Search results for: Dirichlet process mixture model

Authors: L. Bikulciene, E. Venskaityte, G. Jarusevicius

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Nonstationary and nonlinear signals generated by living complex systems defy traditional mechanistic approaches, which are based on homeostasis. Previous our studies have shown that the evaluation of the interactions of physiological signals by using special analysis methods is suitable for observation of physiological processes. It is demonstrated the possibility of using deep physiological model, based on the interpretation of the changes of the human body’s functional states combined with an application of the analytical method based on matrix theory for the physiological signals analysis, which was applied on high risk cardiac patients. It is shown that evaluation of cardiac signals interactions show peculiar for each individual functional changes at the onset of hemodynamic restoration procedure. Therefore, we suggest that the alterations of functional state of the body, after patients overcome surgery can be complemented by the data received from the suggested approach of the evaluation of functional variables’ interactions.

Keywords: Cardiac diseases, Complex systems theory, ECG analysis, matrix analysis.

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Authors: Iman Hadipour, Javad Marzbanrad

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In this paper, the strength of a stabilizer is determined when the static and fatigue multiaxial loading are applied. Stabilizer is a part of suspension system in the heavy truck for stabilizing the cabin against the vibration of the road which composes of a thin-walled tube joined to a forge component by fillet weld. The component is loaded by non proportional random sequence of torsion and bending. Residual stress of welding process is considered here for static loading. This static loading with road irregularities are applied in this study as fatigue case that can affected in the fillet welded area of this part. The stresses in the welded structure are calculated using FEA. In addition, the fatigue with multi axial loading in the fillet weld is also investigated and the critical zone of the stabilizer is specified and presented by graphs. Residual stresses that have been resulted by the thermal forces are considered in FEA. Force increasing is the element of finding the critical point of the component.

Keywords: Fillet weld, fatigue, weld toe crack, weld root crack, S-N curve, multiaxial load, residual stress, combined force.

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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.

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Authors: Swapnil Singhal, Santosh Kumar Singh

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The emerging Cognitive Radio is combo of both the technologies i.e. Radio dynamics and software technology. It involve wireless system with efficient coding, designing, and making them artificial intelligent to take the decision according to the surrounding environment and adopt themselves accordingly, so as to deliver the best QoS. This is the breakthrough from fixed hardware and fixed utilization of the spectrum. This software-defined approach of research is centralized at user-definition and application driven model, various software method are used for the optimization of the wireless communication. This paper focused on the Spectrum allocation technique using genetic algorithm GA to evolve radio, represented by chromosomes. The chromosomes gene represents the adjustable parameters in given radio and by using GA, evolving over the generations, the optimized set of parameters are evolved, as per the requirement of user and availability of the spectrum, in our prototype the gene consist of 6 different parameters, and the best set of parameters are evolved according to the application need and availability of the spectrum holes and thus maintaining best QoS for user, simultaneously maintaining licensed user rights. The analyzing tool Matlab is used for the performance of the prototype.

Keywords: ASDR, Cognitive Radio, QoS, Spectrum.

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Authors: M. Maleki, M. Latifi, M. Amani-Tehran

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Nano fibers produced by electrospinning are of industrial and scientific attention due to their special characteristics such as long length, small diameter and high surface area. Applications of electrospun structures in nanotechnology are included tissue scaffolds, fibers for drug delivery, composite reinforcement, chemical sensing, enzyme immobilization, membrane-based filtration, protective clothing, catalysis, solar cells, electronic devices and others. Many polymer and ceramic precursor nano fibers have been successfully electrospun with diameters in the range from 1 nm to several microns. The process is complex so that fiber diameter is influenced by various material, design and operating parameters. The objective of this work is to apply genetic algorithm on the parameters of electrospinning which have the most significant effect on the nano fiber diameter to determine the optimum parameter values before doing experimental set up. Effective factors including initial polymer concentration, initial jet radius, electrical potential, relaxation time, initial elongation, viscosity and distance between nozzle and collector are considered to determine finest diameter which is selected by user.

Keywords: Electrospinning, genetic algorithm, nano fiber diameter, optimization.

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Authors: A. Armin, R. Fotouhi, W. Szyszkowski

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In this paper a 3-D finite element (FE) investigation of soil-blade interaction is described. The effects of blade’s shape and rake angle are examined both numerically and experimentally. The soil is considered as an elastic-plastic granular material with non-associated Drucker-Prager material model. Contact elements with different properties are used to mimic soil-blade sliding and soil-soil cutting phenomena. A separation criterion is presented and a procedure to evaluate the forces acting on the blade is given and discussed in detail. Experimental results were derived from tests using soil bin facility and instruments at the University of Saskatchewan. During motion of the blade, load cells collect data and send them to a computer. The measured forces using load cells had noisy signals which are needed to be filtered. The FE results are compared with experimental results for verification. This technique can be used in blade shape optimization and design of more complicated blade’s shape.

Keywords: Finite element analysis, soil-blade contact modeling, blade force, experimental results.

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Authors: Perpetua O. Ezeji, Kelechi E. Ezeji

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There has been considerable anxiety in society that social media distracts from education and reduces the social skills of young people. Following this, educators have sought ways to mitigate its negative effects on educational attainment while incorporating its positive aspects into the learning process. This study sought to examine the impact of social media on the study habits of students of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri. The research design involved survey technique where questionnaires were used to collect data from a sample of the student population. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. Spearman’s Rho was the specific tool used for analysis. It was presented in frequency tables and bar charts. Findings from variables investigated showed that at p<0.5, social media usage had a significant impact on the study habits of students of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri. This indicated the need for stakeholders in the community to employ counselling and other proactive measures to ensure that students maintained proper focus on their primary assignment for schooling.

Keywords: Education, social media, study habits, technology.

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Authors: Akhilesh Khapre, Basudeb Munshi

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A computational fluid dynamics simulation is done for non-Newtonian fluid in a baffled stirred tank. The CMC solution is taken as non-Newtonian shear thinning fluid for simulation. The Reynolds Average Navier Stocks equation with steady state multi reference frame approach is used to simulate flow in the stirred tank. The turbulent flow field is modelled using realizable k-ε turbulence model. The simulated velocity profiles of Rushton turbine is validated with literature data. Then, the simulated flow field of CD-6 impeller is compared with the Rushton turbine. The flow field generated by CD-6 impeller is less in magnitude than the Rushton turbine. The impeller global parameter, power number and flow number, and entropy generation due to viscous dissipation rate is also reported.

Keywords: Computational fluid dynamics, non-Newtonian, Rushton turbine, CD-6 impeller, power number, flow number, viscous dissipation rate.

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Authors: J. C. M. Santos, J. C. A. Sousa, A. J. Rubio, L. S. Soletti, F. Gasparotto, N. U. Yamaguchi

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Magnetic graphene has received widespread attention for their capability of water and wastewater treatment, which has been attracted many researchers in this field. A bibliometric analysis based on the Web of Science database was employed to analyze the global scientific outputs of magnetic graphene for water treatment until the present time (2012 to 2017), to improve the understanding of the research trends. The publication year, place of publication, institutes, funding agencies, journals, most cited articles, distribution outputs in thematic categories and applications were analyzed. Three major aspects analyzed including type of pollutant, treatment process and composite composition have further contributed to revealing the research trends. The most relevant research aspects of the main technologies using magnetic graphene for water treatment were summarized in this paper. The results showed that research on magnetic graphene for water treatment goes through a period of decline that might be related to a saturated field and a lack of bibliometric studies. Thus, the result of the present work will lead researchers to establish future directions in further studies using magnetic graphene for water treatment.

Keywords: Composite, graphene oxide, nanomaterials, scientometrics.

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Authors: Amit Bhattacharyya

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The economic scenario of any region does not show the real picture for the measurement of overall development. Therefore, economic development must be accompanied by social development to be able to make an assessment to measure the level of development. The spatial variation with respect to social development has been discussed taking into account the quality of functioning of a social system in a specific area. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the spatial distribution of social infrastructural facilities and analyze the magnitude of regional disparities at inter- block level in Barddhman district. It starts with the detailed account of the selection process of social infrastructure indicators and describes the methodology employed in the empirical analysis. Analyzing the block level data, this paper tries to identify the disparity among the blocks in the levels of social development. The results have been subsequently explained using both statistical analysis and geo spatial technique. The paper reveals that the social development is not going on at the same rate in every part of the district. Health facilities and educational facilities are concentrated at some selected point. So overall development activities come to be concentrated in a few centres and the disparity is seen over the blocks.

Keywords: Disparity, inter-block, social development, spatial variation.

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Authors: B. Arun Kumar, T. Ravichandran

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Workflow scheduling is an important part of cloud computing and based on different criteria it decides cost, execution time, and performances. A cloud workflow system is a platform service facilitating automation of distributed applications based on new cloud infrastructure. An aspect which differentiates cloud workflow system from others is market-oriented business model, an innovation which challenges conventional workflow scheduling strategies. Time and Cost optimization algorithm for scheduling Hybrid Clouds (TCHC) algorithm decides which resource should be chartered from public providers is combined with a new De-De algorithm considering that every instance of single and multiple workflows work without deadlocks. To offset this, two new concepts - De-De Dodging Algorithm and Priority Based Decisive Algorithm - combine with conventional deadlock avoidance issues by proposing one algorithm that maximizes active (not just allocated) resource use and reduces Makespan.

Keywords: Workflow Scheduling, cloud workflow, TCHC algorithm, De-De Dodging Algorithm, Priority Based Decisive Algorithm (PBD), Makespan.

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Authors: Han-Taw Chen, Tzu-Hsiang Lin, Chung-Hou Lai

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The present study applies the inverse method and three-dimensional CFD commercial software in conjunction with the experimental temperature data to investigate the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of the plate-fin heat sink in a rectangular closed enclosure. The inverse method with the finite difference method and the experimental temperature data is applied to determine the approximate heat transfer coefficient. Later, based on the obtained results, the zero-equation turbulence model is used to obtain the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics between two fins. T0 validate the accuracy of the results obtained, the comparison of the heat transfer coefficient is made. The obtained temperature at selected measurement locations of the fin is also compared with experimental data. The effect of the height of the rectangular enclosure on the obtained results is discussed.

Keywords: Inverse method, FLUENT, Plate-fin heat sink, Heat transfer characteristics.

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Authors: Leehter Yao, Chin-Chin Lin

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An adaptive fuzzy PID controller with gain scheduling is proposed in this paper. The structure of the proposed gain scheduled fuzzy PID (GS_FPID) controller consists of both fuzzy PI-like controller and fuzzy PD-like controller. Both of fuzzy PI-like and PD-like controllers are weighted through adaptive gain scheduling, which are also determined by fuzzy logic inference. A modified genetic algorithm called accumulated genetic algorithm is designed to learn the parameters of fuzzy inference system. In order to learn the number of fuzzy rules required for the TSK model, the fuzzy rules are learned in an accumulated way. In other words, the parameters learned in the previous rules are accumulated and updated along with the parameters in the current rule. It will be shown that the proposed GS_FPID controllers learned by the accumulated GA perform well for not only the regular linear systems but also the higher order and time-delayed systems.

Keywords: Gain scheduling, fuzzy PID controller, adaptive control, genetic algorithm.

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Authors: Daniela I. Borissova, Ivan C. Mustakerov

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The paper addresses a problem of optimal staffing in open shop environment. The problem is to determine the optimal number of operators serving a given number of machines to fulfill the number of independent operations while minimizing staff idle. Using a Gantt chart presentation of the problem it is modeled as twodimensional cutting stock problem. A mixed-integer programming model is used to get minimal job processing time (makespan) for fixed number of machines' operators. An algorithm for optimal openshop staffing is developed based on iterative solving of the formulated optimization task. The execution of the developed algorithm provides optimal number of machines' operators in the sense of minimum staff idle and optimal makespan for that number of operators. The proposed algorithm is tested numerically for a real life staffing problem. The testing results show the practical applicability for similar open shop staffing problems.

Keywords: Integer programming, open shop problem, optimal staffing.

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Authors: Ivana Bulog

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Decision making is a vital part of the business world and any other field of human endeavor. Which way a business organization will take, and where that way will lead it, depends on broad range of decisions made by managers in the managerial structure. Strategic decisions are of the greatest importance for organizational success. Although much empirical research has been done trying to describe and explain its nature and effectiveness, knowledge about strategic decision making is still incomplete. This paper explores the nature of strategic decision making in particular setting - in Croatian companies. The main focus of this research is on the style that decision makers on strategic management level are following when making decisions of life importance for their companies. Two main decision making style that explain the way decision maker collects and processes available information and performs all the activities in strategic decision making process were empirical tested: rational and intuitive one. Besides analyzing their existence on strategic management level in Croatian companies, their effectiveness is analyzed as well. Results showed that decision makers at strategic management level are following both styles somewhat equally in order to function effectively, and that intuitive style is more effective when considering decisions outcomes.

Keywords: Decision making style, decision making effectiveness, strategic decisions.

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Authors: A. A. Sharma, B. J. N. Sharma

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This paper deals with the study of reflection and transmission characteristics of acoustic waves at the interface of a semiconductor half-space and elastic solid. The amplitude ratios (reflection and transmission coefficients) of reflected and transmitted waves to that of incident wave varying with the incident angles have been examined for the case of quasi-longitudinal wave. The special cases of normal and grazing incidence have also been derived with the help of Gauss elimination method. The mathematical model consisting of governing partial differential equations of motion and charge carriers’ diffusion of n-type semiconductors and elastic solid has been solved both analytically and numerically in the study. The numerical computations of reflection and transmission coefficients has been carried out by using MATLAB programming software for silicon (Si) semiconductor and copper elastic solid. The computer simulated results have been plotted graphically for Si semiconductors. The study may be useful in semiconductors, geology, and seismology in addition to surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices.

Keywords: Quasilongitudinal, reflection and transmission, semiconductors, acoustics.

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Authors: Anna Romanova, Mojtaba Mahmoodian, Upul Chandrasekara, Morteza A. Alani

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Corrosion of concrete sewer pipes induced by sulphuric acid attack is a recognised problem worldwide, which is not only an attribute of countries with hot climate conditions as thought before. The significance of this problem is by far only realised when the pipe collapses causing surface flooding and other severe consequences. To change the existing post-reactive attitude of managing companies, easy to use and robust models are required to be developed which currently lack reliable data to be correctly calibrated. This paper focuses on laboratory experiments of establishing concrete pipe corrosion rate by submerging samples in to 0.5pH sulphuric acid solution for 56 days under 10ºC, 20ºC and 30ºC temperature regimes. The result showed that at very early stage of the corrosion process the samples gained overall mass, at 30ºC the corrosion progressed quicker than for other temperature regimes, however with time the corrosion level for 10ºC and 20ºC regimes tended towards those at 30ºC. Overall, at these conditions the corrosion rates of 10 mm/year, 13,5 mm/year and 17 mm/year were observed.

Keywords: Sewer pipes, concrete corrosion, sulphuric acid, concrete coupons, corrosion rate.

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Authors: Frank Emmert-Streib, Matthias Dehmer

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Inferring the network structure from time series data is a hard problem, especially if the time series is short and noisy. DNA microarray is a technology allowing to monitor the mRNA concentration of thousands of genes simultaneously that produces data of these characteristics. In this study we try to investigate the influence of the experimental design on the quality of the result. More precisely, we investigate the influence of two different types of random single gene perturbations on the inference of genetic networks from time series data. To obtain an objective quality measure for this influence we simulate gene expression values with a biologically plausible model of a known network structure. Within this framework we study the influence of single gene knock-outs in opposite to linearly controlled expression for single genes on the quality of the infered network structure.

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

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Authors: N. K. Sharma, J. Nayak, D. K. Sehgal, R. K. Pandey

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Bone material is treated as heterogeneous and hierarchical in nature therefore appropriate size of bone specimen is required to analyze its tensile properties at a particular hierarchical level. Tensile properties of cortical bone are important to investigate the effect of drug treatment, disease and aging as well as for development of computational and analytical models. In the present study tensile properties of buffalo as well as goat femoral and tibiae cortical bone are analyzed using sub-size tensile specimens. Femoral cortical bone was found to be stronger in tension as compared to the tibiae cortical bone and the tensile properties obtained using sub-size specimens show close resemblance with the tensile properties of full-size cortical specimens. A two dimensional finite element (FE) modal was also applied to simulate the tensile behavior of sub-size specimens. Good agreement between experimental and FE model was obtained for sub-size tensile specimens of cortical bone.

Keywords: Cortical bone, sub-size specimen, full size specimen, finite element modeling.

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Authors: Noor Azlina Mohd Salleh, Salmiah Kasolang, Ahmed Jaffar

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Green Lean Total Quality Management (TQM) System is a system comprises of Environmental Management System (EMS) practices which is integrated to TQM with Lean Manufacturing (LM) principles. The ultimate goal of this system is to focus on achieving total customer satisfaction and environmental care by removing eight wastes available in any process in an organization. A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to 30 highly active automotive vendors in Malaysia and analyzed by SPSS v.17. It was found out that some vendors have been practicing TQM and LM while some have started to implement EMS. This study is only focusing on highly active companies that have been involved in MAJAICO Program and Proton Vendor Development Program. This is the first study conducted to know the current status of TQM, LM and EMS practices in highly active automotive companies in Malaysia. It was found out that EMS has been practiced by 16 companies out of 30. Within these 16 companies the approach is more holistic and green. This is a preliminary study that combined 4 awards practices, ISO/TS16949, Toyota Production System SAEJ4000, MAJAICO Lean Production System and EMS.

Keywords: Automotive Industry, Lean Manufacturing, Operational Engineering Management, Total Quality Management. Environmental Management System.

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Authors: Z. Bottyán, F. Wantuch, A. Z. Gyöngyösi, Z. Tuba, K. Hadobács, P. Kardos, R. Kurunczi

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The sensitivity of UAVs to the atmospheric effects are apparent. All the same the meteorological support for the UAVs missions is often non-adequate or partly missing. In our paper we show a new complex meteorological support system for different types of UAVs pilots, specialists and decision makers, too. The mentioned system has two important parts with different forecasts approach such as the statistical and dynamical ones. The statistical prediction approach is based on a large climatological data base and the special analog method which is able to select similar weather situations from the mentioned data base to apply them during the forecasting procedure. The applied dynamic approach uses the specific WRF model runs twice a day and produces 96 hours, high resolution weather forecast for the UAV users over the Hungary. An easy to use web-based system can give important weather information over the Carpathian basin in Central-Europe. The mentioned products can be reached via internet connection.

Keywords: Aviation meteorology, statistical weather prediction, unmanned aerial systems, WRF.

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Authors: Sheroz Khan, I. Adam, A. H. M. Zahirul Alam, Mohd Rafiqul Islam, Othman O. Khalifa

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This paper attempts to model and design a simple fuzzy logic controller with Variable Reference. The Variable Reference (VR) is featured as an adaptability element which is obtained from two known variables – desired system-input and actual system-output. A simple fuzzy rule-based technique is simulated to show how the actual system-input is gradually tuned in to a value that closely matches the desired input. The designed controller is implemented and verified on a simple heater which is controlled by PIC Microcontroller harnessed by a code developed in embedded C. The output response of the PIC-controlled heater is analyzed and compared to the performances by conventional fuzzy logic controllers. The novelty of this work lies in the fact that it gives better performance by using less number of rules compared to conventional fuzzy logic controllers.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic controller, Variable reference, Adaptability, Rule-based.

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Authors: Reza Gheisari, Paulo J. Bartolo, Nicholas Goddard

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Polymeric micro-cantilevers (Cs) are rapidly becoming popular for MEMS applications such as chemo- and biosensing as well as purely electromechanical applications such as microrelays. Polymer materials present suitable physical and chemical properties combined with low-cost mass production. Hence, micro-cantilevers made of polymers indicate much more biocompatibility and adaptability of rapid prototyping along with mechanical properties. This research studies the effects of three process and one size factors on the filling behaviour in micro cavity, and the role of each in the replication of micro parts using different polymer materials i.e. polypropylene (PP) SABIC 56M10 and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) Magnum 8434 . In particular, the following factors are considered: barrel temperature, mould temperature, injection speed and the thickness of micro features. The study revealed that the barrel temperature and the injection speed are the key factors affecting the flow length of micro features replicated in PP and ABS. For both materials, an increase of feature sizes improves the melt flow. However, the melt fill of micro features does not increase linearly with the increase of their thickness.

Keywords: Flow length, micro-cantilevers, micro injection moulding, microfabrication.

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Authors: Arif Hassan, Forbis Ahmed

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The issue of leadership has been investigated from several perspectives; however, very less from ethical perspective. With the growing number of corporate scandals and unethical roles played by business leaders in several parts of the world, the need to examine leadership from ethical perspective cannot be over emphasized. The importance of leadership credibility has been discussed in the authentic model of leadership. Authentic leaders display high degree of integrity, have deep sense of purpose, and committed to their core values. As a result they promote a more trusting relationship in their work groups that translates into several positive outcomes. The present study examined how authentic leadership contribute to subordinates- trust in leadership and how this trust, in turn, predicts subordinates- work engagement. A sample of 395 employees was randomly selected from several local banks operating in Malaysia. Standardized tools such as ALQ, OTI, and EEQ were employed. Results indicated that authentic leadership promoted subordinates- trust in leader, and contributed to work engagement. Also, interpersonal trust predicted employees- work engagement as well as mediated the relationship between this style of leadership and employees- work engagement.

Keywords: Authentic Leadership, Interpersonal Trust, WorkEngagement

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Authors: Ebru Belkıs Kamanlıoğlu, Cem Güzeloğlu

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As the new industrial revolution advances in the nanotechnology have been followed with interest throughout the world and also in Turkey. Media has an important role in conveying these advances to public, rising public awareness and creating attitudes related to nanotechnology. As well as representing how a subject is treated, media frames determine how public think about this subject. In literature definite frames related to nanoscience and nanotechnology such as process, regulation, conflict and risks were mentioned in studies focusing different countries. So how nanotechnology news is treated by which frames and in which news categories in Turkey as a one of developing countries? In this study examining different variables about nanotechnology that affect public attitudes such as category, frame, story tone, source in Turkish media via framing analysis developed in agenda setting studies was aimed. In the analysis data between 2005 and 2009 obtained from the first five national newspapers with wide circulation in Turkey will be used. In this study the direction of the media about nanotechnology, in which frames nanotechnologic advances brought to agenda were reported as news, and sectoral, legal, economic and social scenes reflected by these frames to public related to nanotechnology in Turkey were planned.

Keywords: Agenda, frames, media, nanotechnology, Turkey.

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Authors: Xhevrie Mamaqi, Jesus Miguel, Pilar Olave

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The lifelong learning is a crucial element in the modernization of European education and training systems. The most important actors in the development process of the lifelong learning are the trainers, whose professional characteristics need new competences and skills in the current labour market. The main objective of this paper is to establish an importance ranking of the new competences, capabilities and skills that the lifelong learning Spanish trainers must possess nowadays. A wide study of secondary sources has allowed the design of a questionnaire that organizes the trainer-s skills and competences. The e-Delphi method is used for realizing a creative, individual and anonymous evaluation by experts on the importance ranking that presents the criteria, sub-criteria and indicators of the e-Delphi questionnaire. Twenty Spanish experts in the lifelong learning have participated in two rounds of the e- DELPHI method. In the first round, the analysis of the experts- evaluation has allowed to establish the ranking of the most importance criteria, sub-criteria and indicators and to eliminate the least valued. The minimum level necessary to reach the consensus among experts has been achieved in the second round.

Keywords: competences and skills, lifelong learningtrainers, Spain, e-DELHI method.

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Authors: D. S. Fardhyanti, A. Damayanti

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The utilization of biomass as a source of new and renewable energy is being carried out. One of the technologies to convert biomass as an energy source is pyrolysis which is converting biomass into more valuable products, such as bio-oil. Bio-oil is a liquid which is produced by steam condensation process from the pyrolysis of coconut shells. The composition of a coconut shell e.g. hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin will be oxidized to phenolic compounds as the main component of the bio-oil. The phenolic compounds in bio-oil are corrosive; they cause various difficulties in the combustion system because of a high viscosity, low calorific value, corrosiveness, and instability. Phenolic compounds are very valuable components which phenol has used as the main component for the manufacture of antiseptic, disinfectant (known as Lysol) and deodorizer. The experiments typically occurred at the atmospheric pressure in a pyrolysis reactor at temperatures ranging from 300 ^oC to 350 ^oC with a heating rate of 10 ^oC/min and a holding time of 1 hour at the pyrolysis temperature. The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) was used to analyze the bio-oil components. The obtained bio-oil has the viscosity of 1.46 cP, the density of 1.50 g/cm³, the calorific value of 16.9 MJ/kg, and the molecular weight of 1996.64. By GC-MS, the analysis of bio-oil showed that it contained phenol (40.01%), ethyl ester (37.60%), 2-methoxy-phenol (7.02%), furfural (5.45%), formic acid (4.02%), 1-hydroxy-2-butanone (3.89%), and 3-methyl-1,2-cyclopentanedione (2.01%).

Keywords: Bio-oil, pyrolysis, coconut shell, phenol, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy.

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Authors: Teresa L. Ju, Szu-Yuan Sun, Pei-Ju Chao, Chang-Yao Wu

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This study aims to examine the factors affecting knowledge sharing behavior in knowledge-based electronic communities (e-communities) because quantity and quality of knowledge shared among the members play a critical role in the community-s sustainability. Past research has suggested three perspectives that may affect the quantity and quality of knowledge shared: economics, social psychology, and social ecology. In this study, we strongly believe that an economic perspective may be suitable to validate factors influencing newly registered members- knowledge contribution at the beginning of relationship development. Accordingly, this study proposes a model to validate the factors influencing members- knowledge sharing based on Transaction Cost Theory. By doing so, we may empirically test our hypotheses in various types of e-communities to determine the generalizability of our research models.

Keywords: Electronic community, individual behavior, knowledge sharing, transaction cost theory.

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Authors: Gholamreza Momenzadeh, Forough Nematolahi

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The Extended Enterprise Resource Planning (ERPII) system usually requires massive amounts of storage space, powerful servers, and large upfront and ongoing investments to purchase and manage the software and the related hardware which are not affordable for organizations. In recent decades, organizations prefer to adapt their business structures with new technologies for remaining competitive in the world economy. Therefore, cloud computing (which is one of the tools of information technology (IT)) is a modern system that reveals the next-generation application architecture. Also, cloud computing has had some advantages that reduce costs in many ways such as: lower upfront costs for all computing infrastructure and lower cost of maintaining and supporting. On the other hand, traditional ERPII is not responding for huge amounts of data and relations between the organizations. In this study, based on a literature study, ERPII is investigated in the context of cloud computing where the organizations operate more efficiently. Also, ERPII conditions have a response to needs of organizations in large amounts of data and relations between the organizations.

Keywords: Extended enterprise resource planning, cloud computing, business process, enterprise information integration.

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Authors: Syed Muhammad Aqil Burney, Tahseen Ahmed Jilani, C. Ardil

Abstract:

Using neural network we try to model the unknown function f for given input-output data pairs. The connection strength of each neuron is updated through learning. Repeated simulations of crisp neural network produce different values of weight factors that are directly affected by the change of different parameters. We propose the idea that for each neuron in the network, we can obtain quasi-fuzzy weight sets (QFWS) using repeated simulation of the crisp neural network. Such type of fuzzy weight functions may be applied where we have multivariate crisp input that needs to be adjusted after iterative learning, like claim amount distribution analysis. As real data is subjected to noise and uncertainty, therefore, QFWS may be helpful in the simplification of such complex problems. Secondly, these QFWS provide good initial solution for training of fuzzy neural networks with reduced computational complexity.

Keywords: Crisp neural networks, fuzzy systems, extraction of logical rules, quasi-fuzzy numbers.

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