Search results for: Total Quality Management. Environmental Management System

Authors: Daniela I. Borissova, Ivan C. Mustakerov, Evgeni D. Bantutov

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Nowadays the devices of night vision are widely used both for military and civil applications. The variety of night vision applications require a variety of the night vision devices designs. A web-based architecture of a software system for design assessment before producing of night vision devices is developed. The proposed architecture of the web-based system is based on the application of a mathematical model for designing of night vision devices. An algorithm with two components – for iterative design and for intelligent design is developed and integrated into system architecture. The iterative component suggests compatible modules combinations to choose from. The intelligent component provides compatible combinations of modules  satisfying given user requirements to device parameters. The proposed web-based architecture of a system for design assessment of night vision devices is tested via a prototype of the system. The testing showed the applicability of both iterative and intelligent components of algorithm. 

Keywords: Night vision devices, design modeling, software architecture, web-based system.

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Authors: S. Y. Choi, Y. H. Na, J. H. Kim

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In this work, thermoelastic damping effect on the hemi- spherical shells is investigated. The material is selected silicon, and heat conduction equation for thermal flow is solved to obtain the temperature profile in which bending approximation with inextensional assumption of the model. Using the temperature profile, eigen-value analysis is performed to get the natural frequencies of hemispherical shells. Effects of mode numbers, radii and radial thicknesses of the model on the natural frequencies are analyzed in detail. Furthermore, the quality factor (Q-factor) is defined, and discussed for the ring and hemispherical shell.

Keywords: Thermoelastic damping, hemispherical shell, quality factor

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Authors: A. N. K. Nasir, R. M. T. Raja Ismail, M. A. Ahmad

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The objective of this paper is to compare the time specification performance between conventional controller PID and modern controller SMC for an inverted pendulum system. The goal is to determine which control strategy delivers better performance with respect to pendulum-s angle and cart-s position. The inverted pendulum represents a challenging control problem, which continually moves toward an uncontrolled state. Two controllers are presented such as Sliding Mode Control (SMC) and Proportional- Integral-Derivatives (PID) controllers for controlling the highly nonlinear system of inverted pendulum model. Simulation study has been done in Matlab Mfile and simulink environment shows that both controllers are capable to control multi output inverted pendulum system successfully. The result shows that Sliding Mode Control (SMC) produced better response compared to PID control strategies and the responses are presented in time domain with the details analysis.

Keywords: SMC, PID, Inverted Pendulum System.

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Authors: Chih-Wei Hsieh, Chau-Yi Chou, Sheng-HsiuKuo, Tsung-Che Tsai, I-Chen Wu

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This paper presents the benchmarking results and performance evaluation of differentclustersbuilt atthe National Center for High-Performance Computingin Taiwan. Performance of processor, memory subsystem andinterconnect is a critical factor in the overall performance of high performance computing platforms. The evaluation compares different system architecture and software platforms. Most supercomputer used HPL to benchmark their system performance, in accordance with the requirement of the TOP500 List. In this paper we consider system memory access factors that affect benchmark performance, such as processor and memory performance.We hope these works will provide useful information for future development and construct cluster system.

Keywords: Performance Evaluation, Benchmarking and High-Performance Computing

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Mohammadian, Dariush Sattarzadeh, Mir Mohammad Javad Poor Hadi Hosseini

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Population growth, urban development and urban buildup have disturbed the balance between the nature and the city, and so leading to the loss of quality of sustainability of proximity to rivers. While in the past, the sides of urban rivers were considered as urban green space. Urban rivers and their sides that have environmental, social and economic values are important to achieve sustainable development. So far, efforts have been made at various scales in various cities around the world to revitalize these areas. On the other hand, biophilic design is an innovative design approach in which attention to natural details and relation to nature is a fundamental concept. The purpose of this study is to provide an integrated framework of urban design using the potential of urban rivers (in order to increase sustainability) with a biophilic design approach to be used in cities in developing countries. The methodology of the research is based on the collection of data and information from research and projects including a study on biophilic design, investigations and projects related to the urban rivers, and a review of the literature on sustainable urban development. Then studying the boundary of urban rivers is completed by examining case samples. Eventually, integrated framework of urban design, to design the boundaries of urban rivers in the cities of developing countries is presented regarding the factors affecting the design of these areas. The result shows that according to this framework, the potential of the river banks is utilized to increase not only the environmental sustainability but also social, economic and physical stability with regard to water, light, and the usage of indigenous materials, etc.

Keywords: Urban rivers, biophilic design, urban sustainability, nature.

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Authors: Mazziotti Gomez de Teran C., Fiore D., Cola B., Fardelli A.

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The present paper summarizes the analysis of the request for consultation of information and data on industrial emissions made publicly available on the web site of the Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea on integrated pollution prevention and control from large industrial installations, the so called “AIA Portal”. As a matter of fact, a huge amount of information on national industrial plants is already available on internet, although it is usually proposed as textual documentation or images. Thus, it is not possible to access all the relevant information through interoperability systems and also to retrieval relevant information for decision making purposes as well as rising of awareness on environmental issue. Moreover, since in Italy the number of institutional and private subjects involved in the management of the public information on industrial emissions is substantial, the access to the information is provided on internet web sites according to different criteria; thus, at present it is not structurally homogeneous and comparable. To overcome the mentioned difficulties in the case of the Coordinating Committee for the implementation of the Agreement for the industrial area in Taranto and Statte, operating before the IPPC permit granting procedures of the relevant installation located in the area, a big effort was devoted to elaborate and to validate data and information on characterization of soil, ground water aquifer and coastal sea at disposal of different subjects to derive a global perspective for decision making purposes. Thus, the present paper also focuses on main outcomes matured during such experience.

Keywords: Public information, emissions into atmosphere, IPPC permits, territorial information systems.

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Authors: Panagiotis Kyratsis, Konstantinos Kakoulis

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Nowadays, the rapid development of CAD systems’ programming environments results in the creation of multiple downstream applications, which are developed and becoming increasingly available. CAD based manufacturing simulations is gradually following the same trend. Drilling is the most popular holemaking process used in a variety of industries. A specially built piece of software that deals with the drilling kinematics is presented. The cutting forces are calculated based on the tool geometry, the cutting conditions and the tool/work-piece materials. The results are verified by experimental work. Finally, the response surface methodology (RSM) is applied and mathematical models of the total thrust force and the thrust force developed because of the main cutting edges are proposed.

Keywords: Application programming interface, CAD, drilling, response surface methodology, RSM.

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Authors: Wilaiwan Sornpoon, Sebastien Bonnet, Poonpipope Kasemsap, Savitri Garivait

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The understanding on the contribution of root respiration to total soil respiration is still very limited, especially for sugarcane. In this study, trenching experiments in sugarcane plantations were conducted to separate and investigate soil respiration for this crop. The measurements were performed for the whole growing period of 344 days to quantify root respiration. The obtained monitoring data showed that the respiration rate is increasing with the age of the plant, accounting for up to 29% of the total soil respiration before harvesting. The root to soil respiration ratio increased rapidly during the young seedling stage, i.e. first five months, then declined and finally got stabilized during yield formation and ripening stages, respectively. In addition, the results from the measurements confirmed that soil respiration was positively correlated with soil moisture content.

Keywords: Soil respiration, root respiration, trenching experiment, sugarcane.

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Authors: Shinpei Kato, Nobuyuki Yamasaki

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This paper proposes a scheduling scheme using feedback control to reduce the response time of aperiodic tasks with soft real-time constraints. We design an algorithm based on the proposed scheduling scheme and Total Bandwidth Server (TBS) that is a conventional server technique for scheduling aperiodic tasks. We then describe the feedback controller of the algorithm and give the control parameter tuning methods. The simulation study demonstrates that the algorithm can reduce the mean response time up to 26% compared to TBS in exchange for slight deadline misses.

Keywords: Real-Time Systems, Aperiodic Task Scheduling, Feedback-Control Scheduling, Total Bandwidth Server.

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Authors: S. K. Bhullar, J. Ko, F. Ahmed, M. B. G. Jun

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The negative Poisson’s ratios can be described in terms of models based on the geometry of the system and the way this geometry changes due to applied loads. As the Poisson’s ratio does not depend on scale hence deformation can take place at the nano to macro level the only requirement is the right combination of the geometry. Our thrust in this paper is to combine our knowledge of tailored enhanced mechanical properties of the materials having negative Poisson’s ratio with the micromachining and electrospining technology to develop a novel stent carrying a drug delivery system. Therefore, the objective of this paper includes (i) fabrication of a micromachined metal sheet tailored with structure having negative Poisson’s ratio through rotating solid squares geometry using femtosecond laser ablation; (ii) rolling fabricated structure and welding to make a tubular structure (iii) wrapping it with nanofibers of biocompatible polymer PCL (polycaprolactone) for drug delivery (iv) analysis of the functional and mechanical performance of fabricated structure analytically and experimentally. Further, as the applications concerned, tubular structures have potential in biomedical for example hollow tubes called stents are placed inside to provide mechanical support to a damaged artery or diseased region and to open a blocked esophagus thus allowing feeding capacity and improving quality of life.

Keywords: Micromachining, electrospining, auxetic materials, enhanced mechanical properties.

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Authors: Sana Bembli, Nahla Khraief Haddad, Safya Belghith

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This paper deals with a robust model free terminal sliding mode with gravity compensation approach used to control an exoskeleton-upper limb system. The considered system is a 2-DoF robot in interaction with an upper limb used for rehabilitation. The aim of this paper is to control the flexion/extension movement of the shoulder and the elbow joints in presence of matched disturbances. In the first part, we present the exoskeleton-upper limb system modeling. Then, we controlled the considered system by the model free terminal sliding mode with gravity compensation. A stability study is realized. To prove the controller performance, a robustness analysis was needed. Simulation results are provided to confirm the robustness of the gravity compensation combined with to the Model free terminal sliding mode in presence of uncertainties.

Keywords: Exoskeleton-upper limb system, gravity compensation, model free terminal sliding mode, robustness analysis, Monte Carlo, H∞ methods.

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Authors: Cheng-Lung Huang, Han-Yu Chien, Michael Conyette

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Social bookmarking is an environment in which the user gradually changes interests over time so that the tag data associated with the current temporal period is usually more important than tag data temporally far from the current period. This implies that in the social tagging system, the newly tagged items by the user are more relevant than older items. This study proposes a novel recommender system that considers the users- recent tag preferences. The proposed system includes the following stages: grouping similar users into clusters using an E-M clustering algorithm, finding similar resources based on the user-s bookmarks, and recommending the top-N items to the target user. The study examines the system-s information retrieval performance using a dataset from del.icio.us, which is a famous social bookmarking web site. Experimental results show that the proposed system is better and more effective than traditional approaches.

Keywords: Recommender systems, Social bookmarking, Tag

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Authors: M. A. U. Baradi, F. B. Bulao, N. D. Ganotisi, M. Jose C. Regalado, F. P. Bongat, S. B. Manglinong, M. L. O. Quigao, N. G. T. Martinez, R. G. Ancheta, M. P. Ortal

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The effects of varying air temperature (full, ¾ full, ½ full aircon adjustment, no aircon) in polishing component of Single-Pass Mill on the quality of Philippine inbred rice variety, was investigated. Parameters measured were milling recovery (MR), headrice recovery (HR), and percentage with bran streaks. Cooling method (with aircon) increased MR, HR, and percentage with bran streaks of milled rice. Highest MR and HR (67.62%; 47.33%) were obtained from ¾ full adjustment whereas no aircon were lowest (66.27%; 39.76%). Temperature in polishing component at ¾ full adjustment was 33^oC whereas no aircon was 45^oC. There was increase of 1.35% in MR and 7.57% in HR. Additional cost of milling per kg due to aircon cooling was P0.04 at 300 tons/yr volume, with 0.15 yr payback period. Net income was estimated at ₱98,100.00. Percentage of kernels with bran streaks increased from 5%–14%, indicating more nutrients of milled rice.

Keywords: Aircon, air temperature, polishing component, quality, Single-Pass Mill.

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Authors: Ş. Çiftcioğlu, E. Efe

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In recent years, cancer has been at the top of diseases that cause death in children. Adequate and balanced nutrition plays an important role in the treatment of cancer. Cancer and cancer treatment is affecting food intake, absorption and metabolism, causing nutritional disorders. Appropriate nutrition is very important for the cancerous child to feel well before, during and after the treatment. There are various difficulties in feeding children with cancer. These are the cancer-related factors. Other factors are environmental and behavioral. As health professionals who spend more time with children in the hospital, nurses should be able to support the children on nutrition and help them to have balanced nutrition. This study aimed to evaluate the importance of nursing approaches in the nutrition of children with cancer. This article is planned as a review article by searching the literature on this field. Anorexia may develop due to psychogenic causes or chemotherapeutic agents or accompanying infections and nutrient uptake may be reduced.  In addition, stomatitis, mucositis, taste and odor changes in the mouth, the feeling of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea can also reduce oral intake and result in significant losses in the energy deficit. In assessing the nutritional status of children with cancer, determining weight loss and good nutrition is essential anamnesis of a child.  Some anthropometric measurements and biochemical tests should be used to evaluate the nutrition of the child. The nutritional status of pediatric cancer patients has been studied for a long time and malnutrition, in particular under nutrition, in this population has long been recognized. Yet, its management remains variable with many malnourished children going unrecognized and consequently untreated. Nutritional support is important to pediatric cancer patients and should be integrated into the overall treatment of these children.

Keywords: Cancer treatment, children, complication, nutrition, nursing approaches.

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Authors: Mehrdad Ahmadi Kamarposhti, Mostafa Alinezhad

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One of the major causes of voltage instability is the reactive power limit of the system. Improving the system's reactive power handling capacity via Flexible AC transmission System (FACTS) devices is a remedy for prevention of voltage instability and hence voltage collapse. In this paper, the effects of SVC and STATCOM in Static Voltage Stability Margin Enhancement will be studied. AC and DC representations of SVC and STATCOM are used in the continuation power flow process in static voltage stability study. The IEEE-14 bus system is simulated to test the increasing loadability. It is found that these controllers significantly increase the loadability margin of power systems.

Keywords: SVC, STATCOM, Voltage Collapse, Maximum Loading Point.

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Authors: Viktor R. Stoynov, Zlatka V. Valkova-Jarvis

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The intelligent management and optimisation of radio resource technologies will lead to a considerable improvement in the overall performance in Next Generation Networks (NGNs). Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology, also known as Spectrum Aggregation, enables more efficient use of the available spectrum by combining multiple Component Carriers (CCs) in a virtual wideband channel. LTE-A (Long Term Evolution–Advanced) CA technology can combine multiple adjacent or separate CCs in the same band or in different bands. In this way, increased data rates and dynamic load balancing can be achieved, resulting in a more reliable and efficient operation of mobile networks and the enabling of high bandwidth mobile services. In this paper, several distinct CA deployment strategies for the utilisation of spectrum bands are compared in indoor-outdoor scenarios, simulated via the recently-developed Realistic Indoor Environment Generator (RIEG). We analyse the performance of the User Equipment (UE) by integrating the average throughput, the level of fairness of radio resource allocation, and other parameters, into one summative assessment termed a Comparative Factor (CF). In addition, comparison of non-CA and CA indoor mobile networks is carried out under different load conditions: varying numbers and positions of UEs. The experimental results demonstrate that the CA technology can improve network performance, especially in the case of indoor scenarios. Additionally, we show that an increase of carrier frequency does not necessarily lead to improved CF values, due to high wall-penetration losses. The performance of users under bad-channel conditions, often located in the periphery of the cells, can be improved by intelligent CA location. Furthermore, a combination of such a deployment and effective radio resource allocation management with respect to user-fairness plays a crucial role in improving the performance of LTE-A networks.

Keywords: Comparative factor, carrier aggregation, indoor mobile network, resource allocation.

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Authors: Samir Abdelhamid, Noureddine Bouguechal

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We report in this paper the model adopted by our system of continuous speech recognition in Arab language SySRA and the results obtained until now. This system uses the database Arabdic-10 which is a corpus of word for the Arab language and which was manually segmented. Phonetic decoding is represented by an expert system where the knowledge base is translated in the form of production rules. This expert system transforms a vocal signal into a phonetic lattice. The higher level of the system takes care of the recognition of the lattice thus obtained by deferring it in the form of written sentences (orthographical Form). This level contains initially the lexical analyzer which is not other than the module of recognition. We subjected this analyzer to a set of spectrograms obtained by dictating a score of sentences in Arab language. The rate of recognition of these sentences is about 70% which is, to our knowledge, the best result for the recognition of the Arab language. The test set consists of twenty sentences from four speakers not having taken part in the training.

Keywords: Continuous speech recognition, lexical analyzer, phonetic decoding, phonetic lattice, vocal signal.

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Authors: Muhammad Shahid, Nasir-uddin Khan, Mushtaq Hussain, Muhammad Liaquat Ali, Asif Mansoor

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Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of infectious mortality. It is primarily transmitted by the respiratory route, individuals with active disease may infect others through airborne particles which releases when they cough, talk, or sing and subsequently inhale by others. In order to study the effect of the Bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine after vaccination of TB patient, a Vaccinated Susceptible Infected and Recovered (VSIR) mathematical model is being developed to achieve the desired objectives. The mathematical model, so developed, shall be used to quantify the effect of BCG Vaccine to protect the immigrant young adult person. Moreover, equations are to be established for the disease endemic and free equilibrium states and subsequently utilized in disease stability analysis. The stability analysis will give a complete picture of disease annihilation from the total population if the total removal rate from the infectious group should be greater than total number of dormant infections produced throughout infectious period.

Keywords: Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine, disease-free equilibrium state, VSIR Quantification, disease stability analysis.

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Authors: H.S. Kim

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In this study, control performance of a smart base isolation system consisting of a friction pendulum system (FPS) and a magnetorheological (MR) damper has been investigated. A fuzzy logic controller (FLC) is used to modulate the MR damper so as to minimize structural acceleration while maintaining acceptable base displacement levels. To this end, a multi-objective optimization scheme is used to optimize parameters of membership functions and find appropriate fuzzy rules. To demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed multi-objective genetic algorithm for FLC, a numerical study of a smart base isolation system is conducted using several historical earthquakes. It is shown that the proposed method can find optimal fuzzy rules and that the optimized FLC outperforms not only a passive control strategy but also a human-designed FLC and a conventional semi-active control algorithm.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic controller, genetic algorithm, MR damper, smart base isolation system

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Authors: A. Kourou, A. Ioakeimidou, E. Bafa, C. Fassoulas, M. Panoutsopoulou

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The role of volunteers in disaster management is of decisive importance and the need of their involvement is well recognized, both for prevention measures and for disaster management. During major catastrophes, whereas professional personnel are outsourced, the role of volunteers is crucial. In Greece experience has shown that various groups operating in the civil protection mechanism like local administration staff or volunteers, in many cases do not have the necessary knowledge and information on best practices to act against natural disasters. One of the major problems is the lack of volunteers’ education and training. In the above given framework, this paper presents the results of a survey aimed to identify the level of education and preparedness of civil protection volunteers in Greece. Furthermore, the implementation of earthquake protection measures at individual, family and working level, are explored. More specifically, the survey questionnaire investigates issues regarding pre-earthquake protection actions, appropriate attitudes and behaviors during an earthquake and existence of contingency plans in the workplace. The questionnaires were administered to citizens from different regions of the country and who attend the civil protection training program: “Protect Myself and Others”. A closed-form questionnaire was developed for the survey, which contained questions regarding the following: a) knowledge of self-protective actions; b) existence of emergency planning at home; c) existence of emergency planning at workplace (hazard mitigation actions, evacuation plan, and performance of drills); and, d) respondents` perception about their level of earthquake preparedness. The results revealed a serious lack of knowledge and preparedness among respondents. Taking into consideration the aforementioned gap and in order to raise awareness and improve preparedness and effective response of volunteers acting in civil protection, the EVANDE project was submitted and approved by the European Commission (EC). The aim of that project is to educate and train civil protection volunteers on the most serious natural disasters, such as forest fires, floods, and earthquakes, and thus, increase their performance.

Keywords: Civil protection, earthquake preparedness, volunteers.

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Authors: Xianqing Liu, Shouming Zhong, Fuli Zhong, Zijian Liu

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In this paper, a stochastic predator-prey system with Holling II functional response is studied. First, we show that there is a unique positive solution to the system for any given positive initial value. Then, stochastically bounded of the positive solution to the stochastic system is derived. Moreover, sufficient conditions for global asymptotic stability are also established. In the end, some simulation figures are carried out to support the analytical findings.

Keywords: stochastically bounded, global stability, Holling II functional response, white noise, Markovian switching.

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Authors: Tarek Fatouh, Chehab Elbelehy, Alaa Abdelsalam, Eman Elakkad, Alaa Abdelshafie

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This paper aims to explore the possibility of time compression in Engineer to Order production networks. A case study research method is used in a Norwegian shipbuilding project by implementing a value stream mapping lean tool with total cycle time as a unit of analysis. The analysis resulted in demonstrating the time deviations for the planned tasks in one of the processes in the shipbuilding project. So, authors developed a future state map by removing time wastes from value stream process.

Keywords: Engineer to order, total cycle time, value stream mapping, shipbuilding.

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Authors: J. Hardeberg, J. Hernandez-Andrès, J. L. Nieves, M. Hauta-Kasari, J. Parkkinen, A. Trémeau

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The main objective of this paper is to identify and disseminate good practice in quality assurance and enhancement as well as in teaching and learning at master level. This paper focuses on the experience of the Erasmus Mundus Master program CIMET (Color in Informatics and Media Technology). Amongst topics covered, we discuss the adjustments necessary to a curriculum designed for excellent international students and their preparation for a global labor market.

Keywords: Good practice, internal quality systems, innovationsin curriculum design, challenges of internationalization

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Authors: Aimilia P. Doukeli, Athanasios S. Lioumpas, George K. Karagiannidis, Panayiotis V. Frangos, P. Takis Mathiopoulos

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In diversity rich environments, such as in Ultra- Wideband (UWB) applications, the a priori determination of the number of strong diversity branches is difficult, because of the considerably large number of diversity paths, which are characterized by a variety of power delay profiles (PDPs). Several Rake implementations have been proposed in the past, in order to reduce the number of the estimated and combined paths. To this aim, we introduce two adaptive Rake receivers, which combine a subset of the resolvable paths considering simultaneously the quality of both the total combining output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the individual SNR of each path. These schemes achieve better adaptation to channel conditions compared to other known receivers, without further increasing the complexity. Their performance is evaluated in different practical UWB channels, whose models are based on extensive propagation measurements. The proposed receivers compromise between the power consumption, complexity and performance gain for the additional paths, resulting in important savings in power and computational resources.

Keywords: Adaptive Rake receivers, diversity techniques, fading channels, UWB channel.

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Authors: S. Jeon, J. Kim, H. Choi

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KSLV-I(Korea Space Launch Vehicle-I) is designed as a launch vehicle to enter a 100 kg-class satellite to the LEO(Low Earth Orbit). Attitude angles of the upper-stage, including roll, pitch and yaw are controlled by the cold gas thruster system using nitrogen gas. The cold gas thruster is an actuator in the RCS(Reaction Control System). To design an attitude controller for the upper-stage, thrust measurement in vacuum condition is required. In this paper, the new thrust measurement system and calibration mechanism are developed and measurement errors and signal processing method are presented.

Keywords: cold gas thruster, launch vehicle, thrust measurement, calibration mechanism, signal processing

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Authors: Jih-Rue Pan, Feng-Chuan Pan

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Today-s healthcare industries had become more patient-centric than profession-centric, from which the issues of quality of healthcare and the patient safety are the major concerns in the modern healthcare facilities. An unplanned extubation (UE) may be detrimental to the patient-s life, and thus is one of the major indexes of patient safety and healthcare quality. A high UE rate not only defeated the healthcare quality as well as the patient safety policy but also the nurses- morality, and job satisfaction. The UE problem in a psychiatric hospital is unique and may be a tough challenge for the healthcare professionals for the patients were mostly lacking communication capabilities. We reported with this essay a particular project that was organized to reduce the UE rate from the current 2.3% to a lower and satisfactory level in the long-term care units of a psychiatric hospital. The project was conducted between March 1st, 2011 and August 31st, 2011. Based on the error information gathered from varied units of the hospital, the team analyzed the root causes with possible solutions proposed to the meetings. Four solutions were then concluded with consensus and launched to the units in question. The UE rate was now reduced to a level of 0.17%. Experience from this project, the procedure and the tools adopted would be good reference to other hospitals.

Keywords: Unplanned extubation, patient safety, error information

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Authors: Richard L. Summers

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The advanced computational analysis of biological systems is becoming increasingly dependent upon an understanding of the information-theoretic structure of the materials, energy and interactive processes that comprise those systems. The stability and survival of these living systems is fundamentally contingent upon their ability to acquire and process the meaning of information concerning the physical state of its biological continuum (biocontinuum). The drive for adaptive system reconciliation of a divergence from steady state within this biocontinuum can be described by an information metric-based formulation of the process for actionable knowledge acquisition that incorporates the axiomatic inference of Kullback-Leibler information minimization driven by survival replicator dynamics. If the mathematical expression of this process is the Lagrangian integrand for any change within the biocontinuum then it can also be considered as an action functional for the living system. In the direct method of Lyapunov, such a summarizing mathematical formulation of global system behavior based on the driving forces of energy currents and constraints within the system can serve as a platform for the analysis of stability. As the system evolves in time in response to biocontinuum perturbations, the summarizing function then conveys information about its overall stability. This stability information portends survival and therefore has absolute existential meaning for the living system. The first derivative of the Lyapunov energy information function will have a negative trajectory toward a system steady state if the driving force is dissipating. By contrast, system instability leading to system dissolution will have a positive trajectory. The direction and magnitude of the vector for the trajectory then serves as a quantifiable signature of the meaning associated with the living system’s stability information, homeostasis and survival potential.

Keywords: Semiotic meaning, Shannon information, Lyapunov, living systems.

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Authors: E. Sok, Y. Zhuo, S. Wang

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A hybrid Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) solar system integrates photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies into one single solar energy device, with dual generation of electricity and heat energy. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the potential for introduction of the PV/T technology into Northern China. For this purpose, outdoor experiments were conducted on a prototype of a PV/T water-heating system. The annual thermal and electrical performances were investigated under the climatic conditions of Beijing. An economic analysis of the system was then carried out, followed by a sensitivity study. The analysis revealed that the hybrid system is not economically attractive with the current market and energy prices. However, considering the continuous commitment of the Chinese government towards policy development in the renewable energy sector, and technological improvements like the increasing cost-effectiveness of PV cells, PV/Thermal technology may become economically viable in the near future.

Keywords: Hybrid Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T), Solar energy, Economic analysis

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Authors: Hsiu-Yuan Wang, Shwu-Huey Wang

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This study proposes and tests a rescapturing elements of perceived gain and loss that, by perceived value of medical tourism products, influencintention of potential customers. Data from 301 usable qwere tested against the research model using the structmodeling approach. The results indicated that perceivedkey predictor of customer intentions. As for benefimedical quality, service quality and enjoyment wcomponents that significantly influenced the perceptiRegarding sacrifice, the effects of perceived risk on pewere significant. The findings can provide insights intohow destination countries can make medical tourism a wfor themselves and international patients.KeywordsMedical tourism, perceived valueintention.

Keywords: Medical tourism, perceived valueintention.

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Authors: Sheikh I. Azid, Bibhya Sharma

Abstract:

A low cost Short Message System (SMS) based Home security system equipped with motion, smoke, temperature, humidity and light sensors has been studied and tested. The sensors are controlled by a microprocessor PIC 18F4520 through the SMS having password protection code for the secure operation. The user is able to switch light and the appliances and get instant feedback. Also in cases of emergencies such as fire or robbery the system will send alert message to occupant and relevant civil authorities. The operation of the home security has been tested on Vodafone- Fiji network and Digicel Fiji Network for emergency and feedback responses for 25 samples. The experiment showed that it takes about 8-10s for the security system to respond in case of emergency. It takes about 18-22s for the occupant to switch and monitor lights and appliances and then get feedback depending upon the network traffic.

Keywords: Smart Home, SMS, Sensors, Microprocessor.

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