Search results for: Expert finding

Authors: Mathias Rossi, Silna Borter, Marie Sansonnens

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Entrepreneurs are important for national labour markets and economies in that they contribute significantly to economic growth as well as provide the majority of jobs and create new ones. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s “Report on Women and Entrepreneurship”, investment in women’s entrepreneurship is an important way to exponentially increase the impact of new venture creation finding ways to empower women’s participation and success in entrepreneurship are critical for more sustainable and successful economic development. Our results confirm that they are still differences between men and women entrepreneurs The reasons seems to be the lack of specific business skills, the less extensive social network, and the lack of identification patterns among women. Those differences can be explained by the fact that women still have fewer opportunities to make a career. If this is correct, we can predict an increasing proportion of women among entrepreneurs in the next years. Concerning the development of a favorable environment for developing and enhancing women entrepreneurship activities, our results show the insertion in a network and the role of a model doubtless represent elements determining in the choice to launch an entrepreneurship activity, as well as a precious resource for the success of her company.

Keywords: Women entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship motivation, entrepreneurial behavior.

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Authors: Sang Hoon Kang, Seong-Min Yoon

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Little attention has been paid to information transmission between the portfolios of large stocks and small stocks in the Korean stock market. This study investigates the return and volatility transmission mechanisms between large and small stocks in the Korea Exchange (KRX). This study also explores whether bad news in the large stock market leads to a volatility of the small stock market that is larger than the good news volatility of the large stock market. By employing the Granger causality test, we found unidirectional return transmissions from the large stocks to medium and small stocks. This evidence indicates that pat information about the large stocks has a better ability to predict the returns of the medium and small stocks in the Korean stock market. Moreover, by using the asymmetric GARCH-BEKK model, we observed the unidirectional relationship of asymmetric volatility transmission from large stocks to the medium and small stocks. This finding suggests that volatility in the medium and small stocks following a negative shock in the large stocks is larger than that following a positive shock in the large stocks.

Keywords: Asymmetric GARCH-BEKK model, Asymmetric volatility transmission, Causality, Korean stock market, Spillover effect

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Authors: Ju-Hong Lee, Chong-Jia Ciou

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This paper deals with the problem of two-dimensional (2-D) recursive two-channel quincunx quadrature mirror filter (QQMF) banks design. The analysis and synthesis filters of the 2-D recursive QQMF bank are composed of 2-D recursive digital allpass lattice filters (DALFs) with symmetric half-plane (SHP) support regions. Using the 2-D doubly complementary half-band (DC-HB) property possessed by the analysis and synthesis filters, we facilitate the design of the proposed QQMF bank. For finding the coefficients of the 2-D recursive SHP DALFs, we present a structure of 2-D recursive digital allpass filters by using 2-D SHP recursive digital all-pass lattice filters (DALFs). The novelty of using 2-D SHP recursive DALFs to construct a 2-D recursive QQMF bank is that the resulting 2-D recursive QQMF bank provides better performance than the existing 2-D recursive QQMF banks. Simulation results are also presented for illustration and comparison.

Keywords: All-pass digital filter, doubly complementary, lattice structure, symmetric half-plane digital filter, quincunx QMF bank.

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Authors: Hendriëtte van der Walt, Lesley Chown, Richard Harris, Ndabenhle Sosibo, Robert Tshikhudo

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The use of magnetic and magnetic/gold core/shell nanoparticles in biotechnology or medicine has shown good promise due to their hybrid nature which possesses superior magnetic and optical properties. Some of these potential applications include hyperthermia treatment, bio-separations, diagnostics, drug delivery and toxin removal. Synthesis refinement to control geometric and magnetic/optical properties, and finding functional surfactants for biomolecular attachment, are requirements to meet application specifics. Various high-temperature preparative methods were used for the synthesis of iron oxide and gold-coated iron oxide nanoparticles. Different surface functionalities, such as 11-aminoundecanoic and 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid, were introduced on the surface of the particles to facilitate further attachment of biomolecular functionality and drug-like molecules. Nanoparticle thermal stability, composition, state of aggregation, size and morphology were investigated and the results from techniques such as Fourier Transform-Infra Red spectroscopy (FT-IR), Ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and thermal analysis are discussed.

Keywords: Core/shell, Iron oxide, Gold coating, Nanoparticles.

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Authors: M. M. Bagheri, G. Doudak, M. Gong

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The in-plane rigidity of light frame diaphragms has been investigated by researchers due to the importance of this subsystem regarding lateral force distribution between the lateral force resisting system (LFRS). Where research has lacked is in evaluating the impact of out-of-plane raigidity of the diaphragm on the deflection of shear walls. This study aims at investigating the effect of the diaphragm on the behavior of wood light-frame shear walls, in particular its out-of-plane rigidity was simulated by modeling the floors as beam. The out of plane stiffness of the diaphragm was investigated for idealized (infinitely stiff or flexible) as well as “realistic”. The results showed reductions in the shear wall deflection in the magnitude of approximately 80% considering the out of plane rigidity of the diaphragm. It was also concluded that considering conservative estimates of out-of-plane stiffness might lead to a very significant reduction in deflection and that assuming the floor diaphragm to be infinitely rigid out of plan seems to be reasonable. For diaphragms supported on multiple panels, further reduction in the deflection was observed. More work, particularly at the experimental level, is needed to verify the finding obtained in the numerical investigation related to the effect of out of plane diaphragm stiffness.

Keywords: Deflection of light-frame wood shear walls, out-of-plane stiffness of the diaphragm, initial stiffness.

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Authors: Reena Murali, David Peter S.

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The small interfering RNA (siRNA) alters the regulatory role of mRNA during gene expression by translational inhibition. Recent studies show that upregulation of mRNA because serious diseases like cancer. So designing effective siRNA with good knockdown effects plays an important role in gene silencing. Various siRNA design tools had been developed earlier. In this work, we are trying to analyze the existing good scoring second generation siRNA predicting tools and to optimize the efficiency of siRNA prediction by designing a computational model using Artificial Neural Network and whole stacking energy (%G), which may help in gene silencing and drug design in cancer therapy. Our model is trained and tested against a large data set of siRNA sequences. Validation of our results is done by finding correlation coefficient of experimental versus observed inhibition efficacy of siRNA. We achieved a correlation coefficient of 0.727 in our previous computational model and we could improve the correlation coefficient up to 0.753 when the threshold of whole tacking energy is greater than or equal to -32.5 kcal/mol.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Network, Double Stranded RNA, RNA Interference, Short Interfering RNA.

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Authors: Hanieh Tarbiat Khosrowshahi, Mojtaba Shakeri

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Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) consist of a set of sensor nodes with limited capability. WSNs may suffer from multiple node failures when they are exposed to harsh environments such as military zones or disaster locations and lose connectivity by getting partitioned into disjoint segments. Relay nodes (RNs) are alternatively introduced to restore connectivity. They cost more than sensors as they benefit from mobility, more power and more transmission range, enforcing a minimum number of them to be used. This paper addresses the problem of RN placement in a multiple disjoint network by developing a genetic algorithm (GA). The problem is reintroduced as the Steiner tree problem (which is known to be an NP-hard problem) by the aim of finding the minimum number of Steiner points where RNs are to be placed for restoring connectivity. An upper bound to the number of RNs is first computed to set up the length of initial chromosomes. The GA algorithm then iteratively reduces the number of RNs and determines their location at the same time. Experimental results indicate that the proposed GA is capable of establishing network connectivity using a reasonable number of RNs compared to the best existing work.

Keywords: Connectivity restoration, genetic algorithms, multiple-node failure, relay nodes, wireless sensor networks.

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Authors: Ahmad Hashim, Mohd Sani Madon

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This study was conducted to determine the objectivity, reliability and validity of the 90º push-ups test protocol among male and female students of Sports Science Program, Faculty of Sports Science and Coaching Sultan Idris University of Education. Samples (n = 300), consisted of males (n = 168) and females (n = 132) students were randomly selected for this study. Researchers tested the 90º push-ups on the sample twice in a single trial, test and re-test protocol in the bench press test. Pearson-Product Moment Correlation method's was used to determine the value of objectivity, reliability and validity testing. The findings showed that the 900 pushups test protocol showed high consistency between the two testers with a value of r = .99. Likewise, The reliability value between test and re-test for the 90º push-ups test for the male (r=.93) and female (r=.93) students was also high. The results showed a correlation between 90º push-ups test and bench press test for boys was r = .64 and girls was r = .28. This finding indicates that the use of the 90º push-ups to test muscular strength and endurance in the upper body of males has a higher validity values than female students.

Keywords: Arm and shoulder girdle strength and endurance, 900 push-ups, bench press

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Authors: M. Derakhshanfar, B. Minaei-Bidgoli

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Spatial trends are one of the valuable patterns in geo databases. They play an important role in data analysis and knowledge discovery from spatial data. A spatial trend is a regular change of one or more non spatial attributes when spatially moving away from a start object. Spatial trend detection is a graph search problem therefore heuristic methods can be good solution. Artificial immune system (AIS) is a special method for searching and optimizing. AIS is a novel evolutionary paradigm inspired by the biological immune system. The models based on immune system principles, such as the clonal selection theory, the immune network model or the negative selection algorithm, have been finding increasing applications in fields of science and engineering. In this paper, we develop a novel immunological algorithm based on clonal selection algorithm (CSA) for spatial trend detection. We are created neighborhood graph and neighborhood path, then select spatial trends that their affinity is high for antibody. In an evolutionary process with artificial immune algorithm, affinity of low trends is increased with mutation until stop condition is satisfied.

Keywords: Spatial Data Mining, Spatial Trend Detection, Heuristic Methods, Artificial Immune System, Clonal Selection Algorithm (CSA)

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Authors: Ghazi AL-Sukkar, Iyad Jafar, Khalid Darabkh, Raed Al-Zubi, Mohammed Hawa

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Smart Grids employ wireless sensor networks for their control and monitoring. Sensors are characterized by limitations in the processing power, energy supply and memory spaces, which require a particular attention on the design of routing and data management algorithms. Since most routing algorithms for sensor networks, focus on finding energy efficient paths to prolong the lifetime of sensor networks, the power of sensors on efficient paths depletes quickly, and consequently sensor networks become incapable of monitoring events from some parts of their target areas. In consequence, the design of routing protocols should consider not only energy efficiency paths, but also energy efficient algorithms in general. In this paper we propose an energy efficient routing protocol for wireless sensor networks without the support of any location information system. The reliability and the efficiency of this protocol have been demonstrated by simulation studies where we compare them to the legacy protocols. Our simulation results show that these algorithms scale well with network size and density.

Keywords: Data-centric storage, Dynamic Address Allocation, Sensor networks, Smart Grid Communications.

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Authors: Avishai Sintov, Roland Menassa, Amir Shapiro

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Industrial robotic arms utilize multiple end-effectors, each for a specific part and for a specific task. We propose a novel algorithm which will define a single end-effector’s configuration able to grasp a given set of objects with different geometries. The algorithm will have great benefit in production lines allowing a single robot to grasp various parts. Hence, reducing the number of endeffectors needed. Moreover, the algorithm will reduce end-effector design and manufacturing time and final product cost. The algorithm searches for a common grasp over the set of objects. The search algorithm maps all possible grasps for each object which satisfy a quality criterion and takes into account possible external wrenches (forces and torques) applied to the object. The mapped grasps are- represented by high-dimensional feature vectors which describes the shape of the gripper. We generate a database of all possible grasps for each object in the feature space. Then we use a search and classification algorithm for intersecting all possible grasps over all parts and finding a single common grasp suitable for all objects. We present simulations of planar and spatial objects to validate the feasibility of the approach.

Keywords: Common Grasping, Search Algorithm, Robotic End-Effector.

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Authors: Rozilawati Binti Dollah, Masaki Aono

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Classifying biomedical literature is a difficult and challenging task, especially when a large number of biomedical articles should be organized into a hierarchical structure. In this paper, we present an approach for classifying a collection of biomedical text abstracts downloaded from Medline database with the help of ontology alignment. To accomplish our goal, we construct two types of hierarchies, the OHSUMED disease hierarchy and the Medline abstract disease hierarchies from the OHSUMED dataset and the Medline abstracts, respectively. Then, we enrich the OHSUMED disease hierarchy before adapting it to ontology alignment process for finding probable concepts or categories. Subsequently, we compute the cosine similarity between the vector in probable concepts (in the “enriched" OHSUMED disease hierarchy) and the vector in Medline abstract disease hierarchies. Finally, we assign category to the new Medline abstracts based on the similarity score. The results obtained from the experiments show the performance of our proposed approach for hierarchical classification is slightly better than the performance of the multi-class flat classification.

Keywords: Biomedical literature, hierarchical text classification, ontology alignment, text mining.

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Authors: S. B. Jaju, R. R. Lakhe

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Quality costs are the costs associated with preventing, finding, and correcting defective work. Since the main language of corporate management is money, quality-related costs act as means of communication between the staff of quality engineering departments and the company managers. The objective of quality engineering is to minimize the total quality cost across the life of product. Quality costs provide a benchmark against which improvement can be measured over time. It provides a rupee-based report on quality improvement efforts. It is an effective tool to identify, prioritize and select quality improvement projects. After reviewing through the literature it was noticed that a simplified methodology for data collection of quality cost in a manufacturing industry was required. The quantified standard methodology is proposed for collecting data of various elements of quality cost categories for manufacturing industry. Also in the light of research carried out so far, it is felt necessary to standardise cost elements in each of the prevention, appraisal, internal failure and external failure costs. . Here an attempt is made to standardise the various cost elements applicable to manufacturing industry and data is collected by using the proposed quantified methodology. This paper discusses the case study carried in luggage manufacturing industry.

Keywords: Quality Costs, PAF model, quantified methodology, Case study.

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Authors: Tanhao Gao, Hongtao Zhou

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With the COVID-19 pandemic spreading worldwide, people are facing more significant mental pressure. The government and social groups are sparing no effort to find ways to heal people's emotions and return to normal life. Therefore, research on emotional healing has urgency and practical significance. From the perspective of urban planning, street furniture has the potential to become "emotional healing touchpoints." This study first analyzed the suitable places for adding emotional healing street furniture in the background of urban micro-renewal and combined the 15-minute living circle, the leftover space, and urban acupuncture theories, then used the 5W analysis method to show the main characteristics of emotionally healing street furniture. Finally, the research discovers four design strategies, which can be summarized as: A. Exploring the renewal potential of the leftover space; B. Integrating with local culture and the surrounding environment; C. Discovering quick and straightforward ways of interaction; D. Finding a delicate balance between artistry and functionality. Then, we take one emotional healing street furniture located on Chifeng Road as an example to show the design strategies vividly.

Keywords: Emotional healing, street furniture, urban micro-renewal, urban acupuncture.

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Authors: Hidehiko Okada, Takayuki Akiba

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It is well-known as Fitts’ law that the time for a user to point a target on a GUI screen can be modeled as a linear function of “index of difficulty (ID).” In this paper, the authors investigate whether the traditional ID formulation is appropriate independently of device screen sizes. Result of our experiment reveals that the ID formulation may not consistently capture actual difficulty: users’ pointing performances are not consistent among pointing target variations of which index of difficulty are consistent. The term A/W may not be appropriate because the term causes the observed inconsistency. Based on this finding, the authors then evaluate the applicability of possible models other than Fitts’ one. Multiple regression models are found to be able to appropriately represent the effects of target design variations. The authors next make an attempt to improve the definition of ID in Fitts’ model. Our idea is to raise the size or the distance values depending on the screen size. The modified model is found to fit well to the users’ pointing data, which supports the idea. 

Keywords: Fitts’ law, pointing device, small screen, touch user interface, usability.

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Authors: Phruksaphanrat B.

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This research proposes a preemptive fuzzy goal programming model for multi-objective multi-mode resource constrained project scheduling problem. The objectives of the problem are minimization of the total time and the total cost of the project. Objective in a multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem is often a minimization of makespan. However, both time and cost should be considered at the same time with different level of important priorities. Moreover, all elements of cost functions in a project are not included in the conventional cost objective function. Incomplete total project cost causes an error in finding the project scheduling time. In this research, preemptive fuzzy goal programming is presented to solve the multi-objective multi-mode resource constrained project scheduling problem. It can find the compromise solution of the problem. Moreover, it is also flexible in adjusting to find a variety of alternative solutions. 

Keywords: Multi-mode resource constrained project scheduling problem, Fuzzy set, Goal programming, Preemptive fuzzy goal programming.

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Authors: N. N. Mosola, S. J. Molete, L. S. Masoebe, M. Letsae

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Hand gesture recognition is a technique used to locate, detect, and recognize a hand gesture. Detection and recognition are concepts of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI concepts are applicable in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Expert systems (ES), etc. Hand gesture recognition can be used in sign language interpretation. Sign language is a visual communication tool. This tool is used mostly by deaf societies and those with speech disorder. Communication barriers exist when societies with speech disorder interact with others. This research aims to build a hand recognition system for Lesotho’s Sesotho and English language interpretation. The system will help to bridge the communication problems encountered by the mentioned societies. The system has various processing modules. The modules consist of a hand detection engine, image processing engine, feature extraction, and sign recognition. Detection is a process of identifying an object. The proposed system uses Canny pruning Haar and Haarcascade detection algorithms. Canny pruning implements the Canny edge detection. This is an optimal image processing algorithm. It is used to detect edges of an object. The system employs a skin detection algorithm. The skin detection performs background subtraction, computes the convex hull, and the centroid to assist in the detection process. Recognition is a process of gesture classification. Template matching classifies each hand gesture in real-time. The system was tested using various experiments. The results obtained show that time, distance, and light are factors that affect the rate of detection and ultimately recognition. Detection rate is directly proportional to the distance of the hand from the camera. Different lighting conditions were considered. The more the light intensity, the faster the detection rate. Based on the results obtained from this research, the applied methodologies are efficient and provide a plausible solution towards a light-weight, inexpensive system which can be used for sign language interpretation.

Keywords: Canny pruning, hand recognition, machine learning, skin tracking.

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Authors: Ghada Elshafei, Abdelazim Negm

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Recently, the green architecture becomes a significant way to a sustainable future. Green building designs involve finding the balance between comfortable homebuilding and sustainable environment. Moreover, the utilization of the new technologies such as artificial intelligence techniques are used to complement current practices in creating greener structures to keep the built environment more sustainable. The most common objectives in green buildings should be designed to minimize the overall impact of the built environment that effect on ecosystems in general and in particularly human health and natural environment. This will lead to protecting occupant health, improving employee productivity, reducing pollution and sustaining the environmental. In green building design, multiple parameters which may be interrelated, contradicting, vague and of qualitative/quantitative nature are broaden to use. This paper presents a comprehensive critical state- ofart- review of current practices based on fuzzy and its combination techniques. Also, presented how green architecture/building can be improved using the technologies that been used for analysis to seek optimal green solutions strategies and models to assist in making the best possible decision out of different alternatives.

Keywords: Green architecture/building, technologies, optimization, strategies, fuzzy techniques and models.

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Authors: Somnath Dey, Debasis Samanta

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Iris-based biometric system is gaining its importance in several applications. However, processing of iris biometric is a challenging and time consuming task. Detection of iris part in an eye image poses a number of challenges such as, inferior image quality, occlusion of eyelids and eyelashes etc. Due to these problems it is not possible to achieve 100% accuracy rate in any iris-based biometric authentication systems. Further, iris detection is a computationally intensive task in the overall iris biometric processing. In this paper, we address these two problems and propose a technique to localize iris part efficiently and accurately. We propose scaling and color level transform followed by thresholding, finding pupil boundary points for pupil boundary detection and dilation, thresholding, vertical edge detection and removal of unnecessary edges present in the eye images for iris boundary detection. Scaling reduces the search space significantly and intensity level transform is helpful for image thresholding. Experimental results show that our approach is comparable with the existing approaches. Following our approach it is possible to detect iris part with 95-99% accuracy as substantiated by our experiments on CASIA Ver-3.0, ICE 2005, UBIRIS, Bath and MMU iris image databases.

Keywords: Iris recognition, iris localization, biometrics, image processing.

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Authors: Sunita Jahirabadkar, Parag Kulkarni

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Many real-world data sets consist of a very high dimensional feature space. Most clustering techniques use the distance or similarity between objects as a measure to build clusters. But in high dimensional spaces, distances between points become relatively uniform. In such cases, density based approaches may give better results. Subspace Clustering algorithms automatically identify lower dimensional subspaces of the higher dimensional feature space in which clusters exist. In this paper, we propose a new clustering algorithm, ISC – Intelligent Subspace Clustering, which tries to overcome three major limitations of the existing state-of-art techniques. ISC determines the input parameter such as є – distance at various levels of Subspace Clustering which helps in finding meaningful clusters. The uniform parameters approach is not suitable for different kind of databases. ISC implements dynamic and adaptive determination of Meaningful clustering parameters based on hierarchical filtering approach. Third and most important feature of ISC is the ability of incremental learning and dynamic inclusion and exclusions of subspaces which lead to better cluster formation.

Keywords: Density based clustering, high dimensional data, subspace clustering, dynamic parameter setting.

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Authors: Chen Sun, Nemai Chandra Karmakar

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A novel direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation technique, which uses a conventional multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm with periodic signals, is applied to a single RF-port parasitic array antenna for direction finding. Simulation results show that the proposed method gives high resolution (1 degree) DOA estimation in an uncorrelated signal environment. The novelty lies in that the MUSIC algorithm is applied to a simplified antenna configuration. Only one RF port and one analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) are used in this antenna, which features low DC power consumption, low cost, and ease of fabrication. Modifications to the conventional MUSIC algorithm do not bring much additional complexity. The proposed technique is also free from the negative influence by the mutual coupling between elements. Therefore, the technique has great potential to be implemented into the existing wireless mobile communications systems, especially at the power consumption limited mobile terminals, to provide additional position location (PL) services.

Keywords: Direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation, electronically steerable parasitic array radiator (ESPAR), multiple single classifications (MUSIC), position location.

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Authors: Noratiqah Mohd Ariff, Abdul Aziz Jemain, Mohd Aftar Abu Bakar

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The construction of Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves is one of the most common and useful tools in order to design hydraulic structures and to provide a mathematical relationship between rainfall characteristics. IDF curves, especially those in Peninsular Malaysia, are often built using moving windows of rainfalls. However, these windows do not represent the actual rainfall events since the duration of rainfalls is usually prefixed. Hence, instead of using moving windows, this study aims to find regionalized distributions for IDF curves of extreme rainfalls based on storm events. Homogeneity test is performed on annual maximum of storm intensities to identify homogeneous regions of storms in Peninsular Malaysia. The L-moment method is then used to regionalized Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution of these annual maximums and subsequently. IDF curves are constructed using the regional distributions. The differences between the IDF curves obtained and IDF curves found using at-site GEV distributions are observed through the computation of the coefficient of variation of root mean square error, mean percentage difference and the coefficient of determination. The small differences implied that the construction of IDF curves could be simplified by finding a general probability distribution of each region. This will also help in constructing IDF curves for sites with no rainfall station.

Keywords: IDF curves, L-moments, regionalization, storm events.

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Authors: M. S. Gadala, Khaled Ahmed, Elasadig Mahdi

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In this paper, we introduced a gradient-based inverse solver to obtain the missing boundary conditions based on the readings of internal thermocouples. The results show that the method is very sensitive to measurement errors, and becomes unstable when small time steps are used. The artificial neural networks are shown to be capable of capturing the whole thermal history on the run-out table, but are not very effective in restoring the detailed behavior of the boundary conditions. Also, they behave poorly in nonlinear cases and where the boundary condition profile is different. GA and PSO are more effective in finding a detailed representation of the time-varying boundary conditions, as well as in nonlinear cases. However, their convergence takes longer. A variation of the basic PSO, called CRPSO, showed the best performance among the three versions. Also, PSO proved to be effective in handling noisy data, especially when its performance parameters were tuned. An increase in the self-confidence parameter was also found to be effective, as it increased the global search capabilities of the algorithm. RPSO was the most effective variation in dealing with noise, closely followed by CRPSO. The latter variation is recommended for inverse heat conduction problems, as it combines the efficiency and effectiveness required by these problems.

Keywords: Inverse Analysis, Function Specification, Neural Net Works, Particle Swarm, Run Out Table.

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Authors: Hossein Keshavarz, Alejandro Ramirez-Serrano

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Energy efficiency and locomotion speed are two key parameters for legged robots, thus finding ways to improve them are important. This paper proposes a locomotion framework to analyze the energy usage and speed of quadruped robots via a Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimization process. For this, a quadruped robot platform with joint redundancy in its hind legs that we believe will help multi-legged robots improve their speed and energy consumption is used. ContinuO, the quadruped robot of interest, has 14 active degrees of freedom (DoFs), including three DoFs for each front leg, and unlike previously developed quadruped robots, four DoFs for each hind leg. ContinuO aims to realize a cost-effective quadruped robot for real-world scenarios with high-speeds and the ability to overcome large obstructions. The proposed framework is used to locomote the robot and analyze its energy consumed at diverse stride lengths and locomotion speeds. The analysis is performed by comparing the obtained results in two modes, with and without the joint redundancy on the robot’s hind legs.

Keywords: Genetic algorithm optimization, locomotion path planning, quadruped robots, redundant legs.

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Authors: Supattra Kanchanopast

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The purpose of this paper was to study motivation factors affecting job performance effectiveness. This paper drew upon data collected from an Internal Audit Staffs of Internal Audit Line of Head Office of Krung Thai Public Company Limited. Statistics used included frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, t-test, and one-way ANOVA test. The finding revealed that the majority of the respondents were female of 46 years of age and over, married and live together, hold a bachelor degree, with an average monthly income over 70,001 Baht. The majority of respondents had over 15 years of work experience. They generally had high working motivation as well as high job performance effectiveness. The hypotheses testing disclosed that employees with different working status had different level of job performance effectiveness at a 0.01 level of significance. Working motivation factors had an effect on job performance in the same direction with high level. Individual working motivation included working completion, reorganization, working progression, working characteristic, opportunity, responsibility, management policy, supervision, relationship with their superior, relationship with co-worker, working position, working stability, safety, privacy, working conditions, and payment. All of these factors related to job performance effectiveness in the same direction with medium level.

Keywords: Internal Audit Staffs, Job Performance Effectiveness, Working Motivation.

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Authors: Yvonne Ayerki Lamptey

Abstract:

The expanding informal sector in developing countries and in Ghana in particular from the 1980s has now been aggravated by the growing population and downsizing in both the public and private sectors, with displaced workers finding alternative livelihoods in the informal sector. Youth and graduate unemployment also swell the numbers and further promote the continuity of the sector. Formal workers and institutions facilitate the growth and complicate demarcations between informality within the formal and informal sectors. In spite of its growth and increasing importance, the informal economy does not feature in policy debates and has often been neglected by the Ghana government. The phenomenon has evolved with modernity into myriad unimaginable forms. Indeed, actors within the sector often clash with the interventions provided by policy makers - because neither the operatives nor the activities they perform can be clearly defined. This study uses in-depth interviews to explore the behavioural nature of the informal workers in Ghana to understand how the operatives describe and perceive the sector, and to identify the factors that influence their drive to stay within the sector. This paper concludes that the operatives clearly distinguish between the formal and informal sectors and identify the characteristics and conditions that constitute the informal sector. Other workers are trapped between formality and informality. The findings also enumerate the push and pull factors contributing to the growth of the sector.

Keywords: Informal work, informal sector, operatives, Sub-Saharan Africa, unemployment.

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Authors: M. Susithra, R. Gnanadass

Abstract:

Ancillary services are support services which are essential for humanizing and enhancing the reliability and security of the electric power system. Reactive power ancillary service is one of the important ancillary services in a restructured electricity market which determines the cost of supplying ancillary services and finding of how this cost would change with respect to operating decisions. This paper presents a new formation that can be used to minimize the Independent System Operator (ISO)’s total payment for reactive power ancillary service. The modified power flow tracing algorithm estimates the availability of reserve reactive power for ancillary service. In order to find optimum reactive power dispatch, Biogeography based optimization method (BPO) is proposed. Market Reactive Clearing Price (MRCP) is then estimated and it encourages generator companies (GENCOs) to participate in an ancillary service. Finally, optimal weighting factor and real time utilization factor of reactive power give the minimum ISO’s total payment. The effectiveness of proposed design is verified using IEEE 30 bus system.

Keywords: Biogeography based optimization method, Power flow tracing method, Reactive generation capability curve and Reactive power ancillary service.

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Authors: Florian Pfeffel, Christoph A. Kexel, Peter Kexel, Maria Ratz

Abstract:

The parallel usage of different media channels has increased recently owing to technological advances. Second Screen describes the use of a second device by television viewers to consume further content which is related to the program they are watching. This study analysed the characteristics of football spectators regarding their media consumption in relation to Second Screen usage while watching a football match on TV. The existing literature on Second Screen usage is still very limited, especially in the context of particular broadcasting settings such as sport or even more specific such as football matches. Therefore, the primary research objective was to reveal first insights into the user behaviour of football spectators regarding Second Screen services. The survey, which was conducted among German football supporters in 2015, revealed some characteristics such as the identification and involvement into the sports which are related to an increased use of Second Screen services. One important finding for football supporters was that at the time of a match they have a lower parallel media usage compared to other TV broadcastings. Nevertheless, if supporters used a second device while watching a match on TV, then they were using specific Second Screen services. This means they searched for more content related information. The findings on the habits and characteristics of people who are using Second Screen services are relevant for future developments in that area as well as for marketing decisions.

Keywords: Media consumption, second screen, sport marketing, user behaviour.

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Authors: Mai Thanh Truc, Masao Yoshida

Abstract:

Global temperature had increased by about 0.5oC over the past century, increasing temperature leads to a loss or a decrease of soil organic matter (SOM). Whereas soil organic matter in many tropical soils is less stable than that of temperate soils, and it will be easily affected by climate change. Therefore, conservation of soil organic matter is urgent issue nowadays. This paper presents the effect of different doses (5%, 15%) of Ca-type zeolite in conjunction with organic manure, applied to soil samples from Philippines, Paraguay and Japan, on the decomposition resistance of soil organic matter under high temperature. Results showed that a remain or slightly increase the C/N ratio of soil. There are an increase in percent of humic acid (PQ) that extracted with Na4P2O7. A decrease of percent of free humus (fH) after incubation was determined. A larger the relative color intensity (RF) value and a lower the color coefficient (6logK) value following increasing zeolite rates leading to a higher degrees of humification. The increase in the aromatic condensation of humic acid (HA) after incubation, as indicates by the decrease of H/C and O/C ratios of HA. This finding indicates that the use of zeolite could be beneficial with respect to SOM conservation under global warming condition.

Keywords: Global warming, Humic substances, Soil organicmatter, Zeolite.

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Authors: Anjali Chatterjee, Nirmal Kumar Roy

Abstract:

Economically transformers constitute one of the largest investments in a Power system. For this reason, transformer condition assessment and management is a high priority task. If a transformer fails, it would have a significant negative impact on revenue and service reliability. Monitoring the state of health of power transformers has traditionally been carried out using laboratory Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) tests performed at periodic intervals on the oil sample, collected from the transformers. DGA of transformer oil is the single best indicator of a transformer-s overall condition and is a universal practice today, which started somewhere in the 1960s. Failure can occur in a transformer due to different reasons. Some failures can be limited or prevented by maintenance. Oil filtration is one of the methods to remove the dissolve gases and prevent the deterioration of the oil. In this paper we analysis the DGA data by regression method and predict the gas concentration in the oil in the future. We bring about a comparative study of different traditional methods of regression and the errors generated out of their predictions. With the help of these data we can deduce the health of the transformer by finding the type of fault if it has occurred or will occur in future. Additional in this paper effect of filtration on the transformer health is highlight by calculating the probability of failure of a transformer with and without oil filtrating.

Keywords: Power Transformers, Dissolve gas Analysis, Regression method, Filtration, oil.

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