Search results for: Hierarchical Bayesian framework
1299 Designing the Concrete-Framework Building and Examining its Behavior under the Explosion Load
Authors: Mehran Pourgholi , Amin Lotfi Eghlim
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These Nowadays the explosion of bombs or explosive materials such as gas and oil near or inside the buildings cause some losses in installations and building components. This has made the engineers to make the buildings and their components resistance against the effects of explosion. These activities lead to provide regulations and different methods. The above regulations are mostly focused on the explosion effects resulting from the vehicles around the buildings. Therefore, the explosion resulting from the vehicles outside the buildings will be studied in this research. In the present study, the main goals are to investigate the explosion load effects on the structures located on the piles with the specific quantity of plasticity and observing the permissible response of these structures. The concentrated mass system and the spring with two degree of freedom will be used to study the structural system.Keywords: Concrete-Framework Building, Explosion Load, piles.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12511298 Surrogate based Evolutionary Algorithm for Design Optimization
Authors: Maumita Bhattacharya
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Optimization is often a critical issue for most system design problems. Evolutionary Algorithms are population-based, stochastic search techniques, widely used as efficient global optimizers. However, finding optimal solution to complex high dimensional, multimodal problems often require highly computationally expensive function evaluations and hence are practically prohibitive. The Dynamic Approximate Fitness based Hybrid EA (DAFHEA) model presented in our earlier work [14] reduced computation time by controlled use of meta-models to partially replace the actual function evaluation by approximate function evaluation. However, the underlying assumption in DAFHEA is that the training samples for the meta-model are generated from a single uniform model. Situations like model formation involving variable input dimensions and noisy data certainly can not be covered by this assumption. In this paper we present an enhanced version of DAFHEA that incorporates a multiple-model based learning approach for the SVM approximator. DAFHEA-II (the enhanced version of the DAFHEA framework) also overcomes the high computational expense involved with additional clustering requirements of the original DAFHEA framework. The proposed framework has been tested on several benchmark functions and the empirical results illustrate the advantages of the proposed technique.Keywords: Evolutionary algorithm, Fitness function, Optimization, Meta-model, Stochastic method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15761297 Reducing Cognitive Load in Learning Computer Programming
Authors: Muhammed Yousoof, Mohd Sapiyan, Khaja Kamaluddin
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Many difficulties are faced in the process of learning computer programming. This paper will propose a system framework intended to reduce cognitive load in learning programming. In first section focus is given on the process of learning and the shortcomings of the current approaches to learning programming. Finally the proposed prototype is suggested along with the justification of the prototype. In the proposed prototype the concept map is used as visualization metaphor. Concept maps are similar to the mental schema in long term memory and hence it can reduce cognitive load well. In addition other method such as part code method is also proposed in this framework to can reduce cognitive load.Keywords: Cognitive load, concept maps, working memory, split attention effect, partial code programs.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25931296 Gender Discrimination and Pay Gap on Tourism Labor Market
Authors: Alka Obadić
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The research concentrates on the role of tourism in generating female employment and on impact of gender discrimination in tourism sector. Unfortunately, in many countries there are still some barriers to the inclusion of women at all hierarchical levels of tourism labor market. Research analysis focuses on EU countries where tourism is a main employer of women. The analysis shows that women represent over third persons employed in the non-financial business economy and almost two thirds in core tourism activities. Women's gross hourly earnings in accommodation and food services were below those of men in the European Union and only countries who recorded increase of gender pay gap from the beginning of crisis are Bulgaria and Croatia. Women in tourism industry are still overrepresented in lower status jobs with fewer opportunities for career progression and are often treated unequally.
Keywords: Employment, gender discrimination, tourism, women’s participation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 34991295 A New OvS Approach in an Assembly Line Balancing Problem
Authors: P. Azimi, B. Behtoiy
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One of the most famous techniques which affect the efficiency of a production line is the assembly line balancing (ALB) technique. This paper examines the balancing effect of a whole production line of a real auto glass manufacturer in three steps. In the first step, processing time of each activity in the workstations is generated according to a practical approach. In the second step, the whole production process is simulated and the bottleneck stations have been identified, and finally in the third step, several improvement scenarios are generated to optimize the system throughput, and the best one is proposed. The main contribution of the current research is the proposed framework which combines two famous approaches including Assembly Line Balancing and Optimization via Simulation technique (OvS). The results show that the proposed framework could be applied in practical environments, easily.Keywords: Assembly line balancing problem, optimization via simulation, production planning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18051294 Visual Hull with Imprecise Input
Authors: Peng He
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Imprecision is a long-standing problem in CAD design and high accuracy image-based reconstruction applications. The visual hull which is the closed silhouette equivalent shape of the objects of interest is an important concept in image-based reconstruction. We extend the domain-theoretic framework, which is a robust and imprecision capturing geometric model, to analyze the imprecision in the output shape when the input vertices are given with imprecision. Under this framework, we show an efficient algorithm to generate the 2D partial visual hull which represents the exact information of the visual hull with only basic imprecision assumptions. We also show how the visual hull from polyhedra problem can be efficiently solved in the context of imprecise input.Keywords: Geometric Domain, Computer Vision, Computational Geometry, Visual Hull, Image-Based reconstruction, Imprecise Input, CAD object
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14771293 A Flexible and Scalable Agent Platform for Multi-Agent Systems
Authors: Ae Hee Park, So Hyun Park, Hee Yong Youn
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Multi-agent system is composed by several agents capable of reaching the goal cooperatively. The system needs an agent platform for efficient and stable interaction between intelligent agents. In this paper we propose a flexible and scalable agent platform by composing the containers with multiple hierarchical agent groups. It also allows efficient implementation of multiple domain presentations of the agents unlike JADE. The proposed platform provides both group management and individual management of agents for efficiency. The platform has been implemented and tested, and it can be used as a flexible foundation of the dynamic multi-agent system targeting seamless delivery of ubiquitous services.Keywords: Agent platform, container, multi-agent system, services, ubiquitous computing
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19661292 NSBS: Design of a Network Storage Backup System
Authors: Xinyan Zhang, Zhipeng Tan, Shan Fan
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The first layer of defense against data loss is the backup data. This paper implements an agent-based network backup system used the backup, server-storage and server-backup agent these tripartite construction, and the snapshot and hierarchical index are used in the NSBS. It realizes the control command and data flow separation, balances the system load, thereby improving efficiency of the system backup and recovery. The test results show the agent-based network backup system can effectively improve the task-based concurrency, reasonably allocate network bandwidth, the system backup performance loss costs smaller and improves data recovery efficiency by 20%.
Keywords: Agent, network backup system, three architecture model, NSBS.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22321291 Teaching Approach and Self-Confidence Effect Model Consistency between Taiwan and Singapore Multi-Group HLM
Authors: PeiWen Liao, Tsung Hau Jen
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This study was conducted to explore the effects of two countries model comparison program in Taiwan and Singapore in TIMSS database. The researchers used Multi-Group Hierarchical Linear Modeling techniques to compare the effects of two different country models and we tested our hypotheses on 4,046 Taiwan students and 4,599 Singapore students in 2007 at two levels: the class level and student (individual) level. Design quality is a class level variable. Student level variables are achievement and self-confidence. The results challenge the widely held view that retention has a positive impact on self-confidence. Suggestions for future research are discussed.
Keywords: Teaching approach, self-confidence, achievement, multi-group HLM.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18431290 Meta-reasoning for Multi-agent Communication of Semantic Web Information
Authors: Visit Hirankitti, Vuong Tran Xuan
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Meta-reasoning is essential for multi-agent communication. In this paper we propose a framework of multi-agent communication in which agents employ meta-reasoning to reason with agent and ontology locations in order to communicate semantic information with other agents on the semantic web and also reason with multiple distributed ontologies. We shall argue that multi-agent communication of Semantic Web information cannot be realized without the need to reason with agent and ontology locations. This is because for an agent to be able to communicate with another agent, it must know where and how to send a message to that agent. Similarly, for an agent to be able to reason with an external semantic web ontology, it must know where and how to access to that ontology. The agent framework and its communication mechanism are formulated entirely in meta-logic.
Keywords: Semantic Web, agent communication, ontologies.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16561289 A Study of the Influence of College Students’ Exercise and Leisure Motivations on the Leisure Benefits – Using Leisure Involvement as a Moderator
Authors: Chiung-En Huang, Cheng-Yu Tsai, Shane-Chung Lee
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This study aim at the influence of college students’ exercise and leisure motivations on the leisure benefits while using the leisure involvement as a moderator. Whereby, the research tools used in this study included the application of leisure motivation scale, leisure involvement scale and leisure benefits scale, and a hierarchical regression analysis was performed by using a questionnaire-based survey, in which, a total of 1,500 copies of questionnaires were administered and 917 valid questionnaires were obtained, achieving a response rate of 61.13%. Research findings explore that leisure involvement has a moderating effect on the relationship between the leisure motivation and leisure benefits.
Keywords: Leisure motivation, leisure involvement, leisure benefits, moderator.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28801288 A New Framework to Model a Secure E-Commerce System
Authors: A. Youseef, F. Liu
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The existing information system (IS) developments methods are not met the requirements to resolve the security related IS problems and they fail to provide a successful integration of security and systems engineering during all development process stages. Hence, the security should be considered during the whole software development process and identified with the requirements specification. This paper aims to propose an integrated security and IS engineering approach in all software development process stages by using i* language. This proposed framework categorizes into three separate parts: modelling business environment part, modelling information technology system part and modelling IS security part. The results show that considering security IS goals in the whole system development process can have a positive influence on system implementation and better meet business expectations.Keywords: Business Process Modelling (BPM), Information System Security, Software Development Process, Requirement Engineering.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20381287 A Framework for Investigating Reverse Logistics Capability of E-Tailers
Authors: Wen-Shan Lin, Shu-Lu Hsu
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Environmental concern and consumer rights have entailed e-tailers to adopt better strategies to facilitate product returns from customers. As the demand for reverse logistics (RL) continues to grow, little is known about what motivates e-tailers to enhance their RL capabilities and about the role RL capabilities plays in enabling e-tailers to achieve better customer satisfaction and economic performance. Based on resource-based theory and institutional theory, this article proposes that the following factors play a critical role in influencing the RL capability of e-tailers: (a) Financial resource commitment to RL, (b) managerial resource commitment to RL, and (c) institutional pressure to implement RL. Based on the role of these factors, the study provides a framework and propositions that serve to guide future research addressing the link among resources, institutional pressure, and RL capability.Keywords: Reverse logistics, e-tailing, resource-based theory, institutional theory.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12331286 A Logic Based Framework for Planning for Mobile Agents
Authors: Rajdeep Niyogi
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The objective of the paper is twofold. First, to develop a formal framework for planning for mobile agents. A logical language based on a temporal logic is proposed that can express a type of tasks which often arise in network management. Second, to design a planning algorithm for such tasks. The aim of this paper is to study the importance of finding plans for mobile agents. Although there has been a lot of research in mobile agents, not much work has been done to incorporate planning ideas for such agents. This paper makes an attempt in this direction. A theoretical study of finding plans for mobile agents is undertaken. A planning algorithm (based on the paradigm of mobile computing) is proposed and its space, time, and communication complexity is analyzed. The algorithm is illustrated by working out an example in detail.Keywords: Acting, computer network, mobile agent, mobile computing, planning, temporal logic.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14151285 An Ontology for Smart Learning Environments in Music Education
Authors: Konstantinos Sofianos, Michail Stefanidakis
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Nowadays, despite the great advances in technology, most educational frameworks lack a strong educational design basis. E-learning has become prevalent, but it faces various challenges such as student isolation and lack of quality in the learning process. An intelligent learning system provides a student with educational material according to their learning background and learning preferences. It records full information about the student, such as demographic information, learning styles, and academic performance. This information allows the system to be fully adapted to the student’s needs. In this paper, we propose a framework and an ontology for music education, consisting of the learner model and all elements of the learning process (learning objects, teaching methods, learning activities, assessment). This framework can be integrated into an intelligent learning system and used for music education in schools for the development of professional skills and beyond.
Keywords: Intelligent learning systems, e-learning, music education, ontology, semantic web.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4651284 An HCI Template for Distributed Applications
Authors: Xizhi Li
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Both software applications and their development environment are becoming more and more distributed. This trend impacts not only the way software computes, but also how it looks. This article proposes a Human Computer Interface (HCI) template from three representative applications we have developed. These applications include a Multi-Agent System based software, a 3D Internet computer game with distributed game world logic, and a programming language environment used in constructing distributed neural network and its visualizations. HCI concepts that are common to these applications are described in abstract terms in the template. These include off-line presentation of global entities, entities inside a hierarchical namespace, communication and languages, reconfiguration of entity references in a graph, impersonation and access right, etc. We believe the metaphor that underlies an HCI concept as well as the relationships between a bunch of HCI concepts are crucial to the design of software systems and vice versa.
Keywords: HCI, MAS, computer game, programming language
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15331283 eLearning Tools Evaluation based on Quality Concept Distance Computing. A Case Study
Authors: Mihai Caramihai, Irina Severin
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Despite the extensive use of eLearning systems, there is no consensus on a standard framework for evaluating this kind of quality system. Hence, there is only a minimum set of tools that can supervise this judgment and gives information about the course content value. This paper presents two kinds of quality set evaluation indicators for eLearning courses based on the computational process of three known metrics, the Euclidian, Hamming and Levenshtein distances. The “distance" calculus is applied to standard evaluation templates (i.e. the European Commission Programme procedures vs. the AFNOR Z 76-001 Standard), determining a reference point in the evaluation of the e-learning course quality vs. the optimal concept(s). The case study, based on the results of project(s) developed in the framework of the European Programme “Leonardo da Vinci", with Romanian contractors, try to put into evidence the benefits of such a method.Keywords: eLearning, European programme, metrics, quality evaluation
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15191282 RAPD Analysis of the Genetic Polymorphism in the Collection of Rye Cultivars
Authors: L. Petrovičová, Ž. Balážová, Z. Gálová, M. Wójcik-Jagła, M. Rapacz
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In the present study, RAPD-PCR was used to assess genetic diversity of the rye including landrances and new rye cultivars coming from Central Europe and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (SUN). Five arbitrary random primers were used to determine RAPD polymorphism in the set of 38 rye genotypes. These primers amplified altogether 43 different DNA fragments with an average number of 8.6 fragments per genotypes. The number of fragments ranged from 7 (RLZ 8, RLZ 9 and RLZ 10) to 12 (RLZ 6). DI and PIC values of all RAPD markers were higher than 0.8 that generally means high level of polymorphism detected between rye genotypes. The dendrogram based on hierarchical cluster analysis using UPGMA algorithm was prepared. The cultivars were grouped into two main clusters. In this experiment, RAPD proved to be a rapid, reliable and practicable method for revealing of polymorphism in the rye cultivars.
Keywords: Genetic diversity, polymorphism, RAPD markers, Secalecereale L.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26511281 Fitness Action Recognition Based on MediaPipe
Authors: Zixuan Xu, Yichun Lou, Yang Song, Zihuai Lin
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MediaPipe is an open-source machine learning computer vision framework that can be ported into a multi-platform environment, which makes it easier to use it to recognize human activity. Based on this framework, many human recognition systems have been created, but the fundamental issue is the recognition of human behavior and posture. In this paper, two methods are proposed to recognize human gestures based on MediaPipe, the first one uses the Adaptive Boosting algorithm to recognize a series of fitness gestures, and the second one uses the Fast Dynamic Time Warping algorithm to recognize 413 continuous fitness actions. These two methods are also applicable to any human posture movement recognition.
Keywords: Computer Vision, MediaPipe, Adaptive Boosting, Fast Dynamic Time Warping.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8541280 A Neutral Set Approach for Applying TOPSIS in Maintenance Strategy Selection
Authors: C. Ardil
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This paper introduces the concept of neutral sets (NSs) and explores various operations on NSs, along with their associated properties. The foundation of the Neutral Set framework lies in ontological neutrality and the principles of logic, including the Law of Non-Contradiction. By encompassing components for possibility, indeterminacy, and necessity, the NS framework provides a flexible representation of truth, uncertainty, and necessity, accommodating diverse ontological perspectives without presupposing specific existential commitments. The inclusion of Possibility acknowledges the spectrum of potential states or propositions, promoting neutrality by accommodating various viewpoints. Indeterminacy reflects the inherent uncertainty in understanding reality, refraining from making definitive ontological commitments in uncertain situations. Necessity captures propositions that must hold true under all circumstances, aligning with the principle of logical consistency and implicitly supporting the Law of Non-Contradiction. Subsequently, a neutral set-TOPSIS approach is applied in the maintenance strategy selection problem, demonstrating the practical applicability of the NS framework. The paper further explores uncertainty relations and presents the fundamental preliminaries of NS theory, emphasizing its role in fostering ontological neutrality and logical coherence in reasoning.
Keywords: Uncertainty sets, neutral sets, maintenance strategy selection multiple criteria decision-making analysis, MCDM, uncertainty decision analysis, distance function, multiple attribute, decision making, selection method, uncertainty, TOPSIS
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1171279 Discovering the Dimension of Abstractness: Structure-Based Model that Learns New Categories and Categorizes on Different Levels of Abstraction
Authors: Georgi I. Petkov, Ivan I. Vankov, Yolina A. Petrova
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A structure-based model of category learning and categorization at different levels of abstraction is presented. The model compares different structures and expresses their similarity implicitly in the forms of mappings. Based on this similarity, the model can categorize different targets either as members of categories that it already has or creates new categories. The model is novel using two threshold parameters to evaluate the structural correspondence. If the similarity between two structures exceeds the higher threshold, a new sub-ordinate category is created. Vice versa, if the similarity does not exceed the higher threshold but does the lower one, the model creates a new category on higher level of abstraction.
Keywords: Analogy-making, categorization, learning of categories, abstraction, hierarchical structure.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7801278 Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance in Offshore Development Enterprises in Sri Lanka
Authors: Malinda G. Sirisena
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The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of software quality assurance approaches of Sri Lankan offshore software development organizations, and to propose a framework which could be used across all offshore software development organizations.
An empirical study was conducted using derived framework from popular software quality evaluation models. The research instrument employed was a questionnaire survey among thirty seven Sri Lankan registered offshore software development organizations.
The findings demonstrate a positive view of Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance – the stronger predictors of Stability, Installability, Correctness, Testability and Changeability. The present study’s recommendations indicate a need for much emphasis on software quality assurance for the Sri Lankan offshore software development organizations.
Keywords: Software Quality Assurance (SQA), Offshore Software Development, Quality Assurance Evaluation Models, Effectiveness of Quality Assurance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21181277 Hybrid Temporal Correlation Based on Gaussian Mixture Model Framework for View Synthesis
Authors: Deng Zengming, Wang Mingjiang
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As 3D video is explored as a hot research topic in the last few decades, free-viewpoint TV (FTV) is no doubt a promising field for its better visual experience and incomparable interactivity. View synthesis is obviously a crucial technology for FTV; it enables to render images in unlimited numbers of virtual viewpoints with the information from limited numbers of reference view. In this paper, a novel hybrid synthesis framework is proposed and blending priority is explored. In contrast to the commonly used View Synthesis Reference Software (VSRS), the presented synthesis process is driven in consideration of the temporal correlation of image sequences. The temporal correlations will be exploited to produce fine synthesis results even near the foreground boundaries. As for the blending priority, this scheme proposed that one of the two reference views is selected to be the main reference view based on the distance between the reference views and virtual view, another view is chosen as the auxiliary viewpoint, just assist to fill the hole pixel with the help of background information. Significant improvement of the proposed approach over the state-of –the-art pixel-based virtual view synthesis method is presented, the results of the experiments show that subjective gains can be observed, and objective PSNR average gains range from 0.5 to 1.3 dB, while SSIM average gains range from 0.01 to 0.05.
Keywords: View synthesis, Gaussian mixture model, hybrid framework, fusion method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9931276 An Integrated Framework for Engaging Stakeholders in the Circular Economy Processes Using Building Information Modeling and Virtual Reality
Authors: Erisasadat Sahebzamani, Núria Forcada, Francisco Lendinez
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Global climate change has become increasingly problematic over the past few decades. The construction industry has contributed to greenhouse gas emissions in recent decades. Considering these issues and the high demand for materials in the construction industry, Circular Economy (CE) is considered necessary to keep materials in the loop and extend their useful lives. By providing tangible benefits, Construction 4.0 facilitates the adoption of CE by reducing waste, updating standard work, sharing knowledge, and increasing transparency and stability. This study aims to present a framework for integrating CE and digital tools like Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Virtual Reality (VR) to examine the impact on the construction industry based on stakeholders' perspectives.
Keywords: Circular Economy, Building Information Modeling, Virtual Reality, stakeholder engagement.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2671275 Intelligent Multi-Agent Middleware for Ubiquitous Home Networking Environments
Authors: Minwoo Son, Seung-Hun Lee, Dongkyoo Shin, Dongil Shin
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The next stage of the home networking environment is supposed to be ubiquitous, where each piece of material is equipped with an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag. To fully support the ubiquitous environment, home networking middleware should be able to recommend home services based on a user-s interests and efficiently manage information on service usage profiles for the users. Therefore, USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network) technology, which recognizes and manages a appliance-s state-information (location, capabilities, and so on) by connecting RFID tags is considered. The Intelligent Multi-Agent Middleware (IMAM) architecture was proposed to intelligently manage the mobile RFID-based home networking and to automatically supply information about home services that match a user-s interests. Evaluation results for personalization services for IMAM using Bayesian-Net and Decision Trees are presented.Keywords: Intelligent Agents, Home Network, Mobile RFID, Intelligent Middleware.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14431274 Analytical Study on Threats to Wetland Ecosystems and their Solutions in the Framework of the Ramsar Convention
Authors: Ehsan Daryadel, Farhad Talaei
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Wetlands are one of the most important ecosystems on Earth. Nevertheless, various challenges threaten these ecosystems and disrupt their ecological character. Among these, the effects of human-based threats are more devastating. Following mass degradation of wetlands during 1970s, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) was concluded to conserve wetlands of international importance and prevent destruction and degradation of such ecosystems through wise use of wetlands as a mean to achieve sustainable development in all over the world. Therefore, in this paper, efforts have been made to analyze threats to wetlands and then investigate solutions in the framework of the Ramsar Convention. Finally, in order to operate these mechanisms, this study concludes that all states should in turn make their best effort to improve and restore global wetlands through preservation of environmental standards and close contribution and also through taking joint measures with other states effectively.
Keywords: Ramsar Convention, Threats, Wetland Ecosystems, Wise Use.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 46741273 A New Measurable Definition of Knowledge in New Growth Theory
Authors: Mohammad Ali Molaei
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New Growth Theory helps us make sense of the ongoing shift from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. It underscores the point that the economic processes which create and diffuse new knowledge are critical to shaping the growth of nations, communities and individual firms. In all too many contributions to New (Endogenous) Growth Theory – though not in all – central reference is made to 'a stock of knowledge', a 'stock of ideas', etc., this variable featuring centre-stage in the analysis. Yet it is immediately apparent that this is far from being a crystal clear concept. The difficulty and uncertainty of being able to capture the value associated with knowledge is a real problem. The intent of this paper is introducing new thinking and theorizing about the knowledge and its measurability in new growth theory. Moreover the study aims to synthesize various strain of the literature with a practical bearing on knowledge concept. By contribution of institution framework which is found within NGT, we can indirectly measure the knowledge concept. Institutions matter because they shape the environment for production and employment of new knowledgeKeywords: Institution Framework, Knowledge, New GrowthTheory (NGT)
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15441272 Application of a Theoretical Framework as a Context for a Travel Behavior Change Policy Intervention
Authors: F. Moghtaderi, M. Burke, J. Troelsen
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There has been a significant decline in active travel and a massive increase in the use of car dependent travel in many countries during the past two decades. Evidential risks for people’s physical and mental health problems are correlated with this increased use of motorized travel. These health related problems range from overweight and obesity to increased air pollution. In response to these rising concerns health professionals, traffic planers, local authorities and others have introduced a variety of initiatives to counterbalance the dominance of cars for daily journeys. However, the nature of travel behavior change interventions, which aim to reduce car use, are very complex and challenging regarding their interactions with human behavior. To change travel behavior at least two aspects have to be taken into consideration. First, how to alter attitudes and perceptions toward the sustainable and healthy modes of travel, in competition with experiences of private car use. And second, how to make these behavior change processes irreversible and sustainable. There are no comprehensive models available to guide policy interventions to increase the level of success of travel behavior change interventions across both these dimensions. A comprehensive theoretical framework is required in the effort to optimize how to facilitate and guide the processes of data collection and analysis to achieve the best possible guidelines for policy makers. Regarding the gaps in the travel behavior change research literature, this paper attempted to identify and suggest a multidimensional framework in order to facilitate planning the implemented travel behavior change interventions. A structured mixed-method model is suggested to improve the analytic power of the results according to the complexity of human behavior. In order to recognize people’s attitudes towards a specific travel mode, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was operationalized. But in order to capture decision making processes the Transtheoretical model of Behavior Change (TTM) was also used. Consequently, the combination of these two theories (TTM and TPB) has resulted in a synthesis with appropriate concepts to identify and design an implemented travel behavior change interventions.
Keywords: Behavior change theories, Theoretical framework, Travel behavior change interventions.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28681271 Increasing Performance of Autopilot Guided Small Unmanned Helicopter
Authors: Tugrul Oktay, Mehmet Konar, Mustafa Soylak, Firat Sal, Murat Onay, Orhan Kizilkaya
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In this paper, autonomous performance of a small manufactured unmanned helicopter is tried to be increased. For this purpose, a small unmanned helicopter is manufactured in Erciyes University, Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics. It is called as ZANKA-Heli-I. For performance maximization, autopilot parameters are determined via minimizing a cost function consisting of flight performance parameters such as settling time, rise time, overshoot during trajectory tracking. For this purpose, a stochastic optimization method named as simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation is benefited. Using this approach, considerable autonomous performance increase (around %23) is obtained.Keywords: Small helicopters, hierarchical control, stochastic optimization, autonomous performance maximization, autopilots.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16361270 Energy Efficient Data Aggregation in Sensor Networks with Optimized Cluster Head Selection
Authors: D. Naga Ravi Kiran, C. G. Dethe
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Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) routing is complex due to its dynamic nature, computational overhead, limited battery life, non-conventional addressing scheme, self-organization, and sensor nodes limited transmission range. An energy efficient routing protocol is a major concern in WSN. LEACH is a hierarchical WSN routing protocol to increase network life. It performs self-organizing and re-clustering functions for each round. This study proposes a better sensor networks cluster head selection for efficient data aggregation. The algorithm is based on Tabu search.Keywords: Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), LEACH, Clustering, Tabu Search.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2027