Search results for: Decision Support System
23772 Need for Cognition: An Important, Neglected Personality Variable in the Development of Spirituality Within the Context of Twelve Step Recovery from Addictive Disorders
Authors: Paul E. Priester
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The Twelve Step approach to recovery from substance use and addictive disorders is considered an evidence-based model that assists many who recover from a chronic, progressive, fatal disease. Two key processes that contribute to the success of obtaining recovery from substance use disorders (SUD) are meeting engagement and the development of spiritual beliefs. Beyond establishing that there is a positive relationship between the development of spiritual beliefs in recovery from SUD’s, there has been a paucity of research exploring individual differences among individuals in this development of spiritual beliefs. One such personality variable that deserves exploration is that of the need for cognition. The need for cognition is a personality variable that explains the cognitive style of individuals. Individuals with a high need for cognition enjoy examining the complexities of a situation before coming to a conclusion. While individuals with a low need for cognition do not value or spend time cognitively dissecting a situation or decision. It is important to point out that a high need for cognition does not necessarily imply a high level of cognitive ability. Indeed, one could make the argument that a low need for cognition individual is not “wasting” cognitive energy in perseverating the multitude of aspects of a particular decision. This paper will present two case studies demonstrating the development of spiritual beliefs that enabled long-term recovery from SUD. The first case study presents an agnostic individual with a low need for cognition cognitive style in his development of spirituality in support of his recovery from alcoholism within the context of Alcoholics Anonymous. The second case study represents an adamant atheist with a high need for cognition cognitive style. This second individual is an intravenous cocaine addict and alcoholic who recovers through the development of spirituality within the contexts of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. The two case studies will be contrasted with each other, noting how the individuals’ cognitive style mediated the development of spirituality that supported their long-term recovery from alcoholism and addiction.Keywords: spirituality, twelve step recovery, need for cognition, individual differences in recovery from addictions
Procedia PDF Downloads 9523771 Analysis of Particle Reinforced Metal Matrix Composite Crankshaft
Authors: R. S. Vikaash, S. Vinodh, T. S. Sai Prashanth
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Six sigma is a defect reduction strategy enabling modern organizations to achieve business prosperity. The practitioners are in need to select best six sigma project among the available alternatives to achieve customer satisfaction. In this circumstance, this article presents a study in which six sigma project selection is formulated as Multi-Criteria Decision-Making(MCDM) problem and the best project has been found using AHP. Five main governing criteria and 14 sub criteria are being formulated. The decision maker’s inputs were gathered and computations were performed. The project with the high values from the set of projects is selected as the best project. Based on calculations, Project “P1”is found to be the best and further deployment actions have been undertaken in the organization.Keywords: six Sigma, project selection, MCDM, analytic hierarchy process, business prosperity
Procedia PDF Downloads 34223770 IoT Based Soil Moisture Monitoring System for Indoor Plants
Authors: Gul Rahim Rahimi
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The IoT-based soil moisture monitoring system for indoor plants is designed to address the challenges of maintaining optimal moisture levels in soil for plant growth and health. The system utilizes sensor technology to collect real-time data on soil moisture levels, which is then processed and analyzed using machine learning algorithms. This allows for accurate and timely monitoring of soil moisture levels, ensuring plants receive the appropriate amount of water to thrive. The main objectives of the system are twofold: to keep plants fresh and healthy by preventing water deficiency and to provide users with comprehensive insights into the water content of the soil on a daily and hourly basis. By monitoring soil moisture levels, users can identify patterns and trends in water consumption, allowing for more informed decision-making regarding watering schedules and plant care. The scope of the system extends to the agriculture industry, where it can be utilized to minimize the efforts required by farmers to monitor soil moisture levels manually. By automating the process of soil moisture monitoring, farmers can optimize water usage, improve crop yields, and reduce the risk of plant diseases associated with over or under-watering. Key technologies employed in the system include the Capacitive Soil Moisture Sensor V1.2 for accurate soil moisture measurement, the Node MCU ESP8266-12E Board for data transmission and communication, and the Arduino framework for programming and development. Additionally, machine learning algorithms are utilized to analyze the collected data and provide actionable insights. Cloud storage is utilized to store and manage the data collected from multiple sensors, allowing for easy access and retrieval of information. Overall, the IoT-based soil moisture monitoring system offers a scalable and efficient solution for indoor plant care, with potential applications in agriculture and beyond. By harnessing the power of IoT and machine learning, the system empowers users to make informed decisions about plant watering, leading to healthier and more vibrant indoor environments.Keywords: IoT-based, soil moisture monitoring, indoor plants, water management
Procedia PDF Downloads 5223769 Multi-Criteria Evaluation of IDS Architectures in Cloud Computing
Authors: Elmahdi Khalil, Saad Enniari, Mostapha Zbakh
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Cloud computing promises to increase innovation and the velocity with witch applications are deployed, all while helping any enterprise meet most IT service needs at a lower total cost of ownership and higher return investment. As the march of cloud continues, it brings both new opportunities and new security challenges. To take advantages of those opportunities while minimizing risks, we think that Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) integrated in the cloud is one of the best existing solutions nowadays in the field. The concept of intrusion detection was known since past and was first proposed by a well-known researcher named Anderson in 1980's. Since that time IDS's are evolving. Although, several efforts has been made in the area of Intrusion Detection systems for cloud computing environment, many attacks still prevail. Therefore, the work presented in this paper proposes a multi criteria analysis and a comparative study between several IDS architectures designated to work in a cloud computing environments. To achieve this objective, in the first place we will search in the state of the art of several consistent IDS architectures designed to work in a cloud environment. Whereas, in a second step we will establish the criteria that will be useful for the evaluation of architectures. Later, using the approach of multi criteria decision analysis Mac Beth (Measuring Attractiveness by a Categorical Based Evaluation Technique we will evaluate the criteria and assign to each one the appropriate weight according to their importance in the field of IDS architectures in cloud computing. The last step is to evaluate architectures against the criteria and collecting results of the model constructed in the previous steps.Keywords: cloud computing, cloud security, intrusion detection/prevention system, multi-criteria decision analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 47423768 Fabrication of a Continuous Flow System for Biofilm Studies
Authors: Mohammed Jibrin Ndejiko
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Modern and current models such as flow cell technology which enhances a non-destructive growth and inspection of the sessile microbial communities revealed a great understanding of biofilms. A continuous flow system was designed to evaluate possibility of biofilm formation by Escherichia coli DH5α on the stainless steel (type 304) under continuous nutrient supply. The result of the colony forming unit (CFU) count shows that bacterial attachment and subsequent biofilm formation on stainless steel coupons with average surface roughness of 1.5 ± 1.8 µm and 2.0 ± 0.09 µm were both significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) than those of the stainless steel coupon with lower surface roughness of 0.38 ± 1.5 µm. These observations support the hypothesis that surface profile is one of the factors that influence biofilm formation on stainless steel surfaces. The SEM and FESEM micrographs of the stainless steel coupons also revealed the attached Escherichia coli DH5α biofilm and dehydrated extracellular polymeric substance on the stainless steel surfaces. Thus, the fabricated flow system represented a very useful tool to study biofilm formation under continuous nutrient supply.Keywords: biofilm, flowcell, stainless steel, coupon
Procedia PDF Downloads 31923767 Exploring Gaming-Learning Interaction in MMOG Using Data Mining Methods
Authors: Meng-Tzu Cheng, Louisa Rosenheck, Chen-Yen Lin, Eric Klopfer
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The purpose of the research is to explore some of the ways in which gameplay data can be analyzed to yield results that feedback into the learning ecosystem. Back-end data for all users as they played an MMOG, The Radix Endeavor, was collected, and this study reports the analyses on a specific genetics quest by using the data mining techniques, including the decision tree method. In the study, different reasons for quest failure between participants who eventually succeeded and who never succeeded were revealed. Regarding the in-game tools use, trait examiner was a key tool in the quest completion process. Subsequently, the results of decision tree showed that a lack of trait examiner usage can be made up with additional Punnett square uses, displaying multiple pathways to success in this quest. The methods of analysis used in this study and the resulting usage patterns indicate some useful ways that gameplay data can provide insights in two main areas. The first is for game designers to know how players are interacting with and learning from their game. The second is for players themselves as well as their teachers to get information on how they are progressing through the game, and to provide help they may need based on strategies and misconceptions identified in the data.Keywords: MMOG, decision tree, genetics, gaming-learning interaction
Procedia PDF Downloads 35823766 Learning Management System Technologies for Teaching Computer Science at a Distance Education Institution
Authors: Leila Goosen, Dalize van Heerden
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The performance outcomes of first year Computer Science and Information Technology students across the world are of great concern, whether they are being taught in a face-to-face environment or via distance education. In the face-to-face environment, it is, however, somewhat easier to teach and support students than it is in a distance education environment. The face-to-face academic can more easily gauge the level of understanding and participation of students and implement interventions to address issues, which may arise. With the inroads that Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 technologies are making, the world of online teaching and learning are rapidly expanding, bringing about technologies, which allows for similar interactions between online academics and their students as available to their face-to-face counter parts. At the University of South Africa (UNISA), the Learning Management System (LMS) is called myUNISA and it is deployed on a SAKAI platform. In this paper, we will take a look at some of the myUNISA technologies implemented in the teaching of a first year programming course, how they are implemented and, in some cases, we will indicate how this affects the performance outcomes of students.Keywords: computer science, Distance Education Technologies, Learning Management System, face-to-face environment
Procedia PDF Downloads 49623765 The Development of OTOP Web Application: Case of Samut Songkhram Province
Authors: Satien Janpla, Kunyanuth Kularbphettong
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This paper aims to present the development of a web‑based system to serve the need of selling OTOP products in Samut Songkhram, Thailand. This system was designed to promote and sell OTOP products on website. We describe the design approaches and functional components of this system. The system was developed by PHP and JavaScript and MySQL database System. To evaluate the system performance, questionnaires were used to measure user satisfaction with system usability by specialists and users. The results were satisfactory as followed: Means for specialists and users were 4.05 and 3.97, and standard deviation for specialists and users were 0.563 and 0.644 respectively. Further analysis showed that the quality of One Tambon One Product (OTOP) Website was also at a good level as well.Keywords: web-based system, OTOP, product, website
Procedia PDF Downloads 30823764 Artificial Intelligence in Global Healthcare: Need for Robust Governance Frameworks
Authors: Sandeep Reddy, Sonia Allan, Simon Coghlan, Paul Cooper
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its application in medicine has generated ample interest amongst policymakers and clinicians. Successes with AI in medical imaging interpretation and clinical decision support are paving the way for its incorporation into routine healthcare delivery. While there has been a focus on the development of ethical principles to guide its application in healthcare, challenges of this application go beyond what ethics principles can address thus requiring robust governance frameworks. Also, while ethical challenges of medical artificial intelligence are being discussed, the ethics of deploying AI in lower-income countries receive less attention than in other developed economies. This creates an imperative not only for sound ethical guidelines but also for robust governance frameworks to regulate AI in medicine around the world. In this article, we discuss what components need to be considered in developing these governance frameworks and who should lead this worldwide effort.Keywords: artificial intelligence, global health, governance, ethics
Procedia PDF Downloads 15223763 Business Intelligence for Profiling of Telecommunication Customer
Authors: Rokhmatul Insani, Hira Laksmiwati Soemitro
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Business Intelligence is a methodology that exploits the data to produce information and knowledge systematically, business intelligence can support the decision-making process. Some methods in business intelligence are data warehouse and data mining. A data warehouse can store historical data from transactional data. For data modelling in data warehouse, we apply dimensional modelling by Kimball. While data mining is used to extracting patterns from the data and get insight from the data. Data mining has many techniques, one of which is segmentation. For profiling of telecommunication customer, we use customer segmentation according to customer’s usage of services, customer invoice and customer payment. Customers can be grouped according to their characteristics and can be identified the profitable customers. We apply K-Means Clustering Algorithm for segmentation. The input variable for that algorithm we use RFM (Recency, Frequency and Monetary) model. All process in data mining, we use tools IBM SPSS modeller.Keywords: business intelligence, customer segmentation, data warehouse, data mining
Procedia PDF Downloads 48623762 The Effect of Gender Inequality on Reproductive Health in Africa: The Case of Cultural Ghana
Authors: Edna Roseline Dede Tetteh
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Reproductive health research and discussions have, over the years, placed a special focus on Africa. This is partly due to the significant relationship between African cultures and reproductive health. Several studies have also acknowledged the economic impact of reproductive health in Africa, because of which reproductive health, particularly family planning, has featured prominently in many economic discussions about Africa. Gender, which is a major element of most African cultures, inspired this study. Given that gender has a significant cultural influence in Africa, the study examined the effect of gender inequality on reproductive health in Africa, with a special focus on Ghana. Specifically, the study examined whether there exists any relationship between gender inequality and reproductive health and, if there is, what the nature and the effect of the relationship are. The study's findings were based on data gathered from 2304 respondents, randomly selected from Ghana's different tribes and ethnic groups. Given that the study was focused on the influence of gender in sexual relationships, the study’s population was people 16 years and above since 16 is the legal age of sexual consent in Ghana. Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews. It was found that the beliefs and practices of the traditional Ghanaian society, like most African societies, have direct and significant impacts on reproductive health. Males in these cultures have more control over reproductive health decisions and choices than females. The study found that it was culturally condemnable for a wife to refuse her husband’s request for sex, even when she is not in the mood for sex, or she is unwell. It was further found that, when it comes to the decision of birth control, males have more power. Consequently, females with reproductive health conditions have no control over choices that support their reproductive health conditions; they must always satisfy their husbands’ sexual needs. Most of the female respondents indicated they had less or no control over protecting themselves from reproductive health risks unless they had the understanding and support of their sexual partners.Keywords: culture, gender, Ghana, inequality, reproductive health
Procedia PDF Downloads 3623761 Time Lag Analysis for Readiness Potential by a Firing Pattern Controller Model of a Motor Nerve System Considered Innervation and Jitter
Authors: Yuko Ishiwaka, Tomohiro Yoshida, Tadateru Itoh
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Human makes preparation called readiness potential unconsciously (RP) before awareness of their own decision. For example, when recognizing a button and pressing the button, the RP peaks are observed 200 ms before the initiation of the movement. It has been known that the preparatory movements are acquired before actual movements, but it has not been still well understood how humans can obtain the RP during their growth. On the proposition of why the brain must respond earlier, we assume that humans have to adopt the dangerous environment to survive and then obtain the behavior to cover the various time lags distributed in the body. Without RP, humans cannot take action quickly to avoid dangerous situations. In taking action, the brain makes decisions, and signals are transmitted through the Spinal Cord to the muscles to the body moves according to the laws of physics. Our research focuses on the time lag of the neuron signal transmitting from a brain to muscle via a spinal cord. This time lag is one of the essential factors for readiness potential. We propose a firing pattern controller model of a motor nerve system considered innervation and jitter, which produces time lag. In our simulation, we adopt innervation and jitter in our proposed muscle-skeleton model, because these two factors can create infinitesimal time lag. Q10 Hodgkin Huxley model to calculate action potentials is also adopted because the refractory period produces a more significant time lag for continuous firing. Keeping constant power of muscle requires cooperation firing of motor neurons because a refractory period stifles the continuous firing of a neuron. One more factor in producing time lag is slow or fast-twitch. The Expanded Hill Type model is adopted to calculate power and time lag. We will simulate our model of muscle skeleton model by controlling the firing pattern and discuss the relationship between the time lag of physics and neurons. For our discussion, we analyze the time lag with our simulation for knee bending. The law of inertia caused the most influential time lag. The next most crucial time lag was the time to generate the action potential induced by innervation and jitter. In our simulation, the time lag at the beginning of the knee movement is 202ms to 203.5ms. It means that readiness potential should be prepared more than 200ms before decision making.Keywords: firing patterns, innervation, jitter, motor nerve system, readiness potential
Procedia PDF Downloads 83023760 Ranking Effective Factors on Strategic Planning to Achieve Organization Objectives in Fuzzy Multivariate Decision-Making Technique
Authors: Elahe Memari, Ahmad Aslizadeh, Ahmad Memari
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Today strategic planning is counted as the most important duties of senior directors in each organization. Strategic planning allows the organizations to implement compiled strategies and reach higher competitive benefits than their competitors. The present research work tries to prepare and rank the strategies form effective factors on strategic planning in fulfillment of the State Road Management and Transportation Organization in order to indicate the role of organizational factors in efficiency of the process to organization managers. Connection between six main factors in fulfillment of State Road Management and Transportation Organization were studied here, including Improvement of Strategic Thinking in senior managers, improvement of the organization business process, rationalization of resources allocation in different parts of the organization, coordination and conformity of strategic plan with organization needs, adjustment of organization activities with environmental changes, reinforcement of organizational culture. All said factors approved by implemented tests and then ranked using fuzzy multivariate decision-making technique.Keywords: Fuzzy TOPSIS, improvement of organization business process, multivariate decision-making, strategic planning
Procedia PDF Downloads 42323759 Curvelet Features with Mouth and Face Edge Ratios for Facial Expression Identification
Authors: S. Kherchaoui, A. Houacine
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This paper presents a facial expression recognition system. It performs identification and classification of the seven basic expressions; happy, surprise, fear, disgust, sadness, anger, and neutral states. It consists of three main parts. The first one is the detection of a face and the corresponding facial features to extract the most expressive portion of the face, followed by a normalization of the region of interest. Then calculus of curvelet coefficients is performed with dimensionality reduction through principal component analysis. The resulting coefficients are combined with two ratios; mouth ratio and face edge ratio to constitute the whole feature vector. The third step is the classification of the emotional state using the SVM method in the feature space.Keywords: facial expression identification, curvelet coefficient, support vector machine (SVM), recognition system
Procedia PDF Downloads 23223758 Self-Directed-Car on GT Road: Grand Trunk Road
Authors: Rameez Ahmad, Aqib Mehmood, Imran Khan
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Self-directed car (SDC) that can drive itself from one fact to another without support from a driver. Certain trust that self-directed car obligate the probable to transform the transportation manufacturing while essentially removing coincidences, and cleaning up the environment. This study realizes the effects that SDC (also called a self-driving, driver or robotic) vehicle travel demands and ride scheme is likely to have. Without the typical obstacles that allows detection of a audio vision based hardware and software construction (It (SDC) and cost benefits, the vehicle technologies, Gold (Generic Obstacle and Lane Detection) to a knowledge-based system to predict their potential and consider the shape, color, or balance) and an organized environment with colored lane patterns, lane position ban. Discovery the problematic consequence of (SDC) on GT (grand trunk road) road and brand the car further effectual.Keywords: SDC, gold, GT, knowledge-based system
Procedia PDF Downloads 37223757 A Reusable Foundation Solution for Onshore Windmills
Authors: Wael Mohamed, Per-Erik Austrell, Ola Dahlblom
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Wind farms repowering is a significant topic nowadays. Wind farms repowering means the complete dismantling of the existing turbine, tower and foundation at an existing site and replacing these units with taller and larger units. Modern wind turbines are designed to withstand approximately for 20~25 years. However, a very long design life of 100 years or more can be expected for high-quality concrete foundations. Based on that there are significant economic and environmental benefits of replacing the out-of-date wind turbine with a new turbine of better power generation capacity and reuse the foundation. The big difference in lifetime shows a potential for new foundation solution to allow wind farms to be updated with taller and larger units in order to increase the energy production. This also means a significant change in the design loads on the foundations. Therefore, the new foundation solution should be able to handle the additional overturning loads. A raft surrounded by an active stabilisation system is proposed in this study. The concept of an active stabilisation system is a novel idea using a movable load to stabilise against the overturning moment. The active stabilisation system consists of a water tank being divided into eight compartments. The system uses the water as a movable load by pumping it into two compartments to stabilise against the overturning moment. The position of the water will rely on the wind direction and a water movement system depending on a number of electric motors and pipes with electric valves is used. One of the advantages of this active foundation solution is that some cost-efficient adjustment could be done to make this foundation able to support larger and taller units. After the end of the first turbine lifetime, an option is presented here to reuse this foundation and make it able to support taller and larger units. This option is considered using extra water volume to fill four compartments instead of two compartments. This extra water volume will increase the stability moment by 41% compared to using water in two compartments. The geotechnical performance of the new foundation solution is investigated using two existing weak soil profiles in Egypt and Sweden. A comparative study of the new solution and a piled raft with long friction piles is performed using finite element simulations. The results show that using a raft surrounded by an active stabilisation system decreases the tilting compared to a piled raft with friction piles. Moreover, it is found that using a raft surrounded by an active stabilisation system decreases the foundation costs compared to a piled raft with friction piles. In term of the environmental impact, it is found that the new foundation has a beneficial impact on the CO2 emissions. It saves roughly from 296.1 tonnes-CO2 to 518.21 tonnes-CO2 from the manufacture of concrete if the new foundation solution is used for another turbine-lifetime.Keywords: active stabilisation system, CO2 emissions, FE analysis, reusable, weak soils
Procedia PDF Downloads 21723756 Analysis on South Korean Early Childhood Education Teachers’ Stage of Concerns about Software Education According to the Concern-Based Adoption Model
Authors: Sun-Mi Park, Ji-Hyun Jung, Min-Jung Kang
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Software (SW) education is scheduled to be included in the National curriculum in South Korea by 2018. However, Korean national kindergarten curriculum has been excepted from the revision of the entire Korean national school curriculum including software education. Even though the SW education has not been considered a part of current national kindergarten curriculum, there is a growing interest of adopting software education into the ECE practice. Teachers might be a key element in introducing and implementing new educational change such as SW education. In preparation for the adoption of SW education in ECE, it might be necessary to figure out ECE teachers’ perception and attitudes toward early childhood software education. For this study, 219 ECE teachers’ concern level in SW education was surveyed by using the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ). As a result, the teachers' concern level in SW education is the highest at stage 0-Unconcerned and is high level in stage 1-informational, stage 2-personal, and stage 3-management concern. Thus, a non-user pattern was mostly indicated. However, compared to a typical non-user pattern, the personal and informative concern level is slightly high. The 'tailing up' phenomenon toward stage 6-refocusing was shown. Therefore, the pattern aspect close to critical non-user ever appeared to some extent. In addition, a significant difference in concern level was shown at all stages depending on the awareness of necessity. Teachers with SW training experience showed higher intensity only at stage 0. There was statistically significant difference in stage 0 and 6 depending on the future implementation decision. These results will be utilized as a resource in building ECE teachers’ support system according to his or her concern level of SW education.Keywords: concerns-based adoption model (CBAM), early childhood education teachers, software education, Stages of Concern (SoC)
Procedia PDF Downloads 20723755 A Comparative Analysis of Evacuation Behavior in Case of Cyclone Sidr, Typhoon Yolanda and the Great East Japan Earthquake
Authors: Swarnali Chakma, Akihiko Hokugo
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Research on three case studies reviewed here explains many aspects and complications of evacuation behavior during an emergency period. The scenario and phenomenon of the disaster were different, but the similarities are that after receiving the warning peoples does not take it seriously. Many individuals evacuated after taking some kind of action, for example; return to home, searching for family members, prepared valuable things etc. Based on a review of the literature, the data identified a number of factors that help explain evacuation behavior during the disaster. In the case of Japan, cultural inhibitors impact people’s behavior; for example, following the traffic rules, some people lost their time to skip because of the slow-moving car makes overcrowded traffic and some of them were washed away by the tsunami. In terms of Bangladeshi culture, women did not want to evacuate without men because staying men and women who do not know each other under the same roof together is not regular practice or comfortable. From these three case studies, it is observed that early warning plays an important role in cyclones, typhoons and earthquakes. A high level of trust from residents in the warning system is important to real evacuation. It is necessary to raise awareness of disaster and provide information on the vulnerability to cyclones, typhoons and earthquakes hazards at community levels. The local level may help decision makers and other stakeholders to make a better decision regarding an effective disaster management.Keywords: disaster management, emergency period, evacuation, shelter, typhoon
Procedia PDF Downloads 15823754 Measure of Pleasure of Drug Users
Authors: Vano Tsertsvadze, Marina Chavchanidze, Lali Khurtsia
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Problem of drug use is often seen as a combination of psychological and social problems, but this problem can be considered as economically rational decision in the process of buying pleasure (looking after children, reading, harvesting fruits in the fall, sex, eating, etc.). Before the adoption of the decisions people face to a trade-off - when someone chooses a delicious meal, she takes a completely rational decision, that the pleasure of eating has a lot more value than the pleasure which she will experience after two months diet on the summer beach showing off her beautiful body. This argument is also true for alcohol, drugs and cigarettes. Smoking has a negative effect on health, but smokers are not afraid of the threat of a lung cancer after 40 years, more valuable moment is a pleasure from smoking. Our hypothesis - unsatisfied pleasure and frustration, probably determines the risk of dependence on drug abuse. The purpose of research: 1- to determine the relative measure unit of pleasure, which will be used to measure and assess the intensity of various human pleasures. 2- to compare the intensity of the pleasure from different kinds of activity, with pleasures received from drug use. 3- Based on the analysis of data, to identify factors affecting the rational decision making. Research method: Respondents will be asked to recall the greatest pleasure of their life, which will be used as a measure of the other pleasures. The study will use focus groups and structured interviews.Keywords: drug, drug-user, measurement, satisfaction
Procedia PDF Downloads 32223753 A Qualitative Research of Online Fraud Decision-Making Process
Authors: Semire Yekta
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Many online retailers set up manual review teams to overcome the limitations of automated online fraud detection systems. This study critically examines the strategies they adapt in their decision-making process to set apart fraudulent individuals from non-fraudulent online shoppers. The study uses a mix method research approach. 32 in-depth interviews have been conducted alongside with participant observation and auto-ethnography. The study found out that all steps of the decision-making process are significantly affected by a level of subjectivity, personal understandings of online fraud, preferences and judgments and not necessarily by objectively identifiable facts. Rather clearly knowing who the fraudulent individuals are, the team members have to predict whether they think the customer might be a fraudster. Common strategies used are relying on the classification and fraud scorings in the automated fraud detection systems, weighing up arguments for and against the customer and making a decision, using cancellation to test customers’ reaction and making use of personal experiences and “the sixth sense”. The interaction in the team also plays a significant role given that some decisions turn into a group discussion. While customer data represent the basis for the decision-making, fraud management teams frequently make use of Google search and Google Maps to find out additional information about the customer and verify whether the customer is the person they claim to be. While this, on the one hand, raises ethical concerns, on the other hand, Google Street View on the address and area of the customer puts customers living in less privileged housing and areas at a higher risk of being classified as fraudsters. Phone validation is used as a final measurement to make decisions for or against the customer when previous strategies and Google Search do not suffice. However, phone validation is also characterized by individuals’ subjectivity, personal views and judgment on customer’s reaction on the phone that results in a final classification as genuine or fraudulent.Keywords: online fraud, data mining, manual review, social construction
Procedia PDF Downloads 34423752 XAI Implemented Prognostic Framework: Condition Monitoring and Alert System Based on RUL and Sensory Data
Authors: Faruk Ozdemir, Roy Kalawsky, Peter Hubbard
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Accurate estimation of RUL provides a basis for effective predictive maintenance, reducing unexpected downtime for industrial equipment. However, while models such as the Random Forest have effective predictive capabilities, they are the so-called ‘black box’ models, where interpretability is at a threshold to make critical diagnostic decisions involved in industries related to aviation. The purpose of this work is to present a prognostic framework that embeds Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques in order to provide essential transparency in Machine Learning methods' decision-making mechanisms based on sensor data, with the objective of procuring actionable insights for the aviation industry. Sensor readings have been gathered from critical equipment such as turbofan jet engine and landing gear, and the prediction of the RUL is done by a Random Forest model. It involves steps such as data gathering, feature engineering, model training, and evaluation. These critical components’ datasets are independently trained and evaluated by the models. While suitable predictions are served, their performance metrics are reasonably good; such complex models, however obscure reasoning for the predictions made by them and may even undermine the confidence of the decision-maker or the maintenance teams. This is followed by global explanations using SHAP and local explanations using LIME in the second phase to bridge the gap in reliability within industrial contexts. These tools analyze model decisions, highlighting feature importance and explaining how each input variable affects the output. This dual approach offers a general comprehension of the overall model behavior and detailed insight into specific predictions. The proposed framework, in its third component, incorporates the techniques of causal analysis in the form of Granger causality tests in order to move beyond correlation toward causation. This will not only allow the model to predict failures but also present reasons, from the key sensor features linked to possible failure mechanisms to relevant personnel. The causality between sensor behaviors and equipment failures creates much value for maintenance teams due to better root cause identification and effective preventive measures. This step contributes to the system being more explainable. Surrogate Several simple models, including Decision Trees and Linear Models, can be used in yet another stage to approximately represent the complex Random Forest model. These simpler models act as backups, replicating important jobs of the original model's behavior. If the feature explanations obtained from the surrogate model are cross-validated with the primary model, the insights derived would be more reliable and provide an intuitive sense of how the input variables affect the predictions. We then create an iterative explainable feedback loop, where the knowledge learned from the explainability methods feeds back into the training of the models. This feeds into a cycle of continuous improvement both in model accuracy and interpretability over time. By systematically integrating new findings, the model is expected to adapt to changed conditions and further develop its prognosis capability. These components are then presented to the decision-makers through the development of a fully transparent condition monitoring and alert system. The system provides a holistic tool for maintenance operations by leveraging RUL predictions, feature importance scores, persistent sensor threshold values, and autonomous alert mechanisms. Since the system will provide explanations for the predictions given, along with active alerts, the maintenance personnel can make informed decisions on their end regarding correct interventions to extend the life of the critical machinery.Keywords: predictive maintenance, explainable artificial intelligence, prognostic, RUL, machine learning, turbofan engines, C-MAPSS dataset
Procedia PDF Downloads 923751 The Restrictions of the Householder’s ‘Double Two-Thirds Principles’ in Decision-Making for Elevators Addition to Existing Condominium
Authors: Haifeng Shi, Kun Song, Yili Zhao
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In China, with the extensive promotion of the ‘aging in place’ pension policy as the background, most of the elders will choose to remain in their current homes and communities, finding out of preference or necessity that they will need to remodel their homes to fit their changing needs. This generation elder born in the 1960s to 1970s almost live in the same form of housing-condominium built from 1982 to 2012. Based on the survey of existing multi-family housing, especially in Tianjin, it is found that the current ‘double two-thirds principles’ is becoming the threshold for modification to existing house, particularly in the project of elevators addition to existing condominium (built from 1982 to 2016 without elevators below 6 floors according to the previous building code). Firstly, this article concludes the local policies of elevator addition nationwide, most of which has determined the importance and necessity of the community-based self-organization principle in the operation of the elevator addition. Secondly, by comparing the three existing community management systems (owners' congress, property management system and community committee) in instances, find that the community-based ‘two-thirds’ principle is not conducive to implement for multi-owned property renovation in the community or common accessibility modification in the building. However, analysis the property and other community management related laws, pointing out the shortcomings of the existing community-based ‘two-thirds’ decision-making norms. The analyzation showed that the unit-based and ‘100% principle’ method is more capable of common accessibility in the condominium in China. Differing from existing laws, the unit-based principle will be effective for the process of decision-making and ‘100% principle’ will protect closely profit-related householders for condominium modification in the multi-owned area. These three aspects of the analysis suggest that the establishment of the unit-based self-organization mechanism is a preferred and inevitable method to solve the problem of elevators addition to the existing condominium in China.Keywords: aging in place, condominium, modification, multi own
Procedia PDF Downloads 15023750 Integrated Water Resources Management to Ensure Water Security of Arial Khan River Catchment
Authors: Abul Kalam Azad
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Water security has become an increasingly important issue both at the national and international levels. Bangladesh having an abundance of water during monsoon while the shortage of water during the dry season is far from being water secured. Though water security has been discussed discretely at a different level but a holistic effort to ensure water security is yet to be made. The elements of water security such as sectoral demands of water, conflicting requirements amongst the sectors, balancing between demand and supply including the quality of water can best be understood and managed in a catchment as it is the standard functioning unit. The Arial Khan River catchment consists of parts of Faridpur, Madaripur, Shariatpur and Barishal districts have all the components of water demands such as agriculture, domestic, commercial, industrial, forestry, fisheries, navigation or recreation and e-flow requirements. Based on secondary and primary data, water demands of various sectors have been determined. CROPWAT 8.0 has been used to determine the Agricultural Water Demand. Mean Annual Flow (MAF) and Flow Duration Curve (FDC) have been used to determine the e-flow requirements. Water Evaluation and Planning System (WEAP) based decision support tool as part of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) has been utilized for ensuring the water security of the Arial Khan River catchment. Studies and practice around the globe connected with water security were consulted to mitigate the pressure on demand and supply including the options available to ensure the water security. Combining all the information, a framework for ensuring water security has been suggested for Arial Khan River catchment which can further be projected to river basin as well as for the country. This will assist planners and researchers to introduce the model for integrated water resources management of any catchment/river basins.Keywords: water security, water demand, water supply, WEAP, CROPWAT
Procedia PDF Downloads 2223749 Contextual Factors of Innovation for Improving Commercial Banks' Performance in Nigeria
Authors: Tomola Obamuyi
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The banking system in Nigeria adopted innovative banking, with the aim of enhancing financial inclusion, and making financial services readily and cheaply available to majority of the people, and to contribute to the efficiency of the financial system. Some of the innovative services include: Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs), National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), Point of Sale (PoS), internet (Web) banking, Mobile Money payment (MMO), Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), agent banking, among others. The introduction of these payment systems is expected to increase bank efficiency and customers' satisfaction, culminating in better performance for the commercial banks. However, opinions differ on the possible effects of the various innovative payment systems on the performance of commercial banks in the country. Thus, this study empirically determines how commercial banks use innovation to gain competitive advantage in the specific context of Nigeria's finance and business. The study also analyses the effects of financial innovation on the performance of commercial banks, when different periods of analysis are considered. The study employed secondary data from 2009 to 2018, the period that witnessed aggressive innovation in the financial sector of the country. The Vector Autoregression (VAR) estimation technique forecasts the relative variance of each random innovation to the variables in the VAR, examine the effect of standard deviation shock to one of the innovations on current and future values of the impulse response and determine the causal relationship between the variables (VAR granger causality test). The study also employed the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) to rank the innovations and the performance criteria of Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE). The entropy method of MCDM was used to determine which of the performance criteria better reflect the contributions of the various innovations in the banking sector. On the other hand, the Range of Values (ROV) method was used to rank the contributions of the seven innovations to performance. The analysis was done based on medium term (five years) and long run (ten years) of innovations in the sector. The impulse response function derived from the VAR system indicated that the response of ROA to the values of cheques transaction, values of NEFT transactions, values of POS transactions was positive and significant in the periods of analysis. The paper also confirmed with entropy and range of value that, in the long run, both the CHEQUE and MMO performed best while NEFT was next in performance. The paper concluded that commercial banks would enhance their performance by continuously improving on the services provided through Cheques, National Electronic Fund Transfer and Point of Sale since these instruments have long run effects on their performance. This will increase the confidence of the populace and encourage more usage/patronage of these services. The banking sector will in turn experience better performance which will improve the economy of the country. Keywords: Bank performance, financial innovation, multi-criteria decision making, vector autoregression,Keywords: Bank performance, financial innovation, multi-criteria decision making, vector autoregression
Procedia PDF Downloads 12123748 Mitigating the Cost of Empty Container Repositioning through the Virtual Container Yard: An Appraisal of Carriers’ Perceptions
Authors: L. Edirisinghe, Z. Jin, A. W. Wijeratne, R. Mudunkotuwa
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Empty container repositioning is a fundamental problem faced by the shipping industry. The virtual container yard is a novel strategy underpinning the container interchange between carriers that could substantially reduce this ever-increasing shipping cost. This paper evaluates the shipping industry perception of the virtual container yard using chi-square tests. It examines if the carriers perceive that the selected independent variables, namely culture, organization, decision, marketing, attitudes, legal, independent, complexity, and stakeholders of carriers, impact the efficiency and benefits of the virtual container yard. There are two major findings of the research. Firstly, carriers view that complexity, attitudes, and stakeholders may impact the effectiveness of container interchange and may influence the perceived benefits of the virtual container yard. Secondly, the three factors of legal, organization, and decision influence only the perceived benefits of the virtual container yard. Accordingly, the implementation of the virtual container yard will be influenced by six key factors, namely complexity, attitudes, stakeholders, legal, organization and decision. Since the virtual container yard could reduce overall shipping costs, it is vital to examine the carriers’ perception of this concept.Keywords: virtual container yard, imbalance, management, inventory
Procedia PDF Downloads 19523747 Sustainable Approach for Strategic Planning of Construction of Buildings using Multi-Criteria Decision Making Tools
Authors: Kishor Bhagwat, Gayatri Vyas
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Construction industry is earmarked with complex processes depending on the nature and scope of the project. In recent years, developments in this sector are remarkable and have resulted in both positive and negative impacts on the environment and human being. Sustainable construction can be looked upon as one of the solution to overcome the negative impacts since sustainable construction is a vast concept, which includes many parameters, and sometimes the use of multi-criteria decision making [MCDM] tools becomes necessary. The main objective of this study is to determine the weightage of sustainable building parameters with the help of MCDM tools. Questionnaire survey was conducted to examine the perspective of respondents on the importance of weights of the criterion, and the respondents were architects, green building consultants, and civil engineers. This paper presents an overview of research related to Indian and international green building rating systems and MCDM. The results depict that economy, environmental health, and safety, site selection, climatic condition, etc., are important parameters in sustainable construction.Keywords: green building, sustainability, multi-criteria decision making method [MCDM], analytical hierarchy process [AHP], technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution [TOPSIS], entropy
Procedia PDF Downloads 10023746 The Impact of Religiosity and Ethical Senstivity on Accounting Students’ Ethical Judgement Decision
Authors: Ahmed Mohamed Alteer
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The purpose of this paper is come up with theoretical model through understanding the causes and motives behind the auditors' sensitive to ethical dilemma through Auditing Students. This study considers the possibility of auditing students’ ethical judgement being affected by two individual factors, namely ethical sensitivity and religiosity. The finding of this study that there are several ethical theories a models provide a significant understanding of ethical issues and supported that ethical sensitivity and religiosity may affect ethical judgement decision among accounting students. The suggestion model proposes that student ethical judgement is influenced by their ethical sensitivity and their religiosity. Nonetheless, the influence of religiosity on ethical judgement is expected to be via ethical sensitivity.Keywords: asccounting students, ethical sensitivity, religiosity, ethical judgement
Procedia PDF Downloads 62023745 Design of Real Time Early Response Systems for Natural Disaster Management Based on Automation and Control Technologies
Authors: C. Pacheco, A. Cipriano
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A new concept of response system is proposed for filling the gap that exists in reducing vulnerability during immediate response to natural disasters. Real Time Early Response Systems (RTERSs) incorporate real time information as feedback data for closing control loop and for generating real time situation assessment. A review of the state of the art works that fit the concept of RTERS is presented, and it is found that they are mainly focused on manmade disasters. At the same time, in response phase of natural disaster management many works are involved in creating early warning systems, but just few efforts have been put on deciding what to do once an alarm is activated. In this context a RTERS arises as a useful tool for supporting people in their decision making process during natural disasters after an event is detected, and also as an innovative context for applying well-known automation technologies and automatic control concepts and tools.Keywords: disaster management, emergency response system, natural disasters, real time
Procedia PDF Downloads 44623744 AI In Health and Wellbeing - A Seven-Step Engineering Method
Authors: Denis Özdemir, Max Senges
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There are many examples of AI-supported apps for better health and wellbeing. Generally, these applications help people to achieve their goals based on scientific research and input data. Still, they do not always explain how those three are related, e.g. by making implicit assumptions about goals that hold for many but not for all. We present a seven-step method for designing health and wellbeing AIs considering goal setting, measurable results, real-time indicators, analytics, visual representations, communication, and feedback. It can help engineers as guidance in developing apps, recommendation algorithms, and interfaces that support humans in their decision-making without patronization. To illustrate the method, we create a recommender AI for tiny wellbeing habits and run a small case study, including a survey. From the results, we infer how people perceive the relationship between them and the AI and to what extent it helps them to achieve their goals. We review our seven-step engineering method and suggest modifications for the next iteration.Keywords: recommender systems, natural language processing, health apps, engineering methods
Procedia PDF Downloads 16623743 Theoretical Study of Flexible Edge Seals for Vacuum Glazing
Authors: Farid Arya, Trevor Hyde
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The development of vacuum glazing represents a significant advancement in the area of low heat loss glazing systems with the potential to substantially reduce building heating and cooling loads. Vacuum glazing consists of two or more glass panes hermetically sealed together around the edge with a vacuum gap between the panes. To avoid the glass panes from collapsing and touching each other under the influence of atmospheric pressure an array of support pillars is provided between the glass panes. A high level of thermal insulation is achieved by evacuating the spaces between the glass panes to a very low pressure which greatly reduces conduction and convection within the space; therefore heat transfer through this kind of glazing is significantly lower when compared with conventional insulating glazing. However, vacuum glazing is subject to inherent stresses due to atmospheric pressure and temperature differentials which can lead to fracture of the glass panes and failure of the edge seal. A flexible edge seal has been proposed to minimise the impact of these issues. In this paper, vacuum glazing system with rigid and flexible edge seals is theoretically studied and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed.Keywords: flexible edge seal, stress, support pillar, vacuum glazing
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