Search results for: dynamic capability approach

Authors: Hamed Alqahtani, Manolya Kavakli-Thorne

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The large pose discrepancy is one of the critical challenges in face recognition during video surveillance. Due to the entanglement of pose attributes with identity information, the conventional approaches for pose-independent representation lack in providing quality results in recognizing largely posed faces. In this paper, we propose a practical approach to disentangle the pose attribute from the identity information followed by synthesis of a face using a classifier network in latent space. The proposed approach employs a modified generative adversarial network framework consisting of an encoder-decoder structure embedded with a classifier in manifold space for carrying out factorization on the latent encoding. It can be further generalized to other face and non-face attributes for real-life video frames containing faces with significant attribute variations. Experimental results and comparison with state of the art in the field prove that the learned representation of the proposed approach synthesizes more compelling perceptual images through a combination of adversarial and classification losses.

Keywords: disentanglement, face detection, generative adversarial networks, video surveillance

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Authors: Eser Yarar, Fahri Vatansever, A. Tamer Erturk, Sedat Karabay

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In this study, drilling behavior of multi-layer orthotropic polyester composites reinforced with woven polyester fiber and PTFE particle was investigated. Conventional drilling methods have low cost and ease of use. Therefore, it is one of the most preferred machining methods. The increasing range of use of composite materials in many areas has led to the investigation of the machinability performance of these materials. The drilling capability of the synthetic polymer composite material was investigated by measuring the cutting forces using different tool diameters, feed rate and high cutting speed parameters. Cutting forces were measured using a dynamometer in the experiments. In order to evaluate the results of the experiment, the Taguchi experimental design method was used. According to the results, the optimum cutting parameters were obtained for 0.1 mm/rev, 1070 rpm and 2 mm diameter drill bit. Verification tests were performed for the optimum cutting parameters obtained according to the model. Verification experiments showed the success of the established model.

Keywords: cutting force, drilling, polimer composite, Taguchi

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Authors: Tomohiko Utsuki, Kyoka Sato

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In emergency medicine, it is recognized that brain resuscitation is very important for the reduction of mortality rate and neurological sequelae. Especially, the control of brain temperature (BT), intracranial pressure (ICP), and cerebral blood flow (CBF) are most required for stabilizing brain’s physiological state in the treatment for such as brain injury, stroke, and encephalopathy. However, the manual control of BT, ICP, and CBF frequently requires the decision and operation of medical staff, relevant to medication and the setting of therapeutic apparatus. Thus, the integration and the automation of the control of those is very effective for not only improving therapeutic effect but also reducing staff burden and medical cost. For realizing such integration and automation, a mathematical model of brain physiological state is necessary as the controlled object in simulations, because the performance test of a prototype of the control system using patients is not ethically allowed. A model of cerebral blood circulation has already been constructed, which is the most basic part of brain physiological state. Also, a migration model of extracellular fluid in brain has been constructed, however the condition that the total volume of intracranial cavity is almost changeless due to the hardness of cranial bone has not been considered in that model. Therefore, in this research, the dynamic migration model of extracellular fluid in brain was constructed on the consideration of the changelessness of intracranial cavity’s total volume. This model is connectable to the cerebral blood circulation model. The constructed model consists of fourteen compartments, twelve of which corresponds to perfused area of bilateral anterior, middle and posterior cerebral arteries, the others corresponds to cerebral ventricles and subarachnoid space. This model enable to calculate the migration of tissue fluid from capillaries to gray matter and white matter, the flow of tissue fluid between compartments, the production and absorption of cerebrospinal fluid at choroid plexus and arachnoid granulation, and the production of metabolic water. Further, the volume, the colloid concentration, and the tissue pressure of/in each compartment are also calculable by solving 40-dimensional non-linear simultaneous differential equations. In this research, the obtained model was analyzed for its validation under the four condition of a normal adult, an adult with higher cerebral capillary pressure, an adult with lower cerebral capillary pressure, and an adult with lower colloid concentration in cerebral capillary. In the result, calculated fluid flow, tissue volume, colloid concentration, and tissue pressure were all converged to suitable value for the set condition within 60 minutes at a maximum. Also, because these results were not conflict with prior knowledge, it is certain that the model can enough represent physiological state of brain under such limited conditions at least. One of next challenges is to integrate this model and the already constructed cerebral blood circulation model. This modification enable to simulate CBF and ICP more precisely due to calculating the effect of blood pressure change to extracellular fluid migration and that of ICP change to CBF.

Keywords: dynamic model, cerebral extracellular migration, brain resuscitation, automatic control

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Authors: Alireza Tavakoli Nia

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In order to understand the role of the injured party's fault in dividing liability, we studied its historical background. In common law, the traditional contributory negligence rule was a complete defense. Then the legislature and judicial procedure modified that rule to one of apportionment. In Islamic law, too, the Action rule was at first used when the injured party was the sole cause, but jurists expanded the scope of this rule, so this rule was used in cases where both the injured party's fault and that of the other party are involved. There are some popular approaches for apportionment of damages. Some common law countries like Britain had chosen ‘the causal potency approach’ and ‘fixed apportionment’. Islamic countries like Iran have chosen both ‘the relative blameworthiness’ and ‘equal apportionment’ approaches. The article concludes that both common law and Islamic law believe in the division of responsibility between a wrongdoer claimant and the defendant. In contrast, in the apportionment of responsibility, Islamic law mostly believes in equal apportionment that is way easier and saves time and money, but common law legal systems have chosen the causal potency approach, which is more complicated than the rival approach but is fairer.

Keywords: contributory negligence, tort law, damage apportionment, common law, Islamic law

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Authors: Adel Bougamouza, Boualam Remini, Abd El Hadi Ammari, Feteh Sakhraoui

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The assessment of sediments being carried by a river is importance for planning and designing of various water resources projects. In this study, Artificial Neural Network Techniques are used to estimate the daily suspended sediment concentration for the corresponding daily discharge flow in the upstream of Foum El Gherza dam, Biskra, Algeria. The FFNN, GRNN, and RBNN models are established for estimating current suspended sediment values. Some statistics involving RMSE and R2 were used to evaluate the performance of applied models. The comparison of three AI models showed that the RBNN model performed better than the FFNN and GRNN models with R2 = 0.967 and RMSE= 5.313 mg/l. Therefore, the ANN model had capability to improve nonlinear relationships between discharge flow and suspended sediment with reasonable precision.

Keywords: artificial neural network, Oued Abiod watershed, feedforward network, generalized regression network, radial basis network, sediment concentration

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Authors: F. Pottmeyer, M. Weispfenning, K. A. Weidenmann

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Continuous carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) exhibit a high application potential for lightweight structures due to their outstanding specific mechanical properties. Embedded metal elements, so-called inserts, can be used to join structural CFRP parts. Drilling of the components to be joined can be avoided using inserts. In consequence, no bearing stress is anticipated. This is a distinctive benefit of embedded inserts, since continuous CFRP have low shear and bearing strength. This paper aims at the investigation of the load bearing capacity after preinduced damages from impact tests and thermal-cycling. In addition, characterization of mechanical properties during dynamic high speed pull-out testing under different loading velocities was conducted. It has been shown that the load bearing capacity increases up to 100% for very high velocities (15 m/s) in comparison with quasi-static loading conditions (1.5 mm/min). Residual strength measurements identified the influence of thermal loading and preinduced mechanical damage. For both, the residual strength was evaluated afterwards by quasi-static pull-out tests. Taking into account the DIN EN 6038 a high decrease of force occurs at impact energy of 16 J with significant damage of the laminate. Lower impact energies of 6 J, 9 J, and 12 J do not decrease the measured residual strength, although the laminate is visibly damaged - distinguished by cracks on the rear side. To evaluate the influence of thermal loading, the specimens were placed in a climate chamber and were exposed to various numbers of temperature cycles. One cycle took 1.5 hours from -40 °C to +80 °C. It could be shown that already 10 temperature cycles decrease the load bearing capacity up to 20%. Further reduction of the residual strength with increasing number of thermal cycles was not observed. Thus, it implies that the maximum damage of the composite is already induced after 10 temperature cycles.

Keywords: composite, joining, inserts, dynamic loading, thermal loading, residual strength, impact

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Authors: Sahar Rasoulikolamaki

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ISIS (also known as DAASH) is an Islamic fundamentalist group that has been known as a global threat to the whole world for their radicalizing approach and application of online platforms as a tool to portray their activities, to disseminate their ideology, and to commit recruiting activities. This study is an attempt to carry out a critical discourse analysis on the argumentative devices by which ISIS legitimizes or delegitimizes positive or negative constructions of social practices in Dabiq. It tries to shed light on how texts in Dabiq as linguistic elements in the micro level of analysis relate to ISIS’ ideology as the higher-up macro level and in other words, how local structures contributed to the construction and transference of a global structure or ideology and vice versa. Therefore, following the relevant analytical frameworks, the study focuses on both micro-level of analysis of arguments (topoi) and macro-structure of legitimation and delegitimation in Dabiq. This purpose is nailed using the analytical categories and tools provided by Wodak’s Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) such as argumentation strategies (topoi), by which the coded language of legitimation/delegitimation and persuasion as used in Dabiq are explored. The ensuing findings demonstrate that Dabiq rigorously relies on the positive representation of the in-group course of actions and justifying its violence and, at the same time, the negative representation of the out-group behavior through implementing various topoi to achieve its desired outcome, which is the ideological manipulation and powerful self-depiction, as well as the supporter recruitment.

Keywords: argumentation, discourse-historical approach, ideology, legitimation and delegitimation, topoi

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Authors: Kazeem Oluwatoyin Ajape

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The study is concerned with the problem of how to improve the teaching of Arabic as a foreign language in Nigerian Higher Education System. The paper traces the historical background of Arabic education in Nigeria and also outlines the problems facing the language in Nigerian Institutions. It lays down some of the essential foundation work necessary for bringing about systematic and constructive improvements in the Teaching of Arabic as a Foreign Language (TAFL) by giving answers to the following research questions: what is the appropriate medium of instruction in teaching a foreign or second language? What is the position of English language in the teaching and learning of Arabic/Islamic education? What is the relevance of the present curriculum of Arabic /Islamic education in Nigerian institutions to the contemporary society? A survey of the literature indicates that a revolution is currently taking place in FL teaching and that a new approach known as the Communicative Approach (CA), has begun to emerge and influence the teaching of FLs in general, over the last decade or so. Since the CA is currently being adapted to the teaching of most major FLs and since this revolution has not yet had much impact on TAPL, the study explores the possibility of the application of the CA to the teaching of Arabic as a living language and also makes recommendations towards the development of the language in Nigerian Institutions of Higher Learning.

Keywords: Arabic Language, foreign language, Nigerian institutions, curriculum, communicative approach

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Authors: Caiwei Chen, Jianhao Li, Jiasong Zhu

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The reform and opening-up stimulated economic and technological take-off in China while resulting in massive urbanization and motorization. Wujiaochang area was set as a secondary business district in Shanghai to meet the growing demand, with the reconstruction of Wujiaochang Plaza in 2005 being a milestone of this intended urban renewal. Wujiaochang is now an economically dynamic area providing much larger traffic and transit capacity transportation-wise. However, this rebuilding has completely changed the face of the district. It is, therefore, appropriate to evaluate its impact on neighborhoods and communities while assessing the overall sustainability of such an operation. In this study, via an online questionnaire survey among local residents and daily visitors, we assess the perceptions and the estimated impact of Wujiaochang Plaza's reconstruction. We then confront these results to the 62 answers from local residents to a questionnaire collected on paper. The analysis of our data, along with observation and other forms of information -such as maps analysis or online applications (Dianping)- demonstrate major improvement in economic sustainability but also significant losses in environmental sustainability, especially in terms of active transportation. As for the social viewpoint, local residents' opinions tend to be rather positive, especially regarding traffic safety and access to consumption, despite the lack of connectivity and radical changes induced by Wujiaochang massive transformations. In general, our investigation exposes the overall positive outcomes of Wujiaochang Plaza reconstruction but also unveils major drawbacks, especially in terms of soft mobility and traffic fluidity. We gather that our approach could be of tremendous help for future major urban interventions, as such approaches in municipal regeneration are widely implemented in Chinese cities and yet still need to be thoroughly assessed in terms of sustainability.

Keywords: China's reform and opening-up, economical revitalization, neighborhood identity, sustainability assessment, urban renewal

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Authors: Asmita A. Vaidya, Shahista S. Inamdar

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Society is dynamic, in this changing and development processes, Indian Muslim women where no exception to this social change. Islam has elevated her status from being chattels/commodity to individual human being having separate legal personality and equal to that of men but in India, even two women are not equal in availing their matrimonial rights and remedies, separate personal laws are applicable to them and thus gender justice is a fragile myth.

Keywords: Muslim women, gender justice, polygamy, Islamic jurisprudence, equality

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Authors: Danah Al-Selahi, Sulaiman Al-Ghunaim, Bashayer Sadiq, Fatma Al-Otaibi, Ali Ameen

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In light of recent changes affecting the Oil & Gas Industry, optimization measures have become imperative for all companies globally, including Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). To keep abreast of the dynamic market, a detailed Integrated Asset Plan (IAP) was developed to drive optimization across the organization, which was facilitated through the in-house developed software “Well Inventory Data Entry” (WIDE). This comprehensive and integrated approach enabled centralization of all planned asset components for better well planning, enhancement of performance, and to facilitate continuous improvement through performance tracking and midterm forecasting. Traditionally, this was hard to achieve as, in the past, various legacy methods were used. This paper briefly describes the methods successfully adopted to meet the company’s objective. IAPs were initially designed using computerized spreadsheets. However, as data captured became more complex and the number of stakeholders requiring and updating this information grew, the need to automate the conventional spreadsheets became apparent. WIDE, existing in other aspects of the company (namely, the Workover Optimization project), was utilized to meet the dynamic requirements of the IAP cycle. With the growth of extensive features to enhance the planning process, the tool evolved into a centralized data-hub for all asset-groups and technical support functions to analyze and infer from, leading WIDE to become the reference two-year operational plan for the entire company. To achieve WIDE’s goal of operational efficiency, asset-groups continuously add their parameters in a series of predefined workflows that enable the creation of a structured process which allows risk factors to be flagged and helps mitigation of the same. This tool dictates assigned responsibilities for all stakeholders in a method that enables continuous updates for daily performance measures and operational use. The reliable availability of WIDE, combined with its user-friendliness and easy accessibility, created a platform of cross-functionality amongst all asset-groups and technical support groups to update contents of their respective planning parameters. The home-grown entity was implemented across the entire company and tailored to feed in internal processes of several stakeholders across the company. Furthermore, the implementation of change management and root cause analysis techniques captured the dysfunctionality of previous plans, which in turn resulted in the improvement of already existing mechanisms of planning within the IAP. The detailed elucidation of the 2 year plan flagged any upcoming risks and shortfalls foreseen in the plan. All results were translated into a series of developments that propelled the tool’s capabilities beyond planning and into operations (such as Asset Production Forecasts, setting KPIs, and estimating operational needs). This process exemplifies the ability and reach of applying advanced development techniques to seamlessly integrated the planning parameters of various assets and technical support groups. These techniques enables the enhancement of integrating planning data workflows that ultimately lay the founding plans towards an epoch of accuracy and reliability. As such, benchmarks of establishing a set of standard goals are created to ensure the constant improvement of the efficiency of the entire planning and operational structure.

Keywords: automation, integration, value, communication

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Authors: Ryo Shikimoto, Hidehito Niimura, Hisashi Kida, Kota Suzuki, Yukiko Miyasaka, Masaru Mimura

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Introduction: In Japan, the most aged country in the world, it is important to explore predictive factors of cognitive function among the elderly. Coping behavior relieves chronic stress and improves lifestyle, and consequently may reduce the risk of cognitive impairment. One of the most widely investigated frameworks evaluated in previous studies is approach-oriented and avoidance-oriented coping strategies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between cognitive function and coping strategies among elderly residents in urban areas of Japan. Method: This is a part of the cross-sectional Arakawa geriatric cohort study for 1,099 residents (aged 65 to 86 years; mean [SD] = 72.9 [5.2]). Participants were assessed for cognitive function using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and diagnosed by psychiatrists in face-to-face interviews. They were then investigated for their each coping behaviors and coping strategies (approach- and avoidance-oriented coping) using stress and coping inventory. A multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between MMSE score and each coping strategy. Results: Of the 1,099 patients, the mean MMSE score of the study participants was 27.2 (SD = 2.7), and the numbers of the diagnosis of normal, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia were 815 (74.2%), 248 (22.6%), and 14 (1.3%), respectively. Approach-oriented coping score was significantly associated with MMSE score (B [partial regression coefficient] = 0.12, 95% confidence interval = 0.05 to 0.19) after adjusting for confounding factors including age, sex, and education. Avoidance-oriented coping did not show a significant association with MMSE score (B [partial regression coefficient] = -0.02, 95% confidence interval = -0.09 to 0.06). Conclusion: Approach-oriented coping was clearly associated with neurocognitive function in the Japanese population. A future longitudinal trial is warranted to investigate the protective effects of coping behavior on cognitive function.

Keywords: approach-oriented coping, cognitive impairment, coping behavior, dementia

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Authors: Chen-Yu Chen, Wei-Mon Yan, Chi-Nan Lai, Jian-Hao Su

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The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) becomes more important as an alternative energy source recently. Maintaining proper water content in the membrane is one of the key requirements for optimizing the PEMFC performance. The planar membrane humidifier has the advantages of simple structure, low cost, low-pressure drop, light weight, reliable performance and good gas separability. Thus, it is a common external humidifier for PEMFCs. In this work, a planar membrane humidifier for kW-scale PEMFCs is developed successfully. The heat and mass transfer of humidifier is discussed, and its performance is analyzed in term of dew point approach temperature (DPAT), water vapor transfer rate (WVTR) and water recovery ratio (WRR). The DPAT of the humidifier with the counter flow approach reaches about 6°C under inlet dry air of 50°C and 60% RH and inlet humid air of 70°C and 100% RH. The rate of pressure loss of the humidifier is 5.0×10² Pa/min at the torque of 7 N-m, which reaches the standard of commercial planar membrane humidifiers. From the tests, it is found that increasing the air flow rate increases the WVTR. However, the DPAT and the WRR are not improved by increasing the WVTR as the air flow rate is higher than the optimal value. In addition, increasing the inlet temperature or the humidity of dry air decreases the WVTR and the WRR. Nevertheless, the DPAT is improved at elevated inlet temperatures or humidities of dry air. Furthermore, the performance of the humidifier with the counter flow approach is better than that with the parallel flow approach. The DPAT difference between the two flow approaches reaches up to 8 °C.

Keywords: heat and mass transfer, humidifier performance, PEM fuel cell, planar membrane humidifier

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Authors: Lidija R. Jevrić, Sanja O. Podunavac-Kuzmanović, Strahinja Z. Kovačević

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The present study deals with the selection of the most suitable quantitative structure-retention relationship (QSRR) models which should be used in prediction of the retention behavior of basic, neutral, acidic and phenolic pesticides which belong to different classes: fungicides, herbicides, metabolites, insecticides and plant growth regulators. Sum of ranking differences (SRD) approach can give a different point of view on selection of the most consistent QSRR model. SRD approach can be applied not only for ranking of the QSRR models, but also for detection of similarity or dissimilarity among them. Applying the SRD analysis, the most similar models can be found easily. In this study, selection of the best model was carried out on the basis of the reference ranking (“golden standard”) which was defined as the row average values of logarithm of retention time (logtr) defined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Also, SRD analysis based on experimental logtr values as reference ranking revealed similar grouping of the established QSRR models already obtained by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA).

Keywords: chemometrics, chromatography, pesticides, sum of ranking differences

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Authors: Mohammad Talebi

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Supply chain administration could be a concern for all the countries within the world, whereas there's no special approach towards supportability. Generally, for one decade, manufactured insights applications in keen supply chains have found a key part. In this paper, applications of artificial intelligence in supply chain management have been clarified, and towards Canadian plans for smart supply chain management (SCM), a few notes have been suggested. A hierarchical framework for smart SCM might provide a great roadmap for decision-makers to find the most appropriate approach toward smart SCM. Within the system of decision-making, all the levels included in the accomplishment of smart SCM are included. In any case, more considerations are got to be paid to available and needed infrastructures.

Keywords: smart SCM, AI, SSCM, procurement

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Authors: Kishore K. Pochampally

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The success of a supply chain heavily relies on the efficiency of the suppliers involved. In this paper, we propose a neural network approach to evaluate the efficiency of a supplier, which is being considered for inclusion in a supply chain, using the available linguistic (fuzzy) data of suppliers that already exist in the supply chain. The approach is carried out in three phases, as follows: In phase one, we identify criteria for evaluation of the supplier of interest. Then, in phase two, we use performance measures of already existing suppliers to construct a neural network that gives weights (importance values) of criteria identified in phase one. Finally, in phase three, we calculate the overall rating of the supplier of interest. The following are the major findings of the research conducted for this paper: (i) linguistic (fuzzy) ratings of suppliers such as 'good', 'bad', etc., can be converted (defuzzified) to numerical ratings (1 – 10 scale) using fuzzy logic so that those ratings can be used for further quantitative analysis; (ii) it is possible to construct and train a multi-level neural network in order to determine the weights of the criteria that are used to evaluate a supplier; and (iii) Borda’s rule can be used to group the weighted ratings and calculate the overall efficiency of the supplier.

Keywords: fuzzy data, neural network, supplier, supply chain

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Authors: Yue Wang

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Five years passed since the newest English curriculum reform policy was published in China, hand-wringing spread among teachers who accused that this is another 'Wearing New Shoes to Walk the Old Road' policy. This paper provides a thoroughly philosophical policy analysis of serious efforts that had been made to support this reform and reveals the hindrances that bridled the reform to yield the desired effect. Blame could be easily put on teachers for their insufficient pedagogical content knowledge, conservative resistance, and the handicaps of large class sizes and limited teaching times, and so on. However, the underlying causes for this implementation failure are the interrelated factors in the NCEE-centred education system, such as the reluctant from students, the lack of school and education bureau support, and insufficient teacher training. A further discussion of 2017 to 2020’s NCEE reform on English prompt new possibilities for the authentic pedagogical approach reform in secondary English classes. In all, the pedagogical approach reform at the secondary level is heading towards a brighter future with the initiation of new NCEE reform.

Keywords: English curriculum, failure, NCEE, new possibilities, pedagogical, policy analysis, reform

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Authors: Serhat Tuzun, Tufan Demirel

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Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) is the modelling of real-life to solve problems we encounter. It is a discipline that aids decision makers who are faced with conflicting alternatives to make an optimal decision. MCDM problems can be classified into two main categories: Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) and Multi-Objective Decision Making (MODM), based on the different purposes and different data types. Although various MADM techniques were developed for the problems encountered, their methodology is limited in modelling real-life. Moreover, objective results are hard to obtain, and the findings are generally derived from subjective data. Although, new and modified techniques are developed by presenting new approaches such as fuzzy logic; comprehensive techniques, even though they are better in modelling real-life, could not find a place in real world applications for being hard to apply due to its complex structure. These constraints restrict the development of MADM. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of preference methods in MADM and propose an approach based on information. For this purpose, a detailed literature review has been conducted, current approaches with their advantages and disadvantages have been analyzed. Then, the approach has been introduced. In this approach, performance values of the criteria are calculated in two steps: first by determining the distribution of each attribute and standardizing them, then calculating the information of each attribute as informational energy.

Keywords: literature review, multi-attribute decision making, operations research, preference method, informational energy

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Authors: Sherif Sabri, Suzy Fawzi, Sanaa Abdelshafy, Ayman Nagah

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Introduction: Static derangements in lactate homeostasis during ICU stay have become established as a clinically useful marker of increased risk of hospital and ICU mortality. Lactate indices or kinetic alteration of the anaerobic metabolism make it a potential parameter to evaluate disease severity and intervention adequacy. This is an inexpensive and simple clinical parameter that can be obtained by a minimally invasive means. Aim of work: Comparing the predictive value of dynamic indices of hyperlactatemia in the first twenty four hours of intensive care unit (ICU) admission with other static values are more commonly used. Patients and Methods: This study included 40 critically ill patients above 18 years old of both sexes with Hyperlactamia (≥ 2 m mol/L). Patients were divided into septic group (n=20) and low oxygen transport group (n=20), which include all causes of low-O2. Six lactate indices specifically relating to the first 24 hours of ICU admission were considered, three static indices and three dynamic indices. Results: There were no statistically significant differences among the two groups regarding age, most of the laboratory results including ABG and the need for mechanical ventilation. Admission lactate was significantly higher in low-oxygen transport group than the septic group [37.5±11.4 versus 30.6±7.8 P-value 0.034]. Maximum lactate was significantly higher in low-oxygen transport group than the septic group P-value (0.044). On the other hand absolute lactate (mg) was higher in septic group P-value (< 0.001). Percentage change of lactate was higher in the septic group (47.8±11.3) than the low-oxygen transport group (26.1±12.6) with highly significant P-value (< 0.001). Lastly, time weighted lactate was higher in the low-oxygen transport group (1.72±0.81) than the septic group (1.05±0.8) with significant P-value (0.012). There were statistically significant differences regarding lactate indices in survivors and non survivors, whether in septic or low-oxygen transport group. Conclusion: In critically ill patients, time weighted lactate and percent in lactate change in the first 24 hours can be an independent predictive factor in ICU mortality. Also, a rising compared to a falling blood lactate concentration over the first 24 hours can be associated with significant increase in the risk of mortality.

Keywords: critically ill patients, lactate indices, mortality in intensive care, anaerobic metabolism

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Authors: Pooja S. Billade, Sanjay S. Chopade

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This paper focuses on the design of three phase induction motor control using single phase input and GSM.The controller used in this work is a wireless speed control using a GSM technique that proves to be very efficient and reliable in applications.The most common principle is the constant V/Hz principle which requires that the magnitude and frequency of the voltage applied to the stator of a motor maintain a constant ratio. By doing this, the magnitude of the magnetic field in the stator is kept at an approximately constant level throughout the operating range. Thus, maximum constant torque producing capability is maintained. The energy that a switching power converter delivers to a motor is controlled by Pulse Width Modulated signals applied to the gates of the power transistors in H-bridge configuration. PWM signals are pulse trains with fixed frequency and magnitude and variable pulse width. When a PWM signal is applied to the gate of a power transistor, it causes the turn on and turns off intervals of the transistor to change from one PWM period.

Keywords: index terms— PIC, GSM (global system for mobile), LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), IM (Induction Motor)

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Authors: L. Atif, C. Rosenthal-Sabroux, M. Grundstein

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The requirements engineering process is a crucial phase in the design of complex systems. The purpose of our research is to present a collaborative problem-driven requirements engineering approach that aims at improving the design of a Decision Support System as an Analytics application. This approach has been adopted to design a Human Resource management DSS. The Requirements Engineering process is presented as a series of guidelines for activities that must be implemented to assure that the final product satisfies end-users requirements and takes into account the limitations identified. For this, we know that a well-posed statement of the problem is “a problem whose crucial character arises from collectively produced estimation and a formulation found to be acceptable by all the parties”. Moreover, we know that DSSs were developed to help decision-makers solve their unstructured problems. So, we thus base our research off of the assumption that developing DSS, particularly for helping poorly structured or unstructured decisions, cannot be done without considering end-user decision problems, how to represent them collectively, decisions content, their meaning, and the decision-making process; thus, arise the field issues in a multidisciplinary perspective. Our approach addresses a problem-driven and collaborative approach to designing DSS technologies: It will reflect common end-user problems in the upstream design phase and in the downstream phase these problems will determine the design choices and potential technical solution. We will thus rely on a categorization of HR’s problems for a development mirroring the Analytics solution. This brings out a new data-driven DSS typology: Descriptive Analytics, Explicative or Diagnostic Analytics, Predictive Analytics, Prescriptive Analytics. In our research, identifying the problem takes place with design of the solution, so, we would have to resort a significant transformations of representations associated with the HR Analytics application to build an increasingly detailed representation of the goal to be achieved. Here, the collective cognition is reflected in the establishment of transfer functions of representations during the whole of the design process.

Keywords: DSS, collaborative design, problem-driven requirements, analytics application, HR decision making

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Authors: Zhe Ginnie Wang

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Recent cultural design studies have begun to shed light on the discussion of Western-Eastern cultural and aesthetic hybridization, especially in the field of fashion. With the unprecedented spread of cultural Chinese fashion design in the global fashion system, the under-identified ‘Guochao’ aesthetic that has emerged in the global market needs to be academically emphasized with a methodological approach looking at the Western-Eastern cultural hybridization present in fashion visualization. Through an in-depth and comprehensive investigation of a representative international-based Chinese designer, Angel Chen's fashion show 'Madam Qing', this paper provides a methodological approach on how a form of traditional culture can be effectively extracted and applied to modern design using the most effective techniques. The central approach examined in this study involves creating aesthetic revolutions by addressing Chinese cultural identity through re-creating and modernizing traditional Chinese culture in design.

Keywords: style modernization, Chinese culture, guochao, design identity, fashion show, Angel Chen

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Authors: Jegede Kehinde Jacob, Ola Akeem Bayonle, Adewale Yemi Yekeen

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The rapid rate of urban growth in most developing countries of the world in recent times is alarming. Mass movement of people from rural areas to the urban centres, the consequence of the uncontrolled rapid urbanisation resulting to many un-conforming environmental challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, land, water and air pollution, poor environmental sanitation, poor and inadequate housing, urban degradation, sprawl and slums, urban violence, crime, robbery and prostitution as well as many other social vices that make the cities unsustainable. The resultant effects of all these are abysmal failure in the management of cities on the part of the governing authorities and other relevant stakeholders as well as unconducive and unwholesome condition of living of the people. This paper attempts to examine holistically the issue of environmental planning management (EPM) process development and management concept with a view for dynamic and interactive approach for various stakeholders as partners in achieving sustainable cities of our dream. The areas of discussion including conceptual and contextual issues, sustainable cities concept, good urban governance including literature review. The paper goes further to examine opportunities and challenges of built environment generally, the nature and context of environmental problems in particular, the role and duties of environmental planning and management (EPM) process in sustainable urban development. The paper further reviewed briefly the various levels of institutionalisation of EPM process with a typical case study of sustainable Ibadan project (SIP). The paper concludes with a list of recommendations to ensure effective and lasting solutions to cities problems through initiation of EPM process achievable in a sustainable manner.

Keywords: built environment, environmental planning, sustainable cities, sustainable development, urbanization

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Authors: Humayun Murshed, Shibly Abdullah

Abstract:

This paper focuses on sharing experience gained through a pilot project undertaken to teach an introductory accounting subject linking real-life ground realities with the fundamental concepts of accounting. In view of the practical dimensions of Accounting it has been observed that adopting a teaching approach based on practical illustrations help students to motivate and generate interests to take accounting profession as their career. The paper reports that students’ perception about accounting as ‘dreary’ has been changed to ‘interesting’ due to adoption of practice based approach in teaching. The authors argue that ‘concept mapping’ can play a vital role in facilitating practice based education in accounting which promotes a rewarding learning experience among the students. The paper considers taking into account generic skills development, student centric learning, development of innovative assessment tasks, making students aware of the potential benefits of practice based education primarily through concept mapping, and engaging them both inside and outside of the class rooms are critical for ensuring success of this approach.

Keywords: accounting education, pedagogy, practice-based education, concept mapping

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

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

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

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Authors: Dany I. Doughan, Nizam S. Najd

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Different governments in today’s global pandemic are approaching the challenging and complex issue of mitigating the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus differently while simultaneously considering their national economic and operational bottom lines. One of the most notable successes has been Taiwan's multifaceted virus containment approach, which resulted in a substantially lower incidence rate compared to Sweden’s chief mitigation tactic of herd immunity. From a classic Swiss Cheese Model perspective, integrating more fail-safe layers of defense against the virus in Taiwan’s approach compared to Sweden’s meant that in Taiwan, the government did not have to resort to extreme measures like the national lockdown Sweden is currently contemplating. From an optimized virus spread mitigation solution development standpoint using the Solutions Principle, the Taiwanese and Swedish solutions were desirable economically by businesses that remained open and non-economically or socially by individuals who enjoyed fewer disruptions from what they considered normal before the pandemic. Out of the two, the Taiwanese approach was more feasible long-term from a workforce management and quality control perspective for healthcare facilities and their professionals who were able to provide better, longer, more attentive care to the fewer new positive COVID-19 cases. Furthermore, the Taiwanese approach was more applicable as an overall model to emulate thanks in part to its short-term and long-term multilayered approach, which allows for the kind of flexibility needed by other governments to fully or partially adapt or adopt said, model. The Swedish approach, on the other hand, ignored the biochemical nature of the virus and relied heavily on short-term personal behavioral adjustments and conduct modifications, which are not as reliable as establishing required societal norms and awareness programs. The available international data on COVID-19 cases and the published governmental approaches to control the spread of the coronavirus support a better fit into the Solutions Principle of Taiwan’s Swiss Cheese Model success story compared to Sweden’s.

Keywords: coronavirus containment and mitigation, solutions principle, Swiss Cheese Model, viral mutation

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Authors: Soheil Heydari, Ailar Hajimohammadi, Nasser Khalili

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The application of plastic waste for asphalt modification is a sustainable strategy to deal with the enormous plastic waste generated each year and enhance the properties of asphalt. The modification is either practiced by the dry process or the wet process. In the dry process, plastics are added straight into the asphalt mixture, and in the wet process, they are mixed and digested into bitumen. In this article, the effects of plastic inclusion in asphalt mixture, through the dry process, on the permanent deformation of the asphalt are investigated. The main waste plastics that are usually used in asphalt modification are taken into account, which is linear, low-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, and polypropylene. Also, to simulate a plastic waste stream, different grades of each virgin plastic are mixed and used. For instance, four different grades of polypropylene are mixed and used as representative of polypropylene. A precisely designed mixing condition is considered to dry-mix the plastics into the mixture such that the polymer was melted and modified by the later introduced binder. In this mixing process, plastics are first added to the hot aggregates and mixed three times in different time intervals, then bitumen is introduced, and the whole mixture is mixed three times in fifteen minutes intervals. Marshall specimens were manufactured, and dynamic creep tests were conducted to evaluate the effects of modification on the permanent deformation of the asphalt mixture. Dynamic creep is a common repeated loading test conducted at different stress levels and temperatures. Loading cycles are applied to the AC specimen until failure occurs; with the amount of deformation constantly recorded, the cumulative, permanent strain is determined and reported as a function of the number of cycles. The results of this study showed that the dry inclusion of the waste plastics is very effective in enhancing the resistance against permanent deformation of the mixture. However, the mixing process must be precisely engineered to melt the plastics, and a homogenous mixture is achieved.

Keywords: permanent deformation, waste plastics, low-density polyethene, high-density polyethene, polypropylene, linear low-density polyethene, dry process

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Authors: Kebene K. Wodajo

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The right to development (RTD) has gone through different phases of metamorphoses, from the right to economic growth to full human development. Despite the fact that Africa has taken the lead in articulating and recognizing the RTD in a binding multilateral human rights treaty, realization of the right poses a challenge at the operational level. The challenge is worse in Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly because governments often tend to set economic growth as their ultimate goal, with very little consideration to the local peoples’ welfare in their territory. Ethiopia is not an exception to this. While recording a fast economic growth, yet this has been accompanied by increasing severity of multidimensional poverty. This paper explores the place of the ‘people’ in the development trajectory Ethiopia is pursuing and if and how a right-based approach to development could be brought to practice beyond the rhetoric. By inquiring into the place of the ‘people’, the paper attempts to show whether the people are at the center or at the periphery, beneficiary or victims of the ongoing development. In doing so, it divulges the gulf between the rhetoric and the reality of development practice. By asking/discussing if and how a right-based approach to development could bridge the gap, the paper shows how this approach could translate ‘people’s’ need into right, and recognize them as active subjects and stakeholders of the process of development. As an instance of showing the gap, the paper takes the Lower Omo valley sugar plantation project as a case in point. Through analysis the paper demonstrates that the development trajectory being followed by Ethiopia falls short of fitting into the human development discourse of UN Declaration on the Right to Development (DRD), the African Charter on People and Human Rights (the Charter) and the Ethiopian constitution. The paper argues that Ethiopia’s development efforts must take account of both the constitutive and prescriptive nature of the RTD if social equity is to be met.

Keywords: development, Ethiopia, lower Omo valley, right-based approach, right to development, people, people’s right

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Authors: Mouslem Damkhi

Abstract:

This paper focuses on possible states of a football tournament final table according to the number of participating teams. Each team holds a position in the table with which it is possible to determine the highest and lowest points for that team. This paper proposes an optimized search space based on the minimum and maximum number of points which can be gained by each team to produce and enumerate the possible states for a football tournament final table. The proposed search space minimizes producing the invalid states which cannot occur during a football tournament. The generated states are filtered by a validity checking algorithm which seeks to reach a tournament graph based on a generated state. Thus, the algorithm provides a way to determine which team’s wins, draws and loses values guarantee a particular table position. The paper also presents and discusses the experimental results of the approach on the tournaments with up to eight teams. Comparing with a blind search algorithm, our proposed approach reduces generating the invalid states up to 99.99%, which results in a considerable optimization in term of the execution time.

Keywords: combinatorics, enumeration, graph, tournament

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Authors: Rubi Alvarez-Rodriguez

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Traditionally, eco-centric and anthropocentric forms of environmentalism have been seen as mutually exclusive. While eco-centrism focuses on global environmental issues, anthropocentrism is concerned with local ones. The objective of this paper is to characterize the relationship between eco-centric and anthropocentric attitudes across 43 countries. This study analysed secondary data from the 2005 World Values Survey, using a standard linear regression approach. It is shown that eco-centric and anthropocentric attitudes are not mutually exclusive and that the predominance of one over the other is best predicted by a country’s level of wealth.

Keywords: anthropocentrism, eco-centrism, pro-environmental attitudes, wealth

Procedia PDF Downloads 360