Search results for: positive linear systems

Authors: Matheus Borges Carneiro, Fabiane Letícia Lizarelli, José Carlos de Toledo

Abstract:

The evolution of quality management by companies was strongly enabled by, among others, ISO 9001 certification, which is considered a crucial requirement for several customers. Likewise, performance measurement provides useful insights for companies to identify the reflection of their decision-making process on their improvement. One of the most used performance measurement models is the balanced scorecard (BSC), which uses four perspectives to address a firm’s performance: financial, internal process, customer satisfaction, and learning and growth. Since ISO 9001 certified firms are likely to measure their performance through BSC approach, it is important to verify whether the certificate influences the firm performance or not. Therefore, this paper aims to verify the impact of ISO 9001:2015 on Brazilian firms’ performance based on the BSC perspective. Hence, nine certified companies located in the Southeast region of Brazil were studied through a multiple case study approach. Within this study, it was possible to identify the positive impact of ISO 9001 on firms’ overall performance, and four Critical Success Factors (CSFs) were identified as relevant on the linkage among ISO 9001 and firms’ performance: employee involvement, top management, process management, and customer focus. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of interviews was limited to the quality manager specialist, and the sample was limited since several companies were closed during the period of the study. This study presents an in-depth analysis of how the relationship between ISO 9001 certification and firms’ performance in a developing country is.

Keywords: Balanced scorecard, Brazilian firms’ performance, critical success factors, ISO 9001 certification, performance measurement.

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Authors: Mario Mastriani

Abstract:

In this work, we developed the concept of supercompression, i.e., compression above the compression standard used. In this context, both compression rates are multiplied. In fact, supercompression is based on super-resolution. That is to say, supercompression is a data compression technique that superpose spatial image compression on top of bit-per-pixel compression to achieve very high compression ratios. If the compression ratio is very high, then we use a convolutive mask inside decoder that restores the edges, eliminating the blur. Finally, both, the encoder and the complete decoder are implemented on General-Purpose computation on Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU) cards. Specifically, the mentio-ned mask is coded inside texture memory of a GPGPU.

Keywords: General-Purpose computation on Graphics Processing Units, Image Compression, Interpolation, Super-resolution.

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Authors: G. Sandhya Devi, G. Suvarna Kumar, S. Chandini

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This research work aims to develop a system that will analyze and identify students who indulge in malpractices/suspicious activities during the course of an academic offline examination. Automated Video Surveillance provides an optimal solution which helps in monitoring the students and identifying the malpractice event immediately. This work is organized into three modules. The first module deals with performing an impersonation check using a PCA-based face recognition method which is done by cross checking his profile with the database. The presence or absence of the student is even determined in this module by implementing an image registration technique wherein a grid is formed by considering all the images registered using the frontal camera at the determined positions. Second, detecting such facial malpractices in which a student gets involved in conversation with another, trying to obtain unauthorized information etc., based on the threshold range evaluated by considering his/her mouth state whether open or closed. The third module deals with identification of unauthorized material or gadgets used in the examination hall by training the positive samples of the object through various stages. Here, a top view camera feed is analyzed to detect the suspicious activities. The system automatically alerts the administration when any suspicious activities are identified, thereby reducing the error rate caused due to manual monitoring. This work is an improvement over our previous work published in identifying suspicious activities done by examinees in an offline examination.

Keywords: Impersonation, image registration, incrimination, object detection, threshold evaluation.

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Authors: Dariush Jafari, S. Mostafa Nowee

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In this study a ternary system containing sodium chloride as solute, water as primary solvent and ethanol as the antisolvent was considered to investigate the application of artificial neural network (ANN) in prediction of sodium solubility in the mixture of water as the solvent and ethanol as the antisolvent. The system was previously studied using by Extended UNIQUAC model by the authors of this study. The comparison between the results of the two models shows an excellent agreement between them (R2=0.99), and also approves the capability of ANN to predict the thermodynamic behavior of ternary electrolyte systems which are difficult to model.

Keywords: Thermodynamic modeling, ANN, solubility, ternary electrolyte system.

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Authors: Ahmet Denker, Hakan Gürkan

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Defense and Aerospace environment is continuously striving to keep up with increasingly sophisticated Information Technology (IT) in order to remain effective in today-s dynamic and unpredictable threat environment. This makes IT one of the largest and fastest growing expenses of Defense. Hundreds of millions of dollars spent a year on IT projects. But, too many of those millions are wasted on costly mistakes. Systems that do not work properly, new components that are not compatible with old ones, trendy new applications that do not really satisfy defense needs or lost through poorly managed contracts. This paper investigates and compiles the effective strategies that aim to end exasperation with low returns and high cost of Information Technology acquisition for defense; it tries to show how to maximize value while reducing time and expenditure.

Keywords: Iterative process, acquisition management, project management, software economics, requirement analysis.

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Authors: Mehrdad N. Khajavi, Abbas Hosseini, N.Bani Mostafa

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In this paper two different Antilock braking system (ABS) are simulated and compared. One is the ordinary hydraulic ABS system which we call it ABS and the other is Electromagnetic Antilock braking system which is called (EMABS) the basis of performance of an EMABS is based upon Electromagnetic force. In this system there is no need to use servo hydraulic booster which are used in ABS system. In EMABS to generate the desired force we have use a magnetic relay which works with an input voltage through an air gap (g). The generated force will be amplified by the relay arm, and is applied to the brake shoes and thus the braking torque is generated. The braking torque is proportional to the applied electrical voltage E. to adjust the braking torque it is only necessary to regulate the electrical voltage E which is very faster and has a much smaller time constant T than the ABS system. The simulations of these two different ABS systems are done with MATLAB/SIMULINK software and the superiority of the EMABS has been shown.

Keywords: ABS, EMABS, ECU

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Authors: Louiza C. Duncker, Duarte Gonçalves

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Wildlife crime is a complex problem with many interconnected facets, which are generally responded to in parts or fragments in efforts to “break down” the complexity into manageable components. However, fragmentation increases complexity as coherence and cooperation become diluted. A whole-of-society approach has been developed towards finding a common goal and integrated approach to preventing wildlife crime. As part of this development, research was conducted in rural communities adjacent to conservation areas in South Africa to define and comprehend the challenges faced by them, and to understand their perceptions of wildlife crime. The results of the research showed that the perceptions of community members varied - most were in favor of conservation and of protecting rhinos, only if they derive adequate benefit from it. Regardless of gender, income level, education level, or access to services, conservation was perceived to be good and bad by the same people. Even though people in the communities are poor, a willingness to stop rhino poaching does exist amongst them, but their perception of parks not caring about people triggered an attitude of not being willing to stop, prevent or report poaching. Understanding the nuances, the history, the interests and values of community members, and the drivers behind poaching mind-sets (intrinsic or driven by transnational organized crime) is imperative to create sustainable and resilient communities on multiple levels that make a substantial positive impact on people’s lives, but also conserve wildlife for posterity.

Keywords: Conservation, community perceptions, wildlife crime, rhino poaching, interest and value creation, whole-of-society approach.

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Authors: M. Bouguerra, F. Laaouad, I. Habi, R. Azaizia

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In Algeria, now, the oil pumping plants are fed with electric power by independent local sources. This type of feeding has many advantages (little climatic influence, independent operation). However it requires a qualified maintenance staff, a rather high frequency of maintenance and repair and additional fuel costs. Taking into account the increasing development of the national electric supply network (Sonelgaz), a real possibility of transfer of the local sources towards centralized sources appears.These latter cannot only be more economic but more reliable than the independent local sources as well. In order to carry out this transfer, it is necessary to work out an optimal strategy to rebuilding these networks taking in account the economic parameters and the indices of reliability.

Keywords: Optimization, reliability, electric network.

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Authors: Vera Pujani

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The purpose of this study is to investiagte the use of the ecommerce website in Indonesia as a developing country. The ecommerce website has been identified having the significant impact on business activities in particular solving the geographical problem for islanded countries likes Indonesia. Again, website is identified as a crucial marketing tool. This study presents the effect of quality and features on the use and user satisfaction employing ecommerce websites. Survey method for 115 undergraduate students of Management Department in Andalas University who are attending Management Information Systems (SIM) class have been undertaken. The data obtained is analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using SmartPLS program. This result found that quality of system and information, feature as well satisfaction influencing the use ecommerce website in Indonesia contexts.

Keywords: Use, Developing Country, Satisfaction, Website

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Authors: Arne Koschel, Irina Astrova

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Heterogeneity has to be taken into account when integrating a set of existing information sources into a distributed information system that are nowadays often based on Service- Oriented Architectures (SOA). This is also particularly applicable to distributed services such as event monitoring, which are useful in the context of Event Driven Architectures (EDA) and Complex Event Processing (CEP). Web services deal with this heterogeneity at a technical level, also providing little support for event processing. Our central thesis is that such a fully generic solution cannot provide complete support for event monitoring; instead, source specific semantics such as certain event types or support for certain event monitoring techniques have to be taken into account. Our core result is the design of a configurable event monitoring (Web) service that allows us to trade genericity for the exploitation of source specific characteristics. It thus delivers results for the areas of SOA, Web services, CEP and EDA.

Keywords: ECA, CEP, SOA, and Web services.

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Authors: A. Chellil, A. Nour, S. Lecheb, H. Mechakra, L. Addar, H. Kebir

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This paper present a mechanical characteristics on fatigue crack propagation in Aluminium Plate based on strain and stress distribution using the abaqus software. The changes in shear strain and stress distribution during the fatigue cycle with crack growth is identified. In progressive crack in the strain distribution and the stress is increase in the critical zone. Numerical Modal analysis of the model developed, prove that the Eigen frequencies of aluminium plate were decreased after cracking, and this reduce is nonlinear. These results can provide a reference for analysts and designers of aluminium alloys in aeronautical systems.

Therefore, the modal analysis is an important factor for monitoring the aeronautic structures.

Keywords: Aluminium alloys, plate, crack, failure.

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Authors: Abbas Al-Refaie

Abstract:

The research examines the factors that affect customer churn (CC) in the Jordanian telecom industry. A total of 700 surveys were distributed. Cluster analysis revealed three main clusters. Results showed that CC and customer satisfaction (CS) were the key determinants in forming the three clusters. In two clusters, the center values of CC were high, indicating that the customers were loyal and SC was expensive and time- and energy-consuming. Still, the mobile service provider (MSP) should enhance its communication (COM), and value added services (VASs), as well as customer complaint management systems (CCMS). Finally, for the third cluster the center of the CC indicates a poor level of loyalty, which facilitates customers churn to another MSP. The results of this study provide valuable feedback for MSP decision makers regarding approaches to improving their performance and reducing CC.

Keywords: Cluster analysis, telecom industry, switching cost, customer churn.

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Authors: Petarpa Boonserm, Tritos Ngampitipan, Matt Visser

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A “clean” black hole is a black hole in vacuum such as the Schwarzschild black hole. However in real physical systems, there are matter fields around a black hole. Such a black hole is called a “dirty black hole”. In this paper, the effect of matter fields on the black hole and the greybody factor is investigated. The results show that matter fields make a black hole smaller. They can increase the potential energy to a black hole to obstruct Hawking radiation to propagate. This causes the greybody factor of a dirty black hole to be less than that of a clean black hole.

Keywords: A dirty black hole, Greybody factor, Hawking radiation, Matter fields.

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Authors: Aditya K, Dinesh P, Ramesh Bhakthavatchalu

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This paper explains a project based learning method where autonomous mini-robots are developed for research, education and entertainment purposes. In case of remote systems wireless sensors are developed in critical areas, which would collect data at specific time intervals, send the data to the central wireless node based on certain preferred information would make decisions to turn on or off a switch or control unit. Such information transfers hardly sums up to a few bytes and hence low data rates would suffice for such implementations. As a robot is a multidisciplinary platform, the interfacing issues involved are discussed in this paper. The paper is mainly focused on power supply, grounding and decoupling issues.

Keywords: CPLD, power supply, decoupling, grounding.

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Authors: A. Izadbakhsh, M. M. Fateh

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A model-free robust control (MFRC) approach is proposed for position control of robot manipulators in the state space. The control approach is verified analytically to be robust subject to uncertainties including external disturbances, unmodeled dynamics, and parametric uncertainties. There is a high flexibility to work on different systems including actuators by the use of the proposed control approach. The proposed control approach can guarantee the robustness of control system. A PUMA 560 robot driven by geared permanent magnet dc motors is simulated. The simulation results show a satisfactory performance for control system under technical specifications. KeywordsModel-free, robust control, position control, PUMA 560.

Keywords: Model-free, robust control, position control, PUMA 560.

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Authors: Julio Manuel de Luis Ruiz, Javier Sedano Cibrián, Rubén Pérez Álvarez, Raúl Pereda García, Felipe Piña García

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Nowadays it is common to resort to aerial photography to carry out the prospection and/or exploration of archaeological sites. In recent years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been applied as the vehicles that carry the sensor. This implies certain advantages, such as the possibility of including low-cost sensors, given that these vehicles can carry the sensor at relatively low altitudes. Due to this, low-cost dual sensors have recently begun to be used. This new equipment can collaborate with classic Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) in the exploration of archaeological sites, but this entails the need for a methodological setting to optimize the acquisition, processing and exploitation of the information provided by low-cost dual sensors. This research focuses on the design of an appropriate workflow to obtain 3D models with low-cost sensors carried on UAVs, both in the RGB and thermal domains. All the foregoing has been applied to the archaeological site of Juliobriga, located in Cantabria (Spain). To this end, a flight with this type of sensors has been planned, developed and analyzed. It has been applied to the archaeological site of Juliobriga (Cantabria, Spain). A strong dependence of the thermal sensor on the GSD, and the capability of this technique to interpret underground materials. This research allows to state that the thermal nature of the site does not provide main information about the site itself, but with combination with other types of information, such as the DEM, the typology of materials, etc., can produce very positive results with respect to the exploration and knowledge of the site. 

Keywords: process optimization, RGB models, thermal models, UAV, workflow

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Authors: Hayam M. Ibrahim, Ferial M. Abu-Salem

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Medicinal plants are now gaining attractiveness in treatment of bacterial infections and food preservation. The objective of this study was to assess antibacterial activity of some medicinal plants on pathogenic bacteria. Screening of antibacterial activity of aqueous and methanol extracts of some plants: Jojoba, Ginger, Sage, Thyme and Clove against Bacillus cereus, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium perfringens and Escherichia coli were investigated. Antibacterial activity was performed by agar diffusion and disc diffusion method. Jatropha, Jojoba, Clove and Ginger extracts showed notable bacterial activity in the first screening step then selected to be tested against Bacillus cereus (Gram+), Staphylococcus aureus (Gram+) and Salmonella typhimurium (Gram−) and their effect was compared using antibiotics as control. Screening results showed potential antibacterial activity of the tested plant extracts against the screened bacterial strains. It was found that methanol extracts exhibited higher antibacterial activity than aqueous extracts. Methanol extract of Jatropha showed the highest inhibition zone against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram+) with 24.00 mm diameter, compared to the other plant extracts followed by clove. Meanwhile, the inhibition zones of methanol extracts of Jojoba and Ginger were the same (12mm).The Gram-positive bacteria were found to be more sensitive to aqueous and methanol extracts than Gram-negative bacteria.

Keywords: Antibacterial activity, Food-borne pathogenic bacteria, Medicinal plants, Plant extracts.

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Authors: Ryu Watanabe, Yutaka Miyake

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Reducing the risk of information leaks is one of the most important functions of identity management systems. To achieve this purpose, Dey et al. have already proposed an account management method for a federated login system using a blind signature scheme. In order to ensure account anonymity for the authentication provider, referred to as an IDP (identity provider), a blind signature scheme is utilized to generate an authentication token on an authentication service and the token is sent to an IDP. However, there is a problem with the proposed system. Malicious users can establish multiple accounts on an IDP by requesting such accounts. As a measure to solve this problem, in this paper, the authors propose an account checking method that is performed before account generation.

Keywords: identity management, blind signature, privacy protection

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Authors: Pavlo Selyshchev

Abstract:

A theoretical approach to radiation damage evolution is developed. Stable temporal behavior taking place in solids under irradiation are examined as phenomena of self-organization in nonequilibrium systems. Experimental effects of temporal self-organization in solids under irradiation are reviewed. Their essential common properties and features are highlighted and analyzed. Dynamical model to describe development of self-oscillation of density of point defects under stationary irradiation is proposed. The emphasis is the nonlinear couplings between rate of annealing and density of defects that determine the kind and parameters of an arising self-oscillation. The field of parameters (defect generation rate and environment temperature) at which self-oscillations develop is found. Bifurcation curve and self-oscillation period near it is obtained.

Keywords: Irradiation, Point Defects, Solids, Temporal Selforganization.

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Authors: J. Kosikova, B. Vacenovska, M. Vyhnankova

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The paper reports on the subject of recycling and further use of secondary raw materials obtained from solar panels, which is becoming a very up to date topic in recent years. Recycling these panels is very difficult and complex, and the use of resulting secondary raw materials is still not fully resolved. Within the research carried out at the Brno University of Technology, new polymer materials used for industrial floors are being developed. Secondary raw materials are incorporated into these polymers as fillers. One of the tested filler materials was glass obtained from solar panels. The following text describes procedures and results of the tests that were performed on these materials, confirming the possibility of the use of solar panel glass in industrial polymer flooring systems.

Keywords: Fillers, industrial floors, recycling, secondary raw material, solar panel.

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Authors: Irina E. Sukovataya, Oleg S. Sutormin, Valentina A. Kratasyuk

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Effect of viscosity of media on kinetic parameters of the coupled enzyme system NADH:FMN-oxidoreductase–luciferase was investigated with addition of organic solvents (glycerol and sucrose), because bioluminescent enzyme systems based on bacterial luciferases offer a unique and general tool for analysis of the many analytes and enzymes in the environment, research and clinical laboratories and other fields. The possibility of stabilization and increase of activity of the coupled enzyme system NADH:FMN-oxidoreductase–luciferase activity in vicious aqueous-organic mixtures have been shown.

Keywords: The coupled enzyme system of bioluminescence bacteria NAD(P)H:FMN-oxidoreductase–luciferase, glycerol, stabilization of enzymes, sucrose.

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Authors: Andrew Lock, Alastair Allen

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Fragile watermarking has been proposed as a means of adding additional security or functionality to biometric systems, particularly for authentication and tamper detection. In this paper we describe an experimental study on the effect of watermarking iris images with a particular class of fragile algorithm, reversible algorithms, and the ability to correctly perform iris recognition. We investigate two scenarios, matching watermarked images to unmodified images, and matching watermarked images to watermarked images. We show that different watermarking schemes give very different results for a given capacity, highlighting the importance ofinvestigation. At high embedding rates most algorithms cause significant reduction in recognition performance. However, in many cases, for low embedding rates, recognition accuracy is improved by the watermarking process.

Keywords: Biometrics, iris recognition, reversible watermarking.

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Authors: Ya-Hui Lee, Chien-Hung Hsieh, Ching-Yi Lu

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Demographic aging is the major problem that Taiwanese society is facing, and retirement life adaptation is the most concerning issue. In recent years, studies have suggested that in order to have successful aging and retirement planning, a view for the future is necessary. In Taiwan, civil servants receive better pensions and retirement benefits than do other industries. Therefore, their retirement preparation is considerably more significant than other senior groups in Taiwan. The purpose of this study is to understand the correlation of proactive coping and retirement planning of senior civil servants in Taiwan. The method is conducted by questionnaire surveys, with 342 valid questionnaires collected. The results of this study are: 1. The background variables of the interviewees, including age, perceived economic statuses, and retirement statuses, are all significantly related to their proactive coping and retirement planning. 2. Regarding age, the interviewees with ages 55 and above have better proactive coping and retirement planning than those with ages 45 and below. 3. In the aspect of perceived economic statuses, the participants who feel “very good” economic statuses have better proactive coping ability and retirement readiness than those who feel “bad” and “very bad”. 4. Retirees have better proactive coping and retirement planning than those who are still working. 5. Monthly income is significant in retirement planning only. The participants’ retirement planning would be better if they have higher incomes. Furthermore, the participants’ retirement planning would be better if their revenue were €1453~€1937, than if their revenue were below €968. 6. There are positive correlations between proactive coping and retirement planning. 7. Proactive coping can predict retirement planning. The result of this study will be provided as references to the Taiwan government for educational retirement planning policies.

Keywords: Civil servants, proactive coping, retirement planning.

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Authors: Stefano Degrassi, Marco Raciti Castelli, Ernesto Benini

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Since the European renewable energy directives set the target for 22.1% of electricity generation to be supplied by 2010 [1], there has been increased interest in using green technologies also within the urban enviroment. The most commonly considered installations are solar thermal and solar photovoltaics. Nevertheless, as observed by Bahaj et al. [2], small scale turbines can reduce the built enviroment related CO2 emissions. Thus, in the last few years, an increasing number of manufacturers have developed small wind turbines specifically designed for the built enviroment. The present work focuses on the integration into architectural systems of such installations and presents a survey of successful case studies.

Keywords: Wind turbines, architectural integration, wind resources, urban areas, built enviroment, renewable technologies.

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Authors: A. Kerfah, K. Taïbi, S. Omeiri, M. Trari.

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New lead-free ferroelectric relaxor ceramics were prepared by conventional solid-state synthesis in the BaTiO3-Bi2O3- Y2O3 systems. Some of these ceramics present a ferroelectric relaxor with transition temperature close to room temperature. These new materials are very interesting for applications and can replace leadbased ceramic to prevent the toxic pollutions during the preparation state. In the other hand, the energy band diagram shows the potentiality of these compounds for the solar energy conversion. Thus, some compositions have been tested successfully for H2 production upon visible light. The best activity occurs in alkaline media with a rate evolution of about 0.15 mL g-1 mn-1 and a quantum yield of 1% under polychromatic light.

Keywords: Ferroelectric, Hydrogen production, Lead-free, Photocatalysis.

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Authors: Theodosios Tsiakis, George Stephanides, George Pekos

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The growth of open networks created the interest to commercialise it. The establishment of an electronic business mechanism must be accompanied by a digital – electronic payment system to transfer the value of transactions. Financial organizations are requested to offer a secure e-payment synthesis with equivalent level of security served in conventional paper-based payment transactions. PKI, which is functioning as a chain of trust in security architecture, can enable security services of cryptography to epayments, in order to take advantage of the wider base either of customer or of trading partners and the reduction of cost transaction achieved by the use of Internet channels. The paper addresses the possibilities and the implementation suggestions of PKI in relevance to electronic payments by suggesting a framework that should be followed.

Keywords: Electronic Payment, Security, Trust

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Authors: Csilla M. Szabó

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In Hungary, the society has changed a lot for the past 25 years, and these changes could be detected in educational situations as well. The number and the intensity of conflicts have been increased in most fields of life, as well as at schools. Teachers have difficulties to be able to handle school conflicts. What is more, the new net generation, generation Z has values and behavioural patterns different from those of the previous one, which might generate more serious conflicts at school, especially with teachers who were mainly socialising in a traditional teacher – student relationship. In Hungary, the bill CCIV of 2011 declared the foundation of Institutes of Teacher Training in higher education institutes. One of the tasks of the Institutes is to survey the competences and needs of teachers working in public education and to provide further trainings and services for them according to their needs and requirements. This job is supported by the Social Renewal Operative Programs 4.1.2.B. The professors of a college carried out a questionnaire and surveyed the needs and the requirements of teachers working in the region. Based on the results, the professors of the Institute of Teacher Training decided to meet the requirements of teachers and to launch short teacher further training courses in spring 2015. One of the courses is going to focus on school conflict management through mediation. The aim of the pilot course is to provide conflict management techniques for teachers and to present different mediation techniques to them. The theoretical part of the course (5 hours) will enable participants to understand the main points and the advantages of mediation, while the practical part (10 hours) will involve teachers in role plays to learn how to cope with conflict situations applying mediation. We hope if conflicts could be reduced, it would influence school atmosphere in a positive way and the teaching – learning process could be more successful and effective.

Keywords: Conflict resolution, generation Z, mediation, teacher training.

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Authors: Haeng A. Seo, Changseok Oh, Seung Jun Yoo

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This study attempts to examine the disparities in S&T innovation capacity from 14 developing countries to discuss how to support specific features in national innovation systems. It includes East-Asian, Middle-Asian, Central American and African countries. Here, we particularly focus on five dimensions- resources, activities, network, environment and performance- with 37 indicators. They were derived as structuring components of the relevant diagnostic model, which encompasses the whole process of S&T innovation from the input of resources to the output of economically valuable results. For many developing nations, economic industries remain weaker than actual S&T capabilities, and relevant regulatory authorities may not exist. This paper will be helpful to provide basic evidence and to set directions for better national S&T Innovation capacities and toward national competitiveness.

Keywords: Developing countries, measurement, NIS, S&T innovation capacity.

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Authors: Eleonora Tudora, Adriana Alexandru

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The radio frequency identification (RFID) is a technology for automatic identification of items, particularly in supply chain, but it is becoming increasingly important for industrial applications. Unlike barcode technology that detects the optical signals reflected from barcode labels, RFID uses radio waves to transmit the information from an RFID tag affixed to the physical object. In contrast to today most often use of this technology in warehouse inventory and supply chain, the focus of this paper is an overview of the structure of RFID systems used by RFID technology and it also presents a solution based on the application of RFID for brand authentication, traceability and tracking, by implementing a production management system and extending its use to traders.

Keywords: RFID, RFID Tag, Electronic Product Code (EPC), EPC network, Object Naming Service (ONS), Authentication, Traceability.

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Authors: Ken Stevens

Abstract:

Networked schools have become a feature of education systems in countries that seek to provide learning opportunities in schools located beyond major centres of population. The internet and e-learning have facilitated the development of virtual educational structures that complement traditional schools, encouraging collaborative teaching and learning to proceed. In rural New Zealand and in the Atlantic Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, e-learning is able to provide new ways of organizing teaching, learning and the management of educational opportunities. However, the future of e-teaching and e-learning in networked schools depends on the development of professional education programs that prepare teachers for collaborative teaching and learning environments in which both virtual and traditional face to face instruction co-exist.

Keywords: Advanced Placement, Cybercells, Extranet, Intranet.

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