Search results for: Capital cost

Authors: Christiono Utomo, Arazi Idrus, Isnanto, Annisa Nugraheni, Farida Rahmawati

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A Negotiation Support is required on a value-based decision to enable each stakeholder to evaluate and rank the solution alternatives before engaging into negotiation with the other stakeholders. This study demonstrates a process of negotiation support model for selection of a building system from value-based design perspective. The perspective is based on comparison of function and cost of a building system. Multi criteria decision techniques were applied to determine the relative value of the alternative solutions for performing the function. A satisfying option game theory are applied to the criteria of value-based decision which are LCC (life cycle cost) and function based FAST. The results demonstrate a negotiation process to select priorities of a building system. The support model can be extended to an automated negotiation by combining value based decision method, group decision and negotiation support.

Keywords: NSS, Value-based, Decision, Construction.

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Authors: Saravana Kannan Thangavelu

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Fuel and oxidant gas delivery plate, or fuel cell plate, is a key component of a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell. To manufacture low-cost and high performance fuel cell plates, advanced computer modeling and finite element structure analysis are used as virtual prototyping tools for the optimization of the plates at the early design stage. The present study examines thermal stress analysis of the fuel cell plates that are produced using a patented, low-cost fuel cell plate production technique based on screen-printing. Design optimization is applied to minimize the maximum stress within the plate, subject to strain constraint with both geometry and material parameters as design variables. The study reveals the characteristics of the printed plates, and provides guidelines for the structure and material design of the fuel cell plate.

Keywords: Design optimization, FEA, PEM fuel cell, Thermal stress

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Authors: O. Adjoul, A. Feugier, K. Benfriha, A. Aoussat

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In general, issues related to design and maintenance are considered in an independent manner. However, the decisions made in these two sets influence each other. The design for maintenance is considered an opportunity to optimize the life cycle cost of a product, particularly in the nuclear or aeronautical field, where maintenance expenses represent more than 60% of life cycle costs. The design of large-scale systems starts with product architecture, a choice of components in terms of cost, reliability, weight and other attributes, corresponding to the specifications. On the other hand, the design must take into account maintenance by improving, in particular, real-time monitoring of equipment through the integration of new technologies such as connected sensors and intelligent actuators. We noticed that different approaches used in the Design For Maintenance (DFM) methods are limited to the simultaneous characterization of the reliability and maintainability of a multi-component system. This article proposes a method of DFM that assists designers to propose dynamic maintenance for multi-component industrial systems. The term "dynamic" refers to the ability to integrate available monitoring data to adapt the maintenance decision in real time. The goal is to maximize the availability of the system at a given life cycle cost. This paper presents an approach for simultaneous optimization of the design and maintenance of multi-component systems. Here the design is characterized by four decision variables for each component (reliability level, maintainability level, redundancy level, and level of monitoring data). The maintenance is characterized by two decision variables (the dates of the maintenance stops and the maintenance operations to be performed on the system during these stops). The DFM model helps the designers choose technical solutions for the large-scale industrial products. Large-scale refers to the complex multi-component industrial systems and long life-cycle, such as trains, aircraft, etc. The method is based on a two-level hybrid algorithm for simultaneous optimization of design and maintenance, using genetic algorithms. The first level is to select a design solution for a given system that considers the life cycle cost and the reliability. The second level consists of determining a dynamic and optimal maintenance plan to be deployed for a design solution. This level is based on the Maintenance Free Operating Period (MFOP) concept, which takes into account the decision criteria such as, total reliability, maintenance cost and maintenance time. Depending on the life cycle duration, the desired availability, and the desired business model (sales or rental), this tool provides visibility of overall costs and optimal product architecture.

Keywords: Availability, design for maintenance, DFM, dynamic maintenance, life cycle cost, LCC, maintenance free operating period, MFOP, simultaneous optimization.

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Authors: Roya Morad, W. Eirik Heintz

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The identity of a neighborhood is inevitably shaped by the architecture and the people of that place. Conventionally the streets within each neighborhood served as a semi-public-private extension of the private living spaces. The street as a design element formed a hybrid condition that was neither totally public nor private, and it encouraged social interactions. Thus through creating a sense of community, one of the most basic human needs of belonging was achieved. Similar to major global cities, Tehran has undergone serious urbanization. Developing into a capital city of high rises has resulted in an increase in urban density. Although allocating more residential units in each neighborhood was a critical response to the population boom and the limited land area of the city, it also created a crisis in terms of social communication and place attachment. District 10 in Tehran is a neighborhood that has undergone the most urban transformation among the other 22 districts in the capital and currently has the highest population density. This paper will explore how the active streets in district 10 have changed into their current condition of high rises with a lack of meaningful social interactions amongst its inhabitants. A residential building can be thought of as a large group of people. One would think that as the number of people increases, the opportunities for social communications would increase as well. However, according to the survey, there is an indirect relationship between the two. As the number of people of a residential building increases, the quality of each acquaintance reduces, and the depth of relationships between people tends to decrease. This comes from the anonymity of being part of a crowd and the lack of social spaces characterized by most high-rise apartment buildings. Without a sense of community, the attachment to a neighborhood is decreased. This paper further explores how the neighborhood participates to fulfill ones need for social interaction and focuses on the qualitative aspects of alternative spaces that can redevelop the sense of place attachment within the community.

Keywords: High density, place attachment, social communication, street life, urban transformation.

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Authors: D. De-León-Escobedo, D. J. Delgado-Hernández, S. Pérez

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A probabilistic formulation to assess the slopes safety under the hazard of strong storms is presented and illustrated through a slope in Mexico. The formulation is based on the classical safety factor (SF) used in practice to appraise the slope stability, but it is introduced the treatment of uncertainties, and the slope failure probability is calculated as the probability that SF<1. As the main hazard is the rainfall on the area, statistics of rainfall intensity and duration are considered and modeled with an exponential distribution. The expected life-cycle cost is assessed by considering a monetary value on the slope failure consequences. Alternative mitigation measures are simulated, and the formulation is used to get the measures driving to the optimal one (minimum life-cycle costs). For the example, the optimal mitigation measure is the reduction on the slope inclination angle.

Keywords: Expected life-cycle cost, failure probability, slopes failure, storms.

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Authors: Yoshifumi Ishizaki, Naoki Kanatani, Masaki Ito, Toshihiko Sasama, Takao Kawamura, Kazunori Sugahara

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This paper demonstrates the bus location system for the route bus through the experiment in the real environment. A bus location system is a system that provides information such as the bus delay and positions. This system uses actual services and positions data of buses, and those information should match data on the database. The system has two possible problems. One, the system could cost high in preparing devices to get bus positions. Two, it could be difficult to match services data of buses. To avoid these problems, we have developed this system at low cost and short time by using the smart phone with GPS and the bus route system. This system realizes the path planning considering bus delay and displaying position of buses on the map. The bus location system was demonstrated on route buses with smart phones for two months.

Keywords: Route Bus, Path Planning System, GPS, Smart Phone.

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Authors: Juhan Kim, Howon Kim

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EPC Class-1 Generation-2 UHF tags, one of Radio frequency identification or RFID tag types, is expected that most companies are planning to use it in the supply chain in the short term and in consumer packaging in the long term due to its inexpensive cost. Because of the very cost, however, its resources are extremely scarce and it is hard to have any valuable security algorithms in it. It causes security vulnerabilities, in particular cloning the tags for counterfeits. In this paper, we propose a product authentication solution for anti-counterfeiting at application level in the supply chain and mobile RFID environment. It aims to become aware of distribution of spurious products with fake RFID tags and to provide a product authentication service to general consumers with mobile RFID devices like mobile phone or PDA which has a mobile RFID reader. We will discuss anti-counterfeiting mechanisms which are required to our proposed solution and address requirements that the mechanisms should have.

Keywords: EPC, RFID, Anti-Counterfeiting, Mobile RFIDenvironment.

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Authors: S. Anastasiou, C. Nathanailides, P. Logothetis, G. Kanlis

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The purpose of the present work is to review some data for the management challenges that the aquaculture industry in Greece is currently facing. The results indicate that Greek aquaculture fish farms apply Human Resources Management (HRM) practices which can increase motivation, commitment and job satisfaction of their personnel. In turn, these practices can increase the productivity of the business. The Greek fish farms appear to invest in research and technological innovation with a good record in research activities and the generation of patents. Interestingly, the results of the present work were carried out during the period of the recent economic crisis in Greece. Several sectors of the Greek economy were severely affected by the financial problems of the Greek government and the Greek banks. Under the adverse economical conditions created by the Greek economic crisis, even the Greek aquaculture industry, which historically is considered as a thriving national exporting business sector, experienced harsh economic and market conditions. As a result of the global, European and national economic crisis, consumption of fish dropped while companies had to hold most of their stocked fish in order to regulated the flow to the market and the price. This occurred at a time where Banks in Greece had their own financial crisis – banking crisis - which resulted in limited access to lending for the all business sectors of the national economy including the Greek aquaculture industry. In spite of these economic conditions, the Greek aquaculture industry, after a series of mergers and acquisitions, has now stabilized production and exhibits very good prospects for future growth. Evidently, the firms had to cut salaries and on some occasions even pay their staff in arrears. Nevertheless, the results presented in this paper indicate that during the economic crisis, the surveyed fish farms maintained their HRM practices, investing in their human capital and technological input. In fact, human capital and technological input are the ticket for future success of companies in any business sector.

Keywords: Aquaculture, Human Resources Management.

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Authors: David Calderón Villegas, Thomas Kalitzky

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Run-of-river (RoR) hydropower projects represent a viable, clean, and cost-effective alternative to dam-based plants and provide decentralized power production. However, RoR schemes’ cost-effectiveness depends on the proper selection of site and design flow, which is a challenging task because it requires multivariate analysis. In this respect, this study presents the development of an investment decision support tool for assessing the optimal size of an RoR scheme considering the technical, environmental, and cost constraints. The net present value (NPV) from a project perspective is used as an objective function for supporting the investment decision. The tool has been tested by applying it to an actual RoR project recently proposed in Colombia. The obtained results show that the optimum point in financial terms does not match the flow that maximizes energy generation from exploiting the river's available flow. For the case study, the flow that maximizes energy corresponds to a value of 5.1 m3/s. In comparison, an amount of 2.1 m3/s maximizes the investors NPV. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed to determine the NPV as a function of the debt rate changes and the electricity prices and the CapEx. Even for the worst-case scenario, the optimal size represents a positive business case with an NPV of 2.2 USD million and an internal rate of return (IRR) 1.5 times higher than the discount rate. 

Keywords: small hydropower, renewable energy, RoR schemes, optimal sizing, financial analysis

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Authors: Nuran Bahar, Mehmet A. Akcayol

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In the aviation industry, many faults may occur frequently during the maintenance processes and assembly operations of complex structured aircrafts because of their high dependencies of components. These faults affect the quality of aircraft parts or developed modules adversely. Technical employee requires long time and high labor force while checking the correctness of each component. In addition, the person must be trained regularly because of the ever-growing and changing technology. Generally, the cost of this training is very high. Augmented Reality (AR) technology reduces the cost of training radically and improves the effectiveness of the training. In this study, the usage of AR technology in the aviation industry has been investigated and the effectiveness of AR with heads-up display glasses has been examined. An application has been developed for comparison of production process with AR and manual one.

Keywords: Aerospace, assembly quality, augmented reality, heads-up display.

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Authors: Ming-Tang Tsai, Chih-Wei Yen

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In this paper, an Interactive Compromise Approach with Particle Swarm Optimization(ICA-PSO) is presented to solve the Economic Emission Dispatch(EED) problem. The cost function and emission function are modeled as the nonsmooth functions, respectively. The bi-objective including both the minimization of cost and emission is formulated in this paper. ICA-PSO is proposed to solve EED problem for finding a better compromise solution. The solution methodology can offer a global or near-global solution for decision-making requirements. The effectiveness and efficiency of ICA-PSO are demonstrated by a sample test system. Test results can be shown that the proposed method provide a practical and flexible framework for power dispatch.

Keywords: Interactive Compromise Approach, Emission Control, Economic Dispatch, Particle Swarm Optimization.

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Authors: Hiroki Satou, Kayoko Yamamoto

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This study aims to propose three evaluation methods to evaluate the Tokyo Cap and Trade Program when emissions trading is performed virtually among enterprises, focusing on carbon dioxide (CO2), which is the only emitted greenhouse gas that tends to increase. The first method clarifies the optimum reduction rate for the highest cost benefit, the second discusses emissions trading among enterprises through market trading, and the third verifies long-term emissions trading during the term of the plan (2010-2019), checking the validity of emissions trading partly using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The findings of this study can be summarized in the following three points. 1. Since the total cost benefit is the greatest at a 44% reduction rate, it is possible to set it more highly than that of the Tokyo Cap and Trade Program to get more total cost benefit. 2. At a 44% reduction rate, among 320 enterprises, 8 purchasing enterprises and 245 sales enterprises gain profits from emissions trading, and 67 enterprises perform voluntary reduction without conducting emissions trading. Therefore, to further promote emissions trading, it is necessary to increase the sales volumes of emissions trading in addition to sales enterprises by increasing the number of purchasing enterprises. 3. Compared to short-term emissions trading, there are few enterprises which benefit in each year through the long-term emissions trading of the Tokyo Cap and Trade Program. Only 81 enterprises at the most can gain profits from emissions trading in FY 2019. Therefore, by setting the reduction rate more highly, it is necessary to increase the number of enterprises that participate in emissions trading and benefit from the restraint of CO2 emissions.

Keywords: Emissions Trading, Tokyo Cap and Trade Program, Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Global Warming, Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

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Authors: Nergiz Fırıncı, Aysun Çelik, Ertan Akün, Md. Atif Khan

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A pilot project was carried out in 2007 by the senior students of Cyprus International University, aiming to minimize the total cost of waste collection in Northern Cyprus. Many developed and developing countries have cut their transportation costs – which lies between 30-40% – down at a rate of 40% percent, by implementing network models for their route assignments. Accordingly, a network model was implemented at Göçmenköy district, to optimize and standardize waste collection works. The work environment of the employees were also redesigned to provide maximum ergonomy and to increase productivity, efficiency and safety. Following the collection of the required data including waste densities, lengths of roads and population, a model was constructed to allocate the optimal route assignment for the waste collection trucks at Göçmenköy district.

Keywords: Minimization, waste collection, operations cost, transportation, ergonomy, productivity.

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Authors: Somkiat Tangjitsitcharoen, Suthas Ratanakuakangwan, Matchulika Khonmeak, Nattadate Fuangworawong

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This research aims to analyze the regenerative burner and the recuperative burner for the different reheating furnaces in the steel industry. The warm air temperatures of the burners are determined to suit with the sizes of the reheating furnaces by considering the air temperature, the fuel cost and the investment cost. The calculations of the payback period and the net present value are studied to compare the burners for the different reheating furnaces. The energy balance is utilized to calculate and compare the energy used in the different sizes of reheating furnaces for each burner. It is found that the warm air temperature is different if the sizes of reheating furnaces are varied. Based on the considerations of the net present value and the payback period, the regenerative burner is suitable for all plants at the same life of the burner. Finally, the sensitivity analysis of all factors has been discussed in this research.

Keywords: Energy Balance, Recuperative Burner, Regenerative Burner, Reheating Furnace.

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Authors: Liu Gang, Gu Nai-jie, Bi Kun, Tu Kun, Dong Wan-li

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All-to-all personalized communication, also known as complete exchange, is one of the most dense communication patterns in parallel computing. In this paper, we propose new indirect algorithms for complete exchange on all-port ring and torus. The new algorithms fully utilize all communication links and transmit messages along shortest paths to completely achieve the theoretical lower bounds on message transmission, which have not be achieved among other existing indirect algorithms. For 2D r × c ( r % c ) all-port torus, the algorithm has time complexities of optimal transmission cost and O(c) message startup cost. In addition, the proposed algorithms accommodate non-power-of-two tori where the number of nodes in each dimension needs not be power-of-two or square. Finally, the algorithms are conceptually simple and symmetrical for every message and every node so that they can be easily implemented and achieve the optimum in practice.

Keywords: Complete exchange, collective communication, all-to-all personalized communication, parallel computing, wormhole routing, torus.

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Authors: Shu-Lu Hsu, Jeffrey C. F. Tai, Yi-Han Wang

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The purpose of this study is to understand how consumers react to a company's promotional offers with mobile applications (APP) as premiums. This paper presents the results of an experimental study where five features of APP were involved: the cost (free/discounted) for earning APP, the relationship between APP and the promoted product, the perceived usefulness, the perceived ease of use, and the perceived playfulness of APP in the context of light foods purchase. The results support that the above features, except perceived ease of use, have substantial influences on consumers' intention to adopt the APP. Among the five features, the cost for earning APP has the most impact on the adopting intention of APP. The study also found a positive influence of adopting intention of APP on the consumer's purchase intention of the promoted product. Thus, APP-based premiums may enhance the consumer's purchase intention of a company's promoted products.

Keywords: Mobile Application, Premium, Sales Promotion, TAM.

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Authors: B. Lonla Moffo, J. Mbihi, L. Nneme Nneme

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In this paper, a low cost duty-cycle modulation scheme is studied in depth and compared to the standard pulse width modulation technique. Using a mix of analytical reasoning and electronics simulation tools, it is shown that under the same operating conditions, most characteristics of the proposed duty-cycle modulation scheme are better than those provided by a standard pulse width modulation technique. The simulation results obtained when testing both modulation control policies on prototyping systems, indicate that the proposed duty-cycle modulation approach, appears to be a high quality control policy in a wide variety of application areas, including A/D and D/A conversion, signal transmission and switching control in power electronics.

Keywords: Duty-cycle Modulation, Operational amplifiers, Pulse width modulation, Power electronics, Signal processing.

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Authors: Govindaraj Ramanathan

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The time delay and the structural stability are major issues in big size projects due to several factors. Improper planning and poor coordination lead to delay in construction, which sometimes result in reworking or rebuilding. This definitely increases the cost and time of project. This situation stresses the structural engineers to plan out of the limits of contemporary technology utilizing non-chronological approach with creative ideas. One of the strategies to solve this issue is through structural integrity solutions in a cost-effective way. We have faced several problems in a project worth 470 million USD, and one such issue is crane girder installation with composite steel beams. We have applied structural integrity approach with the proper and revised planning schedule to solve the problem efficiently with minimal expenses.

Keywords: Construction management, delay, non-chronological approach, composite beam, structural integrity.

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Authors: Jagdeep Singh, Prem Singh

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Milk is considered as an essential and complete food. The present study was conducted at Milk Plant Mohali especially in reference to the procurement section where the cash inflow was maximum, with the objective to achieve higher productivity and reduce wastage of milk. In milk plant it was observed that during the month of Jan-2014 to March-2014 the average procurement of milk was Rs. 4, 19, 361 liter per month and cost of procurement of milk is Rs 35/- per liter. The total cost of procurement thereby equal to Rs. 1crore 46 lakh per month, but there was mismatch in procurementproduction of milk, which leads to an average loss of Rs. 12, 94, 405 per month. To solve the procurement-production problem Quality Control Tools like brainstorming, Flow Chart, Cause effect diagram and Pareto analysis are applied wherever applicable. With the successful implementation of Quality Control tools an average saving of Rs. 4, 59, 445 per month is done.

Keywords: Milk, Procurement-demand, quality control tools.

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Authors: Masaki Tajima, Kenji Imou, Shinya Yokoyama

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It was determined that woody biomass and livestock excreta can be utilized as hydrogen resources and hydrogen produced from such sources can be used to fill fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) at hydrogen stations. It was shown that the biomass transport costs for hydrogen production may be reduced the costs for co-generation. In the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, there are only a few sites capable of producing hydrogen from woody biomass in amounts greater than 200 m3/h-the scale required for a hydrogen station to be operationally practical. However, in the case of livestock excreta, it was shown that 15% of the municipalities in this area are capable of securing sufficient biomass to be operationally practical for hydrogen production. The differences in feasibility of practical operation depend on the type of biomass.

Keywords: Biomass Resources, Hydrogen Production, Hydrogen Station, Transport Cost.

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Authors: Zhaoan Wang

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Research in predictive maintenance modeling has improved in the recent years to predict failures and needed maintenance with high accuracy, saving cost and improving manufacturing efficiency. However, classic prediction models provide little valuable insight towards the most important features contributing to the failure. By analyzing and quantifying feature importance in predictive maintenance models, cost saving can be optimized based on business goals. First, multiple classifiers are evaluated with cross-validation to predict the multi-class of failures. Second, predictive performance with features provided by different feature selection algorithms are further analyzed. Third, features selected by different algorithms are ranked and combined based on their predictive power. Finally, linear explainer SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) is applied to interpret classifier behavior and provide further insight towards the specific roles of features in both local predictions and global model behavior. The results of the experiments suggest that certain features play dominant roles in predictive models while others have significantly less impact on the overall performance. Moreover, for multi-class prediction of machine failures, the most important features vary with type of machine failures. The results may lead to improved productivity and cost saving by prioritizing sensor deployment, data collection, and data processing of more important features over less importance features.

Keywords: Automated supply chain, intelligent manufacturing, predictive maintenance machine learning, feature engineering, model interpretation.

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Authors: K. Zuva, T. Zuva, K. O. M. Mapoka

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Cloud Computing (CC) has become one of the most talked about emerging technologies that provides powerful computing and large storage environments through the use of the Internet. Cloud computing provides different dynamically scalable computing resources as a service. It brings economic benefits to individuals and businesses that adopt the technology. In theory adoption of cloud computing reduces capital and operational expenditure on information technology. For this to be a reality there is need to solve some challenges and at the same time addressing concerns that consumers have about cloud computing. This paper looks at Cloud Computing in general then highlights the challenges of Cloud Computing and finally suggests solutions to some of the challenges.

Keywords: Cloud Computing, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, Internet.

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Authors: Jacobus A. A. Lazenby

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As a result of the ever-changing environment and the demands of rganisations- customers, it is important to recognise the importance of some important managerial challenges. It is the sincere belief that failure to meet these challenges, will ultimately contribute to inevitable problems for organisations. This recognition requires from managers and by implication organisations to be engaged in ethical behaviour, identity awareness and learning organisational behaviour. All these aspects actually reflect on the importance of intellectual capital as the competitive weapons for organisations in the future.

Keywords: Ethical behaviour, identity awareness, learningbehaviour.

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Authors: Rajoo Pandey

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Most of the commonly used blind equalization algorithms are based on the minimization of a nonconvex and nonlinear cost function and a neural network gives smaller residual error as compared to a linear structure. The efficacy of complex valued feedforward neural networks for blind equalization of linear and nonlinear communication channels has been confirmed by many studies. In this paper we present two neural network models for blind equalization of time-varying channels, for M-ary QAM and PSK signals. The complex valued activation functions, suitable for these signal constellations in time-varying environment, are introduced and the learning algorithms based on the CMA cost function are derived. The improved performance of the proposed models is confirmed through computer simulations.

Keywords: Blind Equalization, Neural Networks, Constant Modulus Algorithm, Time-varying channels.

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Authors: Zin Maw Tun, Tun Lin Naing

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This paper presents the two loop proportional integral (PI) controller for speed control of permanent magnet DC motor (PMDC) motor drive with H-bridge DC chopper. PMDC motors are widely used in many applications because of having a good performance and it is easy to apply the speed control. The speed can be adjusted by using armature voltage control as it had only the armature circuit. H-bridge DC chopper circuit is used to obtain the desired speed in any direction. In this system, the two loop PI controller is designed by using pole-zero cancellation method. The speed and current controller gains are considered depending on the sampling frequency of the microcontroller. An Arduino IO package is used to implement the control algorithm. Both simulation and experimental results are presented to prove the correctness of the mathematical model.

Keywords: Arduino IO package, double loop PI controller, H-bridge DC chopper, low cost hardware, PMDC motor.

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Authors: Ismail I. Fasfous, Nedal Abu Farha

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The purpose of this research is to establish the experimental conditions for removal of Cibacron Brilliant Yellow 3G-P dye (CBY) from aqueous solutions by sorption onto coffee husks as a low-cost sorbent. The effects of various experimental parameters (e.g. initial CBY dye concentration, sorbent mass, pH, temperature) were examined and the optimal experimental conditions were determined. The results indicated that the removal of the dye was pH dependent and at initial pH of 2, the dye was removed effectively. The CBY dye sorption data were fitted to Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich equilibrium models. The maximum sorption capacity of CBY dye ions onto coffee husks increased from 24.04 to 35.04 mg g-1 when the temperature was increased from 293 to 313 K. The calculated sorption thermodynamic parameters including ΔG°, ΔH°, and ΔS° indicated that the CBY dye sorption onto coffee husks is a spontaneous, endothermic and mainly physical in nature.

Keywords: Coffee husks, equilibrium, reactive dyes, sorption.

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Authors: Norliza Mohamad Fadzil, Kerry Fitzmaurice, Linda Malesic

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Provision of optical devices without proper instruction and training may cause frustration resulting in rejection or incorrect use of the magnifiers. However training in the use of magnifiers increases the cost of providing these devices. This study compared the efficacy of providing instruction alone and instruction plus training in the use of magnifiers. 24 participants randomly assigned to two groups. 15 received instruction and training and 9 received instruction only. Repeated measures of print size and reading speed were performed at pre, post training and follow up. Print size decreased in both groups between pre and post training maintained at follow up. Reading speed increased in both groups over time with the training group demonstrating more rapid improvement. Whilst overall outcomes were similar, training decreased the time required to increase reading speed supporting the use of training for increased efficiency. A cost effective form of training is suggested.

Keywords: Low vision, magnification, training, reading.

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Authors: Andres Gonzalez, Adam Boies, Jacob Swanson, David Kittelson

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The concern of the indoor air quality (IAQ) has been increasing due to its risk to human health. The smoking, sweeping, and stove and stovetop use are the activities that have a major contribution to the indoor air pollution. Outdoor air pollution also affects IAQ. The most important factors over IAQ from cooking activities are the materials, fuels, foods, and ventilation. The low-cost, mobile air quality monitoring (LCMAQM) sensors, is reachable technology to assess the IAQ. This is because of the lower cost of LCMAQM compared to conventional instruments. The IAQ was assessed, using LCMAQM, during cooking activities in a University of Minnesota graduate-housing evaluating different ventilation systems. The gases measured are carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). The particles measured are particle matter (PM) _2.5 micrometer (µm) and lung deposited surface area (LDSA). The measurements are being conducted during April 2019 in Como Student Community Cooperative (CSCC) that is a graduate housing at the University of Minnesota. The measurements are conducted using an electric stove for cooking. The amount and type of food and oil using for cooking are the same for each measurement. There are six measurements: two experiments measure air quality without any ventilation, two using an extractor as mechanical ventilation, and two using the extractor and windows open as mechanical and natural ventilation. 3The results of experiments show that natural ventilation is most efficient system to control particles and CO₂. The natural ventilation reduces the concentration in 79% for LDSA and 55% for PM_2.5, compared to the no ventilation. In the same way, CO₂ reduces its concentration in 35%. A well-mixed vessel model was implemented to assess particle the formation and decay rates. Removal rates by the extractor were significantly higher for LDSA, which is dominated by smaller particles, than for PM_2.5, but in both cases much lower compared to the natural ventilation. There was significant day to day variation in particle concentrations under nominally identical conditions. This may be related to the fat content of the food. Further research is needed to assess the impact of the fat in food on particle generations.

Keywords: Cooking, indoor air quality, low-cost sensor, ventilation.

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Authors: Sungjin Lee, Donghyun Choi, Choonsik Park, Seungjoo Kim

Abstract:

A SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) system is an industrial control and monitoring system for national infrastructures. The SCADA systems were used in a closed environment without considering about security functionality in the past. As communication technology develops, they try to connect the SCADA systems to an open network. Therefore, the security of the SCADA systems has been an issue. The study of key management for SCADA system also has been performed. However, existing key management schemes for SCADA system such as SKE(Key establishment for SCADA systems) and SKMA(Key management scheme for SCADA systems) cannot support broadcasting communication. To solve this problem, an Advanced Key Management Architecture for Secure SCADA Communication has been proposed by Choi et al.. Choi et al.-s scheme also has a problem that it requires lots of computational cost for multicasting communication. In this paper, we propose an enhanced scheme which improving computational cost for multicasting communication with considering the number of keys to be stored in a low power communication device (RTU).

Keywords: SCADA system, SCADA communication, Key management, Distributed networks.

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Authors: Yousra Zakaria Ahmed, Ahmed El Gendy, Salah El Haggar

Abstract:

In this paper, our methodology to assess sustainability of wastewater treatment technologies in Egypt is presented. The preliminary list of factors to be considered, as well as their ranking listed. The factors include, but are not limited to pollutants removal efficiency and energy consumption under the environmental dimension, construction cost, operation and maintenance costs and required land area cost under the economic dimension and public acceptance, noise and generating job opportunities for local residents. This methodology is intended to be a user-friendly screening tool to support the decision making process when investigating different wastewater treatment technologies in Egypt. Based on the research work results presented in this paper, it can be generally concluded that the categorization of some of the social and environmental aspects of sustainability is subjective and highly dependent on the local conditions and researchers’ background.

Keywords: Sustainability, wastewater treatment, sustainability assessment, Egypt.

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