Search results for: restructuring building information modeling

Authors: Mohamed Abolgasem Arteimi, Ahlam Al-Tajori

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This paper describes an ongoing project at the Libyan Academy. The project aims to build digital library for thesis and dissertations (ETD). The researchers developed a system based on Greenstone open source systems for building ETD digital library. A metadata for theses and dissertations was developed. The paper addresses issues related to project design, development and user satisfaction. Conclusions highlighted some important lessons learned to date.

Keywords: digital library, electronic theses and dissertations, open access, ETD, metadata

Procedia PDF Downloads 316

Authors: Sarra Zaied, Arthur Bonpain, Pierre Yves Fravallo

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The permanent supply of marine litter implies their accumulation in the oceans, which causes the presence of more compact wastes layers. Their Spatio-temporal distribution is never homogeneous and depends mainly on the hydrodynamic characteristics of the environment and the size and location of the wastes. As part of optimizing collect of marine plastic wastes, it is important to measure and monitor their evolution over time. For this, many research studies have been dedicated to describing the wastes behavior in order to identify their accumulation in oceans areas. Several models are therefore developed to understand the mechanisms that allow the accumulation and the displacements of marine litter. These models are able to accurately simulate the drift of wastes to study their behavior and stranding. However, these works aim to study the wastes behavior over a long period of time and not at the time of waste collection. This work investigates the transport of floating marine litter (FML) to provide basic information that can help in optimizing wastes collection by proposing a model for predicting their behavior during collection. The proposed study is based on a Lagrangian modeling approach that uses the main factors influencing the dynamics of the waste. The performance of the proposed method was assessed on real data collected from the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS). Evaluation results in the Java Sea (Indonesia) prove that the proposed model can effectively predict the position and the velocity of marine wastes during collection.

Keywords: floating marine litter, lagrangian transport, particle-tracking model, wastes drift

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Authors: Serikma Mourad, Mezidi Amar

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The conception (design) of an earthquake-resistant structure is a complex problem seen the necessity of meeting the requirements of security been imperative by the regulations, and of economy been imperative by the increasing costs of the structures. The resistance of a building in the horizontal actions (shares) is mainly ensured by a mixed brace system; for a concrete building, this system is constituted by frame or shells; or both at the same time. After the earthquake of Boumerdes (May 23; 2003) in Algeria, the studies made by experts, ended in modifications of the Algerian Earthquake-resistant Regulation (AER 99). One of these modifications was to widen the use of shells for the brace system. This modification has create a conflict on the quantities, the positions and the type of the shells at adopt. In the present project, we suggest seeing the effect of the variation of the dimensions, the localization and the conditions of rigidity in extremities of shells. The study will be led on a building (F+5) implanted in zone of seismicity average. To do it, we shall proceed to a classic dynamic study of a structure by using 4 alternatives for shells by varying the lengths and number in order to compare the cost of the structure for 4 dispositions of the shells with a technical-economic study of the brace system by the use of different dispositions of shells and to estimate the quantities of necessary materials (concrete and steel).

Keywords: reinforced concrete, mixed brace system, dynamic analysis, beams, shells

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Authors: Selin Guney, Andres Riquelme

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Among the main purposes of optimal and efficient forecasts of agricultural commodity prices is to guide the firms to advance the economic decision making process such as planning business operations and marketing decisions. Governments are also the beneficiaries and suppliers of agricultural price forecasts. They use this information to establish a proper agricultural policy, and hence, the forecasts affect social welfare and systematic errors in forecasts could lead to a misallocation of scarce resources. Various empirical approaches have been applied to forecast commodity prices that have used different methodologies. Most commonly-used approaches to forecast commodity sectors depend on classical time series models that assume values of the response variables are precise which is quite often not true in reality. Recently, this literature has mostly evolved to a consideration of fuzzy time series models that provide more flexibility in terms of the classical time series models assumptions such as stationarity, and large sample size requirement. Besides, fuzzy modeling approach allows decision making with estimated values under incomplete information or uncertainty. A number of fuzzy time series models have been developed and implemented over the last decades; however, most of them are not appropriate for forecasting repeated and nonconsecutive transitions in the data. The modeling scheme used in this paper eliminates this problem by introducing Markov modeling approach that takes into account both the repeated and nonconsecutive transitions. Also, the determination of length of interval is crucial in terms of the accuracy of forecasts. The problem of determining the length of interval arbitrarily is overcome and a methodology to determine the proper length of interval based on the distribution or mean of the first differences of series to improve forecast accuracy is proposed. The specific purpose of this paper is to propose and investigate the potential of a new forecasting model that integrates methodologies for determining the proper length of interval based on the distribution or mean of the first differences of series and Fuzzy Time Series- Markov Chain model. Moreover, the accuracy of the forecasting performance of proposed integrated model is compared to different univariate time series models and the superiority of proposed method over competing methods in respect of modelling and forecasting on the basis of forecast evaluation criteria is demonstrated. The application is to daily corn and soybean prices observed at three commercially important North Carolina markets; Candor, Cofield and Roaring River for corn and Fayetteville, Cofield and Greenville City for soybeans respectively. One main conclusion from this paper is that using fuzzy logic improves the forecast performance and accuracy; the effectiveness and potential benefits of the proposed model is confirmed with small selection criteria value such MAPE. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of integrating fuzzy logic and nonarbitrary determination of length of interval for the reliability and accuracy of price forecasts. The empirical results represent a significant contribution to our understanding of the applicability of fuzzy modeling in commodity price forecasts.

Keywords: commodity, forecast, fuzzy, Markov

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Authors: Meriem Bahij, Ahmed Nafidi, Boujemâa Achchab, Sílvio M. A. Gama, José A. O. Matos

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Stochastic modeling concerns the use of probability to model real-world situations in which uncertainty is present. Therefore, the purpose of stochastic modeling is to estimate the probability of outcomes within a forecast, i.e. to be able to predict what conditions or decisions might happen under different situations. In the present study, we present a model of a stochastic diffusion process based on the bi-Weibull distribution function (its trend is proportional to the bi-Weibull probability density function). In general, the Weibull distribution has the ability to assume the characteristics of many different types of distributions. This has made it very popular among engineers and quality practitioners, who have considered it the most commonly used distribution for studying problems such as modeling reliability data, accelerated life testing, and maintainability modeling and analysis. In this work, we start by obtaining the probabilistic characteristics of this model, as the explicit expression of the process, its trends, and its distribution by transforming the diffusion process in a Wiener process as shown in the Ricciaardi theorem. Then, we develop the statistical inference of this model using the maximum likelihood methodology. Finally, we analyse with simulated data the computational problems associated with the parameters, an issue of great importance in its application to real data with the use of the convergence analysis methods. Overall, the use of a stochastic model reflects only a pragmatic decision on the part of the modeler. According to the data that is available and the universe of models known to the modeler, this model represents the best currently available description of the phenomenon under consideration.

Keywords: diffusion process, discrete sampling, likelihood estimation method, simulation, stochastic diffusion process, trends functions, bi-parameters weibull density function

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Authors: Chih-Hsiang Chang, Pei-Shan Kao

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This paper discusses the reaction of investors in the Taiwan stock market to the most probable unknown earnings-related information and the most probable known earnings-related information. As compared with the previous literature regarding the effect of an official announcement of earnings forecast revision, this paper further analyzes investors’ cognitive bias toward the unknown and known earnings-related information, and the role of media during the investors' reactions to the foresaid information shocks. The empirical results show that both the unknown and known earnings-related information provides useful information content for a stock market. In addition, cognitive bias and disposition effect are the behavioral pitfalls that commonly occur in the process of the investors' reactions to the earnings-related information. Finally, media coverage has a remarkable influence upon the investors' trading decisions.

Keywords: cognitive bias, role of media, disposition effect, earnings-related information, behavioral pitfall

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Authors: Jerry Szatko, Edan L. Jorgensen, Stacia Jorgensen

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A crucial component to the success of any financial advising relationship is for the financial professional to understand the perceptions, preferences and thought-processes carried by the financial clients they serve. Armed with this information, financial professionals are more quickly able to understand how they can tailor their approach to best match the individual preferences and needs of each personal investor. Our research explores the use of a quantitative assessment tool in the financial services industry to assist in the identification of the personal investor’s consumer behaviors, especially in terms of financial risk tolerance, as it relates to their financial decision making. Through this process, the Unitifi Consumer Insight Tool (UCIT) was created and refined to capture and categorize personal investor financial behavioral categories and the financial personality tendencies of individuals prior to the initiation of a financial advisement relationship. This paper discusses the use of this tool to place individuals in one of four behavior-based financial risk tolerance categories. Our discoveries and research were aided through administration of a web-based survey to a group of over 1,000 individuals. Our findings indicate that it is possible to use a quantitative assessment tool to assist in predicting the behavioral tendencies of personal consumers when faced with consumer financial risk and decisions.

Keywords: behavior-based advising, financial relationship building, risk capacity based on behavior, risk tolerance, systematic way to assist in financial relationship building

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Authors: Heejung Lee

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In a highly competitive environment, it becomes more important to shorten the whole business process while delivering or even enhancing the business value to the customers and suppliers. Although the workflow management systems receive much attention for its capacity to practically support the business process enactment, the effective workflow modeling method remain still challenging and the high degree of process complexity makes it more difficult to gain the short lead time. This paper presents a workflow structuring method in a holistic way that can reduce the process complexity using activity-needs and formal concept analysis, which eventually enhances the key performance such as quality, delivery, and cost in business process.

Keywords: workflow management, re-engineering, formal concept analysis, business process

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Authors: Temidayo. O. Osunsanmi, Clinton Aigbavboa, Ayodeji Oke

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The construction industry is a renowned latecomer to the efficiency offered by the adoption of information technology. Whereas, the banking, manufacturing, retailing industries have keyed into the future by using digitization and information technology as a new approach for ensuring competitive gain and efficiency. The construction industry has yet to fully realize similar benefits because the adoption of ICT is still at the infancy stage with a major concentration on the use of software. Thus, this study evaluates the awareness and readiness of construction professionals towards embracing a full digitalization of the construction industry using construction 4.0. The term ‘construction 4.0’ was coined from the industry 4.0 concept which is regarded as the fourth industrial revolution that originated from Germany. A questionnaire was utilized for sourcing data distributed to practicing construction professionals through a convenience sampling method. Using SPSS v24, the hypotheses posed were tested with the Mann Whitney test. The result revealed that there are no differences between the consulting and contracting organizations on the readiness for adopting construction 4.0 concepts in the construction industry. Using factor analysis, the study discovers that adopting construction 4.0 will improve the performance of the construction industry regarding cost and time savings and also create sustainable buildings. In conclusion, the study determined that construction professionals have a low awareness towards construction 4.0 concepts. The study recommends an increase in awareness of construction 4.0 concepts through seminars, workshops and training, while construction professionals should take hold of the benefits of adopting construction 4.0 concepts. The study contributes to the roadmap for the implementation of construction industry 4.0 concepts in the South African construction industry.

Keywords: building information technology, Construction 4.0, Industry 4.0, smart site

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Authors: Nakul V. Naphade, Sandra G. L. Persiani, Yew Wah Wong, Pramod S. Kamath, Avinash H. Anantharam, Hui Ling Aw, Yann Grynberg

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Achieving zero-energy targets in existing buildings is known to be a difficult task requiring important cuts in the building energy consumption, which in many cases clash with the functional necessities of the building wherever the on-site energy generation is unable to match the overall energy consumption. Between the building’s consumption optimization limit and the energy, target stretches a case-specific optimization grey zone, which requires tailored intervention and enhanced user’s commitment. In the view of the future adoption of more stringent energy-efficiency targets in the context of hot-humid tropical climates, this study aims to define the energy optimization grey zone by assessing the energy-efficiency limit in the state-of-the-art typical mid- and high-rise full AC office buildings, through the integration of currently available technologies. Energy models of two code-compliant generic office-building typologies were developed as a baseline, a 20-storey ‘high-rise’ and a 7-storey ‘mid-rise’. Design iterations carried out on the energy models with advanced market ready technologies in lighting, envelope, plug load management and ACMV systems and controls, lead to a representative energy model of the current maximum technical potential. The simulations showed that ZEB targets could be achieved in fully AC buildings under an average of seven floors only by compromising on energy-intense facilities (as full AC, unlimited power-supply, standard user behaviour, etc.). This paper argues that drastic changes must be made in tropical buildings to span the energy optimization grey zone and achieve zero energy. Fully air-conditioned areas must be rethought, while smart technologies must be integrated with an aggressive involvement and motivation of the users to synchronize with the new system’s energy savings goal.

Keywords: energy simulation, office building, tropical climate, zero energy buildings

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Authors: Wuttigrai Ngamsirijit

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Talent management in today’s modern organizations has become data-driven due to a demand for objective human resource decision making and development of analytics technologies. HR managers have been faced with some obstacles in exploiting data and information to obtain their effective talent management decisions. These include process-based data and records; insufficient human capital-related measures and metrics; lack of capabilities in data modeling in strategic manners; and, time consuming to add up numbers and make decisions. This paper proposes a framework of talent management through integration of talent value chain and human capital analytics approaches. It encompasses key data, measures, and metrics regarding strategic talent management decisions along the organizational and talent value chain. Moreover, specific predictive and prescriptive models incorporating these data and information are recommended to help managers in understanding the state of talent, gaps in managing talent and the organization, and the ways to develop optimized talent strategies.    

Keywords: decision making, human capital analytics, talent management, talent value chain

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Authors: U. Yavas, M. Gokasan

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Control of diesel engine’s air path has drawn a lot of attention due to its multi input-multi output, closed coupled, non-linear relation. Today, precise control of amount of air to be combusted is a must in order to meet with tight emission limits and performance targets. In this study, passenger car size diesel engine is modeled by AVL Boost RT, and then simulated with standard, industry level PID controllers. Finally, linear model predictive control is designed and simulated. This study shows the importance of modeling and control of diesel engines with flexible algorithm development in computer based systems.

Keywords: predictive control, engine control, engine modeling, PID control, feedforward compensation

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Authors: Chansheng He, Zhongfu Wang, Xiao Bai, Jie Tian, Xin Jin

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Heterogeneity of soil hydraulic properties directly affects hydrological processes at different scales. Understanding heterogeneity of soil hydraulic properties such as soil moisture is therefore essential for modeling watershed ecohydrological processes, particularly in hard to access, topographically complex mountainous watersheds. This study maps spatial variations of soil moisture by in situ observation network that consists of sampling points, zones, and tributaries, and monitors corresponding hydrological variables of air and soil temperatures, evapotranspiration, infiltration, and runoff in the Upper Reach of the Heihe River Watershed, a second largest inland river (terminal lake) with a drainage area of over 128,000 km² in Northwest China. Subsequently, the study uses a hydrological model, SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) to simulate the effects of heterogeneity of soil moisture on watershed hydrological processes. The spatial clustering method, Full-Order-CLK was employed to derive five soil heterogeneous zones (Configuration 97, 80, 65, 40, and 20) for soil input to SWAT. Results show the simulations by the SWAT model with the spatially clustered soil hydraulic information from the field sampling data had much better representation of the soil heterogeneity and more accurate performance than the model using the average soil property values for each soil type derived from the coarse soil datasets. Thus, incorporating detailed field sampling soil heterogeneity data greatly improves performance in hydrologic modeling.

Keywords: heterogeneity, soil moisture, SWAT, up-scaling

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Authors: Thomas Rockstuhl, Kok Yee Ng, Guido Gianasso, Soon Ang

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Two meta-analyses show that intercultural experience is not related to intercultural adaptation or performance in international assignments. These findings have prompted calls for a deeper grounding of research on international experience in the phenomenon of global work. Two issues, in particular, may limit current understanding of the relationship between international experience and global work performance. First, intercultural experience is too broad a construct that may not sufficiently capture the essence of global work, which to a large part involves sensemaking and managing intercultural conflicts. Second, the psychological mechanisms through which intercultural experience affects performance remains under-explored, resulting in a poor understanding of how experience is translated into learning and performance outcomes. Drawing on recognition primed decision-making (RPD) research, the current study advances a cognitive processing model to highlight the importance of intercultural conflict familiarity. Compared to intercultural experience, intercultural conflict familiarity is a more targeted construct that captures individuals’ previous exposure to dealing with intercultural conflicts. Drawing on RPD theory, we argue that individuals’ intercultural conflict familiarity enhances their ability to make accurate judgments and generate effective responses when intercultural conflicts arise. In turn, the ability to make accurate situation judgements and effective situation responses is an important predictor of global work performance. A relocation program within a multinational enterprise provided the context to test these hypotheses using a time-lagged, multi-source field study. Participants were 165 employees (46% female; with an average of 5 years of global work experience) from 42 countries who relocated from country to regional offices as part a global restructuring program. Within the first two weeks of transfer to the regional office, employees completed measures of their familiarity with intercultural conflicts, cultural intelligence, cognitive ability, and demographic information. They also completed an intercultural situational judgment test (iSJT) to assess their situation judgment and situation response. The iSJT comprised four validated multimedia vignettes of challenging intercultural work conflicts and prompted employees to provide protocols of their situation judgment and situation response. Two research assistants, trained in intercultural management but blind to the study hypotheses, coded the quality of employee’s situation judgment and situation response. Three months later, supervisors rated employees’ global work performance. Results using multilevel modeling (vignettes nested within employees) support the hypotheses that greater familiarity with intercultural conflicts is positively associated with better situation judgment, and that situation judgment mediates the effect of intercultural familiarity on situation response quality. Also, aggregated situation judgment and situation response quality both predicted supervisor-rated global work performance. Theoretically, our findings highlight the important but under-explored role of familiarity with intercultural conflicts; a shift in attention from the general nature of international experience assessed in terms of number and length of overseas assignments. Also, our cognitive approach premised on RPD theory offers a new theoretical lens to understand the psychological mechanisms through which intercultural conflict familiarity affects global work performance. Third, and importantly, our study contributes to the global talent identification literature by demonstrating that the cognitive processes engaged in resolving intercultural conflicts predict actual performance in the global workplace.

Keywords: intercultural conflict familiarity, job performance, judgment and decision making, situational judgment test

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Authors: Nuchanat Handumrongkul Danaya Darnsawasdi, Anantachai Aeka

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To be a model for performing oral presentations by the tour guides, this research has been conducted. In order to develop French language teaching and studying for tourism, its purpose is to analyze the content used by tour guides. The study employed audio recordings of these presentations as an interview method in authentic situations, having four guides as respondents and information providers. The data was analyzed through content analysis. The results found that the tour guides described eight important items by giving more importance to details at Wat Phra Kaew or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha than at the palaces. They preferred the buildings upon the upper terrace, Buddhist cosmology, the decoration techniques, the royal chapel, the mural paintings, Thai offerings to Buddha images, palaces with architectural features and functions including royal ceremonies and others. This information represents the Thai characteristics of each building and other related content. The findings were used as a manual for guides for how to describe a tourist attraction, especially the temple and other related cultural topics of interest.

Keywords: guide, guide presentation, Grand Palace, Buddhist cosmology

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Authors: Shilpesh R. Rajpurohit, Harshit K. Dave

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Additive manufacturing gains the popularity in recent times, due to its capability to create prototype as well functional as end use product directly from CAD data without any specific requirement of tooling. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the widely used additive manufacturing techniques that are used to create functional end use part of polymer that is comparable with the injection-molded parts. FDM printed part has an application in various fields such as automobile, aerospace, medical, electronic, etc. However, application of FDM part is greatly affected by poor mechanical properties. Proper selection of the process parameter could enhance the mechanical performance of the printed part. In the present study, experimental investigation has been carried out to study the behavior of the mechanical performance of the printed part with respect to process variables. Three process variables viz. raster angle, raster width and layer height have been varied to understand its effect on tensile strength. Further, effect of process variables on fractured surface has been also investigated.

Keywords: 3D Printing, fused deposition modeling, layer height, raster angle, raster width, tensile strength

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Authors: Masoud Sheidaei, Fahimeh Koohdar

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Date palms are economically important tree plants with high nutrition and medicinal values. More than 400 date palm cultivars are cultivated in many regions of Iran, but no report is available on landscape genetics and species distribution modeling of these trees from the country. Therefore, the present study provides a detailed insight into the genetic diversity and structure of date palm populations in Iran and investigates the effects of geographical and climatic variables on the structuring of genetic diversity in them. We used different computational methods in the study like, spatial principal components analysis (sPCA), redundancy analysis (RDA), latent factor mixed model (LFMM), and Maxent and Dismo models of species distribution modeling. We used a combination of different molecular markers for this study. The results showed that both global and local spatial features play an important role in the genetic structuring of date palms, and the genetic regions associated with local adaptation and climatic variables were identified. The effects of climatic change on the distribution of these taxa and the genetic regions adaptive to these changes will be discussed.

Keywords: adaptive genetic regions, genetic diversity, isolation by distance, populations divergence

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Authors: Ahmed Hamza Yache

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The main purpose of this study is to estimate the distribution of shear forces in building structures with asymmetries in the plan submitted to seismic forces can cause, in this case, simultaneous deformations of translation and torsion. To this end, the distribution of shear forces is obtained by seismic forces calculated from the equivalent static method of the Algerian earthquake code RPA 99 (2003 version) and spectral modal analysis for an irregular building plan without kinks. Comparison of the results obtained by these two methods used to highlight the difference in terms of distributions of shear forces in such structures.

Keywords: structure, irregular, code, seismic, method, force, period

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Authors: Yun-Yao Chi, Chieh-Kai Tsai, Dai-Ling Li

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In this paper, a method of fast 3D topography modeling using the high-resolution camera images is studied based on the characteristics of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system for low altitude aerial photogrammetry and the need of three dimensional (3D) urban landscape modeling. Firstly, the existing high-resolution digital camera with special design of overlap images is designed by reconstructing and analyzing the auto-flying paths of UAVs, which improves the self-calibration function to achieve the high precision imaging by software, and further increased the resolution of the imaging system. Secondly, several-angle images including vertical images and oblique images gotten by the UAV system are used for the detail measure of urban land surfaces and the texture extraction. Finally, the aerial photography and 3D topography construction are both developed in campus of Chang-Jung University and in Guerin district area in Tainan, Taiwan, provide authentication model for construction of 3D topography based on combined UAV-based camera images from system. The results demonstrated that the UAV system for low altitude aerial photogrammetry can be used in the construction of 3D topography production, and the technology solution in this paper offers a new, fast, and technical plan for the 3D expression of the city landscape, fine modeling and visualization.

Keywords: 3D, topography, UAV, images

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Authors: Chau-Kuang Chen, John Hughes, Jr., A. Dexter Samuels

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The prediction models for the United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE) Steps 1 and 2 performances were constructed by the Monte Carlo simulation modeling approach via linear regression. The purpose of this study was to build robust simulation models to accurately identify the most important predictors and yield the valid range estimations of the Steps 1 and 2 scores. The application of simulation modeling approach was deemed an effective way in predicting student performances on licensure examinations. Also, sensitivity analysis (a/k/a what-if analysis) in the simulation models was used to predict the magnitudes of Steps 1 and 2 affected by changes in the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Basic Science Subject Board scores. In addition, the study results indicated that the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) Verbal Reasoning score and Step 1 score were significant predictors of the Step 2 performance. Hence, institutions could screen qualified student applicants for interviews and document the effectiveness of basic science education program based on the simulation results.

Keywords: prediction model, sensitivity analysis, simulation method, USMLE

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Authors: Katarina Rogulj, Ivana Racetin, Jelena Kilic

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In this study, the fuzzy logic approach (FLA) was developed for construction project management (CPM) under uncertainty and duality. The focus was on decision making in selecting the type of the glass facade for a residential-commercial building in the main design. The adoption of fuzzy sets was capable of reflecting construction managers’ reliability level over subjective judgments, and thus the robustness of the system can be achieved. An α-cuts method was utilized for discretizing the fuzzy sets in FLA. This method can communicate all uncertain information in the optimization process, taking into account the values of this information. Furthermore, FLA provides in-depth analyses of diverse policy scenarios that are related to various levels of economic aspects when it comes to the construction projects' valid decision making. The developed approach is applied to CPM to demonstrate its applicability. Analyzing the materials of glass facades, variants were defined. The development of the FLA for the CPM included relevant construction projec'ts stakeholders that were involved in the criteria definition to evaluate each variant. Using fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory Method (DEMATEL) comparison of the glass facade was conducted. This way, a rank, according to the priorities for inclusion into the main design, of variants is obtained. The concept was tested on a residential-commercial building in the city of Rijeka, Croatia. The newly developed methodology was then compared with the existing one. The aim of the research was to define an approach that will improve current judgments and decisions when it comes to the material selection of buildings facade as one of the most important architectural and engineering tasks in the main design. The advantage of the new methodology compared to the old one is that it includes the subjective side of the managers’ decisions, as an inevitable factor in each decision making. The proposed approach can help construction projects managers to identify the desired type of glass facade according to their preference and practical conditions, as well as facilitate in-depth analyses of tradeoffs between economic efficiency and architectural design.

Keywords: construction projects management, DEMATEL, fuzzy logic approach, glass façade selection

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Authors: Boukli Hacene Faiza, Soufi Wassila, Ghalem Said

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The oral antidiabetics drugs such as alpha glucosidase inhibitors present undesirable effects like acarbose. Flavonoids are class of molecules widely distributed in plants, for this reason we are interested in our work to study the inhibition in silico of alpha glucosidase by natural ligands ( flavonoids analogues) using molecular modeling methods using MOE (Molecular Operating Environment) software to predict their interaction with this enzyme with score energy, ADME /T tests and druglikeness properties experiments. Two flavonoids Beicalein and Apigenin have high binding affinity with alpha glucosidase with lower IC50 supposed potent inhibitors.

Keywords: alpha glucosidase, flavonoides analogues, drug research, molecular modeling

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Authors: Seyed Abolhasan Naeini, Eisa Aliagahei

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Today, the use of geosynthetic materials in geotechnical activities is increasing significantly. One of the main uses of these materials is to increase the compressive strength of clay reinforced by geotextile layers. In the present study, the effect of clay reinforcement by geotextile layers in increasing the compressive strength of clay has been investigated using modeling in ABAQUS 6.11.3 software. For this purpose, the modified Drager Prager model has been chosen to simulate the stress-strain behavior of soil layers and the linear elastic model for the geotextile layer. Unreinforced samples and reinforced samples are modeled by geotextile layers (1, 2 and 3 geotextile layers) by software. In order to validate the results, an article in the same field was used and the numerical modeling results were calibrated with the laboratory results. Based on the obtained results, the software has a suitable capability for modeling and the results of the numerical model overlap with the laboratory results to a very acceptable extent, by increasing the number of geotextile layers, the error between the results of the laboratory sample and the software model increases. The highest amount of error is related to the sample reinforced with three layers of geotextile and is 7.3%.

Keywords: Abaqus, cap model, clay, geotextile layer, reinforced soil

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Authors: A. Iaaly, O. Jadayel, R. Jadayel

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This paper explores the effectiveness of approaches used for the implementation of technology within central governments specifically Geographic Information Systems (GIS). It examines the extent to which various strategies to GIS implementation and its roll out to users within an organization is crucial for its long term assimilation. Depending on the contextual requirements, various implementation strategies exist spanning from the most revolutionary to the most evolutionary, which have an influence on the success of GIS projects and the realization of resulting business benefits within the central governments. This research compares between two strategies of GIS implementation within the Lebanese Municipalities. The first strategy is the “Technological Approach” which is focused on technology acquisition, overlaid on existing governmental frameworks. This approach gives minimal attention to capability building and the long term sustainability of the implemented program. The second strategy, referred to as the “Ecological Approach”, is naturally oriented to the function of the organization. This approach stresses on fostering the evolution of the program and on building the human capabilities. The Union of the Joumeh Municipalities will be presented as a case study under the “Ecological Approach” and the role of the GIS Center at the University of Balamand will be highlighted. Thus, this research contributes to the development of knowledge on technology implementation and the vital role of academia in the specific context of the Lebanese public sector so that this experience may pave the way for further applications.

Keywords: ecological approach GIS, low income countries, technological approach

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Authors: Guanghua Yu

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This article has examined the rise of the UK, US, and China at different historical times to explain the argument that it is open access in the economic sphere, as well as institutional building related to the protection of property rights, contract enforcement, financial market, the rule of law, and human resource accumulation that determine economic and human development. Both the UK, after the Glorious Revolution in the seventeenth century, and China, after its adoption of the open door policy at the end of the 1970s, follow such a path of development. The difference between the UK and China in moving toward that path is the different coordination of elites. While the coordination of elites in the UK through parliament played important roles in forcing the government to consider the wider encompassing interest in society after the Glorious Revolution, the coordination of elites in China has mainly been achieved by the Communist Party of China such that the Chinese Government has started to pay greater deal of attention to the wider encompassing interest in the country from 1978. The article has also examined the rise of the US following colonial settlement to independence and institutional building thereafter. The US case is similarly consistent with the argument that open access in the economic sphere and institutional building matter the most to economic development. More decentralized methods of the coordination of elites in the US among colonies (states), the federal governments, and other political groups similarly shaped the path towards open access in the economic sphere and institutional building. As such, open access in the political sphere plays an indirect role in development at best. If that is correct, there are possibilities that different political systems are able to achieve coordination of elites so that governments will turn their attention to development.

Keywords: open access, interconnected institutions, democracy, development

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Authors: Rakesh Kumar, A. K. Ghosh

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The paper presents the modeling of linear and nonlinear longitudinal aerodynamics using real flight data of Hansa-3 aircraft gathered at low and high angles of attack. The Neural-Gauss-Newton (NGN) method has been applied to model the linear and nonlinear longitudinal dynamics and estimate parameters from flight data. Unsteady aerodynamics due to flow separation at high angles of attack near stall has been included in the aerodynamic model using Kirchhoff’s quasi-steady stall model. NGN method is an algorithm that utilizes Feed Forward Neural Network (FFNN) and Gauss-Newton optimization to estimate the parameters and it does not require any a priori postulation of mathematical model or solving of equations of motion. NGN method was validated on real flight data generated at moderate angles of attack before application to the data at high angles of attack. The estimates obtained from compatible flight data using NGN method were validated by comparing with wind tunnel values and the maximum likelihood estimates. Validation was also carried out by comparing the response of measured motion variables with the response generated by using estimates a different control input. Next, NGN method was applied to real flight data generated by executing a well-designed quasi-steady stall maneuver. The results obtained in terms of stall characteristics and aerodynamic parameters were encouraging and reasonably accurate to establish NGN as a method for modeling nonlinear aerodynamics from real flight data at high angles of attack.

Keywords: parameter estimation, NGN method, linear and nonlinear, aerodynamic modeling

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Authors: Carla Silva

Abstract:

Recent development of information and communication technology enables us to acquire, collect, analyse data in various fields of socioeconomic – technological systems. Along with the increase of economic globalization and the evolution of information technology, data mining has become an important approach for economic data analysis. As a result, there has been a critical need for automated approaches to effective and efficient usage of massive amount of educational data, in order to support institutions to a strategic planning and investment decision-making. In this article, we will address data from several different perspectives and define the applied data to sciences. Many believe that 'big data' will transform business, government, and other aspects of the economy. We discuss how new data may impact educational policy and educational research. Large scale administrative data sets and proprietary private sector data can greatly improve the way we measure, track, and describe educational activity and educational impact. We also consider whether the big data predictive modeling tools that have emerged in statistics and computer science may prove useful in educational and furthermore in economics. Finally, we highlight a number of challenges and opportunities for future research.

Keywords: data mining, research analysis, investment decision-making, educational research

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Authors: Fahad R. Choudhry., Khadeeja Munawar

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This clinical case presents a 24 years old, Muslim Pakistani girl with a history of conversion disorder. Her symptoms comprised fits, restlessness, numbness in legs, poor coordination and balance, burning during urination and retention. A cognitive-behavioral model was used for conceptualizing her problem and devising a management plan based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and culturally adapted coping statements. She took 13 therapy sessions and was presented with idiosyncratic case conceptualization. Psychoeducation, coping statements, extinction, verbal challenging, and behavioral activation techniques were practiced in a collaborative way for cognitive restructuring of the client. Focus of terminal sessions was on anger management. The client needed a couple of more sessions in order to help her manage her anger. However, the therapy was terminated on the part of the client after attainment of short term goals. The client reported to have a 75 % improvement in her overall condition and remained compliant throughout the therapy.

Keywords: cognitive behavioral therapy, conversion disorder, female, Muslim, Pakistani

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Authors: Azadeh Bashiri

Abstract:

Introduction: In order to better designing of electronic health record system in Iran, integration of health information systems based on a common language must be done to interpret and exchange this information with this system is required. Background: This study, provides a conceptual model of radiology reporting system using unified modeling language. The proposed model can solve the problem of integration this information system with electronic health record system. By using this model and design its service based, easily connect to electronic health record in Iran and facilitate transfer radiology report data. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted in 2013. The student community was 22 experts that working at the Imaging Center in Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran and the sample was accorded with the community. Research tool was a questionnaire that prepared by the researcher to determine the information requirements. Content validity and test-retest method was used to measure validity and reliability of questioner respectively. Data analyzed with average index, using SPSS. Also, Visual Paradigm software was used to design a conceptual model. Result: Based on the requirements assessment of experts and related texts, administrative, demographic and clinical data and radiological examination results and if the anesthesia procedure performed, anesthesia data suggested as minimum data set for radiology report and based it class diagram designed. Also by identifying radiology reporting system process, use case was drawn. Conclusion: According to the application of radiology reports in electronic health record system for diagnosing and managing of clinical problem of the patient, provide the conceptual Model for radiology reporting system; in order to systematically design it, the problem of data sharing between these systems and electronic health records system would eliminate.

Keywords: structured radiology report, information needs, minimum data set, electronic health record system in Iran

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Authors: Xu Tao, Yilun Xu, Dingwei Xiang, Yaofei Sun

Abstract:

Urban community is constitute the entire city and its management ‘cell’, let ‘cells’ with growth and self-regeneration capacity and persistence, to allow the city with infinite vigor and vitality of the source; with toughness community mankind's adaptation to the basic unit of social risk, toughness of the city from the community to create a point of building is urban toughness of top-down construction mode of supplement, is of positive significance on the toughness of the urban construction. Based on the basic concept of resilience, this paper reviews the research on the four main areas of the study of urban resilience (i.e., the engineering toughness, ecological resilience, economic resilience, and social resilience, etc.). Studies and comments and summarizes the basic characteristic and main content of the four kind of toughness. Based on, from the city - community level and community level for building community resilience, including the level of urban community and create a Unicom, inclusiveness and openness of the community; community-level lifted from the four angles of the engineering community toughness, ecological toughness, resilience, social resilience, mainly including enhanced the toughness of the infrastructure, green infrastructure of toughness, resilience, social network and social relations, building with a sense of belonging, inclusive, multicultural community. Finally, summarize and prospect the resilience of the community.

Keywords: resilience, community resilience, urban resilience, construction strategies

Procedia PDF Downloads 250