Search results for: professional service

Authors: Alisha Fisher

Abstract:

Healing from sexual trauma can be a tumultuous process, filled with loneliness, confusion, and many unknowns or surprising road bumps. Survivors of sexual violence will often battle with the post traumatic difficulties following the trauma, some of which involve struggles with reconnecting with sexual pleasure. The goal of this paper is to analyze various papers to identify if there is a connection to survivors navigating the symptom of dissociation during self-sexual pleasuring care through grounding and mindfulness strategies. We conclude that there can be benefits to engaging in strategies of grounding and mindfulness can bring a level of presence to survivor’s mind, and body that can assist with reducing the anxieties and dissociation events dur solo sexual play. As such, service providers of survivors of sexual violence should be discussing the options of solo masturbation experiences mixed with grounding and mindfulness processes for survivors to heal and re-claim their sexual lifestyles.

Keywords: Masturbation healing, sexual violence survivor, survivor healing, survivor masturbation.

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Authors: Ahmed A. Hassan, Al-Ramadan Baqer

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Kenya Amboseli National Park hosts the largest elephant’s population in the country, protected and managed by the government under the Kenya Wildlife Service. The park has been experiencing highly organized poaching, in terms of both total elephant deaths and the level of sophistication employed by the poachers. The main objective of this study is to use GIS to map the entire park properly. GIS map of the park was produced including all leading roads, neighboring land use, main gates and water points with geographic co-ordinates well documented. The result obtained indicates the three main gates and the airport as the hotspot points that the tusks can be ferried out of the park. Therefore, this study recommends the government to put strong security measures on these areas. These procedures can lower the poaching threat and assist the game warders properly manage the endangered species.

Keywords: Elephants, GIS, poaching, Amboseli National Park.

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Authors: Mohamad Mahdavi

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Most of the real queuing systems include special properties and constraints, which can not be analyzed directly by using the results of solved classical queuing models. Lack of Markov chains features, unexponential patterns and service constraints, are the mentioned conditions. This paper represents an applied general algorithm for analysis and optimizing the queuing systems. The algorithm stages are described through a real case study. It is consisted of an almost completed non-Markov system with limited number of customers and capacities as well as lots of common exception of real queuing networks. Simulation is used for optimizing this system. So introduced stages over the following article include primary modeling, determining queuing system kinds, index defining, statistical analysis and goodness of fit test, validation of model and optimizing methods of system with simulation.

Keywords: Estimation, queuing system, simulation model, probability distribution, non-Markov chain.

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Authors: Omid Ghassemi

Abstract:

As a by-product of its "cyberspace" status, electronic commerce is global, encompassing a whole range of B2C relationships which need to be approached with solutions provided at a local level while remaining viable when applied to global issues. Today, the European Union seems to be endowed with a reliable legal framework for consumer protection. A question which remains, however, is enforcement of this protection. This is probably a matter of time and awareness from both parties in the B2C relationship. Business should realize that enhancing trust in the minds of consumers is more than a question of technology; it is a question of best practice. Best practice starts with the online service of high street banks as well as with the existence of a secure, user-friendly and cost-effective payment system. It also includes the respect of privacy and the use of smart cards as well as enhancing privacy technologies and fair information practice. In sum, only by offering this guarantee of privacy and security will the consumer be assured that, in cyberspace, his/her interests will be protected in the same manner as in a traditional commercial environment.

Keywords: Consumer, Electronic, Jurisdiction, Payment

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Authors: Evisa Mitrou, Nicholas Tsitsianis, Supriya Shinde

Abstract:

In the age of digitisation and globalisation, businesses have shifted online and are investing in big data analytics (BDA) to respond to changing market conditions and sustain their performance. Our study shifts the focus from the adoption of BDA to the impact of BDA on financial performance. We explore the financial performance of both BDA-vendors (business-to-business) and BDA-clients (business-to-customer). We distinguish between the five BDA-technologies (big-data-as-a-service (BDaaS), descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics) and discuss them individually. Further, we use four perspectives (internal business process, learning and growth, customer, and finance) and discuss the significance of how each of the five BDA-technologies affect the performance measures of these four perspectives. We also present the analysis of employee engagement, average turnover, average net income, and average net assets for BDA-clients and BDA-vendors. Our study also explores the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on business continuity for both BDA-vendors and BDA-clients.

Keywords: BDA-clients, BDA-vendors, big data analytics, financial performance.

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Authors: Dimitrios Koukopoulos

Abstract:

In this work, we study the impact of dynamically changing link slowdowns on the stability properties of packetswitched networks under the Adversarial Queueing Theory framework. Especially, we consider the Adversarial, Quasi-Static Slowdown Queueing Theory model, where each link slowdown may take on values in the two-valued set of integers {1, D} with D > 1 which remain fixed for a long time, under a (w, ¤ü)-adversary. In this framework, we present an innovative systematic construction for the estimation of adversarial injection rate lower bounds, which, if exceeded, cause instability in networks that use the LIS (Longest-in- System) protocol for contention-resolution. In addition, we show that a network that uses the LIS protocol for contention-resolution may result in dropping its instability bound at injection rates ¤ü > 0 when the network size and the high slowdown D take large values. This is the best ever known instability lower bound for LIS networks.

Keywords: Network stability, quality of service, adversarial queueing theory, greedy scheduling protocols.

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Authors: Simon B. N. Thompson

Abstract:

Cortisol is important to our immune system, regulates our stress response, and is a factor in maintaining brain temperature. Saliva cortisol is a practical and useful non-invasive measurement that signifies the presence of the important hormone. Electrical activity in the jaw muscles typically rises when the muscles are moved during yawning and the electrical level is found to be correlated with the cortisol level. In two studies using identical paradigms, a total of 108 healthy subjects were exposed to yawning-provoking stimuli so that their cortisol levels and electrical nerve impulses from their jaw muscles was recorded. Electrical activity is highly correlated with cortisol levels in healthy people. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Yawning Susceptibility Scale, General Health Questionnaire, demographic, health details were collected and exclusion criteria applied for voluntary recruitment: chronic fatigue, diabetes, fibromyalgia, heart condition, high blood pressure, hormone replacement therapy, multiple sclerosis, and stroke. Significant differences were found between the saliva cortisol samples for the yawners as compared with the non-yawners between rest and post-stimuli. Significant evidence supports the Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis that suggests rises in cortisol levels are associated with yawning. Ethics approval granted and professional code of conduct, confidentiality, and safety issues are approved therein.

Keywords: Cortisol, Diagnosis, Neurological Disease, Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis, Yawning.

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Authors: Pianpian Zhang, Qingping Luo

Abstract:

Currently, there is a great tendency that more and more villages in China are trying to increase income by development of tourism. Especially in Zhejiang Province, 'Beautiful Rural Construction' provides an excellent opportunity for the development of tourism. In this context, development orientation, transportation routes and tourism service facilities are analyzed under the perspective of water resources protection and regional integration based on the development tourism industry of the six villages in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province as a research object. In the program, the biggest issue is the contradiction between the ecological protection of the water and the development of economy. How to deal with the relationship between protection and development is the key to the design of this case. Furthermore, the six villages are regarded as a whole, connecting to each other by the system of five-path and the landscape along the lake. Every village has its own features, but cannot develop without one another. The article is actively exploring for suggestions and countermeasures to promote the development premised on protection and based on a regional view.

Keywords: Development, integration, protection, rural tourism.

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Authors: Iman E. Bouthahab, Badea B. Geador

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Aim of this paper is to explore the prospect of a new approach of mobile phone banking in Libya. This study evaluates customer knowledge on commercial mobile banking in Libya. To examine the relationship between age, occupation and intention for using mobile banking for commercial purpose, a survey was conducted to gather information from one hundred Libyan bank clients. The results indicate that Libyan customers have accepted the new technology and they are ready to use it. There is no significant joint relationship between age and occupation found in intention to use mobile banking in Libya. On the other hand, the customers’ knowledge about mobile banking has a greater relationship with the intention. This study has implications for demographic researches and consumer behaviour disciplines. It also has profitable implications for banks and managers in Libya, as it will assist in better understanding of the Libyan consumers and their activities, when they develop their market strategies and new service.

 

Keywords: Banks in Libya, Customer Knowledge, Intention, Mobile banking.

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Authors: Elkington Sibusiso Mnguni

Abstract:

Although South Africa has made good progress in providing basic water and sanitation services to its citizens, there is still a large section of the population that has no access to these services. This paper reviews the performance of the government’s municipal infrastructure grant programme in providing basic water and sanitation services which are part of the constitutional requirements to the citizens. The method used to gather data and information was a desk top study which sought to review the progress made in rolling out the programme. The successes and challenges were highlighted and possible solutions were identified that can accelerate the elimination of the remaining backlogs and improve the level of service to the citizens. Currently, approximately 6.5 million citizens are without access to basic water services and approximately 10 million are without access to basic sanitation services.

Keywords: Grant, municipal infrastructure, sanitation, services, water.

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Authors: Yang Zhou, Kangfeng Zheng, Wei Ni, Ren Ping Liu

Abstract:

Software-defined networking (SDN) provides a solution for scalable network framework with decoupled control and data plane. However, this architecture also induces a particular distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack that can affect or even overwhelm the SDN network. DDoS attack detection problem has to date been mostly researched as entropy comparison problem. However, this problem lacks the utilization of SDN, and the results are not accurate. In this paper, we propose a DDoS attack detection method, which interprets DDoS detection as a signature matching problem and is formulated as Earth Mover’s Distance (EMD) model. Considering the feasibility and accuracy, we further propose to define the cost function of EMD to be a generalized Kullback-Leibler divergence. Simulation results show that our proposed method can detect DDoS attacks by comparing EMD values with the ones computed in the case without attacks. Moreover, our method can significantly increase the true positive rate of detection.

Keywords: DDoS detection, EMD, relative entropy, SDN.

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Authors: T. Yuri M. Zagloel, Inaki M. Hakim, A. M. Syarafi

Abstract:

Manufacturing process has been considered as one of the most important activity in business process. It correlates with productivity and quality of the product so industries could fulfill customer’s demand. With the increasing demand from customer, industries must improve their manufacturing ability such as shorten lead-time and reduce wastes on their process. Lean manufacturing has been considered as one of the tools to waste elimination in manufacturing or service industry. Workforce development is one practice in lean manufacturing that can reduce waste generated from operator such as waste of unnecessary motion. Anthropometric approach is proposed to determine the recommended measurement in operator’s work area. The method will get some dimensions from Indonesia people that related to piston workstation. The result from this research can be obtained new design for the work area considering ergonomic aspect.

Keywords: Adjustable, anthropometric, ergonomic, waste.

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Authors: Bita Tadayon, Nasser Salmasi

Abstract:

This research deals with a flexible flowshop scheduling problem with arrival and delivery of jobs in groups and processing them individually. Due to the special characteristics of each job, only a subset of machines in each stage is eligible to process that job. The objective function deals with minimization of sum of the completion time of groups on one hand and minimization of sum of the differences between completion time of jobs and delivery time of the group containing that job (waiting period) on the other hand. The problem can be stated as FFc / rj , Mj / irreg which has many applications in production and service industries. A mathematical model is proposed, the problem is proved to be NPcomplete, and an effective heuristic method is presented to schedule the jobs efficiently. This algorithm can then be used within the body of any metaheuristic algorithm for solving the problem.

Keywords: flexible flowshop scheduling, group processing, machine eligibility constraint, mathematical modeling.

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Authors: Nam Don Kim, Jungho Moon, Tae Yun Chung

Abstract:

This paper proposes an Internet of Things (IoT) based virtualization platform for providing smart tourism services. The virtualization platform provides a consistent access interface to various types of data by naming IoT devices and legacy information systems as pathnames in a virtual file system. In the other words, the IoT virtualization platform functions as a middleware which uses the metadata for underlying collected data. The proposed platform makes it easy to provide customized tourism information by using tourist locations collected by IoT devices and additionally enables to create new interactive smart tourism services focused on the tourist locations. The proposed platform is very efficient so that the provided tourism services are isolated from changes in raw data and the services can be modified or expanded without changing the underlying data structure.

Keywords: Internet of Things, IoT platform, service platform, virtual file system.

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Authors: N. P. Waweru, D. B. O. Konditi, P. K. Langat

Abstract:

Direction of Arrival estimation refers to defining a mathematical function called a pseudospectrum that gives an indication of the angle a signal is impinging on the antenna array. This estimation is an efficient method of improving the quality of service in a communication system by focusing the reception and transmission only in the estimated direction thereby increasing fidelity with a provision to suppress interferers. This improvement is largely dependent on the performance of the algorithm employed in the estimation. Many DOA algorithms exists amongst which are MUSIC, Root-MUSIC and ESPRIT. In this paper, performance of these three algorithms is analyzed in terms of complexity, accuracy as assessed and characterized by the CRLB and memory requirements in various environments and array sizes. It is found that the three algorithms are high resolution and dependent on the operating environment and the array size. 

Keywords: Direction of Arrival, Autocorrelation matrix, Eigenvalue decomposition, MUSIC, ESPRIT, CRLB.

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Authors: Temitope O. Tokosi

Abstract:

Healthcare is a human right. The sensitivity of health issues has necessitated the introduction of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) at district hospitals in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The objective is understanding clinicians’ perception of ECM at their workplace. It is a descriptive case study design of constructivist paradigm. It employed a phenomenological data analysis method using a pattern matching deductive based analytical procedure. Purposive and s4nowball sampling techniques were applied in selecting participants. Clinicians expressed concerns and frustrations using ECM such as, non-integration with other hospital systems. Inadequate access points to ECM. Incorrect labelling of notes and bar-coding causes more time wasted in finding information. System features and/or functions (such as search and edit) are not possible. Hospital management and clinicians are not constantly interacting and discussing. Information turnaround time is unacceptably lengthy. Resolving these problems would involve a positive working relationship between hospital management and clinicians. In addition, prioritising the problems faced by clinicians in relation to relevance can ensure problem-solving in order to meet clinicians’ expectations and hospitals’ objective. Clinicians’ perception should invoke attention from hospital management with regards technology use. The study’s results can be generalised across clinician groupings exposed to ECM at various district hospitals because of professional and hospital homogeneity.

Keywords: Clinician, electronic content management, hospital, perception, technology.

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Authors: Michiko Miyamoto

Abstract:

This paper empirically investigates whether information technology (IT) strategies, business strategies, and divisions are aligned to meet overall business goals for Korean Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), based on structure based Strategic Alignment Model, and make comparison with those of Japanese SMEs. Using 2,869 valid responses of Korean Human Capital Corporate Panel survey, a result of this study suggests that Korean human resources (HR) departments have a major influence over IT strategy, which is the same as Japanese SMEs, even though their management styles are quite different. As for IT strategy, it is not related to other departments at all for Korean SMEs. The Korean management seems to possess a great power over each division, such as Sales/Service, Research and Development/Technical Experts, HR, and Production.

Keywords: IT-business alignment, structured based strategic alignment model, structural equation model, human resources department.

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Authors: P. O. Umenne, Odhiambo Marcel O.

Abstract:

A simple network model is developed in OPNET to study the performance of the Wi-Fi protocol. The model is simulated in OPNET and performance factors such as load, throughput and delay are analysed from the model. Four applications such as oracle, http, ftp and voice are applied over the Wireless LAN network to determine the throughput. The voice application utilises a considerable amount of bandwidth of up to 5Mbps, as a result the 802.11g standard of the Wi-Fi protocol was chosen which can support a data rate of up to 54Mbps. Results indicate that when the load in the Wi-Fi network is increased the queuing delay on the point-to-point links in the Wi-Fi network significantly reduces until it is comparable to that of WiMAX. In conclusion, the queuing delay of the Wi-Fi protocol for the network model simulated was about 0.00001secs comparable to WiMAX network values.

Keywords: WLAN-Wireless Local Area Network, MIMO-Multiple Input Multiple Output, Queuing delay, Throughput, AP-Access Point, IP-Internet protocol, TOS-Type of Service.

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Authors: Tai-Hwa Emily Lu

Abstract:

This study was a part of the three-year longitudinal research on setting up an math learning model for the disadvantaged students in Taiwan. A target 2nd grade class with 10 regular students and 6 disadvantaged students at a disadvantaged area in Taipei participated in this study. Two units of a market basal math textbook concerning fractions, three-dimensional figures, weight and capacity were adapted to enhance their math learning motivations, confidences and effects. The findings were (1) curriculum adaptation was effective on enhancing students- learning motivations, confidences and effects; (2) story-type problems and illustrations decreased difficulties on understanding math language for students from new immigrant families and students with special needs; (3) “concrete – semiconcrete – abstract" teaching strategies and hands-on activities were essential to raise students learning interests and effects; and (4) curriculum adaptation knowledge and skills needed to be included in the pre- and in-service teacher training programs.

Keywords: curriculum adaptations, mathematics, disadvantaged students, inclusive classroom

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Authors: Sergey M. Karabanov, Dmitry V. Suvorov

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Magnetically controlled microelectromechanical system (MCMEMS) switches is one of the directions in the field of micropower switching technology. MCMEMS switches are a promising alternative to Hall sensors and reed switches. The most important parameter for MCMEMS is the contact resistance, which should have a minimum value and is to be stable for the entire duration of service life. The value and stability of the contact resistance is mainly determined by the contact coating material. This paper presents the research results of a contact coating based on nanoscale ruthenium films obtained by electrolytic deposition. As a result of the performed investigations, the deposition modes of ruthenium films are chosen, the regularities of the contact resistance change depending on the number of contact switching, and the coating roughness are established. It is shown that changing the coating roughness makes it possible to minimize the contact resistance.

Keywords: Contact resistance, electrode coating, electrolythic deposition, magnetically controlled MEMS.

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Authors: Abdelkrim Zitouni, Mounir Zid, Sami Badrouchi, Rached Tourki

Abstract:

The Globally Asynchronous Locally Synchronous Network on Chip (GALS NoC) is the most efficient solution that provides low latency transfers and power efficient System on Chip (SoC) interconnect. This study presents a GALS and generic NoC architecture based on a configurable router. This router integrates a sophisticated dynamic arbiter, the wormhole routing technique and can be configured in a manner that allows it to be used in many possible NoC topologies such as Mesh 2-D, Tree and Polygon architectures. This makes it possible to improve the quality of service (QoS) required by the proposed NoC. A comparative performances study of the proposed NoC architecture, Tore architecture and of the most used Mesh 2D architecture is performed. This study shows that Spidergon architecture is characterised by the lower latency and the later saturation. It is also shown that no matter what the number of used links is raised; the Links×Diameter product permitted by the Spidergon architecture remains always the lower. The only limitation of this architecture comes from it-s over cost in term of silicon area.

Keywords: Dynamic arbiter, Generic router, Spidergon NoC, SoC.

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Authors: Saimir Heta, Ilma Robo, Vera Ostreni, Glorja Demika, Sonila Kapaj

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Suturing, as a procedure of joining the lips of the lembo or wound, is important at the beginning of the healing process. This procedure helps to pass the healing process from the procedure per secundam to the stages of healing per primam, thus logically reducing the healing time of the wound. The purpose of this article is to publish some data on the clinical characteristics of periodontal suturing, presenting the advantages and disadvantages of different types of suture threads. The article is a mini-review type of articles selected from the application of keywords on the PubMed page. The number of articles extracted from this article publication page is in accordance with the 10-year publication time limit. The element that remains in the individual selection of the dentist applying the suture is the selection of the suture material. At a moment when some types of sutures are offered for use, some elements should be considered in the selection of the suture depending on the constituent material, the cross-section of the suture elements, and whether it collects bacteria in the "pits" created by the material. The presence of bacteria is a source of infection and possible delay in the healing of the sutured wound. The marketing of suture types offers a variety of materials, from which the selection of the most suitable suture type for specific application cases is a personal indication of the dental surgeon based on professional experiences and knowledge in this field.

Keywords: Suture, suture material, types of sutures, clinical application.

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Authors: M. Erol Genevois, D. Celik, H. Z. Ulukan

Abstract:

Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) can be considered among one of the most important service facilities in the banking industry. The investment in ATMs and the impact on the banking industry is growing steadily in every part of the world. The banks take into consideration many factors like safety, convenience, visibility, and cost in order to determine the optimum locations of ATMs. Today, ATMs are not only available in bank branches but also at retail locations. Another important factor is the cash management in ATMs. A cash demand model for every ATM is needed in order to have an efficient cash management system. This forecasting model is based on historical cash demand data which is highly related to the ATMs location. So, the location and the cash management problem should be considered together. This paper provides a general review on studies, efforts and development in ATMs location and cash management problem.

Keywords: ATM location problem, cash management problem, ATM cash replenishment problem, literature review in ATMs.

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Authors: Gülfem Alptekin, S. Emre Alptekin

Abstract:

Global competitiveness has recently become the biggest concern of both manufacturing and service companies. Electronic commerce, as a key technology enables the firms to reach all the potential consumers from all over the world. In this study, we have presented commonly used electronic payment systems, and then we have shown the evaluation of these systems in respect to different criteria. The payment systems which are included in this research are the credit card, the virtual credit card, the electronic money, the mobile payment, the credit transfer and the debit instruments. We have realized a systematic comparison of these systems in respect to three main criteria: Technical, economical and social. We have conducted a fuzzy multi-criteria decision making procedure to deal with the multi-attribute nature of the problem. The subjectiveness and imprecision of the evaluation process are modeled using triangular fuzzy numbers.

Keywords: Electronic payment systems, fuzzy multi-criteriadecision making, analytical hierarchy process.

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Authors: Haythem Yahyaoui, Samir Moalla, Mounir Bouden, Skander Ghorbel

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Nowadays, cloud environments are becoming a need for companies, this new technology gives the opportunities to access to the data anywhere and anytime. It also provides an optimized and secured access to the resources and gives more security for the data which is stored in the platform. However, some companies do not trust Cloud providers, they think that providers can access and modify some confidential data such as bank accounts. Many works have been done in this context, they conclude that encryption methods realized by providers ensure the confidentiality, but, they forgot that Cloud providers can decrypt the confidential resources. The best solution here is to apply some operations on the data before sending them to the provider Cloud in the objective to make them unreadable. The principal idea is to allow user how it can protect his data with his own methods. In this paper, we are going to demonstrate our approach and prove that is more efficient in term of execution time than some existing methods. This work aims at enhancing the quality of service of providers and ensuring the trust of the customers. 

Keywords: Confidentiality, cryptography, security issues, trust issues.

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Authors: Yassine Meraihi, Dalila Acheli, Rabah Meraihi

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Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET) is a special case of Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) used to establish communications and exchange information among nearby vehicles and between vehicles and nearby fixed infrastructure. VANET is seen as a promising technology used to provide safety, efficiency, assistance and comfort to the road users. Routing is an important issue in Vehicular Ad Hoc Network to find and maintain communication between vehicles due to the highly dynamic topology, frequently disconnected network and mobility constraints.

This paper evaluates the performance of two most popular proactive routing protocols OLSR and DSDV in real city traffic scenario on the basis of three metrics namely Packet delivery ratio, throughput and average end to end delay by varying vehicles density and transmission range.

Keywords: DSDV, OLSR, Quality of service, Routing protocols, VANET.

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Authors: Silva, Fátima, Fernandes, Paula Odete

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The future of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) depend on their ability to attract and retain students, increase recognition and prestige. In order to respond to the 'customers' increasingly demanding, HEI need to identify the key factors that influence the satisfaction of a 'customers', thereby creating competitive advantages. These determinants of satisfaction are important elements that guide the strategy of an institution and allow the successful achievement of strategic plans, both teaching and administrative, to offer their ‘costumers’ services and products with higher quality. Following this way of thinking, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the satisfaction with the service quality of the School of Technology and Management of Bragança (ESTiG), of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, identifying, thus, the dimensions related to the quality of services that might influence students' satisfaction. The results showed that, in general, the students are satisfied with the performance of ESTiG.

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, Higher Education Institutions, Importance-Satisfaction Model.

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Authors: Suppara Charoenpoom

Abstract:

This paper was aimed to survey the level of awareness of traditional grocery stores in Bangkok in these categories: location, service quality, risk, shopping, worthwhile, shopping satisfaction, and future shopping intention. The paper was also aimed to survey factors influencing the decision to shop at traditional grocery stores in Bangkok in the future. The findings revealed that consumers had a high level of awareness of traditional grocery stores in Bangkok. Consumers were aware that the price was higher and it was riskier to buy goods and services at traditional grocery stores but they still had a high level of preference to patronage traditional grocery stores. This was due to the reasons that there was a high level of satisfaction from the factors of the friendliness of the owner, the ability to negotiate the price, the ability to buy on credit, free delivery, and the enjoyment to meet with other customers in the same neighborhood.

Keywords: Business Management, Thai Economy, Traditional Grocery Store.

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Authors: Edison Muzenda, Freeman Ntuli, Tsietsi Jefrey Pilusa

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This paper highlights some interesting facts on South African-s waste situation and management strategies, in particular the Integrated Waste Management. South Africa supports a waste hierarchy by promoting cleaner production, waste minimisation, reuse, recycling and waste treatment with disposal and remediation as the last preferred options in waste management. The drivers for waste management techniques are identified as increased demand for waste service provision; increased demand for waste minimisation; recycling and recovery; land use, physical and environmental limitations; and socio-economic and demographic factors. The South African government recognizes the importance of scientific research as outlined on the white paper on Integrated Pollution and Waste Management (IP and WM) (DEAT, 2000).

Keywords: Cleaner production, demographic factors, environmental quality, integrated waste management, hierarchy, recycling

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Authors: Mami Sugiura, Shinichi Arakawa, Masayuki Murata, Satoshi Imai, Toru Katagiri, Motoyoshi Sekiya

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API (Application Programming Interface) economy, where many participants join/interact and form the economy, is expected to increase collaboration between information services through API, and thereby, it is expected to increase market value from the service collaborations. In this paper, we introduce API evaluators, which are the activator of API economy by reviewing and/or evaluating APIs, and develop a multi-sided API economy model that formulates interactions among platform provider, API developers, consumers, and API evaluators. By obtaining the equilibrium that maximizes utility of all participants, the impact of API evaluators on the utility of participants in the API economy is revealed. Numerical results show that, with the existence of API evaluators, the number of developers and consumers increase by 1.5% and the utility of platformer increases by 2.3%. We also discuss the strategies of platform provider to maximize its utility under the existence of API evaluators.

Keywords: API economy, multi-sided markets, API evaluator, platform, platform provider.

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