Search results for: human active memory
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 3125

Search results for: human active memory

2705 Sustained Competitive Advantage: Strategic HRM Initiatives and Consequences in Indian Context

Authors: S. Velmurugan, K. B. Akhilesh

Abstract:

In the past few decades, researchers have witnessed a paradigm shift in Human Resource Management-from individual performance to organizational outcomes with the role of Human resource (HR) managers becoming increasingly significant to the organization. In such a context, it is important to examine HR practices from a strategic perspective on the sustained competitive advantage (SCA) of the organizations. The present study explores how Indian organisations look at their human resources strategically when faced with competitive environment. Also, it explores strategic initiatives being taken to manage human resources within the organisations and how these initiatives promote SCA in terms of enhancing the overall customer-centric delivery of goods and services.

Keywords: Strategic HRM, Strategic HRM Initiatives, Consequences, and Sustained Competitive Advantage.

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2704 Asymptotic Stabilization of an Active Magnetic Bearing System using LMI-based Sliding Mode Control

Authors: Abdul Rashid Husain, Mohamad Noh Ahmad, Abdul Halim Mohd. Yatim

Abstract:

In this paper, stabilization of an Active Magnetic Bearing (AMB) system with varying rotor speed using Sliding Mode Control (SMC) technique is considered. The gyroscopic effect inherited in the system is proportional to rotor speed in which this nonlinearity effect causes high system instability as the rotor speed increases. Also, transformation of the AMB dynamic model into a new class of uncertain system shows that this gyroscopic effect lies in the mismatched part of the system matrix. Moreover, the current gain parameter is allowed to be varied in a known bound as an uncertainty in the input matrix. SMC design method is proposed in which the sufficient condition that guarantees the global exponential stability of the reduced-order system is represented in Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI). Then, a new chattering-free control law is established such that the system states are driven to reach the switching surface and stay on it thereafter. The performance of the controller applied to the AMB model is demonstrated through simulation works under various system conditions.

Keywords: Active Magnetic Bearing (AMB), Sliding ModeControl (SMC), Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI), mismatcheduncertainty.

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2703 Active Linear Quadratic Gaussian Secondary Suspension Control of Flexible Bodied Railway Vehicle

Authors: Kaushalendra K. Khadanga, Lee Hee Hyol

Abstract:

Passenger comfort has been paramount in the design of suspension systems of high speed cars. To analyze the effect of vibration on vehicle ride quality, a vertical model of a six degree of freedom railway passenger vehicle, with front and rear suspension, is built. It includes car body flexible effects and vertical rigid modes. A second order linear shaping filter is constructed to model Gaussian white noise into random rail excitation. The temporal correlation between the front and rear wheels is given by a second order Pade approximation. The complete track and the vehicle model are then designed. An active secondary suspension system based on a Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) optimal control method is designed. The results show that the LQG control method reduces the vertical acceleration, pitching acceleration and vertical bending vibration of the car body as compared to the passive system.

Keywords: Active suspension, bending vibration, railway vehicle, vibration control.

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2702 Kant’s Conception of Human Dignity and the Importance of Singularity within Commonality

Authors: Francisco Lobo

Abstract:

Kant’s household theory of human dignity as a common feature of all rational beings is the starting point of any intellectual endeavor to unravel the implications of this normative notion. Yet, it is incomplete, as it neglects considering the importance of the singularity or uniqueness of the individual. In a first, deconstructive stage, this paper describes the Kantian account of human dignity as one among many conceptions of human dignity. It reads carefully into the original wording used by Kant in German and its English translations, as well as the works of modern commentators, to identify its shortcomings. In a second, constructive stage, it then draws on the theories of Aristotle, Alexis de Tocqueville, John Stuart Mill, and Hannah Arendt to try and enhance the Kantian conception, in the sense that these authors give major importance to the singularity of the individual. The Kantian theory can be perfected by including elements from the works of these authors, while at the same time being mindful of the dangers entailed in focusing too much on singularity. The conclusion of this paper is that the Kantian conception of human dignity can be enhanced if it acknowledges that not only morality has dignity, but also the irreplaceable human individual to the extent that she is a narrative, original creature with the potential to act morally.

Keywords: Commonality, dignity, Kant, singularity.

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2701 Active Packaging Influence on the Shelf Life of Milk Pomade Sweet – Sherbet

Authors: Eva Ungure, Sandra Muizniece-Brasava, Lija Dukalska, Vita Levkane

Abstract:

The objective of the research was to evaluate the quality of milk pomade sweet – sherbet packed in different packaging materials (Multibarrier 60, met.BOPET/PE, Aluthen), by several packaging technologies – active and modified atmosphere (MAP) (consisting of 100% CO2), and control – in air ambiance. Experiments were carried out at the Faculty of Food Technology of Latvia University of Agriculture. Samples were stored at the room temperature +21±1 °C. The physiochemical properties – weight losses, moisture, hardening, colour and changes in headspace atmosphere concentration (CO2 and O2) of packs were analysed before packaging and after 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 storage weeks.

Keywords: packaging, shelf life, sherbet with crunchy peanut chip's

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2700 Implementation of State-Space and Super-Element Techniques for the Modeling and Control of Smart Structures with Damping Characteristics

Authors: Nader Ghareeb, R¨udiger Schmidt

Abstract:

Minimizing the weight in flexible structures means reducing material and costs as well. However, these structures could become prone to vibrations. Attenuating these vibrations has become a pivotal engineering problem that shifted the focus of many research endeavors. One technique to do that is to design and implement an active control system. This system is mainly composed of a vibrating structure, a sensor to perceive the vibrations, an actuator to counteract the influence of disturbances, and finally a controller to generate the appropriate control signals. In this work, two different techniques are explored to create two different mathematical models of an active control system. The first model is a finite element model with a reduced number of nodes and it is called a super-element. The second model is in the form of state-space representation, i.e. a set of partial differential equations. The damping coefficients are calculated and incorporated into both models. The effectiveness of these models is demonstrated when the system is excited by its first natural frequency and an active control strategy is developed and implemented to attenuate the resulting vibrations. Results from both modeling techniques are presented and compared.

Keywords: Finite element analysis, super-element, state-space model.

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2699 The Aspect of the Human Bias in Decision Making within Quality Management Systems & LEAN Theory

Authors: Adriana Ávila Zúñiga Nordfjeld

Abstract:

This paper provides a literature review to document the state of the art with respect to handling “human bias” in decision making within the established quality management systems (QMS) and LEAN theory, in the context of shipbuilding. Previous research shows that in shipbuilding there is a huge deviation from the planned man-hours under the project management to the actual man-hours used because of errors in planning and reworks caused by human bias in the information flows, among others. This reduces the efficiency, and increases operational costs. Thus, the research question is how QMS and LEAN handle biases. The findings show the gap in studying the integration of methods to handle human bias in decision making into QMS and lean, not only within shipbuilding, but in general. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed for researchers and practitioners in the areas of decision making, QMS and LEAN, and future research is suggested.

Keywords: Human bias, decision making, LEAN Shipbuilding, quality management systems.

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2698 A Review of Control Schemes for Active Power Filters in Order to Power Quality Improvement

Authors: Mohammad Hasan Raouf, Azim Nowbakht, Mohammad Bagher Haddadi, Mohammad Reza Tabatabaei

Abstract:

Power quality has become a very important issue recently due to the impact on electricity suppliers, equipment manufacturers and customers. Power quality is described as the variation of voltage, current and frequency in a power system. Voltage magnitude is one of the major factors that determine the quality of power. Indeed, custom power technology, the low-voltage counterpart of the more widely known flexible ac transmission system (FACTS) technology, aimed at high-voltage power transmission applications, has emerged as a credible solution to solve many problems relating to power quality problems. There are various power quality problems such as voltage sags, swells, flickers, interruptions and harmonics etc. Active Power Filter (APF) is one of the custom power devices and can mitigate harmonics, reactive power and unbalanced load currents originating from load side. In this study, an extensive review of APF studies, the advantages and disadvantages of each introduced methods are presented. The study also helps the researchers to choose the optimum control techniques and power circuit configuration for APF applications.

Keywords: Power Quality, Custom Power, Active Filter, Control Approach.

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2697 Making Computer Learn Color

Authors: Rinaldo Christian Tanumara, Ming Xie

Abstract:

Color categorization is shared among members in a society. This allows communication of color, especially when using natural language such as English. Hence sociable robot, to live coexist with human in human society, must also have the shared color categorization. To achieve this, many works have been done relying on modeling of human color perception and mathematical complexities. In contrast, in this work, the computer as brain of the robot learns color categorization through interaction with humans without much mathematical complexities.

Keywords: Color categorization, color learning, machinelearning.

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2696 Analysis of the Long-term Effect of Office Lighting Environment on Human Reponses

Authors: D.Y. Su, C.C. Liu, C.M. Chiang, W. Wang

Abstract:

This study aims to discuss the effect of illumination and the color temperature of the lighting source under the office lighting environment on human psychological and physiological responses. In this study, 21 healthy participants were selected, and the Ryodoraku measurement system was utilized to measure their skin resistance change.The findings indicated that the effect of the color temperature of the lighting source on human physiological responses is significant within 90 min after turning the lights on; while after 90 min the effect of illumination on human physiological responses is higher than that of the color temperature. Moreover, the cardiovascular, digestive and endocrine systems are prone to be affected by the indoor lighting environment. During the long-term exposure to high intensity of illumination and high color temperature (2000Lux -6500K), the effect on the psychological responses turned moderate after the human visual system adopted to the lighting environment. However, the effect of the Ryodoraku value on human physiological responses was more significant with the increase of perceptive time. The effect of long time exposure to a lighting environment on the physiological responses is greater than its effect on the psychological responses. This conclusion is different from the traditional public viewpoint that the effect on the psychological responses is greater.

Keywords: Autonomic nervous system, Human responses, Office Lighting Environment, Ryodoraku, Meridian

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2695 Dual-Actuated Vibration Isolation Technology for a Rotary System’s Position Control on a Vibrating Frame: Disturbance Rejection and Active Damping

Authors: Kamand Bagherian, Nariman Niknejad

Abstract:

A vibration isolation technology for precise position control of a rotary system powered by two permanent magnet DC (PMDC) motors is proposed, where this system is mounted on an oscillatory frame. To achieve vibration isolation for this system, active damping and disturbance rejection (ADDR) technology is presented which introduces a cooperation of a main and an auxiliary PMDC, controlled by discrete-time sliding mode control (DTSMC) based schemes. The controller of the main actuator tracks a desired position and the auxiliary actuator simultaneously isolates the induced vibration, as its controller follows a torque trend. To determine this torque trend, a combination of two algorithms is introduced by the ADDR technology. The first torque-trend producing algorithm rejects the disturbance by counteracting the perturbation, estimated using a model-based observer. The second torque trend applies active variable damping to minimize the oscillation of the output shaft. In this practice, the presented technology is implemented on a rotary system with a pendulum attached, mounted on a linear actuator simulating an oscillation-transmitting structure. In addition, the obtained results illustrate the functionality of the proposed technology.

Keywords: Vibration isolation, position control, discrete-time nonlinear controller, active damping, disturbance tracking algorithm, oscillation transmitting support, stability robustness.

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2694 Green Lean TQM Practices in Malaysian Automotive Companies

Authors: Noor Azlina Mohd Salleh, Salmiah Kasolang, Ahmed Jaffar

Abstract:

Green Lean Total Quality Management (TQM) System is a system comprises of Environmental Management System (EMS) practices which is integrated to TQM with Lean Manufacturing (LM) principles. The ultimate goal of this system is to focus on achieving total customer satisfaction and environmental care by removing eight wastes available in any process in an organization. A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to 30 highly active automotive vendors in Malaysia and analyzed by SPSS v.17. It was found out that some vendors have been practicing TQM and LM while some have started to implement EMS. This study is only focusing on highly active companies that have been involved in MAJAICO Program and Proton Vendor Development Program. This is the first study conducted to know the current status of TQM, LM and EMS practices in highly active automotive companies in Malaysia. It was found out that EMS has been practiced by 16 companies out of 30. Within these 16 companies the approach is more holistic and green. This is a preliminary study that combined 4 awards practices, ISO/TS16949, Toyota Production System SAEJ4000, MAJAICO Lean Production System and EMS.

Keywords: Automotive Industry, Lean Manufacturing, Operational Engineering Management, Total Quality Management. Environmental Management System.

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2693 Forces Association-Based Active Contour

Authors: Aicha Baya Goumeidane, Nafaa. Nacereddine

Abstract:

A welded structure must be inspected to guarantee that the weld quality meets the design requirements to assure safety and reliability. However, X-ray image analyses and defect recognition with the computer vision techniques are very complex. Most difficulties lie in finding the small, irregular defects in poor contrast images which requires pre processing to image, extract, and classify features from strong background noise. This paper addresses the issue of designing methodology to extract defect from noisy background radiograph with image processing. Based on the use of actives contours this methodology seems to give good results

Keywords: Welding, Radiography, Computer vision, Active contour.

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2692 Innovative Entrepreneurship in Tourism Business: An International Comparative Study of Key Drivers

Authors: Mohammed Gamil Montasser, Angelo Battaglia

Abstract:

Entrepreneurship is mostly related to the beginning of organization. In growing business organizations, entrepreneurship expands its conceptualization. It reveals itself through new business creation in the active organization, through renewal, change, innovation, creation and development of current organization, through breaking and changing of established rules inside or outside the organization and becomes more flexible, adaptive and competitive, also improving effectiveness of organization activity. Therefore, the topic of entrepreneurship, relates the creation of firms to personal / individual characteristics of the entrepreneurs and their social context. This paper is an empirical study, which aims to address these two gaps in the literature. For this endeavor, we use the latest available data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project. This data set is widely regarded as a unique source of information about entrepreneurial activity, as well as the aspirations and attitudes of individuals across a wide number of countries and territories worldwide. This paper tries to contribute to fill this gap, by exploring the key drivers of innovative entrepreneurship in the tourism sector. Our findings are consistent with the existing literature in terms of the individual characteristics of entrepreneurs, but quite surprisingly we find an inverted U-shape relation between human development and innovative entrepreneurship in tourism sector. It has been revealed that tourism entrepreneurs are less likely to have innovative products, compared with entrepreneurs in medium developed countries.

Keywords: GEM, human development, innovative entrepreneurship, occupational choice, tourism business, U-shape relation.

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2691 Antimicrobial, Antiplasmid and Cytotoxicity Potentials of Marine Algae Halimeda opuntia and Sarconema filiforme Collected from Red Sea Coast

Authors: Samy A. Selim

Abstract:

The antimicrobial, antiplasmid and cytotoxic activities of marine algae Halimeda opuntia and Sarconema filiforme were investigated. Antimicrobial bioassay against some human pathogenic bacteria and yeast were conducted using disc diffusion method. Halimeda extract exhibited antibacterial activity against six species of microrganisms, with significant inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus. While Sarconema extract was better potent as antifungal against Candida albicans. Comparative antibacterial studies showed that Halimeda extract showed equivalent or better activity as compared with commercial antibiotic when tested against Staphylococcus aureus. Further tests conducted using dilution method showed both extracts as having bacteriostatic mode of action against the tested microorganisms. Methanol extract of two species showed significant cytotoxicity (LC50 <500μg) on brine shrimp. Halimeda opuntia showed highest cytotoxic activity (LC50 =192.3μg). Also, the present investigation was undertaken to investigate the ability of methanolic extract of the algal extracts to cure R-plasmids from certain clinical E. coli isolates. The active fraction of Halimeda and Sarconema could cure plasmids from E. coli at curing efficiencies of approximately 78%. The active fraction mediated plasmid curing resulted in the subsequent loss of antibiotic resistance encoded in the plasmids as revealed by antibiotic resistance profile of cured strains. The screening results confirm the possible use of marine algae Halimeda opuntia and Sarconema filiforme as a source of pharmacological benefits.

Keywords: Antimicrobial, antiplasmid Cytotoxicity, Marine Algae.

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2690 Applications of Prediction and Identification Using Adaptive DCMAC Neural Networks

Authors: Yu-Lin Liao, Ya-Fu Peng

Abstract:

An adaptive dynamic cerebellar model articulation controller (DCMAC) neural network used for solving the prediction and identification problem is proposed in this paper. The proposed DCMAC has superior capability to the conventional cerebellar model articulation controller (CMAC) neural network in efficient learning mechanism, guaranteed system stability and dynamic response. The recurrent network is embedded in the DCMAC by adding feedback connections in the association memory space so that the DCMAC captures the dynamic response, where the feedback units act as memory elements. The dynamic gradient descent method is adopted to adjust DCMAC parameters on-line. Moreover, the analytical method based on a Lyapunov function is proposed to determine the learning-rates of DCMAC so that the variable optimal learning-rates are derived to achieve most rapid convergence of identifying error. Finally, the adaptive DCMAC is applied in two computer simulations. Simulation results show that accurate identifying response and superior dynamic performance can be obtained because of the powerful on-line learning capability of the proposed DCMAC.

Keywords: adaptive, cerebellar model articulation controller, CMAC, prediction, identification

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2689 A New Physical Modeling for Multiquantum Well Structure APD Considering Nonuniformity of Electric Field in Active Regin

Authors: F. Barzegar, M. H. Sheikhi

Abstract:

In the present work we model a Multiquantum Well structure Separate Absorption and Charge Multiplication Avalanche Photodiode (MQW-SACM-APD), while the Absorption region coincide with the MQW. We consider the nonuniformity of electric field using split-step method in active region. This model is based on the carrier rate equations in the different regions of the device. Using the model we obtain the photocurrent, and dark current. As an example, InGaAs/InP SACM-APD and MQW-SACM-APD are simulated. There is a good agreement between the simulation and experimental results.

Keywords: Avalanche Photodiode, Physical Model, MultiquantumWell, Split Step Method.

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2688 The Highest Art Tasks of the World and Humans Transforming

Authors: K. Khalykov, G. Begalinova

Abstract:

In the given article the creative arts is being investigated in the modern era and from the aspect of the artistic interrelationship, having created by the character of his personality and as the viewer. A study in the identity formation terms, the definition of its being unique, unity and similarity as a global issue of the XXI century has been conducted by the analyzing the definitions which characterize the human nature in the arts. Spiritual universality and human existence have been considered in the art system as a human who is a creator, as the man hero and as the character who is the recipient as well as the analyses which have been conducted along with the worldwide cultural and historical processes.

Keywords: author, being, creative function of art, recipient and cultural contexts.

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2687 The Relationship between Human Resource Practices and Firm Performance Case Study: The Philippine Firms Empirical Assessment

Authors: Bella Llego

Abstract:

This study on “The relationship between human resource practices and Firm Performance is a speculative investigation research. The purpose of this research are (1) to provide and to understand of HRM history and current HR practices in the Philippines (2) to examine the extent of HRM practice among its Philippine firms effectively; (3) to investigate the relationship between HRM practice and firm performance in the Philippines. The survey was done to 233 companies in the Philippines. The questionnaire is divided into three parts a) to gathers information on the profile of respondent, b) to measures the extent to which human resource practices are being practiced in their organization c) to measure the organizations performance as perceived by human resource managers and top executives as compared with their competitors in the same industry. As a result an interesting finding was that almost 50 percent of firm performance is affected by the extent of implementation of HR practices in the firm. These results show that HR practices that are in line with the organization’s strategic goals are important for future performance.

Keywords: Economic Growth, Firm performance, Human Resource Practices, Management.

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2686 Human Induced Dynamic Loading on Stairs

Authors: L. Gaile, I. Radinsh

Abstract:

Based on experimental data using accelerometry technology there was developed an analytical model that approximates human induced ground reaction forces in vertical, longitudinal and lateral directions ascending and descending the stairs. Proposed dynamic loading factors and corresponding phase shifts for the first five harmonics of continuous walking force history in case of stair ascend and descend. Into account is taken imperfectness of individual footfall forcing functions, differences between continuous walking force histories among individuals. There is proposed mean synthetic continuous walking force history that can be used in numerical simulations of human movement on the stairs.

Keywords: footfall, ground reaction forces, human loads, serviceability, stair vibration, walking

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2685 FILMS based ANC System – Evaluation and Practical Implementation

Authors: Branislav Vuksanović, Dragana Nikolić

Abstract:

This paper describes the implementation and testing of a multichannel active noise control system (ANCS) based on the filtered-inverse LMS (FILMS) algorithm. The FILMS algorithm is derived from the well-known filtered-x LMS (FXLMS) algorithm with the aim to improve the rate of convergence of the multichannel FXLMS algorithm and to reduce its computational load. Laboratory setup and techniques used to implement this system efficiently are described in this paper. Experiments performed in order to test the performance of the FILMS algorithm are discussed and the obtained results presented.

Keywords: Active noise control, adaptive filters, inverse filters, LMS algorithm, FILMS algorithm.

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2684 Comparison between Antibacterial Effects of Ethanolic and Isopropyl: Hexan (7:3) Extracts of Zingiber officinale Rose

Authors: Tahereh Naji, Mahsa Jassemi

Abstract:

In this investigation, the antibacterial effects of ethanolic and 7:3 isopropyl –hexane mixture extracts of Zingiber officinale were evaluated against three Gram positive bacteria, B. cereus, S.epidermidis, S. aureus and three Gram negative bacteria, E. coli, K.pneumonia and P.areuginosa. Utilizing paper disk diffusion and well methods in-vitro, MIC and MBC were determined by macrodilution. The results showed that ethanolic rhizome extract of ginger had significantly active than Isopropyl –hexan extract. Further work needs to be done in these extracts including fractionation to isolate active constituents and subsequent pharmacological evaluation.

Keywords: Antibacterial, Medicinal plant extract, Zingiberofficinale.

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2683 Interactive Garments: Flexible Technologies for Textile Integration

Authors: Anupam Bhatia

Abstract:

Upon reviewing the literature and the pragmatic work done in the field of E- textiles, it is observed that the applications of wearable technologies have found a steady growth in the field of military, medical, industrial, sports; whereas fashion is at a loss to know how to treat this technology and bring it to market. The purpose of this paper is to understand the practical issues of integration of electronics in garments; cutting patterns for mass production, maintaining the basic properties of textiles and daily maintenance of garments that hinder the wide adoption of interactive fabric technology within Fashion and leisure wear. To understand the practical hindrances an experimental and laboratory approach is taken. “Techno Meets Fashion” has been an interactive fashion project where sensor technologies have been embedded with textiles that result in set of ensembles that are light emitting garments, sound sensing garments, proximity garments, shape memory garments etc. Smart textiles, especially in the form of textile interfaces, are drastically underused in fashion and other lifestyle product design. Clothing and some other textile products must be washable, which subjects to the interactive elements to water and chemical immersion, physical stress, and extreme temperature. The current state of the art tends to be too fragile for this treatment. The process for mass producing traditional textiles becomes difficult in interactive textiles. As cutting patterns from larger rolls of cloth and sewing them together to make garments breaks and reforms electronic connections in an uncontrolled manner. Because of this, interactive fabric elements are integrated by hand into textiles produced by standard methods. The Arduino has surely made embedding electronics into textiles much easier than before; even then electronics are not integral to the daily wear garments. Soft and flexible interfaces of MEMS (micro sensors and Micro actuators) can be an option to make this possible by blending electronics within E-textiles in a way that’s seamless and still retains functions of the circuits as well as the garment. Smart clothes, which offer simultaneously a challenging design and utility value, can be only mass produced if the demands of the body are taken care of i.e. protection, anthropometry, ergonomics of human movement, thermo- physiological regulation.

Keywords: Ambient Intelligence, Proximity Sensors, Shape Memory Materials, Sound sensing garments, Wearable Technology.

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2682 Effects of Human Factors on Workforce Scheduling

Authors: M. Othman, N. Bhuiyan, G. J. Gouw

Abstract:

In today-s competitive market, most companies develop manufacturing systems that can help in cost reduction and maximum quality. Human issues are an important part of manufacturing systems, yet most companies ignore their effects on production performance. This paper aims to developing an integrated workforce planning system that incorporates the human being. Therefore, a multi-objective mixed integer nonlinear programming model is developed to determine the amount of hiring, firing, training, overtime for each worker type. This paper considers a workforce planning model including human aspects such as skills, training, workers- personalities, capacity, motivation, and learning rates. This model helps to minimize the hiring, firing, training and overtime costs, and maximize the workers- performance. The results indicate that the workers- differences should be considered in workforce scheduling to generate realistic plans with minimum costs. This paper also investigates the effects of human learning rates on the performance of the production systems.

Keywords: Human Factors, Learning Curves, Workers' Differences, Workforce Scheduling

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2681 Protection of Human Rights in Europe: The Parliamentary Dimension

Authors: Aleksandra Chiniaeva

Abstract:

The following paper describes the activity of national and international parliamentary assemblies of the European region in protection and promotion of human rights. It may be said that parliamentarians have a “double mandate” — as members of the international assembly and of their respective national parliaments. In other words, parliamentarization at both international and national level provides a situation for parliamentarians, where they link people, national governments and international organizations. The paper is aimed towards demonstrating that the activity of the main international parliamentary assemblies of the European region have a real positive impact on the human rights situation in the European region. In addition, the paper describes the assemblies that include protection of human rights in their Agenda as one of the main subjects: the EP, the PACE, the OSCE PA and the IPA CIS. Co-operation activities such as joint election observation; participation in inter-parliamentary associations, such as the IPU; conclusion agreements allow assemblies to provide observation of human right situation in the states that are not members of the particular organization and as consequence make their impact broader.

Keywords: Human rights, International parliamentary assembly, IPU, EP, PACE, OSCE, IPA CIS, international election observation.

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2680 Fruit Growing in Romania and Its Role for Rural Communities’ Development

Authors: Maria Toader, Gheorghe Valentin Roman

Abstract:

The importance of fruit trees and bushes growing for Romania is due the concordance that exists between the different ecological conditions in natural basins, and the requirements of different species and varieties. There are, in Romania, natural areas dedicated to the main trees species: plum, apple, pear, cherry, sour cherry, finding optimal conditions for harnessing the potential of fruitfulness, making fruit quality both in terms of ratio commercial, and content in active principles. The share of fruits crops in the world economy of agricultural production is due primarily to the role of fruits in nourishment for human, and in the prevention and combating of diseases, in increasing the national income of cultivator countries and to improve comfort for human life. For Romania, the perspectives of the sector are positive, and are due to European funding opportunities, which provide farmers a specialized program that meets the needs of development and modernization of fruit growing industry, cultivation technology and equipment, organization and grouping of producers, creating storage facilities, conditioning, marketing and the joint use of fresh fruit. This paper shows the evolution of fruit growing, in Romania compared to other states. The document presents the current situation of the main tree species both in terms of surface but also of the productions and the role that this activity may have for the development of rural communities.

Keywords: Fruit growing, fruits trees, productivity, rural development.

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2679 New Corneal Reflection Removal Method Used In Iris Recognition System

Authors: Walid Aydi, Nouri Masmoudi, Lotfi Kamoun

Abstract:

Images of human iris contain specular highlights due to the reflective properties of the cornea. This corneal reflection causes many errors not only in iris and pupil center estimation but also to locate iris and pupil boundaries especially for methods that use active contour. Each iris recognition system has four steps: Segmentation, Normalization, Encoding and Matching. In order to address the corneal reflection, a novel reflection removal method is proposed in this paper. Comparative experiments of two existing methods for reflection removal method are evaluated on CASIA iris image databases V3. The experimental results reveal that the proposed algorithm provides higher performance in reflection removal.

Keywords: iris, pupil, specular highlights, reflection removal

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2678 Robust & Energy Efficient Universal Gates for High Performance Computer Networks at 22nm Process Technology

Authors: M. Geetha Priya, K. Baskaran, S. Srinivasan

Abstract:

Digital systems are said to be constructed using basic logic gates. These gates are the NOR, NAND, AND, OR, EXOR & EXNOR gates. This paper presents a robust three transistors (3T) based NAND and NOR gates with precise output logic levels, yet maintaining equivalent performance than the existing logic structures. This new set of 3T logic gates are based on CMOS inverter and Pass Transistor Logic (PTL). The new universal logic gates are characterized by better speed and lower power dissipation which can be straightforwardly fabricated as memory ICs for high performance computer networks. The simulation tests were performed using standard BPTM 22nm process technology using SYNOPSYS HSPICE. The 3T NAND gate is evaluated using C17 benchmark circuit and 3T NOR is gate evaluated using a D-Latch. According to HSPICE simulation in 22 nm CMOS BPTM process technology under given conditions and at room temperature, the proposed 3T gates shows an improvement of 88% less power consumption on an average over conventional CMOS logic gates. The devices designed with 3T gates will make longer battery life by ensuring extremely low power consumption.

Keywords: Low power, CMOS, pass-transistor, flash memory, logic gates.

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2677 Design, Fabrication and Evaluation of MR Damper

Authors: A. Ashfak, A. Saheed, K. K. Abdul Rasheed, J. Abdul Jaleel

Abstract:

This paper presents the design, fabrication and evaluation of magneto-rheological damper. Semi-active control devices have received significant attention in recent years because they offer the adaptability of active control devices without requiring the associated large power sources. Magneto-Rheological (MR) dampers are semi- active control devices that use MR fluids to produce controllable dampers. They potentially offer highly reliable operation and can be viewed as fail-safe in that they become passive dampers if the control hardware malfunction. The advantage of MR dampers over conventional dampers are that they are simple in construction, compromise between high frequency isolation and natural frequency isolation, they offer semi-active control, use very little power, have very quick response, has few moving parts, have a relax tolerances and direct interfacing with electronics. Magneto- Rheological (MR) fluids are Controllable fluids belonging to the class of active materials that have the unique ability to change dynamic yield stress when acted upon by an electric or magnetic field, while maintaining viscosity relatively constant. This property can be utilized in MR damper where the damping force is changed by changing the rheological properties of the fluid magnetically. MR fluids have a dynamic yield stress over Electro-Rheological fluids (ER) and a broader operational temperature range. The objective of this papert was to study the application of an MR damper to vibration control, design the vibration damper using MR fluids, test and evaluate its performance. In this paper the Rheology and the theory behind MR fluids and their use on vibration control were studied. Then a MR vibration damper suitable for vehicle suspension was designed and fabricated using the MR fluid. The MR damper was tested using a dynamic test rig and the results were obtained in the form of force vs velocity and the force vs displacement plots. The results were encouraging and greatly inspire further research on the topic.

Keywords: Magneto-rheological Fluid, MR Damper, Semiactive controller, Electro-rheological fluid.

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2676 Artificial Neural Networks Application to Improve Shunt Active Power Filter

Authors: Rachid.Dehini, Abdesselam.Bassou, Brahim.Ferdi

Abstract:

Active Power Filters (APFs) are today the most widely used systems to eliminate harmonics compensate power factor and correct unbalanced problems in industrial power plants. We propose to improve the performances of conventional APFs by using artificial neural networks (ANNs) for harmonics estimation. This new method combines both the strategies for extracting the three-phase reference currents for active power filters and DC link voltage control method. The ANNs learning capabilities to adaptively choose the power system parameters for both to compute the reference currents and to recharge the capacitor value requested by VDC voltage in order to ensure suitable transit of powers to supply the inverter. To investigate the performance of this identification method, the study has been accomplished using simulation with the MATLAB Simulink Power System Toolbox. The simulation study results of the new (SAPF) identification technique compared to other similar methods are found quite satisfactory by assuring good filtering characteristics and high system stability.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), p-q theory, (SAPF), Harmonics, Total Harmonic Distortion.

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