Search results for: nonlinear statistical methods
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 5859

Search results for: nonlinear statistical methods

4989 Transmitting a Distance Training Model to the Community in the Upper Northeastern Region

Authors: Teerawach Khamkorn, Laongtip Mathurasa, Savittree Rochanasmita Arnold, Witthaya Mekhum

Abstract:

The objective of this research seeks to transmit a distance training model to the community in the upper northeastern region. The group sampling consists of 60 community leaders in the municipality of sub-district Kumphawapi, Kumphawapi Disrict, Udonthani Province. The research tools rely on the following instruments, they are : 1) the achievement test of community leaders- training and 2) the satisfaction questionnaires of community leaders. The statistics used in data analysis takes the statistical mean, percentage, standard deviation, and statistical T-test. The resulted findings reveal : 1) the efficiency of the distance training developed by the researcher for the community leaders joining in the training received the average score between in-training and post-training period higher than the setup criterion, 2) the two groups of participants in the training achieved higher knowledge than their pre-training state, 3) the comparison of the achievements between the two group presented no different results, 4) the community leaders obtained the high-to-highest satisfaction.

Keywords: Distance Training, Management, Technology, Transmitting.

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4988 E-Learning Methodology Development using Modeling

Authors: Sarma Cakula, Maija Sedleniece

Abstract:

Simulation and modeling computer programs are concerned with construction of models for analyzing different perspectives and possibilities in changing conditions environment. The paper presents theoretical justification and evaluation of qualitative e-learning development model in perspective of advancing modern technologies. There have been analyzed principles of qualitative e-learning in higher education, productivity of studying process using modern technologies, different kind of methods and future perspectives of e-learning in formal education. Theoretically grounded and practically tested model of developing e-learning methods using different technologies for different type of classroom, which can be used in professor-s decision making process to choose the most effective e-learning methods has been worked out.

Keywords: E-learning, modeling, E-learning methods development, personal knowledge management

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4987 Reading Literacy and Methods of Improving Reading

Authors: Iva Košek Bartošová, Andrea Jokešová, Eva Kozlová, Helena Matějová

Abstract:

The paper presents results of a research team from Faculty of Education, University of Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic. It introduces with the most reading methods used in the 1st classes of a primary school and presents results of a pilot research focused on mastering reading techniques and the quality of reading comprehension of pupils in the first half of a school year during training in teaching reading by an analytic-synthetic method and by a genetic method. These methods of practicing reading skills are the most used ones in the Czech Republic. During the school year 2015/16 there has been a measurement made of two groups of pupils of the 1st year and monitoring of quantitative and qualitative parameters of reading pupils’ outputs by several methods. Both of these methods are based on different theoretical basis and each of them has a specific educational and methodical procedure. This contribution represents results during a piloting project and draws pilot conclusions which will be verified in the subsequent broader research at the end of the school year of the first class of primary school.

Keywords: Analytic-synthetic method of reading, genetic method of reading, reading comprehension, reading literacy, reading methods, reading speed.

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4986 The Relationships between Market Orientation and Competitiveness of Companies in Banking Sector

Authors: P. Jangl, M. Mikuláštík

Abstract:

The objective of the paper is to measure and compare market orientation of Swiss and Czech banks, as well as examine statistically the degree of influence it has on competitiveness of the institutions. The analysis of market orientation is based on the collecting, analysis and correct interpretation of the data. Descriptive analysis of market orientation describe current situation. Research of relation of competitiveness and market orientation in the sector of big international banks is suggested with the expectation of existence of a strong relationship. Partially, the work served as reconfirmation of suitability of classic methodologies to measurement of banks’ market orientation.

Two types of data were gathered. Firstly, by measuring subjectively perceived market orientation of a company and secondly, by quantifying its competitiveness. All data were collected from a sample of small, mid-sized and large banks. We used numerical secondary character data from the international statistical financial Bureau Van Dijk’s BANKSCOPE database.

 Statistical analysis led to the following results. Assuming classical market orientation measures to be scientifically justified, Czech banks are statistically less market-oriented than Swiss banks. Secondly, among small Swiss banks, which are not broadly internationally active, small relationship exist between market orientation measures and market share based competitiveness measures. Thirdly, among all Swiss banks, a strong relationship exists between market orientation measures and market share based competitiveness measures. Above results imply existence of a strong relation of this measure in sector of big international banks. A strong statistical relationship has been proven to exist between market orientation measures and equity/total assets ratio in Switzerland.

Keywords: Market Orientation, Competitiveness, Marketing Strategy, Measurement of Market Orientation, Relation between Market Orientation and Competitiveness, Banking Sector.

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4985 Classification of Computer Generated Images from Photographic Images Using Convolutional Neural Networks

Authors: Chaitanya Chawla, Divya Panwar, Gurneesh Singh Anand, M. P. S Bhatia

Abstract:

This paper presents a deep-learning mechanism for classifying computer generated images and photographic images. The proposed method accounts for a convolutional layer capable of automatically learning correlation between neighbouring pixels. In the current form, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) will learn features based on an image's content instead of the structural features of the image. The layer is particularly designed to subdue an image's content and robustly learn the sensor pattern noise features (usually inherited from image processing in a camera) as well as the statistical properties of images. The paper was assessed on latest natural and computer generated images, and it was concluded that it performs better than the current state of the art methods.

Keywords: Image forensics, computer graphics, classification, deep learning, convolutional neural networks.

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4984 Analysis of Air Quality in the Outdoor Environment of the City of Messina by an Application of the Pollution Index Method

Authors: G. Cannistraro, L. Ponterio

Abstract:

In this paper is reported an analysis about the outdoor air pollution of the urban centre of the city of Messina. The variations of the most critical pollutants concentrations (PM10, O3, CO, C6H6) and their trends respect of climatic parameters and vehicular traffic have been studied. Linear regressions have been effectuated for representing the relations among the pollutants; the differences between pollutants concentrations on weekend/weekday were also analyzed. In order to evaluate air pollution and its effects on human health, a method for calculating a pollution index was implemented and applied in the urban centre of the city. This index is based on the weighted mean of the most detrimental air pollutants concentrations respect of their limit values for protection of human health. The analyzed data of the polluting substances were collected by the Assessorship of the Environment of the Regional Province of Messina in the year 2004. A statistical analysis of the air quality index trends is also reported.

Keywords: Environmental pollution, Pollutants levels, Linearregression, Air Quality Index, Statistical analysis.

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4983 Adaptation of State/Transition-Based Methods for Embedded System Testing

Authors: Abdelaziz Guerrouat, Harald Richter

Abstract:

In this paper test generation methods and appropriate fault models for testing and analysis of embedded systems described as (extended) finite state machines ((E)FSMs) are presented. Compared to simple FSMs, EFSMs specify not only the control flow but also the data flow. Thus, we define a two-level fault model to cover both aspects. The goal of this paper is to reuse well-known FSM-based test generation methods for automation of embedded system testing. These methods have been widely used in testing and validation of protocols and communicating systems. In particular, (E)FSMs-based specification and testing is more advantageous because (E)FSMs support the formal semantic of already standardised formal description techniques (FDTs) despite of their popularity in the design of hardware and software systems.

Keywords: Formal methods, testing and validation, finite state machines, formal description techniques.

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4982 Periodic Oscillations in a Delay Population Model

Authors: Changjin Xu, Peiluan Li

Abstract:

In this paper, a nonlinear delay population model is investigated. Choosing the delay as a bifurcation parameter, we demonstrate that Hopf bifurcation will occur when the delay exceeds a critical value. Global existence of bifurcating periodic solutions is established. Numerical simulations supporting the theoretical findings are included.

Keywords: Population model, Stability, Hopf bifurcation, Delay, Global Hopf bifurcation.

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4981 Holistic Approach to Teaching Mathematics in Secondary School as a Means of Improving Students’ Comprehension of Study Material

Authors: Natalia Podkhodova, Olga Sheremeteva, Mariia Soldaeva

Abstract:

Creating favourable conditions for students’ comprehension of mathematical content is one of the primary problems in teaching mathematics in secondary school. The fact of comprehension includes the ability to build a working situational model and thus becomes an important means of solving mathematical problems. This paper describes a holistic approach to teaching mathematics designed to address the primary challenges of such teaching; specifically, the challenge of students’ comprehension. Essentially, this approach consists of (1) establishing links between the attributes of the notion: the sense, the meaning, and the term; (2) taking into account the components of student’s subjective experience—value-based emotions, contextual, procedural and communicative—during the educational process; (3) linking together different ways to present mathematical information; (4) identifying and leveraging the relationships between real, perceptual and conceptual (scientific) mathematical spaces by applying real-life situational modelling. The article describes approaches to the practical use of these foundational concepts. Identifying how proposed methods and techniques influence understanding of material used in teaching mathematics was the primary goal. The study included an experiment in which 256 secondary school students took part: 142 in the study group and 114 in the control group. All students in these groups had similar levels of achievement in math and studied math under the same curriculum. In the course of the experiment, comprehension of two topics — “Derivative” and “Trigonometric functions”—was evaluated. Control group participants were taught using traditional methods. Students in the study group were taught using the holistic method: under teacher’s guidance, they carried out assignments designed to establish linkages between notion’s characteristics, to convert information from one mode of presentation to another, as well as assignments that required the ability to operate with all modes of presentation. Identification, accounting for and transformation of subjective experience were associated with methods of stimulating the emotional value component of the studied mathematical content (discussions of lesson titles, assignments aimed to create study dominants, performing theme-related physical exercise ...) The use of techniques that forms inter-subject notions based on linkages between, perceptual real and mathematical conceptual spaces proved to be of special interest to the students. Results of the experiment were analysed by presenting students in each of the groups with a final test in each of the studied topics. The test included assignments that required building real situational models. Statistical analysis was used to aggregate test results. Pierson criterion x2 was used to reveal statistics significance of results (pass-fail the modelling test). Significant difference of results was revealed (p < 0.001), which allowed to conclude that students in the study group showed better comprehension of mathematical information than those in the control group. The total number of completed assignments of each student was analysed as well, with average results calculated for each group. Statistical significance of result differences against the quantitative criterion (number of completed assignments) was determined using Student’s t-test, which showed that students in the study group completed significantly more assignments than those in the control group (p = 0.0001). Authors thus come to the conclusion that suggested increase in the level of comprehension of study material took place as a result of applying implemented methods and techniques.

Keywords: Comprehension of mathematical content, holistic approach to teaching mathematics in secondary school, subjective experience, technology of the formation of inter-subject notions.

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4980 Novel Methods for Desulfurization of Fuel Oils

Authors: H. Hosseini

Abstract:

Because of the requirement for low sulfur content of fuel oils, it is necessary to develop alternative methods for desulfurization of heavy fuel oil. Due to the disadvantages of HDS technologies such as costs, safety and green environment, new methods have been developed. Among these methods is ultrasoundassisted oxidative desulfurization. Using ultrasound-assisted oxidative desulfurization, compounds such as benzothiophene and dibenzothiophene can be oxidized. As an alternative method is sulfur elimination of heavy fuel oil by using of activated carbon in a packed column in batch condition. The removal of sulfur compounds in this case to reach about 99%. The most important property of activated carbon is ability of it for adsorption, which is due to high surface area and pore volume of it.

Keywords: Desulfurization, Fuel oil, Activated carbon, Ultrasound-assisted oxidative desulfurization.

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4979 Identifying Corruption in Legislation using Risk Analysis Methods

Authors: Chvalkovska, J., Jansky, P., Mejstrik, M.

Abstract:

The objective of this article is to discuss the potential of economic analysis as a tool for identification and evaluation of corruption in legislative acts. We propose that corruption be perceived as a risk variable within the legislative process. Therefore we find it appropriate to employ risk analysis methods, used in various fields of economics, for the evaluation of corruption in legislation. Furthermore we propose the incorporation of these methods into the so called corruption impact assessment (CIA), the general framework for detection of corruption in legislative acts. The applications of the risk analysis methods are demonstrated on examples of implementation of proposed CIA in the Czech Republic.

Keywords: corruption; corruption impact assessment (CIA); legislative; legislative process; risk analysis; Czech Republic

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4978 Project and Module Based Teaching and Learning

Authors: Jingyu Hou

Abstract:

This paper proposes a new teaching and learning approach-project and module based teaching and learning (PMBTL). The PMBTL approach incorporates the merits of project/problem based and module based learning methods, and overcomes the limitations of these methods. The correlation between teaching, learning, practice and assessment is emphasized in this approach, and new methods have been proposed accordingly. The distinct features of these new methods differentiate the PMBTL approach from conventional teaching approaches. Evaluation of this approach on practical teaching and learning activities demonstrates the effectiveness and stability of the approach in improving the performance and quality of teaching and learning. The approach proposed in this paper is also intuitive to the design of other teaching units. 

Keywords: Computer science education, project and module based, software engineering.

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4977 Unsupervised Feature Selection Using Feature Density Functions

Authors: Mina Alibeigi, Sattar Hashemi, Ali Hamzeh

Abstract:

Since dealing with high dimensional data is computationally complex and sometimes even intractable, recently several feature reductions methods have been developed to reduce the dimensionality of the data in order to simplify the calculation analysis in various applications such as text categorization, signal processing, image retrieval, gene expressions and etc. Among feature reduction techniques, feature selection is one the most popular methods due to the preservation of the original features. In this paper, we propose a new unsupervised feature selection method which will remove redundant features from the original feature space by the use of probability density functions of various features. To show the effectiveness of the proposed method, popular feature selection methods have been implemented and compared. Experimental results on the several datasets derived from UCI repository database, illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed methods in comparison with the other compared methods in terms of both classification accuracy and the number of selected features.

Keywords: Feature, Feature Selection, Filter, Probability Density Function

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4976 Food Quality Labels and their Perception by Consumers in the Czech Republic

Authors: Sarka Velcovska

Abstract:

The paper deals with quality labels used in the food products market, especially with labels of quality, labels of origin, and labels of organic farming. The aim of the paper is to identify perception of these labels by consumers in the Czech Republic. The first part refers to the definition and specification of food quality labels that are relevant in the Czech Republic. The second part includes the discussion of marketing research results. Data were collected with personal questioning method. Empirical findings on 150 respondents are related to consumer awareness and perception of national and European food quality labels used in the Czech Republic, attitudes to purchases of labelled products, and interest in information regarding the labels. Statistical methods, in the concrete Pearson´s chi-square test of independence, coefficient of contingency, and coefficient of association are used to determinate if significant differences do exist among selected demographic categories of Czech consumers.

Keywords: Food quality labels, quality labels awareness, quality labels perception, marketing research.

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4975 A Comparison of Recent Methods for Solving a Model 1D Convection Diffusion Equation

Authors: Ashvin Gopaul, Jayrani Cheeneebash, Kamleshsing Baurhoo

Abstract:

In this paper we study some numerical methods to solve a model one-dimensional convection–diffusion equation. The semi-discretisation of the space variable results into a system of ordinary differential equations and the solution of the latter involves the evaluation of a matrix exponent. Since the calculation of this term is computationally expensive, we study some methods based on Krylov subspace and on Restrictive Taylor series approximation respectively. We also consider the Chebyshev Pseudospectral collocation method to do the spatial discretisation and we present the numerical solution obtained by these methods.

Keywords: Chebyshev Pseudospectral collocation method, convection-diffusion equation, restrictive Taylor approximation.

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4974 Computational Methods in Official Statistics with an Example on Calculating and Predicting Diabetes Mellitus [DM] Prevalence in Different Age Groups within Australia in Future Years, in Light of the Aging Population

Authors: D. Hilton

Abstract:

An analysis of the Australian Diabetes Screening Study estimated undiagnosed diabetes mellitus [DM] prevalence in a high risk general practice based cohort. DM prevalence varied from 9.4% to 18.1% depending upon the diagnostic criteria utilised with age being a highly significant risk factor. Utilising the gold standard oral glucose tolerance test, the prevalence of DM was 22-23% in those aged >= 70 years and <15% in those aged 40-59 years. Opportunistic screening in Australian general practice potentially can identify many persons with undiagnosed type 2 DM. An Australian Bureau of Statistics document published three years ago, reported the highest rate of DM in men aged 65-74 years [19%] whereas the rate for women was highest in those over 75 years [13%]. If you consider that the Australian Bureau of Statistics report in 2007 found that 13% of the population was over 65 years of age and that this will increase to 23-25% by 2056 with a further projected increase to 25-28% by 2101, obviously this information has to be factored into the equation when age related diabetes prevalence predictions are calculated. This 10-15% proportional increase of elderly persons within the population demographics has dramatic implications for the estimated number of elderly persons with DM in these age groupings. Computational methodology showing the age related demographic changes reported in these official statistical documents will be done showing estimates for 2056 and 2101 for different age groups. This has relevance for future diabetes prevalence rates and shows that along with many countries worldwide Australia is facing an increasing pandemic. In contrast Japan is expected to have a decrease in the next twenty years in the number of persons with diabetes.

Keywords: Epidemiological methods, aging, prevalence.

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4973 Assessing Basic Computer Applications’ Skills of College-Level Students in Saudi Arabia

Authors: Mohammed A. Gharawi, Majed M. Khoja

Abstract:

This paper is a report on the findings of a study conducted at the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in Saudi Arabia. The paper applied both qualitative and quantitative approaches to assess the levels of basic computer applications’ skills among students enrolled in the preparatory programs of the institution. Qualitative data have been collected from semi-structured interviews with the instructors who have previously been assigned to teach Introduction to information technology courses. Quantitative data were collected by executing a self-report questionnaire and a written statistical test. Three hundred eighty enrolled students responded to the questionnaire and one hundred forty two accomplished the statistical test. The results indicate the lack of necessary skills to deal with computer applications among most of the students who are enrolled in the IPA’s preparatory programs.

Keywords: Assessment, Computer Applications, Computer Literacy, Institute of Public Administration, Saudi Arabia.

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4972 A Decision Boundary based Discretization Technique using Resampling

Authors: Taimur Qureshi, Djamel A Zighed

Abstract:

Many supervised induction algorithms require discrete data, even while real data often comes in a discrete and continuous formats. Quality discretization of continuous attributes is an important problem that has effects on speed, accuracy and understandability of the induction models. Usually, discretization and other types of statistical processes are applied to subsets of the population as the entire population is practically inaccessible. For this reason we argue that the discretization performed on a sample of the population is only an estimate of the entire population. Most of the existing discretization methods, partition the attribute range into two or several intervals using a single or a set of cut points. In this paper, we introduce a technique by using resampling (such as bootstrap) to generate a set of candidate discretization points and thus, improving the discretization quality by providing a better estimation towards the entire population. Thus, the goal of this paper is to observe whether the resampling technique can lead to better discretization points, which opens up a new paradigm to construction of soft decision trees.

Keywords: Bootstrap, discretization, resampling, soft decision trees.

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4971 Fuzzy based Security Threshold Determining for the Statistical En-Route Filtering in Sensor Networks

Authors: Hae Young Lee, Tae Ho Cho

Abstract:

In many sensor network applications, sensor nodes are deployed in open environments, and hence are vulnerable to physical attacks, potentially compromising the node's cryptographic keys. False sensing report can be injected through compromised nodes, which can lead to not only false alarms but also the depletion of limited energy resource in battery powered networks. Ye et al. proposed a statistical en-route filtering scheme (SEF) to detect such false reports during the forwarding process. In this scheme, the choice of a security threshold value is important since it trades off detection power and overhead. In this paper, we propose a fuzzy logic for determining a security threshold value in the SEF based sensor networks. The fuzzy logic determines a security threshold by considering the number of partitions in a global key pool, the number of compromised partitions, and the energy level of nodes. The fuzzy based threshold value can conserve energy, while it provides sufficient detection power.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic, security, sensor network.

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4970 Watermark-based Counter for Restricting Digital Audio Consumption

Authors: Mikko Löytynoja, Nedeljko Cvejic, Tapio Seppänen

Abstract:

In this paper we introduce three watermarking methods that can be used to count the number of times that a user has played some content. The proposed methods are tested with audio content in our experimental system using the most common signal processing attacks. The test results show that the watermarking methods used enable the watermark to be extracted under the most common attacks with a low bit error rate.

Keywords: Digital rights management, restricted usage, content protection, spread spectrum, audio watermarking.

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4969 Institutional Determinants of Economic Growth in Georgia and in Other Post-Communist Economies

Authors: Nazira Kakulia, Tsotne Zhghenti

Abstract:

The institutional development is one of the actual topics in economics science. New trends and directions of institutional development mostly depend on its structure and framework. Transformation of institutions is an important problem for every economy, especially for developing countries. The first research goal is to determine the importance and interactions between different institutions in Georgia. Using World Governance Indicators and Economic Freedom indexes it can be calculated the size for each institutional group. The second aim of this research is to evaluate Georgian institutional backwardness in comparison to other post-communist economies. We use statistical and econometric methods to evaluate the difference between the levels of institutional development in Georgia and in leading post-communist economies. Within the scope of this research, major findings are coefficients which are an assessment of their deviation (i.e. lag) of institutional indicators between Georgia and leading post-communist country which should be compared. The last part of the article includes analysis around the selected coefficients.

Keywords: Post-communist transition, institutions, economic growth, institutional development.

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4968 Influence of Noise on the Inference of Dynamic Bayesian Networks from Short Time Series

Authors: Frank Emmert Streib, Matthias Dehmer, Gökhan H. Bakır, Max Mühlhauser

Abstract:

In this paper we investigate the influence of external noise on the inference of network structures. The purpose of our simulations is to gain insights in the experimental design of microarray experiments to infer, e.g., transcription regulatory networks from microarray experiments. Here external noise means, that the dynamics of the system under investigation, e.g., temporal changes of mRNA concentration, is affected by measurement errors. Additionally to external noise another problem occurs in the context of microarray experiments. Practically, it is not possible to monitor the mRNA concentration over an arbitrary long time period as demanded by the statistical methods used to learn the underlying network structure. For this reason, we use only short time series to make our simulations more biologically plausible.

Keywords: Dynamic Bayesian networks, structure learning, gene networks, Markov chain Monte Carlo, microarray data.

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4967 A Framework for Improving Trade Contractors’ Productivity Tracking Methods

Authors: Sophia Hayes, Kenny L. Liang, Sahil Sharma, Austin Shema, Mahmoud Bader, Mohamed Elbarkouky

Abstract:

Despite being one of the most significant economic contributors of the country, Canada’s construction industry is lagging behind other sectors when it comes to labor productivity improvements. The construction industry is very collaborative as a general contractor, will hire trade contractors to perform most of a project’s work; meaning low productivity from one contractor can have a domino effect on the shared success of a project. To address this issue and encourage trade contractors to improve their productivity tracking methods, an investigative study was done on the productivity views and tracking methods of various trade contractors. Additionally, an in-depth review was done on four standard tracking methods used in the construction industry: cost codes, benchmarking, the job productivity measurement (JPM) standard, and WorkFace Planning (WFP). The four tracking methods were used as a baseline in comparing the trade contractors’ responses, determining gaps within their current tracking methods, and for making improvement recommendations. 15 interviews were conducted with different trades to analyze how contractors value productivity. The results of these analyses indicated that there seem to be gaps within the construction industry when it comes to an understanding of the purpose and value in productivity tracking. The trade contractors also shared their current productivity tracking systems; which were then compared to the four standard tracking methods used in the construction industry. Gaps were identified in their various tracking methods and using a framework; recommendations were made based on the type of trade on how to improve how they track productivity.

Keywords: Trade contractors’ productivity, productivity tracking, cost codes, benchmarking, job productivity measurement, JPM, workface planning WFP.

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4966 A Ground Observation Based Climatology of Winter Fog: Study over the Indo-Gangetic Plains, India

Authors: Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, Anu Rani Sharma, Kamna Sachdeva

Abstract:

Every year, fog formation over the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGPs) of Indian region during the winter months of December and January is believed to create numerous hazards, inconvenience, and economic loss to the inhabitants of this densely populated region of Indian subcontinent. The aim of the paper is to analyze the spatial and temporal variability of winter fog over IGPs. Long term ground observations of visibility and other meteorological parameters (1971-2010) have been analyzed to understand the formation of fog phenomena and its relevance during the peak winter months of January and December over IGP of India. In order to examine the temporal variability, time series and trend analysis were carried out by using the Mann-Kendall Statistical test. Trend analysis performed by using the Mann-Kendall test, accepts the alternate hypothesis with 95% confidence level indicating that there exists a trend. Kendall tau’s statistics showed that there exists a positive correlation between time series and fog frequency. Further, the Theil and Sen’s median slope estimate showed that the magnitude of trend is positive. Magnitude is higher during January compared to December for the entire IGP except in December when it is high over the western IGP. Decade wise time series analysis revealed that there has been continuous increase in fog days. The net overall increase of 99 % was observed over IGP in last four decades. Diurnal variability and average daily persistence were computed by using descriptive statistical techniques. Geo-statistical analysis of fog was carried out to understand the spatial variability of fog. Geo-statistical analysis of fog revealed that IGP is a high fog prone zone with fog occurrence frequency of more than 66% days during the study period. Diurnal variability indicates the peak occurrence of fog is between 06:00 and 10:00 local time and average daily fog persistence extends to 5 to 7 hours during the peak winter season. The results would offer a new perspective to take proactive measures in reducing the irreparable damage that could be caused due to changing trends of fog.

Keywords: Fog, climatology, Mann-Kendall test, trend analysis, spatial variability, temporal variability, visibility.

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4965 A Family of Improved Secant-Like Method with Super-Linear Convergence

Authors: Liang Chen

Abstract:

A family of improved secant-like method is proposed in this paper. Further, the analysis of the convergence shows that this method has super-linear convergence. Efficiency are demonstrated by numerical experiments when the choice of α is correct.

Keywords: Nonlinear equations, Secant method, Convergence order, Secant-like method.

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4964 Optimizing Performance of Tablet's Direct Compression Process Using Fuzzy Goal Programming

Authors: Abbas Al-Refaie

Abstract:

This paper aims at improving the performance of the tableting process using statistical quality control and fuzzy goal programming. The tableting process was studied. Statistical control tools were used to characterize the existing process for three critical responses including the averages of a tablet’s weight, hardness, and thickness. At initial process factor settings, the estimated process capability index values for the tablet’s averages of weight, hardness, and thickness were 0.58, 3.36, and 0.88, respectively. The L9 array was utilized to provide experimentation design. Fuzzy goal programming was then employed to find the combination of optimal factor settings. Optimization results showed that the process capability index values for a tablet’s averages of weight, hardness, and thickness were improved to 1.03, 4.42, and 1.42, respectively. Such improvements resulted in significant savings in quality and production costs.

Keywords: Fuzzy goal programming, control charts, process capability, tablet optimization.

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4963 Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Decathlon Performance Results in Olympic Athletes (1988-2008)

Authors: Jaebum Park, Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky

Abstract:

The performance results of the athletes competed in the 1988-2008 Olympic Games were analyzed (n = 166). The data were obtained from the IAAF official protocols. In the principal component analysis, the first three principal components explained 70% of the total variance. In the 1st principal component (with 43.1% of total variance explained) the largest factor loadings were for 100m (0.89), 400m (0.81), 110m hurdle run (0.76), and long jump (–0.72). This factor can be interpreted as the 'sprinting performance'. The loadings on the 2nd factor (15.3% of the total variance) presented a counter-intuitive throwing-jumping combination: the highest loadings were for throwing events (javelin throwing 0.76; shot put 0.74; and discus throwing 0.73) and also for jumping events (high jump 0.62; pole vaulting 0.58). On the 3rd factor (11.6% of total variance), the largest loading was for 1500 m running (0.88); all other loadings were below 0.4.

Keywords: Decathlon, principal component analysis, Olympic Games, multivariate statistical analysis.

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4962 Two Iterative Algorithms to Compute the Bisymmetric Solution of the Matrix Equation A1X1B1 + A2X2B2 + ... + AlXlBl = C

Authors: A.Tajaddini

Abstract:

In this paper, two matrix iterative methods are presented to solve the matrix equation A1X1B1 + A2X2B2 + ... + AlXlBl = C the minimum residual problem l i=1 AiXiBi−CF = minXi∈BRni×ni l i=1 AiXiBi−CF and the matrix nearness problem [X1, X2, ..., Xl] = min[X1,X2,...,Xl]∈SE [X1,X2, ...,Xl] − [X1, X2, ..., Xl]F , where BRni×ni is the set of bisymmetric matrices, and SE is the solution set of above matrix equation or minimum residual problem. These matrix iterative methods have faster convergence rate and higher accuracy than former methods. Paige’s algorithms are used as the frame method for deriving these matrix iterative methods. The numerical example is used to illustrate the efficiency of these new methods.

Keywords: Bisymmetric matrices, Paige’s algorithms, Least square.

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4961 The Analysis of the Impact of Urbanization on Urban Meteorology from Urban Growth Management Perspective

Authors: Hansung Wan, Hyungkwan Cho, Kiho Sung, Hongkyu Kim

Abstract:

The amount of urban artificial heat which affects the urban temperature rise in urban meteorology was investigated in order to clarify the relationships between urbanization and urban meteorology in this study. The results of calculation to identify how urban temperate was increased through the establishment of a model for measuring the amount of urban artificial heat and theoretical testing revealed that the amount of urban artificial heat increased urban temperature by plus or minus 0.23 ˚ C in 2007 compared with 1996, statistical methods (correlation and regression analysis) to clarify the relationships between urbanization and urban weather were as follows. New design techniques and urban growth management are necessary from urban growth management point of view suggested from this research at city design phase to decrease urban temperature rise and urban torrential rain which can produce urban disaster in terms of urban meteorology by urbanization.

Keywords: The amount of urban artificial heat, Urban growth management, Urbanization, Urban meteorology

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4960 A New Damage Identification Strategy for SHM Based On FBGs and Bayesian Model Updating Method

Authors: Yanhui Zhang, Wenyu Yang

Abstract:

One of the difficulties of the vibration-based damage identification methods is the nonuniqueness of the results of damage identification. The different damage locations and severity may cause the identical response signal, which is even more severe for detection of the multiple damage. This paper proposes a new strategy for damage detection to avoid this nonuniqueness. This strategy firstly determines the approximates damage area based on the statistical pattern recognition method using the dynamic strain signal measured by the distributed fiber Bragg grating, and then accurately evaluates the damage information based on the Bayesian model updating method using the experimental modal data. The stochastic simulation method is then used to compute the high-dimensional integral in the Bayesian problem. Finally, an experiment of the plate structure, simulating one part of mechanical structure, is used to verify the effectiveness of this approach.

Keywords: Bayesian method, damage detection, fiber Bragg grating, structural health monitoring.

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