Search results for: objective inequality

Authors: Amna Khaliq

Abstract:

In this article, the phenomena of common stereotypes and glass ceiling barriers in women’s career advancement in men dominating society are explored. A brief background is provided on the misconception for women as soft, delicate, polite and compassionate at a workplace in the place of strong head and go-getter. Then, the literature review supports that stereotypes and glass ceiling barriers are still in existence for young women’s leadership. Increased encouragement, emotional intelligence, and better communication skills are recommended to parents, educators, and employers to prepare young women for senior leadership roles. Young women need mentorship from other women with no competition.

Keywords: Gender inequality, Glass ceiling, Stereotypes, Leadership

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Tunjo Perić, Franjo Bratić

Abstract:

In this paper the goal programming methodology for solving multiple objective problem of the technological variants and production plan optimization has been applied. The optimization criteria are determined and the multiple objective linear programming model for solving a problem of the technological variants and production plan optimization is formed and solved. Then the obtained results are analysed. The obtained results point out to the possibility of efficient application of the goal programming methodology in solving the problem of the technological variants and production plan optimization. The paper points out on the advantages of the application of the goal programming methodolohy compare to the Surrogat Worth Trade-off method in solving this problem.

Keywords: goal programming, multi objective programming, production plan, SWT method, technological variants

Procedia PDF Downloads 370

Authors: Julio Silva, Lia Hasenclever, Gilson G. Silva Jr.

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to check possible convergence in health measures (aged-standard rate of morbidity and mortality) for communicable diseases between developed and developing countries, conditional to productive structures features. Understanding the interrelations between health patterns and economic development is particularly important in the context of low- and middle-income countries, where economic development comes along with deep social inequality. Developing countries with less diversified productive structures (measured through complexity index) but high heterogeneous inter-sectorial labor productivity (using as a proxy inter-sectorial coefficient of variation of labor productivity) has on average low health levels in communicable diseases compared to developed countries with high diversified productive structures and low labor market heterogeneity. Structural heterogeneity and productive diversification may have influence on health levels even considering per capita income. We set up a panel data for 139 countries from 1995 to 2015, joining several data about the countries, as economic development, health, and health system coverage, environmental and socioeconomic aspects. This information was obtained from World Bank, International Labour Organization, Atlas of Economic Complexity, United Nation (Development Report) and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Database. Econometric panel models evidence shows that the level of communicable diseases has a positive relationship with structural heterogeneity, even considering other factors as per capita income. On the other hand, the recent process of convergence in terms of communicable diseases have been motivated for other reasons not directly related to productive structure, as health system coverage and environmental aspects. These evidences suggest a joint dynamics between the unequal distribution of communicable diseases and countries' productive structure aspects. These set of evidence are quite important to public policy as meet the health aims in Millennium Development Goals. It also highlights the importance of the process of structural change as fundamental to shift the levels of health in terms of communicable diseases and can contribute to the debate between the relation of economic development and health patterns changes.

Keywords: economic development, inequality, population health, structural change

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Arash Rahmani, Ahmad Ghanbari, Abbas Baghernezhad, Babak Safaei

Abstract:

In the design of parallel manipulators, usually mean value of a dexterity measure over the workspace volume is considered as the objective function to be used in optimization algorithms. The mentioned indexes in a hybrid parallel manipulator (HPM) are quite complicated to solve thanks to infinite solutions for every point within the workspace of the redundant manipulators. In this paper, spatial isotropic design axioms are extended as a well-known method for optimum design of manipulators. An upper limit for the isotropy measure of HPM is calculated and instead of computing and minimizing isotropy measure, minimizing the obtained limit is considered. To this end, two different objective functions are suggested which are obtained from objective functions of comprising modules. Finally, by using genetic algorithm (GA), the best geometric parameters for a specific hybrid parallel robot which is composed of two modified Gough-Stewart platforms (MGSP) are achieved.

Keywords: hybrid manipulator, spatial isotropy, genetic algorithm, optimum design

Procedia PDF Downloads 330

Authors: Zahra Hamidi

Abstract:

Promoting cycling, as an affordable environmentally friendly mode of transport to replace private car use has been central to sustainable transport policies. Cycling is faster than walking and combined with public transport has the potential to extend the opportunities that people can access. In other words, cycling, besides direct positive health impacts, can improve people mobility and ultimately their quality of life. Transport literature well supports the close relationship between mobility, quality of life, and, well being. At the same time inequity in the distribution of access and mobility has been associated with the key aspects of injustice and social exclusion. The pattern of social exclusion and inequality in access are also often related to population characteristics such as age, gender, income, health, and ethnic background. Therefore, while investing in transport infrastructure it is important to consider the equity of provided access for different population groups. This paper proposes a method to evaluate the equity of cycling in a city from Rawls egalitarian perspective. Since this perspective is concerned with the difference between individuals and social groups, this method combines accessibility measures and Theil index of inequality that allows capturing the inequalities ‘within’ and ‘between’ groups. The paper specifically focuses on two population characteristics as gender and ethnic background. Following Rawls equity principles, this paper measures accessibility by bikes to a selection of urban activities that can be linked to the concept of the social primary goods. Moreover, as growing number of cities around the world have launched bike-sharing systems (BSS) this paper incorporates both private and public bikes networks in the estimation of accessibility levels. Additionally, the typology of bike lanes (separated from or shared with roads), the presence of a bike sharing system in the network, as well as bike facilities (e.g. parking racks) have been included in the developed accessibility measures. Application of this proposed method to a real case study, the city of Malmö, Sweden, shows its effectiveness and efficiency. Although the accessibility levels were estimated only based on gender and ethnic background characteristics of the population, the author suggests that the analysis can be applied to other contexts and further developed using other properties, such as age, income, or health.

Keywords: accessibility, cycling, equity, gender

Procedia PDF Downloads 400

Authors: Anvar Atayev, Karl Steinborn, Aleksander Lovric, Saif Al-Ibadi, Jorg Fliege

Abstract:

In this paper, we present results obtained from optimising the aerodynamic performance of aerostructures in external ow. The optimisation method used was developed to efficiently handle multi-variable problems with numerous black-box objective functions and constraints. To demonstrate these capabilities, a series of CFD problems were considered; (1) a two-dimensional NACA aerofoil with three variables, (2) a two-dimensional morphing aerofoil with 17 variables, and (3) a three-dimensional morphing aeroplane tail with 33 variables. The objective functions considered were related to combinations of the mean aerodynamic coefficients, as well as their relative variations/oscillations. It was observed that for each CFD problem, an improved objective value was found. Notably, the scale-up in variables for the latter problems did not greatly hinder optimisation performance. This makes the method promising for scaled-up CFD problems, which require considerable computational resources.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, optimisation algorithms, aerodynamic design, engineering design

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: E. T. L. Cöuras Ford, V. A. C. Vale, J. U. L. Mendes

Abstract:

Two of the objective principal in the study of the aerodynamics of vehicles are the safety and the acting. Those objectives can be reached through the development of devices modify the drainage of air about of the vehicle and also through alterations in the way of the external surfaces. The front lowest profile of the vehicle, for instance, has great influence on the coefficient of aerodynamic penetration (Cx) and later on great part of the pressure distribution along the surface of the vehicle. The objective of this work was of analyzing the aerodynamic behavior that it happens on some types the trucks of vehicles, based on experimentation in aerodynamic tunnel, seeking to determine the aerodynamic efficiency of each one of them.

Keywords: aerodynamic, vehicles, wind tunnel, safety, acting

Procedia PDF Downloads 491

Authors: Marcelo Jose Cabarcas Ortega, Lissette Herrera, Juan Carlos Lemus Stave

Abstract:

This work makes a rather theoretical reflection on a pedagogical response against the coloniality of knowledge and power. The purpose here is to reflect on the challenges and opportunities it opens up in the educational field. No doubt, ours derived in a more abstract than concrete reflection. The quest, nevertheless, to stimulate the interest in a non-violent, non-contemptuous education able to balance, improves and if necessary, transforms the relationships that have made it a space of privilege and exclusion. We all know the school has found itself in need of rethinking diversity while developing awareness of its own role in reproducing inequality. Intercultural education may provide an answer to that hurry when fostering critical awareness and dialogue.

Keywords: decoloniality, coloniality of power, diversity, interculturality

Procedia PDF Downloads 226

Authors: Juha Kettunen

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to develop a framework for the assessment of research and development projects. The assessment map is developed in this study based on the strategy map of the balanced scorecard approach. The assessment map is applied in a project that aims to reduce the inequality and risk of exclusion of young people from disadvantaged social groups. The assessment map denotes that not only funding but also necessary skills and qualifications should be carefully assessed in the implementation of the project plans so as to achieve the objectives of projects and the desired impact. The results of this study are useful for those who want to develop the implementation of the Erasmus+ Programme and the project teams of research and development projects.

Keywords: non-formal learning, youth work, social inclusion, innovation

Procedia PDF Downloads 292

Authors: Dale Dzemydiene, Aurelija Burinskiene, Arunas Miliauskas, Kristina Ciziuniene

Abstract:

Data flow and the purpose of reporting the data are different and dependent on business needs. Different parameters are reported and transferred regularly during freight delivery. This business practices form the dataset constructed for each time point and contain all required information for freight moving decisions. As a significant amount of these data is used for various purposes, an integrating methodological approach must be developed to respond to the indicated problem. The proposed methodology contains several steps: (1) collecting context data sets and data validation; (2) multi-objective analysis for optimizing freight transfer services. For data validation, the study involves Grubbs outliers analysis, particularly for data cleaning and the identification of statistical significance of data reporting event cases. The Grubbs test is often used as it measures one external value at a time exceeding the boundaries of standard normal distribution. In the study area, the test was not widely applied by authors, except when the Grubbs test for outlier detection was used to identify outsiders in fuel consumption data. In the study, the authors applied the method with a confidence level of 99%. For the multi-objective analysis, the authors would like to select the forms of construction of the genetic algorithms, which have more possibilities to extract the best solution. For freight delivery management, the schemas of genetic algorithms' structure are used as a more effective technique. Due to that, the adaptable genetic algorithm is applied for the description of choosing process of the effective transportation corridor. In this study, the multi-objective genetic algorithm methods are used to optimize the data evaluation and select the appropriate transport corridor. The authors suggest a methodology for the multi-objective analysis, which evaluates collected context data sets and uses this evaluation to determine a delivery corridor for freight transfer service in the multi-modal transportation network. In the multi-objective analysis, authors include safety components, the number of accidents a year, and freight delivery time in the multi-modal transportation network. The proposed methodology has practical value in the management of multi-modal transportation processes.

Keywords: multi-objective, analysis, data flow, freight delivery, methodology

Procedia PDF Downloads 172

Authors: A. Yousuf, M. Iqbal, A. Mir, S. Aziz

Abstract:

This study deals with the women’s right to land for gender equality. Economic Transformation Initiative, Gilgit-Baltistan (ETI-GB), an ambitious program supported by International Fund for Agricultural Development United Nation (IFAD, UN), aims to strengthen land reforms process in disputed area of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Pakistan, that is taking place first time in the history. This project is a brick to build the foundation of land reforms and land policies in GB. The ETI-GB provides substantive support to government of GB in developing policy measures and initiatives to promote women’s right to have and to own land is kind of unconventional step in a very traditional society. It would be interesting to have discussion and document the people’s response regarding this project. The study has used mixed method for data collection. For qualitative data, content analysis is used to have a thorough understanding of different types of land reforms across the globe particularly in South Asia. Theoretical understanding of the literature is essential which provides the basis why land reforms are important and how far it plays an important role when it comes to eliminating inequality. Focused group discussion was carried out for verification and triangulation of data. For quantitative, survey was conducted to take responses from the people of the region and analyzed. The program is implemented in Ghizer district of GB. 2340 households were identified as beneficiaries of newly developed land. Among them, 2285 were men households, and 55 were women households. There is a significant difference between men and women households. In spite of great difference, it is a great achievement of the donor that in history of GB, first time women are going to be entitled to land ownership. GB is a patriarchal society, many social factors like cultural, religious play role for gender inequality. In developing countries, such as Pakistan, the awareness of land property rights has not been given proper attention to gender equality development frameworks. It is argued that land property rights of women have not been taken into mainstream policymaking in the development of nation building process. Consequently, this has generated deprivation of women’s property rights, low income level, lack of education and poor health. This paper emphasises that there should have proper land property right of women in Gilgit-Baltistan Pakistan, provided that the gender empowerment could be increased in terms of women’s property rights.

Keywords: gender equality, women right to land ownership, property rights, women empowerment

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Mandeep Kaur, Fatehgarh Sahib

Abstract:

The purpose of economic load dispatch is to allocate the required load demand between the available generation units such that the cost of operation is minimized. It is an optimization problem to find the most economical schedule of the generating units while satisfying load demand and operational constraints. The multiobjective optimization problem in which the engineer’s goal is to maximize or minimize not a single objective function but several objective functions simultaneously. The purpose of multiobjective problems in the mathematical programming framework is to optimize the different objective functions. Many approaches and methods have been proposed in recent years to solve multiobjective optimization problems. Weighting method has been applied to convert multiobjective optimization problems into scalar optimization. MATLAB 7.10 has been used to write the code for the complete algorithm with the help of genetic algorithm (GA). The validity of the proposed method has been demonstrated on a three-unit power system.

Keywords: economic load dispatch, genetic algorithm, generating units, multiobjective optimization, weighting method

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Hudson Akewe

Abstract:

We prove that the convergence of explicit Mann, explicit Ishikawa, explicit Noor, explicit SP, explicit multistep and explicit multistep-SP fixed point iterative procedures are equivalent for the classes of multi-valued phi-contraction, phi-Zamfirescu and phi-quasi-contractive mappings in the framework of modular function spaces. Our results complement equivalence results on normed and metric spaces in the literature as they elegantly cut out the triangle inequality.

Keywords: multistep iterative procedures, multivalued mappings, equivalence results, fixed point

Procedia PDF Downloads 123

Authors: F. Jiménez, R. Jódar, M. Martín, G. Sánchez, G. Sciavicco

Abstract:

Abstract—Attribute or feature selection is one of the basic strategies to improve the performances of data classification tasks, and, at the same time, to reduce the complexity of classifiers, and it is a particularly fundamental one when the number of attributes is relatively high. Its application to unsupervised classification is restricted to a limited number of experiments in the literature. Evolutionary computation has already proven itself to be a very effective choice to consistently reduce the number of attributes towards a better classification rate and a simpler semantic interpretation of the inferred classifiers. We present a feature selection wrapper model composed by a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm, the clustering method Expectation-Maximization (EM), and the classifier C4.5 for the unsupervised classification of data extracted from a psychological test named BASC-II (Behavior Assessment System for Children - II ed.) with two objectives: Maximizing the likelihood of the clustering model and maximizing the accuracy of the obtained classifier. We present a methodology to integrate feature selection for unsupervised classification, model evaluation, decision making (to choose the most satisfactory model according to a a posteriori process in a multi-objective context), and testing. We compare the performance of the classifier obtained by the multi-objective evolutionary algorithms ENORA and NSGA-II, and the best solution is then validated by the psychologists that collected the data.

Keywords: evolutionary computation, feature selection, classification, clustering

Procedia PDF Downloads 364

Authors: Chen Guo, Heng Tang, Ben Niu

Abstract:

Clustering splits objects into different groups based on similarity, making the objects have higher similarity in the same group and lower similarity in different groups. Thus, clustering can be treated as an optimization problem to maximize the intra-cluster similarity or inter-cluster dissimilarity. In real-world applications, the datasets often have some complex characteristics: sparse, overlap, high dimensionality, etc. When facing these datasets, simultaneously optimizing two or more objectives can obtain better clustering results than optimizing one objective. However, except for the objectives weighting methods, traditional clustering approaches have difficulty in solving multi-objective data clustering problems. Due to this, evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithms are investigated by researchers to optimize multiple clustering objectives. In this paper, the Data Clustering algorithm based on Multi-objective Periodic Bacterial Foraging Optimization with two Learning Archives (DC-MPBFOLA) is proposed. Specifically, first, to reduce the high computing complexity of the original BFO, periodic BFO is employed as the basic algorithmic framework. Then transfer the periodic BFO into a multi-objective type. Second, two learning strategies are proposed based on the two learning archives to guide the bacterial swarm to move in a better direction. On the one hand, the global best is selected from the global learning archive according to the convergence index and diversity index. On the other hand, the personal best is selected from the personal learning archive according to the sum of weighted objectives. According to the aforementioned learning strategies, a chemotaxis operation is designed. Third, an elite learning strategy is designed to provide fresh power to the objects in two learning archives. When the objects in these two archives do not change for two consecutive times, randomly initializing one dimension of objects can prevent the proposed algorithm from falling into local optima. Fourth, to validate the performance of the proposed algorithm, DC-MPBFOLA is compared with four state-of-art evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithms and one classical clustering algorithm on evaluation indexes of datasets. To further verify the effectiveness and feasibility of designed strategies in DC-MPBFOLA, variants of DC-MPBFOLA are also proposed. Experimental results demonstrate that DC-MPBFOLA outperforms its competitors regarding all evaluation indexes and clustering partitions. These results also indicate that the designed strategies positively influence the performance improvement of the original BFO.

Keywords: data clustering, multi-objective optimization, bacterial foraging optimization, learning archives

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: F. Hamidi, N. Amiri, H. Mishmast Nehi

Abstract:

The Bilevel Programming (BP) model has been presented for a decision making process that consists of two decision makers in a hierarchical structure. In fact, BP is a model for a static two person game (the leader player in the upper level and the follower player in the lower level) wherein each player tries to optimize his/her personal objective function under dependent constraints; this game is sequential and non-cooperative. The decision making variables are divided between the two players and one’s choice affects the other’s benefit and choices. In other words, BP consists of two nested optimization problems with two objective functions (upper and lower) where the constraint region of the upper level problem is implicitly determined by the lower level problem. In real cases, the coefficients of an optimization problem may not be precise, i.e. they may be interval. In this paper we develop an algorithm for solving interval bilevel linear fractional programming problems. That is to say, bilevel problems in which both objective functions are linear fractional, the coefficients are interval and the common constraint region is a polyhedron. From the original problem, the best and the worst bilevel linear fractional problems have been derived and then, using the extended Charnes and Cooper transformation, each fractional problem can be reduced to a linear problem. Then we can find the best and the worst optimal values of the leader objective function by two algorithms.

Keywords: best and worst optimal solutions, bilevel programming, fractional, interval coefficients

Procedia PDF Downloads 439

Authors: Antonin Ponsich, Eric Alfredo Rincon Garcia, Roman Anselmo Mora Gutierrez, Miguel Angel Gutierrez Andrade, Sergio Gerardo De Los Cobos Silva, Pedro Lara Velzquez

Abstract:

The electoral zone design problem consists in redrawing the boundaries of legislative districts for electoral purposes in such a way that federal or state requirements are fulfilled. In Mexico, this process has been historically carried out by the National Electoral Institute (INE), by optimizing an integer nonlinear programming model, in which population equality and compactness of the designed districts are considered as two conflicting objective functions, while contiguity is included as a hard constraint. The solution technique used by the INE is a Simulated Annealing (SA) based algorithm, which handles the multi-objective nature of the problem through an aggregation function. The present work represents the first intent to apply a classical Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA), the second version of the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II), to this hard combinatorial problem. First results show that, when compared with the SA algorithm, the NSGA-II obtains promising results. The MOEA manages to produce well-distributed solutions over a wide-spread front, even though some convergence troubles for some instances constitute an issue, which should be corrected in future adaptations of MOEAs to the redistricting problem.

Keywords: multi-objective optimization, NSGA-II, redistricting, zone design problem

Procedia PDF Downloads 363

Authors: Peter Nave Shirga

Abstract:

Obadia Kehemen Orkor’s songs that focus on the predicament of the Tiv man in Taraba in North Central Nigeria handle themes such as poverty, social inequality, discrimination and tyranny perpetrated by Jukun against the Tiv. The major thrust of his focus in the songs is the overriding longing for mutual understanding between the Jukun and Tiv that would usher in love, equality, peace and harmonious co-existence for the two antagonistic ethnic groups. This paper examines Obadia’s hard-hitting lyrics that reveal the anger, frustration and boiling emotionalism of Tiv people in Taraba state of Nigeria.

Keywords: poet, crisis, emotionalism, frustration

Procedia PDF Downloads 300

Authors: Ritsuko Kawasaki (Aiba), Takeshi Hiromatsu

Abstract:

Management is required to understand all information security risks within an organization, and to make decisions on which information security risks should be treated in what level by allocating how much amount of cost. However, such decision-making is not usually easy, because various measures for risk treatment must be selected with the suitable application levels. In addition, some measures may have objectives conflicting with each other. It also makes the selection difficult. Moreover, risks generally have trends and it also should be considered in risk treatment. Therefore, this paper provides the extension of the model proposed in the previous study. The original model supports the selection of measures by applying a combination of weighted average method and goal programming method for multi-objective analysis to find an optimal solution. The extended model includes the notion of weights to the risks, and the larger weight means the priority of the risk.

Keywords: information security risk treatment, selection of risk measures, risk acceptance, multi-objective optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 458

Authors: Safiah Ahmed Yahya Madkhali

Abstract:

The aim of the present paper is to provide a characterization of the expression of comparison in the language of the Qur’an, the language of the Divine Book of the Muslim nation. It focuses on quantitative as well as qualitative comparisons. While works on comparison constructions in Arabic focus on a type(s) of the comparison construction and exclude another and investigate its behaviour in Standard Arabic, the paper aims to be inclusive of the varied instances that are scalar comparison constructions and describe its aspects in the language of the Qur’an. To the best of my knowledge, comparative constructions in the language of the Qur’an has not been tackled before and hence the characterization provided in the paper would be the contribution of the present work. The paper highlights the several rhetorical features of the construction as present in the different verses in the Qur’an which set them distinct from the ordinary use of the construction in the different verities of the Arabic language.

Keywords: comparison constructions, inequality, comparative, superlative, equality

Procedia PDF Downloads 66

Authors: Hisham M. Soliman, Hassan Yousef

Abstract:

This manuscript presents new results on design saturated power system stabilizers (PSS) to assign system poles within a desired region for achieving good dynamic performance. The regional pole placement is accomplished against model uncertainties caused by different load conditions. The design is based on a sufficient condition in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMI) which forces the saturated nonlinear controller to lie within the linear zone. The controller effectiveness is demonstrated on a single machine infinite bus system.

Keywords: power system stabilizer, saturated control, robust control, regional pole placement, linear matrix inequality (LMI)

Procedia PDF Downloads 559

Authors: Felipe Azocar Simonet, Luis Acosta Espejo

Abstract:

In this article, we will try to find an efficient boundary approximation for the bi-objective location problem with coherent coverage for two levels of hierarchy (CCLP). We present the mathematical formulation of the model used. Supported efficient solutions and unsupported efficient solutions are obtained by solving the bi-objective combinatorial problem through the weights method using a Lagrangean heuristic. Subsequently, the results are validated through the DEA analysis with the GEM index (Global efficiency measurement).

Keywords: coherent covering location problem, efficient frontier, lagragian relaxation, data envelopment analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 324

Authors: Saif Ullah, Guan Zailin, Xu Xianhao, He Zongdong, Wang Baoxi

Abstract:

Assembly line balancing problem is aimed to divide the tasks among the stations in assembly lines and optimize some objectives. In assembly lines the workload on stations is different from each other due to different tasks times and the difference in workloads between stations can cause blockage or starvation in some stations in assembly lines. Buffers are used to store the semi-finished parts between the stations and can help to smooth the assembly production. The assembly line balancing and buffer sizing problem can affect the throughput of the assembly lines. Assembly line balancing and buffer sizing problems have been studied separately in literature and due to their collective contribution in throughput rate of assembly lines, balancing and buffer sizing problem are desired to study simultaneously and therefore they are considered concurrently in current research. Current research is aimed to maximize throughput, minimize total size of buffers in assembly line and minimize workload variations in assembly line simultaneously. A multi objective optimization objective is designed which can give better Pareto solutions from the Pareto front and a simple example problem is solved for assembly line balancing and buffer sizing simultaneously. Current research is significant for assembly line balancing research and it can be significant to introduce optimization approaches which can optimize current multi objective problem in future.

Keywords: assembly line balancing, buffer sizing, Pareto solutions

Procedia PDF Downloads 484

Authors: Jilly John

Abstract:

The paper reports one of the study conducted to explore the dimensions of child rearing practice and effects of power difference among parents on child rearing practices adopted in the families. The first objective investigated dimensions of child rearing practices (a) overprotection (b) disciplinarian, (c) esteem building, (d) normal, (e) harsh (f) ridicule, and (g) rejection. The second objective investigated difference among father and mother on child rearing practices. The results of the study revealed that dimensions of child rearing practices are crucial variables which resulted in form of major deviations in distribution of parents in the seven dimensions. Analysis of objective two revealed that harsh and ridicule dimensions of child rearing practices are significantly different among father and mother. The dimensions are also different when the parents are employed and according to the type of families. Thus the results of the study present the possibility of changed child rearing practices among Indian families in relation to prevalent sociodemographic changes and indicate the necessity to re-examine culture-based explanations on child rearing practices.

Keywords: child rearing practices, dimensions of child rearing, difference among parents, Indian families

Procedia PDF Downloads 394

Authors: Danielle G. Saique

Abstract:

Introduction: Promoting Gender Equality, Equity and Empowerment of Women (GEE&EW) can be attained by practicing thereby exercising Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). Gender Inequality is manifested thru Violence Against Women (VAW). Objectives: This study presents causes, prevalence, effects of Gender Inequality for not practicing and violating SRHR. This proposes Action Plan by promoting, integrating SRHR in the “holistic approach” of Social Work education, practice and service-delivery in any work-set-ups. Limitations: VAW cases showed victim and violator are known, related and living together. Cases transpired at home, reported, investigated in the police and filed in the legal court of law for the year 2013. Methods: Data from blotters, reports, filed cases, case studies gathered by the Social Worker (SWr). Qualitative analysis identified cause, prevalence of VAW related in violating SRHR. SWr serves innovative interventions in any work settings by applying SRHR background, skills in educating, counseling client-victims. Results: 65 VAW cases on non-negotiation or refusal of practicing SRHR. Non-acceptance of Family Planning yielded unwanted, unplanned pregnancies, abandoned children, battered women. Neglected pre-post natal maternal care caused complications or death. Rape, incest led trauma or death. Unsafe, unprotected sex transmitted STDs. Conclusions: Non-availing SRHR from health facilities, from Medical Health SWr concluded to non-practicing or violating rights to life, health care, protection, rights to information, education, rights to plan family, rights from torture, ill-treatment. VAW brings undesirable effects to the well-being, wellness and humaneness of the victim. Recommendations: The innovative intervention services on SRHR of a SWr and the findings, results in violating SRHR are recommendations in Action Planning by adding “The SRHR Concepts” in Social Work thereby preventing VAW; empowering women’s rights to development, gender equality, equity liberty, security, freedom; resilience and involvement in promoting, practicing, exercising SRHR at home. Recommended therefore to duplicate this innovative practice and experience on SRHR as implemented by the SWr in any work setting.

Keywords: women development, promoting gender equality, equity, empowerment of women

Procedia PDF Downloads 475

Authors: Abolghasem Yousefi-Babadi, Ali Bozorgi-Amiri, Aida Kazempour, Reza Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, Maryam Irani

Abstract:

All over the world, natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, floods, volcanoes and hurricanes) causes a lot of deaths. Earthquakes are introduced as catastrophic events, which is accident by unusual phenomena leading to much loss around the world. Such could be replaced by disasters or any other synonyms strongly demand great long-term help and relief, which can be hard to be managed. Supplies and facilities are very important challenges after any earthquake which should be prepared for the disaster regions to satisfy the people's demands who are suffering from earthquake. This paper proposed disaster response facility allocation problem for disaster relief operations as a mathematical programming model. Not only damaged people in the earthquake victims, need the consumable commodities (e.g., food and water), but also they need non-consumable commodities (e.g., clothes) to protect themselves. Therefore, it is concluded that paying attention to disaster points and people's demands are very necessary. To deal with this objective, both commodities including consumable and need non-consumable commodities are considered in the presented model. This paper presented the multi-objective multi-period mathematical programming model regarding the minimizing the average of the weighted response times and minimizing the total operational cost and penalty costs of unmet demand and unused commodities simultaneously. Furthermore, a Chebycheff multi-objective solution procedure as a powerful solution algorithm is applied to solve the proposed model. Finally, to illustrate the model applicability, a case study of the Tehran earthquake is studied, also to show model validation a sensitivity analysis is carried out.

Keywords: facility location, multi-objective model, disaster response, commodity

Procedia PDF Downloads 253

Authors: Liya Kalinnikova Magnusson

Abstract:

The present and ongoing research investigation are focusing on special educational origins in Moldova for children with disabilities and its development towards inclusion. The research is coordinated with related research on inclusion in Ukraine and other countries. The research interest in these issues in Moldova is caused by several reasons. The first one is based upon one of the intensive processes of deconstruction of special education institutions in Moldova since 1989. A large number of children with disabilities have been dropping out of these institutions: from 11400 students in 1989 to 5800 students in 1996, corresponding to 1% of all school-age Moldovan learners. Despite the fact that a huge number of students was integrated into regular schools and the dynamics of this data across the country was uneven (the opposite, the dynamics of exclusion was raised in Trans-Dniester on the border of Moldova), the volume of the change was evident and traditional special educational provision was under stable decline. The second reason is tied to transitional challenges, which Moldova met under the force to economic liberalisation that led the country to poverty. Deinstitutionalization of the entire state system took place in the situation of economic polarization of the society. The level of social benefits was dramatically diminished, increasing inequality. The most vulnerable from the comprehensive income consideration were families with many children, children with disabilities, children with health problems, etc.: each third child belonged to the poorest population. In 2000-2001: 87,4% of all families with children had incomes below the minimum wage. The research question raised based upon these considerations has been addressed to the investigation of particular patterns of the origins of special education and its development towards inclusion in Moldova from 1980 until the present date: what is the pattern of special education origins and what are particular arrangements of special education development towards inclusion against inequality? This is a qualitative study, with relevant peer review resources connected to the research question and national documents of educational reforms towards inclusion retrospectively and contemporary, analysed by a content analysis approach. This study utilises long term statistics completed by the respective international agencies as a result of regular monitoring of the implementation of educational reforms. The main findings were composed in three big themes: adoption of the Soviet pattern of special education, ‘endemic stress’ of breaking the pattern, and ‘paradoxes of resolution’.

Keywords: special education, statistics, educational reforms, inclusion, children with disabilities, content analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 158

Authors: S. Nasri, H. Bouziri

Abstract:

Disasters are quite experienced in our days. They are caused by floods, landslides, and building fires that is the main objective of this study. To cope with these unexpected events, precautions must be taken to protect human lives. The emphasis on disposal work focuses on the resolution of the evacuation problem in case of no-notice disaster. The problem of evacuation is listed as a dynamic network flow problem. Particularly, we model the evacuation problem as an earliest arrival flow problem with load dependent transit time. This problem is classified as NP-Hard. Our challenge here is to propose a metaheuristic solution for solving the evacuation problem. We define our objective as the maximization of evacuees during earliest periods of a time horizon T. The objective provides the evacuation of persons as soon as possible. We performed an experimental study on emergency evacuation from the tunisian children’s hospital. This work prompts us to look for evacuation plans corresponding to several situations where the network dynamically changes.

Keywords: dynamic network flow, load dependent transit time, evacuation strategy, earliest arrival flow problem, tabu search metaheuristic

Procedia PDF Downloads 367

Authors: Yuekun Chen, Yousef Sardahi, Salam Hajjar, Christopher Greer

Abstract:

This paper presents a multi-objective optimal design of a cascade control system for an underactuated mechanical system. Cascade control structures usually include two control algorithms (inner and outer). To design such a control system properly, the following conflicting objectives should be considered at the same time: 1) the inner closed-loop control must be faster than the outer one, 2) the inner loop should fast reject any disturbance and prevent it from propagating to the outer loop, 3) the controlled system should be insensitive to measurement noise, and 4) the controlled system should be driven by optimal energy. Such a control problem can be formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem such that the optimal trade-offs among these design goals are found. To authors best knowledge, such a problem has not been studied in multi-objective settings so far. In this work, an underactuated mechanical system consisting of a rotary servo motor and a ball and beam is used for the computer simulations, the setup parameters of the inner and outer control systems are tuned by NSGA-II (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm), and the dominancy concept is used to find the optimal design points. The solution of this problem is not a single optimal cascade control, but rather a set of optimal cascade controllers (called Pareto set) which represent the optimal trade-offs among the selected design criteria. The function evaluation of the Pareto set is called the Pareto front. The solution set is introduced to the decision-maker who can choose any point to implement. The simulation results in terms of Pareto front and time responses to external signals show the competing nature among the design objectives. The presented study may become the basis for multi-objective optimal design of multi-loop control systems.

Keywords: cascade control, multi-Loop control systems, multiobjective optimization, optimal control

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Fathi Abubrig, Mohamed Delfag, Suad Abuzariba

Abstract:

The influence of the crystal field interactions on the mixed spin-3/2 and spin-5/2 ferromagnetic Ising system is considered by using the mean field theory based on Bogoliubov inequality for the Gibbs free energy. The ground-state phase diagram is constructed, the phase diagrams of the second-order critical temperatures are obtained, and the thermal variation of the sublattice magnetizations is investigated in detail. We find some interesting phenomena for the sublattice magnetizations at particular values of the crystal field interactions.

Keywords: crystal field, Ising system, ferromagnetic, magnetization, phase diagrams

Procedia PDF Downloads 480