Search results for: Uncertainty factors
2472 In vitro Environmental Factors Controlling Root Morphological Traits of Pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Merr)
Authors: S. Mohajer, R. M. Taha, M. Adel
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Developing our knowledge of when pineapple roots grow can lead to improved water, fertilizer applications, and more precise culture management. This paper presents current understanding of morphological traits in pineapple roots, highlighting studies using incubation periods and various solid MS media treated with different sucrose concentrations and pH, which directly assess in vitro environmental factors. Rooting parameters had different optimal sucrose concentrations and incubation periods. All shoots failed to root in medium supplemented with sucrose at 5 g/L and no roots formed within the first 45 days in medium enriched with sucrose at 10 g/L. After 75 days, all shoots rooted in medium enriched with 10 and 20 g/L sucrose. Moreover, MS medium supplied with 20 g/L sucrose resulted in the longest and the highest number of roots with 27.3 mm and 4.7, respectively. Root function, such as capacity for P and N uptake, declined rapidly with root length. As a result, the longer the incubation period, the better the rooting responses would be.Keywords: Environmental factors, in vitro rooting, pineapple, tissue culture.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21232471 Optimal Combination for Modal Pushover Analysis by Using Genetic Algorithm
Authors: K. Shakeri, M. Mohebbi
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In order to consider the effects of the higher modes in the pushover analysis, during the recent years several multi-modal pushover procedures have been presented. In these methods the response of the considered modes are combined by the square-rootof- sum-of-squares (SRSS) rule while application of the elastic modal combination rules in the inelastic phases is no longer valid. In this research the feasibility of defining an efficient alternative combination method is investigated. Two steel moment-frame buildings denoted SAC-9 and SAC-20 under ten earthquake records are considered. The nonlinear responses of the structures are estimated by the directed algebraic combination of the weighted responses of the separate modes. The weight of the each mode is defined so that the resulted response of the combination has a minimum error to the nonlinear time history analysis. The genetic algorithm (GA) is used to minimize the error and optimize the weight factors. The obtained optimal factors for each mode in different cases are compared together to find unique appropriate weight factors for each mode in all cases.Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Modal Pushover, Optimalweight.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17882470 Surface Roughness Optimization in End Milling Operation with Damper Inserted End Milling Cutters
Authors: Krishna Mohana Rao, G. Ravi Kumar, P. Sowmya
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This paper presents a study of the Taguchi design application to optimize surface quality in damper inserted end milling operation. Maintaining good surface quality usually involves additional manufacturing cost or loss of productivity. The Taguchi design is an efficient and effective experimental method in which a response variable can be optimized, given various factors, using fewer resources than a factorial design. This Study included spindle speed, feed rate, and depth of cut as control factors, usage of different tools in the same specification, which introduced tool condition and dimensional variability. An orthogonal array of L9(3^4)was used; ANOVA analyses were carried out to identify the significant factors affecting surface roughness, and the optimal cutting combination was determined by seeking the best surface roughness (response) and signal-to-noise ratio. Finally, confirmation tests verified that the Taguchi design was successful in optimizing milling parameters for surface roughness.Keywords: ANOVA, Damper, End Milling, Optimization, Surface roughness, Taguchi design.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23382469 Selection of Solid Waste Landfill Site Using Geographical Information System (GIS)
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Rapid population growth, urbanization and industrialization are known as the most important factors of environment problems. Elimination and management of solid wastes are also within the most important environment problems. One of the main problems in solid waste management is the selection of the best site for elimination of solid wastes. Lately, Geographical Information System (GIS) has been used for easing selection of landfill area. GIS has the ability of imitating necessary economic, environmental and political limitations. They play an important role for the site selection of landfill area as a decision support tool. In this study; map layers will be studied for minimum effect of environmental, social and cultural factors and maximum effect for engineering/economic factors for site selection of landfill areas and using GIS for a decision support mechanism in solid waste landfill areas site selection will be presented in Aksaray/Turkey city, Güzelyurt district practice.Keywords: GIS, landfill, solid waste, spatial analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31572468 The Establishment of RELAP5/SNAP Model for Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant
Authors: C. Shih, J. R. Wang, H. C. Chang, S. W. Chen, S. C. Chiang, T. Y. Yu
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After the measurement uncertainty recapture (MUR) power uprates, Kuosheng nuclear power plant (NPP) was uprated the power from 2894 MWt to 2943 MWt. For power upgrade, several codes (e.g., TRACE, RELAP5, etc.) were applied to assess the safety of Kuosheng NPP. Hence, the main work of this research is to establish a RELAP5/MOD3.3 model of Kuosheng NPP with SNAP interface. The establishment of RELAP5/SNAP model was referred to the FSAR, training documents, and TRACE model which has been developed and verified before. After completing the model establishment, the startup test scenarios would be applied to the RELAP5/SNAP model. With comparing the startup test data and TRACE analysis results, the applicability of RELAP5/SNAP model would be assessed.
Keywords: RELAP5, TRACE, SNAP, BWR.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11702467 Web-Content Analysis of the Major Spanish Tourist Destinations Evaluation by Russian Tourists
Authors: Natalia Polkanova, Sergey Kazakov
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In the second decade of the XXI century the role of tourism destination attractiveness is becoming increasingly important for destination management. Competition in tourism market moves from ordinary service quality to provision of unforgettable emotional experience for tourists. The main purpose of the present study is to identify the perception of the tourism destinations based on the number of factors related to its tourist attractiveness. The content analysis method was used to analyze the on-line tourist feedback data immensely available in Social Media and in travel related sites. The collected data made it possible to procure the information which is necessary to understand the perceived attractiveness of the destinations and key destination appeal factors that are important for Russian leisure travelers. Results of the present study demonstrate key attractiveness factors or destination ‘properties’ that were unveiled as the most important for Russian leisure tourists. The study targeted five main Spanish tourism destinations that initially were determined by in-depth interview with a number of Russian nationals who had visited Spain at least once. The research results can be useful for Spanish Tourism Organization Representation office in Russia as well as for the other national tourism organizations in order to promote their respective destinations for Russian travelers focusing on main attractiveness factors identified in this study.
Keywords: Tourism destination, destination attractiveness, destination competitiveness, content analysis, unstructured image.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25762466 Helicopter Adaptive Control with Parameter Estimation Based on Feedback Linearization
Authors: A. R. Nemati, M. Haddad Zarif, M. M. Fateh
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This paper presents an adaptive feedback linearization approach to derive helicopter. Ideal feedback linearization is defined for the cases when the system model is known. Adaptive feedback linearization is employed to get asymptotically exact cancellation for the inherent uncertainty in the knowledge of the given parameters of system. The control algorithm is implemented using the feedback linearization technique and adaptive method. The controller parameters are unknown where an adaptive control law aims to drive them towards their ideal values for providing perfect model matching between the reference model and the closed-loop plant model. The converged parameters of controller would then provide good estimates for the unknown plant parameters.
Keywords: Adaptive control, helicopter, feedback linearization, nonlinear control.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23682465 Enhancing Supply Chain Agility by Deploying Competence Management and the Supply Chain Operations Model
Authors: N. Sefiani, L. Chraibi, K. Reklaoui, Y. Sefiani
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Currently, business environment is characterized by pressure caused by stiff competition, constant changes (e.g., product/ technological innovations, decreasing product lifecycles, and product proliferation), and a high level of market uncertainty band unpredictability. The agility of the Supply Chain Management (SCM) is clearly identified as a key factor for success and a strategic essential lever. This paper explores the impact of deploying competence management and Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model on firm performance. Our approach is based on a systemic view by considering the SCOR reference model as the heart of competence management system.
Keywords: Competence, competence management, performance, SCOR model and agility.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12142464 Acute Coronary Syndrome Prediction Using Data Mining Techniques- An Application
Authors: Tahseen A. Jilani, Huda Yasin, Madiha Yasin, C. Ardil
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In this paper we use data mining techniques to investigate factors that contribute significantly to enhancing the risk of acute coronary syndrome. We assume that the dependent variable is diagnosis – with dichotomous values showing presence or absence of disease. We have applied binary regression to the factors affecting the dependent variable. The data set has been taken from two different cardiac hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan. We have total sixteen variables out of which one is assumed dependent and other 15 are independent variables. For better performance of the regression model in predicting acute coronary syndrome, data reduction techniques like principle component analysis is applied. Based on results of data reduction, we have considered only 14 out of sixteen factors.
Keywords: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS), binary logistic regression analyses, myocardial ischemia (MI), principle component analysis, unstable angina (U.A.).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20992463 Hospitality Program Postgraduate Theses: What Hinders Their Accomplishment?
Authors: Mohd Salehuddin Mohd Zahari, Hamizad Abdul Hadi, Nik Mohd Shahril Nik Mohd Nor, Syuhirdy Mat Noor
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Postgraduate education is generally aimed at providing in-depth knowledge and understanding that include general philosophy in the world sciences, management, technologies, applications and other elements closely related to specific areas. In most universities, besides core and non-core subjects, a thesis is one of the requirements for the postgraduate student to accomplish before graduating. This paper reports on the empirical investigation into attributes that are associated with the obstacles to thesis accomplishment among postgraduate students. Using the quantitative approach the experiences of postgraduate students were tapped. Findings clearly revealed that information seeking, writing skills and other factors which refer to supervisor and time management, in particular, are recognized as contributory factors which positively or negatively influence postgraduates’ thesis accomplishment. Among these, writing skills dimensions were found to be the most difficult process in thesis accomplishment compared to information seeking and other factors. This pessimistic indication has provided some implications not only for the students but supervisors and institutions as a whole.
Keywords: Hospitality, Program, Postgraduate, thesis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15332462 Spatial Correlation Analysis between Climate Factors and Plant Production in Asia
Authors: Yukiyo Yamamoto, Jun Furuya, Shintaro Kobayashi
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Using 1km grid datasets representing monthly mean precipitation, monthly mean temperature, and dry matter production (DMP), we considered the regional plant production ability in Southeast and South Asia, and also employed pixel-by-pixel correlation analysis to assess the intensity of relation between climate factors and plant production. While annual DMP in South Asia was approximately less than 2,000kg, the one in most part of Southeast Asia exceeded 2,500 - 3,000kg. It suggested that plant production in Southeast Asia was superior to South Asia, however, Rain-Use Efficiency (RUE) representing dry matter production per 1mm precipitation showed that inland of Indochina Peninsula and India were higher than islands in Southeast Asia. By the results of correlation analysis between climate factors and DMP, while the area in most parts of Indochina Peninsula indicated negative correlation coefficients between DMP and precipitation or temperature, the area in Malay Peninsula and islands showed negative correlation to precipitation and positive one to temperature, and most part of India dominating South Asia showed positive to precipitation and negative to temperature. In addition, the areas where the correlation coefficients exceeded |0.8| were regarded as “susceptible" to climate factors, and the areas smaller than |0.2| were “insusceptible". By following the discrimination, the map implying expected impacts by climate change was provided.Keywords: Asia, correlation analysis, plant production, precipitation, temperature.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14372461 Strategic Software Development: Productivity Comparisons of General Development Programs
Authors: Craig Comstock, Zhizhong Jiang, Peter Naudé
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Productivity has been one of the major concerns with the increasingly high cost of software development. Choosing the right development language with high productivity is one approach to reduce development costs. Working on the large database with 4106 projects ever developed, we found the factors significant to productivity. After the removal of the effects of other factors on productivity, we compare the productivity differences of the ten general development programs. The study supports the fact that fourth-generation languages are more productive than thirdgeneration languages.
Keywords: Functional point, language, productivity, software engineering.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17452460 An Analysis of Real-Time Distributed System under Different Priority Policies
Authors: Y. Jayanta Singh, Suresh C. Mehrotra
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A real time distributed computing has heterogeneously networked computers to solve a single problem. So coordination of activities among computers is a complex task and deadlines make more complex. The performances depend on many factors such as traffic workloads, database system architecture, underlying processors, disks speeds, etc. Simulation study have been performed to analyze the performance under different transaction scheduling: different workloads, arrival rate, priority policies, altering slack factors and Preemptive Policy. The performance metric of the experiments is missed percent that is the percentage of transaction that the system is unable to complete. The throughput of the system is depends on the arrival rate of transaction. The performance can be enhanced with altering the slack factor value. Working on slack value for the transaction can helps to avoid some of transactions from killing or aborts. Under the Preemptive Policy, many extra executions of new transactions can be carried out.Keywords: Real distributed systems, slack factors, transaction scheduling, priority policies.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16152459 Yield, Yield Components, Soil Minerals and Aroma of KDML 105 Rice in Tungkularonghai, Roi-Et,Thailand
Authors: Kanlaya Kong-ngern, Tossapol Buaphan, Duangsamorn Tulaphitak, Naug Phuvongpha, Sirirut Wongpakonkul, Piyada Threerakulpisut
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Pearson-s correlation coefficient and sequential path analysis has been used for determining the interrelationship among yield, yield components, soil minerals and aroma of Khao Dawk Mali (KDML) 105 rice grown in the area of Tungkularonghai in Roi-Et province, located in the northeast of Thailand. Pearson-s correlation coefficient in this study showed that the number of panicles was the only factor that had positive significant (0.790**) effect on grain yield. Sequential path analysis revealed that the number of panicles followed by the number of fertile spikelets and 100-grain weight were the first-order factors which had positive direct effects on grain yield. Whereas, other factors analyzed had indirect effects influencing grain yield. This study also indicated that no significant relationship was found between the aroma level and any of the factors analyzed.Keywords: 2-Acetyl-1-Pyrroline, rice aroma
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21272458 Assessment of EU Competitiveness Factors by Multivariate Methods
Authors: L. Melecký
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Measurement of competitiveness between countries or regions is an important topic of many economic analysis and scientific papers. In European Union (EU), there is no mainstream approach of competitiveness evaluation and measuring. There are many opinions and methods of measurement and evaluation of competitiveness between states or regions at national and European level. The methods differ in structure of using the indicators of competitiveness and ways of their processing. The aim of the paper is to analyze main sources of competitive potential of the EU Member States with the help of Factor analysis (FA) and to classify the EU Member States to homogeneous units (clusters) according to the similarity of selected indicators of competitiveness factors by Cluster analysis (CA) in reference years 2000 and 2011. The theoretical part of the paper is devoted to the fundamental bases of competitiveness and the methodology of FA and CA methods. The empirical part of the paper deals with the evaluation of competitiveness factors in the EU Member States and cluster comparison of evaluated countries by cluster analysis.
Keywords: Competitiveness, cluster analysis, EU, factor analysis, multivariate methods.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20342457 Study on the Influence of Physical Effort on the Mental Processes of Preteen Students
Authors: Constantin Pehoiu, Cristian Savu, Silviu Badea, Cristian Borida
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The physiological effects of physical exercise on human body are relatively well known in literature, which describes in detail the changes that occur in the cardiovascular system, the respiratory one, in bones and other systems, both during exercise and after its delivery. However, the effects of exercise on mental processes are less treated. From the literature reviews discussed in this study, it can be detached the idea that we can not exactly say that physical exercise has beneficial effects on mental processes, but neither that it would have potentially negative effects. This uncertainty, reflected in the inability to indicate precise and unequivocal meaning, favorable-unfavorable physical effort in acting on mental processes, is a prime reason to undertake a study of the phenomenon influence effort administered physical education classes on the dynamics of mental processes like attention and memory.Keywords: management, exercise, mental process, lesson.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16572456 Bleeding Detection Algorithm for Capsule Endoscopy
Authors: Yong-Gyu Lee, Gilwon Yoon
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Automatic detection of bleeding is of practical importance since capsule endoscopy produces an extremely large number of images. Algorithm development of bleeding detection in the digestive tract is difficult due to different contrasts among the images, food dregs, secretion and others. In this study, were assigned weighting factors derived from the independent features of the contrast and brightness between bleeding and normality. Spectral analysis based on weighting factors was fast and accurate. Results were a sensitivity of 87% and a specificity of 90% when the accuracy was determined for each pixel out of 42 endoscope images.Keywords: bleeding, capsule endoscopy, image analysis, weighted spectrum
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21022455 Climate Related Financial Risk for Automobile Industry and Impact to Financial Institutions
Authors: S. Mahalakshmi, B. Senthil Arasu
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As per the recent changes happening in the global policies, climate related changes and the impact it causes across every sector are viewed as green swan events – in essence, climate related changes can happen often and lead to risk and lot of uncertainty, but need to be mitigated instead of considering them as black swan events. This brings about a question on how this risk can be computed, so that the financial institutions can plan to mitigate it. Climate related changes impact all risk types – credit risk, market risk, operational risk, liquidity risk, reputational risk and others. And the models required to compute this have to consider the different industrial needs of the counterparty, as well as the factors that are contributing to this – be it in the form of different risk drivers, or the different transmission channels or the different approaches and the granular form of data availability. This brings out to the suggestion that the climate related changes, though it affects Pillar I risks, will be a Pillar II risk. This has to be modeled specifically based on the financial institution’s actual exposure to different industries, instead of generalizing the risk charge. And this will have to be considered as the additional capital to be met by the financial institution in addition to their Pillar I risks, as well as the existing Pillar II risks. In this paper, we present a risk assessment framework to model and assess climate change risks - for both credit and market risks. This framework helps in assessing the different scenarios, and how the different transition risks affect the risk associated with the different parties. This research paper delves on the topic of increase in concentration of greenhouse gases, that in turn causing global warming. It then considers the various scenarios of having the different risk drivers impacting credit and market risk of an institution, by understanding the transmission channels, and also considering the transition risk. The paper then focuses on the industry that’s fast seeing a disruption: automobile industry. The paper uses the framework to show how the climate changes and the change to the relevant policies have impacted the entire financial institution. Appropriate statistical models for forecasting, anomaly detection and scenario modeling are built to demonstrate how the framework can be used by the relevant agencies to understand their financial risks. The paper also focuses on the climate risk calculation for the Pillar II capital calculations, and how it will make sense for the bank to maintain this in addition to their regular Pillar I and Pillar II capital.
Keywords: Capital calculation, climate risk, credit risk, pillar II risk, scenario modeling.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4072454 The Effect of Kaizen Implementation on Employees’ Affective Attitude in Textile Company in Ethiopia
Authors: Meseret Teshome
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This study has the objective of assessing the effect of kaizen (5S, Muda elimination and Quality Control Circle (QCC) on employees’ affective attitude (job satisfaction, commitment and job stress) in Kombolcha Textile Share Company. A conceptual model was developed to describe the relationship between Kaizen and Employees’ Affective Attitude (EAA) factors. The three factors of Employee Affective Attitude were measured using questionnaire derived from other validated questionnaire. In the data collection to conduct this study; questionnaire, unstructured interview, written documents and direct observations are used. To analyze the data, SPSS and Microsoft Excel were used. In addition, the internal consistency of similar items in the questionnaire instrument was measured for their equivalence by using the cronbach’s alpha test. In this study, the effect of 5S, Muda elimination and QCC on job satisfaction, commitment and job stress in Kombolcha Textile Share Company is assessed and factors that reduce employees’ job satisfaction with respect to kaizen implementation are identified. The total averages of means from the questionnaire are 3.1 for job satisfaction, 4.31 for job commitment and 4.2 for job stress. And results from interview and secondary data show that kaizen implementation have effect on EAA. In general, based on the thesis results it was concluded that kaizen (5S, muda elimination and QCC) have positive effect for improving EAA factors at KTSC. Finally, recommendations for improvement are given based on the results.
Keywords: Kaizen, job satisfaction, job commitment, job stress.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12472453 Prevalence, Associated Factors, and Help-Seeking Behavior of Psychological Distress among International Students at the National University of Malaysia
Authors: Khadiga Kahwa, Aniza Ismail
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Depression, anxiety, and stress are associated with decreased role functioning, productivity, and quality of life. International students are more prone to psychological distress as they face many stressors while studying abroad. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence and associated factors of depression, anxiety, and stress among international students, their help-seeking behavior, and their awareness of the available on-campus mental support services. A cross-sectional study with a purposive sampling method was performed on 280 international students at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) between the age of 18 and 35 years. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) questionnaire was used anonymously to assess the mental health of students. Socio-demographic, help-seeking behavior, and awareness data were obtained. Independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA test, and multiple linear regression were used to explore associated factors. The overall prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among international students were 58.9%, 71.8%, and 53.9%, respectively. Age was significantly associated with depression and anxiety. Ethnicity showed a significant association with depression and stress. No other factors were found to be significantly associated with psychological distress. Only 9.6% of the international students had sought help from on-campus mental support services. Students who were aware of the presence of such services were only 21.4% of the participants. In conclusion, this study addressed the gap in the literature on the mental health of international students and provided data that could be used in intervention programs to improve the mental health of the increasing number of international students in Malaysia.
Keywords: Anxiety, depression, stress, help-seeking behavior, students.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7122452 Probabilistic Simulation of Triaxial Undrained Cyclic Behavior of Soils
Authors: Arezoo Sadrinezhad, Kallol Sett, S. I. Hariharan
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In this paper, a probabilistic framework based on Fokker-Planck-Kolmogorov (FPK) approach has been applied to simulate triaxial cyclic constitutive behavior of uncertain soils. The framework builds upon previous work of the writers, and it has been extended for cyclic probabilistic simulation of triaxial undrained behavior of soils. von Mises elastic-perfectly plastic material model is considered. It is shown that by using probabilistic framework, some of the most important aspects of soil behavior under cyclic loading can be captured even with a simple elastic-perfectly plastic constitutive model.Keywords: Elasto-plasticity, uncertainty, soils, Fokker-Planck equation, Fourier Spectral method, Finite Difference method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16262451 Using High Performance Computing for Online Flood Monitoring and Prediction
Authors: Stepan Kuchar, Martin Golasowski, Radim Vavrik, Michal Podhoranyi, Boris Sir, Jan Martinovic
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The main goal of this article is to describe the online flood monitoring and prediction system Floreon+ primarily developed for the Moravian-Silesian region in the Czech Republic and the basic process it uses for running automatic rainfall-runoff and hydrodynamic simulations along with their calibration and uncertainty modeling. It takes a long time to execute such process sequentially, which is not acceptable in the online scenario, so the use of a high performance computing environment is proposed for all parts of the process to shorten their duration. Finally, a case study on the Ostravice River catchment is presented that shows actual durations and their gain from the parallel implementation.
Keywords: Flood prediction process, High performance computing, Online flood prediction system, Parallelization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23182450 Utilizing Analytic Hierarchy Process to Analyze Consumers- Purchase Evaluation Factors of Smartphones
Authors: Yi-Chung Hu, Yu-Lin Liao
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Due to the fast development of technology, the competition of technological products is turbulent; therefore, it is important to understand the market trend, consumers- demand and preferences. As the smartphones are prevalent, the main purpose of this paper is to utilize Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to analyze consumer-s purchase evaluation factors of smartphones. Through the AHP expert questionnaire, the smartphones- main functions are classified as “user interface", “mobile commerce functions", “hardware and software specifications", “entertainment functions" and “appearance and design", five aspects to analyze the weights. Then four evaluation criteria are evaluated under each aspect to rank the weights. Based on an analysis of data shows that consumers consider when purchase factors are “hardware and software specifications", “user interface", “appearance and design", “mobile commerce functions" and “entertainment functions" in sequence. The “hardware and software specifications" aspect obtains the weight of 33.18%; it is the most important factor that consumers are taken into account. In addition, the most important evaluation criteria are central processing unit, operating system, touch screen, and battery function in sequence. The results of the study can be adopted as reference data for mobile phone manufacturers in the future on the design and marketing strategy to satisfy the voice of customer.Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), evaluation criteria, purchase evaluation factors, smartphone.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 32282449 Conflict, Confusion, Choice: A Phenomenological Approach to Acts of Corruption
Authors: Yvonne T. Haigh
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Public sector corruption has long-term and damaging effects that are deep and broad. Addressing corruption relies on understanding the drivers that precipitate acts of corruption and developing educational programs that target areas of vulnerability. This paper provides an innovative approach to explore the nature of corruption by drawing on the perceptions and ideas of a group of public servants who have been part of a corruption investigation. The paper examines these reflections through the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu and Alfred Schutz to point to some of the steps that can lead to corrupt activity. The paper demonstrates that phenomenological inquiry is useful in the exploration of corruption and, as a theoretical framework, it highlights that corruption emerges through a combination of conflict, doubt and uncertainty. The paper calls for anti-corruption education programs to be attentive to way in which these conditions can influence the steps into corruption.Keywords: Phenomenology, choice, conflict, corruption.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21292448 Neutrosophic Multiple Criteria Decision Making Analysis Method for Selecting Stealth Fighter Aircraft
Authors: C. Ardil
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In this paper, a neutrosophic multiple criteria decision analysis method is proposed to select stealth fighter aircraft. Neutrosophic multiple criteria decision analysis methods are used to analyze the neutrosophic environment and give results under uncertainty and incompleteness. Neutrosophic numbers are used to evaluate alternatives over a set of evaluation criteria in decision making problems. Finally, the proposed model is applied to a practical decision problem for selecting stealth fighter aircraft.
Keywords: neutrosophic sets, multiple criteria decision making analysis, stealth fighter aircraft, aircraft selection, MCDMA, SVNNs
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5762447 Analysis of the Interference from Risk-Determining Factors of Cooperative and Conventional Construction Contracts
Authors: E. Harrer, M. Mauerhofer, T. Werginz
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As a result of intensive competition, the building sector is suffering from a high degree of rivalry. Furthermore, there can be observed an unbalanced distribution of project risks. Clients are aimed to shift their own risks into the sphere of the constructors or planners. The consequence of this is that the number of conflicts between the involved parties is inordinately high or even increasing; an alternative approach to counter on that developments are cooperative project forms in the construction sector. This research compares conventional contract models and models with partnering agreements to examine the influence on project risks by an early integration of the involved parties. The goal is to show up deviations in different project stages from the design phase to the project transfer phase. These deviations are evaluated by a survey of experts from the three spheres: clients, contractors and planners. By rating the influence of the participants on specific risk factors it is possible to identify factors which are relevant for a smooth project execution.Keywords: Collaborative work, construction industry, contract-models, influence, partnering, project management, risk.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8612446 Dispenser Longitudinal Movement ControlDesign Based on Auto - Disturbances –Rejection - Controller
Authors: Qiaozhen Song
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Based on the feature of model disturbances and uncertainty being compensated dynamically in auto – disturbances-rejection-controller (ADRC), a new method using ADRC is proposed for the decoupling control of dispenser longitudinal movement in big flight envelope. Developed from nonlinear model directly, ADRC is especially suitable for dynamic model that has big disturbances. Furthermore, without changing the structure and parameters of the controller in big flight envelope, this scheme can simplify the design of flight control system. The simulation results in big flight envelope show that the system achieves high dynamic performance, steady state performance and the controller has strong robustness.
Keywords: ADRC, ESO, nonlinear system
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16022445 A Hybrid DEA Model for the Measurement of the Enviromental Performance
Authors: A. Hadi-Vencheh, N. Shayesteh Moghadam
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Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has gained great popularity in environmental performance measurement because it can provide a synthetic standardized environmental performance index when pollutants are suitably incorporated into the traditional DEA framework. Since some of the environmental performance indicators cannot be controlled by companies managers, it is necessary to develop the model in a way that it could be applied when discretionary and/or non-discretionary factors were involved. In this paper, we present a semi-radial DEA approach to measuring environmental performance, which consists of non-discretionary factors. The model, then, has been applied on a real case.
Keywords: Environmental performance, efficiency, non-discretionary variables, data envelopment analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13682444 The Role of Brand Loyalty in Generating Positive Word of Mouth among Malaysian Hypermarket Customers
Authors: S. R. Nikhashemi, L. Haj Paim, Ali Khatibi
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Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test a hypothesized model explaining Malaysian hypermarket customers’ perceptions of brand trust (BT), customer perceived value (CPV) and perceived service quality (PSQ) on building their brand loyalty (CBL) and generating positive word-of-mouth communication (WOM). Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from 374 Malaysian hypermarket customers from Mydin, Tesco, Aeon Big and Giant in Kuala Lumpur, a metropolitan city of Malaysia. The data strongly supported the model exhibiting that BT, CPV and PSQ are prerequisite factors in building customer brand loyalty, while PSQ has the strongest effect on prediction of customer brand loyalty compared to other factors. Besides, the present study suggests the effect of the aforementioned factors via customer brand loyalty strongly contributes to generate positive word of mouth communication.Keywords: Brand trust, perceived value, perceived service quality, brand loyalty, positive word of mouth communication.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30342443 Organizational Culture and Innovation Adoption/Generation: A Proposed Model
Authors: Kong-Seng, Lai, Nor'Aini Yusof
Abstract:
Organizational culture fosters innovation, and innovation is the main engine to be sustained within the uncertainty market. Like other countries, the construction industry significantly contributes to the economy, society and technology of Malaysia, yet, innovation is still considered slow compared to other industries such as manufacturing. Given the important role of an architect as the key player and the contributor of new ideas in the construction industry, there is a call to identify the issue and improve the current situation by focusing on the architectural firms. In addition, the existing studies tend to focus only on a few dimensions of organizational culture and very few studies consider whether innovation is being generated or adopted. Hence, the present research tends to fill in the gap by identifying the organizational cultures that foster or hinder innovation generation and/or innovation adoption, and propose a model of organizational culture and innovation generation and/or adoption.Keywords: Innovation adoption, innovation generation, architectural firm, organizational culture
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