Search results for: consensus oriented average operator
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 6520

Search results for: consensus oriented average operator

6430 The Impact of Resource-oriented Music Listening on Oversea Dispatch Employees Work Stress Relief

Authors: Wei Yaming

Abstract:

Objective: In order to compare the stress of employees sent overseas with (GRAS) before and after, we used the resource-oriented music listening intervention in this study. We also collected pertinent experimental data. Methods: The experiment involved 47 employees who were sent abroad by the Chinese side. They completed the stress scale test and documented it before the intervention. They tested for stress after five interventions and performed one-on-one interviews. Quantitative data and SPSS software were used to analyze relationships between stress reduction and resource-oriented music listening, as well as Pearson's correlation, multiple regression levels, and ANOVA. For the qualitative analysis, content analysis of one-on-one interviews was performed. Results: A comparison of data from before and after demonstrates how resource-focused music listening activities can lessen and relieve stress in remote workers. In the qualitative study, stress is broken down into six categories: relationship stress, health stress, emotional stress, and frustration stress. External pressures include work pressure and cultural stress. And it has been determined that listening to music that is resource-oriented can better ease internal stress (health, emotion, and dissatisfaction). Conclusion: The Guide Resource-oriented Music Listening (GROML) Program appears to have had some effect on the participants' stress levels. The resources that the participants encountered while listening to music are bravery, calm, letting go, and relaxing.

Keywords: resource-oriented, music listening, oversea dispatch employees, work stress

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6429 A Genetic Algorithm Based Ensemble Method with Pairwise Consensus Score on Malware Cacophonous Labels

Authors: Shih-Yu Wang, Shun-Wen Hsiao

Abstract:

In the field of cybersecurity, there exists many vendors giving malware samples classified results, namely naming after the label that contains some important information which is also called AV label. Lots of researchers relay on AV labels for research. Unfortunately, AV labels are too cluttered. They do not have a fixed format and fixed naming rules because the naming results were based on each classifiers' viewpoints. A way to fix the problem is taking a majority vote. However, voting can sometimes create problems of bias. Thus, we create a novel ensemble approach which does not rely on the cacophonous naming result but depend on group identification to aggregate everyone's opinion. To achieve this purpose, we develop an scoring system called Pairwise Consensus Score (PCS) to calculate result similarity. The entire method architecture combine Genetic Algorithm and PCS to find maximum consensus in the group. Experimental results revealed that our method outperformed the majority voting by 10% in term of the score.

Keywords: genetic algorithm, ensemble learning, malware family, malware labeling, AV labels

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6428 Second Order Solitary Solutions to the Hodgkin-Huxley Equation

Authors: Tadas Telksnys, Zenonas Navickas, Minvydas Ragulskis

Abstract:

Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of second order solitary solutions to the Hodgkin-Huxley equation are derived in this paper. The generalized multiplicative operator of differentiation helps not only to construct closed-form solitary solutions but also automatically generates conditions of their existence in the space of the equation's parameters and initial conditions. It is demonstrated that bright, kink-type solitons and solitary solutions with singularities can exist in the Hodgkin-Huxley equation.

Keywords: Hodgkin-Huxley equation, solitary solution, existence condition, operator method

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6427 Design of a Multidisciplinary Project-Oriented Capstone Course for Mechanical Engineering Education

Authors: Chi-Cheng Cheng, Che-Hsin Lin, Yu-Jen Wang, Chua-Chin Wang

Abstract:

The project-oriented capstone course has become a required element for most engineering educational units. It is not only because the capstone course is an important criterion for international accreditation of engineering degree programs under Washington Accord, but also the capstone course provides an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned in their school years to actual engineering problems. Nevertheless, most project-oriented capstone courses are conducted with one single project for all students or teams. In other words, students work to reach the same or similar goals by coming up with different layouts and approaches. It appears not suitable for a multidisciplinary engineering department. Therefore, a one-year multidisciplinary project-oriented capstone course was designed for the junior year of the undergraduate program. About one-half of faculty members in the department needs to be involved in generating as many projects as possible to meet different students' interests and specialties. Project achievement has to be displayed and demonstrated in the annual exposition and competition at the end of this course. Significant success in attracting attention and hardworking of students on projects was witnessed for the past two pilot years. Analysis of course evaluation demonstrates positive impact on all perspectives despite of slightly negative influence due to poor communication and collaboration between students and their project supervisors.

Keywords: Capstone course, CDIO, engineering education, project-oriented learning

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6426 Graded Orientation of the Linear Polymers

Authors: Levan Nadareishvili, Roland Bakuradze, Barbara Kilosanidze, Nona Topuridze, Liana Sharashidze, Ineza Pavlenishvili

Abstract:

Some regularities of formation of a new structural state of the thermoplastic polymers-gradually oriented (stretched) state (GOS) are discussed. Transition into GOS is realized by the graded oriented stretching-by action of inhomogeneous mechanical field on the isotropic linear polymers or by zonal stretching that is implemented on a standard tensile-testing machine with using a specially designed zone stretching device (ZSD). Both technical approaches (especially zonal stretching method) allows to manage the such quantitative parameters of gradually oriented polymers as a range of change in relative elongation/orientation degree, length of this change and profile (linear, hyperbolic, parabolic, logarithmic, etc.). Uniaxial graded stretching method should be considered as an effective technological solution to create polymer materials with a predetermined gradient of physical properties.

Keywords: controlled graded stretching, gradually oriented state, linear polymers, zone stretching device

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6425 Assessing the Community Change Effects of Transit Oriented Development in Jabodetabek, Indonesia

Authors: Hayati Sari Hasibuan, Tresna P. Soemardi, Raldi H. Koestoer, Setyo S. Moersidik

Abstract:

Facing the severe transportation system in daily basis, the government of Indonesia were searching an alternative solution to combat the acute traffic jam and the socio-economic negative effects and pollutions resulted. Transit-oriented development as a strategy in reformulating and restructuring of the urban land uses as well as the transport system will be implemented in many urban areas in Indonesia, especially in Jabodetabek. Jabodetabek is the greatest metropolitan area in Indonesia with 27.9 million inhabitants. The Jabodetabek is also the center of economic activity with gross domestic product around 22 percent of gross national product. This study aims to assess the potential of economic development and community change effects with implementing the transit oriented development. This study found that using transit oriented development as an alternative approach in reconstructing of urban land uses in metropolitan region will effect to the behaviour of urban mobilities, the housing choices, and the cost of transportation. The sustainable of socio-economic aspects resulting from the transit oriented development is the main focus of this paper. The challenge here is to explore the characteristics of transit oriented development that suitable for metropolitan region in developing country,which considering the uniqueness of nature and socio-cultural that shapes this urban.

Keywords: economic development, community change, restructuring, land use, transportation, environment

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6424 Super-ellipsoidal Potential Function for Autonomous Collision Avoidance of a Teleoperated UAV

Authors: Mohammed Qasim, Kyoung-Dae Kim

Abstract:

In this paper, we present the design of the super-ellipsoidal potential function (SEPF), that can be used for autonomous collision avoidance of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in a 3-dimensional space. In the design of SEPF, we have the full control over the shape and size of the potential function. In particular, we can adjust the length, width, height, and the amount of flattening at the tips of the potential function so that the collision avoidance motion vector generated from the potential function can be adjusted accordingly. Based on the idea of the SEPF, we also propose an approach for the local autonomy of a UAV for its collision avoidance when the UAV is teleoperated by a human operator. In our proposed approach, a teleoperated UAV can not only avoid collision autonomously with other surrounding objects but also track the operator’s control input as closely as possible. As a result, an operator can always be in control of the UAV for his/her high-level guidance and navigation task without worrying too much about the UAVs collision avoidance while it is being teleoperated. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through a human-in-the-loop simulation of quadrotor UAV teleoperation using virtual robot experimentation platform (v-rep) and Matlab programs.

Keywords: artificial potential function, autonomous collision avoidance, teleoperation, quadrotor

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6423 Utilize 5G Mobile Connection as a Node in the Proof of Authority Blockchain Used for Microtransaction

Authors: Frode van der Laak

Abstract:

The paper contributes to the feasibility of using a 5G mobile connection as a node for a Proof of Authority (PoA) blockchain, which is used for microtransactions at the same time. It uses the phone number identity of the users that are linked to the crypto wallet address. It also proposed a consensus protocol based on Proof-of-Authority (PoA) blockchain; PoA is a permission blockchain where consensus is achieved through a set of designated authority rather than through mining, as is the case with a Proof of Work (PoW) blockchain. This report will first explain the concept of a PoA blockchain and how it works. It will then discuss the potential benefits and challenges of using a 5G mobile connection as a node in such a blockchain, and finally, the main open problem statement and proposed solutions with the requirements.

Keywords: 5G, mobile, connection, node, PoA, blockchain, microtransaction

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6422 IT Perspective of Service-Oriented e-Government Enterprise

Authors: Anu Paul, Varghese Paul

Abstract:

The focal aspire of e-Government (eGovt) is to offer citizen-centered service delivery. Accordingly, the citizenry consumes services from multiple government agencies through national portal. Thus, eGovt is an enterprise with the primary business motive of transparent, efficient and effective public services to its citizenry and its logical structure is the eGovernment Enterprise Architecture (eGEA). Since eGovt is IT oriented multifaceted service-centric system, EA doesn’t do much on an automated enterprise other than the business artifacts. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) manifestation led some governments to pertain this in their eGovts, but it limits the source of business artifacts. The concurrent use of EA and SOA in eGovt executes interoperability and integration and leads to Service-Oriented e-Government Enterprise (SOeGE). Consequently, agile eGovt system becomes a reality. As an IT perspective eGovt comprises of centralized public service artifacts with the existing application logics belong to various departments at central, state and local level. The eGovt is renovating to SOeGE by apply the Service-Orientation (SO) principles in the entire system. This paper explores IT perspective of SOeGE in India which encompasses the public service models and illustrated with a case study the Passport service of India.

Keywords: enterprise architecture, service-oriented e-Government enterprise, service interface layer, service model

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6421 A Study on How to Improve PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) Guidelines Performance by Simulation

Authors: Fatemeh Jaferi, Moslem Parsa, Seyed Mehdi Sajadi

Abstract:

The project-oriented organizations are more appropriate for sustainable environments. Any effective project-oriented organization should institutionalize its project management processes in such a manner to yield the greatest possible profits. The aim of this paper is to study the relationship between the project management PMBOK guideline (Project Management Body of Knowledge) and simulation technology in project-oriented organizations. The methodology involves using five steps for applying these two tools aimed at enhancing project management processes in the Lorestan Gas Corporation, as one of the project-oriented organization. Results show the implementation of such management approach leads to a 5% performance improvement and using PMBOK can be instrumental in effective delay management. The implementation of the aforementioned improvement package was effective in improving the efficiency of organizational processes; in terms of optimizing the resource utilization that has manifested itself in resource losses and cost reductions.

Keywords: project-orientation, processes, PMBOK, optimization, organization, management

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6420 Moving Object Detection Using Histogram of Uniformly Oriented Gradient

Authors: Wei-Jong Yang, Yu-Siang Su, Pau-Choo Chung, Jar-Ferr Yang

Abstract:

Moving object detection (MOD) is an important issue in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). There are two important moving objects, pedestrians and scooters in ADAS. In real-world systems, there exist two important challenges for MOD, including the computational complexity and the detection accuracy. The histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) features can easily detect the edge of object without invariance to changes in illumination and shadowing. However, to reduce the execution time for real-time systems, the image size should be down sampled which would lead the outlier influence to increase. For this reason, we propose the histogram of uniformly-oriented gradient (HUG) features to get better accurate description of the contour of human body. In the testing phase, the support vector machine (SVM) with linear kernel function is involved. Experimental results show the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method. With SVM classifiers, the real testing results show the proposed HUG features achieve better than classification performance than the HOG ones.

Keywords: moving object detection, histogram of oriented gradient, histogram of uniformly-oriented gradient, linear support vector machine

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6419 Methodology for Obtaining Food Licenses in India

Authors: Rathna Malhotra Gaur

Abstract:

Owing to multiplicity and competition in the Indian food industry, it was always important for the government of India to bring in reforms that would protect the interest of the consumer and also the food operator. To further this objective, Food Safety, and Standards Act, 2006 (hereinafter referred to as FSSAI) was enacted for laying down science-based standards for articles and food and to regulate their storage, distribution, manufacture, same and import and to ensure safe food availability to the citizens of India. One of the safeguards towards consumer interest is the enactment of Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses, Regulation, 2011 within the mandate of FSSAI. It is mandatory for every food operator in India to get the registration certificate and procurement of food Licenses before starting operations in the country. All the nuances pertaining to the procurement of licenses are dealt with under these regulations. These regulations also lay down detailed provisions with regard to the conditions that the operator has to adhere to once the License is procured, going to the integrities of the safety and hygiene standards to be maintained by the food operators. This paper is an exhaustive effort to examine the provisions of obtaining the registration and License in India and the conditions that need to be fulfilled subsequently and further on the validity and renewal of these Food Licenses.

Keywords: food laws, food licenses, food registration, penalty

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6418 Surprise Fraudsters Before They Surprise You: A South African Telecommunications Case Study

Authors: Ansoné Human, Nantes Kirsten, Tanja Verster, Willem D. Schutte

Abstract:

Every year the telecommunications industry suffers huge losses due to fraud. Mobile fraud, or generally, telecommunications fraud is the utilisation of telecommunication products or services to acquire money illegally from or failing to pay a telecommunication company. A South African telecommunication operator developed two internal fraud scorecards to mitigate future risks of application fraud events. The scorecards aim to predict the likelihood of an application being fraudulent and surprise fraudsters before they surprise the telecommunication operator by identifying fraud at the time of application. The scorecards are utilised in the vetting process to evaluate the applicant in terms of the fraud risk the applicant would present to the telecommunication operator. Telecommunication providers can utilise these scorecards to profile customers, as well as isolate fraudulent and/or high-risk applicants. We provide the complete methodology utilised in the development of the scorecards. Furthermore, a Determination and Discrimination (DD) ratio is provided in the methodology to select the most influential variables from a group of related variables. Throughout the development of these scorecards, the following was revealed regarding fraudulent cases and fraudster behaviour within the telecommunications industry: Fraudsters typically target high-value handsets. Furthermore, debit order dates scheduled for the end of the month have the highest fraud probability. The fraudsters target specific stores. Applicants who acquire an expensive package and receive a medium-income, as well as applicants who obtain an expensive package and receive a high income, have higher fraud percentages. If one month prior to application, the status of an account is already in arrears (two months or more), the applicant has a high probability of fraud. The applicants with the highest average spend on calls have a higher probability of fraud. If the amount collected changes from month to month, the likelihood of fraud is higher. Lastly, young and middle-aged applicants have an increased probability of being targeted by fraudsters than other ages.

Keywords: application fraud scorecard, predictive modeling, regression, telecommunications

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6417 Hydraulic Resources Management under Imperfect Competition with Thermal Plants in the Wholesale Electricity Market

Authors: Abdessalem Abbassi, Ahlem Dakhlaoui, Lota D. Tamini

Abstract:

In this paper, we analyze infinite discrete-time games between hydraulic and thermal power operators in the wholesale electricity market under Cournot competition. We consider a deregulated electrical industry where certain demand is satisfied by hydraulic and thermal technologies. The hydraulic operator decides the production in each season of each period that maximizes the sum of expected profits from power generation with respect to the stochastic dynamic constraint on the water stored in the dam, the environmental constraint and the non-negative output constraint. In contrast, the thermal plant is operated with quadratic cost function, with respect to the capacity production constraint and the non-negativity output constraint. We show that under imperfect competition, the hydraulic operator has a strategic storage of water in the peak season. Then, we quantify the strategic inter-annual and intra-annual water transfer and compare the numerical results. Finally, we show that the thermal operator can restrict the hydraulic output without compensation.

Keywords: asymmetric risk aversion, electricity wholesale market, hydropower dams, imperfect competition

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6416 Software Component Identification from Its Object-Oriented Code: Graph Metrics Based Approach

Authors: Manel Brichni, Abdelhak-Djamel Seriai

Abstract:

Systems are increasingly complex. To reduce their complexity, an abstract view of the system can simplify its development. To overcome this problem, we propose a method to decompose systems into subsystems while reducing their coupling. These subsystems represent components. Consisting of an existing object-oriented systems, the main idea of our approach is based on modelling as graphs all entities of an oriented object source code. Such modelling is easy to handle, so we can apply restructuring algorithms based on graph metrics. The particularity of our approach consists in integrating in addition to standard metrics, such as coupling and cohesion, some graph metrics giving more precision during the components identi cation. To treat this problem, we relied on the ROMANTIC approach that proposed a component-based software architecture recovery from an object oriented system.

Keywords: software reengineering, software component and interfaces, metrics, graphs

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6415 Empirical Investigation for the Correlation between Object-Oriented Class Lack of Cohesion and Coupling

Authors: Jehad Al Dallal

Abstract:

The design of the internal relationships among object-oriented class members (i.e., attributes and methods) and the external relationships among classes affects the overall quality of the object-oriented software. The degree of relatedness among class members is referred to as class cohesion and the degree to which a class is related to other classes is called class coupling. Well designed classes are expected to exhibit high cohesion and low coupling values. In this paper, using classes of three open-source Java systems, we empirically investigate the relation between class cohesion and coupling. In the empirical study, five lack-of-cohesion metrics and eight coupling metrics are considered. The empirical study results show that class cohesion and coupling internal quality attributes are inversely correlated. The strength of the correlation highly depends on the cohesion and coupling measurement approaches.

Keywords: class cohesion measure, class coupling measure, object-oriented class, software quality

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6414 The Determinants of Voluntary Disclosure in Croatia

Authors: Zeljana Aljinovic Barac, Marina Granic, Tina Vuko

Abstract:

Study investigates the level and extent of voluntary disclosure practice in Croatia. The research was conducted on the sample of 130 medium and large companies. Findings indicate that two thirds of the companies analysed disclose below-average number of additional information. The explanatory analyses has shown that firm size, listing status and industrial sector significantly and positively affect the level and extent of voluntary disclosure in the annual report of Croatian companies. On the other hand, profitability and ownership structure were found statistically insignificant. Unlike previous studies, this paper deals with level of voluntary disclosure of medium and large companies, as well as companies whose shares are not listed on the organized capital market, which can be found as our contribution. Also, the research makes contribution by providing the insights into voluntary disclosure practices in Croatia, as a case of macro-oriented accounting system economy, i.e. bank oriented economy with an emerging capital market.

Keywords: annual report, Croatian companies, disclosure index, voluntary disclosure

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6413 Musical Education of Preschool Children: From the Average to the Gifted

Authors: Eudjen Cinc

Abstract:

The contemporary society, which is, whether we like it or not, oriented towards utilitarianism, pragmatics and professional flexibility, lives in a certain paradox. On the one hand, at least declaratively, the accent of modern society is on knowledge; knowledge is even considered to be a commodity, the popularity of education is increased as the only means of survival in the market-oriented world, while on the other hand modern society is moving towards simplification and decreasing the amount of information and areas which are considered necessary in the generally excepted concept of education. We cannot talk about the preschool teacher profession without mentioning work with gifted children. The preschool teacher knowing the characteristics of gifted children is of utmost importance because their early identification and professional guidance are of cardinal importance for the direction in which the children will develop. When we talk about musical ability, in the first phase, the role of preschool teachers in the identification and stimulation of gifted children naturally refers to monitoring children’s musical manifestation. The identification process and work with the gifted presupposes a good relationship with the family, synergy of these two important influences in the child’s education and upbringing.

Keywords: music education, gifted children, methodology, kindergarten

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6412 The Role of Ethical Orientation in Two Countries: Different Outcomes in Perception of Corporate Authenticity and Pro-Firm Behavior Intention

Authors: Kyujin Shim, Soojin Kim

Abstract:

This study identifies and examines the impact of factors on two types of CSR outcomes, consumers’ perceptions of corporate authenticity and their pro-firm behavior intentions. Specifically we investigated the roles of two factors - the consumers’ perceptions of CSR motives of a company (i.e. business-oriented vs. society-oriented) and their ethical orientations (i.e. deontology vs. consequentialism). A web-based survey was conducted in South Korea and the United States respectively to compare the differences of consumer reactions between the two countries. The results show that consumers in two countries behave differently to a firm’s CSR motives. In the United States, when consumers perceive a company’s CSR motive as society-oriented, they are more likely to perceive the company authentic and as a result more likely to engage in pro-firm behavior. However, when consumers’ ethical orientation is considered, only consumers’ consequential orientation led to their pro-firm behavioral intention. In South Korea, interpretation of two different CSR motives affects the valence in consumers’ perceptions of corporate authenticity (i.e. society-oriented CSR motive and positive perception of corporate authenticity vs. business-oriented CSR motive and negative perception of corporate authenticity). Korean consumers also showed same pattern in terms of relationship among society-oriented CSR motive, perception of corporate authenticity, and pro-firm behavior intention. Interestingly, Korean consumers’ consequential orientation affects both their perception of corporate authenticity and their pro-firm behavior intention positively. In addition, there was an interaction effect of business-oriented CSR motive and deontological orientation on perception of corporate authenticity. Theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.

Keywords: corporate authenticity, corporate social responsibility, consequentialist ethics, CSR motives, deontological ethics

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6411 Safety and Efficacy of Laparoscopic D2 Gastrectomy for Advanced Gastric Cancers Single Unit Experience

Authors: S. M. P Manjula, Ishara Amarathunga, Aryan Nath Koura, Jaideepraj Rao

Abstract:

Background: Laparoscopic D2 Gastrectomy for non metastatic advanced Gastric cancer (AGC) has become a controversial topic as there are confronting ideas from experts in the field. Lack of consensus are mainly due to non feasibility of the dissection and safety and efficacy. Method: Data from all D2 Gastrectomies performed (both Subtotal and Total Gastrectomies) in our unit from 2009 December to 2013 December were retrospectively analysed. Computor database was prospectively maintained. Pathological stage two A (iiA) and above considered advanced Gastric cancers, who underwent curative intent D2 Gastrectomy were included for analysis(n=46). Four patients excluded from the study as peritoneal fluid cytology came positive for cancer cells and one patient exempted as microscopic resection margin positive(R1) after curative resection. Thirty day morbidity and mortality, operative time, lymph nodes harvest and survival (disease free and overall) analyzed. Results: Complete curative resection achieved in 40 patients. Mean age of the study population was 62.2 (32-88) and male to female ratio was 23: 17. Thirty day mortality (1/40) and morbidity (6/40). Average operative time 203.7 minutes (185- 400) and average lymphnodes harvest was 40.5 (18-91). Disease free survival of the AGC in this study population was 16.75 months (1-49). Average hospital stay was 6.8 days (3-31). Conclusion: Laparoscopic dissection is effective feasible and safe in AGC.

Keywords: laparoscopy, advanced gastric cancer, safety, efficacy

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6410 Integration Multi-Layer Security Modeling with Fuzzy Logic in Service-Oriented Architectures

Authors: Zeinab Ranjbar

Abstract:

Service-oriented architecture in the world today, it is proposed to exchange information and services of interest to those such as IT managers, business managers, designers and system builders scene. The basic architecture of the software used to provide service to all users.the worries of all people (managers, business managers, designers, and system builders scene) effectiveness of this model, how reliable it is in security transactions.To increase the reliability of multi-layer fuzzy logic Architectures used.

Keywords: SOA, service oriented architecture, fuzzy logic, multi layer, SOA security

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6409 Impact of Experience-Oriented Marketing on the Buying Behaviour of the Consumers: An Application in Konya

Authors: Ebru Esen, Omer Akkaya, Nattanan Pankrobkaew

Abstract:

Though the experience concept found its place in the field of marketing in 1982, it is today in front of us as an important phenomenon in understanding the consumer behaviours. In parallel with the globalization and intensification of the competition, the enterprises have been in an effort to provide unique experiences for their consumers by going beyond providing services with the products. In this context, experience-oriented marketing enables the enterprises to use the marketing strategies of providing experiences for their customers and to have advantages in terms of competition. Based on it, this article discusses the concepts of experience, experience-oriented marketing and buying behaviour of consumers as a whole, and details about the application conducted in Konya Selcuklu University.

Keywords: consumer behavior, experience, experience marketing, marketing

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6408 Teachers’ Awareness of the Significance of Lifelong Learning: A Case Study of Secondary School Teachers of Batna - Algeria

Authors: Bahloul Amel

Abstract:

This study is an attempt to raise the awareness of the stakeholders and the authorities on the sensitivity of Algerian secondary school teachers of English as a Foreign Language about the students’ loss of English language skills learned during formal schooling with effort and at expense and the supposed measures to arrest that loss. Data was collected from secondary school teachers of EFL and analyzed quantitatively using a questionnaire containing open-ended and close-ended questions. The results advocate a consensus about the need for actions to be adopted to make assessment techniques outcome-oriented. Most of the participants were in favor of including curricular activities involving contextualized learning, problem-solving learning critical self-awareness, self and peer-assisted learning, use of computers and internet so as to make learners autonomous.

Keywords: lifelong learning, EFL, contextualized learning, Algeria

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6407 Dissolved Organic Nitrogen in Antibiotic Production Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluents

Authors: Ahmed Y. Kutbi, C. Russell. J. Baird, M. McNaughtan, Francis Wayman

Abstract:

Wastewaters from antibiotic production facilities are characterized with high concentrations of dissolved organic substances. Subsequently, it challenges wastewater treatment plant operator to achieve successful biological treatment and to meet regulatory emission levels. Of the dissolved organic substances, this research is investigating the fate of organic nitrogenous compounds (i.e., Chitin) in an antibiotic production wastewater treatment plant located in Irvine, Scotland and its impact on the WWTP removal performance. Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in WWTP effluents are of significance because 1) its potential to cause eutrophication in receiving waters, 2) the formation of nitrogenous disinfection by products in drinking waters and 3) limits WWTPs ability to achieve very low total nitrogen (TN) emissions limits (5 – 25 mg/l). The latter point is where the knowledge gap lays between the operator and the regulator in setting viable TN emission levels. The samples collected from Irvine site at the different stages of the treatment were analyzed for TN and DON. Results showed that the average TN in the WWTP influents and effluents are 798 and 261 mg/l respectively, in other words, the plant achieved 67 % removal of TN. DON Represented 51% of the influents TN, while the effluents accounted 26 % of the TN concentrations. Therefore, an ongoing investigation is carried out to identify DON constituents in WWTP effluent and evaluate its impact on the WWTP performance and its potential bioavailability for algae in receiving waters, which is, in this case, Irvine Bay.

Keywords: biological wastewater treatment plant, dissolved organic nitrogen, bio-availability, Irvine Bay

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6406 Operator Optimization Based on Hardware Architecture Alignment Requirements

Authors: Qingqing Gai, Junxing Shen, Yu Luo

Abstract:

Due to the hardware architecture characteristics, some operators tend to acquire better performance if the input/output tensor dimensions are aligned to a certain minimum granularity, such as convolution and deconvolution commonly used in deep learning. Furthermore, if the requirements are not met, the general strategy is to pad with 0 to satisfy the requirements, potentially leading to the under-utilization of the hardware resources. Therefore, for the convolution and deconvolution whose input and output channels do not meet the minimum granularity alignment, we propose to transfer the W-dimensional data to the C-dimension for computation (W2C) to enable the C-dimension to meet the hardware requirements. This scheme also reduces the number of computations in the W-dimension. Although this scheme substantially increases computation, the operator’s speed can improve significantly. It achieves remarkable speedups on multiple hardware accelerators, including Nvidia Tensor cores, Qualcomm digital signal processors (DSPs), and Huawei neural processing units (NPUs). All you need to do is modify the network structure and rearrange the operator weights offline without retraining. At the same time, for some operators, such as the Reducemax, we observe that transferring the Cdimensional data to the W-dimension(C2W) and replacing the Reducemax with the Maxpool can accomplish acceleration under certain circumstances.

Keywords: convolution, deconvolution, W2C, C2W, alignment, hardware accelerator

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6405 A Formal Property Verification for Aspect-Oriented Programs in Software Development

Authors: Moustapha Bande, Hakima Ould-Slimane, Hanifa Boucheneb

Abstract:

Software development for complex systems requires efficient and automatic tools that can be used to verify the satisfiability of some critical properties such as security ones. With the emergence of Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), considerable work has been done in order to better modularize the separation of concerns in the software design and implementation. The goal is to prevent the cross-cutting concerns to be scattered across the multiple modules of the program and tangled with other modules. One of the key challenges in the aspect-oriented programs is to be sure that all the pieces put together at the weaving time ensure the satisfiability of the overall system requirements. Our paper focuses on this problem and proposes a formal property verification approach for a given property from the woven program. The approach is based on the control flow graph (CFG) of the woven program, and the use of a satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solver to check whether each property (represented par one aspect) is satisfied or not once the weaving is done.

Keywords: aspect-oriented programming, control flow graph, property verification, satisfiability modulo theories

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6404 Impact Analysis Based on Change Requirement Traceability in Object Oriented Software Systems

Authors: Sunil Tumkur Dakshinamurthy, Mamootil Zachariah Kurian

Abstract:

Change requirement traceability in object oriented software systems is one of the challenging areas in research. We know that the traces between links of different artifacts are to be automated or semi-automated in the software development life cycle (SDLC). The aim of this paper is discussing and implementing aspects of dynamically linking the artifacts such as requirements, high level design, code and test cases through the Extensible Markup Language (XML) or by dynamically generating Object Oriented (OO) metrics. Also, non-functional requirements (NFR) aspects such as stability, completeness, clarity, validity, feasibility and precision are discussed. We discuss this as a Fifth Taxonomy, which is a system vulnerability concern.

Keywords: artifacts, NFRs, OO metrics, SDLC, XML

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6403 The Effectiveness of Using Functional Rehabilitation with Children of Cerebral Palsy

Authors: Bara Yousef

Abstract:

The development of independency and functional participation is an important therapeutic goal for many children with cerebral palsy,They was many therapeutic approach have been used for treatment those children like neurodevelopment treatment, balance training strengthening and stretching exercise. More recently, therapy for children with cerebral palsy has focused on achieving functional goals using task-oriented interventions and summer camping model, which focus on activities that relevant and meaningful to the child, to learn more efficient and effective motor skills. We explore the effectiveness of using functional rehabilitation comparing with regular rehabilitation among 40 Saudi children with cerebral palsy in pediatric unit at Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Humanitarian City-Ksa ,where 20 children randomly assign in control group who received rehabilitation based on regular therapy approach and other 20 children assign on experiment group who received rehabilitation based on functional therapy approach with an average of 45min OT treatment and 45 min PT treatment- daily within a period of 6 week. Our finding reported that children in experiment group has improved in gross motor function with an average from 49.4 to 57.6 based on GMFM 66 as primary outcome measure and improved in WeeFIM with an average from 52 to 62 while children in control group has improved with an average from 48.4 to 53.7 in GMFM and from 53 to and 58 in WeeFIM. Consequently, there has been growing interest in determining the effects of functional training programs as promising approach for these children.

Keywords: Cerebral Palsy (CP), gross motor function measure (GMFM66), pediatric Functional Independent Measure (WeeFIM), rehabilitation, disability

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6402 Professional Stakeholders Perspectives on Community Participation in Transit-Oriented Development Projects: A Johannesburg Case Study

Authors: Kofi Quartey, Kola Ijasan

Abstract:

Achieving densification around transit-oriented development projects has proven the most ideal way of facilitating urban sprawl whilst increasing the mobility of the majority of the urban populations, making parts of the city that were inaccessible, accessible. Johannesburg has undertaken TOD vision, which was initially called the corridors of freedom. The TOD, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 11, seeks to establish inclusive, sustainable cities and, in line with the Joburg Growth Development Strategy, aims to create an equitable world-class African city. Equity and inclusivity should occur from the onset of planning and implementation of TOD projects through meaningful community participation. Stakeholder engagement literature from various disciplinary backgrounds has documented dissatisfaction of communities regarding the lack of meaningful participation in government-led development initiatives. The views of other project stakeholders such as project policy planners and project implementors and their challenges in undertaking community participation are, however, not taken into account in such instances, leaving room for a biased perspective. Document analysis was undertaken to determine what is expected of the Project stakeholders according to policy and whether they carried out their duties) seven interviews were also conducted with city entities and community representatives to determine their experiences and challenges with community participation in the various TOD projects attributed to the CoF vision. The findings of the study indicated that stakeholder engagement processes were best described as an ‘educative process’; where local communities were limited to being informed from the onset rather than having an active involvement in the planning processes. Most community members felt they were being informed and educated as to what was going to happen in spite of having their views and opinions collected – primarily due to project deadlines and budget constraints, as was confirmed by professional stakeholders. Some community members exhibited reluctance to change due to feelings of having projects being imposed on them, and the implications of the projects on their properties and lifestyles. It is recommended that community participation should remain a participatory and engaging process that creates an exchange of knowledge and understanding in the form of a dialogue between communities and project stakeholders until a consensus is reached.

Keywords: stakeholder engagement, transit oriented development, community participation, Johannesburg

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6401 An Iterative Family for Solution of System of Nonlinear Equations

Authors: Sonia Sonia

Abstract:

This paper presents a family of iterative scheme for solving nonlinear systems of equations which have wide application in sciences and engineering. The proposed iterative family is based upon some parameters which generates many different iterative schemes. This family is completely derivative free and uses first of divided difference operator. Moreover some numerical experiments are performed and compared with existing methods. Analysis of convergence shows that the presented family has fourth-order of convergence. The dynamical behaviour of proposed family and local convergence have also been discussed. The numerical performance and convergence region comparison demonstrates that proposed family is efficient.

Keywords: convergence, divided difference operator, nonlinear system, Newton's method

Procedia PDF Downloads 199