Search results for: risk factor

Authors: S. Zappacosta, C. Bove, M. Carmela Marinelli, P. di Lauro, K. Spasenovic, L. Ostano, G. Aiello, M. Pietrosanto

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This paper proposes a neural network approach for assessing flood hazard mapping. The core of the model is a machine learning component fed by frequency ratios, namely statistical correlations between flood event occurrences and a selected number of topographic properties. The classification capability was compared with the flood hazard mapping River Basin Plans (Piani Assetto Idrogeologico, acronimed as PAI) designed by the Italian Institute for Environmental Research and Defence, ISPRA (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale), encoding four different increasing flood hazard levels. The study area of Piemonte, an Italian region, has been considered without loss of generality. The frequency ratios may be used as a standalone block to model the flood hazard mapping. Nevertheless, the mixture with a neural network improves the classification power of several percentage points, and may be proposed as a basic tool to model the flood hazard map in a wider scope.

Keywords: flood modeling, hazard map, neural networks, hydrogeological risk, flood risk assessment

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Authors: Carolyn J. Ortega, Stephen E. Berger

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The role of the custody evaluator is perhaps one of the most controversial and risky endeavors in clinical practice. Complaints filed with licensing boards regarding a child-custody evaluation constitute the second most common reason for such an event. Although the evaluator is expected to answer for the family-law court what is in the “best interest of the child,” there is a lack of clarity on how to establish this in any empirically validated manner. Hence, practitioners must contend with a nebulous framework in formulating their methodological procedures that inherently places them at risk in an already litigious context. This study sought to qualitatively investigate patterns of practice among doctoral practitioners conducting child custody evaluations in the area of Southern California. Ten psychologists were interviewed who devoted between 25 and 100% of their California private practice to custody work. All held Ph.D. degrees with a range of eight to 36 years of experience in custody work. Semi-structured interviews were used to investigate assessment practices, ensure adherence to guidelines, risk management, and qualities of evaluators. Forty-three Specific Themes were identified using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Seven Higher Order Themes clustered on salient factors such as use of Ethics, Law, Guidelines; Parent Variables; Child Variables; Psychologist Variables; Testing; Literature; and Trends. Evaluators were aware of the ever-present reality of a licensure complaint and thus presented idiosyncratic descriptions of risk management considerations. Ambiguity about quantifying and validly tapping parenting abilities was also reviewed. Findings from this study suggested a high reliance on unstructured and observational methods in child custody practices.

Keywords: Forensic psychology, psychological testing, assessment methodology, child custody.

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Authors: A. Żebrowska, A. Kochańska-Dziurowicz, A. Stanjek-Cichoracka

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We investigated the response of testosterone (T), growth hormone (GH), cortisol (C), steroid hormone binding globulin (SHBG), insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), and some anaboliccatabolic indexes, i.e.: T/C, T/SHBG, and IGF-1/IGFBP-3 to maximal exercise in endurance-trained athletes (TREN) and untrained subjects (CG). The baseline concentration of IGF-1 was higher in athletes (TREN) when compared to the CG (p<0.05). The GH concentration and GH/IGF-1 ratio increased after exercise in all subjects compared to respective values at rest. The resting IGF- 1/IGFBP-3 ratio was significantly higher in athletes. The maximal exercise test induced an increase in post-exercise T/SHGB ratio in athletes compared to CG (p<0.05). These results indicate that elevation of baseline serum IGF-1/IGFBP-3 and T/SHGB ratio after exercise might suggest that free fractions of these hormones may act as a potent stimulant of muscle hypertrophy in trained endurance athletes.

Keywords: anabolic hormones, endurance training, exercise, growth factors

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Authors: Photjanat Phimnom, Haruetai Lohasiriwat

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In today’s world, the LED display has been used for presenting visual information under various circumstances. Such information is an important intermediary in the human information processing. Researchers have been investigated diverse factors that influence this process effectiveness. The letter size is undoubtedly one major factor that has been tested and recommended by many standards and guidelines. However, viewing information on the display from direct perpendicular position is a typical assumption whereas many actual events are required viewing from the angles. This current research aims to study the effect of oblique viewing angle and viewing distance on ability to recognize alphabet, number, and English word. The total of ten participants was volunteered to our 3 x 4 x 4 within subject study. Independent variables include three distance levels (2, 6, and 12 m), four oblique angles (0, 45, 60, 75 degree), and four target types (alphabet, number, short word, and long word). Following the method of constant stimuli our study suggests that the larger oblique angle, ranging from 0 to 75 degree from the line of sight, results in significant higher legibility threshold or larger font size required (p-value < 0.05). Viewing distance factor also shows to have significant effect on the threshold (p-value < 0.05). However, the effect from distance factor is expected to be confounded by the quality of the screen used in our experiment. Lastly, our results show that single alphabet as well as single number are recognized at significant lower threshold (smaller font size) as compared to both short and long words (p-value < 0.05). Therefore, it is recommended that when designs information to be presented on LED display, understanding of all possible ranges of oblique angle should be taken into account in order to specify the preferred letter size. Additionally, the recommendation of letter size for 100% legibility in our tested conditions is provided in the paper.

Keywords: Letter Size, Oblique Angle, Viewing Distance, Legibility Threshold.

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Authors: Hakim Aguedal, Hafida Hentit, Abdallah Aziz, Djillali Rida Merouani, Abdelkader Iddou

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The major environmental risk of soil pollution is the contamination of groundwater by infiltration of organic and inorganic pollutants which can cause a serious menace. To prevent this risk and to protect the groundwater, we proceeded in this study to test the reliability of a biosolid as barrier to prevent the migration of very dangerous pollutants as ‘Cadmium’ through the different soil layers. In this study, we tried to highlight the effect of several parameters such as: turbidity (different cycle of Hydration/Dehydration), rainfall, effect of initial Cd(II) concentration and the type of soil. These parameters allow us to find the most effective manner to integrate this barrier in the soil. From the results obtained, we found a significant effect of the barrier. Indeed, the recorded passing quantities are lowest for the highest rainfall; we noted also that the barrier has a better affinity towards higher concentrations; the most retained amounts of cadmium has been in the top layer of the two types of soil tested, while the lowest amounts of cadmium are recorded in the bottom layers of soils.

Keywords: Adsorption of Cadmium, Barrier, Groundwater Pollution, Protection.

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Authors: Haidar Safa, Hassan Artail, Ahmad Mehio, Hicham Zahr, Ziad Matragi

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The Mobile IP Standard has been developed to support mobility over the Internet. This standard contains several drawbacks as in the cases where packets are routed via sub-optimal paths and significant amount of signaling messages is generated due to the home registration procedure which keeps the network aware of the current location of the mobile nodes. Recently, a dynamic hierarchical mobility management strategy for mobile IP networks (DHMIP) has been proposed to reduce home registrations costs. However, this strategy induces a packet delivery delay and increases the risk of packet loss. In this paper, we propose an enhanced version of the dynamic hierarchical strategy that reduces the packet delivery delay and minimizes the risk of packet loss. Preliminary results obtained from simulations are promising. They show that the enhanced version outperforms the original dynamic hierarchical mobility management strategy version.

Keywords: Location management, Mobile IP (MIP), Home Agent, Foreign Agent.

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Authors: Zongjie Du, Shulin Sui, Panpan Xu

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Energy consumption of a hotel can be a hot topic in smart city; it is difficult to evaluate the contribution of impact factors to energy consumption of a hotel. Therefore, grasping the key impact factors has great effect on the energy saving management of a hotel. Based on the SPIRTPAT model, we establish the identity with the impact factors of occupancy rate, unit area of revenue, temperature factor, unit revenue of energy consumption. In this paper, we use the LMDI (Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index) to decompose the impact factors of energy consumption of hotel from Jan. to Dec. in 2001. The results indicate that the occupancy rate and unit area of revenue are the main factors that can increase unit area of energy consumption, and the unit revenue of energy consumption is the main factor to restrain the growth of unit area of energy consumption. When the energy consumption of hotel can appear abnormal, the hotel manager can carry out energy saving management and control according to the contribution value of impact factors.

Keywords: Smart city, SPIRTPAT model, LMDI, saving management and control.

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Authors: Inaki Maulida Hakim, T. Yuri M. Zagloel, Astari Wulandari

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Six sigma is a framework that is used to identify inefficiency so that the cause of inefficiency will be known and right improvement to overcome cause of inefficiency can be conducted. This paper presents result of implementing six sigma to improve piston assembly line in Manufacturing Laboratory, Universitas Indonesia. Six sigma framework will be used to analyze the significant factor of inefficiency that needs to be improved which causes bottleneck in assembly line. After analysis based on six sigma framework conducted, line balancing method was chosen for improvement to overcome causative factor of inefficiency which is differences time between workstation that causes bottleneck in assembly line. Then after line balancing conducted in piston assembly line, the result is increase in efficiency. Efficiency is shown in the decreasing of Defects per Million Opportunities (DPMO) from 900,000 to 700,000, the increasing of level of labor productivity from 0.0041 to 0.00742, the decreasing of idle time from 121.3 seconds to 12.1 seconds, and the increasing of output, which is from 1 piston in 5 minutes become 3 pistons in 5 minutes.

Keywords: Assembly line, efficiency, improvement, line balancing, productivity, six sigma, workstation.

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Authors: Somdech Rungsrisawat

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The purpose of this research is to study of consumer perception and understanding consumer buying behavior that related between satisfied and factors affecting the purchasing. Methodology can be classified between qualitative and quantitative approaches for the qualitative research were interviews from middlemen who bought organic vegetables, and middlemen related to production and marketing system. A questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect data. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. The result show the reason to decision buying motives is Fresh products of organic vegetables is the most significant factor on individuals’ income, with a b of –.143, t = –2.470, the price of organic vegetables is the most significant factor on individuals’ income, with a b of .176, t = 2.561, p value = .011. The results show that most people with higher income think about the organic products are expensive and have negative attitudes towards organic vegetable as individuals with low and medium income level. Therefore, household income had a significant influence on the purchasing decision.

Keywords: Consumer behaviors, Consumer perceptions, Organic Vegetable.

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Authors: Ekrem Erdem, Can Tansel Tugcu

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Improved resource efficiency of production is a key requirement for sustainable growth, worldwide. In this regards, by considering the energy and tourism as the extra inputs to the classical Coub-Douglas production function, this study aims at investigating the efficiency changes in the North African countries. To this end, the study uses panel data for the period 1995-2010 and adopts the Malmquist index based on the data envelopment analysis. Results show that tourism increases technical and scale efficiencies, while it decreases technological and total factor productivity changes. On the other hand, when the production function is augmented by the energy input; technical efficiency change decreases, while the technological change, scale efficiency change and total factor productivity change increase. Thus, in order to satisfy the needs for sustainable growth, North African governments should take some measures for increasing the contribution that the tourism makes to economic growth and some others for efficient use of resources in the energy sector.

Keywords: Data envelopment analysis, Economic efficiency, North African countries, Sustainable growth.

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Authors: Jaime Carpio-García, Elena Blanco-Fernández, Javier González-Fernández, Daniel Castro-Fresno

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Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) are more often used in order to prevent floods, water treatment, fight against pollution, urban heat island effect, and global warming in applications like green roofs, permeable pavements, and others. Furthermore, geosynthetics are also worldwide used as a part of drainage systems in road construction. Geotextiles are an essential part of both, and one of the main geotextile properties in those applications is permeability, whose behavior is not well established along its service life. In this paper, clogging reduction design factors for an estimated service life of 25 years are experimentally obtained for five different geotextiles used in SUDS and roads combined with two different soils and with two pollutants, motor oil, and lime, in order to evaluate chemical clogging, too. The effect of characteristic opening size and other characteristics of the geosynthetics are also discussed in order to give civil engineers, together with the clogging reduction factors, a better long-time design of geotextiles used in their SUDS and roads.

Keywords: Geotextiles, drainage, clogging, reduction factor.

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Authors: V.R Gannapathy, S.K Subramaniam, A.B Mohamad Diah, M.K Suaidi, A.H Hamidon

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The picture of a perfect road construction site is the one that utilizes conventional vertical road signs and a flagman to optimize the traffic flow with minimum hazel to the public. Former research has been carried out by Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) and Ministry of Works to further enhance smoothness in traffic operations and particularly in safety issues within work zones. This paper highlights on hazardous zones in a certain road construction or road maintenance site. Most cases show that the flagman falls into high risk of fatal accidents within work zone. Various measures have been taken by both the authorities and contractors to overcome such miseries, yet it-s impossible to eliminate the usage of a flagman since it is considered the best practice. With the implementation of new technologies in automating the traffic flow in road construction site, it is possible to eliminate the usage of a flagman. The intelligent traffic light system is designed to solve problems which contribute hazardous at road construction site and to be inline with the road safety regulation which is taken into granted.

Keywords: Intelligent Traffic Light, Critical Zones, Safety Regulation, Flagman

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Authors: El-Said. I. Shabana, Mohammad S. Tayeb, Maher M. T. Qutub, Abdulraheem A. Kinsara

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Usually, phosphate deposits contain ²³⁸U and ²³²Th in addition to their decay products. Due to their different pathways in the environment, the ²³⁸U/²³²Th activity concentration ratio usually found to be greater than unity in phosphate sediments. The presence of these radionuclides creates a potential need to control exposure of workers in the mining and processing activities of the phosphate minerals in accordance with IAEA safety standards. The greatest dose to workers comes from exposure to radon, especially ²²²Rn from the uranium series, and has to be controlled. In this regard, radon (²²²Rn) was measured in the atmosphere (indoor and outdoor) of Al-Jalamid phosphate-mines working area using a portable radon-measurement instrument RAD7, in a purpose of radiation protection. Radon was measured in 61 sites inside the open phosphate mines, the phosphate upgrading facility (offices and rooms of the workers, and in some open-air sites) and in the dwellings of the workers residence-village that lies at about 3 km from the mines working area. The obtained results indicated that the average indoor radon concentration was about 48.4 Bq/m³. Inside the upgrading facility, the average outdoor concentrations were 10.8 and 9.7 Bq/m³ in the concentrate piles and crushing areas, respectively. It was 12.3 Bq/m³ in the atmosphere of the open mines. These values are comparable with the global average values. Based on the average values, the annual effective dose due to radon inhalation was calculated and risk estimates have been done. The average annual effective dose to workers due to the radon inhalation was estimated by 1.32 mSv. The potential excess risk of lung cancer mortality that could be attributed to radon, when considering the lifetime exposure, was estimated by 53.0x10^-4. The results have been discussed in detail.

Keywords: Dosimetry, environmental monitoring, phosphate deposits, radiation protection, radon-22.

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Authors: Manop Vorasri, Komson Jirapattarasilp, Sittichai Kaewkuekool

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The objective of this research was to study factors, which were affected on surface roughness in high speed milling of hardened tool steel. Material used in the experiment was tool steel JIS SKD 61 that hardened on 60 ±2 HRC. Full factorial experimental design was conducted on 3 factors and 3 levels (3 3 designs) with 2 replications. Factors were consisted of cutting speed, feed rate, and depth of cut. The results showed that influenced factor affected to surface roughness was cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut which showed statistical significant. Higher cutting speed would cause on better surface quality. On the other hand, higher feed rate would cause on poorer surface quality. Interaction of factor was found that cutting speed and depth of cut were significantly to surface quality. The interaction of high cutting speed associated with low depth of cut affected to better surface quality than low cutting speed and high depth of cut.

Keywords: High-speed milling, Tool steel, SKD 61 Steel, Surface roughness, Cutting speed, Feed rate, Depth of cut

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Authors: Maria Spanoudaki, Pauldy C. J. Otermans, Dev Aditya

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Relationships form an integral part of our everyday wellbeing. In this study, the focus is on Inner Wellbeing which can be described as an individuals' thoughts and feelings about what they can do and be. Relationships can come in many forms and can be divided into Social Connections (thoughts and feelings about the social network people can establish and rely on), and Close Relationships (thoughts and feeling about the emotional support people can receive from significant others or their close, intimate circle). The purpose of this study is to compare the Social Connections and Close Relationship dimensions of Inner Wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic between the UK and India. As part of the study, 392 participants in the UK and 205 participants India completed an online questionnaire using the Inner Wellbeing scale. Factor analyses showed that the construct of Inner Wellbeing can be described as one factor for the UK sample whereas it can be described as two factors (one focusing on positive items and one focusing on negative items) for the Indian sample. Results showed that during COVID-19, Social Connections were significantly different in the UK compared to India, whereas there is no significant difference for Close Relationships. The implications on relationships and wellbeing are discussed in detail.

Keywords: Social networks, relationship maintenance, relationship satisfaction, inner wellbeing.

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Authors: A. Chegenizadeh, M. Keramatikerman, H. Nikraz

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Bitumen is one of the most applicable materials in pavement engineering. It is a binding material with unique viscoelastic properties, especially when it mixes with polymer. In this study, to figure out the viscoelastic behaviour of the polymer modified with bitumen (PMB), a series of dynamic shearing rheological (DSR) tests were conducted. Four percentages of lime (i.e. 1%, 2%, 4% and 5%) were mixed with PMB and tested under four different temperatures including 64ºC, 70ºC, 76ºC and 82ºC. The results indicated that complex shearing modulus (G*) increased by increasing the frequency due to raised resistance against deformation. The phase angle (δ) showed a decreasing trend by incrementing the frequency. The addition of lime percentages increased the complex modulus value and declined phase angle parameter. Increasing the temperature decreased the complex modulus and increased the phase angle until 70ºC. The decreasing trend of rutting factor with increasing temperature revealed that rutting factor improved by the addition of the lime to the PMB.

Keywords: Rheological properties, DSR test, polymer mixed with bitumen, complex modulus, lime.

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Authors: Abbas Keramati, Abtin Boostani, Mohammad Jamal Sadeghi

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This paper examines the influence of knowledge management factors on organizational commitment for employees in the oil and gas drilling industry of Iran. We determine what knowledge factors have the greatest impact on the personnel loyalty and commitment to the organization using collected data from a survey of over 300 full-time personnel working in three large companies active in oil and gas drilling industry of Iran. To specify the effect of knowledge factors in the organizational commitment of the personnel in the studied organizations, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used. Findings of our study show that the factors such as knowledge and expertise, in-service training, the knowledge value and the application of individuals’ knowledge in the organization as the factor “learning and perception of personnel from the value of knowledge within the organization” has the greatest impact on the organizational commitment. After this factor, “existence of knowledge and knowledge sharing environment in the organization”; “existence of potential knowledge exchanging in the organization”; and “organizational knowledge level” factors have the most impact on the organizational commitment of personnel, respectively.

Keywords: Knowledge management, organizational commitment, loyalty, drilling industry, principle component analysis.

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Authors: Thi T. Nguyen, Lee N. Gordon-Brown

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A new deployment of the multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques: the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW), and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) for portfolio allocation, is demonstrated in this paper. Rather than exclusive reference to mean and variance as in the traditional mean-variance method, the criteria used in this demonstration are the first four moments of the portfolio distribution. Each asset is evaluated based on its marginal impacts to portfolio higher moments that are characterized by trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. Then centroid-based defuzzification is applied to convert fuzzy numbers to the crisp numbers by which SAW and TOPSIS can be deployed. Experimental results suggest the similar efficiency of these MCDM approaches to selecting dominant assets for an optimal portfolio under higher moments. The proposed approaches allow investors flexibly adjust their risk preferences regarding higher moments via different schemes adapting to various (from conservative to risky) kinds of investors. The other significant advantage is that, compared to the mean-variance analysis, the portfolio weights obtained by SAW and TOPSIS are consistently well-diversified.

Keywords: Fuzzy numbers, SAW, TOPSIS, portfolio optimization, higher moments, risk management.

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Authors: M. M. Toufigh, A. R. Ahangarasr, A. Ouria

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Among many different methods that are used for optimizing different engineering problems mathematical (numerical) optimization techniques are very important because they can easily be used and are consistent with most of engineering problems. Many studies and researches are done on stability analysis of three dimensional (3D) slopes and the relating probable slip surfaces and determination of factors of safety, but in most of them force equilibrium equations, as in simplified 2D methods, are considered only in two directions. In other words for decreasing mathematical calculations and also for simplifying purposes the force equilibrium equation in 3rd direction is omitted. This point is considered in just a few numbers of previous studies and most of them have only given a factor of safety and they haven-t made enough effort to find the most probable slip surface. In this study shapes of the slip surfaces are modeled, and safety factors are calculated considering the force equilibrium equations in all three directions, and also the moment equilibrium equation is satisfied in the slip direction, and using nonlinear programming techniques the shape of the most probable slip surface is determined. The model which is used in this study is a 3D model that is composed of three upper surfaces which can cover all defined and probable slip surfaces. In this research the meshing process is done in a way that all elements are prismatic with quadrilateral cross sections, and the safety factor is defined on this quadrilateral surface in the base of the element which is a part of the whole slip surface. The method that is used in this study to find the most probable slip surface is the non-linear programming method in which the objective function that must get optimized is the factor of safety that is a function of the soil properties and the coordinates of the nodes on the probable slip surface. The main reason for using non-linear programming method in this research is its quick convergence to the desired responses. The final results show a good compatibility with the previously used classical and 2D methods and also show a reasonable convergence speed.

Keywords: Non-linear programming, numerical optimization, slope stability, 3D analysis.

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Authors: Sachin Vrajlal Rajani, Vivek Pandya, Ankit Suvariya

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Green and renewable energy is getting extraordinary consideration today, because of ecological concerns made by blazing of fossil powers. Photovoltaic and wind power generation are the basic decisions for delivering power in this respects. Producing power by the sun based photovoltaic systems is known to the world, yet control makers may get confounded to pick between on-grid and off-grid systems. In this exploration work, an endeavor is made to compare the off-grid (stand-alone) and on-grid (grid-connected) frameworks. The work presents relative examination, between two distinctive PV frameworks situated at V.V.P. Engineering College, Rajkot. The first framework is 100 kW remain solitary and the second is 60 kW network joined. The real-time parameters compared are; output voltage, load current, power in-flow, power output, performance ratio, yield factor, and capacity factor. The voltage changes and the power variances in both frameworks are given exceptional consideration and the examination is made between the two frameworks to judge the focal points and confinements of both the frameworks.

Keywords: Standalone PV systems, grid connected PV systems, comparison, real time data analysis.

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Authors: Yang Wenjuan, Xu Yilun

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Based on the comparative analysis of the relevant evaluation methods of walking environment, this paper selects the combined evaluation method of macro urban morphology analysis and micro urban design quality survey, then investigates and analyzes the walking environment of three rail transit station area in Nanjing to explore the influence factor and internal relation of walkability of rail transit station area. Analysis shows that micro urban design factors have greater impact on the walkability of rail transit station area compared with macro urban morphology factors, the convenience is the key factor in the four aspects of convenience, security, identity and comfortability of the urban design factors, the convenience is not only affected by the block network form, but also related to the quality of the street space. The overall evaluation of walkability comes from the overlapping and regrouping of the walking environment at different levels, but some environmental factors play a leading role. The social attributes of pedestrians also partly influence their walking perception and evaluation.

Keywords: Rail transit station area, walkability, evaluation, influence factors.

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Authors: Nariman O. Kandil, Ehab K. Abou-Elkheir, Amr M. Kotb

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Effective IT governance guarantees the strategic alignment of IT and business goals, risk mitigation control, and better IT and business performance. This study seeks to examine empirically the extent of IT governance implementation within the firms listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX30) and its determinants. Accordingly, 18 semi-structured interviews, face to face, phone, and video-conferencing, using various tools (e.g., WebEx, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams) were undertaken at the interviewees’ offices in Egypt between the end of November 2019 and the end of August 2020. Results suggest that there are variances in the extent of IT Governance (ITG) implementation within the firms listed on the EGX30, mainly caused by the industry type and internal and external triggers. The results also suggest that the organization size, the type of auditor, the criticality of the industry, the effective processes & key performance indicators (KPIs), and the information intensity expertise of the chief information officers (CIOs) have a significant impact on ITG implementation within the firms.

Keywords: Effective IT governance, Egyptian Market, information security, risk controls.

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Authors: Chaghoub Soraya, Zhang Xiaoyan

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This research presents the first constant approximation algorithm to the p-median network design problem with multiple cable types. This problem was addressed with a single cable type and there is a bifactor approximation algorithm for the problem. To the best of our knowledge, the algorithm proposed in this paper is the first constant approximation algorithm for the p-median network design with multiple cable types. The addressed problem is a combination of two well studied problems which are p-median problem and network design problem. The introduced algorithm is a random sampling approximation algorithm of constant factor which is conceived by using some random sampling techniques form the literature. It is based on a redistribution Lemma from the literature and a steiner tree problem as a subproblem. This algorithm is simple, and it relies on the notions of random sampling and probability. The proposed approach gives an approximation solution with one constant ratio without violating any of the constraints, in contrast to the one proposed in the literature. This paper provides a (21 + 2)-approximation algorithm for the p-median network design problem with multiple cable types using random sampling techniques.

Keywords: Approximation algorithms, buy-at-bulk, combinatorial optimization, network design, p-median.

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Authors: B. E. Narkhede, S. K. Mahajan, B. T. Patil, R. D. Raut

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Information quality is a major performance measure for an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system of any firm. This study identifies various critical success factors of information quality. The effect of various critical success factors like project management, reengineering efforts and interdepartmental communications on information quality is analyzed using a multiple regression model. Here quantitative data are collected from respondents from various firms through structured questionnaire for assessment of the information quality, project management, reengineering efforts and interdepartmental communications. The validity and reliability of the data are ensured using techniques like factor analysis, computing of Cronbach’s alpha. This study gives relative importance of each of the critical success factors. The findings suggest that among the various factors influencing information quality careful reengineering efforts are the most influencing factor. This paper gives clear insight to managers and practitioners regarding the relative importance of critical success factors influencing information quality so that they can formulate a strategy at the beginning of ERP system implementation.

Keywords: Enterprise resource planning, information systems, multiple regression, information quality.

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Authors: R. K. Singh

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In the present paper, a gyrotron cavity is analyzed in the absence of electron beam for dispersion, attenuation and RF efficiency. For all these characteristics, azimuthally symmetric TE0n modes have been considered. The attenuation characteristics for TE0n modes indicated decrease in attenuation constant as the frequency is increased. Interestingly, the lowest order TE01 mode resulted in lowest attenuation. Further, three different cavity wall materials have been selected for attenuation characteristics. The cavity made of material with higher conductivity resulted in lower attenuation. The effect of material electrical conductivity on the RF efficiency has also been observed and has been found that the RF efficiency rapidly decreases as the electrical conductivity of the cavity material decreases. The RF efficiency rapidly decreases with increasing diffractive quality factor. The ohmic loss variation as a function of frequency of operation for three different cavities made of copper, aluminum and nickel has been observed. The ohmic losses are lowest for the copper cavity and hence the highest RF efficiency.

Keywords: Gyrotron, dispersion, attenuation, quality factor.

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Authors: Abdelsalam Omran Gebril, Ali Gh Saeid

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Grazing and pastoral overloading through human factors result in significant land desertification. Failure to take into account the phenomenon of desertification as a serious problem can lead to an environmental disaster because of the damages caused by land encroachment. Therefore, soil on residential and urban areas is affected because of the deterioration of vegetation. Overgrazing or grazing in open and irregular lands is practiced in these areas almost throughout the year, especially during the growth cycle of edible plants, thereby leading to their disappearance. In addition, the large number of livestock in these areas exceeds the capacity of these pastures because of pastoral land overloading, which results in deterioration and desertification in the region. In addition, rare plants, the extinction of some edible plants in the region, and the emergence of plants unsuitable for grazing, must be taken into consideration, as along with the emergence of dust and sand storms during the dry seasons (summer to autumn) due to the degradation of vegetation. These results show that strategic plans and regulations that protect the environment from desertification must be developed. Therefore, increased pastoral load is a key human factor in the deterioration of vegetation cover, leading to land desertification in this region.

Keywords: Overloading, pastoral, grazing, desertification, Libya

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Authors: Mukesh Singh Boori, Venerando Eustáquio Amaro, Helenice Vital

Abstract:

The present study has been carried out with a view to calculate the coastal vulnerability index (CVI) to know the high and low sensitive areas and area of inundation due to future SLR. Both conventional and remotely sensed data were used and analyzed through the modelling technique. Out of the total study area, 8.26% is very high risk, 14.21% high, 9.36% medium, 22.46% low and 7.35% in the very low vulnerable category, due to costal components. Results of the inundation analysis indicate that 225.2 km² and 397 km² of the land area will be submerged by flooding at 1m and 10m inundation levels. The most severely affected sectors are expected to be the residential, industrial and recreational areas. As this coast is planned for future coastal developmental activities, measures such as industrializations, building regulation, urban growth planning and agriculture, development of an integrated coastal zone management, strict enforcement of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act, monitoring of impacts and further research in this regard are recommended for the study area.

Keywords: Coastal planning, land use, satellite data, vulnerability.

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Authors: Turki M. Habeebullah, Atef M. F. Mohammed, Essam A. Morsy

Abstract:

In recent decades, particulate matter (PM10) have received much attention due to its potential adverse health impact and the subsequent need to better control or regulate these pollutants. The aim of this paper is focused on study risk assessment of PM10 in four different districts (Shebikah, Masfalah, Aziziyah, Awali) in Makkah, Saudi Arabia during the period from 1 Ramadan 1434 AH - 27 Safar 1435 AH. Samples were collected by using Low Volume Sampler (LVS Low Volume Sampler) device and filtration method for estimating the total concentration of PM10. The study indicated that the mean PM10 concentrations were 254.6 (186.1 - 343.2) μg/m3 in Shebikah, 184.9 (145.6 - 271.4) μg/m3 in Masfalah, 162.4 (92.4-253.8) μg/m3 in Aziziyah, and 56.0 (44.5 - 119.8) μg/m3 in Awali. These values did not exceed the permissible limits in PME (340 μg/m3 as daily average). Furthermore, health assessment is carried out using AirQ2.2.3 model to estimate the number of hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases. The cumulative number of cases per 100,000 were 1534 (18-3050 case), which lower than that recorded in the United States, Malaysia. The concentration response coefficient was 0.49 (95% CI 0.05 - 0.70) per 10 μg/m3 increase of PM10.

Keywords: Air pollution, Respiratory diseases, AirQ2.2.3, Makkah.

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Authors: Jongho Park, Taekyun Kim, Jinwoong Choi, Sungnam Hong, Sun-Kyu Park

Abstract:

Recently, the climate change is the one of the main problems. This abnormal phenomenon is consisted of the scorching heat, heavy rain and snowfall, and cold wave that will be enlarged abnormal climate change repeatedly. Accordingly, the width of temperature change is increased more and more by abnormal climate, and it is the main factor of cracking in the reinforced concrete. The crack of the reinforced concrete will affect corrosion of steel re-bar which can decrease durability of the structure easily. Hence, the elimination of the durability weakening factor (steel re-bar) is needed. Textile which weaves the carbon, AR-glass and aramid fiber has been studied actively for exchanging the steel re-bar in the Europe for about 15 years because of its good durability. To apply textile as the concrete reinforcement, the bond strength between concrete and textile will be investigated closely. Therefore, in this paper, pull-out test was performed with change of development length of textile. Significant load and stress was increasing at D80. But, bond stress decreased by increasing development length.

Keywords: Bond strength, climate change, pull-out test, replacement of reinforcement material, textile.

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Authors: Masaru Furukawa, Shigeki Hirobayashi, Tadanobu Misawa

Abstract:

Nowadays, IT/Business strategy alignment is still a key topic of concern among managers worldwide. Change has always being considered the primary challenge affecting the strategy alignment. Planning for alignment in uncertain and dynamic changing environments is burdened with risk as organizations seek to understand how much flexibility to build in their management information system so as to maintain high levels of alignment. The literature review showed that there is a tight relationship between IT infrastructure flexibility and the strategy alignment with strategic information systems (SIS) planning serving as a moderator of this relationship, and that emphasized the needs for organizations to use SIS planning consistently and to monitor the relationship between IS flexibility and the alignment. This paper presents the procedure of SIS planning with IS flexibility renovation via future oriented analysis of POC (penalty of change) as a function of cost and time. Using this SIS planning and monitoring IS flexibility and the alignment during periods of increased change in dynamic and uncertain environments reduces the risk that could transform IT into an inhibitor rather than an enabler of change.

Keywords: IT/Business strategy alignment, strategic information systems (SIS) planning, IS flexibility, penalty of change (POC).

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