incident management, (4) business continuity management, and (5) compliance with legal requirement. The findings from this qualitative study revealed the guidelines for proper internet control that were more reliable and allow the same line of business to implement the same system of control.

Keywords: audit, best practice, internet, payment

Procedia PDF Downloads 493

Authors: Pac Ordu

Abstract:

The paper was conceived on the premise that employment of tertiary education graduates has become an endemic problem in Nigeria. Recognizing the objective of current education as schooling for paid employment, the paper identified that the basic objective of present-day education should be schooling to become self-employed. While schooling to become a successful employee was identified as the focus for the older generation, schooling to become self-employed was defined as the focus for 21st-century teaching and learning. Hence, the paper condemned the inability of curriculum implementers to teach creative trends to enable students to acquire practical skills and small business operation-oriented competencies. A review of some disciplines was made to show the new trend of education that would empower Nigerian students with small business enterprise operation skills for self-employment on graduation. This was further made to draw the attention of institutions and curriculum designers to the need for our curriculum to be functional in line with demands of the innovative economic environment. The paper also noted that at periods of recession with its attendant effects, was the best period for students of entrepreneurship to dream and create their small business enterprises. It highlighted the role of Federal College of Education (Technical) Omoku, Rivers State, Nigeria and the national recognition it has received for developing an innovative, practical model of teaching entrepreneurship education in Nigeria Colleges of Education system. In order to equip students for economic survival on graduation, the introduction of innovative teaching can only be successful if lecturers shift their focus away from the conventional emphasis on theory to students’ energy quotients. While the paper obviously recommended that lecturers should be creative and teach outside the curriculum box, it further recommended that students should use this period of their studentship to dream, create and operate their own small business enterprises.

Keywords: 21st century students, curriculum, entrepreneurship, hands-on-training, innovative

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Shoumodip Roy, Ankit Singhania, K. R. K. Rao, Ravi Shankar, M. K. Agarwal, R. V. Ramna, Uttam Singh

Abstract:

The productivity of a blast furnace and the quality of the hot metal produced are significantly dependent on the smoothness and stability of furnace operation. The permeability of the furnace bed, as well as the gas flow pattern, influences the steady control of process parameters. The softening – melting zone that is formed inside the furnace contributes largely in distribution of the gas flow and the bed permeability. A better shape of softening-melting zone enhances the performance of blast furnace, thereby reducing the fuel rates and improving furnace life. Therefore, predictive model of the softening- melting zone profile can be utilized to control and improve the furnace operation. The shape of softening-melting zone depends upon the physical and chemical properties of the agglomerates and iron ore charged in the furnace. The variations in the agglomerate proportion in the burden at G Blast furnace disturbed the furnace stability. During such circumstances, it was analyzed that a w-shape softening-melting zone profile was formed inside the furnace. The formation of w-shape zone resulted in poor bed permeability and non-uniform gas flow. There was a significant increase in the heat loss at the lower zone of the furnace. The fuel demand increased, and the huge production loss was incurred. Therefore, visibility of softening-melting zone profile was necessary in order to pro-actively optimize the process parameters and thereby to operate the furnace smoothly. Using stave temperatures, a model was developed that predicted the shape of the softening-melting zone inside the furnace. It was observed that furnace operated smoothly during inverse V-shape of the zone and vice-versa during w-shape. This model helped to control the heat loss, optimize the burden distribution and lower the fuel rate at G Blast Furnace, TSL Jamshedpur. As a result of furnace stabilization productivity increased by 10% and fuel rate reduced by 80 kg/thm. Details of the process have been discussed in this paper.

Keywords: agglomerate, blast furnace, permeability, softening-melting

Procedia PDF Downloads 247

Authors: Frederic Schenker, Jonathan J. Hendriks, Gianluca Nicchiotti

Abstract:

In a product industrialization perspective, the end-product shall always be at the peak of technological advancement and developed in the shortest time possible. Thus, the constant growth of complexity and a shorter time-to-market calls for important changes on both the technical and business level. Undeniably, the common understanding of the system is beclouded by its complexity which leads to the communication gap between the engineers and the sale department. This communication link is therefore important to maintain and increase the information exchange between departments to ensure a punctual and flawless delivery to the end customer. This evolution brings engineers to reason with more hindsight and plan ahead. In this sense, they use new viewpoints to represent the data and to express the model deliverables in an understandable way that the different stakeholder may identify their needs and ideas. This article focuses on the usage of Model-Based System Engineering (MBSE) in a perspective of system industrialization and reconnect the engineering with the sales team. The modeling method used and presented in this paper concentrates on displaying as closely as possible the needs of the customer. Firstly, by providing a technical solution to the sales team to help them elaborate commercial offers without omitting technicalities. Secondly, the model simulates between a vast number of possibilities across a wide range of components. It becomes a dynamic tool for powerful analysis and optimizations. Thus, the model is no longer a technical tool for the engineers, but a way to maintain and solidify the communication between departments using different views of the model. The MBSE contribution to cost optimization during New Product Introduction (NPI) activities is made explicit through the illustration of a case study describing the support provided by system models to architectural choices during the industrialization of a novel optical sensor.

Keywords: analytical model, architecture comparison, MBSE, product industrialization, SysML, system thinking

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: Cristian Păuna

Abstract:

After the widespread release of electronic trading, automated trading systems have become a significant part of the business intelligence system of any modern financial investment company. An important part of the trades is made completely automatically today by computers using mathematical algorithms. The trading decisions are taken almost instantly by logical models and the orders are sent by low-latency automatic systems. This paper will present a real-time price prediction methodology designed especially for algorithmic trading. Based on the price cyclicality function, the methodology revealed will generate price cyclicality bands to predict the optimal levels for the entries and exits. In order to automate the trading decisions, the cyclicality bands will generate automated trading signals. We have found that the model can be used with good results to predict the changes in market behavior. Using these predictions, the model can automatically adapt the trading signals in real-time to maximize the trading results. The paper will reveal the methodology to optimize and implement this model in automated trading systems. After tests, it is proved that this methodology can be applied with good efficiency in different timeframes. Real trading results will be also displayed and analyzed in order to qualify the methodology and to compare it with other models. As a conclusion, it was found that the price prediction model using the price cyclicality function is a reliable trading methodology for algorithmic trading in the financial market.

Keywords: algorithmic trading, automated trading systems, financial markets, high-frequency trading, price prediction

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: S. Ilahi, M. Baira, F. Saidi, N. Yacoubi, L. Auvray, H. Maaref

Abstract:

Photo-thermal deflection technique (PTD) is used to study the nonradiative recombination process in BGaAs/GaAs alloy with boron composition of 3% and 8% grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). A two layer theoretical model has been developed taking into account both thermal and electronic contribution in the photothermal signal allowing to extract the electronic parameters namely electronic diffusivity, surface and interface recombination. It is found that the increase of boron composition alters the BGaAs epilayers transport properties.

Keywords: photothermal defelction technique, two layer model, BGaAs/GaAs alloys, boron composition

Procedia PDF Downloads 298

Authors: Prasanjit Das, M. M. K. Khan, M. G. Rasul, Jie Wu, I. Youn

Abstract:

Mineral scale formation is undoubtedly a more serious problem in the mineral industry than other process industries. To better understand scale growth and suppression, an experimental model is proposed in this study for supersaturated crystallised solutions commonly found in mineral process plants. In this experiment, surface crystallisation of potassium nitrate (KNO3) on the wall of the agitation tank and agitation effects on the scale growth and suppression are studied. The new quantitative scale suppression model predicts that at lower agitation speed, the scale growth rate is enhanced and at higher agitation speed, the scale suppression rate increases due to the increased flow erosion effect. A lab-scale agitation tank with and without baffles were used as a benchmark in this study. The fluid dynamic effects on scale growth and suppression in the agitation tank with three different size impellers (diameter 86, 114, 160 mm and model A310 with flow number 0.56) at various ranges of rotational speed (up to 700 rpm) and solution with different concentration (4.5, 4.75 and 5.25 mol/dm3) were investigated. For more elucidation, the effects of the different size of the impeller on wall surface scale growth and suppression rate as well as bottom settled scale accumulation rate are also discussed. Emphasis was placed on applications in the mineral industry, although results are also relevant to other industrial applications.

Keywords: agitation tank, crystallisation, impeller speed, scale

Procedia PDF Downloads 213

Authors: Anny Zambrano, German Gonzalez, Yair Quintero

Abstract:

The continuum damage concept is used to study the interaction between hydraulic fractures and natural fractures, the objective is representing the path and relation among this two fractures types and predict its complex behavior without the need to pre-define their direction as occurs in other finite element applications, providing results more consistent with the physical behavior of the phenomenon. The approach uses finite element simulations through Abaqus software to model damage fracturing, the fracturing process by damage propagation in a rock. The modeling the phenomenon develops in two dimensional (2D) so that the fracture will be represented by a line and the crack front by a point. It considers nonlinear constitutive behavior, finite strain, time-dependent deformation, complex boundary conditions, strain hardening and softening, and strain based damage evolution in compression and tension. The complete governing equations are provided and the method is described in detail to permit readers to replicate all results. The model is compared to models that are published and available. Comparisons are focused in five interactions between natural fractures (NF) and hydraulic fractures: Fractured arrested at NF, crossing NF with or without offset, branching at intersecting NFs, branching at end of NF and NF dilation due to shear slippage. The most significant new finding is, that is not necessary to use pre-defined addresses propagation and stress condition can be evaluated as a dominant factor in the process. This is important because it can model in a more real way the generated complex hydraulic fractures, and be a valuable tool to predict potential problems and different geometries of the fracture network in the process of fracturing due to fluid injection.

Keywords: continuum damage, hydraulic fractures, natural fractures, complex fracture network, stiffness

Procedia PDF Downloads 333

Authors: Guilherme Gorgulho, Carlos Roberto Camello Lima

Abstract:

Due to the competitive market in which companies are currently engaged, the constant changes require companies to react quickly regarding the variability of demand and process. The changes are caused by customers, or by demand fluctuations or variations of products, or the need to serve customers within agreed delivery taking into account the continuous search for quality and competitive prices in products. These changes end up influencing directly or indirectly the activities of the Planning and Production Control (PPC), which does business in strategic, tactical and operational levels of production systems. One area of concern for organizations is in the short term (operational level), because this planning stage any error or divergence will cause waste and impact on the delivery of products on time to customers. Thus, this study aims to optimize the efficiency of production scheduling, using different sequencing strategies in an automotive company. Seeking to aim the proposed objective, we used the computer simulation in conjunction with lean manufacturing to build and validate the current model, and subsequently the creation of future scenarios.

Keywords: computational simulation, lean manufacturing, production scheduling, sequencing strategies

Procedia PDF Downloads 267

Authors: Ririh Rahma Ratinghayu, Jayu Pramudya, Nur Aini Masruroh, Shi-Woei Lin

Abstract:

This research studies pricing strategy in cooperative setting of hotel duopoly selling perishable product under fixed capacity constraint by using the perspective of managers. In hotel revenue management, competitor’s average room rate and occupancy rate should be taken into manager’s consideration in determining pricing strategy to generate optimum revenue. This information is not provided by business intelligence or available in competitor’s website. Thus, Information Sharing (IS) among players might result in improved performance of pricing strategy. IS is widely adopted in the logistics industry, but IS within hospitality industry has not been well-studied. This research put IS as one of cooperative game schemes, besides Mutual Price Setting (MPS) scheme. In off-peak season, hotel manager arranges pricing strategy to offer promotion package and various kinds of discounts up to 60% of full-price to attract customers. Competitor selling homogenous product will react the same, then triggers a price war. Price war which generates lower revenue may be avoided by creating collaboration in pricing strategy to optimize payoff for both players. In MPS cooperative game, players collaborate to set a room rate applied for both players. Cooperative game may avoid unfavorable players’ payoff caused by price war. Researches on horizontal cooperative game in logistics show better performance and payoff for the players, however, horizontal cooperative game in hotel revenue management has not been demonstrated. This paper aims to develop hotel revenue management models under duopoly cooperative schemes (IS & MPS), which are compared to models under non-cooperative scheme too. Each scheme has five models, Capacity Allocation Model; Demand Model; Revenue Model; Optimal Price Model; and Equilibrium Price Model. Capacity Allocation Model and Demand Model employs self-hotel and competitor’s full and discount price as predictors under non-linear relation. Optimal price is obtained by assuming revenue maximization motive. Equilibrium price is observed by interacting self-hotel’s and competitor’s optimal price under reaction equation. Equilibrium is analyzed using game theory approach. The sequence applies for three schemes. MPS Scheme differently aims to optimize total players’ payoff. The case study in which theoretical models are applied observes two hotels offering homogenous product in Indonesia during a year. The Capacity Allocation, Demand, and Revenue Models are built using multiple regression and statistically tested for validation. Case study data confirms that price behaves within demand model in a non-linear manner. IS Models can represent the actual demand and revenue data better than Non-IS Models. Furthermore, IS enables hotels to earn significantly higher revenue. Thus, duopoly hotel players in general, might have reasonable incentives to share information horizontally. During off-peak season, MPS Models are able to predict the optimal equal price for both hotels. However, Nash equilibrium may not always exist depending on actual payoff of adhering or betraying mutual agreement. To optimize performance, horizontal cooperative game may be chosen over non-cooperative game. Mathematical models can be used to detect collusion among business players. Empirical testing can be used as policy input for market regulator in preventing unethical business practices potentially harming society welfare.

Keywords: horizontal cooperative game theory, hotel revenue management, information sharing, mutual price setting

Procedia PDF Downloads 286

Authors: Óscar Muñoz Garrigós, José Manuel Bernabeu Aubán

Abstract:

Time-sensitive services are the base of the cloud services industry. Keeping low service saturation is essential for controlling response time. All auto-scalable services make use of reactive auto-scaling. However, reactive auto-scaling has few in-depth studies. This presentation shows a model for reactive auto-scaling methodologies with a MAPE-k architecture. Queuing theory can compute different properties of static services but lacks some parameters related to the transition between models. Our model uses queuing theory parameters to relate the transition between models. It associates MAPE-k related times, the sampling frequency, the cooldown period, the number of requests that an instance can handle per unit of time, the number of incoming requests at a time instant, and a function that describes the acceleration in the service's ability to handle more requests. This model is later used as a solution to horizontally auto-scale time-sensitive services composed of microservices, reevaluating the model’s parameters periodically to allocate resources. The solution requires limiting the acceleration of the growth in the number of incoming requests to keep a constrained response time. Business benefits determine such limits. The solution can add a dynamic number of instances and remains valid under different system sizes. The study includes performance recommendations to improve results according to the incoming load shape and business benefits. The exposed methodology is tested in a simulation. The simulator contains a load generator and a service composed of two microservices, where the frontend microservice depends on a backend microservice with a 1:1 request relation ratio. A common request takes 2.3 seconds to be computed by the service and is discarded if it takes more than 7 seconds. Both microservices contain a load balancer that assigns requests to the less loaded instance and preemptively discards requests if they are not finished in time to prevent resource saturation. When load decreases, instances with lower load are kept in the backlog where no more requests are assigned. If the load grows and an instance in the backlog is required, it returns to the running state, but if it finishes the computation of all requests and is no longer required, it is permanently deallocated. A few load patterns are required to represent the worst-case scenario for reactive systems: the following scenarios test response times, resource consumption and business costs. The first scenario is a burst-load scenario. All methodologies will discard requests if the rapidness of the burst is high enough. This scenario focuses on the number of discarded requests and the variance of the response time. The second scenario contains sudden load drops followed by bursts to observe how the methodology behaves when releasing resources that are lately required. The third scenario contains diverse growth accelerations in the number of incoming requests to observe how approaches that add a different number of instances can handle the load with less business cost. The exposed methodology is compared against a multiple threshold CPU methodology allocating/deallocating 10 or 20 instances, outperforming the competitor in all studied metrics.

Keywords: reactive auto-scaling, auto-scaling, microservices, cloud computing

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Wen Luo, Phil J. Vardon, Anne-Catherine Dieudonne

Abstract:

One key process that partly controls the success of geothermal projects is fluid reinjection, which benefits in dealing with waste water, maintaining reservoir pressure, and supplying heat-exchange media, etc. Thus, sustaining the injectivity is of great importance for the efficiency and sustainability of geothermal production. However, the injectivity is sensitive to the reinjection process. Field experiences have illustrated that the injectivity can be damaged or improved. In this paper, the focus is on how the injectivity is improved. Since the injection pressure is far below the formation fracture pressure, hydraulic fracturing cannot be the mechanism contributing to the increase in injectivity. Instead, thermal stimulation has been identified as the main contributor to improving the injectivity. For low-enthalpy geothermal reservoirs, which are not fracture-controlled, thermal fracturing, instead of thermal shearing, is expected to be the mechanism for increasing injectivity. In this paper, field data from the sedimentary low-enthalpy geothermal reservoirs in the Netherlands were analysed to show the occurrence of thermal fracturing due to the cooling shock during reinjection. Injection data were collected and compared to show the effects of the thermal fractures on injectivity. Then, a thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) model for the near field formation was developed and solved by finite element method to simulate the observed thermal fractures. It was then compared with the HM model, decomposed from the THM model, to illustrate the thermal effects on thermal fracturing. Finally, the effects of operational parameters, i.e. injection temperature and pressure, on the changes in injectivity were studied on the basis of the THM model. The field data analysis and simulation results illustrate that the thermal fracturing occurred during reinjection and contributed to the increase in injectivity. The injection temperature was identified as a key parameter that contributes to thermal fracturing.

Keywords: injectivity, reinjection, thermal fracturing, thermo-hydro-mechanical model

Procedia PDF Downloads 212

Authors: Fatih Suleyman Taskincan, Ahmet Karaarslan

Abstract:

In this article, the study and analysis of Single Ended Primary Inductance Converter (SEPIC) are presented for battery charging applications that will be used in military applications. The usage of this kind of converters come from its advantage of non-reverse polarity at outputs. As capacitors charge and discharge through inductance, peak current does not occur on capacitors. Therefore, the efficiency will be high compared to buck-boost converters. In this study, the converter (SEPIC) is designed to be operated with Internal Model Controller (IMC). The traditional controllers like Proportional Integral Controller are not preferred as its linearity behavior. Hence IMC is designed for this converter. This controller is a model-based control and provides more robustness and better set point monitoring. Moreover, it can be used for an unstable process where the conventional controller cannot handle the dynamic operation. Matlab/Simulink environment is used to simulate the converter and its controller, then, the results are shown and discussed.

Keywords: DC/DC converter, single ended primary inductance converter, SEPIC, internal model controller, IMC, switched mode power supply

Procedia PDF Downloads 624

Authors: Ewa M. Laskowska, Jorn Vatn

Abstract:

Industry 4.0 focuses on digital optimization of industrial processes. The idea is to use extracted data in order to build a decision support model enabling use of those data for real time decision making. In terms of predictive maintenance, the desired decision support tool would be a model enabling prognostics of system's health based on the current condition of considered equipment. Within area of system prognostics and health management, a commonly used health indicator is Remaining Useful Lifetime (RUL) of a system. Because the RUL is a random variable, it has to be estimated based on available health indicators. Health indicators can be of different types and come from different sources. They can be process variables, equipment performance variables, data related to number of experienced failures, etc. The aim of this study is the analysis of performance variables of emergency shutdown valves (ESV) used in oil and gas industry. ESV is inspected periodically, and at each inspection torque and time of valve operation are registered. The data will be analyzed by means of machine learning or statistical analysis. The purpose is to investigate whether the available data could be used as a health indicator for a prognostic purpose. The second objective is to examine what is the most efficient way to incorporate the data into predictive model. The idea is to check whether the data can be applied in form of explanatory variables in Markov process or whether other stochastic processes would be a more convenient to build an RUL model based on the information coming from registered data.

Keywords: emergency shutdown valves, health indicator, prognostics, remaining useful lifetime, RUL

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Victoriano Valencia García, Luis Usero Aragonés, Eugenio J. Fernández Vicente

Abstract:

Nowadays, the successful implementation of ICTs is vital for almost any kind of organization. Good governance and ICT management are essential for delivering value, managing technological risks, managing resources and performance measurement. In addition, outsourcing is a strategic IT service solution which complements IT services provided internally in organizations. This paper proposes the measurement tools of a new holistic maturity model based on standards ISO/IEC 20000 and ISO/IEC 38500, and the frameworks and best practices of ITIL and COBIT, with a specific focus on IT outsourcing. These measurement tools allow independent validation and practical application in the field of higher education, using a questionnaire, metrics tables, and continuous improvement plan tables as part of the measurement process. Guidelines and standards are proposed in the model for facilitating adaptation to universities and achieving excellence in the outsourcing of IT services.

Keywords: IT governance, IT management, IT services, outsourcing, maturity model, measurement tools

Procedia PDF Downloads 587