Search results for: social innovation process

Authors: G.Ashwini, A.T.Eswara

Abstract:

This paper examines the forced convection flow of incompressible, electrically conducting viscous fluid past a sharp wedge in the presence of heat generation or absorption with an applied magnetic field. The system of partial differential equations governing Falkner - Skan wedge flow and heat transfer is first transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations using similarity transformations which is later solved using an implicit finite - difference scheme, along with quasilinearization technique. Numerical computations are performed for air (Pr = 0.7) and displayed graphically to illustrate the influence of pertinent physical parameters on local skin friction and heat transfer coefficients and, also on, velocity and temperature fields. It is observed that the magnetic field increases both the coefficients of skin friction and heat transfer. The effect of heat generation or absorption is found to be very significant on heat transfer, but its effect on the skin friction is negligible. Indeed, the occurrence of overshoot is noticed in the temperature profiles during heat generation process, causing the reversal in the direction of heat transfer.

Keywords: Heat generation / absorption, MHD Falkner- Skan flow, skin friction and heat transfer

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Authors: Rizwan Hameed, Obaidullah Nadeem

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Master plan is a tool to guide and manage the growth of cities in a planned manner. The soul of a master plan lies in its implementation framework. If not implemented, people are trapped in a mess of urban problems and laissez-faire development having serious long term repercussions. Unfortunately, Master Plans prepared for several major cities of Pakistan could not be fully implemented due to host of reasons and Lahore is no exception. Being the second largest city of Pakistan with a population of over 7 million people, Lahore holds the distinction that the first ever Master Plan in the country was prepared for this city in 1966. Recently in 2004, a new plan titled `Integrated Master Plan for Lahore-2021- has been approved for implementation. This paper provides a comprehensive account of the weaknesses and constraints in the plan preparation process and implementation strategies of Master Plans prepared for Lahore. It also critically reviews the new Master Plan particularly with respect to the proposed implementation framework. The paper discusses the prospects and pre-conditions for successful implementation of the new Plan in the light of historic analysis, interviews with stakeholders and the new institutional context under the devolution plan.

Keywords: City District Government, Implementation of plan, Lahore Development Authority, Master Planning.

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Authors: Charles Mbohwa, Alexander Mudiwakure

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This paper reviews designs of the built environment from a sustainability perspective, emphasizing their importance in achieving ecological and sustainable economic objectives. The built environment has traditionally resulted in loss of biodiversity, extinction of some species, climate change, excessive water use, land degradation, space depletion, waste accumulation, energy consumption and environmental pollution. Materials used like plastics, metals, bricks, concrete, cement, natural aggregates, glass and plaster have wreaked havoc on the earth´s resources, since they have high levels of embodied energy hence not sustainable. Additional resources are consumed during use and disposal phases. Proposed designs for sustainability solutions include: ecological sanitation and eco-efficiency systems that ensure social, economic, environmental and technical sustainability. Renewable materials and energy systems, passive cooling and heating systems and material and energy reduction, reuse and recycling can improve the sector. These ideas are intended to inform the field of ecological design of the built environment.

Keywords: Ecological and sustainability designs, environmental degradation, ecological sanitation, energy use efficiency.

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Authors: Mo Zhou, Samantha Ashby, Lyn Ebert

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In China, the changes that men experience in the perinatal period are not well researched. Men are also at risk of maladaptation to parenthood. The aim of this research is to review current studies regarding changes that Chinese men experience during transitioning to parenthood. 5 databases were employed to search relevant papers. The search found 128 articles. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 35 articles were included in this integrative review. Results showed the changes that Chinese fathers experienced during the transition to parenthood can be divided into two aspects: family relationships and mental problems. During transition to parenthood, fathers usually experienced an increase in their disappointment with marital conflict resolution and decreased sexual intimacy with their partner. Mental health declined, with fathers often feeling depressed and/or anxious during this time. Some men were diagnosed with clinical depression. The predictors of these changes included three domains: personal background (age and income), family background (gender of infant, relationship status and unplanned child) and cultural background (‘doing the month’, Confucianism, policy, social support).

Keywords: China, fathers, life change, prenatal, postpartum.

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Authors: Deepak Goswami, Padma Lochan Hazarika, Kandarpa Kumar Sarma

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The customary practice of identifying industrial sickness is a set traditional techniques which rely upon a range of manual monitoring and compilation of financial records. It makes the process tedious, time consuming and often are susceptible to manipulation. Therefore, certain readily available tools are required which can deal with such uncertain situations arising out of industrial sickness. It is more significant for a country like India where the fruits of development are rarely equally distributed. In this paper, we propose an approach based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to deal with industrial sickness with specific focus on a few such units taken from a less developed north-east (NE) Indian state like Assam. The proposed system provides decision regarding industrial sickness using eight different parameters which are directly related to the stages of sickness of such units. The mechanism primarily uses certain signals and symptoms of industrial health to decide upon the state of a unit. Specifically, we formulate an ANN based block with data obtained from a few selected units of Assam so that required decisions related to industrial health could be taken. The system thus formulated could become an important part of planning and development. It can also contribute towards computerization of decision support systems related to industrial health and help in better management.

Keywords: Industrial, Health, Classification, ANN, MLP, MSE.

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Authors: Z. Khoshnood, L. Khoshnood

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Pesticides and drugs used in agriculture and veterinary medicine may end up in aquatic environments and bioaccumulate in the food chain, thus causing serious problems for fauna and human health. For determination of the toxic effects of atrazine herbicide on Caspian kutum, Rutilus frisii kutum larvae, the 96-h LC50 of atrazine was measured for newly hatched larvae as 18.53 ppm. Toxicity of atrazine herbicide on Caspian kutum larvae was investigated using concentrations: 9.25ppm, 4.62 ppm and 2.31 ppm for 7 days. Comparison of the length, weight and condition factor showed that no significant differences between atrazine exposed and control groups. The concentration of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cl- in whole body of larvae in control and atrazine exposure groups were measured and the results showed that concentrations of all these ions is higher in atrazine exposure group than control group. It is obvious from this study that atrazine negatively affects osmoregulation process and changes ion compositions of the body even at sublethal concentration and acute exposure but have no effects on growth parameters of the body.

Keywords: Atrazine, Caspian Kutum, Acute Toxicity, Body Ions, LC50.

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Authors: Sabry A. El Azazy

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Tourism plays an essential role in supporting the National Economy. Egypt was ranked as one of the most attractive touristic destinations worldwide. Tourism as a service sector affects political events and unstable conditions. Within the revolution of January 25th, 2011, tourism became below standards, and the archeological heritage sites were subject to threat. Because of the political tension and social instability, Egypt's tourism sector has drastically dropped. Currently, Egypt is working on overcoming the crisis caused by political unrest. However, it is expected to take a long time to get back to where it was, especially in terms of regaining the confidence of travelers in the country's ability to guarantee and maintain security and stability. Recently, many great projects have been done, such as; New Administrative Cairo Capital, New Suez Canal logistic project, New City of Al Alamin, New Grand Egyptian Museum, as well as other great projects that reflect positively on the tourism industry and archaeological heritage development in Egypt.

Keywords: Archaeology, archaeological heritage, attractions, national economy, political events, touristic destinations, tourism industry.

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Authors: Ana Cázares

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Aims for this study: first, to compare the expertise level in data analysis, communication and information technologies in undergraduate psychology students. Second, to verify the factor structure of E-ETICA (Escala de Experticia en Tecnologias de la Informacion, la Comunicacion y el Análisis or Data Analysis, Communication and Information'Expertise Scale) which had shown an excellent internal consistency (α= 0.92) as well as a simple factor structure. Three factors, Complex, Basic Information and Communications Technologies and E-Searching and Download Abilities, explains 63% of variance. In the present study, 260 students (119 juniors and 141 seniors) were asked to respond to ETICA (16 items Likert scale of five points 1: null domain to 5: total domain). The results show that both junior and senior students report having very similar expertise level; however, E-ETICA presents a different factor structure for juniors and four factors explained also 63% of variance: Information E-Searching, Download and Process; Data analysis; Organization; and Communication technologies.

Keywords: Data analysis, Information, Communications Technologies, Expertise'Levels.

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Authors: B. J. C. Perera, D. A. Sachindra, W. Godoy., A.F. Barton, F. Huang

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Many water supply systems in Australia are currently undergoing significant reconfiguration due to reductions in long term average rainfall and resulting low inflows to water supply reservoirs since the second half of the 20th century. When water supply systems undergo change, it is necessary to develop new operating rules, which should consider climate, because the climate change is likely to further reduce inflows. In addition, water resource systems are increasingly intended to be operated to meet complex and multiple objectives representing social, economic, environmental and sustainability criteria. This is further complicated by conflicting preferences on these objectives from diverse stakeholders. This paper describes a methodology to develop optimum operating rules for complex multi-reservoir systems undergoing significant change, considering all of the above issues. The methodology is demonstrated using the Grampians water supply system in northwest Victoria, Australia. Initial work conducted on the project is also presented in this paper.

Keywords: Climate change, Multi-objective planning, Pareto optimal; Stakeholder preference, Statistical downscaling, Water supply systems.

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Authors: E. Praynlin, P. Latha

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Software Effort Estimation is the process of estimating the effort required to develop software. By estimating the effort, the cost and schedule required to estimate the software can be determined. Accurate Estimate helps the developer to allocate the resource accordingly in order to avoid cost overrun and schedule overrun. Several methods are available in order to estimate the effort among which soft computing based method plays a prominent role. Software cost estimation deals with lot of uncertainty among all soft computing methods neural network is good in handling uncertainty. In this paper Radial Basis Function Network is compared with the back propagation network and the results are validated using six data sets and it is found that RBFN is best suitable to estimate the effort. The Results are validated using two tests the error test and the statistical test.

Keywords: Software cost estimation, Radial Basis Function Network (RBFN), Back propagation function network, Mean Magnitude of Relative Error (MMRE).

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Authors: Alireza Saviz, Sedigheh Zarei

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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is an integral part of an open and effective international economic system and a major catalyst to development. Developing countries, emerging economies and countries in transition have come increasingly to see FDI as a source of economic development modernization, income growth and employment. FDI is an important vehicle for the transfer of technology, contributing relatively more to growth than domestic investment. Exploratory research is being conducted here. The data for the study is collected from secondary sources like research papers, journals, websites and reports. This paper aim was to generate knowledge on Iran’s situation through these factors after lifting sanction in comparison to Turkey. Although the most important factors that influence foreign investor decisions vary depending on the countries, sectors, years, and the objective of investor, nowadays governments should pay more attention to human resources education, marketing, infrastructure and administrative process in order to attracting foreign investors. A proper understanding of these findings will help governments to create appropriate policies in order to encourage more foreign investors

Keywords: FDI, foreign investor, comparative study, host country.

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Authors: Roshan Dharshana Yapa, Koichi Harada

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Breast skin-line estimation and breast segmentation is an important pre-process in mammogram image processing and computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer. Limiting the area to be processed into a specific target region in an image would increase the accuracy and efficiency of processing algorithms. In this paper we are presenting a new algorithm for estimating skin-line and breast segmentation using fast marching algorithm. Fast marching is a partial-differential equation based numerical technique to track evolution of interfaces. We have introduced some modifications to the traditional fast marching method, specifically to improve the accuracy of skin-line estimation and breast tissue segmentation. Proposed modifications ensure that the evolving front stops near the desired boundary. We have evaluated the performance of the algorithm by using 100 mammogram images taken from mini-MIAS database. The results obtained from the experimental evaluation indicate that this algorithm explains 98.6% of the ground truth breast region and accuracy of the segmentation is 99.1%. Also this algorithm is capable of partially-extracting nipple when it is available in the profile.

Keywords: Mammogram, fast marching method, mathematical morphology.

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Authors: Amar Al-Obaidi, Verena Kräusel, Dirk Landgrebe

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Induction assisted single point incremental forming (IASPIF) is a flexible method and can be simply utilized to form a high strength alloys. Due to the interaction between the mechanical and thermal properties during IASPIF an evaluation for the process is necessary to be performed analytically. Therefore, a numerical simulation was carried out in this paper. The numerical analysis was operated at both room and elevated temperatures then compared with experimental results. Fully coupled dynamic temperature displacement explicit analysis was used to simulated the hot single point incremental forming. The numerical analysis was indicating that during hot single point incremental forming were a combination between complicated compression, tension and shear stresses. As a result, the equivalent plastic strain was increased excessively by rising both the formed part depth and the heating temperature during forming. Whereas, the forming forces were decreased from 5 kN at room temperature to 0.95 kN at elevated temperature. The simulation shows that the maximum true strain was occurred in the stretching zone which was the same as in experiment.

Keywords: Induction heating, single point incremental forming, FE modeling, advanced high strength steel.

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Authors: Nada Azhar

Abstract:

As a developing country, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) needs to make the best possible use of its workforce for social and economic reasons. The workforce is diverse, calling for appropriate diversity management (DM). The thesis focuses on the banking sector in KSA. To date, there have been no studies on DM in the banking sector in this country. Many organizations have introduced specific policies and programmes to improve the recruitment, inclusion, promotion, and retention of diverse employees, in addition to the legal requirements existing in many countries. However, Western-centric models of DM may not be applicable, at least not in their entirety, in other regions.

The aim of the study is to devise a framework for understanding gender, age and disability DM in the banking sector in KSA in order to enhance DM in this sector. A sample of 24 managers, 2 from each of the 12 banks, was interviewed to obtain their views on DM in the banking sector in KSA. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. These themes were used to develop the questionnaire, which was administered to 10 managers in each of the 12 banks. After analysis of these data, and completion of the study, the research will make a theoretical contribution to the knowledge on DM and a practical contribution to the management of diversity in Saudi banks. This paper concerns a work in progress.

Keywords: Age, disability, diversity, gender, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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Authors: Youngjae Chun, Kyoungsu Oh

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Real-time 3D applications have to guarantee interactive rendering speed. There is a restriction for the number of polygons which is rendered due to performance of a graphics hardware or graphics algorithms. Generally, the rendering performance will be drastically increased when handling only the dynamic 3d models, which is much fewer than the static ones. Since shapes and colors of the static objects don-t change when the viewing direction is fixed, the information can be reused. We render huge amounts of polygon those cannot handled by conventional rendering techniques in real-time by using a static object image and merging it with rendering result of the dynamic objects. The performance must be decreased as a consequence of updating the static object image including removing an static object that starts to move, re-rending the other static objects being overlapped by the moving ones. Based on visibility of the object beginning to move, we can skip the updating process. As a result, we enhance rendering performance and reduce differences of rendering speed between each frame. Proposed method renders total 200,000,000 polygons that consist of 500,000 dynamic polygons and the rest are static polygons in about 100 frames per second.

Keywords: Occlusion query, Real-time rendering, Temporal coherence.

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Authors: Pisit Potjanajaruwit

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The objectives of the study were to determine the marketing mix factors that influencing tourist’s destination decision making for cultural tourism in the Chonburi province. Both quantitative and qualitative data were applied in this study. The samples of 400 cases for quantitative analysis were tourists (both Thai and foreign) who were interested in cultural tourism in the Chonburi province, and traveled to cultural sites in Chonburi and 14 representatives from provincial tourism committee of Chonburi and local tourism experts. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. The study found that Thai and foreign tourists are influenced by different important marketing mix factors. The important factors for Thai respondents were physical evidence, price, people, and place at high importance level. For foreign respondents, physical evidence, price, people, and process were high importance level, whereas, product, place and promotion were moderate importance level.

Keywords: Chonburi Province, Decision Making for cultural tourism, Marketing Mixed.

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Authors: L. Vítek

Abstract:

The Czech Republic has over the past decade carried out two waves of tax and benefit reforms. The first one took place in 2005–2006 during the left-wing government and the second one has been carried out in 2008 by the right-wing government. Using EUSILC data for selected types of households, the paper assesses changes in the distribution of gross incomes and effects of the changes in taxes and benefits on the distribution of incomes after taxes and a provision of social benefits. The analysis is carried out on four types of households with and without children. The analysis is performed using Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients. The results show that the tax system changes the distribution of incomes less significantly than benefits. The 2006 reform reduced the differential between the Gini coefficient for the gross income and the Gini coefficient after taxes and benefits for households with active parents and one child. Reform in 2008 supported families with children and an reduced the differential between the gross income and income after taxes and benefits for different types of families.

Keywords: Czech Republic, redistribution, tax reforms.

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Authors: Gulmira Kenenbay, Urishbay Chomanov, Tamara Tultabayeva, Aruzhan Shoman

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Wheat germ has a balanced amino acid composition of the protein, which is well digested by enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract of humans, a high content of vitamins, minerals and unsaturated acids. Introduction components grain food products will enrich their biologically important substances, giving these products a number of valuable properties and reducing their caloric. A complex natural system of substances in foods will help replenish the body's need of essential nutrients, increasing its resistance to the harmful effects of the environment, prolong life. In this regard, there was a need for the development of production technology of protein complexes from wheat germ and then applying them in food, particularly in the dairy industry. Experimental studies were conducted to determine the number of herbal supplements on the sensory characteristics of the product. Studies have been conducted to determine the optimal process parameters of water activity and moisture content of the investigational product. 

Keywords: Wheat germ, sensory characteristics of the product, water activity.

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Authors: R. Krishnamoorthi, N. Kannan

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In this paper, a new algorithm for generating codebook is proposed for vector quantization (VQ) in image coding. The significant features of the training image vectors are extracted by using the proposed Orthogonal Polynomials based transformation. We propose to generate the codebook by partitioning these feature vectors into a binary tree. Each feature vector at a non-terminal node of the binary tree is directed to one of the two descendants by comparing a single feature associated with that node to a threshold. The binary tree codebook is used for encoding and decoding the feature vectors. In the decoding process the feature vectors are subjected to inverse transformation with the help of basis functions of the proposed Orthogonal Polynomials based transformation to get back the approximated input image training vectors. The results of the proposed coding are compared with the VQ using Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Pairwise Nearest Neighbor (PNN) algorithm. The new algorithm results in a considerable reduction in computation time and provides better reconstructed picture quality.

Keywords: Orthogonal Polynomials, Image Coding, Vector Quantization, TSVQ, Binary Tree Classifier

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Authors: M. Top, H. Telli

Abstract:

Plaster material has been a preferred material especially in the Middle East geography in terms of economy, easy process and thermal insulation since very old times. However, due to the unstable nature of the material, very little has been reached today. For this reason, both finds and studies about stucco ornamentation are very few. In this study, the excavated plasterwork finds used in the architectural ornamentation in the Hosap Castle (Van/Turkey) were considered worth examining since they are rare examples. The stucco relief finds that were found in the castle is discussed. The finds of engraved artifacts on the plasterworks were not addressed. Only the pieces found in Area II and Area III (harem) and surrounding during the cleaning and excavation work carried out at Hosap Kalesi between 2007-2015, will be discussed. This is a general assessment about the finds. It is unknown where many of the pieces found. For this reason, only general appraisal was able to done. Most of the parts are made of mold technique. The motifs on the fragments are similar to the motifs of Ottoman period tiles. Parallel to the settlement history of the castle, thought that these plaster pieces belong to the 16th-17th centuries.

Keywords: Stucco decoration, Eastern Anatolia, Ottoman motifs, ornamentation, plasterwork.

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Authors: Idris Elfeituri

Abstract:

In the current study, energy and exergy analysis of a 65 MW steam power plant was carried out. This study investigated the effect of variations of overall conductance of the super heater on the performance of an existing steam power plant located in Derna, Libya. The performance of the power plant was estimated by a mathematical modelling which considers the off-design operating conditions of each component. A fully interactive computer program based on the mass, energy and exergy balance equations has been developed. The maximum exergy destruction has been found in the steam generation unit. A 50% reduction in the design value of overall conductance of the super heater has been achieved, which accordingly decreases the amount of the net electrical power that would be generated by at least 13 MW, as well as the overall plant exergy efficiency by at least 6.4%, and at the same time that would cause an increase of the total exergy destruction by at least 14 MW. The achieved results showed that the super heater design and operating conditions play an important role on the thermodynamics performance and the fuel utilization of the power plant. Moreover, these considerations are very useful in the process of the decision that should be taken at the occasions of deciding whether to replace or renovate the super heater of the power plant.

Keywords: Exergy, super-heater, fouling, steam power plant, off-design.

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Authors: Ran Zhao, Zhi-liang Dong, You-yuan Wang, Lin-wang Su

Abstract:

In order to study pressed pile test and ultimate bearing capacity character of large-diameter steel pipe pile, based on two high-piled wharfs of Zhanjiang Port, pressed pile test and numerical simulation of three large-diameter steel pipe piles are analyzed in this paper. Anchored pile method is used to pressed pile test, and the curves of Q-s and ultimate bearing capacity are attained. Then the three piles are numerically simulated by ABAQUS, and results of numerical simulation and those of field test are comparatively analyzed. The results show that settlement value of numerical simulation is larger than that of field test in the process of loading, the difference value is widening with the increasing of load, and the ultimate difference value of settlement is 20% to 30%.

Keywords: Large-diameter steel pipe pile, field test, finite element analysis, comparative analysis.

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Authors: Toby Gibbs, Glen Craigie, Suwaree Yordchim

Abstract:

The Speexx results revealed four main factors affecting the success of 190 Thai sophomores as follows: 1) Future English training should be pursued in applied Speexx development. 2) Thai students didn’t see the benefit of having an Online Language Training Program. 3) There is a great need to educate the next generation of learners on the benefits of Speexx within the community. 4) A great majority of Thai Sophomores didn't know what Speexx was. A guideline for self-reliance planning consisted of four aspects: 1) Development planning: by arranging groups to further improve English abilities with the Speexx Language Training program and encourage using Speexx into every day practice. Local communities need to develop awareness of the usefulness of Speexx and share the value of using the program among family and friends. 2) Humanities and Social Science staff should develop skills using this Online Language Training Program to expand on the benefits of Speexx within their departments. 3) Further research should be pursued on the Thai Students progression with Speexx and how it helps them improve their language skills with Business English. 4) University’s and Language centers should focus on using Speexx to encourage learning for any language, not just English.

Keywords: Ability, Comprehension, Sophomore, Speexx.

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Authors: Parviz Fattahi

Abstract:

Scheduling for the flexible job shop is very important in both fields of production management and combinatorial optimization. However, it quit difficult to achieve an optimal solution to this problem with traditional optimization approaches owing to the high computational complexity. The combining of several optimization criteria induces additional complexity and new problems. In this paper, a Pareto approach to solve the multi objective flexible job shop scheduling problems is proposed. The objectives considered are to minimize the overall completion time (makespan) and total weighted tardiness (TWT). An effective simulated annealing algorithm based on the proposed approach is presented to solve multi objective flexible job shop scheduling problem. An external memory of non-dominated solutions is considered to save and update the non-dominated solutions during the solution process. Numerical examples are used to evaluate and study the performance of the proposed algorithm. The proposed algorithm can be applied easily in real factory conditions and for large size problems. It should thus be useful to both practitioners and researchers.

Keywords: Flexible job shop, Scheduling, Hierarchical approach, simulated annealing, tabu search, multi objective.

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Authors: Khaled Ramadan Elbeydi

Abstract:

This study is carried out to provide an insight into the analysis of the impact of selected macro-economic variables on gross fixed capital formation in Libya using annual data over the period (1970-2010). The importance of this study comes from the ability to show the relative important factors that impact the Libyan gross fixed capital formation. This understanding would give indications to decision makers on which policy they must focus to stimulate the economy. An Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) modeling process is employed to investigate the impact of the Gross Domestic Product, Monetary Base and Trade Openness on Gross Fixed Capital Formation in Libya. The results of this study reveal that there is an equilibrium relationship between capital formation and its determinants. The results also indicate that GDP and trade openness largely explain the pattern of capital formation in Libya. The findings and recommendations provide vital information relevant for policy formulation and implementation aimed to improve capital formation in Libya.

Keywords: ARDL, Bounds test, capital formation, Cointegration, Libya.

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Authors: Dr. L.K. Singh, Dr. R. M. L, Riktesh Srivastava

Abstract:

How to efficiently assign system resource to route the Client demand by Gateway servers is a tricky predicament. In this paper, we tender an enhanced proposal for autonomous recital of Gateway servers under highly vibrant traffic loads. We devise a methodology to calculate Queue Length and Waiting Time utilizing Gateway Server information to reduce response time variance in presence of bursty traffic. The most widespread contemplation is performance, because Gateway Servers must offer cost-effective and high-availability services in the elongated period, thus they have to be scaled to meet the expected load. Performance measurements can be the base for performance modeling and prediction. With the help of performance models, the performance metrics (like buffer estimation, waiting time) can be determined at the development process. This paper describes the possible queue models those can be applied in the estimation of queue length to estimate the final value of the memory size. Both simulation and experimental studies using synthesized workloads and analysis of real-world Gateway Servers demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system.

Keywords: Gateway Server, G/M/1 Queuing Model.

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Authors: N. Poorang

Abstract:

In order to respond the human needs, all regional, social, and economical factors are available to gain residents’ comfort and ideal architecture. There is no doubt the thermal comfort has to satisfy people not only for daily and physical activities but also creating pleasant area for mental activities and relaxing. It costs energy and increases greenhouse gas emissions.

Reducing energy use in buildings is a critical component of meeting carbon reduction commitments. Hence housing design represents a major opportunity to cut energy use and CO₂ emissions.

In terms of energy efficiency, it is vital to propose and research modern design methods for buildings however vernacular architecture techniques are proven empirical existing practices which have to be considered. This research tries to compare two architectural solution were proposed by Persian vernacular architecture, to achieve energy efficiency in hot areas.

The aim of this research is to analyze two forms of traditional Persian architecture in different locations in order to develop a systematic research and sustainable technologies on adaptation to contemporary living standards.

Keywords: Comparative Analysis, Persian Vernacular Architecture, Sustainable architecture.

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Authors: Mamoun Sqali, Mohamed Wassim Trojet

Abstract:

The requirements analysis, modeling, and simulation have consistently been one of the main challenges during the development of complex systems. The scenarios and the state machines are two successful models to describe the behavior of an interactive system. The scenarios represent examples of system execution in the form of sequences of messages exchanged between objects and are a partial view of the system. In contrast, state machines can represent the overall system behavior. The automation of processing scenarios in the state machines provide some answers to various problems such as system behavior validation and scenarios consistency checking. In this paper, we propose a method for translating scenarios in state machines represented by Discreet EVent Specification and procedure to detect implied scenarios. Each induced DEVS model represents the behavior of an object of the system. The global system behavior is described by coupling the atomic DEVS models and validated through simulation. We improve the validation process with integrating formal methods to eliminate logical inconsistencies in the global model. For that end, we use the Z notation.

Keywords: Scenarios, DEVS, synthesis, validation and verification, simulation, formal verification, z notation.

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Authors: RajPal Garg, Kapil Sharma, Rajive Kumar, R. K. Garg

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This paper presents a computational methodology based on matrix operations for a computer based solution to the problem of performance analysis of software reliability models (SRMs). A set of seven comparison criteria have been formulated to rank various non-homogenous Poisson process software reliability models proposed during the past 30 years to estimate software reliability measures such as the number of remaining faults, software failure rate, and software reliability. Selection of optimal SRM for use in a particular case has been an area of interest for researchers in the field of software reliability. Tools and techniques for software reliability model selection found in the literature cannot be used with high level of confidence as they use a limited number of model selection criteria. A real data set of middle size software project from published papers has been used for demonstration of matrix method. The result of this study will be a ranking of SRMs based on the Permanent value of the criteria matrix formed for each model based on the comparison criteria. The software reliability model with highest value of the Permanent is ranked at number – 1 and so on.

Keywords: Matrix method, Model ranking, Model selection, Model selection criteria, Software reliability models.

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Authors: Haoyu Ma, Bin Hu, Mike Jackson, Jingzhi Yan, Wen Zhao

Abstract:

In this paper we propose a new classification method for automatic sleep scoring using an artificial neural network based decision tree. It attempts to treat sleep scoring progress as a series of two-class problems and solves them with a decision tree made up of a group of neural network classifiers, each of which uses a special feature set and is aimed at only one specific sleep stage in order to maximize the classification effect. A single electroencephalogram (EEG) signal is used for our analysis rather than depending on multiple biological signals, which makes greatly simplifies the data acquisition process. Experimental results demonstrate that the average epoch by epoch agreement between the visual and the proposed method in separating 30s wakefulness+S1, REM, S2 and SWS epochs was 88.83%. This study shows that the proposed method performed well in all the four stages, and can effectively limit error propagation at the same time. It could, therefore, be an efficient method for automatic sleep scoring. Additionally, since it requires only a small volume of data it could be suited to pervasive applications.

Keywords: Sleep, Sleep stage, Automatic sleep scoring, Electroencephalography, Decision tree, Artificial neural network

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