Search results for: Statistical Approach

Authors: A. Boudiaf

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and apprehend, through four case studies, the interest of the project of the implementation of the quality management system (QMS) at four Moroccan small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This project could generate significant organizational change to improve the functioning of the organization. In fact, quality is becoming a necessity in the current business world. It is considered to be a major component in companies’ competitive strategies. It should be noted that quality management is characterized by a set of methods and techniques that can be used to solve malfunctions and reorganize companies. It is useful to point out that the choice of the adoption of the quality approach could be influenced by the circumstances of the business context, it could also be derived from its strategic vision; this means that this choice can be characterized as either a strategic aspect or a reactive aspect. This would probably have a major impact on the functioning of the QMS and also on the perception of the quality issue by company managers and their employees.

Keywords: business context, organizational change, quality, reorganization

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Authors: Michael Vieth, Aric Schadler, Hubert Ballard, J. A. Bauer, Pratibha Thakkar

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Introduction: Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a condition characterized by the herniation of abdominal contents into the thoracic cavity requiring postnatal surgical repair. Previous literature suggests improved CDH outcomes at high-volume regional referral centers compared to low-volume centers. The purpose of this study was to examine CDH outcomes at Kentucky Children’s Hospital (KCH), a low-volume center, compared to the Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Study Group (CDHSG). Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed at KCH from 2007-2019 for neonates with CDH, and then subdivided into two cohorts: those requiring ECMO therapy and those not requiring ECMO therapy. Basic demographic data and measures of mortality and morbidity including ventilator days and length of stay were compared to the CDHSG. Measures of morbidity for the ECMO cohort including duration of ECMO, clinical bleeding, intracranial hemorrhage, sepsis, need for continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), need for sildenafil at discharge, timing of surgical repair, and total ventilator days were collected. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 28. One-sample t-tests and one-sample Wilcoxon Signed Rank test were utilized as appropriate.Results: There were a total of 27 neonatal patients with CDH at KCH from 2007-2019; 9 of the 27 required ECMO therapy. The birth weight and gestational age were similar between KCH and the CDHSG (2.99 kg vs 2.92 kg, p =0.655; 37.0 weeks vs 37.4 weeks, p =0.51). About half of the patients were inborn in both cohorts (52% vs 56%, p =0.676). KCH cohort had significantly more Caucasian patients (96% vs 55%, p=<0.001). Unadjusted mortality was similar in both groups (KCH 70% vs CDHSG 72%, p =0.857). Using ECMO utilization (KCH 78% vs CDHSG 52%, p =0.118) and need for surgical repair (KCH 95% vs CDHSG 85%, p =0.060) as proxy for severity, both groups’ mortality were comparable. No significant difference was noted for pulmonary outcomes such as average ventilator days (KCH 43.2 vs. CDHSG 17.3, p =0.078) and home oxygen dependency (KCH 44% vs. CDHSG 24%, p =0.108). Average length of hospital stay for patients treated at KCH was similar to CDHSG (64.4 vs 49.2, p=1.000). Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that outcome in CDH patients is independent of center’s case volume status. Management of CDH with a standardized approach in a low-volume center can yield similar outcomes. This data supports the treatment of patients with CDH at low-volume centers as opposed to transferring to higher-volume centers.

Keywords: ECMO, case volume, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia study group, neonate

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Authors: Salman Abdulrasaq

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Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) has been considered as indices for economic development in a country economy. The development of entrepreneurship skills is therefore necessary. This study, seeks to examine the impact of Entrepreneurship on the Growth of Small Businesses Kwara State, Nigeria. The data used were primarily obtained from the questionnaire administered to the randomly selected areas in the state. Regression statistical tool was employed with aid of SPSS to test the validity of the hypothesis formulated in the study. The study therefore concludes that; the qualities of entrepreneur have impact the growth of Small Businesses s in the selected areas of the state. In view of this, the study recommends that; entrepreneurship development would serve as a tool for the growth of small business enterprises.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, growth, development, Nigeria

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Authors: Golovchun Aleftina, Dabyltayeva Raikhan

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Nowadays, in the world of widely developing cross-cultural interactions and rapidly changing demands of the global labor market, foreign language teaching and learning has taken a special role not only in school education but also in everyday life. Cognitive Lingua-Cultural Methodology of Foreign Language Teaching originated in Kazakhstan brings a communicative approach to the forefront in foreign language teaching that gives raise a variety of techniques to make the language learning a real communication. One of these techniques is Computer Assisted Language Learning. In our article, we aim to: demonstrate what learning benefits students are likely to get by teachers having implemented computer-based technologies into foreign language teaching process; prove that technology-based classroom serves as the best tool for interactive and efficient language learning; give examples of classroom sufficient organization with computer-based activities.

Keywords: computer assisted language learning, learning benefits, foreign language teaching process, implementation, communicative approach

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Authors: Amina Boukelkoul, Rahil Boukelkoul, Leila Maachia

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The cumulative vapors emitted from the service stations may represent a hazard to the environment and the population. Besides fuel spill and their penetration into deep soil layers are the main contributors to soil and ground-water contamination in the vicinity of the petrol stations. The amount of the effluents from the service stations depends on strategy of maintenance and the policy adopted by the management to reduce the pollution. One key of the proposed approach is the idea of managing the effluents from the service stations which can be captured via use of a finite state Markov chain. Such a model can be embedded within a probabilistic operation and maintenance simulation reflecting the action to be done. In this paper, an approach of estimating a probabilistic percentage of the amount of emitted pollutants is presented. The finite state Markov model is used for decision problems with number of determined periods (life cycle) to predict the amount according to various options of operation.

Keywords: environment, markov modeling, pollution, service station

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Authors: Sobhani U. Pilapitiya, Tharanga Peiris

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Software Engineering curriculums generally consist of industry-based practices such as project-based learning (PBL) which mainly focuses on efficient and innovative product development. These approaches can be tailored and used in project-based modules in software engineering curriculums. However, there are very limited attempts in the area especially related to the Sri Lankan context. This paper describes a tailored pedagogical approach and its results of using design sprint which can be used for project-based modules in SE curriculums. A controlled group of second-year software engineering students was selected for the study. The study results indicate that 100% of students agreed that the Design Sprint approach is effective in group-based projects and 83% of students stated that it minimized the re-work compared to traditional project approaches. The tailored process was effective, easy to implement and produced desired results at the end of the session while providing students an enjoyable experience.

Keywords: design sprint, PBL, software engineering, curriculum

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Authors: Antoinette Maarawi, Zoe Anxionnaz-Minvielle, Pierre Coste, Nathalie Di Miceli Raimondi, Michel Cabassud

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Milli-structured heat exchanger/reactors have been recently widely used, especially in the chemical industry, due to their enhanced performances in heat and mass transfer compared to conventional apparatuses. In our work, the ‘DeanHex’ heat exchanger/reactor with a 2D-meandering channel is investigated both experimentally and numerically. The square cross-sectioned channel has a hydraulic diameter of 2mm. The aim of our study is to model local physico-chemical phenomena (heat and mass transfer, axial dispersion, etc.) for a liquid-liquid two-phase flow in our lab-scale meandering channel, which represents the central part of the heat exchanger/reactor design. The numerical approach of the reactor is based on a 1D model for the flow channel encapsulated in a 3D model for the surrounding solid, using COMSOL Multiphysics V5.5. The use of the 1D approach to model the milli-channel reduces significantly the calculation time compared to 3D approaches, which are generally focused on local effects. Our 1D/3D approach intends to bridge the gap between the simulation at a small scale and the simulation at the reactor scale at a reasonable CPU cost. The heat transfer process between the 1D milli-channel and its 3D surrounding is modeled. The feasibility of this 1D/3D coupling was verified by comparing simulation results to experimental ones originated from two previous works. Temperature profiles along the channel axis obtained by simulation fit the experimental profiles for both cases. The next step is to integrate the liquid-liquid mass transfer model and to validate it with our experimental results. The hydrodynamics of the liquid-liquid two-phase system is modeled using the ‘mixture model approach’. The mass transfer behavior is represented by an overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient ‘kLa’ correlation obtained from our experimental results in the millimetric size meandering channel. The present work is a first step towards the scale-up of our ‘DeanHex’ expecting future industrialization of such equipment. Therefore, a generalized scaled-up model of the reactor comprising all the transfer processes will be built in order to predict the performance of the reactor in terms of conversion rate and energy efficiency at an industrial scale.

Keywords: liquid-liquid mass transfer, milli-structured reactor, 1D/3D model, process intensification

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Authors: Sukhdev Singh, Baljinder Singh Bal, Amandeep Singh, Kanchan Thappa

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A nation's future almost certainly rests on the future of its children, and a nation's wellbeing can be greatly improved by providing for the right upbringing of its children. Participating in physical education and sports programmes is crucial for reaching one's full potential. As we are all aware, sports have recently become incredibly popular on a global scale. Sports are continually becoming more and more popular, and this positive trend is probably going to last for some time to come. Motor abilities will provide more accurate information on the developmental process of children. Motor fitness is a component of physical fitness that includes strength, speed, flexibility, and agility, and is related to enhanced performance and the development of motor skills. In recent years, there has been increased interest in the differences in child growth between urban and rural environments. Differences in student growth, body dimensions, body composition, and fitness levels due to urban and rural environmental disparities have come into focus in recent years. The main aim of this study is to know the differentials of motor fitness components among the school children of rural and urban areas of the Jammu region. Material and Methods: In total, sixty male subjects (mean ± SD; age, 16.475 ± 1.0124 yrs.; height, 172.8 ± 2.0153 cm; Weight, 59.75 ± 3.628 kg) from the Jammu region took part in the study. A minimum sample size of 40 subjects was obtained and was derived from Rural (N1=20) and Urban (N2=20) school-going children. Statistical Applications: The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 14.0 was used for all analyses. The differences in the mean of each group for the selected variable were tested for the significance of difference by an independent samples t-test. For testing the hypotheses, the level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: Results revealed that there were significant differences of leg explosive strength (p=0.0040*), dynamic balance (p=0.0056*), and Agility (p=0.0176*) among the School Children of the rural and urban areas of the Jammu region. However, Results further revealed that there were not significant differences of cardio respiratory endurance (p=0.8612), speed (p=0.2231), Low Back/Hamstring Flexibility (p=0.6478), and Two Hand Coordination. (p= 0.0953) among the School Children of the rural and urban areas of the Jammu region. Conclusion: The results of study showed that there is significance difference between Rural and Urban School children of the Jammu region with regards to a variable," leg explosive strength, dynamic balance, Agility” and the there is no significance difference between Rural and Urban School children of the Jammu region with regards variable “cardio-respiratory endurance, speed, Low Back/Hamstring Flexibility, Two Hand Coordination”.

Keywords: motor fitness, rural areas, school children, urban areas

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Authors: L. Foudia, K. Haddadi, M. Reffas

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First principles study of structural, elastic, electronic and optical properties of the monoclinic perovskite type ScRhO₃ has been reported using the pseudo-potential plane wave method within the local density approximation. The calculated lattice parameters, including the lattice constants and angle β are in excellent agreement with the available experimental data, which proving the reliability of the chosen theoretical approach. Pressure dependence up to 20 GPa of the single crystal and polycrystalline elastic constants has been investigated in details using the strain-stress approach. The mechanical stability, ductility, average elastic wave velocity, Debye temperature and elastic anisotropy were also assessed. Electronic band structure and density of states (DOS) demonstrated its semiconducting nature showing a direct band gap of 1.38 eV. Furthermore, several optical properties, such as absorption coefficient, reflectivity, refractive index, dielectric function, optical conductivity and electron energy loss function have been calculated for radiation up to 40 eV.

Keywords: ab-initio, perovskite, DFT, band gap.

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Authors: Jeewan Rai, Kinzang, Yeshi Jigme Choden

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Accumulation of dust on solar panels impacts the overall efficiency and the amount of energy they produce. While various techniques exist for detecting dust to schedule cleaning, many of these methods use MATLAB image processing tools and other licensed software, which can be financially burdensome. This study will investigate the efficiency of a free open-source computer vision library using the YOLO algorithm. The proposed approach has been tested on images of solar panels with varying dust levels through an experiment setup. The experimental findings illustrated the effectiveness of using the YOLO-based image classification method and the overall dust detection approach with an accuracy of 90% in distinguishing between clean and dusty panels. This open-source solution provides a cost effective and accessible alternative to commercial image processing tools, offering solutions for optimizing solar panel maintenance and enhancing energy production.

Keywords: YOLO, openCV, dust detection, solar panels, computer vision, image processing

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Authors: Mohamed Sarrab, Hadj Bourdoucen

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Mobile applications are verified to check the correctness or evaluated to check the performance with respect to specific security properties such as availability, integrity, and confidentiality. Where they are made available to the end users of the mobile application is achievable only to a limited degree using software engineering static verification techniques. The more sensitive the information, such as credit card data, personal medical information or personal emails being processed by mobile application, the more important it is to ensure the confidentiality of this information. Monitoring non-trusted mobile application during execution in an environment where sensitive information is present is difficult and unnerving. The paper addresses the issue of monitoring and controlling the flow of confidential information during non-trusted mobile application execution. The approach concentrates on providing a dynamic and usable information security solution by interacting with the mobile users during the run-time of mobile application in response to information flow events.

Keywords: mobile application, run-time verification, usable security, direct information flow

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Authors: Anshul Gupta, T. Shankar

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In this paper, we had analyzed the call drop to provide a good quality of service to user. By optimizing it we can increase the coverage area and also the reduction of interference and congestion created in a network. Basically handover is the transfer of call from one cell site to another site during a call. Here we have analyzed the whole network by two method-statistic model and analytic model. In statistic model we have collected all the data of a network during busy hour and normal 24 hours and in analytic model we have the equation through which we have to find the call drop probability. By avoiding unnecessary handovers we can increase the number of calls per hour. The most important parameter is co-efficient of variation on which the whole paper discussed.

Keywords: coefficient of variation, mean, standard deviation, call drop probability, handover

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Authors: Ahlam Alnatour

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Background: To our knowledge, there is lack of studies that describe the experience of studying health promotion courses using an interactive approach, and compare students’ and teachers perceptions about this method of teaching. The purpose of this study is to provide a comparison between student and teacher experiences and perspectives in learning health promotion course using interactive learning. Design: A descriptive qualitative design was used to provide an in-depth description and understanding of students’ and teachers experiences and perceptions of learning health promotion courses using an interactive learning. Study Participants: About 14 fourteen students (seven male, seven female) and eight teachers at governmental university in northern Jordan participated in this study. Data Analysis: Conventional content analysis approach was used for participants’ scripts to gain an in-depth description for both students' and teacher’s experiences. Results: The main themes emerged from the data analysis describing the students’ and teachers perceptions of the interactive health promotion class: teachers’ and students positive experience in adopting interactive learning, advantages and benefits of interactive teaching, barriers to interactive teaching, and suggestions for improvement. Conclusion: Both teachers and students reflected positive attitudes toward interactive learning. Interactive learning helped to engage in learning process physically and cognitively. Interactive learning enhanced learning process, promote student attention, enhanced final performance, and satisfied teachers and students accordingly. Interactive learning approach should be adopted in teaching graduate and undergraduate courses using updated and contemporary strategies. Nursing scholars and educators should be motivated to integrate interactive learning in teaching different nursing courses.

Keywords: interactive learning, nursing, health promotion, qualitative study

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Authors: Benjamin Leiby, Darryl Ahner

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This study demonstrates an alternative stochastic imputation approach for large datasets when preferred commercial packages struggle to iterate due to numerical problems. A large country conflict dataset motivates the search to impute missing values well over a common threshold of 20% missingness. The methodology capitalizes on correlation while using model residuals to provide the uncertainty in estimating unknown values. Examination of the methodology provides insight toward choosing linear or nonlinear modeling terms. Static tolerances common in most packages are replaced with tailorable tolerances that exploit residuals to fit each data element. The methodology evaluation includes observing computation time, model fit, and the comparison of known values to replaced values created through imputation. Overall, the country conflict dataset illustrates promise with modeling first-order interactions while presenting a need for further refinement that mimics predictive mean matching.

Keywords: correlation, country conflict, imputation, stochastic regression

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Authors: K. Shimola, M. Krishnaveni

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This paper examines vulnerability assessment of water resources in a semi-arid basin using the 4-step approach. The vulnerability assessment framework is developed to study the water resources vulnerability which includes the creation of GIS-based vulnerability maps. These maps represent the spatial variability of the vulnerability index. This paper introduces the 4-step approach to assess vulnerability that incorporates a new set of indicators. The approach is demonstrated using a framework composed of a precipitation data for (1975–2010) period, temperature data for (1965–2010) period, hydrological model outputs and the water resources GIS data base. The vulnerability assessment is a function of three components such as exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. The current water resources vulnerability is assessed using GIS based spatio-temporal information. Rainfall Coefficient of Variation, monsoon onset and end date, rainy days, seasonality indices, temperature are selected for the criterion ‘exposure’. Water yield, ground water recharge, evapotranspiration (ET) are selected for the criterion ‘sensitivity’. Type of irrigation and storage structures are selected for the criterion ‘Adaptive capacity’. These indicators were mapped and integrated in GIS environment using overlay analysis. The five sub-basins, namely Arjunanadhi, Kousiganadhi, Sindapalli-Uppodai and Vallampatti Odai, fall under medium vulnerability profile, which indicates that the basin is under moderate stress of water resources. The paper also explores prioritization of sub-basinwise adaptation strategies to climate change based on the vulnerability indices.

Keywords: adaptive capacity, exposure, overlay analysis, sensitivity, vulnerability

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Authors: Galal Elkobrosy, Amr M. Abdelrazek, Bassuny M. Elsouhily, Mohamed E. Khidr

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Crank shaft length, connecting rod length, crank angle, engine rpm, cylinder bore, mass of piston and compression ratio are the inputs that can control the performance of the slider crank mechanism and then its efficiency. Several combinations of these seven inputs are used and compared. The throughput engine torque predicted by the simulation is analyzed through two different regression models, with and without interaction terms, developed according to multi-linear regression using LU decomposition to solve system of algebraic equations. These models are validated. A regression model in seven inputs including their interaction terms lowered the polynomial degree from 3^rd degree to 1^st degree and suggested valid predictions and stable explanations.

Keywords: design of experiments, regression analysis, SI engine, statistical modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Yudhajit Datta, Hamsi Iyer, Jonathan Bandi, Ankit Sethia

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Motion Tracking and Stereo Vision are complicated, albeit well-understood problems in computer vision. Existing softwares that combine the two approaches to perform stereo motion tracking typically employ complicated and computationally expensive procedures. The purpose of this study is to create a simple and effective solution capable of combining the two approaches. The study aims to explore a strategy to combine the two techniques of two-dimensional motion tracking using Kalman Filter; and depth detection of object using Stereo Vision. In conventional approaches objects in the scene of interest are observed using a single camera. However for Stereo Motion Tracking; the scene of interest is observed using video feeds from two calibrated cameras. Using two simultaneous measurements from the two cameras a calculation for the depth of the object from the plane containing the cameras is made. The approach attempts to capture the entire three-dimensional spatial information of each object at the scene and represent it through a software estimator object. In discrete intervals, the estimator tracks object motion in the plane parallel to plane containing cameras and updates the perpendicular distance value of the object from the plane containing the cameras as depth. The ability to efficiently track the motion of objects in three-dimensional space using a simplified approach could prove to be an indispensable tool in a variety of surveillance scenarios. The approach may find application from high security surveillance scenes such as premises of bank vaults, prisons or other detention facilities; to low cost applications in supermarkets and car parking lots.

Keywords: kalman filter, stereo vision, motion tracking, matlab, object tracking, camera calibration, computer vision system toolbox

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Authors: Bothinah Altaf, Gary Montague, Elaine B. Martin

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This study involves the modeling and monitoring of an ammonia synthesis fixed-bed reactor using partial least squares (PLS) and its variants. The process exhibits complex dynamic behavior due to the presence of heat recycling and feed quench. One limitation of static PLS model in this situation is that it does not take account of the process dynamics and hence dynamic PLS was used. Although it showed, superior performance to static PLS in terms of prediction, the monitoring scheme was inappropriate hence adaptive PLS was considered. A limitation of adaptive PLS is that non-conforming observations also contribute to the model, therefore, a new adaptive approach was developed, robust adaptive dynamic PLS. This approach updates a dynamic PLS model and is robust to non-representative data. The developed methodology showed a clear improvement over existing approaches in terms of the modeling of the reactor and the detection of faults.

Keywords: ammonia synthesis fixed-bed reactor, dynamic partial least squares modeling, recursive partial least squares, robust modeling

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Authors: Ying Zhou, Jian-Hua Wang

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Based upon the self-determination theory and self-regulated learning theory, this study examined the predictiveness of goal orientation and self-regulated learning strategies on academic achievement of adult students in distance learning. The results show a positive relation between goal orientation and the use of self-regulated strategies, and academic achievements. A significant and positive indirect relation of mastery goal orientation through self-regulated learning strategies was also found. In addition, results pointed to a positive indirect impact of performance-approach goal orientation on academic achievement. The effort regulation strategy fully mediated this relation. The theoretical and instructional implications are discussed. Interventions can be made to motivate students’ mastery or performance approach goal orientation and help them manage their time or efforts.

Keywords: goal orientation, self-regulated strategies, achievement, adult distance students

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Authors: Md. Moniruzzaman, Thirayoot Limanond

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Being the most visible indicator, the transport system of a city points out how developed the city is. Dhaka megacity holds a mixed composition of motorized and non-motorized modes of transport and the number of vehicle figure is escalating over times. And this obviously poses associated environmental costs like air pollution, noise etc. which is degrading the quality of life in the city. Eventually sustainable transport or more importantly green transport from environmental point of view has become a prime choice to the transport professionals in order to cope up the crisis. Currently the city authority is planning to execute such sustainable transport systems that could serve the pressing demand of the present and meet the future needs effectively. This study focuses on the selection and evaluation of green transportation systems among potential alternatives on a priority basis. In this paper, Fuzzy TOPSIS - a multi-criteria decision method is presented to find out the most prioritized alternative. In the first step, Twenty-one individual specific criteria for sustainability assessment are selected. In the following step, experts provide linguistic ratings to the potential alternatives with respect to the selected criteria. The approach is used to generate aggregate scores for sustainability assessment and selection of the best alternative. In the third step, a sensitivity analysis is performed to understand the influence of criteria weights on the decision making process. The key strength of fuzzy TOPSIS approach is its practical applicability having a generation of good quality solution even under uncertainty.

Keywords: green transport, multi-criteria decision approach, urban transportation system, sustainability assessment, fuzzy theory, uncertainty

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Authors: Manuela Villani, Anila Xhahysa, Christopher Brooks, Marco Pagani

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The geological structure of Western Balkans is strongly affected by the collision between Adria microplate and the southwestern Euroasia margin, resulting in a considerably active seismic region. The Harmonization of Seismic Hazard Maps in the Western Balkan Countries Project (BSHAP) (2007-2011, 2012-2015) by NATO supported the preparation of new seismic hazard maps of the Western Balkan, but when inspecting the seismic hazard models produced later by these countries on a national scale, significant differences in design PGA values are observed in the border, for instance, North Albania-Montenegro, South Albania- Greece, etc. Considering the fact that the catalogues were unified and seismic sources were defined within BSHAP framework, obviously, the differences arise from the Ground Motion Prediction Equations selection, which are generally the component with highest impact on the seismic hazard assessment. At the time of the project, a modest database was present, namely 672 three-component records, whereas nowadays, this strong motion database has increased considerably up to 20,939 records with Mw ranging in the interval 3.7-7 and epicentral distance distribution from 0.47km to 490km. Statistical analysis of the strong motion database showed the lack of recordings in the moderate-to-large magnitude and short distance ranges; therefore, there is need to re-evaluate the Ground Motion Prediction Equation in light of the recently updated database and the new generations of GMMs. In some cases, it was observed that some events were more extensively documented in one database than the other, like the 1979 Montenegro earthquake, with a considerably larger number of records in the BSHAP Analogue SM database when compared to ESM23. Therefore, the strong motion flat-file provided from the Harmonization of Seismic Hazard Maps in the Western Balkan Countries Project was merged with the ESM23 database for the polygon studied in this project. After performing the preliminary residual analysis, the candidate GMPE-s were identified. This process was done using the GMPE performance metrics available within the SMT in the OpenQuake Platform. The Likelihood Model and Euclidean Distance Based Ranking (EDR) were used. Finally, for this study, a GMPE logic tree was selected and following the selection of candidate GMPEs, model weights were assigned using the average sample log-likelihood approach of Scherbaum.

Keywords: residual analysis, GMPE, western balkan, strong motion, openquake

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Authors: Efrain Rodriguez, Sergio Pertuz, Cristhian Riano

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Tool-path generation is an essential step in the FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication)-based Additive Manufacturing (AM) process planning. In the manufacture of a mechanical part by using additive processes, high resource consumption and prolonged production times are inherent drawbacks of these processes mainly due to non-optimized tool-path generation. In this work, we propose a heuristic-search intelligent algorithm-based approach for optimized tool-path generation for FFF-based AM. The main benefit of this approach is a significant reduction of travels without material deposition when the AM machine performs moves without any extrusion. The optimization method used reduces the number of travels without extrusion in comparison with commercial software as Slic3r or Cura Engine, which means a reduction of production time.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, tool-path optimization, fused filament fabrication, process planning

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Authors: Mona M. Salem, Khaled S. Al-Hagla, Hany M. Ayad

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The concept of urban metabolism has increasingly been employed in a diverse range of disciplines as a mean to analyze and theorize the city. Urban ecology has a particular focus on the implications of applying the metabolism concept to the urban realm. This approach has been developed by a few researchers, though it has rarely if ever been used in policy development for city planning. The aim of this research is to use ecologically informed urban planning interventions to increase the sustainability of urban metabolism; with special focus on land stock as a most important city resource by developing a system dynamic based DSS. This model identifies two critical management strategy variables for the Strategic Urban Plan Alexandria SUP 2032. As a result, this comprehensive and precise quantitative approach is needed to monitor, measure, evaluate and observe dynamic urban changes working as a decision support system (DSS) for policy making.

Keywords: ecology, land resource, LULCC, management, metabolism, model, scenarios, system dynamics, urban development

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Authors: Khoi A. Nguyen, Rodney A. Stewart, Hong Zhang

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‘Water-related energy’ is energy use which is directly or indirectly influenced by changes to water use. Informatics applying a range of mathematical, statistical and rule-based approaches can be used to reveal important information on demand from the available data provided at second, minute or hourly intervals. This study aims to combine these two concepts to improve the current water end use disaggregation problem through applying a wide range of most advanced pattern recognition techniques to analyse the concurrent high-resolution water-energy consumption data. The obtained results have shown that recognition accuracies of all end-uses have significantly increased, especially for mechanised categories, including clothes washer, dishwasher and evaporative air cooler where over 95% of events were correctly classified.

Keywords: deep learning network, smart metering, water end use, water-energy data

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Authors: Chi-Lun Liu

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Requirements modeling and analysis are important in successful information systems' maintenance. Unified Modeling Language (UML) class diagrams are useful standards for modeling information systems. To our best knowledge, there is a lack of a systems development methodology described by the organism metaphor. The core concept of this metaphor is adaptation. Using the knowledge representation and reasoning approach and ontologies to adopt new requirements are emergent in recent years. This paper proposes an organic methodology which is based on constructivism theory. This methodology is a knowledge representation and reasoning approach to analyze new requirements in the class diagrams maintenance. The process and rules in the proposed methodology automatically analyze inconsistencies in the class diagram. In the big data era, developing an automatic tool based on the proposed methodology to analyze large amounts of class diagram data is an important research topic in the future.

Keywords: knowledge representation, reasoning, ontology, class diagram, software engineering

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Authors: Shaila Rana, Wasim Alhamdani

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Effective cybersecurity learning relies on an engaging, interactive, and entertaining activity that fosters positive learning outcomes. VR cybersecurity training may promote these aforementioned variables. However, a methodological approach and framework have not yet been created to allow trainers and educators to employ VR cybersecurity training methods to promote positive learning outcomes to the author’s best knowledge. Thus, this paper aims to create an approach that cybersecurity trainers can follow to create a VR cybersecurity training module. This methodology utilizes concepts from other cybersecurity training frameworks, such as NICE and CyTrONE. Other cybersecurity training frameworks do not incorporate the use of VR. VR training proposes unique challenges that cannot be addressed in current cybersecurity training frameworks. Subsequently, this ontology utilizes concepts unique to developing VR training to create a relevant methodology for creating VR cybersecurity training modules. The outcome of this research is to create a methodology that is relevant and useful for designing VR cybersecurity training modules.

Keywords: virtual reality cybersecurity training, VR cybersecurity training, traditional cybersecurity training, ontology

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Authors: Maria Reichenber Arcilla

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Objective: To determine the risk factors for maternal and neonatal complications associated with operative vaginal deliveries. Methods: A retrospective chart review of 435 patients who underwent operative vaginal deliveries was done. Patient profiles – age, parity, AOG, duration of labor – and outcomes – birthweight, maternal and neonatal complications - were tabulated and multivariable analysis and logistic regression were performed using SPSS® Statistics Base. Results and Conclusion: There was no significant difference in the incidence of maternal and neonatal complications between those that underwent vacuum and forceps extraction. Among the variables analysed, parity and duration of labor reached statistical significance. The odds of maternal complications were 3 times higher among nulliparous patients. Neonatal complications were seen in those whose labor lasted more than 9 hours.

Keywords: operative vaginal deliveries, maternal, neonatal, morbidity

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Authors: D. Garg, S. Luthra, A. Haleem

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Reverse logistics (RL) is supposed to be a systematic procedure that helps in improving the environmental hazards and maintain business sustainability for industries. Industries in Indian are now opting for adoption of RL techniques in business. But, RL practices are not popular in Indian industries because of many barriers for its successful implementation. Therefore, need arises to identify and evaluate the barriers to implement RL practices by taking an Indian industries perspective. Literature review approach and case study approach have been adapted to identify relevant barriers to implement RL practices. Further, Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory methodology has been brought into use for evaluating causal relationships among the barriers to implement RL practices. Seven barriers out of ten barriers have been categorized into the cause group and remaining into effect group. This research will help Indian industries to manage these barriers towards effective implementing RL practices.

Keywords: barriers, decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), fuzzy set theory, Indian industries, reverse logistics (RL)

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Authors: Huiwu Yu, Xiangyou Li, Xiaoyan Zeng

Abstract:

Porous spheres have been widely used in many fields due to their attractive features. In this work, an approach for fabricating porous spheres of nanoparticles was presented, in which the nanoparticles were welded together to form micro spheres by simply irradiating the nanoparticles in liquid medium by a picosecond laser. As an example, anatase titanium dioxide was chosen as a typical material on account of its metastability. The structure and morphologies of the products were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Raman, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), respectively. The results showed that, anatase titanium dioxide micro spheres (2-10 μm) with macroporous (10-100 nm) were prepared from nano-anatase titanium dioxide nanoparticles (10-100 nm). The formation process of polycrystalline anatase titanium dioxide microspheres was investigated with different liquid mediums and the input laser fluences. Thus, this facile laser irradiation approach might provide a way for the fabrication of porous microspheres without phase-transition.

Keywords: titanium dioxide, porous microspheres, picosecond laser, nano-welding

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Authors: Hu Zhenxing, Gao Jianxin

Abstract:

Stereo-based digital image correlation (also referred to as three-dimensional (3D) digital image correlation (DIC)) is a technique for both 3D shape and surface deformation measurement of a component, which has found increasing applications in academia and industries. The accuracy of the reconstructed coordinate depends on many factors such as configuration of the setup, stereo-matching, distortion, etc. Most of these factors have been investigated in literature. For instance, the configuration of a binocular vision system determines the systematic errors. The stereo-matching errors depend on the speckle quality and the matching algorithm, which can only be controlled in a limited range. And the distortion is non-linear particularly in a complex imaging acquisition system. Thus, the distortion correction should be carefully considered. Moreover, the distortion function is difficult to formulate in a complex imaging acquisition system using conventional models in such cases where microscopes and other complex lenses are involved. The errors of the distortion correction will propagate to the reconstructed 3D coordinates. To address the problem, an accurate mapping method based on 2D B-spline functions is proposed in this study. The mapping functions are used to convert the distorted coordinates into an ideal plane without distortions. This approach is suitable for any image acquisition distortion models. It is used as a prior process to convert the distorted coordinate to an ideal position, which enables the camera to conform to the pin-hole model. A procedure of this approach is presented for stereo-based DIC. Using 3D speckle image generation, numerical simulations were carried out to compare the accuracy of both the conventional method and the proposed approach.

Keywords: distortion, stereo-based digital image correlation, b-spline, 3D, 2D

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