Search results for: Peer assessment
1148 Public User Assessment of Malaysia's E-Government Applications
Authors: M. N. Norshita, B. Z. Halimah, T. S. Tengku Mohammad
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The implementation of electronic government started since the initiation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) by the Malaysia government. The introduction of ICT in the public sector especially e-Government initiatives opens up a new book in the government administration throughout the world. The aim or this paper is to discuss the implementation of e-government in Malaysia, covering the result of public user self assessment on Malaysia's electronic government applications. E-services, e-procurement, Generic Office Environment (GOE), Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS), Project Monitoring System (PMS), Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX) and e-syariah(religion) were the seven flagship application assessed. The study adopted a crosssectional survey research approach and information system literature were used. The analysis was done for 35 responden in pilot test and there was evidence from public user's perspective to suggest that the e-government applications were generally successful.
Keywords: Electronic government, flagship, multimedia super corridor, public user.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31731147 Caught in the Tractor Beam of Larger Influences: The Filtration of Innovation in Education Technology Design
Authors: Justin D. Olmanson, Fitsum F. Abebe, Valerie Jones, Eric Kyle, Lyrica Lucas, Katherine Robbins, Guieswende Rouamba, Xianquan Liu
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While emerging technologies continue to emerge, research into their use in learning contexts often focuses on a subset of educational practices and ways of using technologies. In this study we begin to explore the extent to which educational designs are influenced by larger societal and education-related factors not usually explicitly considered when designing or identifying technology-supported education experiences for research study. We examine patterns within and between factors via a content analysis across ten years and 19 different journals of published peer-reviewed research on technology-supported writing. Our findings have implications for how researchers, designers, and educators approach technology-supported educational design within and beyond the field of writing and literacy.Keywords: Writing, emerging technology, learning, curriculum, pedagogy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18341146 An Integrated Planning Framework for Sustainable Tourism: Case Study of Tunisia
Authors: S. Halioui, I. Arikan, M. Schmidt
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Tourism sector in Tunisia faces several problems that range from economic challenges to environmental degradation and social instability. These problems have been intensified because of the increased competition in the tourism market, the political instability, financial crises, and recently terrorism problems have aggravated the situation. As a consequence, a new framework that promotes sustainable tourism in the country and increases its competitiveness is urgently needed. Planning for sustainable tourism sector requires the integration of complex interactions between economic, social and environmental aspects. Sustainable tourism principles can be implemented with the help of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process, which ensures the full integration of economic, social and environmental considerations while planning for the tourism sector in Tunisia. Results of the paper have broad implications for policy makers and tourism professionals.Keywords: Sustainable tourism, strategic environmental assessment, tourism planning, policy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15051145 Evaluation of Iranian Standard for Assessment of Liquefaction Potential of Cohesionless Soils Based on Standard Penetration Test
Authors: Reza Ziaie Moayad, Azam Kouhpeyma
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In-situ testing is preferred to evaluate the liquefaction potential in cohesionless soils due to high disturbance during sampling. Although new in-situ methods with high accuracy have been developed, standard penetration test, the simplest and the oldest in-situ test, is still used due to the profusion of the recorded data. This paper reviews the Iranian standard of evaluating liquefaction potential in soils (codes 525) and compares the liquefaction assessment methods based on standard penetration test (SPT) results on cohesionless soil in this standard with the international standards. To this, methods for assessing liquefaction potential are compared with what is presented in standard 525. It is found that although the procedure used in Iranian standard of evaluating the potential of liquefaction has not been updated according to the new findings, it is a conservative procedure.
Keywords: cohesionless soil, liquefaction, SPT, Iranian liquefaction standard
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4891144 Open Science Philosophy and Paradigm of Scientific Research
Authors: C. Ardil
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This paper presents the open science philosophy and paradigm of scientific research on how to transform classical research and innovation approaches. Open science is the practice of providing free and unrestricted online access to the products of scholarly research. Open science advocates for the immediate and unrestricted online access to published, peer-reviewed research in digital format. Open science research is made available for free in perpetuity and includes guidelines and/or licenses that communicate how researchers and readers can share and re-use the digital content. The emergence of open science has changed the scholarly research and publishing landscape, making research more broadly accessible to academic and non-academic audiences alike. Consequently, open science philosophy and its practice are discussed to cover all aspects of cyberscience in the context of research and innovation excellence for the benefit of global society.Keywords: Open science, open data, open access, cyberscience , cybertechnology.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6861143 Development of a Rating Scale for Elementary EFL Writing
Authors: Mohammed S. Assiri
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In EFL programs, rating scales used in writing assessment are often constructed by intuition. Intuition-based scales tend to provide inaccurate and divisive ratings of learners’ writing performance. Hence, following an empirical approach, this study attempted to develop a rating scale for elementary-level writing at an EFL program in Saudi Arabia. Towards this goal, 98 students’ essays were scored and then coded using comprehensive taxonomy of writing constructs and their measures. An automatic linear modeling was run to find out which measures would best predict essay scores. A nonparametric ANOVA, the Kruskal-Wallis test, was then used to determine which measures could best differentiate among scoring levels. Findings indicated that there were certain measures that could serve as either good predictors of essay scores or differentiators among scoring levels, or both. The main conclusion was that a rating scale can be empirically developed using predictive and discriminative statistical tests.
Keywords: Analytic scoring, rating scales, writing assessment, writing performance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 35011142 Design Methodology through Risk Assessment of Massive Water Retaining Structures
Authors: A. Rouili
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In the present paper the results of a numerical study are presented, numerical models were developed to simulate the behaviour of vertical massive dikes. The proposed models were developed according to the geometry, boundary conditions, loading conditions and initial conditions of a physical model taken as reference. The results obtained were compared to the experimental data. As far as the overall behaviour, the displacements and the failure mechanisms of the dikes is concerned, the numerical results were in good agreement with the experimental results, which clearly indicates a good quality of numerical modelling. The validated numerical models were used in a parametric study were the displacements and failure mechanisms were fully investigated. Out of the results obtained, some conclusions and recommendations related to the design of massive dikes are proposed.
Keywords: Water conservation, dikes, risk assessment and numerical modelling.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15501141 A Multigranular Linguistic Additive Ratio Assessment Model in Group Decision Making
Authors: Wiem Daoud Ben Amor, Luis Martínez López, Jr., Hela Moalla Frikha
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Most of the multi-criteria group decision making (MCGDM) problems dealing with qualitative criteria require consideration of the large background of expert information. It is common that experts have different degrees of knowledge for giving their alternative assessments according to criteria. So, it seems logical that they use different evaluation scales to express their judgment, i.e., multi granular linguistic scales. In this context, we propose the extension of the classical additive ratio assessment (ARAS) method to the case of a hierarchical linguistics term for managing multi granular linguistic scales in uncertain context where uncertainty is modeled by means in linguistic information. The proposed approach is called the extended hierarchical linguistics-ARAS method (ELH-ARAS). Within the ELH-ARAS approach, the decision maker (DMs) can diagnose the results (the ranking of the alternatives) in a decomposed style i.e., not only at one level of the hierarchy but also at the intermediate ones. Also, the developed approach allows a feedback transformation i.e., the collective final results of all experts are able to be transformed at any level of the extended linguistic hierarchy that each expert has previously used. Therefore, the ELH-ARAS technique makes it easier for decision-makers to understand the results. Finally, an MCGDM case study is given to illustrate the proposed approach.
Keywords: Additive ratio assessment, extended hierarchical linguistic, multi-criteria group decision making problems, multi granular linguistic contexts.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3621140 Ecological Risk Assessment of Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the North Port, Malaysia
Authors: Belin Tavakoly Sany, Aishah Salleh, Abdul Halim Sulaiman, Ghazaleh Monazami Tehrani
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The pollution of sediments sampled from the North Port by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was investigated. Concentrations of PAHs estimated in the port sediments ranged from 199 to 2851.2 μg/kg dw. The highest concentration was found which is closed to the Berth line, this locations affected by intensive shipping activities and Land based runoff and they were dominated by the high molecular weight PAHs (4–6- rings). Source identification showed that PAHs originated mostly from the pyrogenic source either from the combustion of fossil fuels, grass, wood and coal (majority of the samples). Ecological Risk Assessment on the port sediments presented that slightly adverse ecological effects to biological community are expected to occur at the vicinity of the stations 1 and 4. Thus PAHs are not considered as pollutants of concern in the North Port.Keywords: PAHs, North Port, Ecological Risk, sediment
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18411139 Development of a Biomechanical Method for Ergonomic Evaluation: Comparison with Observational Methods
Authors: M. Zare, S. Biau, M. Croq, Y. Roquelaure
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A wide variety of observational methods have been developed to evaluate the ergonomic workloads in manufacturing. However, the precision and accuracy of these methods remain a subject of debate. The aims of this study were to develop biomechanical methods to evaluate ergonomic workloads and to compare them with observational methods.
Two observational methods, i.e. SCANIA Ergonomic Standard (SES) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), were used to assess ergonomic workloads at two simulated workstations. They included four tasks such as tightening & loosening, attachment of tubes and strapping as well as other actions. Sensors were also used to measure biomechanical data (Inclinometers, Accelerometers, and Goniometers).
Our findings showed that in assessment of some risk factors both RULA & SES were in agreement with the results of biomechanical methods. However, there was disagreement on neck and wrist postures. In conclusion, the biomechanical approach was more precise than observational methods, but some risk factors evaluated with observational methods were not measurable with the biomechanical techniques developed.
Keywords: Ergonomic, Observational Method, Biomechanical method, Workload.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 50981138 Principal Component Regression in Noninvasive Pineapple Soluble Solids Content Assessment Based On Shortwave Near Infrared Spectrum
Authors: K. S. Chia, H. Abdul Rahim, R. Abdul Rahim
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The Principal component regression (PCR) is a combination of principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regression (MLR). The objective of this paper is to revise the use of PCR in shortwave near infrared (SWNIR) (750-1000nm) spectral analysis. The idea of PCR was explained mathematically and implemented in the non-destructive assessment of the soluble solid content (SSC) of pineapple based on SWNIR spectral data. PCR achieved satisfactory results in this application with root mean squared error of calibration (RMSEC) of 0.7611 Brix°, coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.5865 and root mean squared error of crossvalidation (RMSECV) of 0.8323 Brix° with principal components (PCs) of 14.Keywords: Pineapple, Shortwave near infrared, Principal component regression, Non-invasive measurement; Soluble solids content
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20271137 Assessment of Channel Unavailability Effect on the Wireless Networks Teletraffic Modeling and Analysis
Authors: Eman S. El-Din, Hesham M. El-Badawy, Salwa H. Elramly
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Whereas cellular wireless communication systems are subject to short-and long-term fading. The effect of wireless channel has largely been ignored in most of the teletraffic assessment researches. In this paper, a mathematical teletraffic model is proposed to estimate blocking and forced termination probabilities of cellular wireless networks as a result of teletraffic behavior as well as the outage of the propagation channel. To evaluate the proposed teletraffic model, gamma inter-arrival and general service time distributions have been considered based on wireless channel fading effect. The performance is evaluated and compared with the classical model. The proposed model is dedicated and investigated in different operational conditions. These conditions will consider not only the arrival rate process, but also, the different faded channels models.Keywords: Cellular wireless networks, outage probability, traffic model, gamma inter-arrival distribution.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14951136 Determining the Principles Affecting Perceptions of Strategic Quality Management Implementation: A Study of the Turkish Large Scale Firms
Authors: Gül Tekin Temur, Tolga Kaya, Serpil Öktem, Sıtkı Gözlü
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The purpose of this study is to reveal the principles, which have the highest impact on determining the Strategic Quality Management (SQM) implementation perceptions of managers. In order to accomplish this goal, first of all, a factor analysis is conducted on the attitudes of managers at 80 large-scale firms in Turkey for SQM principles. Secondly, utilizing t tests and discriminant analysis, the most effective items are determined. The results show that “process improvement" and “assessment of competitiveness" are the management principles, which have the highest impact on determining the SQM implementation perceptions of Turkish managers.
Keywords: Assessment of Competitiveness, Process Improvement, Strategic Quality Management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15291135 The Impact of System Cascading Collapse and Transmission Line Outages to the Transfer Capability Assessment
Authors: N. A. Salim, M. M. Othman, I. Musirin, M. S. Serwan
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Uncertainty of system operating conditions is one of the causative reasons which may render to the instability of a transmission system. For that reason, accurate assessment of transmission reliability margin (TRM) is essential to ensure effective power transfer between areas during the occurrence of system uncertainties. The power transfer is also called as the available transfer capability (ATC) which is the information required by the utilities and marketers to instigate selling and buying the electric energy. This paper proposes a computationally effective approach to estimate TRM and ATC by considering the uncertainties of system cascading collapse and transmission line outages. In accordance to the results that have been obtained, the proposed method is essential for the transmission providers which could help the power marketers and planning sectors in the operation and reserving transmission services based on the ATC calculated.
Keywords: Available transfer capability, System cascading collapse, Transmission line outages, Transmission reliability margin.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20531134 Lateral Torsional Buckling of Steel Thin-Walled Beams with Lateral Restraints
Authors: Ivan Balázs, Jindřich Melcher
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Metal thin-walled members have been widely used in building industry. Usually they are utilized as purlins, girts or ceiling beams. Due to slenderness of thin-walled cross-sections these structural members are prone to stability problems (e.g. flexural buckling, lateral torsional buckling). If buckling is not constructionally prevented their resistance is limited by buckling strength. In practice planar members of roof or wall cladding can be attached to thin-walled members. These elements reduce displacement of thin-walled members and therefore increase their buckling strength. If this effect is taken into static assessment more economical sections of thin-walled members might be utilized and certain savings of material might be achieved. This paper focuses on problem of determination of critical load of steel thin-walled beams with lateral continuous restraint which is crucial for lateral torsional buckling assessment.Keywords: Beam, buckling, numerical analysis, stability, steel.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29151133 Numerical and Experimental Assessment of a PCM Integrated Solar Chimney
Authors: J. Carlos Frutos Dordelly, M. Coillot, M. El Mankibi, R. Enríquez Miranda, M. José Jimenez, J. Arce Landa
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Natural ventilation systems have increasingly been the subject of research due to rising energetic consumption within the building sector and increased environmental awareness. In the last two decades, the mounting concern of greenhouse gas emissions and the need for an efficient passive ventilation system have driven the development of new alternative passive technologies such as ventilated facades, trombe walls or solar chimneys. The objective of the study is the assessment of PCM panels in an in situ solar chimney for the establishment of a numerical model. The PCM integrated solar chimney shows slight performance improvement in terms of mass flow rate and external temperature and outlet temperature difference. An increase of 11.3659 m3/h can be observed during low wind speed periods. Additionally, the surface temperature across the chimney goes beyond 45 °C and allows the activation of PCM panels.
Keywords: Energy storage, passive ventilation, phase changing materials, solar chimney, solar energy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11551132 Ion Thruster Grid Lifetime Assessment Based on Its Structural Failure
Authors: Juan Li, Jiawen Qiu, Yuchuan Chu, Tianping Zhang, Wei Meng, Yanhui Jia, Xiaohui Liu
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This article developed an ion thruster optic system sputter erosion depth numerical 3D model by IFE-PIC (Immersed Finite Element-Particle-in-Cell) and Mont Carlo method, and calculated the downstream surface sputter erosion rate of accelerator grid; compared with LIPS-200 life test data. The results of the numerical model are in reasonable agreement with the measured data. Finally, we predicted the lifetime of the 20cm diameter ion thruster via the erosion data obtained with the model. The ultimate result demonstrated that under normal operating condition, the erosion rate of the grooves wears on the downstream surface of the accelerator grid is 34.6μm⁄1000h, which means the conservative lifetime until structural failure occurring on the accelerator grid is 11500 hours.Keywords: Ion thruster, accelerator gird, sputter erosion, lifetime assessment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20031131 A Methodology for Quality Problems Diagnosis in SMEs
Authors: Humberto N. Teixeira, Isabel S. Lopes, Sérgio D. Sousa
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This article proposes a new methodology to be used by SMEs (Small and Medium enterprises) to characterize their performance in quality, highlighting weaknesses and area for improvement. The methodology aims to identify the principal causes of quality problems and help to prioritize improvement initiatives. This is a self-assessment methodology that intends to be easy to implement by companies with low maturity level in quality. The methodology is organized in six different steps which includes gathering information about predetermined processes and subprocesses of quality management, defined based on the well-known Juran-s trilogy for quality management (Quality planning, quality control and quality improvement) and, predetermined results categories, defined based on quality concept. A set of tools for data collecting and analysis, such as interviews, flowcharts, process analysis diagrams and Failure Mode and effects Analysis (FMEA) are used. The article also presents the conclusions obtained in the application of the methodology in two cases studies.
Keywords: Continuous improvement, Diagnosis, Quality Management, Self-assessment, SMEs
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25031130 Development of a Roadmap for Assessment the Sustainability of Buildings in Saudi Arabia Using Building Information Modeling
Authors: Ibrahim A. Al-Sulaihi, Khalid S. Al-Gahtani, Abdullah M. Al-Sugair, Aref A. Abadel
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Achieving environmental sustainability is one of the important issues considered in many countries’ vision. Green/Sustainable building is widely used terminology for describing a friendly environmental construction. Applying sustainable practices has a significant importance in various fields, including construction field that consumes an enormous amount of resource and causes a considerable amount of waste. The need for sustainability is increased in the regions that suffering from the limitation of natural resource and extreme weather conditions such as Saudi Arabia. Since buildings designs are getting sophisticated, the need for tools, which support decision-making for sustainability issues, is increasing, especially in the design and preconstruction stages. In this context, Building Information Modeling (BIM) can aid in performing complex building performance analyses to ensure an optimized sustainable building design. Accordingly, this paper introduces a roadmap towards developing a systematic approach for presenting the sustainability of buildings using BIM. The approach includes set of main processes including; identifying the sustainability parameters that can be used for sustainability assessment in Saudi Arabia, developing sustainability assessment method that fits the special circumstances in the Kingdom, identifying the sustainability requirements and BIM functions that can be used for satisfying these requirements, and integrating these requirements with identified functions. As a result, the sustainability-BIM approach can be developed which helps designers in assessing the sustainability and exploring different design alternatives at the early stage of the construction project.
Keywords: Green buildings, sustainability, BIM, rating systems, environment, Saudi Arabia.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8791129 Risk Assessment of Building Information Modelling Adoption in Construction Projects
Authors: Amirhossein Karamoozian, Desheng Wu, Behzad Abbasnejad
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Building information modelling (BIM) is a new technology to enhance the efficiency of project management in the construction industry. In addition to the potential benefits of this useful technology, there are various risks and obstacles to applying it in construction projects. In this study, a decision making approach is presented for risk assessment in BIM adoption in construction projects. Various risk factors of exerting BIM during different phases of the project lifecycle are identified with the help of Delphi method, experts’ opinions and related literature. Afterward, Shannon’s entropy and Fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Situation) are applied to derive priorities of the identified risk factors. Results indicated that lack of knowledge between professional engineers about workflows in BIM and conflict of opinions between different stakeholders are the risk factors with the highest priority.
Keywords: Risk, BIM, Shannon’s entropy, Fuzzy TOPSIS, construction projects.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14701128 Application of Data Envelopment Analysis and Performance Indicators to Irrigation Systems in Thessaloniki Plain (Greece)
Authors: Ntantos P.N, Karpouzos D.K
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In this paper, a benchmarking framework is presented for the performance assessment of irrigations systems. Firstly, a data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to measure the technical efficiency of irrigation systems. This method, based on linear programming, aims to determine a consistent efficiency ranking of irrigation systems in which known inputs, such as water volume supplied and total irrigated area, and a given output corresponding to the total value of irrigation production are taken into account simultaneously. Secondly, in order to examine the irrigation efficiency in more detail, a cross – system comparison is elaborated using a performance indicators set selected by IWMI. The above methodologies were applied in Thessaloniki plain, located in Northern Greece while the results of the application are presented and discussed. The conjunctive use of DEA and performance indicators seems to be a very useful tool for efficiency assessment and identification of best practices in irrigation systems management.Keywords: Benchmarking, D.E.A, Performance Indicators, Irrigation systems.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20971127 The Innovative Information System for Systemic Approach of the Sustainability in the Enterprise
Authors: M. Izvercianu, L. Ivascu
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This paper presents an innovative computer system that contributes to sustainable development of the enterprise. The research refers to a rethinking of traditional systems of collaboration and risk assessment, present in any organization, leading to a sustainable enterprise. This concept integrates emerging tools that allow the implementation and exploitation of the collective intelligence of the enterprise, allowing the exchange of contextual, agile and simplified information, and collaboration with networks of customers and partners in an environment where risks are controlled. Risk assessment is done in a systemic way: the enterprise as the system compared to the contained departments and the enterprise as a subsystem compared to: families of international standards and sustainability-s responsibilities. The enterprise, in this systemic vision, responds to the requirements that any existing system to operate continuously in an indefinite future without reaching key resource depletion. The research is done by integrating collaborative science, engineering, management, psychology, obtaining thus a cornerstone of sustainable development of the enterprise.Keywords: Enterprise 2.0, ISO, Risk management, Sustainable development
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16991126 Sustainability Assessment of Municipal Wastewater Treatment
Authors: Yousra Zakaria Ahmed, Ahmed El Gendy, Salah El Haggar
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In this paper, our methodology to assess sustainability of wastewater treatment technologies in Egypt is presented. The preliminary list of factors to be considered, as well as their ranking listed. The factors include, but are not limited to pollutants removal efficiency and energy consumption under the environmental dimension, construction cost, operation and maintenance costs and required land area cost under the economic dimension and public acceptance, noise and generating job opportunities for local residents. This methodology is intended to be a user-friendly screening tool to support the decision making process when investigating different wastewater treatment technologies in Egypt. Based on the research work results presented in this paper, it can be generally concluded that the categorization of some of the social and environmental aspects of sustainability is subjective and highly dependent on the local conditions and researchers’ background.
Keywords: Sustainability, wastewater treatment, sustainability assessment, Egypt.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15861125 Life Cycle Assessment Comparison between Methanol and Ethanol Feedstock for the Biodiesel from Soybean Oil
Authors: Pawit Tangviroon, Apichit Svang-Ariyaskul
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As the limited availability of petroleum-based fuel has been a major concern, biodiesel is one of the most attractive alternative fuels because it is renewable and it also has advantages over the conventional petroleum-base diesel. At Present, productions of biodiesel generally perform by transesterification of vegetable oils with low molecular weight alcohol, mainly methanol, using chemical catalysts. Methanol is petrochemical product that makes biodiesel producing from methanol to be not pure renewable energy source. Therefore, ethanol as a product produced by fermentation processes. It appears as a potential feed stock that makes biodiesel to be pure renewable alternative fuel. The research is conducted based on two biodiesel production processes by reacting soybean oils with methanol and ethanol. Life cycle assessment was carried out in order to evaluate the environmental impacts and to identify the process alternative. Nine mid-point impact categories are investigated. The results indicate that better performance on abiotic depletion potential (ADP) and acidification potential (AP) are observed in biodiesel production from methanol when compared with biodiesel production from ethanol due to less energy consumption during the production processes. Except for ADP and AP, using methanol as feed stock does not show any advantages over biodiesel from ethanol. The single score method is also included in this study in order to identify the best option between two processes of biodiesel production. The global normalization and weighting factor based on ecotaxes are used and it shows that producing biodiesel form ethanol has less environmental load compare to biodiesel from methanol.
Keywords: Biodiesel, Ethanol, Life Cycle Assessment, Methanol, Soybean Oil.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 34021124 Using Data Mining in Automotive Safety
Authors: Carine Cridelich, Pablo Juesas Cano, Emmanuel Ramasso, Noureddine Zerhouni, Bernd Weiler
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Safety is one of the most important considerations when buying a new car. While active safety aims at avoiding accidents, passive safety systems such as airbags and seat belts protect the occupant in case of an accident. In addition to legal regulations, organizations like Euro NCAP provide consumers with an independent assessment of the safety performance of cars and drive the development of safety systems in automobile industry. Those ratings are mainly based on injury assessment reference values derived from physical parameters measured in dummies during a car crash test. The components and sub-systems of a safety system are designed to achieve the required restraint performance. Sled tests and other types of tests are then carried out by car makers and their suppliers to confirm the protection level of the safety system. A Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) process is proposed in order to minimize the number of tests. The KDD process is based on the data emerging from sled tests according to Euro NCAP specifications. About 30 parameters of the passive safety systems from different data sources (crash data, dummy protocol) are first analysed together with experts opinions. A procedure is proposed to manage missing data and validated on real data sets. Finally, a procedure is developed to estimate a set of rough initial parameters of the passive system before testing aiming at reducing the number of tests.
Keywords: KDD process, passive safety systems, sled test, dummy injury assessment reference values, frontal impact
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28441123 Simulation Aided Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Framework for Manufacturing Design and Management
Authors: Mijoh A. Gbededo, Kapila Liyanage, Ilias Oraifige
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Decision making for sustainable manufacturing design and management requires critical considerations due to the complexity and partly conflicting issues of economic, social and environmental factors. Although there are tools capable of assessing the combination of one or two of the sustainability factors, the frameworks have not adequately integrated all the three factors. Case study and review of existing simulation applications also shows the approach lacks integration of the sustainability factors. In this paper we discussed the development of a simulation based framework for support of a holistic assessment of sustainable manufacturing design and management. To achieve this, a strategic approach is introduced to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the existing decision supporting tools. Investigation reveals that Discrete Event Simulation (DES) can serve as a rock base for other Life Cycle Analysis frameworks. Simio-DES application optimizes systems for both economic and competitive advantage, Granta CES EduPack and SimaPro collate data for Material Flow Analysis and environmental Life Cycle Assessment, while social and stakeholders’ analysis is supported by Analytical Hierarchy Process, a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis method. Such a common and integrated framework creates a platform for companies to build a computer simulation model of a real system and assess the impact of alternative solutions before implementing a chosen solution.
Keywords: Discrete event simulation, life cycle sustainability analysis, manufacturing, sustainability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12911122 WPRiMA Tool: Managing Risks in Web Projects
Authors: Thamer Al-Rousan, Shahida Sulaiman, Rosalina Abdul Salam
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Risk management is an essential fraction of project management, which plays a significant role in project success. Many failures associated with Web projects are the consequences of poor awareness of the risks involved and lack of process models that can serve as a guideline for the development of Web based applications. To circumvent this problem, contemporary process models have been devised for the development of conventional software. This paper introduces the WPRiMA (Web Project Risk Management Assessment) as the tool, which is used to implement RIAP, the risk identification architecture pattern model, which focuses upon the data from the proprietor-s and vendor-s perspectives. The paper also illustrates how WPRiMA tool works and how it can be used to calculate the risk level for a given Web project, to generate recommendations in order to facilitate risk avoidance in a project, and to improve the prospects of early risk management.
Keywords: Architecture pattern model, risk factors, risk identification, web project, web project risk management assessment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15931121 Air Dispersion Model for Prediction Fugitive Landfill Gaseous Emission Impact in Ambient Atmosphere
Authors: Moustafa Osman Mohammed
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This paper will explore formation of HCl aerosol at atmospheric boundary layers and encourages the uptake of environmental modeling systems (EMSs) as a practice evaluation of gaseous emissions (“framework measures”) from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The conceptual model predicts greenhouse gas emissions to ecological points beyond landfill site operations. It focuses on incorporation traditional knowledge into baseline information for both measurement data and the mathematical results, regarding parameters influence model variable inputs. The paper has simplified parameters of aerosol processes based on the more complex aerosol process computations. The simple model can be implemented to both Gaussian and Eulerian rural dispersion models. Aerosol processes considered in this study were (i) the coagulation of particles, (ii) the condensation and evaporation of organic vapors, and (iii) dry deposition. The chemical transformation of gas-phase compounds is taken into account photochemical formulation with exposure effects according to HCl concentrations as starting point of risk assessment. The discussion set out distinctly aspect of sustainability in reflection inputs, outputs, and modes of impact on the environment. Thereby, models incorporate abiotic and biotic species to broaden the scope of integration for both quantification impact and assessment risks. The later environmental obligations suggest either a recommendation or a decision of what is a legislative should be achieved for mitigation measures of landfill gas (LFG) ultimately.Keywords: Air dispersion model, landfill management, spatial analysis, environmental impact and risk assessment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15581120 Assessment of the Validity of Sentiment Analysis as a Tool to Analyze the Emotional Content of Text
Authors: Trisha Malhotra
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Sentiment analysis is a recent field of study that computationally assesses the emotional nature of a body of text. To assess its test-validity, sentiment analysis was carried out on the emotional corpus of text from a personal 15-day mood diary. Self-reported mood scores varied more or less accurately with daily mood evaluation score given by the software. On further assessment, it was found that while sentiment analysis was good at assessing ‘global’ mood, it was not able to ‘locally’ identify and differentially score synonyms of various emotional words. It is further critiqued for treating the intensity of an emotion as universal across cultures. Finally, the software is shown not to account for emotional complexity in sentences by treating emotions as strictly positive or negative. Hence, it is posited that a better output could be two (positive and negative) affect scores for the same body of text.
Keywords: Analysis, data, diary, emotions, mood, sentiment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11261119 User-Perceived Quality Factors for Certification Model of Web-Based System
Authors: Jamaiah H. Yahaya, Aziz Deraman, Abdul Razak Hamdan, Yusmadi Yah Jusoh
Abstract:
One of the most essential issues in software products is to maintain it relevancy to the dynamics of the user’s requirements and expectation. Many studies have been carried out in quality aspect of software products to overcome these problems. Previous software quality assessment models and metrics have been introduced with strengths and limitations. In order to enhance the assurance and buoyancy of the software products, certification models have been introduced and developed. From our previous experiences in certification exercises and case studies collaborating with several agencies in Malaysia, the requirements for user based software certification approach is identified and demanded. The emergence of social network applications, the new development approach such as agile method and other varieties of software in the market have led to the domination of users over the software. As software become more accessible to the public through internet applications, users are becoming more critical in the quality of the services provided by the software. There are several categories of users in web-based systems with different interests and perspectives. The classifications and metrics are identified through brain storming approach with includes researchers, users and experts in this area. The new paradigm in software quality assessment is the main focus in our research. This paper discusses the classifications of users in web-based software system assessment and their associated factors and metrics for quality measurement. The quality model is derived based on IEEE structure and FCM model. The developments are beneficial and valuable to overcome the constraints and improve the application of software certification model in future.
Keywords: Software certification model, user centric approach, software quality factors, metrics and measurements, web-based system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2148