Search results for: Quality Function Deployment
4559 Management of Air Pollutants from Point Sources
Authors: N. Lokeshwari, G. Srinikethan, V. S. Hegde
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Monitoring is essential to assessing the effectiveness of air pollution control actions. The goal of the air quality information system is through monitoring, to keep authorities, major polluters and the public informed on the short and long-term changes in air quality, thereby helping to raise awareness. Mathematical models are the best tools available for the prediction of the air quality management. The main objective of the work was to apply a Model that predicts the concentration levels of different pollutants at any instant of time. In this study, distribution of air pollutants concentration such as nitrogen dioxides (NO2), sulphur dioxides (SO2) and total suspended particulates (TSP) of industries are determined by using Gaussian model. Besides that, the effect of wind speed and its direction on the pollutant concentration within the affected area were evaluated. In order to determine the efficiency and percentage of error in the modeling, validation process of data was done. Sampling of air quality was conducted in getting existing air quality around a factory and the concentrations of pollutants in a plume were inversely proportional to wind velocity. The resultant ground level concentrations were then compared to the quality standards to determine if there could be a negative impact on health. This study concludes that concentration of pollutants can be significantly predicted using Gaussian Model. The data base management is developed for the air data of Hubli-Dharwad region.
Keywords: DBMS, NO2, SO2, Wind rose plots.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20334558 Affine Radial Basis Function Neural Networks for the Robust Control of Hyperbolic Distributed Parameter Systems
Authors: Eleni Aggelogiannaki, Haralambos Sarimveis
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In this work, a radial basis function (RBF) neural network is developed for the identification of hyperbolic distributed parameter systems (DPSs). This empirical model is based only on process input-output data and used for the estimation of the controlled variables at specific locations, without the need of online solution of partial differential equations (PDEs). The nonlinear model that is obtained is suitably transformed to a nonlinear state space formulation that also takes into account the model mismatch. A stable robust control law is implemented for the attenuation of external disturbances. The proposed identification and control methodology is applied on a long duct, a common component of thermal systems, for a flow based control of temperature distribution. The closed loop performance is significantly improved in comparison to existing control methodologies.
Keywords: Hyperbolic Distributed Parameter Systems, Radial Basis Function Neural Networks, H∞ control, Thermal systems.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14214557 The Perception of Customer Satisfaction in Textile Industry According to Genders in Turkey
Authors: Ikilem Gocek, Senem Kursun, Yesim Iridag Beceren
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The customer satisfaction for textile sector carries great importance like the customer satisfaction for other sectors carry. Especially, if it is considered that gaining new customers create four times more costs than protecting existing customers from leaving, it can be seen that the customer satisfaction plays a great role for the firms. In this study the affecting independent variables of customer satisfaction are chosen as brand image, perceived service quality and perceived product quality. By these independent variables, it is investigated that if any differences exist in perception of customer satisfaction according to the Turkish textile consumers in the view of gender. In data analysis of this research the SPSS program is used.Keywords: Customer satisfaction, textile industry, brand image, service quality, product quality, gender.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 44774556 Locating Center Points for Radial Basis Function Networks Using Instance Reduction Techniques
Authors: Rana Yousef, Khalil el Hindi
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The behavior of Radial Basis Function (RBF) Networks greatly depends on how the center points of the basis functions are selected. In this work we investigate the use of instance reduction techniques, originally developed to reduce the storage requirements of instance based learners, for this purpose. Five Instance-Based Reduction Techniques were used to determine the set of center points, and RBF networks were trained using these sets of centers. The performance of the RBF networks is studied in terms of classification accuracy and training time. The results obtained were compared with two Radial Basis Function Networks: RBF networks that use all instances of the training set as center points (RBF-ALL) and Probabilistic Neural Networks (PNN). The former achieves high classification accuracies and the latter requires smaller training time. Results showed that RBF networks trained using sets of centers located by noise-filtering techniques (ALLKNN and ENN) rather than pure reduction techniques produce the best results in terms of classification accuracy. The results show that these networks require smaller training time than that of RBF-ALL and higher classification accuracy than that of PNN. Thus, using ALLKNN and ENN to select center points gives better combination of classification accuracy and training time. Our experiments also show that using the reduced sets to train the networks is beneficial especially in the presence of noise in the original training sets.
Keywords: Radial basis function networks, Instance-based reduction, PNN.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16884555 Video Quality assessment Measure with a Neural Network
Authors: H. El Khattabi, A. Tamtaoui, D. Aboutajdine
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In this paper, we present the video quality measure estimation via a neural network. This latter predicts MOS (mean opinion score) by providing height parameters extracted from original and coded videos. The eight parameters that are used are: the average of DFT differences, the standard deviation of DFT differences, the average of DCT differences, the standard deviation of DCT differences, the variance of energy of color, the luminance Y, the chrominance U and the chrominance V. We chose Euclidean Distance to make comparison between the calculated and estimated output.Keywords: video, neural network MLP, subjective quality, DCT, DFT, Retropropagation
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18064554 Optimal ECG Sampling Frequency for Multiscale Entropy-Based HRV
Authors: Manjit Singh
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Multiscale entropy (MSE) is an extensively used index to provide a general understanding of multiple complexity of physiologic mechanism of heart rate variability (HRV) that operates on a wide range of time scales. Accurate selection of electrocardiogram (ECG) sampling frequency is an essential concern for clinically significant HRV quantification; high ECG sampling rate increase memory requirements and processing time, whereas low sampling rate degrade signal quality and results in clinically misinterpreted HRV. In this work, the impact of ECG sampling frequency on MSE based HRV have been quantified. MSE measures are found to be sensitive to ECG sampling frequency and effect of sampling frequency will be a function of time scale.Keywords: ECG, heart rate variability, HRV, multiscale entropy, sampling frequency.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13524553 Analytical Study of Component Based Software Engineering
Authors: Iqbaldeep Kaur, Parvinder S. Sandhu, Hardeep Singh, Vandana Saini
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This paper is a survey of current component-based software technologies and the description of promotion and inhibition factors in CBSE. The features that software components inherit are also discussed. Quality Assurance issues in componentbased software are also catered to. The feat research on the quality model of component based system starts with the study of what the components are, CBSE, its development life cycle and the pro & cons of CBSE. Various attributes are studied and compared keeping in view the study of various existing models for general systems and CBS. When illustrating the quality of a software component an apt set of quality attributes for the description of the system (or components) should be selected. Finally, the research issues that can be extended are tabularized.Keywords: Component, COTS, Component based development, Component-based Software Engineering.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27404552 Distances over Incomplete Diabetes and Breast Cancer Data Based on Bhattacharyya Distance
Authors: Loai AbdAllah, Mahmoud Kaiyal
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Missing values in real-world datasets are a common problem. Many algorithms were developed to deal with this problem, most of them replace the missing values with a fixed value that was computed based on the observed values. In our work, we used a distance function based on Bhattacharyya distance to measure the distance between objects with missing values. Bhattacharyya distance, which measures the similarity of two probability distributions. The proposed distance distinguishes between known and unknown values. Where the distance between two known values is the Mahalanobis distance. When, on the other hand, one of them is missing the distance is computed based on the distribution of the known values, for the coordinate that contains the missing value. This method was integrated with Wikaya, a digital health company developing a platform that helps to improve prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer. In order for Wikaya’s recommendation system to work distance between users need to be measured. Since there are missing values in the collected data, there is a need to develop a distance function distances between incomplete users profiles. To evaluate the accuracy of the proposed distance function in reflecting the actual similarity between different objects, when some of them contain missing values, we integrated it within the framework of k nearest neighbors (kNN) classifier, since its computation is based only on the similarity between objects. To validate this, we ran the algorithm over diabetes and breast cancer datasets, standard benchmark datasets from the UCI repository. Our experiments show that kNN classifier using our proposed distance function outperforms the kNN using other existing methods.Keywords: Missing values, distance metric, Bhattacharyya distance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7814551 Ways for the Development of the Audit Quality Control System through the Analysis of Ongoing Problems, Experience and Challenges: Example of the Republic of Georgia
Authors: Levan Sabauri
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Audit is an independent inspection of the financial statement of the audited person and expresses the opinion of an auditor on the reliability of this statement. The auditor’s activity (auditor’s service) is realized by auditing organizations, individual auditors in connection to conduction of an audit and rendering of audit accompanying services. The profession of auditor means a high level of responsibility for rendered service. Results of decisions made by information users depend on the quality of the auditor’s conclusion. Owners, investors, creditors, and society rely on the opinion of the auditor under the condition that inspection was conducted with good quality. Therefore, the existence of the well-functioning audit quality control system for the administering of the audit is an important issue. An efficient audit quality control system is a substantial challenge that many countries face worldwide, especially those states where these systems are being formed within the respective reform program. The presented article reflects on the best practices of the leading countries, the assumptions and recommendations for the financial accounting, reporting and audit; current reforms in Georgia are made based on this comparative analysis.
Keywords: Audit quality control, audit program, financial statement, perspective analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6984550 ASC – A Stream Cipher with Built – In MAC Functionality
Authors: Kai-Thorsten Wirt
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In this paper we present the design of a new encryption scheme. The scheme we propose is a very exible encryption and authentication primitive. We build this scheme on two relatively new design principles: t-functions and fast pseudo hadamard transforms. We recapitulate the theory behind these principles and analyze their security properties and efficiency. In more detail we propose a streamcipher which outputs a message authentication tag along with theencrypted data stream with only little overhead. Moreover we proposesecurity-speed tradeoffs. Our scheme is faster than other comparablet-function based designs while offering the same security level.
Keywords: Cryptography, Combined Primitives, Stream Cipher, MAC, T-Function, FPHT.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19364549 Labyrinth Fractal on a Convex Quadrilateral
Authors: Harsha Gopalakrishnan, Srijanani Anurag Prasad
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Quadrilateral Labyrinth Fractals are a type of fractals presented in this paper. They belong to a unique class of fractals on any plane quadrilateral. The previously researched labyrinth fractals on the unit square and triangle inspire this form of fractal. This work describes how to construct a quadrilateral labyrinth fractal and looks at the circumstances in which it can be understood as the attractor of an iterated function system. Furthermore, some of its topological properties and the Hausdorff and box-counting dimensions of the quadrilateral labyrinth fractals are studied.
Keywords: Fractals, labyrinth fractals, dendrites, iterated function system, non-self similar, non-self affine, connected, path connected.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 824548 Development of a Catchment Water Quality Model for Continuous Simulations of Pollutants Build-up and Wash-off
Authors: Iqbal Hossain, Dr. Monzur Imteaz, Dr. Shirley Gato-Trinidad, Prof. Abdallah Shanableh
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Estimation of runoff water quality parameters is required to determine appropriate water quality management options. Various models are used to estimate runoff water quality parameters. However, most models provide event-based estimates of water quality parameters for specific sites. The work presented in this paper describes the development of a model that continuously simulates the accumulation and wash-off of water quality pollutants in a catchment. The model allows estimation of pollutants build-up during dry periods and pollutants wash-off during storm events. The model was developed by integrating two individual models; rainfall-runoff model, and catchment water quality model. The rainfall-runoff model is based on the time-area runoff estimation method. The model allows users to estimate the time of concentration using a range of established methods. The model also allows estimation of the continuing runoff losses using any of the available estimation methods (i.e., constant, linearly varying or exponentially varying). Pollutants build-up in a catchment was represented by one of three pre-defined functions; power, exponential, or saturation. Similarly, pollutants wash-off was represented by one of three different functions; power, rating-curve, or exponential. The developed runoff water quality model was set-up to simulate the build-up and wash-off of total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN). The application of the model was demonstrated using available runoff and TSS field data from road and roof surfaces in the Gold Coast, Australia. The model provided excellent representation of the field data demonstrating the simplicity yet effectiveness of the proposed model.
Keywords: Catchment, continuous pollutants build-up, pollutants wash-off, runoff, runoff water quality model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31364547 Quality Service Standard of Food and Beverage Service Staff in Hotel
Authors: Thanasit Suksutdhi
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This survey research aims to study the standard of service quality of food and beverage service staffs in hotel business by studying the service standard of three sample hotels, Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok, Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, and Banyan Tree Phuket. In order to find the international service standard of food and beverage service, triangular research, i.e. quantitative, qualitative, and survey were employed. In this research, questionnaires and in-depth interview were used for getting the information on the sequences and method of services. There were three parts of modified questionnaires to measure service quality and guest’s satisfaction including service facilities, attentiveness, responsibility, reliability, and circumspection. This study used sample random sampling to derive subjects with the return rate of the questionnaires was 70% or 280. Data were analyzed by SPSS to find arithmetic mean, SD, percentage, and comparison by t-test and One-way ANOVA. The results revealed that the service quality of the three hotels were in the international level which could create high satisfaction to the international customers. Recommendations for research implementations were to maintain the area of good service quality, and to improve some dimensions of service quality such as reliability. Training in service standard, product knowledge, and new technology for employees should be provided. Furthermore, in order to develop the service quality of the industry, training collaboration between hotel organization and educational institutions in food and beverage service should be considered.
Keywords: Service standard, food and beverage department, sequence of service, service method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 78044546 Characterization of Indoor Power Lines as Data Communication Channels Experimental Details and Results
Authors: Sheroz Khan, A. F. Salami, W. A. Lawal, AHM Zahirul Alam, Shihab Abdel Hameed, M. J. E.Salami
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In this paper, a multi-branch power line is modeled using ABCD matrix to show its worth as a communication channel. The model is simulated using MATLAB in an effort to investigate the effects of multiple loading, multipath, and those as a result of load mismatching. The channel transfer function is obtained and investigated using different cable lengths, and different number of bridge taps under given loading conditions.
Keywords: Power line Communication, Transfer Function, Channel Modeling, Signal Transmission.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19324545 Development of Storm Water Quality Improvement Strategy Plan for Local City Councils in Western Australia
Authors: Ranjan Sarukkalige, Dinushi Gamage
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The aim of this study was to develop a storm water quality improvement strategy plan (WQISP) which assists managers and decision makers of local city councils in enhancing their activities to improve regional water quality. City of Gosnells in Western Australia has been considered as a case study. The procedure on developing the WQISP consists of reviewing existing water quality data, identifying water quality issues in the study areas and developing a decision making tool for the officers, managers and decision makers. It was found that land use type is the main factor affecting the water quality. Therefore, activities, sources and pollutants related to different land use types including residential, industrial, agricultural and commercial are given high importance during the study. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with coordinators of different management sections of the regional councils in order to understand the associated management framework and issues. The issues identified from these interviews were used in preparing the decision making tool. Variables associated with the defined “value versus threat" decision making tool are obtained from the intensive literature review. The main recommendations provided for improvement of water quality in local city councils, include non-structural, structural and management controls and potential impacts of climate change.
Keywords: Storm water quality, Storm water Management, Land use, Strategy plan
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16684544 Selective Mutation for Genetic Algorithms
Authors: Sung Hoon Jung
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In this paper, we propose a selective mutation method for improving the performances of genetic algorithms. In selective mutation, individuals are first ranked and then additionally mutated one bit in a part of their strings which is selected corresponding to their ranks. This selective mutation helps genetic algorithms to fast approach the global optimum and to quickly escape local optima. This results in increasing the performances of genetic algorithms. We measured the effects of selective mutation with four function optimization problems. It was found from extensive experiments that the selective mutation can significantly enhance the performances of genetic algorithms.Keywords: Genetic algorithm, selective mutation, function optimization
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18364543 A Modification on Newton's Method for Solving Systems of Nonlinear Equations
Authors: Jafar Biazar, Behzad Ghanbari
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In this paper, we are concerned with the further study for system of nonlinear equations. Since systems with inaccurate function values or problems with high computational cost arise frequently in science and engineering, recently such systems have attracted researcher-s interest. In this work we present a new method which is independent of function evolutions and has a quadratic convergence. This method can be viewed as a extension of some recent methods for solving mentioned systems of nonlinear equations. Numerical results of applying this method to some test problems show the efficiently and reliability of method.
Keywords: System of nonlinear equations.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15934542 Bone Mineral Density and Quality, Body Composition of Women in the Postmenopausal Period
Authors: Vladyslav Povoroznyuk, Oksana Ivanyk, Nataliia Dzerovych
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In the diagnostics of osteoporosis, the gold standard is considered to be bone mineral density; however, X-ray densitometry is not an accurate indicator of osteoporotic fracture risk under all circumstances. In this regard, the search for new methods that could determine the indicators not only of the mineral density, but of the bone tissue quality, is a logical step for diagnostic optimization. One of these methods is the evaluation of trabecular bone quality. The aim of this study was to examine the quality and mineral density of spine bone tissue, femoral neck, and body composition of women depending on the duration of the postmenopausal period, to determine the correlation of body fat with indicators of bone mineral density and quality. The study examined 179 women in premenopausal and postmenopausal periods. The patients were divided into the following groups: Women in the premenopausal period and women in the postmenopausal period at various stages (early, middle, late postmenopause). A general examination and study of the above parameters were conducted with General Electric X-ray densitometer. The results show that bone quality and mineral density probably deteriorate with advancing of postmenopausal period. Total fat and lean mass ratio is not likely to change with age. In the middle and late postmenopausal periods, the bone tissue mineral density of the spine and femoral neck increases along with total fat mass.
Keywords: Osteoporosis, bone tissue mineral density, bone quality, fat mass, lean mass, postmenopausal osteoporosis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9414541 Distance Transmission Line Protection Based on Radial Basis Function Neural Network
Authors: Anant Oonsivilai, Sanom Saichoomdee
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To determine the presence and location of faults in a transmission by the adaptation of protective distance relay based on the measurement of fixed settings as line impedance is achieved by several different techniques. Moreover, a fast, accurate and robust technique for real-time purposes is required for the modern power systems. The appliance of radial basis function neural network in transmission line protection is demonstrated in this paper. The method applies the power system via voltage and current signals to learn the hidden relationship presented in the input patterns. It is experiential that the proposed technique is competent to identify the particular fault direction more speedily. System simulations studied show that the proposed approach is able to distinguish the direction of a fault on a transmission line swiftly and correctly, therefore suitable for the real-time purposes.
Keywords: radial basis function neural network, transmission lines protection, relaying, power system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23644540 Self-Care Behavior and Performance Level Associated with Algerian Chronically Ill Patients
Authors: S. Aberkane, N. Djabali, S. Fafi, A. Baghezza
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Chronic illnesses affect many Algerians. It is possible to investigate the impact of illness representations and coping on quality of life and whether illness representations are indirectly associated with quality of life through their influence on coping. This study aims at investigating the relationship between illness perception, coping strategies and quality of life with chronic illness. Illness perceptions are indirectly associated with the quality of life through their influence on coping mediation. A sample of 316 participants with chronic illness living in the region of Batna, Algeria, has been adopted in this study. A correlation statistical analysis is used to determine the relationship between illness perception, coping strategies, and quality of life. Multiple regression analysis was employed to highlight the predictive ability of the dimensions of illness perception and coping strategies on the dependent variables of quality of life, where mediation analysis is considered in the exploration of the indirect effect significance of the mediator. This study provides insights about the relationship between illness perception, coping strategies and quality of life in the considered sample (r = 0.39, p < 0.01). Therefore, it proves that there is an effect of illness identity perception, external and medical attributions related to emotional role, physical functioning, and mental health perceived, and these were fully mediated by the asking for assistance (c’= 0.04, p < 0.05), the guarding (c’= 0.00, p < 0.05), and the task persistence strategy (c’= 0.05, p < 0.05). The findings imply partial support for the common-sense model of illness representations in a chronic illness population. Directions for future research are highlighted, as well as implications for psychotherapeutic interventions which target unhelpful beliefs and maladaptive coping strategies (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy).
Keywords: Chronic illness, coping, illness perception, quality of life, self-regulation model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7844539 Physical Conserved Quantities for the Axisymmetric Liquid, Free and Wall Jets
Authors: Rehana Naz, D. P. Mason, Fazal Mahomed
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A systematic way to derive the conserved quantities for the axisymmetric liquid jet, free jet and wall jet using conservation laws is presented. The flow in axisymmetric jets is governed by Prandtl-s momentum boundary layer equation and the continuity equation. The multiplier approach is used to construct a basis of conserved vectors for the system of two partial differential equations for the two velocity components. The basis consists of two conserved vectors. By integrating the corresponding conservation laws across the jet and imposing the boundary conditions, conserved quantities are derived for the axisymmetric liquid and free jet. The multiplier approach applied to the third-order partial differential equation for the stream function yields two local conserved vectors one of which is a non-local conserved vector for the system. One of the conserved vectors gives the conserved quantity for the axisymmetric free jet but the conserved quantity for the wall jet is not obtained from the second conserved vector. The conserved quantity for the axisymmetric wall jet is derived from a non-local conserved vector of the third-order partial differential equation for the stream function. This non-local conserved vector for the third-order partial differential equation for the stream function is obtained by using the stream function as multiplier.
Keywords: Axisymmetric jet, liquid jet, free jet, wall jet, conservation laws, conserved quantity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14644538 International Comparative Study of International Financial Reporting Standards Adoption and Earnings Quality: Effects of Differences in Accounting Standards, Industry Category, and Country Characteristics
Authors: Ichiro Mukai
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The purpose of this study is to investigate whether firms applying International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), provide high-quality and comparable earnings information that is useful for decision making of information users relative to firms applying local Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Focus is placed on the earnings quality of listed firms in several developed countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). Except for Japan and the US, the adoption of IFRS is mandatory for listed firms in these countries. In Japan, the application of IFRS is allowed for specific listed firms. In the US, the foreign firms listed on the US securities market are permitted to apply IFRS but the listed domestic firms are prohibited from doing so. In this paper, the differences in earnings quality are compared between firms applying local GAAP and those applying IFRS in each country and industry category, and the reasons of differences in earnings quality are analyzed using various factors. The results show that, although the earnings quality of firms applying IFRS is higher than that of firms applying local GAAP, this varies with country and industry category. Thus, even if a single set of global accounting standards is used for all listed firms worldwide, it is difficult to establish comparability of financial information among global firms. These findings imply that various circumstances surrounding firms, industries, and countries etc. influence business operations and affect the differences in earnings quality.
Keywords: Accruals, earnings quality, IFRS, information comparability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7674537 Quality Determinants of Client Satisfaction: A Case Study of Australian Consulting Engineers, Sydney, Australia
Authors: Elham S. Hasham, Anthony S. Hasham
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The construction industry is one of Australia’s fastest growing industries and its success is a result of a firm’s client satisfaction with focus on product determinants such as price and quality. Ensuring quality at every phase is a must and building rapport with the client will go a long way. To capitalize on the growing demand for Engineering Consulting Firms (ECFs), it is imperative to stress the implication of customer satisfaction and excellence in standards and performance. Consequently, the emphasis should be on improving employee skills through various training provisions. Clients seek consistency and thus expect that all services should be similar in respect to quality and the ability of the service to meet their needs. This calls for empowerment and comfortable work conditions to motivate employees and give them incentive to deliver quality and excellent output. The methodology utilized is triangulation - a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research. The case study - Australian Consulting Engineers (ACE) - was established in Australia in 1995 and has operations throughout Australia, the Philippines, Europe, UAE, KSA, and with a branch in Lebanon. ACE is affiliated with key agencies and support organizations in the engineering industry with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certifications in Safety and Quality Management. The objective of this study, conducted in Australia, is significant as it sheds light on employee motivation and client satisfaction as imperative determinants of the success of an organization.
Keywords: Organizational behaviour, leadership, satisfaction, motivation, quality service.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 464536 A Black-box Approach for Response Quality Evaluation of Conversational Agent Systems
Authors: Ong Sing Goh, C. Ardil, Wilson Wong, Chun Che Fung
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The evaluation of conversational agents or chatterbots question answering systems is a major research area that needs much attention. Before the rise of domain-oriented conversational agents based on natural language understanding and reasoning, evaluation is never a problem as information retrieval-based metrics are readily available for use. However, when chatterbots began to become more domain specific, evaluation becomes a real issue. This is especially true when understanding and reasoning is required to cater for a wider variety of questions and at the same time to achieve high quality responses. This paper discusses the inappropriateness of the existing measures for response quality evaluation and the call for new standard measures and related considerations are brought forward. As a short-term solution for evaluating response quality of conversational agents, and to demonstrate the challenges in evaluating systems of different nature, this research proposes a blackbox approach using observation, classification scheme and a scoring mechanism to assess and rank three example systems, AnswerBus, START and AINI.
Keywords: Evaluation, conversational agents, Response Quality, chatterbots
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19274535 Worth of Sick Building Syndrome and Enhance the Quality of Life in Green Building
Authors: Kamyar Kabirifar, Majid Azarniush, Behbood Maashkar
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A proper house is a suitable residential area which provides comfort, proper accessibility, security, stability and permanence of structure, enough lighting, proper initial infrastructures and ventilation for its inhabitants and the most important of all, it should be proportional to the family’s financial power .
Saving energy and making optimal usage of it and also taking advantage of stable energies are the bases of green buildings. Making green building will help the health of a person living in it and in its surrounding. It will support the people and provoke their satisfaction. Not only it will bring about the raise of level of the quality of life for building inhabitants, but it will cause the promotion of quality level of life of the people living in the surrounding area and in general the society.
Keywords: Quality of Life, Green Building, environment pollution, Sick Building.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18314534 Multi-Label Hierarchical Classification for Protein Function Prediction
Authors: Helyane B. Borges, Julio Cesar Nievola
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Hierarchical classification is a problem with applications in many areas as protein function prediction where the dates are hierarchically structured. Therefore, it is necessary the development of algorithms able to induce hierarchical classification models. This paper presents experimenters using the algorithm for hierarchical classification called Multi-label Hierarchical Classification using a Competitive Neural Network (MHC-CNN). It was tested in ten datasets the Gene Ontology (GO) Cellular Component Domain. The results are compared with the Clus-HMC and Clus-HSC using the hF-Measure.
Keywords: Hierarchical Classification, Competitive Neural Network, Global Classifier.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23804533 Requirements and Design of RFID based EManufacturing System
Authors: Gamal Darwish, Ahmed ElShafee, Dina Darwish
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This paper proposes the requirements and design of RFID based system for SFC (Shop Floor Control) in order to achieve the factory real time controllability, Allowing to develop EManufacturing System. The detailed logical specifications of the core functions and the design diagrams of RFID based system are developed. Then RFID deployment in E-Manufacturing systems is investigated..Keywords: RFID, E-Manufacturing System, Requirementsspecifications, Design Diagrams, real time controllability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15814532 Adverse Impacts of Poor Wastewater Management Practices on Water Quality in Gebeng Industrial Area, Pahang, Malaysia
Authors: I. M. Sujaul, M. A. Sobahan, A. A. Edriyana, F. M. Yahaya, R. M. Yunus
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This study was carried out to investigate the adverse effect of industrial wastewater on surface water quality in Gebeng industrial estate, Pahang, Malaysia. Surface water was collected from six sampling stations. Physicochemical parameters were characterized based on in-situ and ex-situ analysis according to standard methods by American Public Health Association (APHA). Selected heavy metals were determined by using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP MS). The results revealed that the concentration of heavy metals such as Pb, Cu, Cd, Cr and Hg were high in samples. The results also showed that the value of Pb and Hg were higher in the wet season in comparison to dry season. According to Malaysia National Water Quality Standard (NWQS) and Water Quality Index (WQI) all the sampling station were categorized as class IV (highly polluted). The present study revealed that the adverse effects of careless disposal of wastes and directly discharge of effluents affected on surface water quality. Therefore, the authorities should implement the laws to ensure the proper practices of wastewater management for environmental sustainability around the study area.Keywords: Gebeng, heavy metals, waste water, water quality index.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23264531 User-Perceived Quality Factors for Certification Model of Web-Based System
Authors: Jamaiah H. Yahaya, Aziz Deraman, Abdul Razak Hamdan, Yusmadi Yah Jusoh
Abstract:
One of the most essential issues in software products is to maintain it relevancy to the dynamics of the user’s requirements and expectation. Many studies have been carried out in quality aspect of software products to overcome these problems. Previous software quality assessment models and metrics have been introduced with strengths and limitations. In order to enhance the assurance and buoyancy of the software products, certification models have been introduced and developed. From our previous experiences in certification exercises and case studies collaborating with several agencies in Malaysia, the requirements for user based software certification approach is identified and demanded. The emergence of social network applications, the new development approach such as agile method and other varieties of software in the market have led to the domination of users over the software. As software become more accessible to the public through internet applications, users are becoming more critical in the quality of the services provided by the software. There are several categories of users in web-based systems with different interests and perspectives. The classifications and metrics are identified through brain storming approach with includes researchers, users and experts in this area. The new paradigm in software quality assessment is the main focus in our research. This paper discusses the classifications of users in web-based software system assessment and their associated factors and metrics for quality measurement. The quality model is derived based on IEEE structure and FCM model. The developments are beneficial and valuable to overcome the constraints and improve the application of software certification model in future.
Keywords: Software certification model, user centric approach, software quality factors, metrics and measurements, web-based system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21484530 Application of Data Envelopment Analysis to Assess Quality Management Efficiency
Authors: Chuen Tse Kuah, Kuan Yew Wong, Farzad Behrouzi
Abstract:
This paper is aimed to give an illustration on the application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as a tool to assess Quality Management (QM) efficiency. A variant of DEA, slack based measure (SBM) is used for this purpose. From this study, it is found that DEA is suitable to measure QM efficiency and give improvement suggestions to the inefficient QM.Keywords: Quality Management, Data Envelopment Analysis, Slack Based Measure, Efficiency Measurement.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2090