Search results for: Resource identity
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 983

Search results for: Resource identity

293 Hydrogen Production from Dehydrogenation of Ethanol over Ag-Based Catalysts

Authors: S. Totong, K. Faungnawakij, N. Laosiripojana

Abstract:

The development of alternative energy is interesting in the present especially, hydrogen production because it is an important energy resource in the future. This paper studied the hydrogen production from catalytic dehydrogenation of ethanol through via low temperature (<500°C) reaction. Copper (Cu) and silver (Ag) supported on fumed silica (SiO2) were selected in the present work; in addition, bimetallic material; Ag-Cu supported on SiO2 was also investigated. The catalysts were prepared by the incipient wetness impregnation method and characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR)and nitrogen adsorption measurements. The catalytic dehydrogenation of ethanol was carried out in a fixed bed continuous flow reactor at atmospheric pressure. The effect of reaction temperature between 300-375°C was studied in order to maximize the hydrogen yield. It was found that Ag-Cu/SiO2 exhibited the highest hydrogen yield compared to Ag/SiO2 and Cu/SiO2 at low reaction temperature (300°C) with full ethanol conversion. The highest hydrogen yield observed was 40% and will be further used as a reactant in fuel cells to generate electricity or feedstock of chemical production. 

Keywords: Catalyst, dehydrogenation, ethanol, hydrogen production.

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292 Prioritizing Service Quality Dimensions: A Neural Network Approach

Authors: A. Golmohammadi, B. Jahandideh

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One of the determinants of a firm-s prosperity is the customers- perceived service quality and satisfaction. While service quality is wide in scope, and consists of various dimensions, there may be differences in the relative importance of these dimensions in affecting customers- overall satisfaction of service quality. Identifying the relative rank of different dimensions of service quality is very important in that it can help managers to find out which service dimensions have a greater effect on customers- overall satisfaction. Such an insight will consequently lead to more effective resource allocation which will finally end in higher levels of customer satisfaction. This issue – despite its criticality- has not received enough attention so far. Therefore, using a sample of 240 bank customers in Iran, an artificial neural network is developed to address this gap in the literature. As customers- evaluation of service quality is a subjective process, artificial neural networks –as a brain metaphor- may appear to have a potentiality to model such a complicated process. Proposing a neural network which is able to predict the customers- overall satisfaction of service quality with a promising level of accuracy is the first contribution of this study. In addition, prioritizing the service quality dimensions in affecting customers- overall satisfaction –by using sensitivity analysis of neural network- is the second important finding of this paper.

Keywords: service quality, customer satisfaction, relative importance, artificial neural network.

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291 Project Complexity Indices based on Topology Features

Authors: Amer A. Boushaala

Abstract:

The heuristic decision rules used for project scheduling will vary depending upon the project-s size, complexity, duration, personnel, and owner requirements. The concept of project complexity has received little detailed attention. The need to differentiate between easy and hard problem instances and the interest in isolating the fundamental factors that determine the computing effort required by these procedures inspired a number of researchers to develop various complexity measures. In this study, the most common measures of project complexity are presented. A new measure of project complexity is developed. The main privilege of the proposed measure is that, it considers size, shape and logic characteristics, time characteristics, resource demands and availability characteristics as well as number of critical activities and critical paths. The degree of sensitivity of the proposed measure for complexity of project networks has been tested and evaluated against the other measures of complexity of the considered fifty project networks under consideration in the current study. The developed measure showed more sensitivity to the changes in the network data and gives accurate quantified results when comparing the complexities of networks.

Keywords: Activity networks, Complexity index, Networkcomplexity measure, Network topology, Project Network.

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290 Preparing Entrepreneurial Women: A Challenge for Indian Education System

Authors: Dinesh Khandujaa, Pardeep Kumar Sharma

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Education, as the most important resource in any country, has multiplying effects on all facets of development in a society. The new social realities, particularly the interplay between democratization of education; unprecedented developments in IT sector; emergence of knowledge society, liberalization of economy and globalization have greatly influenced the educational process of all nations. This turbulence entails upon education to undergo dramatic changes to keep up with the new expectations. Growth of entrepreneurship among Indian women is highly important for empowering them and this is highly essential for socio-economic development of a society. Unfortunately in India there is poor acceptance of entrepreneurship among women as unfounded myths and fears restrain them to be enterprising. To remove these inhibitions, education system needs to be re-engineered to make entrepreneurship more acceptable. This paper empirically analyses the results of a survey done on around 500 female graduates in North India to measure and evaluate various entrepreneurial traits present in them. A formative model has been devised in this context, which should improve the teaching-learning process in our education system, which can lead to sustainable growth of women entrepreneurship in India.

Keywords: Women Empowerment, Entrepreneurship, Education System, Women Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Development.

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289 Materialized View Effect on Query Performance

Authors: Yusuf Ziya Ayık, Ferhat Kahveci

Abstract:

Currently, database management systems have various tools such as backup and maintenance, and also provide statistical information such as resource usage and security. In terms of query performance, this paper covers query optimization, views, indexed tables, pre-computation materialized view, query performance analysis in which query plan alternatives can be created and the least costly one selected to optimize a query. Indexes and views can be created for related table columns. The literature review of this study showed that, in the course of time, despite the growing capabilities of the database management system, only database administrators are aware of the need for dealing with archival and transactional data types differently. These data may be constantly changing data used in everyday life, and also may be from the completed questionnaire whose data input was completed. For both types of data, the database uses its capabilities; but as shown in the findings section, instead of repeating similar heavy calculations which are carrying out same results with the same query over a survey results, using materialized view results can be in a more simple way. In this study, this performance difference was observed quantitatively considering the cost of the query.

Keywords: Materialized view, pre-computation, query cost, query performance.

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288 Adaptive Image Transmission with P-V Diversity in Multihop Wireless Mesh Networks

Authors: Wei Wang, Dongming Peng, Honggang Wang, Hamid Sharif

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Multirate multimedia delivery applications in multihop Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) are data redundant and delay-sensitive, which brings a lot of challenges for designing efficient transmission systems. In this paper, we propose a new cross layer resource allocation scheme to minimize the receiver side distortion within the delay bound requirements, by exploring application layer Position and Value (P-V) diversity as well as the multihop Effective Capacity (EC). We specifically consider image transmission optimization here. First of all, the maximum supportable source traffic rate is identified by exploring the multihop Effective Capacity (EC) model. Furthermore, the optimal source coding rate is selected according to the P-V diversity of multirate media streaming, which significantly increases the decoded media quality. Simulation results show the proposed approach improved media quality significantly compared with traditional approaches under the same QoS requirements.

Keywords: Multirate Multimedia Streaming, Effective CapacityMultihop Wireless Mesh Network

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287 Evaluation of an Offshore Wind Power Project: Economic, Strategic and Environmental Value

Authors: Paula Ferreira, Filipa Vieira

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The use of wind energy for electricity generation is growing rapidly across the world and in Portugal. However, the geographical characteristics of the country along with the average wind regime and with the environmental restrictions imposed to these projects create limitations to the exploit of the onshore wind resource. The best onshore wind spots are already committed and the possibility of offshore wind farms in the Portuguese cost is now being considered. This paper aims to make a contribution to the evaluation of offshore wind power projects in Portugal. The technical restrictions are addressed and the strategic, environmental and financial interest of the project is analysed from the private company and public points of view. The results suggest that additional support schemes are required to ensure private investors interest for these projects. Assuming an approach of direct substitution of energy sources for electricity generation, the avoided CO2 equivalent emissions for an offshore wind power project were quantified. Based on the conclusions, future research is proposed to address the environmental and social impacts of these projects.

Keywords: Feed-in tariff, offshore wind power, project evaluation.

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286 An Evaluation of Software Connection Methods for Heterogeneous Sensor Networks

Authors: M. Hammerton, J. Trevathan, T. Myers, W. Read

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The transfer rate of messages in distributed sensor network applications is a critical factor in a system's performance. The Sensor Abstraction Layer (SAL) is one such system. SAL is a middleware integration platform for abstracting sensor specific technology in order to integrate heterogeneous types of sensors in a network. SAL uses Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) as its connection method, which has unsatisfying transfer rates, especially for streaming data. This paper analyses different connection methods to optimize data transmission in SAL by replacing RMI. Our results show that the most promising Java-based connections were frameworks for Java New Input/Output (NIO) including Apache MINA, JBoss Netty, and xSocket. A test environment was implemented to evaluate each respective framework based on transfer rate, resource usage, and scalability. Test results showed the most suitable connection method to improve data transmission in SAL JBoss Netty as it provides a performance enhancement of 68%.

Keywords: Wireless sensor networks, remote method invocation, transmission time.

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285 Talent Management through Integration of Talent Value Chain and Human Capital Analytics Approaches

Authors: Wuttigrai Ngamsirijit

Abstract:

Talent management in today’s modern organizations has become data-driven due to a demand for objective human resource decision making and development of analytics technologies. HR managers have been faced with some obstacles in exploiting data and information to obtain their effective talent management decisions. These include process-based data and records; insufficient human capital-related measures and metrics; lack of capabilities in data modeling in strategic manners; and, time consuming to add up numbers and make decisions. This paper proposes a framework of talent management through integration of talent value chain and human capital analytics approaches. It encompasses key data, measures, and metrics regarding strategic talent management decisions along the organizational and talent value chain. Moreover, specific predictive and prescriptive models incorporating these data and information are recommended to help managers in understanding the state of talent, gaps in managing talent and the organization, and the ways to develop optimized talent strategies.    

Keywords: Decision making, human capital analytics, talent management, talent value chain.

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284 Choosing Local Organic Food: Consumer Motivations and Ethical Spaces

Authors: Artur Saraiva, Moritz von Schwedler, Emília Fernandes

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In recent years, the organic sector has increased significantly. However, with the ‘conventionalization’ of these products, it has been questioned whether these products have been losing their original vision. Accordingly, this research based on 31 phenomenological interviews with committed organic consumers in urban and rural areas of Portugal, aims to analyse how ethical motivations and ecological awareness are related to organic food consumption. The content thematic analysis highlights aspects related to society and environmental concerns. On an individual level, the importance of internal coherence, peace of mind and balance that these consumers find in the consumption of local organic products was stressed. For these consumers, local organic products consumption made for significant changes in their lives, aiding in the establishment of a green identity, and involves a certain philosophy of life. This vision of an organic lifestyle is grounded in a political and ecological perspective, beyond the usual organic definition, as a ‘post-organic era’. The paper contributes to better understand how an ideological environmental discourse allows highlighting the relationship between consumers’ environmental concerns and the politics of food, resulting in a possible transition to new sustainable consumption practices.

Keywords: Organic consumption, localism, content thematic analysis, pro-environmental discourse, political consumption, Portugal.

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283 Low Energy Method for Data Delivery in Ubiquitous Network

Authors: Tae Kyung Kim, Hee Suk Seo

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Recent advances in wireless sensor networks have led to many routing methods designed for energy-efficiency in wireless sensor networks. Despite that many routing methods have been proposed in USN, a single routing method cannot be energy-efficient if the environment of the ubiquitous sensor network varies. We present the controlling network access to various hosts and the services they offer, rather than on securing them one by one with a network security model. When ubiquitous sensor networks are deployed in hostile environments, an adversary may compromise some sensor nodes and use them to inject false sensing reports. False reports can lead to not only false alarms but also the depletion of limited energy resource in battery powered networks. The interleaved hop-by-hop authentication scheme detects such false reports through interleaved authentication. This paper presents a LMDD (Low energy method for data delivery) algorithm that provides energy-efficiency by dynamically changing protocols installed at the sensor nodes. The algorithm changes protocols based on the output of the fuzzy logic which is the fitness level of the protocols for the environment.

Keywords: Data delivery, routing, simulation.

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282 The Tag Authentication Scheme using Self-Shrinking Generator on RFID System

Authors: HangRok Lee, DoWon Hong

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Since communications between tag and reader in RFID system are by radio, anyone can access the tag and obtain its any information. And a tag always replies with the same ID so that it is hard to distinguish between a real and a fake tag. Thus, there are many security problems in today-s RFID System. Firstly, unauthorized reader can easily read the ID information of any Tag. Secondly, Adversary can easily cheat the legitimate reader using the collected Tag ID information, such as the any legitimate Tag. These security problems can be typically solved by encryption of messages transmitted between Tag and Reader and by authentication for Tag. In this paper, to solve these security problems on RFID system, we propose the Tag Authentication Scheme based on self shrinking generator (SSG). SSG Algorithm using in our scheme is proposed by W.Meier and O.Staffelbach in EUROCRYPT-94. This Algorithm is organized that only one LFSR and selection logic in order to generate random stream. Thus it is optimized to implement the hardware logic on devices with extremely limited resource, and the output generating from SSG at each time do role as random stream so that it is allow our to design the light-weight authentication scheme with security against some network attacks. Therefore, we propose the novel tag authentication scheme which use SSG to encrypt the Tag-ID transmitted from tag to reader and achieve authentication of tag.

Keywords: RFID system, RFID security, self shrinkinggeneratior, authentication, protocol.

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281 The Concept of the Aesthetic Features in Architectural Structures of the Museums

Authors: D. Moussazadeh, A. Aytug

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The focus of this study is to analyze and elaborate the formal factors in the architectural features of the museums. From aesthetic vantage point, this study has scrutinized the formal aesthetic values and identity-related features of the museums. Furthermore, the importance of the museums as the centers of knowledge, science and arts has gradually increased in the last century, whereby they have shifted from an elite standing to the pluralist approach as to address every sections of the community. This study will focus on the museum structures that are designed with the aesthetic apprehension, and presented as the artistic works on the basis of an objective attitude to elaborate the formal aesthetic factors on the formal aesthetics. It is of great importance to increase such studies for getting some concrete results to perceive the recent term aesthetic approaches and improve the forms in line with such approaches. This study elaborates the aesthetic facts solely on the basis of visual dimensions, but ignores the subjective effects to evaluate it in formal, subjective and conceptual aspects. The main material of this study comprises of the descriptive works on the conceptual substructure, and a number of schedules drawn on such concepts, which are applied on the example museum structures. Such works cover many several existing sources such as the design, philosophy, artistic philosophy, shape, form, design elements and principles as well as the museums.

Keywords: Aesthetics, design principles and elements, Gestalt.

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280 Availability Strategy of Medical Information for Telemedicine Services

Authors: Rozo D. Juan Felipe, Ramírez L. Leonardo Juan, Puerta A. Gabriel Alberto

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The telemedicine services require correct computing resource management to guarantee productivity and efficiency for medical and non-medical staff. The aim of this study was to examine web management strategies to ensure the availability of resources and services in telemedicine so as to provide medical information management with an accessible strategy. In addition, to evaluate the quality-of-service parameters, the followings were measured: delays, throughput, jitter, latency, available bandwidth, percent of access and denial of services based of web management performance map with profiles permissions and database management. Through 24 different test scenarios, the results show 100% in availability of medical information, in relation to access of medical staff to web services, and quality of service (QoS) of 99% because of network delay and performance of computer network. The findings of this study suggest that the proposed strategy of web management is an ideal solution to guarantee the availability, reliability, and accessibility of medical information. Finally, this strategy offers seven user profile used at telemedicine center of Bogota-Colombia keeping QoS parameters suitable to telemedicine services.

Keywords: Availability, medical information, QoS, strategy, telemedicine.

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279 Data Recording for Remote Monitoring of Autonomous Vehicles

Authors: Rong-Terng Juang

Abstract:

Autonomous vehicles offer the possibility of significant benefits to social welfare. However, fully automated cars might not be going to happen in the near further. To speed the adoption of the self-driving technologies, many governments worldwide are passing laws requiring data recorders for the testing of autonomous vehicles. Currently, the self-driving vehicle, (e.g., shuttle bus) has to be monitored from a remote control center. When an autonomous vehicle encounters an unexpected driving environment, such as road construction or an obstruction, it should request assistance from a remote operator. Nevertheless, large amounts of data, including images, radar and lidar data, etc., have to be transmitted from the vehicle to the remote center. Therefore, this paper proposes a data compression method of in-vehicle networks for remote monitoring of autonomous vehicles. Firstly, the time-series data are rearranged into a multi-dimensional signal space. Upon the arrival, for controller area networks (CAN), the new data are mapped onto a time-data two-dimensional space associated with the specific CAN identity. Secondly, the data are sampled based on differential sampling. Finally, the whole set of data are encoded using existing algorithms such as Huffman, arithmetic and codebook encoding methods. To evaluate system performance, the proposed method was deployed on an in-house built autonomous vehicle. The testing results show that the amount of data can be reduced as much as 1/7 compared to the raw data.

Keywords: Autonomous vehicle, data recording, remote monitoring, controller area network.

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278 SVM-based Multiview Face Recognition by Generalization of Discriminant Analysis

Authors: Dakshina Ranjan Kisku, Hunny Mehrotra, Jamuna Kanta Sing, Phalguni Gupta

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Identity verification of authentic persons by their multiview faces is a real valued problem in machine vision. Multiview faces are having difficulties due to non-linear representation in the feature space. This paper illustrates the usability of the generalization of LDA in the form of canonical covariate for face recognition to multiview faces. In the proposed work, the Gabor filter bank is used to extract facial features that characterized by spatial frequency, spatial locality and orientation. Gabor face representation captures substantial amount of variations of the face instances that often occurs due to illumination, pose and facial expression changes. Convolution of Gabor filter bank to face images of rotated profile views produce Gabor faces with high dimensional features vectors. Canonical covariate is then used to Gabor faces to reduce the high dimensional feature spaces into low dimensional subspaces. Finally, support vector machines are trained with canonical sub-spaces that contain reduced set of features and perform recognition task. The proposed system is evaluated with UMIST face database. The experiment results demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the proposed system with high recognition rates.

Keywords: Biometrics, Multiview face Recognition, Gaborwavelets, LDA, SVM.

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277 Sweet Corn Water Productivity under Several Deficit Irrigation Regimes Applied during Vegetative Growth Stage using Treated Wastewater as Water Irrigation Source

Authors: Hirich A., Rami A., Laajaj K., Choukr-Allah R., Jacobsen S-E., El youssfi L., El Omari H.

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Yield and Crop Water Productivity are crucial issues in sustainable agriculture, especially in high-demand resource crops such as sweet corn. This study was conducted to investigate agronomic responses such as plant growth, yield and soil parameters (EC and Nitrate accumulation) to several deficit irrigation treatments (100, 75, 50, 25 and 0% of ETm) applied during vegetative growth stage, rainfed treatment was also tested. The finding of this research indicates that under deficit irrigation during vegetative growth stage applying 75% of ETm lead to increasing of 19.4% in terms of fresh ear yield, 9.4% in terms of dry grain yield, 10.5% in terms of number of ears per plant, 11.5% for the 1000 grains weight and 19% in terms of crop water productivity compared with fully irrigated treatment. While those parameters in addition to root, shoot and plant height has been affected by deficit irrigation during vegetative growth stage when increasing water stress degree more than 50% of ETm.

Keywords: Leaf area, yield, crop water productivity, water saving

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276 Virtual Routing Function Allocation Method for Minimizing Total Network Power Consumption

Authors: Kenichiro Hida, Shin-Ichi Kuribayashi

Abstract:

In a conventional network, most network devices, such as routers, are dedicated devices that do not have much variation in capacity. In recent years, a new concept of network functions virtualisation (NFV) has come into use. The intention is to implement a variety of network functions with software on general-purpose servers and this allows the network operator to select their capacities and locations without any constraints. This paper focuses on the allocation of NFV-based routing functions which are one of critical network functions, and presents the virtual routing function allocation algorithm that minimizes the total power consumption. In addition, this study presents the useful allocation policy of virtual routing functions, based on an evaluation with a ladder-shaped network model. This policy takes the ratio of the power consumption of a routing function to that of a circuit and traffic distribution between areas into consideration. Furthermore, the present paper shows that there are cases where the use of NFV-based routing functions makes it possible to reduce the total power consumption dramatically, in comparison to a conventional network, in which it is not economically viable to distribute small-capacity routing functions.

Keywords: Virtual routing function, NFV, resource allocation, minimum power consumption.

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275 Spacial Poetic Text throughout Samih al-Qasim's Poetry

Authors: Saleem Abu Jaber, Khaled Igbaria

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For readers, space/place is one of the most significant references to reveal deep significances and indications in modern Arabic poetic texts. Generally, when poets evoke places and/or spaces, they do not mean to refer readers to detailed geographic or physical spaces, but to the symbolic significances and dimensions that those spaces have and through which poets encourage spacial awareness in their readers. Recently, as a result, there has been a great deal of interest in research addressing spacial poetic texts and dimensions in modern Arabic poetry in general and in Palestinian poetry in particular. Samih al-Qasim is one of the most recent prominent Palestinian revolutionary poets. Al-Qasim has published six series of poems that are well known in the Arab world. Although several researchers have studied al-Qasim's poetry, to our knowledge, yet no one has studied the aspect of spacial poetic text in his poetry. Therefore, this paper seeks to fill a gap in the scholarship that has not been addressed up to now. This article aims, not only to demonstrate the presence of spacial poetic text and dimensions throughout al-Qasim's poetry, but also to investigate the purpose for which the poet uses spacial poetic text. Our theory is that the poet, consciously and significantly, uses spacial poetic texts to magnify the Palestinian identity of the Palestinian readers.  Methodologically, we applied a descriptive analytic method, referencing al-Qasim's poetry, addressing spacial poetic texts practically but not theoretically or statistically.

Keywords: Samih al-Qasim, place and space, Palestinian poetry, spacial poetic text.

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274 Human Resources and Business Result: An Empirical Approach Based On RBV Theory

Authors: XhevrieMamaqi

Abstract:

Organization capacity learning is a process referring to the sum total of individual and collective learning through training programs, experience and experimentation, among others. Today, in-business ongoing training is one of the most important strategies for human capital development and it is crucial to sustain and improve workers’ knowledge and skills. Many organizations, firms and business are adopting a strategy of continuous learning, encouraging employees to learn new skills continually to be innovative and to try new processes and work in order to achieve a competitive advantage and superior business results. This paper uses the Resource Based View and Capacities (RBV) approach to construct a hypothetical relationships model between training and business results. The test of the model is applied on transversal data. A sample of 266 business of Spanish sector service has been selected. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) is used to estimate the relationship between ongoing training, represented by two latent dimension denominated Human and Social Capital resources and economic business results. The coefficients estimated have shown the efficient of some training aspectsexplaining the variation in business results.

Keywords: Business results, Human and Social Capital resources, training, RBV Theory, SEM.

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273 Estimation of Human Absorbed Dose Using Compartmental Model

Authors: M. Mousavi-Daramoroudi, H. Yousefnia, F. Abbasi-Davani, S. Zolghadri

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Dosimetry is an indispensable and precious factor in patient treatment planning to minimize the absorbed dose in vital tissues. In this study, compartmental model was used in order to estimate the human absorbed dose of 177Lu-DOTATOC from the biodistribution data in wild type rats. For this purpose, 177Lu-DOTATOC was prepared under optimized conditions and its biodistribution was studied in male Syrian rats up to 168 h. Compartmental model was applied to mathematical description of the drug behaviour in tissue at different times. Dosimetric estimation of the complex was performed using radiation absorbed dose assessment resource (RADAR). The biodistribution data showed high accumulation in the adrenal and pancreas as the major expression sites for somatostatin receptor (SSTR). While kidneys as the major route of excretion receive 0.037 mSv/MBq, pancreas and adrenal also obtain 0.039 and 0.028 mSv/MBq. Due to the usage of this method, the points of accumulated activity data were enhanced, and further information of tissues uptake was collected that it will be followed by high (or improved) precision in dosimetric calculations.

Keywords: Compartmental modeling, human absorbed dose, 177Lu-DOTATOC, Syrian rats.

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272 Solid Waste Management through Mushroom Cultivation – An Eco Friendly Approach

Authors: Mary Josephine

Abstract:

Waste of certain process can be the input source of  other sectors in order to reduce environmental pollution. Today there  are more and more solid wastes are generated, but only very small  amount of those are recycled. So, the threatening of environmental  pressure to public health is very serious. The methods considered for  the treatment of solid waste are biogas tanks or processing to make  animal feed and fertilizer, however, they did not perform well. An  alternative approach is growing mushrooms on waste residues. This  is regarded as an environmental friendly solution with potential  economical benefit. The substrate producers do their best to produce  quality substrate at low cost. Apart from other methods, this can be  achieved by employing biologically degradable wastes used as the  resource material component of the substrate. Mushroom growing is  a significant tool for the restoration, replenishment and remediation  of Earth’s overburdened ecosphere. One of the rational methods of  waste utilization involves locally available wastes. The present study  aims to find out the yield of mushroom grown on locally available  waste for free and to conserve our environment by recycling wastes.

 

Keywords: Biodegradable, environment, mushroom, remediation.

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271 Origins of Chicago Common Brick: Examining a Masonry Shell Encasing a New Ando Museum

Authors: Daniel Joseph Whittaker

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This paper examines the broad array of historic sites from which Chicago common brick has emerged, and the methods this brick has been utilized within and around a new hybrid structure recently completed-and periodically opened to the public, as a private art, architecture, design, and social activism gallery space. Various technical aspects regarding the structural and aesthetic reuse methods of salvaged brick within the interior and exterior of this new Tadao Ando-designed building in Lincoln Park, Chicago, are explored. This paper expands specifically upon the multiple possible origins of Chicago common brick, as well as the extant brick currently composing the surrounding alley which is integral to demarcating the southern site boundary of the old apartment building now gallery. Themes encompassing Chicago’s archeological and architectural history, local resource extraction, and labor practices permeate this paper’s investigation into urban, social and architectural history and building construction technology advancements through time.

Keywords: Masonry construction, history brickmaking, private museums, Chicago Illinois, Tadao Ando.

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270 Multi-Objective Planning and Operation of Water Supply Systems Subject to Climate Change

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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269 Building Facade Study in Lahijan City, Iran: The Impact of Facade's Visual Elements on Historical Image

Authors: N. Utaberta, A. Jalali, S. Johar, M. Surat, A. I. Che-Ani

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Buildings are considered as significant part in the cities, which plays main role in organization and arrangement of city appearance, which is affects image of that building facades, as an connective between inner and outer space, have a main role in city image and they are classified as rich image and poor image by people evaluation which related to visual architectural and urban elements in building facades. the buildings in Karimi street , in Lahijan city where, lies in north of Iran, contain the variety of building's facade types which, have made a city image in Historical part of Lahijan city, while reflected the Iranian cities identity. The study attempt to identify the architectural and urban elements that impression the image of building facades in historical area, based on public evaluation. Quantitative method were used and the data was collected through questionnaire survey, the result presented architectural style, color, shape, and design evaluated by people as most important factor which should be understate in future development. in fact, the rich architectural style with strong design make strong city image as weak design make poor city image.

Keywords: Building's facade, historical area.

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268 Numerical Optimization within Vector of Parameters Estimation in Volatility Models

Authors: J. Arneric, A. Rozga

Abstract:

In this paper usefulness of quasi-Newton iteration procedure in parameters estimation of the conditional variance equation within BHHH algorithm is presented. Analytical solution of maximization of the likelihood function using first and second derivatives is too complex when the variance is time-varying. The advantage of BHHH algorithm in comparison to the other optimization algorithms is that requires no third derivatives with assured convergence. To simplify optimization procedure BHHH algorithm uses the approximation of the matrix of second derivatives according to information identity. However, parameters estimation in a/symmetric GARCH(1,1) model assuming normal distribution of returns is not that simple, i.e. it is difficult to solve it analytically. Maximum of the likelihood function can be founded by iteration procedure until no further increase can be found. Because the solutions of the numerical optimization are very sensitive to the initial values, GARCH(1,1) model starting parameters are defined. The number of iterations can be reduced using starting values close to the global maximum. Optimization procedure will be illustrated in framework of modeling volatility on daily basis of the most liquid stocks on Croatian capital market: Podravka stocks (food industry), Petrokemija stocks (fertilizer industry) and Ericsson Nikola Tesla stocks (information-s-communications industry).

Keywords: Heteroscedasticity, Log-likelihood Maximization, Quasi-Newton iteration procedure, Volatility.

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267 Optimising Data Transmission in Heterogeneous Sensor Networks

Authors: M. Hammerton, J. Trevathan, T. Myers, W. Read

Abstract:

The transfer rate of messages in distributed sensor network applications is a critical factor in a system's performance. The Sensor Abstraction Layer (SAL) is one such system. SAL is a middleware integration platform for abstracting sensor specific technology in order to integrate heterogeneous types of sensors in a network. SAL uses Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) as its connection method, which has unsatisfying transfer rates, especially for streaming data.  This paper analyses different connection methods to optimize data transmission in SAL by replacing RMI.  Our results show that the most promising Java-based connections were frameworks for Java New Input/Output (NIO) including Apache MINA, JBoss Netty, and xSocket. A test environment was implemented to evaluate each respective framework based on transfer rate, resource usage, and scalability. Test results showed the most suitable connection method to improve data transmission in SAL JBoss Netty as it provides a performance enhancement of 68%.

Keywords: Wireless sensor networks, remote method invocation, transmission time.

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266 Evaluation of Groundwater Unit Hydrograph of Kavar-Maharloo Aquifer

Authors: Mohammad Hosein Hojati, Fardin Boustani

Abstract:

Groundwater is one of the most important water resources in Fars province. Based on this study, 95 percent of the total annual water consumption in Fars is used for agriculture, whereas the percentages for domestic and industrial uses are 4 and 1 percent, respectively. Population growth, urban and industrial growth, and agricultural development in Fars have created a condition of water stress. In this province, farmers and other users are pumping groundwater faster than its natural replenishment rate, causing a continuous drop in groundwater tables and depletion of this resource. In this research variation of groundwater level, their effects and ways to help control groundwater levels in aquifer of the Kavar- Maharloo plains in Fars plain were evaluated .Excessive exploitation of groundwater in this aquifer caused the groundwater levels fall too fast or to unacceptable levels. The average drawdown of the groundwater level in this plain were 17 meters during 1995 to 2006. The purpose of this study is to evaluate water level changes in the Kavar-Maharloo Aquifer in the Fars province in order to determine the areas of greatest depletion, the cause of depletion, and predict the remaining life of the aquifer.

Keywords: Aquifer , ground water depletion, water table

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265 ‘Memory Mate’ as Boundary Object in Cancer Treatment for Patients with Dementia

Authors: Rachel Hurdley, Jane Hopkinson

Abstract:

This article is based on observation of a cross-disciplinary, cross-institutional team that worked on an intervention called ‘Memory Mate’ for use in a UK Cancer Centre. This aimed to improve treatment outcomes for patients who had comorbid dementia or other memory impairment. Comorbid patients present ambiguous, spoiled identities, problematising the boundaries of health specialisms and frames of understanding. Memory Mate is theorised as a boundary object facilitating service transformation by changing relations between oncology and mental health care practice. It crosses the boundaries between oncology and mental health. Its introduction signifies an important step in reconfiguring relations between the specialisms. As a boundary object, it contains parallel, even contesting worlds, with potential to enable an eventual synthesis of the double stigma of cancer and dementia. Memory Mate comprises physical things, such as an animation, but its principal value is in the interaction it initiates across disciplines and services. It supports evolution of practices to address a newly emergent challenge for health service provision, namely the cancer patient with comorbid dementia/cognitive impairment. Getting clinicians from different disciplines working together on a practical solution generates a dialogue that can shift professional identity and change the culture of practice.

Keywords: Boundary object, cancer, dementia, interdisciplinary teams.

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264 Forensic Science in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Trails of Utterson's Quest

Authors: Kyu-Jeoung Lee, Jae-Uk Choo

Abstract:

This paper focuses on investigating The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from Utterson’s point of view, referring to: Gabriel John Utterson, a central character in the book. Utterson is no different from a forensic investigator, as he tries to collect evidence on the mysterious Mr. Hyde’s relationship to Dr. Jekyll. From Utterson's perspective, Jekyll is the 'victim' of a potential scandal and blackmail, and Hyde is the 'suspect' of a possible 'crime'. Utterson intends to figure out Hyde's identity, connect his motive with his actions, and gather witness accounts. During Utterson’s quest, the outside materials available to him along with the social backgrounds of Hyde and Jekyll will be analyzed. The archives left from Jekyll’s chamber will also play a part providing evidence. Utterson will investigate, based on what he already knows about Jekyll his whole life, and how Jekyll had acted in his eyes until he was gone, and finding out possible explanations for Jekyll's actions. The relationship between Jekyll and Hyde becomes the major question, as the social background offers clues pointing in the direction of illegitimacy and prostitution. There is still a possibility that Jekyll and Hyde were, in fact, completely different people. Utterson received a full statement and confession from Jekyll himself at the end of the story, which gives the reader the possible truth on what happened. Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde led readers, as it did Utterson, to find the connection between Hyde and Jekyll using methods of history, culture, and science. Utterson's quest to uncover Hyde shows an example of applying the various fields to in his act to see if Hyde's inheritance was legal. All of this taken together could technically be considered forensic investigation.

Keywords: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, forensic investigation, illegitimacy, prostitution, Robert Louis Stevenson.

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