Search results for: sustainable waste management.
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 3902

Search results for: sustainable waste management.

932 Developing Measurement Model of Interpersonal Skills of Youth

Authors: Mohd Yusri Ibrahim

Abstract:

Although it is known that interpersonal skills are essential for personal development, the debate however continues as to how to measure those skills, especially in youths. This study was conducted to develop a measurement model of interpersonal skills by suggesting three construct namely personal, skills and relationship; six function namely self, perception, listening, conversation, emotion and conflict management; and 30 behaviours as indicators. This cross-sectional survey by questionnaires was applied in east side of peninsula of Malaysia for 150 respondents, and analyzed by structural equation modelling (SEM) by AMOS. The suggested constructs, functions and indicators were consider accepted as measurement elements by observing on regression weight for standard loading, average variance extracted (AVE) for convergent validity, square root of AVE for discriminant validity, composite reliability (CR), and at least three fit indexes for model fitness. Finally, a measurement model of interpersonal skill for youth was successfully developed.

Keywords: Interpersonal communication, interpersonal skill, youth.

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931 Risk and Uncertainty in Aviation: A Thorough Analysis of System Vulnerabilities

Authors: C. V. Pietreanu, S. E. Zaharia, C. Dinu

Abstract:

Hazard assessment and risks quantification are key components for estimating the impact of existing regulations. But since regulatory compliance cannot cover all risks in aviation, the authors point out that by studying causal factors and eliminating uncertainty, an accurate analysis can be outlined. The research debuts by making delimitations on notions, as confusion on the terms over time has reflected in less rigorous analysis. Throughout this paper, it will be emphasized the fact that the variation in human performance and organizational factors represent the biggest threat from an operational perspective. Therefore, advanced risk assessment methods analyzed by the authors aim to understand vulnerabilities of the system given by a nonlinear behavior. Ultimately, the mathematical modeling of existing hazards and risks by eliminating uncertainty implies establishing an optimal solution (i.e. risk minimization).

Keywords: Control, human factor, optimization, risk management, uncertainty.

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930 Meta-requirements that Model Change

Authors: Gouri Prakash

Abstract:

One of the common problems encountered in software engineering is addressing and responding to the changing nature of requirements. While several approaches have been devised to address this issue, ranging from instilling resistance to changing requirements in order to mitigate impact to project schedules, to developing an agile mindset towards requirements, the approach discussed in this paper is one of conceptualizing the delta in requirement and modeling it, in order to plan a response to it. To provide some context here, change is first formally identified and categorized as either formal change or informal change. While agile methodology facilitates informal change, the approach discussed in this paper seeks to develop the idea of facilitating formal change. To collect, document meta-requirements that represent the phenomena of change would be a pro-active measure towards building a realistic cognition of the requirements entity that can further be harnessed in the software engineering process.

Keywords: Change Management, Agile methodology, Metarequirements

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929 Identifying Potential Partnership for Open Innovation by using Bibliographic Coupling and Keyword Vector Mapping

Authors: Inchae Park, Byungun Yoon

Abstract:

As open innovation has received increasingly attention in the management of innovation, the importance of identifying potential partnership is increasing. This paper suggests a methodology to identify the interested parties as one of Innovation intermediaries to enable open innovation with patent network. To implement the methodology, multi-stage patent citation analysis such as bibliographic coupling and information visualization method such as keyword vector mapping are utilized. This paper has contribution in that it can present meaningful collaboration keywords to identified potential partners in network since not only citation information but also patent textual information is used.

Keywords: Open innovation, partner selection, bibliographic coupling, Keyword vector mapping, patent network.

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928 Water Saving in Arid Regions: Comparison of Innovative Techniques for Irrigation of Young Date Palms

Authors: R. Bourziza, A. Hammani, M. Kuper, A. Bouaziz

Abstract:

In oases, the surface water resources are becoming increasingly scarce and groundwater resources, which generally have a poor quality due to the high levels of salinity, are often overexploited. Water saving have therefore become imperative for better oases sustainability. If drip irrigation is currently recommended in Morocco for saving water and valuing, its use in the sub-desert areas does not keep water safe from high evaporation rates. An alternative to this system would be the use of subsurface drip irrigation. This technique is defined as an application of water under the soil surface through drippers, which deliver water at rates generally similar to surface drip irrigation. As subsurface drip irrigation is a recently introduced in Morocco, a better understanding of the infiltration process around a buried source, in local conditions, and its impact on plant growth is necessarily required. This study aims to contribute to improving the water use efficiency by testing the performance of subsurface irrigation system, especially in areas where water is a limited source. The objectives of this research are performance evaluation in arid conditions of the subsurface drip irrigation system for young date palms compared to the surface drip. In this context, an experimental test is installed at a farmer’s field in the area of Erfoud (Errachidia Province, southeastern Morocco), using the subsurface drip irrigation system in comparison with the classic drip system for young date palms. Flow measurement to calculate the uniformity of the application of water was done through two methods: a flow measurement of drippers above the surface and another one underground. The latter method has also helped us to estimate losses through evaporation for both irrigation techniques. In order to compare the effect of two irrigation modes, plants were identified for each type of irrigation to monitor certain agronomic parameters (cumulative numbers of palms and roots development). Experimentation referred to a distribution uniformity of about 88%; considered acceptable for subsurface drip irrigation while it is around 80% for the surface drip irrigation. The results also show an increase in root development and in the number of palm, as well as a substantial water savings due to lower evaporation losses compared to the classic drip irrigation. The results of this study showed that subsurface drip irrigation is an efficient technique, which allows sustainable irrigation in arid areas.

Keywords: Subsurface drip irrigation, Water conservation, Arid areas, Young date palms.

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927 Using Degree of Adaptive (DOA) Model for Partner Selection in Supply Chain

Authors: Habibollah Javanmard

Abstract:

In order to reduce cost, increase quality, and for timely supplying production systems has considerably taken the advantages of supply chain management and these advantages are also competitive. Selection of appropriate supplier has an important role in improvement and efficiency of systems. The models of supplier selection which have already been used by researchers have considered selection one or more suppliers from potential suppliers but in this paper selecting one supplier as partner from one supplier that have minimum one period supplying to buyer is considered. This paper presents a conceptual model for partner selection and application of Degree of Adoptive (DOA) model for final selection. The attributes weight in this model is prepared through AHP model. After making the descriptive model, determining the attributes and measuring the parameters of the adaptive is examined in an auto industry of Iran(Zagross Khodro co.) and results are presented.

Keywords: Partnership, Degree of Adaptive, AHP, SupplyChain.

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926 Securing Message in Wireless Sensor Network by using New Method of Code Conversions

Authors: Ahmed Chalak Shakir, GuXuemai, Jia Min

Abstract:

Recently, wireless sensor networks have been paid more interest, are widely used in a lot of commercial and military applications, and may be deployed in critical scenarios (e.g. when a malfunctioning network results in danger to human life or great financial loss). Such networks must be protected against human intrusion by using the secret keys to encrypt the exchange messages between communicating nodes. Both the symmetric and asymmetric methods have their own drawbacks for use in key management. Thus, we avoid the weakness of these two cryptosystems and make use of their advantages to establish a secure environment by developing the new method for encryption depending on the idea of code conversion. The code conversion-s equations are used as the key for designing the proposed system based on the basics of logic gate-s principals. Using our security architecture, we show how to reduce significant attacks on wireless sensor networks.

Keywords: logic gates, code conversions, Gray-code, and clustering.

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925 Stakeholder Analysis of Agricultural Drone Policy: A Case Study of the Agricultural Drone Ecosystem of Thailand

Authors: Thanomsin Chakreeves, Atichat Preittigun, Ajchara Phu-ang

Abstract:

This paper presents a stakeholder analysis of agricultural drone policies that meet the government's goal of building an agricultural drone ecosystem in Thailand. Firstly, case studies from other countries are reviewed. The stakeholder analysis method and qualitative data from the interviews are then presented including data from the Institute of Innovation and Management, the Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council, agricultural entrepreneurs and farmers. Study and interview data are then employed to describe the current ecosystem and to guide the implementation of agricultural drone policies that are suitable for the ecosystem of Thailand. Finally, policy recommendations are then made that the Thai government should adopt in the future.

Keywords: Drone public policy, drone ecosystem, policy development, agricultural drone.

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924 Impact of a Proposed Pier on Tidal Currents:Koa Kood Island, Thailand

Authors: Cherdvong Saengsupavanich

Abstract:

The impact of a proposed pier on tidal current alteration was evaluated. The proposed pier location was in Salad Bay on Koa Kood Island, Trat province, Thailand, and was designed to accommodate passenger ships with a draft of less than 2 m. The study began with collecting necessary data, including bathymetric, water elevation and tidal current characteristics. The impact was assessed using a software package (MIKE21). Although the results showed that the pier would affect the existing current pattern, the change was determined to be insignificant, as the design of the piles for the pier provided sufficient spacing to let the current flow as freely as possible. Consequences of the altered current, such as seabed erosion, water stagnation, sediment deposition and navigational risk were assessed. Environmental mitigation measures might be necessary if the impacts were considered unacceptable.

Keywords: Environmental impact assessment, pier, tidal currentchange, coastal engineering and management

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923 Value for Money in Investment Projects

Authors: Jan Ceselsky

Abstract:

Construction and reconstruction of settlements and individual municipalities, environmental management and the creation, deployment of the forces of production and building transport and technical equipment requires a large expenditure of material and human resources. That is why the economic aspects of the majority decision in these planes built in the foreground and are often decisive. Thereby but more serious is that the economic aspects of the settlement, the creation and function remain in their whole, unprocessed, and cannot speak of a set of individual techniques and methods traditional indicators and experiments with new approaches. This is true both at the level of the national economy, and in their own urban designs. Still a few remain identified specific economic shaping patterns of settlement and the less it is possible to speak of their control. Also practical assessing economics of specific solutions are often used non-apt indicators in addition to economics usually identifies with the lowest acquisition cost or high-intensity land use with little regard for functional efficiency and little studied much higher operating and maintenance costs".

Keywords: Investment, municipal engineering, value for money.

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922 Analysis of Socio-Cultural Obstacles for Dissemination of Nanotechnology from Iran's Agricultural Experts Perspective

Authors: S. M. Mirdamadi, S. Esmaeili, S. A. Tohidloo

Abstract:

The main purpose of this research was to analyze Socio-Cultural obstacles of disseminating of nanotechnology in Iran's agricultural section. One hundred twenty eight out of a total of 190 researchers with different levels of expertise in and familiarity with nanotechnology were randomly selected and questionnaires completed by them. Face validity have been done by expert's suggestion and correction, reliability by using Cronbakh-Alpha formula. The results of a factor analysis showed variation for different factors. For cultural factors 19/475 percent, for management 13/139 percent, information factor 11/277 percent, production factor 9/703 percent, social factor 9/267 percent, and for attitude factor it became 8/947 percent. Also results indicated that socio-cultural factors were the most important obstacle for nanotechnology dissemination in agricultural section in Iran.

Keywords: Agriculture, Iran, nanotechnology, public perception, social-cultural obstacles.

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921 Urban Heat Island Intensity Assessment through Comparative Study on Land Surface Temperature and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index: A Case Study of Chittagong, Bangladesh

Authors: Tausif A. Ishtiaque, Zarrin T. Tasin, Kazi S. Akter

Abstract:

Current trend of urban expansion, especially in the developing countries has caused significant changes in land cover, which is generating great concern due to its widespread environmental degradation. Energy consumption of the cities is also increasing with the aggravated heat island effect. Distribution of land surface temperature (LST) is one of the most significant climatic parameters affected by urban land cover change. Recent increasing trend of LST is causing elevated temperature profile of the built up area with less vegetative cover. Gradual change in land cover, especially decrease in vegetative cover is enhancing the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect in the developing cities around the world. Increase in the amount of urban vegetation cover can be a useful solution for the reduction of UHI intensity. LST and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) have widely been accepted as reliable indicators of UHI and vegetation abundance respectively. Chittagong, the second largest city of Bangladesh, has been a growth center due to rapid urbanization over the last several decades. This study assesses the intensity of UHI in Chittagong city by analyzing the relationship between LST and NDVI based on the type of land use/land cover (LULC) in the study area applying an integrated approach of Geographic Information System (GIS), remote sensing (RS), and regression analysis. Land cover map is prepared through an interactive supervised classification using remotely sensed data from Landsat ETM+ image along with NDVI differencing using ArcGIS. LST and NDVI values are extracted from the same image. The regression analysis between LST and NDVI indicates that within the study area, UHI is directly correlated with LST while negatively correlated with NDVI. It interprets that surface temperature reduces with increase in vegetation cover along with reduction in UHI intensity. Moreover, there are noticeable differences in the relationship between LST and NDVI based on the type of LULC. In other words, depending on the type of land usage, increase in vegetation cover has a varying impact on the UHI intensity. This analysis will contribute to the formulation of sustainable urban land use planning decisions as well as suggesting suitable actions for mitigation of UHI intensity within the study area.

Keywords: Land cover change, land surface temperature, normalized difference vegetation index, urban heat island.

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920 The Use of Information for Inventory Decision in the Healthcare Industry

Authors: H. L. Chan, T. M. Choi, C. L. Hui, S. F. Ng

Abstract:

In this study, we explore the use of information for inventory decision in the healthcare organization (HO). We consider the scenario when the HO can make use of the information collected from some correlated products to enhance its inventory planning. Motivated by our real world observations that HOs adopt RFID and bar-coding system for information collection purpose, we examine the effectiveness of these systems for inventory planning with Bayesian information updating. We derive the optimal ordering decision and study the issue of Pareto improvement in the supply chain. Our analysis demonstrates that RFID system will outperform the bar-coding system when the RFID system installation cost and the tag cost reduce to a level that is comparable with that of the barcoding system. We also show how an appropriately set wholesale pricing contract can achieve Pareto improvement in the HO supply chain.

Keywords: Efficient consumer response program, healthcare, inventory management, RFID system, bar-coding system.

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919 Integration and Selectivity in Open Innovation:An Empirical Analysis in SMEs

Authors: Chiara Verbano, Maria Crema, Karen Venturini

Abstract:

The company-s ability to draw on a range of external sources to meet their needs for innovation, has been termed 'open innovation' (OI). Very few empirical analyses have been conducted on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to the extent that they describe and understand the characteristics and implications of this new paradigm. The study's objective is to identify and characterize different modes of OI, (considering innovation process phases and the variety and breadth of the collaboration), determinants, barriers and motivations in SMEs. Therefore a survey was carried out among Italian manufacturing firms and a database of 105 companies was obtained. With regard to data elaboration, a factorial and cluster analysis has been conducted and three different OI modes have emerged: selective low open, unselective open upstream, and mid- partners integrated open. The different behaviours of the three clusters in terms of determinants factors, performance, firm-s technology intensity, barriers and motivations have been analyzed and discussed.

Keywords: Open innovation, R&D management, SMEs.

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918 Non-Smooth Economic Dispatch Solution by Using Enhanced Bat-Inspired Optimization Algorithm

Authors: Farhad Namdari, Reza Sedaghati

Abstract:

Economic dispatch (ED) has been considered to be one of the key functions in electric power system operation which can help to build up effective generating management plans. The practical ED problem has non-smooth cost function with nonlinear constraints which make it difficult to be effectively solved. This paper presents a novel heuristic and efficient optimization approach based on the new Bat algorithm (BA) to solve the practical non-smooth economic dispatch problem. The proposed algorithm easily takes care of different constraints. In addition, two newly introduced modifications method is developed to improve the variety of the bat population when increasing the convergence speed simultaneously. The simulation results obtained by the proposed algorithms are compared with the results obtained using other recently develop methods available in the literature.

Keywords: Non-smooth, economic dispatch, bat-inspired, nonlinear practical constraints, modified bat algorithm.

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917 Exploring Inter-Relationships between Events to Identify Strategic Technological Competencies: A Combined Approach

Authors: Cláudio Santos, Madalena Araújo, Nuno Correia

Abstract:

The inherent complexity in nowadays- business environments is forcing organizations to be attentive to the dynamics in several fronts. Therefore, the management of technological innovation is continually faced with uncertainty about the future. These issues lead to a need for a systemic perspective, able to analyze the consequences of interactions between different factors. The field of technology foresight has proposed methods and tools to deal with this broader perspective. In an attempt to provide a method to analyze the complex interactions between events in several areas, departing from the identification of the most strategic competencies, this paper presents a methodology based on the Delphi method and Quality Function Deployment. This methodology is applied in a sheet metal processing equipment manufacturer, as a case study.

Keywords: Competencies, Delphi Method, Quality Function Deployment, Technology Foresight.

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916 Thermal Assessment of Outer Rotor Direct Drive Gearless Small-Scale Wind Turbines

Authors: Yusuf Yasa, Erkan Mese

Abstract:

This paper investigates the thermal issue of permanent magnet synchronous generator which is frequently used in direct drive gearless small-scale wind turbine applications. Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) is designed with 2.5 kW continuous and 6 kW peak power. Then considering generator geometry, mechanical design of wind turbine is performed. Thermal analysis and optimization is carried out considering all wind turbine components to reach realistic results. This issue is extremely important in research and development (R&D) process for wind turbine applications.

Keywords: Direct drive, gearless wind turbine, permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG), small-scale wind turbine, thermal management.

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915 A Framework for Ranking Quality of Information on Weblog

Authors: Mohammad Javad Kargar, Fatemeh Azimzadeh

Abstract:

The vast amount of information on the World Wide Web is created and published by many different types of providers. Unlike books and journals, most of this information is not subject to editing or peer review by experts. This lack of quality control and the explosion of web sites make the task of finding quality information on the web especially critical. Meanwhile new facilities for producing web pages such as Blogs make this issue more significant because Blogs have simple content management tools enabling nonexperts to build easily updatable web diaries or online journals. On the other hand despite a decade of active research in information quality (IQ) there is no framework for measuring information quality on the Blogs yet. This paper presents a novel experimental framework for ranking quality of information on the Weblog. The results of data analysis revealed seven IQ dimensions for the Weblog. For each dimension, variables and related coefficients were calculated so that presented framework is able to assess IQ of Weblogs automatically.

Keywords: Information Quality, Weblog, Web Ranking, Web- Quality.

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914 Towards Good Accountability: The Role of Accounting in Islamic Religious Organisations

Authors: Hasan Basri Afifuddin, A.K Siti-Nabiha

Abstract:

Non-profit organizations, especially religious-based institutions, have long played a very important role in society. Nevertheless, scandals such as inefficient management and the use of unlawful fundraising activities have raised questions regarding the governance and accountability of these organizations. As such, the issues have attracted considerable research interest. However, there is still limited research on accountability in religious based organizations, especially in the context of Islamic religious organizations. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues of accounting and accountability in religious organizations, specifically in Islamic religious establishments. The paper starts by looking at the conventional meaning and concept of accountability. This is followed by a discussion of the principles of accountability within the Islamic framework. In so doing, the history of the role of accounting within Muslim society and also the differences between the Islamic and conventional view of accountability are reviewed. Insights gained from previous research on accountability in faith based organizations are also discussed

Keywords: Accountability, accounting, Islam, religiousorganization.

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913 Identifying Attack Code through an Ontology-Based Multiagent Tool: FROID

Authors: Salvador Mandujano

Abstract:

This paper describes the design and results of FROID, an outbound intrusion detection system built with agent technology and supported by an attacker-centric ontology. The prototype features a misuse-based detection mechanism that identifies remote attack tools in execution. Misuse signatures composed of attributes selected through entropy analysis of outgoing traffic streams and process runtime data are derived from execution variants of attack programs. The core of the architecture is a mesh of self-contained detection cells organized non-hierarchically that group agents in a functional fashion. The experiments show performance gains when the ontology is enabled as well as an increase in accuracy achieved when correlation cells combine detection evidence received from independent detection cells.

Keywords: Outbound intrusion detection, knowledge management, multiagent systems, ontology.

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912 Technological Analysis Questionnaire for Preliminary Feasibility Study on R&D Program

Authors: Seongmin Yim

Abstract:

The Korean government has applied preliminary feasibility study for a new R&D program over about $50 Million since 2008 as a part of official process in budget planning. The investigations of technology, policy, and economics are carried out separately to arrive at a definite result: whether a program is feasible or unfeasible. This paper describes the concept and check-points related to technological analysis from a preliminary evaluation’s stand-point. First of all, the fundamental concept of technological analysis in evaluation systems such as Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Evaluation Methods by Department of Energy (DOE) in the United States, the Green Book in the United Kingdom are reviewed. After the review, customized questionnaire for technological analysis are developed. Conclusively, limitations and further research directions are provided.

Keywords: Preliminary Feasibility Study, R&D Program, Evaluation System, Technological analysis, R&D Logic Analysis.

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911 The Impact of ERP Systems on Accounting Processes

Authors: Despina Galani, Efthymios Gravas, Antonios Stavropoulos

Abstract:

Advances in information technology, recent changes in business environment, globalization, deregulation, privatization have made running a successful business more difficult than ever before. To remain successful and to be competitive have forced companies to react to the new changes in order to survive and succeed. The implementation of an Enterprise Resource planning (ERP) system improves information flow, reduce costs, establish linkage with suppliers and reduce response time to customer needs. This paper focuses on a sample of Greek companies, investigates the ERP market in Greece, the reasons why the Greek companies are investing in ERP systems, the benefits that users have achieved and the influence of ERP systems on the use of new accounting practices. The results indicate a greater level on information integration, flexibility in information access and greater functionality provided by ERP systems but little influence on the use of new accounting practices.

Keywords: Advanced Accounting Practices, EnterpriseResource Planning, Management Accounting.

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910 Universities Strategic Evaluation Using Balanced Scorecard

Authors: M. D. Nayeri, M. M. Mashhadi, K. Mohajeri

Abstract:

Defining strategic position of the organizations within the industry environment is one of the basic and most important phases of strategic planning to which extent that one of the fundamental schools of strategic planning is the strategic positioning school. In today-s knowledge-based economy and dynamic environment, it is essential for universities as the centers of education, knowledge creation and knowledge worker evolvement. Till now, variant models with different approaches to strategic positioning are deployed in defining the strategic position within the various industries. Balanced Scorecard as one of the powerful models for strategic positioning, analyzes all aspects of the organization evenly. In this paper with the consideration of BSC strength in strategic evaluation, it is used for analyzing the environmental position of the best-s Iranian Business Schools. The results could be used in developing strategic plans for these schools as well as other Iranian Management and Business Schools.

Keywords: Strategic planning, Strategic position, Balancedscorecard, Higher education institutions.

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909 A Framework for Evaluation of Enterprise Architecture Implementation Methodologies

Authors: Babak Darvish Rouhani, Mohd Naz’ri Mahrin, Fatemeh Nikpay, Maryam Khanian Najafabadi, Pourya Nikfard

Abstract:

Enterprise Architecture (EA) Implementation Methodologies have become an important part of EA projects. Several implementation methodologies have been proposed, as a theoretical and practical approach, to facilitate and support the development of EA within an enterprise. A significant question when facing the starting of EA implementation is deciding which methodology to utilize. In order to answer this question, a framework with several criteria is applied in this paper for the comparative analysis of existing EA implementation methodologies. Five EA implementation methodologies including: EAP, TOGAF, DODAF, Gartner, and FEA are selected in order to compare with proposed framework. The results of the comparison indicate that those methodologies have not reached a sufficient maturity as whole due to lack of consideration on requirement management, maintenance, continuum, and complexities in their process. The framework has also ability for the evaluation of any kind of EA implementation methodologies.

Keywords: Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Architecture Implementation Methodology. EAIM, Evaluating EAIM, Framework for evaluation.

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908 Drum-Buffer-Rope: The Technique to Plan and Control the Production Using Theory of Constraints

Authors: Arvind Bhardwaj, Ajay Gupta, Arun Kanda

Abstract:

Theory of Constraints has been emerging as an important tool for optimization of manufacturing/service systems. Goldratt in his first book “ The Goal " gave the introduction on Theory of Constraints and its applications in a factory scenario. A large number of production managers around the globe read this book but only a few could implement it in their plants because the book did not explain the steps to implement TOC in the factory. To overcome these limitations, Goldratt wrote this book to explain TOC, DBR and the method to implement it. In this paper, an attempt has been made to summarize the salient features of TOC and DBR listed in the book and the correct approach to implement TOC in a factory setting. The simulator available along with the book was actually used by the authors and the claim of Goldratt regarding the use of DBR and Buffer management to ease the work of production managers was tested and was found to be correct.

Keywords: Drum Buffer Rope (DBR), Optimized ProductionTechnology (OPT), Capacity Constrained Resource (CCR)

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907 MJPEG Real-Time Transmission in Industrial Environments Using a CBR Channel

Authors: J. Silvestre, L. Almeida, R. Marau, P. Pedreiras

Abstract:

Currently, there are many local area industrial networks that can give guaranteed bandwidth to synchronous traffic, particularly providing CBR channels (Constant Bit Rate), which allow improved bandwidth management. Some of such networks operate over Ethernet, delivering channels with enough capacity, specially with compressors, to integrate multimedia traffic in industrial monitoring and image processing applications with many sources. In these industrial environments where a low latency is an essential requirement, JPEG is an adequate compressing technique but it generates VBR traffic (Variable Bit Rate). Transmitting VBR traffic in CBR channels is inefficient and current solutions to this problem significantly increase the latency or further degrade the quality. In this paper an R(q) model is used which allows on-line calculation of the JPEG quantification factor. We obtained increased quality, a lower requirement for the CBR channel with reduced number of discarded frames along with better use of the channel bandwidth.

Keywords: Industrial Networks, Multimedia.

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906 Pay Differentials and Employee Retention in the State Colleges of Education in the South-South Zone, Nigeria

Authors: Emmanuel U. Ingwu

Abstract:

The study examined the influence of pay differentials on employee retention in the State Colleges of Education in the South-South Region of Nigeria. 275 subjects drawn from members of the wage negotiating teams in the Colleges were administered questionnaires constructed for study. Analysis of Variance revealed that the observed pay differentials significantly influenced retainership, f(5,269 = 6.223, P< 0.05). However, the Multiple Classification Analysis and Post-Hoc test indicated that employees in two of the Colleges with slightly lower and higher pay levels may probably remain with their employers while employees in other Colleges with the least and highest pay levels suggested quitting. Based on these observations, the influence of pay on employee retention seems inconclusive. Generally, employees in the colleges studied are dissatisfied with current pay levels. Management should confront these challenges by improving pay packages to encourage employees to remain and be dedicated to duty.

Keywords: Employee, Influence, Pay differentials, Retention.

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905 A Digital Media e-Learning Training Strategy for Healthcare Employees: Cost effective Distance Learning by Collaborative offline / online Engagement and Assessment

Authors: Lynn. J. MacFarlane. A

Abstract:

Within the healthcare system, training and continued professional development although essential, can be effected by cost and logistical restraints due to the nature of healthcare provision e.g employee shift patterns, access to expertise, cost factors in releasing staff to attend training etc. The use of multimedia technology for the development of e-learning applications is also a major cost consideration for healthcare management staff, and this type of media whether optical or on line requires careful planning in order to remain inclusive of all staff with potentially varied access to multimedia computing. This paper discusses a project in which the use of DVD authoring technology has been successfully implemented to meet the needs of distance learning and user considerations, and is based on film production techniques and reduced product turnaround deadlines.

Keywords: DVD, healthcare, distance learning, cost.

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904 Selection of a Tower Crane Using Augmented Reality in Smart Devices

Authors: Myunghoun Jang, Yongkyu Yi

Abstract:

Appropriate selection of lifting equipments for a high-rise building construction project is one of the important factors to the project’s success. Proper position of a tower crane on a construction site is so important to be determined by an expert or an experienced construction manager who draws working range of a tower crane and moves it over a 2D (dimensional) site layout plan. But it is not usual to use 3D CAD, BIM or virtual reality for temporary facility planning or selection of a tower crane. This study proposes a method to use augmented reality to select proper position of tower cranes. An augmented reality prototype is implemented on a smart device to verify the practicability of the proposed method.

Keywords: Augmented Reality, Construction Planning, Site Layout, Temporary Facility Management, Tower Crane

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903 Case Study on Innovative Aquatic-Based Bioeconomy for Chlorella sorokiniana

Authors: Iryna Atamaniuk, Hannah Boysen, Nils Wieczorek, Natalia Politaeva, Iuliia Bazarnova, Kerstin Kuchta

Abstract:

Over the last decade due to climate change and a strategy of natural resources preservation, the interest for the aquatic biomass has dramatically increased. Along with mitigation of the environmental pressure and connection of waste streams (including CO2 and heat emissions), microalgae bioeconomy can supply food, feed, as well as the pharmaceutical and power industry with number of value-added products. Furthermore, in comparison to conventional biomass, microalgae can be cultivated in wide range of conditions without compromising food and feed production, thus addressing issues associated with negative social and the environmental impacts. This paper presents the state-of-the art technology for microalgae bioeconomy from cultivation process to production of valuable components and by-streams. Microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana were cultivated in the pilot-scale innovation concept in Hamburg (Germany) using different systems such as race way pond (5000 L) and flat panel reactors (8 x 180 L). In order to achieve the optimum growth conditions along with suitable cellular composition for the further extraction of the value-added components, process parameters such as light intensity, temperature and pH are continuously being monitored. On the other hand, metabolic needs in nutrients were provided by addition of micro- and macro-nutrients into a medium to ensure autotrophic growth conditions of microalgae. The cultivation was further followed by downstream process and extraction of lipids, proteins and saccharides. Lipids extraction is conducted in repeated-batch semi-automatic mode using hot extraction method according to Randall. As solvents hexane and ethanol are used at different ratio of 9:1 and 1:9, respectively. Depending on cell disruption method along with solvents ratio, the total lipids content showed significant variations between 8.1% and 13.9 %. The highest percentage of extracted biomass was reached with a sample pretreated with microwave digestion using 90% of hexane and 10% of ethanol as solvents. Proteins content in microalgae was determined by two different methods, namely: Total Kejadahl Nitrogen (TKN), which further was converted to protein content, as well as Bradford method using Brilliant Blue G-250 dye. Obtained results, showed a good correlation between both methods with protein content being in the range of 39.8–47.1%. Characterization of neutral and acid saccharides from microalgae was conducted by phenol-sulfuric acid method at two wavelengths of 480 nm and 490 nm. The average concentration of neutral and acid saccharides under the optimal cultivation conditions was 19.5% and 26.1%, respectively. Subsequently, biomass residues are used as substrate for anaerobic digestion on the laboratory-scale. The methane concentration, which was measured on the daily bases, showed some variations for different samples after extraction steps but was in the range between 48% and 55%. CO2 which is formed during the fermentation process and after the combustion in the Combined Heat and Power unit can potentially be used within the cultivation process as a carbon source for the photoautotrophic synthesis of biomass.

Keywords: Bioeconomy, lipids, microalgae, proteins, saccharides.

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