Search results for: Solicitor General
472 Global Kinetics of Direct Dimethyl Ether Synthesis Process from Syngas in Slurry Reactor over a Novel Cu-Zn-Al-Zr Slurry Catalyst
Authors: Zhen Chen, Haitao Zhang, Weiyong Ying, Dingye Fang
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The direct synthesis process of dimethyl ether (DME) from syngas in slurry reactors is considered to be promising because of its advantages in caloric transfer. In this paper, the influences of operating conditions (temperature, pressure and weight hourly space velocity) on the conversion of CO, selectivity of DME and methanol were studied in a stirred autoclave over Cu-Zn-Al-Zr slurry catalyst, which is far more suitable to liquid phase dimethyl ether synthesis process than bifunctional catalyst commercially. A Langmuir- Hinshelwood mechanism type global kinetics model for liquid phase DME direct synthesis based on methanol synthesis models and a methanol dehydration model has been investigated by fitting our experimental data. The model parameters were estimated with MATLAB program based on general Genetic Algorithms and Levenberg-Marquardt method, which is suitably fitting experimental data and its reliability was verified by statistical test and residual error analysis.Keywords: alcohol/ether fuel, Cu-Zn-Al-Zr slurry catalyst, global kinetics, slurry reactor
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5500471 Animation of Objects on the Website by Application of CSS3 Language
Authors: Vladimir Simovic, Matija Varga, Robert Svetlacic
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Scientific work analytically explores and demonstrates techniques that can animate objects and geometric characters using CSS3 language by applying proper formatting and positioning of elements. This paper presents examples of optimum application of the CSS3 descriptive language when generating general web animations (e.g., billiards and movement of geometric characters, etc.). The paper presents analytically, the optimal development and animation design with the frames within which the animated objects are. The originally developed content is based on the upgrading of existing CSS3 descriptive language animations with more complex syntax and project-oriented work. The purpose of the developed animations is to provide an overview of the interactive features of CSS3 descriptive language design for computer games and the animation of important analytical data based on the web view. It has been analytically demonstrated that CSS3 as a descriptive language allows inserting of various multimedia elements into websites for public and internal sites.
Keywords: Animation recording, web page graphics, HTML5 forms, Cascading Style Sheets 3 - CSS3, man-computer interaction, KML animation presenting format, GML, Google Earth Professional.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 793470 Validation and Projections for Solar Radiation up to 2100: HadGEM2-AO Global Circulation Model
Authors: Elison Eduardo Jardim Bierhals, Claudineia Brazil, Deivid Pires, Rafael Haag, Elton Gimenez Rossini
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The objective of this work is to evaluate the results of solar radiation projections between 2006 and 2013 for the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The projections are provided by the General Circulation Models (MCGs) belonging to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Phase 5 (CMIP5). In all, the results of the simulation of six models are evaluated, compared to monthly data, measured by a network of thirteen meteorological stations of the National Meteorological Institute (INMET). The performance of the models is evaluated by the Nash coefficient and the Bias. The results are presented in the form of tables, graphs and spatialization maps. The ACCESS1-0 RCP 4.5 model presented the best results for the solar radiation simulations, for the most optimistic scenario, in much of the state. The efficiency coefficients (CEF) were between 0.95 and 0.98. In the most pessimistic scenario, HADGen2-AO RCP 8.5 had the best accuracy among the analyzed models, presenting coefficients of efficiency between 0.94 and 0.98. From this validation, solar radiation projection maps were elaborated, indicating a seasonal increase of this climatic variable in some regions of the Brazilian territory, mainly in the spring.
Keywords: climate change, projections, solar radiation, validation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 839469 The Ability of Forecasting the Term Structure of Interest Rates Based On Nelson-Siegel and Svensson Model
Authors: Tea Poklepović, Zdravka Aljinović, Branka Marasović
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Due to the importance of yield curve and its estimation it is inevitable to have valid methods for yield curve forecasting in cases when there are scarce issues of securities and/or week trade on a secondary market. Therefore in this paper, after the estimation of weekly yield curves on Croatian financial market from October 2011 to August 2012 using Nelson-Siegel and Svensson models, yield curves are forecasted using Vector autoregressive model and Neural networks. In general, it can be concluded that both forecasting methods have good prediction abilities where forecasting of yield curves based on Nelson Siegel estimation model give better results in sense of lower Mean Squared Error than forecasting based on Svensson model Also, in this case Neural networks provide slightly better results. Finally, it can be concluded that most appropriate way of yield curve prediction is Neural networks using Nelson-Siegel estimation of yield curves.
Keywords: Nelson-Siegel model, Neural networks, Svensson model, Vector autoregressive model, Yield curve.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3234468 The Mentoring in Professional Development of University Teachers
Authors: Nagore Guerra Bilbao, Clemente Lobato Fraile
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Mentoring is provided by professionals with a higher level of experience and competence as part of the professional development of a university faculty. This paper explores the characteristics of the mentoring provided by those teachers participating in the development of an active methodology program run at the University of the Basque Country: to examine and to analyze mentors’ performance with the aim of providing empirical evidence regarding its value as a lifelong learning strategy for teaching staff. A total of 183 teachers were trained during the first three programs. The analysis method uses a coding technique and is based on flexible, systematic guidelines for gathering and analyzing qualitative data. The results have confirmed the conception of mentoring as a methodological innovation in higher education. In short, university teachers in general assessed the mentoring they received positively, considering it to be a valid, useful strategy in their professional development. They highlighted the methodological expertise of their mentor and underscored how they monitored the learning process of the active method and provided guidance and advice when necessary. Finally, they also drew attention to traits such as availability, personal commitment and flexibility in. However, a minority critique is pointed to some aspects of the performance of some mentors.
Keywords: Higher education, Mentoring, Professional development, University teachers.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 939467 Towards Model-Driven Communications
Authors: Antonio Natali, Ambra Molesini
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In modern distributed software systems, the issue of communication among composing parts represents a critical point, but the idea of extending conventional programming languages with general purpose communication constructs seems difficult to realize. As a consequence, there is a (growing) gap between the abstraction level required by distributed applications and the concepts provided by platforms that enable communication. This work intends to discuss how the Model Driven Software Development approach can be considered as a mature technology to generate in automatic way the schematic part of applications related to communication, by providing at the same time high level specialized languages useful in all the phases of software production. To achieve the goal, a stack of languages (meta-meta¬models) has been introduced in order to describe – at different levels of abstraction – the collaborative behavior of generic entities in terms of communication actions related to a taxonomy of messages. Finally, the generation of platforms for communication is viewed as a form of specification of language semantics, that provides executable models of applications together with model-checking supports and effective runtime environments.
Keywords: Interactions, specific languages, meta-models, model driven development.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1836466 Measuring Risk Levels and Efficacy of Risk Management Strategies in Vietnamese Catfish Farming
Authors: Tru C. Le, France Cheong
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Although the Vietnamese catfish farming has grown at very high rates in recent years, the industry has also faced many problems affecting its sustainability. This paper studies the perceptions of catfish farmers regarding risk and risk management strategies in their production activities. Specifically, the study aims to measure the consequences, likelihoods, and levels of risks as well as the efficacy of risk management in Vietnamese catfish farming. Data for the study were collected through a sample of 261 catfish farmers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam using a questionnaire survey in 2008. Results show that, in general, price and production risks were perceived as the most important risks. Farm management and technical measures were perceived more effective than other kinds of risk management strategies in risk reduction. Although price risks were rated as important risks, price risk management strategies were not perceived as important measures for risk mitigation. The results of the study are discussed to provide implications for various industry stakeholders, including policy makers, processors, advisors, and developers of new risk management strategies.Keywords: Aquaculture, catfish farming, sources of risk, riskmanagement, risk strategies, risk mitigation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1968465 Are PEG Molecules a Universal Protein Repellent?
Authors: Norzita Ngadi, John Abrahamson, Conan Fee, Ken Morison
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Poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) molecules attached to surfaces have shown high potential as a protein repellent due to their flexibility and highly water solubility. A quartz crystal microbalance recording frequency and dissipation changes (QCM-D) has been used to study the adsorption from aqueous solutions, of lysozyme and α-lactalbumin proteins (the last with and without calcium) onto modified stainless steel surfaces. Surfaces were coated with poly(ethylene imine) (PEI) and silicate before grafting on PEG molecules. Protein adsorption was also performed on the bare stainless steel surface as a control. All adsorptions were conducted at 23°C and pH 7.2. The results showed that the presence of PEG molecules significantly reduced the adsorption of lysozyme and α- lactalbumin (with calcium) onto the stainless steel surface. By contrast, and unexpected, PEG molecules enhanced the adsorption of α-lactalbumin (without calcium). It is suggested that the PEG -α- lactalbumin hydrophobic interaction plays a dominant role which leads to protein aggregation at the surface for this latter observation. The findings also lead to the general conclusion that PEG molecules are not a universal protein repellent. PEG-on-PEI surfaces were better at inhibiting the adsorption of lysozyme and α-lactalbumin (with calcium) than with PEG-on-silicate surfaces.
Keywords: Stainless steel, PEG, QCM-D, protein, PEI layer, silicate layer.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2276464 KM Practices in Service SMEs
Authors: K. Cormican, G. Coppola, S. Farina
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Knowledge management is a critical component of competitive success in service organizations. Knowledge management centers on creating new knowledge and utilizing existing knowledge. While utilizing existing knowledge relates to input and control and can lead to a reduction in costs; creating new knowledge relates to output and growth and can lead to an increase in revenue. Therefore managers must ensure that they can successfully optimize the knowledge and talent in their organizations. To do this they and must try to develop an environment that promotes the generation, acquisition, transfer and use of valuable knowledge in creative ways. However knowledge management is complex and diverse. Research suggests that organizations in general and SMEs in particular are finding it difficult to implement successful knowledge management initiatives. Our research attempts to understand whether organizations are adopting best practice initiatives in their organizations. This paper presents findings from an exploratory study of 139 SMEs operating in the tourism sector across Europe. The goals of the survey is to assess the level of awareness of knowledge and talent management strategies and methodologies and to determine whether the responding companies implement best practice knowledge management initiatives in their organizations Analysis of the findings from the study are presented and discussed.Keywords: service sector, small enterprise, success factors, survey
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1601463 The Effects of Transformational Leadership on Process Innovation through Knowledge Sharing
Authors: Sawsan J. Al-Husseini, Talib A. Dosa
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Transformational leadership has been identified as the most important factor affecting innovation and knowledge sharing; it leads to increased goal-directed behavior exhibited by followers and thus to enhanced performance and innovation for the organization. However, there is a lack of models linking transformational leadership, knowledge sharing, and process innovation within higher education (HE) institutions in general within developing countries, particularly in Iraq. This research aims to examine the mediating role of knowledge sharing in the transformational leadership and process innovation relationship. A quantitative approach was taken and 254 usable questionnaires were collected from public HE institutions in Iraq. Structural equation modelling with AMOS 22 was used to analyze the causal relationships among factors. The research found that knowledge sharing plays a pivotal role in the relationship between transformational leadership and process innovation, and that transformational leadership would be ideal in an educational context, promoting knowledge sharing activities and influencing process innovation in the public HE in Iraq. The research has developed some guidelines for researchers as well as leaders and provided evidence to support the use of TL to increase process innovation within HE environment in developing countries, particularly in Iraq.Keywords: Transformational leadership, knowledge sharing, process innovation, structural equation modelling, developing countries.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1511462 Ultra-High Frequency Passive Radar Coverage for Cars Detection in Semi-Urban Scenarios
Authors: Pedro Gómez-del-Hoyo, Jose-Luis Bárcena-Humanes, Nerea del-Rey-Maestre, María-Pilar Jarabo-Amores, David Mata-Moya
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A study of achievable coverages using passive radar systems in terrestrial traffic monitoring applications is presented. The study includes the estimation of the bistatic radar cross section of different commercial vehicle models that provide challenging low values which make detection really difficult. A semi-urban scenario is selected to evaluate the impact of excess propagation losses generated by an irregular relief. A bistatic passive radar exploiting UHF frequencies radiated by digital video broadcasting transmitters is assumed. A general method of coverage estimation using electromagnetic simulators in combination with estimated car average bistatic radar cross section is applied. In order to reduce the computational cost, hybrid solution is implemented, assuming free space for the target-receiver path but estimating the excess propagation losses for the transmitter-target one.
Keywords: Bistatic radar cross section, passive radar, propagation losses, radar coverage.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1285461 Applying the Crystal Model Approach on Light Nuclei for Calculating Radii and Density Distribution
Authors: A. Amar
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A new model namely, the crystal model, has been modified to calculate radius and density distribution of light nuclei up to 8Be. The crystal model has been modified according to solid state physics which uses the analogy between nucleon distribution and atoms distribution in the crystal. The model has analytical analysis to calculate the radius where the density distribution of light nuclei has been obtained from the analogy of crystal lattice. The distribution of nucleons over crystal has been discussed in general form. The equation used to calculate binding energy was taken from the solid-state model of repulsive and attractive force. The numbers of the protons were taken to control repulsive force where the atomic number was responsible for the attractive force. The parameter has been calculated from the crystal model was found to be proportional to the radius of the nucleus. The density distribution of light nuclei was taken as a summation of two clusters distribution as in 6Li=alpha+deuteron configuration. A test has been done on the data obtained for radius and density distribution using double folding for d+6,7Li with M3Y nucleon-nucleon interaction. Good agreement has been obtained for both radius and density distribution of light nuclei. The model failed to calculate the radius of 9Be, so modifications should be done to overcome discrepancy.
Keywords: nuclear lattice, crystal model, light nuclei, nuclear density distributions
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 405460 Shape Optimization of Impeller Blades for a Bidirectional Axial Flow Pump using Polynomial Surrogate Model
Authors: I. S. Jung, W. H. Jung, S. H. Baek, S. Kang
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This paper describes the shape optimization of impeller blades for a anti-heeling bidirectional axial flow pump used in ships. In general, a bidirectional axial pump has an efficiency much lower than the classical unidirectional pump because of the symmetry of the blade type. In this paper, by focusing on a pump impeller, the shape of blades is redesigned to reach a higher efficiency in a bidirectional axial pump. The commercial code employed in this simulation is CFX v.13. CFD result of pump torque, head, and hydraulic efficiency was compared. The orthogonal array (OA) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques and surrogate model based optimization using orthogonal polynomial, are employed to determine the main effects and their optimal design variables. According to the optimal design, we confirm an effective design variable in impeller blades and explain the optimal solution, the usefulness for satisfying the constraints of pump torque and head.Keywords: Bidirectional axial flow pump, Impeller blade, CFD, Analysis of variance, Polynomial surrogate model
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3760459 A Mesh Free Moving Node Method To Analyze Flow Through Spirals of Orbiting Scroll Pump
Authors: I.Banerjee, A.K.Mahendra, T.K.Bera, B.G.Chandresh
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The scroll pump belongs to the category of positive displacement pump can be used for continuous pumping of gases at low pressure apart from general vacuum application. The shape of volume occupied by the gas moves and deforms continuously as the spiral orbits. To capture flow features in such domain where mesh deformation varies with time in a complicated manner, mesh less solver was found to be very useful. Least Squares Kinetic Upwind Method (LSKUM) is a kinetic theory based mesh free Euler solver working on arbitrary distribution of points. Here upwind is enforced in molecular level based on kinetic flux vector splitting scheme (KFVS). In the present study we extended the LSKUM to moving node viscous flow application. This new code LSKUM-NS-MN for moving node viscous flow is validated for standard airfoil pitching test case. Simulation performed for flow through scroll pump using LSKUM-NS-MN code agrees well with the experimental pumping speed data.Keywords: Least Squares, Moving node, Pitching, Spirals.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1894458 Slip Suppression Sliding Mode Control with Various Chattering Functions
Authors: Shun Horikoshi, Tohru Kawabe
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This study presents performance analysis results of SMC (Sliding mode control) with changing the chattering functions applied to slip suppression problem of electric vehicles (EVs). In SMC, chattering phenomenon always occurs through high frequency switching of the control inputs. It is undesirable phenomenon and degrade the control performance, since it causes the oscillations of the control inputs. Several studies have been conducted on this problem by introducing some general saturation function. However, study about whether saturation function was really best and the performance analysis when using the other functions, weren’t being done so much. Therefore, in this paper, several candidate functions for SMC are selected and control performance of candidate functions is analyzed. In the analysis, evaluation function based on the trade-off between slip suppression performance and chattering reduction performance is proposed. The analyses are conducted in several numerical simulations of slip suppression problem of EVs. Then, we can see that there is no difference of employed candidate functions in chattering reduction performance. On the other hand, in slip suppression performance, the saturation function is excellent overall. So, we conclude the saturation function is most suitable for slip suppression sliding mode control.Keywords: Sliding mode control, chattering function, electric vehicle, slip suppression, performance analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1246457 Embedded Hardware and Software Design of Omnidirectional Autonomous Robotic Platform Suitable for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Testing with Focus on Modularity and Safety
Authors: Ondřej Lufinka, Jan Kadeřábek, Juraj Prstek, Jiří Skála, Kamil Kosturik
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This paper deals with the problem of using Autonomous Robotic Platforms (ARP) for the ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) testing in automotive. There are different possibilities of the testing already in development and lately, the ARP are beginning to be used more and more widely. ARP discussed in this paper explores the hardware and software design possibilities related to the field of embedded systems. The paper focuses in its chapters on the introduction of the problem in general, then it describes the proposed prototype concept and its principles from the embedded HW and SW point of view. It talks about the key features that can be used for the innovation of these platforms (e.g., modularity, omnidirectional movement, common and non-traditional sensors used for localization, synchronization of more platforms and cars together or safety mechanisms). In the end, the future possible development of the project is discussed as well.
Keywords: ADAS Systems, autonomous robotic platform, embedded systems, hardware, localization, modularity, multiple robots synchronization, omnidirectional movement, safety mechanisms, software.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 662456 Design Parameters Selection and Optimization of Weld Zone Development in Resistance Spot Welding
Authors: Norasiah Muhammad, Yupiter HP Manurung
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This paper investigates the development of weld zone in Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) which focuses on weld nugget and Heat Affected Zone (HAZ). The effects of four factors namely weld current, weld time, electrode force and hold time were studied using a general 24 factorial design augmented by five centre points. The results of the analysis showed that all selected factors except hold time exhibit significant effect on weld nugget radius and HAZ size. Optimization of the welding parameters (weld current, weld time and electrode force) to normalize weld nugget and to minimize HAZ size was then conducted using Central Composite Design (CCD) in Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and the optimum parameters were determined. A regression model for radius of weld nugget and HAZ size was developed and its adequacy was evaluated. The experimental results obtained under optimum operating conditions were then compared with the predicted values and were found to agree satisfactorily with each otherKeywords: Factorial design, Optimization, Resistance Spot Welding (RSW), Response Surface Methodology (RSM).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3398455 The Status of BIM Adoption on Six Continents
Authors: Wooyoung Jung, Ghang Lee
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This paper reports the worldwide status of building information modeling (BIM) adoption from the perspectives of the engagement level, the Hype Cycle model, the technology diffusion model, and BIM services. An online survey was distributed, and 156 experts from six continents responded. Overall, North America was the most advanced continent, followed by Oceania and Europe. Countries in Asia perceived their phase mainly as slope of enlightenment (mature) in the Hype Cycle model. In the technology diffusion model, the main BIM-users worldwide were “early majority” (third phase), but those in the Middle East/Africa and South America were “early adopters” (second phase). In addition, the more advanced the country, the more number of BIM services employed in general. In summary, North America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia were advancing rapidly toward the mature stage of BIM, whereas the Middle East/Africa and South America were still in the early phase. The simple indexes used in this study may be used to track the worldwide status of BIM adoption in long-term surveys.
Keywords: BIM adoption, BIM services, Hype Cycle model, Technology diffusion model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10472454 Building an Inferential Model between Caregivers and Patients by using RFID
Authors: Yung-Ting Chang, Chung-You Tsai, Yu-Chuan Li
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Nosocomial (i.e., hospital-acquired) infections (NI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitals. NI rate is higher in intensive care units (ICU) than in the general ward due to patients with severe symptoms, poor immunity, and accepted many invasive therapies. Contact behaviors between health caregivers and patients is one of the infect factors. It is difficult to obtain complete contact records by traditional method of retrospective analysis of medical records. This paper establishes a contact history inferential model (CHIM) intended to extend the use of Proximity Sensing of rapid frequency identification (RFID) technology to transferring all proximity events between health caregivers and patients into clinical events (close-in events, contact events and invasive events).The results of the study indicated that the CHIM can infer proximity care activities into close-in events and contact events. The infection control team could redesign and build optimal workflow in the ICU according to the patient-specific contact history which provided by our automatic tracing system.Keywords: Active Radio Frequency Identification, Intensive Care Unit, Nosocomial Infections
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1604453 Distributed 2-Vertex Connectivity Test of Graphs Using Local Knowledge
Authors: Brahim Hamid, Bertrand Le Saec, Mohamed Mosbah
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The vertex connectivity of a graph is the smallest number of vertices whose deletion separates the graph or makes it trivial. This work is devoted to the problem of vertex connectivity test of graphs in a distributed environment based on a general and a constructive approach. The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, using a preconstructed spanning tree of the considered graph, we present a protocol to test whether a given graph is 2-connected using only local knowledge. Second, we present an encoding of this protocol using graph relabeling systems. The last contribution is the implementation of this protocol in the message passing model. For a given graph G, where M is the number of its edges, N the number of its nodes and Δ is its degree, our algorithms need the following requirements: The first one uses O(Δ×N2) steps and O(Δ×logΔ) bits per node. The second one uses O(Δ×N2) messages, O(N2) time and O(Δ × logΔ) bits per node. Furthermore, the studied network is semi-anonymous: Only the root of the pre-constructed spanning tree needs to be identified.
Keywords: Distributed computing, fault-tolerance, graph relabeling systems, local computations, local knowledge, message passing system, networks, vertex connectivity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1825452 Shape Restoration of the Left Ventricle
Authors: May-Ling Tan, Yi Su, Chi-Wan Lim, Liang Zhong, Ru-San Tan
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This paper describes an automatic algorithm to restore the shape of three-dimensional (3D) left ventricle (LV) models created from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data using a geometry-driven optimization approach. Our basic premise is to restore the LV shape such that the LV epicardial surface is smooth after the restoration. A geometrical measure known as the Minimum Principle Curvature (κ2) is used to assess the smoothness of the LV. This measure is used to construct the objective function of a two-step optimization process. The objective of the optimization is to achieve a smooth epicardial shape by iterative in-plane translation of the MRI slices. Quantitatively, this yields a minimum sum in terms of the magnitude of κ 2, when κ2 is negative. A limited memory quasi-Newton algorithm, L-BFGS-B, is used to solve the optimization problem. We tested our algorithm on an in vitro theoretical LV model and 10 in vivo patient-specific models which contain significant motion artifacts. The results show that our method is able to automatically restore the shape of LV models back to smoothness without altering the general shape of the model. The magnitudes of in-plane translations are also consistent with existing registration techniques and experimental findings.Keywords: Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Left Ventricle, ShapeRestoration, Principle Curvature, Optimization
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1621451 The Determinants of Corporate Cash Holdings in Nigeria: Evidence from General Method of Moments (GMM)
Authors: Sunday E. Ogundipe, Rafiu O. Salawu, Lawrencia O. Ogundipe
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The study examines the determinants of corporate cash holding of non-financial quoted firms in Nigeria using a sample of fifty four non-financial quoted firms listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange for the period 1995-2009. Data were sourced from the Annual reports of the sampled firms and analyzed using Generalized Method of Moments(GMM). The study finds evidence supportive of a target adjustment model and that firms can not instantaneously adjust towards the target cash level owing to the fact that adjustment cost being costly,. Also, the result shows significant negative relationship between cash holdings and firm size, net working capital, return on asset and bank relationship and positive relationship with growth opportunities, leverage, inventories, account receivables and financial distress. Furthermore, there is no significant relationship between cash holdings and cash flow. In Nigerian setting, most of the variables that are relevant for explaining cash holdings in the Developed countries are found by this study to be relevant also in Nigeria.
Keywords: Adjustment Model , Cash holding, Determinant, Generalized Method of Moments(GMM)
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4082450 Relation between Organizational Climate and Personnel Performance Assessment in a Tourist Service Company
Authors: Daniel A. Montoya, Marta L. Tostes
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This investigation aims at analyzing and determining the relation between two very important variables in the human resource management: The organizational climate and the performance assessment. This study aims at contributing with knowledge in the search of the relation between the mentioned variables because the literature still does not provide solid evidence to this respect and the cases revised are incipient to reach conclusions enabling a typology about this relation.To this regard, a correlational and cross-sectional perspective was adopted in which quantitative and qualitative techniques were chosen with the total of the workers of the tourist service company PTS Peru. In order to measure the organizational climate, the OCQ (Organization Climate Questionnaire) from was used; it has 50 items and measures 9 dimensions of the Organizational Climate. Also, to assess performance, a questionnaire with 21 items and 6 dimensions was designed. As a means of assessment, a focus group was prepared and was applied to a worker in every area of the company. Additionally, interviews to human resources experts were conducted. The results of the investigation show a clear relation between the organizational climate and the personnel performance assessment as well as a relation between the nine dimensions of the organizational climate and the work performance in general and with some of its dimensions.
Keywords: Job performance, human resource management, organization climate, performance assessment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1032449 Problems of Innovation Development of Wireless Data Transfer Branch in the Cellular Market of Kazakhstan
Authors: Yessengeldy Kuanyshpayev
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Now in some countries of the world the cellular market is on the point of saturation, in others - positive dynamics of development kept on. The reasons for it are also different, but there are united by their general susceptibility to innovation changes, if they are really innovative. If to take as an example the cellular market of Kazakhstan it is defined by the low percent of smart phones at consumers, the low population density, undercapacity of the 3G channel, and absence of universal access to the LTE technology that limits dynamical growth of this branch. These moments are aggravated by failures of starting commercial projects by private companies which prevent to be implemented and widely adopted to a new product among consumers. The object of the research is possible integration of wireless and program technologies at which introduction the idea can regenerate in an innovation. The analysis of existing projects in the market and the possible union of the technologies through a prism of theoretical bases of innovative activity shows that efficiency of the company by development and introduction of innovations is possible only thanks to strict observance of all terms and conditions of the innovative process which main term is profit. Despite that fact that on a global scale the innovativeness issue of companies is very popular, there are no researches about possibility of innovative breaks in the field of wireless access to the Internet in the cellular market of Kazakhstan.
Keywords: Cellular market, commercialization, innovation, the effectiveness of company.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2061448 Reliability Analysis of Computer Centre at Yobe State University Using LRU Algorithm
Authors: V. V. Singh, Yusuf Ibrahim Gwanda, Rajesh Prasad
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In this paper, we focus on the reliability and performance analysis of Computer Centre (CC) at Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria. The CC consists of three servers: one database mail server, one redundant and one for sharing with the client computers in the CC (called as a local server). Observing the different possibilities of the functioning of the CC, the analysis has been done to evaluate the various popular measures of reliability such as availability, reliability, mean time to failure (MTTF), profit analysis due to the operation of the system. The system can ultimately fail due to the failure of router, redundant server before repairing the mail server and switch failure. The system can also partially fail when a local server fails. The failed devices have restored according to Least Recently Used (LRU) techniques. The system can also fail entirely due to a cooling failure of the server, electricity failure or some natural calamity like earthquake, fire tsunami, etc. All the failure rates are assumed to be constant and follow exponential time distribution, while the repair follows two types of distributions: i.e. general and Gumbel-Hougaard family copula distribution.Keywords: Reliability, availability Gumbel-Hougaard family copula, MTTF, internet data center.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 856447 Morphology of Parts of the Middle Benue Trough of Nigeria from Spectral Analysis of Aeromagnetic Data (Akiri Sheet 232 and Lafia Sheet 231)
Authors: B. S. Jatau, Nandom Abu
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Structural interpretation of aeromagnetic data and Landsat imagery over the Middle Benue Trough was carried out to determine the depth to basement, delineate the basement morphology and relief, and the structural features within the basin. The aeromagnetic and Landsat data were subjected to various image and data enhancement and transformation routines. Results of the study revealed lineaments with trend directions in the N-S, NE-SW, NWSE and E-W directions, with the NE-SW trends been dominant. The depths to basement within the trough were established to be at 1.8, 0.3 and 0.8km, as shown from the spectral analysis plot. The Source Parameter Imaging (SPI) plot generated showed the centralsouth/ eastern portion of the study area as being deeper in contrast to the western-south-west portion. The basement morphology of the trough was interpreted as having parallel sets of micro-basins which could be considered as grabens and horsts in agreement with the general features interpreted by early workers.
Keywords: Morphology, Middle Benue Trough, Spectral Analysis, Source Parameter Imaging.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4054446 An Agri-food Supply Chain Model for Cultivating the Capabilities of Farmers Accessing Market Using Corporate Social Responsibility Program
Authors: W. Sutopo, M. Hisjam, Yuniaristanto
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In general, small-scale vegetables farmers experience problems in improving the safety and quality of vegetables supplied to high-class consumers in modern retailers. They also lack of information to access market. The farmers group and/or cooperative (FGC) should be able to assist its members by providing training in handling and packing vegetables and enhancing marketing capabilities to sell commodities to the modern retailers. This study proposes an agri-food supply chain (ASC) model that involves the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to cultivate the capabilities of farmers to access market. Multi period ASC model is formulated as Weighted Goal Programming (WGP) to analyze the impacts of CSR programs to empower the FGCs in managing the small-scale vegetables farmers. The results show that the proposed model can be used to determine the priority of programs in order to maximize the four goals to be achieved in the CSR programs.Keywords: agri-food supply chain, corporate social responsibility, small-scale vegetables farmers, weighted goal programming.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1660445 Verification of K-ω SST Turbulence Model for Supersonic Internal Flows
Abstract:
In this work, we try to find the best setting of Computational Fluid Dynamic solver available for the problems in the field of supersonic internal flows. We used the supersonic air-toair ejector to represent the typical problem in focus. There are multiple oblique shock waves, shear layers, boundary layers and normal shock interacting in the supersonic ejector making this device typical in field of supersonic inner flows. Modeling of shocks in general is demanding on the physical model of fluid, because ordinary conservation equation does not conform to real conditions in the near-shock region as found in many works. From these reasons, we decided to take special care about solver setting in this article by means of experimental approach of color Schlieren pictures and pneumatic measurement. Fast pressure transducers were used to measure unsteady static pressure in regimes with normal shock in mixing chamber. Physical behavior of ejector in several regimes is discussed. Best choice of eddy-viscosity setting is discussed on the theoretical base. The final verification of the k-ω SST is done on the base of comparison between experiment and numerical results.Keywords: CFD simulations, color Schlieren, k-ω SST, supersonic flows, shock waves.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6457444 Fast 3D Collision Detection Algorithm using 2D Intersection Area
Authors: Taehyun Yoon, Keechul Jung
Abstract:
There are many researches to detect collision between real object and virtual object in 3D space. In general, these techniques are need to huge computing power. So, many research and study are constructed by using cloud computing, network computing, and distribute computing. As a reason of these, this paper proposed a novel fast 3D collision detection algorithm between real and virtual object using 2D intersection area. Proposed algorithm uses 4 multiple cameras and coarse-and-fine method to improve accuracy and speed performance of collision detection. In the coarse step, this system examines the intersection area between real and virtual object silhouettes from all camera views. The result of this step is the index of virtual sensors which has a possibility of collision in 3D space. To decide collision accurately, at the fine step, this system examines the collision detection in 3D space by using the visual hull algorithm. Performance of the algorithm is verified by comparing with existing algorithm. We believe proposed algorithm help many other research, study and application fields such as HCI, augmented reality, intelligent space, and so on.
Keywords: Collision Detection, Computer Vision, Human Computer Interaction, Visual Hull
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2396443 Fundamental Equation of Complete Factor Synergetics of Complex Systems with Normalization of Dimension
Authors: Li Zong-Cheng
Abstract:
It is by reason of the unified measure of varieties of resources and the unified processing of the disposal of varieties of resources, that these closely related three of new basic models called the resources assembled node and the disposition integrated node as well as the intelligent organizing node are put forth in this paper; the three closely related quantities of integrative analytical mechanics including the disposal intensity and disposal- weighted intensity as well as the charge of resource charge are set; and then the resources assembled space and the disposition integrated space as well as the intelligent organizing space are put forth. The system of fundamental equations and model of complete factor synergetics is preliminarily approached for the general situation in this paper, to form the analytical base of complete factor synergetics. By the essential variables constituting this system of equations we should set twenty variables respectively with relation to the essential dynamical effect, external synergetic action and internal synergetic action of the system.
Keywords: complex system, disposal of resources, completefactor synergetics, fundamental equation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1408