Search results for: Financial Decision Support Systems
6601 An Intelligent Scheme Switching for MIMO Systems Using Fuzzy Logic Technique
Authors: Robert O. Abolade, Olumide O. Ajayi, Zacheaus K. Adeyemo, Solomon A. Adeniran
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Link adaptation is an important strategy for achieving robust wireless multimedia communications based on quality of service (QoS) demand. Scheme switching in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems is an aspect of link adaptation, and it involves selecting among different MIMO transmission schemes or modes so as to adapt to the varying radio channel conditions for the purpose of achieving QoS delivery. However, finding the most appropriate switching method in MIMO links is still a challenge as existing methods are either computationally complex or not always accurate. This paper presents an intelligent switching method for the MIMO system consisting of two schemes - transmit diversity (TD) and spatial multiplexing (SM) - using fuzzy logic technique. In this method, two channel quality indicators (CQI) namely average received signal-to-noise ratio (RSNR) and received signal strength indicator (RSSI) are measured and are passed as inputs to the fuzzy logic system which then gives a decision – an inference. The switching decision of the fuzzy logic system is fed back to the transmitter to switch between the TD and SM schemes. Simulation results show that the proposed fuzzy logic – based switching technique outperforms conventional static switching technique in terms of bit error rate and spectral efficiency.Keywords: Channel quality indicator, fuzzy logic, link adaptation, MIMO, spatial multiplexing, transmit diversity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7326600 Young People’s Participation in Decision-Making Using Information and Communication Technology
Authors: Marina Diković
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By giving personal opinions, suggestions and criticism through e-democracy, young people can reinforce the adoption of decisions which they have an impact on. The purpose of this research was to examine the opinion of university students about the possibility of their decision-making by using information and communication technology (ICT). The questionnaire examined young people's values and behaviour associated with e-democracy and the related decision-making. Students are most active online when it comes to finding information connected with their academic responsibilities, but less frequently take part in democratic processes in society, both at the national and local level. E-democracy as a tool can be learned in programmes of Human Rights Education and Citizenship Education.
Keywords: Active citizens, e-democracy, information and communication technology, university students.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17156599 Calcification Classification in Mammograms Using Decision Trees
Authors: S. Usha, S. Arumugam
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Cancer affects people globally with breast cancer being a leading killer. Breast cancer is due to the uncontrollable multiplication of cells resulting in a tumour or neoplasm. Tumours are called ‘benign’ when cancerous cells do not ravage other body tissues and ‘malignant’ if they do so. As mammography is an effective breast cancer detection tool at an early stage which is the most treatable stage it is the primary imaging modality for screening and diagnosis of this cancer type. This paper presents an automatic mammogram classification technique using wavelet and Gabor filter. Correlation feature selection is used to reduce the feature set and selected features are classified using different decision trees.
Keywords: Breast Cancer, Mammogram, Symlet Wavelets, Gabor Filters, Decision Trees
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17516598 Fuzzy Group Decision Making for the Assessment of Health-Care Waste Disposal Alternatives in Istanbul
Authors: Mehtap Dursun, E. Ertugrul Karsak, Melis Almula Karadayi
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Disposal of health-care waste (HCW) is considered as an important environmental problem especially in large cities. Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques are apt to deal with quantitative and qualitative considerations of the health-care waste management (HCWM) problems. This research proposes a fuzzy multi-criteria group decision making approach with a multilevel hierarchical structure including qualitative as well as quantitative performance attributes for evaluating HCW disposal alternatives for Istanbul. Using the entropy weighting method, objective weights as well as subjective weights are taken into account to determine the importance weighting of quantitative performance attributes. The results obtained using the proposed methodology are thoroughly analyzed.Keywords: Entropy weighting method, group decision making, health-care waste management, hierarchical fuzzy multi-criteriadecision making
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16876597 Sustainable Maintenance Model for Infrastructure in Egypt
Authors: S. Hasan, I. Beshara
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Infrastructure maintenance is a great challenge facing sustainable development of infrastructure assets due to the high cost of passive implementation of a sustainable maintenance plan. An assessment model of sustainable maintenance for highway infrastructure projects in Egypt is developed in this paper. It helps in improving the implementation of sustainable maintenance criteria. Thus, this paper has applied the analytical hierarchy processes (AHP) to rank and explore the weight of 26 assessment indicators using three hierarchy levels containing the main sustainable categories and subcategories with related indicators. Overall combined weight of each indicator for sustainable maintenance evaluation has been calculated to sum up to a sustainable maintenance performance index (SMI). The results show that the factor "Preventive maintenance cost" has the highest relative contribution factor among others (13.5%), while two factors of environmental performance have the least weights (0.7%). The developed model aims to provide decision makers with information about current maintenance performance and support them in the decision-making process regarding future directions of maintenance activities. It can be used as an assessment performance tool during the operation and maintenance stage. The developed indicators can be considered during designing the maintenance plan. Practices for successful implementation of the model are also presented.
Keywords: Analytical Hierarchy Process, AHP, assessment performance model, KPIs for sustainable maintenance, sustainable maintenance index.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5886596 Tools and Techniques in Risk Assessment in Public Risk Management Organisations
Authors: Atousa Khodadadyan, Gabe Mythen, Hirbod Assa, Beverley Bishop
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Risk assessment and the knowledge provided through this process is a crucial part of any decision-making process in the management of risks and uncertainties. Failure in assessment of risks can cause inadequacy in the entire process of risk management, which in turn can lead to failure in achieving organisational objectives as well as having significant damaging consequences on populations affected by the potential risks being assessed. The choice of tools and techniques in risk assessment can influence the degree and scope of decision-making and subsequently the risk response strategy. There are various available qualitative and quantitative tools and techniques that are deployed within the broad process of risk assessment. The sheer diversity of tools and techniques available to practitioners makes it difficult for organisations to consistently employ the most appropriate methods. This tools and techniques adaptation is rendered more difficult in public risk regulation organisations due to the sensitive and complex nature of their activities. This is particularly the case in areas relating to the environment, food, and human health and safety, when organisational goals are tied up with societal, political and individuals’ goals at national and international levels. Hence, recognising, analysing and evaluating different decision support tools and techniques employed in assessing risks in public risk management organisations was considered. This research is part of a mixed method study which aimed to examine the perception of risk assessment and the extent to which organisations practise risk assessment’ tools and techniques. The study adopted a semi-structured questionnaire with qualitative and quantitative data analysis to include a range of public risk regulation organisations from the UK, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The results indicated the public risk management organisations mainly use diverse tools and techniques in the risk assessment process. The primary hazard analysis; brainstorming; hazard analysis and critical control points were described as the most practiced risk identification techniques. Within qualitative and quantitative risk analysis, the participants named the expert judgement, risk probability and impact assessment, sensitivity analysis and data gathering and representation as the most practised techniques.
Keywords: Decision-making, public risk management organisations, risk assessment, tools and techniques.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16456595 Sovereign Credit Risk Measures
Authors: Kristýna Pokorná, Petr Teplý
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This paper focuses on sovereign credit risk meaning a hot topic related to the current Eurozone crisis. In the light of the recent financial crisis, market perception of the creditworthiness of individual sovereigns has changed significantly. Before the outbreak of the financial crisis, market participants did not differentiate between credit risk born by individual states despite different levels of public indebtedness. In the proceeding of the financial crisis, the market participants became aware of the worsening fiscal situation in the European countries and started to discriminate among government issuers. Concerns about the increasing sovereign risk were reflected in surging sovereign risk premium. The main of this paper is to shed light on the characteristics of the sovereign risk with the special attention paid to the mutual relation between credit spread and the CDS premium as the main measures of the sovereign risk premium.Keywords: cointegration, credit default swap, credit risk, credit spread, sovereign risk
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19546594 The Psychological Contract and the Readiness to Verbalize It in Financial Institutions in Poland
Authors: Anna Rogozińska-Pawełczyk
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A psychological contract is an agreement between the employer and an employee that covers the parties’ informal and frequently non-verbalized obligations and expectations towards each other. The contract is a cognitive pattern-governing employee’s behaviour in the organization. A gap between employee’s expectations and the organizational reality may lead to difficult-to-solve conflicts or cause the employee to modify their behaviour towards organizational values and goals, if they are willing and ready to verbalize their expectations. The article discusses psychological contracts in the financial institutions in Poland. Its theoretical part outlines the types of psychological contracts in organizations (relational, transactional, and balanced) and shows the process of their verbalization. The purpose of the article is to present how the type of the psychological contract relates to employee’s readiness to verbalize it. The article ends with conclusions arising from the study.Keywords: Customer contact staff in banks, employee expectations, financial institutions, mutual expectations, psychological contract, verbalization of the psychological contract.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17886593 Small Businesses' Decision to have a Website Saudi Arabia Case Study
Authors: M. Al-hawari, H. AL–Yamani, B. Izwawa
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Recognizing the increasing importance of using the Internet to conduct business, this paper looks at some related matters associated with small businesses making a decision of whether or not to have a Website and go online. Small businesses in Saudi Arabia struggle to have this decision. For organizations, to fully go online, conduct business and provide online information services, they need to connect their database to the Web. Some issues related to doing that might be beyond the capabilities of most small businesses in Saudi Arabia, such as Website management, technical issues and security concerns. Here we focus on a small business firm in Saudi Arabia (Case Study), discussing the issues related to going online decision and the firm's options of what to do and how to do it. The paper suggested some valuable solutions of connecting databases to the Web. It also discusses some of the important issues related to online information services and e-commerce, mainly Web hosting options and security issues.Keywords: E-Commerce, Saudi Arabia, Small business, Webdatabase connection, Web hosting, World Wide Web (Web).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19696592 Hybrid Modeling and Optimal Control of a Two-Tank System as a Switched System
Authors: H. Mahboubi, B. Moshiri, A. Khaki Seddigh
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In the past decade, because of wide applications of hybrid systems, many researchers have considered modeling and control of these systems. Since switching systems constitute an important class of hybrid systems, in this paper a method for optimal control of linear switching systems is described. The method is also applied on the two-tank system which is a much appropriate system to analyze different modeling and control techniques of hybrid systems. Simulation results show that, in this method, the goals of control and also problem constraints can be satisfied by an appropriate selection of cost function.Keywords: Hybrid systems, optimal control, switched systems, two-tank system
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22396591 In Search of High Growth: Mapping out Academic Spin-Off´s Performance in Catalonia
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This exploratory study gives an overview of the evolution of the main financial and performance indicators of the Academic Spin-Off’s and High Growth Academic Spin-Off’s in year 3 and year 6 after its creation in the region of Catalonia in Spain. The study compares and evaluates results of these different measures of performance and the degree of success of these companies for each University. We found that the average Catalonian Academic Spin-Off is small and have not achieved the sustainability stage at year 6. On the contrary, a small group of High Growth Academic Spin-Off’s exhibits robust performance with high profits in year 6. Our results support the need to increase selectivity and support for these companies especially near year 3, because are the ones that will bring wealth and employment. University role as an investor has rigid norms and habits that impede an efficient economic return from their ASO investment. Universities with high performance on sales and employment in year 3 not always could sustain this growth in year 6 because their ASO’s are not profitable. On the contrary, profitable ASO exhibit superior performance in all measurement indicators in year 6. We advocate the need of a balanced growth (with profits) as a way to obtain subsequent continuous growth.
Keywords: Academic Spin-Off (ASO), University Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial University, high growth, New Technology Based Companies (NTBC), University Spin-Off.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19716590 Collaborative Design System based on Object- Oriented Modeling of Supply Chain Simulation: A Case Study of Thai Jewelry Industry
Authors: Somlak Wannarumon, Apichai Ritvirool, Thana Boonrit
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The paper proposes a new concept in developing collaborative design system. The concept framework involves applying simulation of supply chain management to collaborative design called – 'SCM–Based Design Tool'. The system is developed particularly to support design activities and to integrate all facilities together. The system is aimed to increase design productivity and creativity. Therefore, designers and customers can collaborate by the system since conceptual design. JAG: Jewelry Art Generator based on artificial intelligence techniques is integrated into the system. Moreover, the proposed system can support users as decision tool and data propagation. The system covers since raw material supply until product delivery. Data management and sharing information are visually supported to designers and customers via user interface. The system is developed on Web–assisted product development environment. The prototype system is presented for Thai jewelry industry as a system prototype demonstration, but applicable for other industry.Keywords: Collaborative design, evolutionary art, jewelry design, supply chain management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17436589 Collaborative Design System based on Object-Oriented Modeling of Supply Chain Simulation: A Case Study of Thai Jewelry Industry
Authors: Somlak Wannarumon, Apichai Ritvirool, Thana Boonrit
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The paper proposes a new concept in developing collaborative design system. The concept framework involves applying simulation of supply chain management to collaborative design called – 'SCM–Based Design Tool'. The system is developed particularly to support design activities and to integrate all facilities together. The system is aimed to increase design productivity and creativity. Therefore, designers and customers can collaborate by the system since conceptual design. JAG: Jewelry Art Generator based on artificial intelligence techniques is integrated into the system. Moreover, the proposed system can support users as decision tool and data propagation. The system covers since raw material supply until product delivery. Data management and sharing information are visually supported to designers and customers via user interface. The system is developed on Web–assisted product development environment. The prototype system is presented for Thai jewelry industry as a system prototype demonstration, but applicable for other industry.Keywords: Collaborative design, evolutionary art, jewelry design, supply chain management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15416588 Comparative Study of Decision Trees and Rough Sets Theory as Knowledge ExtractionTools for Design and Control of Industrial Processes
Authors: Marcin Perzyk, Artur Soroczynski
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General requirements for knowledge representation in the form of logic rules, applicable to design and control of industrial processes, are formulated. Characteristic behavior of decision trees (DTs) and rough sets theory (RST) in rules extraction from recorded data is discussed and illustrated with simple examples. The significance of the models- drawbacks was evaluated, using simulated and industrial data sets. It is concluded that performance of DTs may be considerably poorer in several important aspects, compared to RST, particularly when not only a characterization of a problem is required, but also detailed and precise rules are needed, according to actual, specific problems to be solved.Keywords: Knowledge extraction, decision trees, rough setstheory, industrial processes.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16336587 The Impact of Local Decision-Making in Regional Development Schemes on the Achievement of Efficiency in EU Funds
Authors: Kuyucu Helvacioglu Asli Deniz, Tektas Arzu
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European Union candidate status provides a strong motivation for decision-making in the candidate countries in shaping the regional development policy where there is an envisioned transfer of power from center to the periphery. The process of Europeanization anticipates the candidate countries configure their regional institutional templates in the context of the requirements of the European Union policies and introduces new instruments of incentive framework of enlargement to be employed in regional development schemes. It is observed that the contribution of the local actors to the decision making in the design of the allocation architectures enhances the efficiency of the funds and increases the positive effects of the projects funded under the regional development objectives. This study aims at exploring the performances of the three regional development grant schemes in Turkey, established and allocated under the pre-accession process with a special emphasis given to the roles of the national and local actors in decision-making for regional development. Efficiency analyses have been conducted using the DEA methodology which has proved to be a superior method in comparative efficiency and benchmarking measurements. The findings of this study as parallel to similar international studies, provides that the participation of the local actors to the decision-making in funding contributes both to the quality and the efficiency of the projects funded under the EU schemes.Keywords: Efficiency, European Union Funds, RegionalDevelopment, Turkey
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16436586 AGENTMAP: A Conceptual Meta-Model of Interacting Simulations
Authors: Thomas M. Prinz Wilhelm R. Rossak, Kai Gebhardt
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A straightforward and intuitive combination of single simulations into an aggregated master-simulation is not trivial. There are lots of problems, which trigger-specific difficulties during the modeling and execution of such a simulation. In this paper we identify these problems and aim to solve them by mapping the task to the field of multi agent systems. The solution is a new meta-model named AGENTMAP, which is able to mitigate most of the problems and to support intuitive modeling at the same time. This meta-model will be introduced and explained on basis of an example from the e-commerce domain.
Keywords: Multi Agent System, Agent-based Simulation, Distributed Systems, Meta-models.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18786585 A Survey of Various Algorithms for Vlsi Physical Design
Authors: Rajine Swetha R, B. Shekar Babu, Sumithra Devi K.A
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Electronic Systems are the core of everyday lives. They form an integral part in financial networks, mass transit, telephone systems, power plants and personal computers. Electronic systems are increasingly based on complex VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) integrated circuits. Initial electronic design automation is concerned with the design and production of VLSI systems. The next important step in creating a VLSI circuit is Physical Design. The input to the physical design is a logical representation of the system under design. The output of this step is the layout of a physical package that optimally or near optimally realizes the logical representation. Physical design problems are combinatorial in nature and of large problem sizes. Darwin observed that, as variations are introduced into a population with each new generation, the less-fit individuals tend to extinct in the competition of basic necessities. This survival of fittest principle leads to evolution in species. The objective of the Genetic Algorithms (GA) is to find an optimal solution to a problem .Since GA-s are heuristic procedures that can function as optimizers, they are not guaranteed to find the optimum, but are able to find acceptable solutions for a wide range of problems. This survey paper aims at a study on Efficient Algorithms for VLSI Physical design and observes the common traits of the superior contributions.Keywords: Genetic Algorithms, Physical Design, VLSI.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17406584 Joint Use of Factor Analysis (FA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for Ranking of Data Envelopment Analysis
Authors: Reza Nadimi, Fariborz Jolai
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This article combines two techniques: data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Factor analysis (FA) to data reduction in decision making units (DMU). Data envelopment analysis (DEA), a popular linear programming technique is useful to rate comparatively operational efficiency of decision making units (DMU) based on their deterministic (not necessarily stochastic) input–output data and factor analysis techniques, have been proposed as data reduction and classification technique, which can be applied in data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique for reduction input – output data. Numerical results reveal that the new approach shows a good consistency in ranking with DEA.Keywords: Effectiveness, Decision Making, Data EnvelopmentAnalysis, Factor Analysis
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24256583 Eclectic Rule-Extraction from Support Vector Machines
Authors: Nahla Barakat, Joachim Diederich
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Support vector machines (SVMs) have shown superior performance compared to other machine learning techniques, especially in classification problems. Yet one limitation of SVMs is the lack of an explanation capability which is crucial in some applications, e.g. in the medical and security domains. In this paper, a novel approach for eclectic rule-extraction from support vector machines is presented. This approach utilizes the knowledge acquired by the SVM and represented in its support vectors as well as the parameters associated with them. The approach includes three stages; training, propositional rule-extraction and rule quality evaluation. Results from four different experiments have demonstrated the value of the approach for extracting comprehensible rules of high accuracy and fidelity.Keywords: Data mining, hybrid rule-extraction algorithms, medical diagnosis, SVMs
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17086582 Using Critical Systems Thinking to Improve Student Performance in Networking
Authors: Albertus G. Joubert, Roelien Goede
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This paper explores how Critical Systems Thinking and Action Research can be used to improve student performance in Networking. When describing a system from a systems thinking perspective, the following aspects can be identified: the total system performance, the systems environment, the resources, the components and the management of the system. Following the history of system thinking we observe three emerged methodologies namely, hard systems, soft systems, and critical systems. This paper uses Critical Systems Thinking (CST) which describes systems in terms of contradictions and conflict. It demonstrates how CST can be used in an Action Research (AR) project to improve the performance of students. Intervention in terms of student assessment is discussed and the impact of the intervention is discussed.
Keywords: Action research, computer networks, critical systems thinking, higher education.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27046581 Decision Trees for Predicting Risk of Mortality using Routinely Collected Data
Authors: Tessy Badriyah, Jim S. Briggs, Dave R. Prytherch
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It is well known that Logistic Regression is the gold standard method for predicting clinical outcome, especially predicting risk of mortality. In this paper, the Decision Tree method has been proposed to solve specific problems that commonly use Logistic Regression as a solution. The Biochemistry and Haematology Outcome Model (BHOM) dataset obtained from Portsmouth NHS Hospital from 1 January to 31 December 2001 was divided into four subsets. One subset of training data was used to generate a model, and the model obtained was then applied to three testing datasets. The performance of each model from both methods was then compared using calibration (the χ2 test or chi-test) and discrimination (area under ROC curve or c-index). The experiment presented that both methods have reasonable results in the case of the c-index. However, in some cases the calibration value (χ2) obtained quite a high result. After conducting experiments and investigating the advantages and disadvantages of each method, we can conclude that Decision Trees can be seen as a worthy alternative to Logistic Regression in the area of Data Mining.Keywords: Decision Trees, Logistic Regression, clinical outcome, risk of mortality.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25236580 Integration Methods and Processes of Product Design and Flexible Production for Direct Production within the iCIM 3000 System
Authors: Roman Ružarovský, Radovan Holubek, Daynier Rolando Delgado Sobrino
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Currently is characterized production engineering together with the integration of industrial automation and robotics such very quick view of to manufacture the products. The production range is continuously changing, expanding and producers have to be flexible in this regard. It means that need to offer production possibilities, which can respond to the quick change. Engineering product development is focused on supporting CAD software, such systems are mainly used for product design. That manufacturers are competitive, it should be kept procured machines made available capable of responding to output flexibility. In response to that problem is the development of flexible manufacturing systems, consisting of various automated systems. The integration of flexible manufacturing systems and subunits together with product design and of engineering is a possible solution for this issue. Integration is possible through the implementation of CIM systems. Such a solution and finding a hyphen between CAD and procurement system ICIM 3000 from Festo Co. is engaged in the research project and this contribution. This can be designed the products in CAD systems and watch the manufacturing process from order to shipping by the development of methods and processes of integration, This can be modeled in CAD systems products and watch the manufacturing process from order to shipping to develop methods and processes of integration, which will improve support for product design parameters by monitoring of the production process, by creating of programs for production using the CAD and therefore accelerates the a total of process from design to implementation.
Keywords: CAD- Computer Aided Design, CAM- Computer Aided Manufacturing, CIM- Computer integrated manufacturing, iCIM 3000, integration, direct production from CAD.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22996579 Using Seismic Base Isolation Systems in High-Rise Hospital Buildings and a Hybrid Proposal
Authors: E. Bakkaloğlu, N. Torunbalcı
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Earthquakes are inevitable natural disasters in Turkey. Therefore, buildings must be prepared for this natural hazard. Especially in hospital buildings, earthquake resistance is an essential point because hospitals are one of the first places where people come after earthquake. Although hospital buildings are more suitable for horizontal architecture, it is necessary to construct and expand multi-story hospital buildings due to difficulties in finding suitable places as a result of excessive urbanization, difficulties in obtaining appropriate size land and decrease in suitable places and increase in land values. In Turkey, using seismic isolators in public hospitals, which are placed in first degree earthquake zone and have more than 100 beds, is made obligatory by general instruction. As a result of this decision, it may sometimes be necessary to construct seismic isolated multi-story hospital buildings in cities where those problems are experienced. Although there is widespread use of seismic isolators in Japan, there are few multi-story buildings in which seismic isolators are used in Turkey. As it is known, base isolation systems are the most effective methods of earthquake resistance, as the number of floors increases, the center of gravity moves away from the base in multi-story buildings, increasing the overturning effect and limiting use of these systems. In this context, it is aimed to investigate structural systems of multi-story buildings which are built using seismic isolation methods in the world. In addition to this, a working principle is suggested for the disseminating seismic isolator used in multi-story hospital buildings. The results to be obtained from the study will guide architects who design multi-story hospital buildings in their architectural designs, and engineers in terms of structural system design.
Keywords: Earthquake, energy absorbing systems, hospital, seismic isolation systems.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 246578 Examination of Self and Decision Making Levels of Students Receiving Education in Schools of Physical Education and Sports
Authors: Mustafa Yildiz, Murat Tekin, Hasan Şahan, Ahmet Şahin, Mehmet Şaker, Buket Ulucan, Osman Mutlu
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The purpose of this study is to examine the self and decision making levels of students receiving education in schools of physical training and sports. The population of the study consisted 258 students, among which 152 were male and 106 were female ( X age=19,3713 + 1,6968), that received education in the schools of physical education and sports of Selcuk University, Inonu University, Gazi University and Karamanoglu Mehmetbey University. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnary developed by Mann et al. (1998) [1] and adapted to Turkish by Deniz (2004) [2] and the Self-Esteem Scale developed by Aricak (1999) [3] was utilized. For analyzing and interpreting data Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, t-test and one way anova test were used, while for determining the difference between the groups Tukey test and Multiple Linear Regression test were employed and significance was accepted at P<0,05. SPSS (Statistical package for social sciences) package software was used for evaluating the data and finding out the calculated values. In conclusion of the present study, while cautious, avoidant and postponing decision making levels of male students were found out to be higher than female students, panic decision making levels of female students were found out to be higher than that of male students. While cautious, avoidant and panicdriven decision making levels of the students attending to the first grade were found out to be higher than these of the fourth grades, for the students attending to the fourth grade influential decision making levels were found out to be higher. While male students were found out to be having relatively higher self value, self confidence and self sufficiency levels, for female students achieving, productivity and depressive affect were found out to be higher in comparison with male students. While self values, achieving and productivity levels of the students attending to the first grade were found out to be higher than those of fourth grade students, fourth grade students were determined to have higher self-confidence, depressive affection and self-sufficiency levels. It was also determined that there is a significant relation between decision making levels and self levels.Keywords: Physical Education And Sports, Student, Self, Decision Making
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23196577 Agent-Based Modeling of Power Systems Infrastructure Cyber Security
Authors: Raman Paranjape
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We present a new approach to evaluation of Cyber Security in Power Systems using the method of modeling the power systems Infrastructure using software agents. Interfaces between module and the home smart meter are recognized as the primary points of intrusion.
Keywords: Power Systems, Modeling and Simulation, Agent systems.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24496576 Extended Intuitionistic Fuzzy VIKOR Method in Group Decision Making: The Case of Vendor Selection Decision
Authors: Nastaran Hajiheydari, Mohammad Soltani Delgosha
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Vendor (supplier) selection is a group decision-making (GDM) process, in which, based on some predetermined criteria, the experts’ preferences are provided in order to rank and choose the most desirable suppliers. In the real business environment, our attitudes or our choices would be made in an uncertain and indecisive situation could not be expressed in a crisp framework. Intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs) could handle such situations in the best way. VIKOR method was developed to solve multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems. This method, which is used to determine the compromised feasible solution with respect to the conflicting criteria, introduces a multi-criteria ranking index based on the particular measure of 'closeness' to the 'ideal solution'. Until now, there has been a little investigation of VIKOR with IFS, therefore we extended the intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) VIKOR to solve vendor selection problem under IF GDM environment. The present study intends to develop an IF VIKOR method in a GDM situation. Therefore, a model is presented to calculate the criterion weights based on entropy measure. Then, the interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy weighted geometric (IFWG) operator utilized to obtain the total decision matrix. In the next stage, an approach based on the positive idle intuitionistic fuzzy number (PIIFN) and negative idle intuitionistic fuzzy number (NIIFN) was developed. Finally, the application of the proposed method to solve a vendor selection problem illustrated.
Keywords: Group decision making, intuitionistic fuzzy entropy measure, intuitionistic fuzzy set, vendor selection VIKOR.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7346575 Composite Programming for Electric Passenger Car Selection in Multiple Criteria Decision Making
Authors: C. Ardil
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This paper discusses the use of the composite programming method to identify the optimum electric passenger automobile in multiple criteria decision making. With the composite programming approach, a set of alternatives are compared using an optimality measure that gauges how far apart they are from the optimum solution. In this paper, some key factors (range, battery, engine, maximum speed, acceleration) that customers should consider while purchasing an electric passenger car for daily use are discussed. A numerical illustration is provided to demonstrate the validity and applicability of the proximity measure approach
Keywords: electric passenger car selection, multiple criteria decision making, proximity measure method, composite programming, entropic weight method
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3316574 A New Model to Perform Preliminary Evaluations of Complex Systems for the Production of Energy for Buildings: Case Study
Authors: Roberto de Lieto Vollaro, Emanuele de Lieto Vollaro, Gianluca Coltrinari
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The building sector is responsible, in many industrialized countries, for about 40% of the total energy requirements, so it seems necessary to devote some efforts in this area in order to achieve a significant reduction of energy consumption and of greenhouse gases emissions. The paper presents a study aiming at providing a design methodology able to identify the best configuration of the system building/plant, from a technical, economic and environmentally point of view. Normally, the classical approach involves a building's energy loads analysis under steady state conditions, and subsequent selection of measures aimed at improving the energy performance, based on previous experience made by architects and engineers in the design team. Instead, the proposed approach uses a sequence of two wellknown scientifically validated calculation methods (TRNSYS and RETScreen), that allow quite a detailed feasibility analysis. To assess the validity of the calculation model, an existing, historical building in Central Italy, that will be the object of restoration and preservative redevelopment, was selected as a casestudy. The building is made of a basement and three floors, with a total floor area of about 3,000 square meters. The first step has been the determination of the heating and cooling energy loads of the building in a dynamic regime by means, which allows simulating the real energy needs of the building in function of its use. Traditional methodologies, based as they are on steady-state conditions, cannot faithfully reproduce the effects of varying climatic conditions and of inertial properties of the structure. With this model is possible to obtain quite accurate and reliable results that allow identifying effective combinations building-HVAC system. The second step has consisted of using output data obtained as input to the calculation model, which enables to compare different system configurations from the energy, environmental and financial point of view, with an analysis of investment, and operation and maintenance costs, so allowing determining the economic benefit of possible interventions. The classical methodology often leads to the choice of conventional plant systems, while our calculation model provides a financial-economic assessment for innovative energy systems and low environmental impact. Computational analysis can help in the design phase, particularly in the case of complex structures with centralized plant systems, by comparing the data returned by the calculation model for different design options.
Keywords: Energy, Buildings, Systems, Evaluation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20296573 Government of Ghana’s Budget: An Assessment of Its Compliance with Fundamental Budgeting Principles
Authors: Mohammed Sani Abdulai
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Public sector budgeting, all over the world, is underpinned by some universally accepted principles of sound budget management such as budget unity, universality, annuality, and a balanced budget. These traditional principles, though fundamental, had, in recent years, been augmented by the more modern principles of budgeting within fiscal objective, alignment with medium-term strategic plans as well as the observance of such related concepts as transparency, openness and accessibility. In this paper, we have endeavored to shed light, from literature and practice, on the meaning and purposes of such fundamental budgeting principles. We have also assessed the extent to which the Government of Ghana’s budget complies with the four traditional principles of budget unity, universality, annuality, and a balanced budget and the three out of the ten modern principles of budgetary governance of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). We did so by using a qualitative method of review and analysis of existing documents and the performance assessment reports on Ghana’s Public Financial Management (PFM) measured using such frameworks as the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA), the Open Budget Survey (OBS) and its Index (OBI), the reports and action plans of Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT). Other performance assessment reports that were relied on included, but not limited to, the Joint Evaluation Report of PFM in Ghana, 2001-2010, and the Joint Evaluation of Budget Support to Ghana, 2005-2015. We have, through this paper, brought to the fore the lessons that could be learned on how those budgetary principles undergird the Government of Ghana’s budget formulation, execution, accounting, control, and oversight. These lessons include, but are not limited to, the need for both scholars and practitioners in the PFM space to be aware of the impact of those principles on public sector budgeting.
Keywords: Annulaity, Balanced Budget, Budget Unity, Budgetary Principles, OECD’s Principles on Budgetary Governance, Open Budget Index, Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability, Universality.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6596572 Improved Data Warehousing: Lessons Learnt from the Systems Approach
Authors: Roelien Goede
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Data warehousing success is not high enough. User dissatisfaction and failure to adhere to time frames and budgets are too common. Most traditional information systems practices are rooted in hard systems thinking. Today, the great systems thinkers are forgotten by information systems developers. A data warehouse is still a system and it is worth investigating whether systems thinkers such as Churchman can enhance our practices today. This paper investigates data warehouse development practices from a systems thinking perspective. An empirical investigation is done in order to understand the everyday practices of data warehousing professionals from a systems perspective. The paper presents a model for the application of Churchman-s systems approach in data warehouse development.Keywords: Data warehouse development, Information systemsdevelopment, Interpretive case study, Systems thinking
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1596