Search results for: reflective practice

Authors: Benjamin Kuester, Bjoern Eilert, Malte Stonis, Ludger Overmeyer

Abstract:

Increasing quality requirements make reliable and effective quality management indispensable. This includes the complaint handling in which the 8D method is widely used. The 8D report as a written documentation of the 8D method is one of the key quality documents as it internally secures the quality standards and acts as a communication medium to the customer. In practice, however, the 8D report is mostly faulty and of poor quality. There is no quality control of 8D reports today. This paper describes the use of natural language processing for the automated evaluation of 8D reports. Based on semantic analysis and text-mining algorithms the presented system is able to uncover content and formal quality deficiencies and thus increases the quality of the complaint processing in the long term.

Keywords: 8D report, complaint management, evaluation system, text-mining.

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Authors: Abdoullah Fath-Allah, Laila Cheikhi, Rafa E. Al-Qutaish, Ali Idri

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Many quality models have been used to measure egovernment portals quality. However, the absence of an international consensus for e-government portals quality models results in many differences in terms of quality attributes and measures. The aim of this paper is to compare and analyze the existing e-government quality models proposed in literature (those that are based on ISO standards and those that are not) in order to propose guidelines to build a good and useful e-government portals quality model. Our findings show that, there is no e-government portal quality model based on the new international standard ISO 25010. Besides that, the quality models are not based on a best practice model to allow agencies to both; measure e-government portals quality and identify missing best practices for those portals.

Keywords: E-government, portal, best practices, quality model, ISO, standard, ISO 25010, ISO 9126.

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Authors: Farahnaz Amini, Woo Yun Kin, Lazwani Kolandaiveloo

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Availability of different genetic tests after completion of Human Genome Project increases the physicians’ responsibility to keep themselves update on the potential implementation of these genetic tests in their daily practice. However, due to numbers of barriers, still many of physicians are not either aware of these tests or are not willing to offer or refer their patients for genetic tests. This study was conducted an anonymous, cross-sectional, mailed-based survey to develop a primary data of Malaysian physicians’ level of knowledge and perception of gene profiling. Questionnaire had 29 questions. Total scores on selected questions were used to assess the level of knowledge. The highest possible score was 11. Descriptive statistics, one way ANOVA and chi-squared test was used for statistical analysis. Sixty three completed questionnaires were returned by 27 general practitioners (GPs) and 36 medical specialists. Responders’ age ranges from 24 to 55 years old (mean 30.2 ± 6.4). About 40% of the participants rated themselves as having poor level of knowledge in genetics in general whilst 60% believed that they have fair level of knowledge; however, almost half (46%) of the respondents felt that they were not knowledgeable about available genetic tests. A majority (94%) of the responders were not aware of any lab or company which is offering gene profiling services in Malaysia. Only 4% of participants were aware of using gene profiling for detection of dosage of some drugs. Respondents perceived greater utility of gene profiling for breast cancer (38%) compared to the colorectal familial cancer (3%). The score of knowledge ranged from 2 to 8 (mean 4.38 ± 1.67). Non- significant differences between score of knowledge of GPs and specialists were observed, with score of 4.19 and 4.58 respectively. There was no significant association between any demographic factors and level of knowledge. However, those who graduated between years 2001 to 2005 had higher level of knowledge. Overall, 83% of participants showed relatively high level of perception on value of gene profiling to detect patient’s risk of disease. However, low perception was observed for both statements of using gene profiling for general population in order to alter their lifestyle (25%) as well as having the full sequence of a patient genome for the purpose of determining a patient’s best match for treatment (18%). The lack of clinical guidelines, limited provider knowledge and awareness, lack of time and resources to educate patients, lack of evidence-based clinical information and cost of tests were the most barriers of ordering gene profiling mentioned by physicians. In conclusion Malaysian physicians who participate in this study had mediocre level of knowledge and awareness in gene profiling. The low exposure to the genetic questions and problems might be a key predictor of lack of awareness and knowledge on available genetic tests. Educational and training workshop might be useful in helping Malaysian physicians incorporate genetic profiling into practice for eligible patients.

Keywords: Gene Profiling, Knowledge, Malaysia, Physician.

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Authors: Achim Kampker, Peter Burggräf, Moritz Krunke, Hanno Voet

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As a reaction to current challenges in factory planning, many companies think about introducing factory standards to lower planning times and decrease planning costs. If these factory standards are set-up with a high level of modularity, they are defined as modular factory systems. This paper deals with the main current problems in the application of modular factory systems in practice and presents a solution approach with its basic models. The methodology is based on methods from factory planning but also uses the tools of other disciplines like product development or technology management to deal with the high complexity, which the development of modular factory systems implies. The four basic models that such a methodology has to contain are introduced and pointed out.

Keywords: Factory planning, modular factory systems, factory standards, cost-benefit analysis.

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Authors: Mojtaba Ghodsi, Hamidreza Ziaifar, Morteza Mohammadzaheri, Payam Soltani

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In this paper, the performance of a medium power (25 kW/25 kHz) hybrid inverter with a reactive transformer is investigated. To analyze the sensitivity of the inverster, the RSM technique is employed to manifest the effective factors in the inverter to minimize current passing through the Insulated Bipolar Gate Transistors (IGBTs) (current stress). It is revealed that the ratio of the axillary inductor to the effective inductance of resonant inverter (N), is the most effective parameter to minimize the current stress in this type of inverter. In practice, proper selection of N mitigates the current stress over IGBTs by five times. This reduction is very helpful to keep the IGBTs at normal temperatures.

Keywords: Analytical analysis, hybrid resonant inverter, reactive transformer, response surface method.

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Authors: O. Nouali, A. Saidi, H. Chahrat, A. Krinah, B. Toursel

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This article describes a Web pages automatic filtering system. It is an open and dynamic system based on multi agents architecture. This system is built up by a set of agents having each a quite precise filtering task of to carry out (filtering process broken up into several elementary treatments working each one a partial solution). New criteria can be added to the system without stopping its execution or modifying its environment. We want to show applicability and adaptability of the multi-agents approach to the networks information automatic filtering. In practice, most of existing filtering systems are based on modular conception approaches which are limited to centralized applications which role is to resolve static data flow problems. Web pages filtering systems are characterized by a data flow which varies dynamically.

Keywords: Agent, Distributed Artificial Intelligence, Multiagents System, Web pages filtering.

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Authors: Mohsen Shirani, Micaela Demichela

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During the last decades, a number of food crises such as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), Mad-Cow disease, Dioxin in chicken food, Food-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), have certainly inflected the reliability of the food industry. Consequently, the trend in applying different scientific methods of risk assessment in food safety has obtained more attentions in the academic and practice. However, lack of practical approach considering entire food supply chain is tangible in the academic literature. In this regard, this paper aims to apply risk assessment tool (FMEA) with integration of Human Factor along the entire supply chain of food production and test the method in a case study of Diary production, and analyze its results.

Keywords: Food Risk Assessment, FMEA, Human Factor.

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Authors: A. Bencsik, - A. Sólyom

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The role of knowledge is a determinative factor in the life of economy and society. To determine knowledge is not an easy task yet the real task is to determine the right knowledge. From this view knowledge is a sum of experience, ideas and cognitions which can help companies to remain in markets and to realize a maximum profit. At the same time changes of circumstances project in advance that contents and demands of the right knowledge are changing. In this paper we will analyse a special segment on the basis of an empirical survey. We investigated the behaviour and strategies of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the area of knowledge-handling. This survey was realized by questionnaires and wide range statistical methods were used during processing. As a result we will show how these companies are prepared to operate in a knowledge-based economy and in which areas they have prominent deficiencies.

Keywords: education, knowledge, knowledgemanagement, strategy, SME

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Authors: S. V. Yendiyarov

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Pattern discovery from time series is of fundamental importance. Particularly, when information about the structure of a pattern is not complete, an algorithm to discover specific patterns or shapes automatically from the time series data is necessary. The dynamic time warping is a technique that allows local flexibility in aligning time series. Because of this, it is widely used in many fields such as science, medicine, industry, finance and others. However, a major problem of the dynamic time warping is that it is not able to work with structural changes of a pattern. This problem arises when the structure is influenced by noise, which is a common thing in practice for almost every application. This paper addresses this problem by means of developing a novel technique called adaptive dynamic time warping.

Keywords: Pattern recognition, optimal control, quadratic programming, dynamic programming, dynamic time warping, sintering control.

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Authors: Kasikrit Damkliang, Athiwat Thongnuan, Suppakit Chanlert

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This paper proposes an architectural and graphical user interface (GUI) design of a traditional Thai musical instrument application for tablet computers for practicing “Ranaad Ek" which is a trough-resonated keyboard percussion instrument. The application provides percussion methods for a player as real as a physical instrument. The application consists of two playing modes. The first mode is free playing, a player can freely multi touches on wooden bar to produce instrument sounds. The second mode is practicing mode that guilds the player to follow percussions and rhythms of practice songs. The application has achieved requirements and specifications.

Keywords: Architectural software design, GUI; traditional Thai musical instrument, percussion instrument

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Authors: E. Rak

Abstract:

The aim of the paper is to identify some of the specific characteristics of employee development, as observed in the practice of small enterprises in Poland. Results suggest that a sizeable percentage of employers are not interested in improving the development of their employee base. This aspect is often perceived as insignificant. In addition, many employers have no theoretical or practical knowledge of employee development methods. Lack of sufficient financial support is reported as third on the list of the most important barriers to employee development. Employees, on the other hand, typically offload the responsibility of initiating this type of activities onto the employer. Employee development plans are typically flexible and accommodating. The original value offered by this research comes in the form of a detailed characteristics of employee development in small enterprises, accompanied by identification of specificity of human resource development in Polish companies.

Keywords: Employee development specificity, human resources development, small businesses, trainings.

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Authors: Suparat Niwitpong, Sa-aat Niwitpong

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In this paper we proposed the new confidence interval for the normal population mean with known coefficient of variation. In practice, this situation occurs normally in environment and agriculture sciences where we know the standard deviation is proportional to the mean. As a result, the coefficient of variation of is known. We propose the new confidence interval based on the recent work of Khan [3] and this new confidence interval will compare with our previous work, see, e.g. Niwitpong [5]. We derive analytic expressions for the coverage probability and the expected length of each confidence interval. A numerical method will be used to assess the performance of these intervals based on their expected lengths.

Keywords: confidence interval, coverage probability, expected length, known coefficient of variation.

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Authors: Wang Chengcheng, Li Chuanri, Xu Fei, Guo Ying

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Aiming at most of the aviation products are facing the problem of fatigue fracture in vibration environment, we makes use of the testing result of a bracket, analysis for the structure with ANSYS-Workbench, predict the life of the bracket by different ways, and compared with the testing result. With the research on analysis methods, make an organic combination of simulation analysis and testing, Not only ensure the accuracy of simulation analysis and life predict, but also make a dynamic supervision of product life process, promote the application of finite element simulation analysis in engineering practice.

Keywords: Random vibration, finite element simulation, fatigue, frequency domain.

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Authors: Rihards Balodis, Inara Opmane

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Deep and radical social reforms of the last century-s nineties in many Eastern European countries caused changes in Information Technology-s (IT) field. Inefficient information technologies were rapidly replaced with forefront IT solutions, e.g., in Eastern European countries there is a high level penetration of qualitative high-speed Internet. The authors have taken part in the introduction of those changes in Latvia-s leading IT research institute. Grounding on their experience authors in this paper offer an IT services based model for analysis the mentioned changes- and development processes in the higher education and research fields, i.e., for research e-infrastructure-s development. Compare to the international practice such services were developed in Eastern Europe in an untraditional way, which provided swift and positive technological changes.

Keywords: Computing, data networking, e-infrastructure, IT services.

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Authors: Michelle D. Hand, Michelle L. Kaiser

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African refugees are among the fastest-growing populations in the United States and nearly half of these refugees come from Somalia, many of whom are Somali Bantus, the most marginalized group in Somali society. Yet limited research is available on Somali Bantu refugees. In this paper, Empowerment Theory is used to guide an in-depth exploration of the potential benefits of using community kitchen gardens to increase community food security among Somali Bantu refugees. In addition, recommendations for future research, policy and practice are offered following existing scholarly and grey source literature guidelines as informed by an Empowerment perspective to best meet the needs of this under-researched and underserved yet growing population.

Keywords: Community kitchen gardens, food insecurity, refugees, Somali Bantu.

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Authors: Nicholas Kyriazis, Emmanouil Marios L. Economou, Jr, Loukas Zachilas

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In the present essay, a model of choice by actors is analysedby utilizing the theory of chaos to explain how change comes about. Then, by using ancient and modern sources of literature, the theory of the social contract is analysed as a historical phenomenon that first appeared during the period of Classical Greece. Then, based on the findings of this analysis, the practice of direct democracy and public choice in ancient Athens is analysed, through two historical cases: Eubulus and Lycurgus political program in the second half of the 4th century. The main finding of this research is that these policies can be interpreted as an implementation of a social contract, through which citizens were taking decisions based on rational choice according to economic considerations.

Keywords: Chaos theory, public choice, social contract, 4th century BC. Athens.

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Authors: João Vilas-Boas, Abdul Suleman, Luis Moreira

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This research tested the performance of alternative warehouse designs concerning the picking process. The chosen performance measures were Travel Distance and Total Fulfilment Time. An explanatory case study was built up around a model implemented with SIMUL8. Hypotheses were set by selecting outcomes from the literature survey matching popular empirical findings. 17.4% reductions were found for Total Fulfilment Time and Resource Utilisation. The latter was then used as a proxy for operational efficiency. Literal replication of theoretical data-patterns was considered as an internal validity sign. Assessing the estimated changes benefits ahead of implementation was found to be a contribution to practice.

Keywords: Warehouse discrete-event simulation, Storage policy selection and assessment, Performance evaluation of order picking.

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Authors: Santosh Kr. Choudhary

Abstract:

In this paper, fractional order feedback control of a ball beam model is investigated. The ball beam model is a particular example of the double Integrator system having strongly nonlinear characteristics and unstable dynamics which make the control of such system a challenging task. Most of the work in fractional order control systems are in theoretical nature and controller design and its implementation in practice is very small. In this work, a successful attempt has been made to design a fractional order PIλDμcontroller for a benchmark laboratory ball and beam model. Better performance can be achieved using a fractional order PID controller and it is demonstrated through simulations results with a comparison to the classic PID controller.

Keywords: Fractional order calculus, fractional order controller, fractional order system, ball and beam system, PIλDμ controller, modelling, simulation.

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Authors: Majlinda Fetaji, Alajdin Abazi, Zamir Dika, Bekim Fetaji

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The assessment of the efficacy of devised Mobile- Assisted Instructional Modes in Mobile Learning was the focus of this research. The study adopted pre-test, post-test, control group quasi-experimental design. Research instruments were developed, validated and used for collecting data. Findings revealed that the students exposed to Mobile Task Based Learning Mode (MTBLM) in using Mobile-Assisted Instruction (MAI) performed significantly better. The implication of these findings is that, the Audio tutorial and Practice Mode (ATPM) (Stimulus instruments) of MAI had been found better over the other modes used in the study.

Keywords: Mobile-Assisted instructions, Mobile learning, learning instructions, task based learning.

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Authors: Quoc-Nam Tran

Abstract:

The theory of Groebner Bases, which has recently been honored with the ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award, has become a crucial building block to computer algebra, and is widely used in science, engineering, and computer science. It is wellknown that Groebner bases computation is EXP-SPACE in a general setting. In this paper, we give an algorithm to show that Groebner bases computation is P-SPACE in Boolean rings. We also show that with this discovery, the Groebner bases method can theoretically be as efficient as other methods for automated verification of hardware and software. Additionally, many useful and interesting properties of Groebner bases including the ability to efficiently convert the bases for different orders of variables making Groebner bases a promising method in automated verification.

Keywords: Algorithm, Complexity, Groebner basis, Applications of Computer Science.

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Authors: A. Petz, S. Duckwitz, C. Schmalz, S. Meyer, S. Mütze-Niewöhner, C.M. Schlick

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Although services play a crucial role in economy, service did not gain as much importance as productivity management in manufacturing. This paper presents key findings from literature and practice. Based on an initial definition of complex services, seven productivity concepts are briefly presented and assessed by relevant, complex service specific criteria. Following the findings a complex service productivity model is proposed. The novel model comprises of all specific dimensions of service provision from both, the provider-s as well as costumer-s perspective. A clear assignment of identified value drivers and relationships between them is presented. In order to verify the conceptual service productivity model a case study from a project engineering department of a chemical plant development and construction company is presented.

Keywords: assessment model, complex services, service productivity model, value driver.

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Authors: J. Zagorskas, I. Veteikyte

Abstract:

Physical urban form is recognized to be the media for human transactions. It directly influences the travel demand of people in a specific urban area and the amount of energy used for transportation. Distorted, sprawling form often creates sustainability problems in urban areas. It is declared in EU strategic planning documents that compact urban form and mixed land use pattern must be given the main focus to achieve better sustainability in urban areas, but the methods to measure and compare these characteristics are still not clear. This paper presents the simple methods to measure the spatial characteristics of urban form by analyzing the location and distribution of objects in an urban environment. The extended CA (cellular automata) model is used to simulate urban development scenarios.

Keywords: Cellular automata (CA), Mixed used planning, Spatial analysis, Urban compactness, Geographic information systems (GIS).

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Authors: Abdul H, Jamil A, Imran U

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Conflicts identification among non-functional requirements is often identified intuitively which impairs conflict analysis practices. This paper proposes a new model to identify conflicts among non-functional requirements. The proposed model uses the matrix mechanism to identify the quality based conflicts among non-functional requirements. The potential conflicts are identified through the mapping of low level conflicting quality attributes to low level functionalities using the matrices. The proposed model achieves the identification of conflicts among product and process requirements, identifies false conflicts, decreases the documentation overhead, and maintains transparency of identified conflicts. The attributes are not concomitantly taken into account by current models in practice.

Keywords: Conflict Identification, Matrix Maps, Non-functional Requirements, Requirements Analysis, Software Engineering

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Authors: Mary Panko, Rashika Sharma

Abstract:

Sustainability often appears to be an unfamiliar concept to many international students that enrol in a New Zealand technological degree. Lecturers’ experiences with classroom interactions and evaluation of assessments indicate that studying the concept enlightens and enhances international students understanding of sustainability. However, in most cases, even after studying sustainability in their degree programme, students are not given an opportunity to practice and apply this concept into their professions in their home countries. Therefore, using a qualitative approach, the academics conducted research to determine the change in international students understanding of sustainability before and after their enrolment in an Applied Technology degree. The research also aimed to evaluate if international students viewed sustainability of relevance to their professions and whether the students felt that they will be provided with an opportunity to apply their knowledge about sustainability in the industry. The findings of the research are presented in this paper.

Keywords: Education for sustainability, international students, vocational education.

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Authors: T. Karech A. Noui, T. Bouzid

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This article presents a comparative study by numerical analysis of the behavior of reinforcements of clayey soils by flexible columns (stone columns) and rigid columns (piles). The numerical simulation was carried out in 3D for an assembly of foundation, columns and a pile of a bridge. Particular attention has been paid to take into account the installation of the columns. Indeed, in practice, due to the compaction of the column, the soil around it sustains a lateral expansion and the horizontal stresses are increased. This lateral expansion of the column can be simulated numerically. This work represents a comparative study of the interaction between the soil on one side, and the two types of reinforcement on the other side, and their influence on the behavior of the soil and of the pile of a bridge.

Keywords: Piles, stone columns, interaction, foundation, settlement, consolidation.

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Authors: Musa Alhassan, Alhaji Mohammed Mustapha

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Review of studies carried out on the use of bagasse ash for the improvement of deficient soils in Nigeria, with emphasis on lateritic and black cotton soils is presented. Although, the bagasse ash is mostly used as additive to the conventional soil stabilizers (cement and lime), the studies generally showed improvement in the geotechnical properties of the soils, either modified or stabilized with the ash. This showed the potentials of using this agricultural waste (bagasse ash) in the improvement of geotechnical properties of deficient soils, thus suggesting that using this material at large scale level in geotechnical engineering practice could help in the provision of stable and durable structures, reduce cost of soil improvement and also reduces environmental nuisance caused by the unused waste in Nigeria.

Keywords: Bagasse ash, Black cotton soil, Deficient soil, Laterite, Soil improvement.

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Authors: Claude Alavoine

Abstract:

While in practice negotiation is always a mix of cooperation and competition, these two elements correspond to different approaches of the relationship and also different orientations in term of strategy, techniques, tactics and arguments employed by the negotiators with related effects and in the end leading to different outcomes. The levels of honesty, trust and therefore cooperation are influenced not only by the uncertainty of the situation, the objectives, stakes or power but also by the orientation given from the very beginning of the relationship. When negotiation is reduced to a confrontation of power, participants rely on coercive measures, using different kinds of threats or make false promises and bluff in order to establish a more acceptable balance of power. Most of the negotiators have a tendency to complain about the unethical aspects of the tactics used by their counterparts while, as the same time, they are mostly unaware of the sources of influence of their own vision and practices. In this article, our intention is to clarify these sources and try to understand what can lead negotiators to unethical practices.

Keywords: competition, cooperation, ethics, negotiation, power

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Authors: M. Heydari, S. A. Torabi

Abstract:

The problem of lot sizing, sequencing and scheduling multiple products in flow line production systems has been studied by several authors. Almost all of the researches in this area assumed that setup times and costs are sequence –independent even though sequence dependent setups are common in practice. In this paper we present a new mixed integer non linear program (MINLP) and a heuristic method to solve the problem in sequence dependent case. Furthermore, a genetic algorithm has been developed which applies this constructive heuristic to generate initial population. These two proposed solution methods are compared on randomly generated problems. Computational results show a clear superiority of our proposed GA for majority of the test problems.

Keywords: Economic lot scheduling problem, finite horizon, genetic algorithm, mixed zero-one nonlinear programming, sequence-dependent.

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Authors: Hichem Sassi, Tawfik Najeh, Noureddine Liouane

Abstract:

The localization information is crucial for the operation of WSN. There are principally two types of localization algorithms. The Range-based localization algorithm has strict requirements on hardware, thus is expensive to be implemented in practice. The Range-free localization algorithm reduces the hardware cost. However, it can only achieve high accuracy in ideal scenarios. In this paper, we locate unknown nodes by incorporating the advantages of these two types of methods. The proposed algorithm makes the unknown nodes select the nearest anchor using the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and choose two other anchors which are the most accurate to achieve the estimated location. Our algorithm improves the localization accuracy compared with previous algorithms, which has been demonstrated by the simulating results.

Keywords: WSN, localization, DV-hop, RSSI.

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Authors: T. Bovornvirakit, K. Viravaidya

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Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a new worldwide public health problem. A diagnosis of this disease using creatinine is still a problem in clinical practice. Therefore, a measurement of biomarkers responsible for AKI has received much attention in the past couple years. Cytokine interleukin-18 (IL-18) was reported as one of the early biomarkers for AKI. The most commonly used method to detect this biomarker is an immunoassay. This study used a planar platform to perform an immunoassay using fluorescence for detection. In this study, anti-IL-18 antibody was immobilized onto a microscope slide using a covalent binding method. Make-up samples were diluted at the concentration between 10 to 1000 pg/ml to create a calibration curve. The precision of the system was determined using a coefficient of variability (CV), which was found to be less than 10%. The performance of this immunoassay system was compared with the measurement from ELISA.

Keywords: Acute kidney injury, Acute renal failure, Antibody immobilization, Interleukin-18

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