Search results for: market identification
871 Ecological Risk Assessment of Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the North Port, Malaysia
Authors: Belin Tavakoly Sany, Aishah Salleh, Abdul Halim Sulaiman, Ghazaleh Monazami Tehrani
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The pollution of sediments sampled from the North Port by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was investigated. Concentrations of PAHs estimated in the port sediments ranged from 199 to 2851.2 μg/kg dw. The highest concentration was found which is closed to the Berth line, this locations affected by intensive shipping activities and Land based runoff and they were dominated by the high molecular weight PAHs (4–6- rings). Source identification showed that PAHs originated mostly from the pyrogenic source either from the combustion of fossil fuels, grass, wood and coal (majority of the samples). Ecological Risk Assessment on the port sediments presented that slightly adverse ecological effects to biological community are expected to occur at the vicinity of the stations 1 and 4. Thus PAHs are not considered as pollutants of concern in the North Port.Keywords: PAHs, North Port, Ecological Risk, sediment
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1846870 Feasibility Study of Distributed Lightless Intersection Control with Level 1 Autonomous Vehicles
Authors: Bo Yang, Christopher Monterola
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Urban intersection control without the use of the traffic light has the potential to vastly improve the efficiency of the urban traffic flow. For most proposals in the literature, such lightless intersection control depends on the mass market commercialization of highly intelligent autonomous vehicles (AV), which limits the prospects of near future implementation. We present an efficient lightless intersection traffic control scheme that only requires Level 1 AV as defined by NHTSA. The technological barriers of such lightless intersection control are thus very low. Our algorithm can also accommodate a mixture of AVs and conventional vehicles. We also carry out large scale numerical analysis to illustrate the feasibility, safety and robustness, comfort level, and control efficiency of our intersection control scheme.
Keywords: Intersection control, autonomous vehicles, traffic modelling, intelligent transport system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1625869 Organizational Culture and Innovation Adoption/Generation: A Proposed Model
Authors: Kong-Seng, Lai, Nor'Aini Yusof
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Organizational culture fosters innovation, and innovation is the main engine to be sustained within the uncertainty market. Like other countries, the construction industry significantly contributes to the economy, society and technology of Malaysia, yet, innovation is still considered slow compared to other industries such as manufacturing. Given the important role of an architect as the key player and the contributor of new ideas in the construction industry, there is a call to identify the issue and improve the current situation by focusing on the architectural firms. In addition, the existing studies tend to focus only on a few dimensions of organizational culture and very few studies consider whether innovation is being generated or adopted. Hence, the present research tends to fill in the gap by identifying the organizational cultures that foster or hinder innovation generation and/or innovation adoption, and propose a model of organizational culture and innovation generation and/or adoption.Keywords: Innovation adoption, innovation generation, architectural firm, organizational culture
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2422868 Efficient and Timely Mutual Authentication Scheme for RFID Systems
Authors: Hesham A. El Zouka, Mustafa M. Hosni
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The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has a diverse base of applications, but it is also prone to security threats. There are different types of security attacks which limit the range of the RFID applications. For example, deploying the RFID networks in insecure environments could make the RFID system vulnerable to many types of attacks such as spoofing attack, location traceability attack, physical attack and many more. Therefore, security is often an important requirement for RFID systems. In this paper, RFID mutual authentication protocol is implemented based on mobile agent technology and timestamp, which are used to provide strong authentication and integrity assurances to both the RFID readers and their corresponding RFID tags. The integration of mobile agent technology and timestamp provides promising results towards achieving this goal and towards reducing the security threats in RFID systems.Keywords: RFID, security, authentication protocols, privacy, agent-based architecture, time-stamp, digital signature.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1795867 Characteristics of Different Solar PV Modules under Partial Shading
Authors: Hla Hla Khaing, Yit Jian Liang, Nant Nyein Moe Htay, Jiang Fan
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Partial shadowing is one of the problems that are always faced in terrestrial applications of solar photovoltaic (PV). The effects of partial shadow on the energy yield of conventional mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline PV modules have been researched for a long time. With deployment of new thin-film solar PV modules in the market, it is important to understand the performance of new PV modules operating under the partial shadow in the tropical zone. This paper addresses the impacts of different partial shadowing on the operating characteristics of four different types of solar PV modules that include multi-crystalline, amorphous thin-film, CdTe thin-film and CIGS thin-film PV modules.
Keywords: Partial shade, CdTe, CIGS, multi-crystalline (mc-Si), amorphous silicon (a-Si), bypass diode.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7338866 Performance Shortfalls and Corporate Recidivism: A Contingency Approach
Authors: Kepeng Li
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This paper examines the phenomenon of recidivism in the Chinese stock market, emphasizing the significance of mitigating repeat offences within the corporate domain. Using a contingency model and data from Chinese publicly listed companies (1999-2018), the study investigates the impact of underperformance, governance factors, and managerial traits on unethical conduct. The research suggests that persistently unmet economic objectives can foster problem-focused exploration, potentially leading to misconduct. Furthermore, the study considers the unique cultural context of China, where “guanxi” and corruption may influence corporate behavior. It concludes that governance mechanisms play a pivotal role in regulating corporate behavior, underscoring the necessity for enhanced oversight and enforcement of corporate governance standards.
Keywords: Recidivism, corporate misbehavior, BTOF, aspiration level, corporate governance, individual characteristics.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 119865 Towards a Systematic Planning of Standardization Projects in Plant Engineering
Authors: M. Amberg, M. Gepp, S. Horn
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In today-s economy plant engineering faces many challenges. For instance the intensifying competition in this business is leading to cost competition and needs for a shorter time-to-market. To remain competitive companies need to make their businesses more profitable by implementing improvement programs such as standardization projects. But they have difficulties to tap their full economic potential for various reasons. One of them is non-holistic planning and implementation of standardization projects. This paper describes a new conceptual framework - the layer-model. The model combines and expands existing proven approaches in order to improve design, implementation and management of standardization projects. Based on a holistic approach it helps to systematically analyze the effects of standardization projects on different business layers and enables companies to better seize the opportunities offered by standardization.Keywords: layer model, plant engineering, standardization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1610864 Statistical Study of Drink Markets: Case Study
Authors: Seyed Habib A. Rahmati, Arash Haji Karimi, Reza Saffari, Zeeya Rashvand
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An important official knowledge in each country is to have a comprehensive knowledge about markets of each group of products. Drink markets are one the most important markets of each country as a sub-group of nourishment markets. This paper is going to study these markets in Iran. To do so, first, two drink products are selected as pilot, including milk and concentrate. Then, for each product, two groups of information are estimated for the last five years, including 1) total consumption (demand) and 2) total production. Finally, the two groups of productions are compared statistically by means of two statistical tests called t test and Mann- Whitney test. The implemented Different related tables and figures are also illustrated to show the method more explicitly.Keywords: Market evaluation, Drink, Estimation, Mann- Whitney test
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1347863 Assessment of Using Wastage Steel as Welded Reinforcement
Authors: Muhammad Murtaza Nasir, Safdar Abbas Zaidi, Kamran Khan
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This work is carried out to evaluate the possibility of using to-be-wasted steel as reinforcement after welding together pieces of reinforcing steel bars, left over during construction activities. Tests were performed on a total of nine samples. These were made by welding pieces of reinforcing steel bars purchased from the local scrap steel market. The samples were tested in uniaxial tension using a universal testing machine (UTM). It was found that the failure of the welded bars is governed by the thickness of the weld. It is concluded that suitable design of the weld is essential for achieving the desired level of ductility/elongation of these bars, if they are to be used as conventional reinforcement in reinforced concrete members.
Keywords: Ductility/elongation, low cost housing, reinforced concrete, welding, welded reinforcement, wastage steel.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 793862 How Does Improving the Existing DSL Infrastructure Influence the Expansion of Fiber Technology?
Authors: P. Winzer, E. Massarczyk
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Experts, enterprises and operators expect that the bandwidth request will increase up to rates of 100 to 1,000 Mbps within several years. Therefore the most important question is which technology shall satisfy the future consumer broadband demands. Currently the consensus is, that the fiber technology has the best technical characteristics to achieve such the high bandwidth rates. But fiber technology is so far very cost-intensive and resource consuming. To avoid these investments, operators are concentrating to upgrade the existing copper and hybrid fiber coax infrastructures. This work presents a comparison of the copper and fiber technologies including an overview about the current German broadband market. Both technologies are reviewed in the terms of demand, willingness to pay and economic efficiency in connection with the technical characteristics.Keywords: Broadband customer demand, fiber development, G.fast, Vectoring, willingness to payfor broadband services
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1499861 Microorganisms Isolated from Surgical Wounds Infection and Treatment with Different Natural Products and Medications
Authors: Amany S. Youssef, Suzan A.M. El Feky, Samy A. El-Asser, Rasha A.M. Abd Allah
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Surgical site infections (SSIs) are the most common nosocomial infection in surgical patients resulting in significant increases in postoperative morbidity and mortality. The commonly causative bacteria developed resistance to virtually all antibiotics available. The aim of this study was to isolation and identification the most common bacteria that cause SSIs in Medical Research Institute, and to compare their sensitivity to selected group of antibiotics and natural products (garlic, oregano, olive, and Nigella sativa oils). The isolated pathogens collected from infected surgical wounds were identified, and their sensitivities to the antibiotics commonly available for clinical use, and also to the different concentrations of the used natural products were investigated. The results indicate to the potential therapeutic effect of the tested natural products in treatment of surgical wound infections.Keywords: Surgical wounds, multi-resistant bacteria, bacterial sensitivity, natural oils.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2028860 Signal and Harmonic Analysis of a Compressor Blade for Identification of the Nonlinear Frequency Vibration
Authors: Farhad Asadi, Gholamhasan Payganeh
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High-speed turbomachine can experience significant centrifugal and gas bending loads. As a result, the compressor blades must be able to resist high-frequency oscillations due to surge or stall condition in flow field dynamics. In this paper, vibration characteristics of the 6th stage blade compressor have been examined in detail with, using 3-D finite element (FE) methods. The primary aim of this article is to gain an understanding of nonlinear vibration induced in the blade against different loading conditions. The results indicate the nonlinear behavior of the blade as a result of the amplitude of resonances or material properties. Since one of the leading causes of turbine blade failure is high cycle fatigue, simulations were started by specifying the stress distribution in the blade due to the centrifugal rotation. Next, resonant frequencies and critical speeds of the blade were defined by modal analysis. Finally, the harmonic analysis was simulated on the blades.
Keywords: Nonlinear vibration, modal analysis, resonance, frequency response, compressor blade.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 621859 A Novel Microarray Biclustering Algorithm
Authors: Chieh-Yuan Tsai, Chuang-Cheng Chiu
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Biclustering aims at identifying several biclusters that reveal potential local patterns from a microarray matrix. A bicluster is a sub-matrix of the microarray consisting of only a subset of genes co-regulates in a subset of conditions. In this study, we extend the motif of subspace clustering to present a K-biclusters clustering (KBC) algorithm for the microarray biclustering issue. Besides minimizing the dissimilarities between genes and bicluster centers within all biclusters, the objective function of the KBC algorithm additionally takes into account how to minimize the residues within all biclusters based on the mean square residue model. In addition, the objective function also maximizes the entropy of conditions to stimulate more conditions to contribute the identification of biclusters. The KBC algorithm adopts the K-means type clustering process to efficiently make the partition of K biclusters be optimized. A set of experiments on a practical microarray dataset are demonstrated to show the performance of the proposed KBC algorithm.Keywords: Microarray, Biclustering, Subspace clustering, Meansquare residue model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1617858 Clustering based Voltage Control Areas for Localized Reactive Power Management in Deregulated Power System
Authors: Saran Satsangi, Ashish Saini, Amit Saraswat
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In this paper, a new K-means clustering based approach for identification of voltage control areas is developed. Voltage control areas are important for efficient reactive power management in power systems operating under deregulated environment. Although, voltage control areas are formed using conventional hierarchical clustering based method, but the present paper investigate the capability of K-means clustering for the purpose of forming voltage control areas. The proposed method is tested and compared for IEEE 14 bus and IEEE 30 bus systems. The results show that this K-means based method is competing with conventional hierarchical approachKeywords: Voltage control areas, reactive power management, K-means clustering algorithm
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2405857 Process-based Business Transformation through Services Computing
Authors: Sinnakkrishnan Perumal, Nitish Pandey
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Business transformation initiatives are required by any organization to jump from its normal mode of operation to the one that is suitable for the change in the environment such as competitive pressures, regulatory requirements, changes in labor market, etc., or internal such as changes in strategy/vision, changes in the capability, change in the management, etc. Recent advances in information technology in automating the business processes have the potential to transform an organization to provide it with a sustained competitive advantage. Process constitutes the skeleton of a business. Thus, for a business to exist and compete well, it is essential for the skeleton to be robust and agile. This paper details “transformation" from a business perspective, methodologies to bring about an effective transformation, process-based transformation, and the role of services computing in this. Further, it details the benefits that could be achieved through services computing.Keywords: Business Transformation, Services Oriented Architecture, Business Processes, Process-based Transformation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2142856 Strategies for Development of Information Society in Montenegro
Authors: Vujica Lazovic, Tamara Djurickovic
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Creation of information society, or in other words, a society based on knowledge, has wide consequences, both on individual and complete society, and in general – on a economy of one country. Development and implementation of ICT represents a stimulant for economic growth. On individual level, knowledge, skills and information gathered using ICT, are expanding individual possibilities of persons, enabling them to have access to timely sensitive information, such as market prices or investment conditions, possibilities to access Government-s or private development funds, etc. By doing so, productivity is increased both on individual and national level and therefore social wellbeing in general. In one word, creation of information society - a knowledge society is happening. This work will describe challenges and strategies that will follow the development as well as obstacles in creating information society – knowledge society in Montenegro.Keywords: eDevelopment, eTransformation, informationsociety, knowledge economy
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1610855 Acceptance of Mobile Learning: a Respecification and Validation of Information System Success
Authors: Chin-Cheh Yi, Pei-Wen Liao, Chin-Feng Huang, I-Hui Hwang
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With the proliferation of mobile computing technology, mobile learning (m-learning) will play a vital role in the rapidly growing electronic learning market. However, the acceptance of m-learning by individuals is critical to the successful implementation of m-learning systems. Thus, there is a need to research the factors that affect users- intention to use m-learning. Based on an updated information system (IS) success model, data collected from 350 respondents in Taiwan were tested against the research model using the structural equation modeling approach. The data collected by questionnaire were analyzed to check the validity of constructs. Then hypotheses describing the relationships between the identified constructs and users- satisfaction were formulated and tested.
Keywords: m-learning, information system success, users' satisfaction, perceived value.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1995854 Film Sensors for the Harsh Environment Application
Authors: Wenmin Qu
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A capacitance level sensor with a segmented film electrode and a thin-film volume flow sensor with an innovative by-pass sleeve is presented as industrial products for the application in a harsh environment. The working principle of such sensors is well known; however, the traditional sensors show some limitations for certain industrial measurements. The two sensors presented in this paper overcome this limitation and enlarge the application spectrum. The problem is analyzed, and the solution is given. The emphasis of the paper is on developing the problem-solving concepts and the realization of the corresponding measuring circuits. These should give advice and encouragement, how we can still develop electronic measuring products in an almost saturated market.Keywords: By-pass sleeve, charge transfer circuit, fixed ΔT circuit, harsh environment, industrial application, segmented electrode.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 496853 Humor Roles of Females in a Product Color Matrix
Authors: Jin-Tsann Yeh, Chyong-Ling Lin
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Healthcare providers sometimes use the power of humor as a treatment and therapy for buffering mental health or easing mental disorders because humor can provide relief from distress and conflict. Humor is also very suitable for advertising because of similar benefits. This study carefully examines humor's widespread use in advertising and identifies relationships among humor mechanisms, female depictions, and product types. The purpose is to conceptualize how humor theories can be used not only to successfully define a product as fitting within one of four color categories of the product color matrix, but also to identify compelling contemporary female depictions through humor in ads. The results can offer an idealization for marketing managers and consumers to help them understand how female role depictions can be effectively used with humor in ads. The four propositions developed herein are derived from related literature, through the identification of marketing strategy formulations that achieve product memory enhancement by adopting humor mechanisms properly matched with female role depictions.Keywords: Humor mechanisms, Female role depiction, Product types.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2058852 Low Dimensional Representation of Dorsal Hand Vein Features Using Principle Component Analysis (PCA)
Authors: M.Heenaye-Mamode Khan, R.K. Subramanian, N. A. Mamode Khan
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The quest of providing more secure identification system has led to a rise in developing biometric systems. Dorsal hand vein pattern is an emerging biometric which has attracted the attention of many researchers, of late. Different approaches have been used to extract the vein pattern and match them. In this work, Principle Component Analysis (PCA) which is a method that has been successfully applied on human faces and hand geometry is applied on the dorsal hand vein pattern. PCA has been used to obtain eigenveins which is a low dimensional representation of vein pattern features. Low cost CCD cameras were used to obtain the vein images. The extraction of the vein pattern was obtained by applying morphology. We have applied noise reduction filters to enhance the vein patterns. The system has been successfully tested on a database of 200 images using a threshold value of 0.9. The results obtained are encouraging.Keywords: Biometric, Dorsal vein pattern, PCA.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1898851 Chinese Preferences of Hotel Websites: the Differences among Different Regions
Authors: Shanshan Qi, Rob Law, Dimitrios Buhalis
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The fast technology and economic growth in China has attracted global attention in its tourism development. This study makes an effort on investigating China-s online tourism market and the Chinese online travelers- perceptions of hotel websites. The findings are expected to better understand Chinese customers- online preference and identified the differences among online travelers from different regions in the country. Empirical findings showed online reservation information is the most important factor to Chinese customers, and tourists from different regions of China have perception difference on user-friendly factor. The findings benefit hoteliers from understanding their websites development and formulating more appropriate online strategies to meet the requirements of Chinese travelers.Keywords: Chinese online travelers, Hotel websites, Regions of China, Website usefulness
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1392850 Cultural Policies, Globalisation of Arts, and Impact on Cultural Heritage: A Contextual Analysis of France
Authors: Nasser AlShawaaf, Soo Hee Lee
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Arts globalisation represents a different phenomenon than arts commercialisation which was facilitated by local cultural policies. This study examines the causes and effects of globalisation of art museums in France. Building on art literature, we conducted a literature review of cultural policies. Our findings show that the cultural policies of the French government since the 1980s of cultural democratisation, cultural decentralisation, and implementing market principles on the cultural sector are leading to arts globalisation. Although globalisation is producing economic benefits and enhancing cultural reach, however, the damages include artistic values and creativity, cultural heritage and representation, and the museum itself. Art museums and host cities could overcome negative consequences through a hybrid collection display and develop local collections gradually.
Keywords: Cultural policy, cultural decentralisation, cultural globalisation, art museums, contextual analysis, France.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 246849 Application of Data Envelopment Analysis and Performance Indicators to Irrigation Systems in Thessaloniki Plain (Greece)
Authors: Ntantos P.N, Karpouzos D.K
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In this paper, a benchmarking framework is presented for the performance assessment of irrigations systems. Firstly, a data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to measure the technical efficiency of irrigation systems. This method, based on linear programming, aims to determine a consistent efficiency ranking of irrigation systems in which known inputs, such as water volume supplied and total irrigated area, and a given output corresponding to the total value of irrigation production are taken into account simultaneously. Secondly, in order to examine the irrigation efficiency in more detail, a cross – system comparison is elaborated using a performance indicators set selected by IWMI. The above methodologies were applied in Thessaloniki plain, located in Northern Greece while the results of the application are presented and discussed. The conjunctive use of DEA and performance indicators seems to be a very useful tool for efficiency assessment and identification of best practices in irrigation systems management.Keywords: Benchmarking, D.E.A, Performance Indicators, Irrigation systems.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2101848 A Secure Mobile OTP Authentication Scheme for User Mobility Cloud VDI Environment
Authors: Jong-won Lee
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Since Cloud environment has appeared as the most powerful keyword in the computing industry, the growth in VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) became remarkable in domestic market. In recent years, with the trend that mobile devices such as smartphones and pads spread so rapidly, the strengths of VDI that allows people to access and perform business on the move along with companies' office needs expedite more rapid spread of VDI. In this paper, mobile OTP (One-Time Password) authentication method is proposed to secure mobile device portability through rapid and secure authentication using mobile devices such as mobile phones or pads, which does not require additional purchase or possession of OTP tokens of users. To facilitate diverse and wide use of Services in the future, service should be continuous and stable, and above all, security should be considered the most important to meet advanced portability and user accessibility, the strengths of VDI.Keywords: Cloud, VDI, OTP, Mobility
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2054847 Global Product Development Ways in Modern Thai Economy – Case Studies, Good Practices and Ways to Implement in Thailand
Authors: Andrzej Przemyslaw Kusnierczak
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Advances in technology (e.g. the internet, telecommunication) and political changes (fewer trade barriers and an enlarged European Union, ASEAN, NAFTA and other organizations) have led to develop international competition and expand into new markets. Companies in Thailand, Asia and around the globe are increasingly being pressured on price and for faster time to enter the market. At the same time, new markets are appearing and many companies are looking for changes and shifts in their domestic markets. These factors have enabled the rapid growth for companies and globalizing many different business activities during the product development process from research and development (R&D) to production. This research will show and clarify methods how to develop global product. Also, it will show how important is a global product impact into Thai Economy development.
Keywords: Development, global, management, product.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1656846 Correlation-based Feature Selection using Ant Colony Optimization
Authors: M. Sadeghzadeh, M. Teshnehlab
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Feature selection has recently been the subject of intensive research in data mining, specially for datasets with a large number of attributes. Recent work has shown that feature selection can have a positive effect on the performance of machine learning algorithms. The success of many learning algorithms in their attempts to construct models of data, hinges on the reliable identification of a small set of highly predictive attributes. The inclusion of irrelevant, redundant and noisy attributes in the model building process phase can result in poor predictive performance and increased computation. In this paper, a novel feature search procedure that utilizes the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is presented. The ACO is a metaheuristic inspired by the behavior of real ants in their search for the shortest paths to food sources. It looks for optimal solutions by considering both local heuristics and previous knowledge. When applied to two different classification problems, the proposed algorithm achieved very promising results.
Keywords: Ant colony optimization, Classification, Datamining, Feature selection.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2422845 The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment for Socio-Economic Development in Nigeria: An Assessment of the Fourth Republic Strategies (1999 - 2014)
Authors: Muritala Babatunde Hassan
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In the contemporary global political economy, foreign direct investment (FDI) is gaining currency on daily basis. Notably, the end of the Cold War has brought about the dominance of neoliberal ideology with its mantra of private-sector-led economy. As such, nation-states now see FDI attraction as an important element in their approach to national development. Governments and policy makers are preoccupying themselves with unraveling the best strategies to not only attract more FDI but also to attain the desired socio-economic development status. In Nigeria, the perceived development potentials of FDI have brought about aggressive hunt for foreign investors, most especially since transition to civilian rule in May 1999. Series of liberal and market oriented strategies are being adopted not only to attract foreign investors but largely to stimulate private sector participation in the economy. It is on this premise that this study interrogates the politics of FDI attraction for domestic development in Nigeria between 1999 and 2014, with the ultimate aim of examining the nexus between regime type and the ability of a state to attract and benefit from FDI. Building its analysis within the framework of institutional utilitarianism, the study posits that the essential FDI strategies for achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of Nigerians are political not economic. Both content analysis and descriptive survey methodology were employed in carrying out the study. Content analysis involves desk review of literatures that culminated in the development of the study’s conceptual and theoretical framework of analysis. The study finds no significant relationship between transition to democracy and FDI inflows in Nigeria, as most of the attracted investments during the period of the study were market and resource seeking as was the case during the military regime, thereby contributing minimally to the socio-economic development of the country. It is also found that the country placed much emphasis on liberalization and incentives for FDI attraction at the neglect of improving the domestic investment environment. Consequently, poor state of infrastructure, weak institutional capability and insecurity were identified as the major factors seriously hindering the success of Nigeria in exploiting FDI for domestic development. Given the reality of the currency of FDI as a vector of economic globalization and that Nigeria is trailing the line of private-sector-led approach to development, it is recommended that emphasis should be placed on those measures aimed at improving the infrastructural facilities, building solid institutional framework, enhancing skill and technological transfer and coordinating FDI promotion activities by different agencies and at different levels of government.
Keywords: Foreign capital, politics, socio-economic development, FDI attraction strategies, Redemocratization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 910844 Evaluation of Internet Anxiety in SRBIAU Higher Education Students in Research Process
Authors: Nima Babazadeh Gashti, Nazanin Pilevari
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Increase in using internet makes some problems that one of them is "internet anxiety". Internet anxiety is a type of anxious that people may feel during surfing internet or using internet for their educational purpose, blogging or streaming to digital libraries. The goal of this study is evaluating of internet anxiety among the management students. In this research Ealy's internet anxiety questionnaire, consists of positive and negative items, is completed by 310 participants. According to the findings, about 64.7% of them were equal or below to mean anxiety score (50). The distribution of internet anxiety scores was normal and there was no meaningful difference between men-s and women's anxiety level in this sample. Results also showed that there is no meaningful difference of internet anxiety level between different fields of study in Management. This evaluation will help managers to perform gap analysis between the existent level and the desired one. Future work would be providing techniques for abating human anxiety while using internet via human computer interaction techniques.Keywords: Internet, anxiety, research process, internet identification, human computer interaction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2049843 Diagnosis on Environmental Impacts of Tourism at Caju Beach in Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil
Authors: Mary L. G. S. Senna, Veruska, C. Dutra, Jr., Keity L. F. Oliveira, Patrícia A. Santos, Alana C. M. Santana
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Environmental impacts are the changes in the physical, chemical or biological properties of natural areas that are most often caused by human actions on the environment and which have consequences for human health, society and the elements of nature. The identification of the environmental impacts is important so that they are mitigated, and above all that the mitigating measures are applied in the area. This work aims to identify the environmental impacts generated in the Praia do Caju area in the city of Palmas/Brazil and show that the lack of structure on the beach intensifies the environmental impacts. The present work was carried out having as parameter, the typologies of exploratory and descriptive and quantitative research through a matrix of environmental impacts through direct observation and registration. The study took place during the holidays from August to December 2016 and photographic record of impacts. From the collected data it was possible to verify that Caju beach suffers constant degradation due to irregular deposition.
Keywords: Leisure, tourism, environmental impacts, Brazil.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 739842 Neural Network-Based Control Strategies Applied to a Fed-Batch Crystallization Process
Authors: P. Georgieva, S. Feyo de Azevedo
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This paper is focused on issues of process modeling and two model based control strategies of a fed-batch sugar crystallization process applying the concept of artificial neural networks (ANNs). The control objective is to force the operation into following optimal supersaturation trajectory. It is achieved by manipulating the feed flow rate of sugar liquor/syrup, considered as the control input. The control task is rather challenging due to the strong nonlinearity of the process dynamics and variations in the crystallization kinetics. Two control alternatives are considered – model predictive control (MPC) and feedback linearizing control (FLC). Adequate ANN process models are first built as part of the controller structures. MPC algorithm outperforms the FLC approach with respect to satisfactory reference tracking and smooth control action. However, the MPC is computationally much more involved since it requires an online numerical optimization, while for the FLC an analytical control solution was determined.Keywords: artificial neural networks, nonlinear model control, process identification, crystallization process
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1843