Search results for: Consumer Price Index

Authors: Vincent F. Yu, Ha Thi Xuan Chi

Abstract:

Nejad and Mashinchi (2011) proposed a revision for ranking fuzzy numbers based on the areas of the left and the right sides of a fuzzy number. However, this method still has some shortcomings such as lack of discriminative power to rank similar fuzzy numbers and no guarantee the consistency between the ranking of fuzzy numbers and the ranking of their images. To overcome these drawbacks, we propose an epsilon-deviation degree method based on the left area and the right area of a fuzzy number, and the concept of the centroid point. The main advantage of the new approach is the development of an innovative index value which can be used to consistently evaluate and rank fuzzy numbers. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the efficiency and superiority of the proposed method.

Keywords: Ranking fuzzy numbers, Centroid, Deviation degree.

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Authors: Nedeljko Cvejic, Artur Łoza, David Bull, Nishan Canagarajah

Abstract:

In this paper, we present a novel objective nonreference performance assessment algorithm for image fusion. It takes into account local measurements to estimate how well the important information in the source images is represented by the fused image. The metric is based on the Universal Image Quality Index and uses the similarity between blocks of pixels in the input images and the fused image as the weighting factors for the metrics. Experimental results confirm that the values of the proposed metrics correlate well with the subjective quality of the fused images, giving a significant improvement over standard measures based on mean squared error and mutual information.

Keywords: Fusion performance measures, image fusion, non-reference quality measures, objective quality measures.

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Authors: Weng Ming Chu

Abstract:

When faced with stochastic networks with an uncertain duration for their activities, the securing of network completion time becomes problematical, not only because of the non-identical pdf of duration for each node, but also because of the interdependence of network paths. As evidenced by Adlakha & Kulkarni [1], many methods and algorithms have been put forward in attempt to resolve this issue, but most have encountered this same large-size network problem. Therefore, in this research, we focus on network reduction through a Series/Parallel combined mechanism. Our suggested algorithm, named the Activity Network Reduction Algorithm (ANRA), can efficiently transfer a large-size network into an S/P Irreducible Network (SPIN). SPIN can enhance stochastic network analysis, as well as serve as the judgment of symmetry for the Graph Theory.

Keywords: Series/Parallel network, Stochastic network, Network reduction, Interdictive Graph, Complexity Index.

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Authors: Ali Alotaibi, Francis Edum-Fotwe, Andrew Price /

Abstract:

Mega construction projects create buildings and major infrastructure to respond to work and life requirements while playing a vital role in promoting any nation’s economy. However, the industry is often criticised for not balancing economic, environmental and social dimensions of their projects, with emphasis typically on one aspect to the detriment of the others. This has resulted in many negative impacts including environmental pollution, waste throughout the project lifecycle, low productivity, and avoidable accidents. The identification of comprehensive Social Responsibility (SR) indicators, which combine social, environmental and economic aspects, is urgently needed. This is particularly the case in the context of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which often has mega public construction projects. The aim of this paper is to develop a set of wide-ranging SR indicators which encompass social, economic and environmental aspects unique to the KSA. A qualitative approach was applied to explore relevant indicators through a review of the existing literature, international standards and reports. A list of appropriate indicators was developed, and its comprehensiveness was corroborated by interviews with experts on mega construction projects working with SR concepts in the KSA. The findings present 39 indicators and their metrics, covering 10 economic, 12 environmental and 17 social aspects of SR mapped against their references. These indicators are a valuable reference for decision-makers and academics in the KSA to understand factors related to SR in mega construction projects. The indicators are related to mega construction projects within the KSA and require validation in a real case scenario or within a different industry to demonstrate their generalisability.

Keywords: Social responsibility, construction projects, economic, social, environmental, indicators.

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Authors: Afonso, S. C., Fernandes, P. O., Monte, A. P.

Abstract:

Modern times call organizations to have an active role in the social arena, through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The objective of this research was to test the hypothesis that there is a positive relation between social performance and economic performance, and if there is a positive correlation between social performance and financial-economic performance. To test these theories a measure of social performance, based on the Green Book of Commission of the European Community, was used in a group of nineteen Portuguese top companies, listed on the PSI 20 index, through a period of five years, since 2005 to 2009. A clusters analysis was applied to group companies by their social performance and to compare and correlate their economic performance. Results indicate that companies that had a better social performance are not the ones who had a better economic performance, and suggest that the middle path might provide a good relation CSR-Economic performance, as a basis to a sustainable development.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Performance, Win-Win relationship

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Authors: Chiu-Wen Chen, Chih-Feng Chen, Cheng-Di Dong

Abstract:

This study was conducted using the data collected at the mouth of Jen-Gen River to investigate and analyze chromium (Cr) contained in the sediments, and to evaluate the accumulation of Cr and the degree of its potential risk. The results show that samples collected at all monitoring stations near the mouth of Jen-Gen River contain 92–567 mg/kg of Cr with average of 366±166 mg/kg. The spatial distribution of Cr reveals that the Cr concentration is relatively high in the river mouth region, and gradually diminishes toward the harbor region. This indicates that upstream industrial and municipal wastewater discharges along the river bank are major sources of pollution. The accumulation factor and potential ecological risk index indicate that the sedimentation at Jen-Gen River mouth has the most serious degree of Cr accumulation and the highest ecological potential risk.

Keywords: chromium, sediment, river mouth, enrichment factor

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Authors: Md A. Hossain, Shabab M. Chowdhury, Yamin Rekhu, Khandakar S. Faraz, Monzur Ul Islam

Abstract:

With the growth of modern civilization and industrialization in worldwide, the demand for energy is increasing day by day. Majority of the world-s energy needs are met through fossil fuels and natural gas. As a result the amount of fossil fuels is on diminishing from year to year. Since the fossil fuel is nonrenewable, so fuel price is gouging as a consequence of spiraling demand and diminishing supply. At present the power generation of our country is mainly depends on imported fossil fuels. To reduce the dependency on imported fuel, the use of renewable sources has become more popular. In Bangladesh coconut is widely growing tree. Especially in the southern part of the country a large area will be found where coconut tree is considered as natural asset. So, our endeavor was to use the coconut oil as a renewable and alternative fuel. This article shows the prospect of coconut oil as a renewable and alternative fuel of diesel fuel. Since diesel engine has a versatile uses including small electricity generation, an experimental set up is then made to study the performance of a small diesel engine using different blends of bio diesel converted from coconut oil. It is found that bio diesel has slightly different properties than diesel. With biodiesel the engine is capable of running without difficulty. Different blends of bio diesel (i.e. B80, B60, and B 50 etc.) have been used to avoid complicated modification of the engine or the fuel supply system. Finally, a comparison of engine performance for different blends of biodiesel has been carried out to determine the optimum blend for different operating conditions.

Keywords: Biodiesel, Bio-fuel, Renewable Energy, Transesterification

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Authors: Ke He, Wumaier Parezhati, Haruka Yamashita

Abstract:

Recently, online marketplaces in the e-commerce industry, such as Rakuten and Alibaba, have become some of the most popular online marketplaces in Asia. In these shopping websites, consumers can select purchase products from a large number of stores. Additionally, consumers of the e-commerce site have to register their name, age, gender, and other information in advance, to access their registered account. Therefore, establishing a method for analyzing consumer preferences from both the store and the product side is required. This study uses the Doc2Vec method, which has been studied in the field of natural language processing. Doc2Vec has been used in many cases to analyze the extraction of semantic relationships between documents (represented as consumers) and words (represented as products) in the field of document classification. This concept is applicable to represent the relationship between users and items; however, the problem is that one more factor (i.e., shops) needs to be considered in Doc2Vec. More precisely, a method for analyzing the relationship between consumers, stores, and products is required. The purpose of our study is to combine the analysis of the Doc2vec model for users and shops, and for users and items in the same feature space. This method enables the calculation of similar shops and items for each user. In this study, we derive the real data analysis accumulated in the online marketplace and demonstrate the efficiency of the proposal.

Keywords: Doc2Vec, marketing, online marketplace, recommendation system.

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Authors: Justinian Anatory, Ekael Stephen Manase

Abstract:

The use of mobile phones is growing tremendously all over the world. In Tanzania there are a number of operators licensed by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) aiming at attracting customers into their networks. So far telecommunications market competition has been very stiff. Various measures are being taken by mobile operators to survive in the market. Such measure include introducing of different air time bundles on daily, weekly and monthly at lower tariffs. Other measures include the introduction of normal tariff, tourist package and one network. Despite of all these strategies, there is a dynamic competition in the market which needs to be explored. Some influences which attract customers to choose a certain mobile operator are of particular interest. This paper is investigating if the network effects and Quality of Services (QoS) influence mobile customers in selection of their mobile network operators. Seventy seven students from high learning institutions in Dodoma Municipality in Tanzania participated in responding to prepared questionnaires. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Software. The results indicate that, network coverage does influence customers in selection of mobile operators. In addition, this paper proposes further research in some areas especially where the study came up with different findings from what the theory has in place.

Keywords: Network effects, Quality of services, Consumer Buying, mobile operators.

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Authors: Wei Bai, Ling-Wei Kong, Ai-Guo Guo

Abstract:

Base on extenics theory, the statistical physical and mechanical properties from laboratory experiments are used to evaluate the bearing capacity of lateritic soil foundation. The properties include water content, bulk density, liquid limit, cohesion, and so on. The matter-element and the dependent function are defined. Then the synthesis dependent degree and the final grade index are calculated. The results show that predicted outcomes can be matched with the in-situ test data, and a evaluate grade associate with bearing capacity can be deduced. The results provide guidance to assess and determine the bearing capacity grade of lateritic soil foundation.

Keywords: Lateritic soil, bearing capacity, extenics theory, plate loading test.

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Authors: Nedeljko Cvejic, Artur Łoza, David Bull, Nishan Canagarajah

Abstract:

In this paper, we present a novel objective nonreference performance assessment algorithm for image fusion. It takes into account local measurements to estimate how well the important information in the source images is represented by the fused image. The metric is based on the Universal Image Quality Index and uses the similarity between blocks of pixels in the input images and the fused image as the weighting factors for the metrics. Experimental results confirm that the values of the proposed metrics correlate well with the subjective quality of the fused images, giving a significant improvement over standard measures based on mean squared error and mutual information.

Keywords: Fusion performance measures, image fusion, nonreferencequality measures, objective quality measures.

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Authors: Y. Yılmaz, C. Ünal, A. Dursun

Abstract:

Distribution channels play significant role for hotels. Direct and indirect selling options of hotel rooms have been increased especially with the help of new technologies, i.e. hotel’s own web sites and online booking sites. Although these options emerged as tools for diversifying the distribution channels, vast number of hotels -mostly resort hotels- is still heavily dependent upon international tour operators when selling their products. On the other hand, hotel sector is so vulnerable against crises. Economic, political or any other crisis can affect hotels very badly and so it is critical to have the right balance of distribution channel to avoid the adverse impacts of a crisis. In this study, it is aimed to search the impacts of a general crisis on the selling prices of hotels which have different weights of distribution channels. The study was done in Turkey where various crises occurred in 2015 and 2016 which had great negative impacts on Turkish tourism and led enormous occupancy rate and selling price reductions. 112 upscale resort hotel in Antalya, which is the most popular tourism destination of Turkey, joined to the research. According to the results, hotels with high dependency to international tour operators are more forced to reduce their room prices in crisis time compared to the ones which use their own web sites more. It was also found that the decline in room prices is limited for hotels which are working with national tour operators and travel agencies in crisis time.

Keywords: Marketing channels, crisis, hotel, international tour operators, online travel agencies.

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Authors: Abduladim Maitieg, Kevin Lynch, Mark Johnson

Abstract:

The goal of the Libyan Environmental General Authority (EGA) and National Oil Corporation (Department of Health, Safety & Environment) during the last 5 years has been to adopt a common approach to coastal and marine spatial planning. Protection and planning of the coastal zone is a significant for Libya, due to the length of coast and, the high rate of oil export, and spills’ potential negative impacts on coastal and marine habitats. Coastal resource scenarios constitute an important tool for exploring the long-term and short-term consequences of oil spill impact and available response options that would provide an integrated perspective on mitigation. To investigate that, this paper reviews the Misratah coastal parameters to present the physical and human controls and attributes of coastal habitats as the first step in understanding how they may be damaged by an oil spill. This paper also investigates costal resources, providing a better understanding of the resources and factors that impact the integrity of the ecosystem. Therefore, the study described the potential spatial distribution of oil spill risk and the coastal resources value, and also created spatial maps of coastal resources and their vulnerability to oil spills along the coast. This study proposes an analysis of coastal resources condition at a local level in the Misratah region of the Mediterranean Sea, considering the implementation of coastal and marine spatial planning over time as an indication of the will to manage urban development. Oil spill contamination analysis and their impact on the coastal resources depend on (1) oil spill sequence, (2) oil spill location, (3) oil spill movement near the coastal area. The resulting maps show natural, socio-economic activity, environmental resources along of the coast, and oil spill location. Moreover, the study provides significant geodatabase information which is required for coastal sensitivity index mapping and coastal management studies. The outcome of study provides the information necessary to set an Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) for the Misratah shoreline, which can be used for management of coastal resources and setting boundaries for each coastal sensitivity sectors, as well as to help planners measure the impact of oil spills on coastal resources. Geographic Information System (GIS) tools were used in order to store and illustrate the spatial convergence of existing socio-economic activities such as fishing, tourism, and the salt industry, and ecosystem components such as sea turtle nesting area, Sabkha habitats, and migratory birds feeding sites. These geodatabases help planners investigate the vulnerability of coastal resources to an oil spill.

Keywords: Coastal and marine spatial planning advancement training, GIS mapping, human uses, ecosystem components, Misratah coast, Libyan, oil spill.

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Authors: Joanna Nieżurawska, Hanna Karaszewska, Anna Dziadkiewicz

Abstract:

Contemporary conditions force companies to constantly implement changes and improvements, which is connected with plasticization of their activity in all spheres. Cafeteria systems are a good example of flexible remuneration systems. Cafeteria systems are well-known and often used in the United States, Great Britain and in Western Europe. In Poland, they are hardly ever used and greater flexibility in remuneration packages refers mainly to senior managers and executives. The main aim of this article is to research the attractiveness of the cafeteria system as viewed by generation Z. The additional aim of the article is to prioritize using the importance index of particular types of cafeteria systems from the generation Z’s perspective, as well as to identify the factors which determine the development of cafeteria systems in Poland. The research was conducted in June 2015 among 185 young employees (generation Z). The paper presents some of the results.

Keywords: Cafeteria, generation X, generation Y, generation Z, flexible remuneration systems, plasticization of remuneration.

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Authors: N. Greco, S. Impedovo, R.Modugno, G. Pirlo

Abstract:

This paper presents a new technique for generating sets of synthetic classifiers to evaluate abstract-level combination methods. The sets differ in terms of both recognition rates of the individual classifiers and degree of similarity. For this purpose, each abstract-level classifier is considered as a random variable producing one class label as the output for an input pattern. From the initial set of classifiers, new slightly different sets are generated by applying specific operators, which are defined at the purpose. Finally, the sets of synthetic classifiers have been used to estimate the performance of combination methods for abstract-level classifiers. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Keywords: Abstract-level Classifier, Dempster-Shafer Rule, Multi-expert Systems, Similarity Index, System Evaluation

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Authors: Emine Yilmaz, Ismail Yilmaz, Harun Uran

Abstract:

Food-borne problems have been placed among the most leading problems of the society especially in recent years. This state arises as a problem which affects the society wholly such as the supply of food stuffs that are necessary for an individual to perform his physiological and biological functions, their amount, compound, their effects on health and distribution by individuals. This study was conducted in order to determine the sensitivities and criteria of people, who have different socio-economic backgrounds and live in Süleymanpasa Town of Tekirdag City, in their preference of food stuffs. The research data were collected by means of Interview Technique with individuals within the scope of the study (300) and applying surveys with convenience sampling. According to the research results, quality appears in the first rank among the factors by which consumers are affected while buying food stuffs. Consumers stated that they try to be careful with not buying food sold outdoors. The most preferred food among the ones being sold outdoor were found to be breakfast food. Also, food stuff which consumers become the most selective for while buying was determined to be meat and meat products. Due to general knowledge about the food stuff consumed in human nutrition may affect their health negatively; consumers expressed that they are very relevant with their diets and this circumstances affects their purchase preferences.  

Keywords: Consumption, food safety, consumer behavior, purchase preferences.

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Authors: K. Yılmaz, B. Birol, M. N. Sarıdede, E. Yiğit

Abstract:

A bauxite ore can be utilized in Bayer Process, if the mass ratio of Al2O3 to SiO2 is greater than 10. Otherwise, its FexOy and SiO2 content should be removed. On the other hand, removal of TiO2 from the bauxite ore would be beneficial because of both lowering the red mud residue and obtaining a valuable raw material containing TiO2 mineral. In this study, the low grade diasporic bauxite ore of Yalvaç, Isparta, Turkey was roasted under reducing atmosphere and subjected to magnetic separation. According to the experimental results, 800°C for reduction temperature and 20000 Gauss of magnetic intensity were found to be the optimum parameters for removal of iron oxide and rutile from the nonmagnetic ore. On the other hand, 600°C and 5000 Gauss were determined to be the optimum parameters for removal of silica from the non-magnetic ore.

Keywords: Low grade diasporic bauxite, magnetic separation, reduction roasting, separation index.

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Authors: S .A. Naeini, M. A. Jahanfar

Abstract:

Compacted clay liners (CCLs) are the main materials used in waste disposal landfills due to their low permeability. In this study, the effect on the shear resistant of clays with inorganic salt solutions as permeate fluid was experimentally investigated. For this purpose, NaCl inorganic salt solution at concentrations of 2, 5, 10% and deionized water were used. Laboratory direct shear and Vane shear tests were conducted on three compacted clays with low, medium and high plasticity. Results indicated that the solutions type and its concentration affect the shear properties of the mixture. In the light of this study, the influence magnitude of these inorganic salts in varies concentrations in different clays were determined and more suitable compacted clay with the compare of plasticity were found.

Keywords: landfill liner, shear resistant, plasticity, salt solution

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Authors: Mehdi Fuladipanah, Mehdi Jorabloo

Abstract:

Water flow management is one of the most important parts of river engineering. Non-uniformity distribution of rainfall and various flow demand with unreasonable flow management will be caused destroyed of river ecosystem. Then, it is very serious to determine ecosystem flow requirement. In this paper, Flow duration curve indices method which has hydrological based was used to evaluate environmental flow in Gharasou River, Ardabil, Iran. Using flow duration curve, Q90 and Q95 for different return periods were calculated. Their magnitude were determined as 1-day, 3-day, 7-day and 30 day. According the second method, hydraulic alteration indices often had low and medium range. In order to maintain river at an acceptable ecological condition, minimum daily discharge of index Q95 is 0.7 m3.s-1.

Keywords: Ardabil, Environmental flow, Flow Duration Curve, Gharasou River.

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Authors: M. Babaeipour, M. Vejdanihemmat

Abstract:

Optical properties of bulk and thin film of 1H-CaAlSi for two directions (1,0,0) and (0,0,1) were studied. The calculations are carried out by Density Functional Theory (DFT) method using full potential. GGA approximation was used to calculate exchange-correlation energy. The calculations are performed by WIEN2k package. The results showed that the absorption edge is shifted backward 0.82eV in the thin film than the bulk for both directions. The static values of the real part of dielectric function for four cases were obtained. The static values of the refractive index for four cases are calculated too. The reflectivity graphs have shown an intensive difference between the reflectivity of the thin film and the bulk in the ultraviolet region.

Keywords: 1H-CaAlSi, absorption, bulk, optical, thin film.

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Authors: R. G. Ramírez-Chavarría, C. Sánchez-Pérez, V. Argueta-Díaz

Abstract:

In this paper we present the design of an optical device based on a Herriott multi-pass cell fabricated on a small sized acrylic slab for heat flux measurements using the deflection of a laser beam propagating inside the cell. The beam deflection is produced by the heat flux conducted to the acrylic slab due to a gradient in the refractive index. The use of a long path cell as the sensitive element in this measurement device, gives the possibility of high sensitivity within a small size device. We present the optical design as well as some experimental results in order to validate the device’s operation principle.

Keywords: Heat flux, herriott cell, optical beam deflection, thermal conductivity.

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Authors: Laila Ozola, Evita Straumite

Abstract:

Celiac disease is a permanent enteropathy caused by the ingestion of gluten, a protein occurring in wheat, rye and barley. The only way of the effective daily treatment is a strict gluten-free diet. From the investigation of products available in the local market, it was found that Latvian producers do not offer gluten-free products. The aim of this research was to study and analyze changes of celiac patient’s attitude to gluten-free product quality and availability in the Latvian market and purchasing habits. The survey was designed using website www.visidati.lv, and a questionnaire was sent to people suffering from celiac disease. The first time the respondents were asked to fill in the questionnaire in 2011, but now repeatedly from the beginning of September 2013 till the end of January 2014. The questionnaire was performed with 75 celiac patients, respondents were from all Latvian regions and they answered 16 questions. One of the most important questions was aimed to find out consumers’ opinion about quality of gluten-free products, consumption patterns of gluten-free products, and, moreover, their interest in products made in Latvia. Respondents were asked to name gluten-free products they mainly buy and give specific purchase locations, evaluate the quality of products and necessity for products produced in Latvia. The results of questionnaire show that the consumers are satisfied with the quality of gluten-free flour, flour blends, sweets and pasta, but are not satisfied with the quality of bread and confectionery available in the Latvian markets.

Keywords: Consumers, gluten-free products, quality, survey.

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Authors: M. Rezvani, M. Ahangari, F. Zaefarian

Abstract:

In a field experiment, growth parameters of soybean cultivars in different weeding regimes was investigated. The trial was split plot in a randomized complete block design. The four cultivars and two lines of soybean (Glycine max L.) including: Sahar, Hill, Sari, Telar, 032 and 033 in main plot and weeding regime consist of no weeding (control), one weeding (35 days after planting) and two weeding (35+20 days after planting) were randomized in sub plot. The results showed that during the growth season 033 had the highest dry matter in two weeding. In two weeding regime the dry matter decreased. ). In all weeding regimes 033 had the highest CGR (Figs. 3a, 3b and 3c), which cleared this cultivar ability compare to the others. This cultivar by increasing its leaf area could do more photosynthesis, so, have a higher CGR.

Keywords: Crop growth rate, Density, Leaf area index

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Authors: Amitrajit Sarkar

Abstract:

The use of Electronic Commerce (EC) technologies enables Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to improve their efficiency and competitive position. Much of the literature proposes an extensive set of benefits for organizations that choose to adopt and implement ECommerce systems. Factors of Business –to-business (B2B) E-Commerce adoption and implementation have been extensively investigated. Despite enormous attention given to encourage Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to adopt and implement E-Commerce, little research has been carried out in identifying the factors of Business-to-Consumer ECommerce adoption and implementation for SMEs. To conduct the study, Tornatsky and Fleischer model was adopted and tested in four SMEs located in Christchurch, New Zealand. This paper explores the factors that impact the decision and method of adoption and implementation of ECommerce systems in automobile industry. Automobile industry was chosen because the product they deal with i.e. cars are not a common commodity to be sold online, despite this fact the eCommerce penetration in automobile industry is high. The factors that promote adoption and implementation of E-Commerce technologies are discussed, together with the barriers. This study will help SME owners to effectively handle the adoption and implementation process and will also improve the chance of successful E-Commerce implementation. The implications of the findings for managers, consultants, and government organizations engaged in promoting E-Commerce adoption and implementation in small businesses and future research are discussed.

Keywords: E-Commerce in SMEs, E-Commerce in automobile industry, B2C E-Commerce, E-Commerce adoption and Implementation, E-Commerce Website Implementation, E-Commerce Models.

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Authors: R. Ziaie Moayed, F. Allahyari

Abstract:

Soil stabilization has been widely used to improve soil strength and durability or to prevent erosion and dust generation. Generally to reduce problems of clayey soils in engineering work and to stabilize these soils additional materials are used. The most common materials are lime, fly ash and cement. Using this materials, although improve soil property , but in some cases due to financial problems and the need to use special equipment are limited .One of the best methods for stabilization clayey soils is neutralization the clay particles. For this purpose we can use ion exchange materials. Ion exchange solution like CBR plus can be used for soil stabilization. One of the most important things in using CBR plus is determination the amount of this solution for various soils with different properties. In this study a laboratory experiment is conduct to evaluate the ion exchange capacity of three soils with various plasticity index (PI) to determine amount or required CBR plus solution for soil stabilization.

Keywords: CBR plus, clayey soils, ion exchange, soil stabilization

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Authors: Lilac A. E. Al-Safadi

Abstract:

This paper proposes an auto-classification algorithm of Web pages using Data mining techniques. We consider the problem of discovering association rules between terms in a set of Web pages belonging to a category in a search engine database, and present an auto-classification algorithm for solving this problem that are fundamentally based on Apriori algorithm. The proposed technique has two phases. The first phase is a training phase where human experts determines the categories of different Web pages, and the supervised Data mining algorithm will combine these categories with appropriate weighted index terms according to the highest supported rules among the most frequent words. The second phase is the categorization phase where a web crawler will crawl through the World Wide Web to build a database categorized according to the result of the data mining approach. This database contains URLs and their categories.

Keywords: Information Processing on the Web, Data Mining, Document Classification.

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Authors: Bezuidt O., Lima-Mendez G., Reva O. N.

Abstract:

SeqWord Gene Island Sniffer, a new program for the identification of mobile genetic elements in sequences of bacterial chromosomes is presented. This program is based on the analysis of oligonucleotide usage variations in DNA sequences. 3,518 mobile genetic elements were identified in 637 bacterial genomes and further analyzed by sequence similarity and the functionality of encoded proteins. The results of this study are stored in an open database http://anjie.bi.up.ac.za/geidb/geidbhome. php). The developed computer program and the database provide the information valuable for further investigation of the distribution of mobile genetic elements and virulence factors among bacteria. The program is available for download at www.bi.up.ac.za/SeqWord/sniffer/index.html.

Keywords: mobile genetic elements, virulence, bacterial genomes

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Authors: Shuhe Shao

Abstract:

This article provides partial evaluation index and its standard of sports aerobics, including the following 12 indexes: health vitality, coordination, flexibility, accuracy, pace, endurance, elasticity, self-confidence, form, control, uniformity and musicality. The three-layer BP artificial neural network model including input layer, hidden layer and output layer is established. The result shows that the model can well reflect the non-linear relationship between the performance of 12 indexes and the overall performance. The predicted value of each sample is very close to the true value, with a relative error fluctuating around of 5%, and the network training is successful. It shows that BP network has high prediction accuracy and good generalization capacity if being applied in sports aerobics performance evaluation after effective training.

Keywords: BP neural network, sports aerobics, performance, evaluation.

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Authors: Sanjay Singh, M Sathish Kumar, H. S Mruthyunjaya

Abstract:

Multicarrier transmission system such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a promising technique for high bit rate transmission in wireless communication system. OFDM is a spectrally efficient modulation technique that can achieve high speed data transmission over multipath fading channels without the need for powerful equalization techniques. However the price paid for this high spectral efficiency and less intensive equalization is low power efficiency. OFDM signals are very sensitive to nonlinear effects due to the high Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR), which leads to the power inefficiency in the RF section of the transmitter. This paper investigates the effect of PAPR reduction on the performance parameter of multicarrier communication system. Performance parameters considered are power consumption of Power Amplifier (PA) and Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC), power amplifier efficiency, SNR of DAC and BER performance of the system. From our analysis it is found that irrespective of PAPR reduction technique being employed, the power consumption of PA and DAC reduces and power amplifier efficiency increases due to reduction in PAPR. Moreover, it has been shown that for a given BER performance the requirement of Input-Backoff (IBO) reduces with reduction in PAPR.

Keywords: BER, Crest Factor (CF), Digital-to-Analog Converter(DAC), Input-Backoff (IBO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing(OFDM), Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR), PowerAmplifier efficiency, SNR

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Authors: Hemant I. Joshi, Vivek J. Pandya

Abstract:

This paper discusses the simulation and experimental work of small Smart Grid containing ten consumers. Smart Grid is characterized by a two-way flow of real-time information and energy. RTP (Real Time Pricing) based tariff is implemented in this work to reduce peak demand, PAR (peak to average ratio) and cost of energy consumed. In the experimental work described here, working of Smart Plug, HEC (Home Energy Controller), HAN (Home Area Network) and communication link between consumers and utility server are explained. Algorithms for Smart Plug, HEC, and utility server are presented and explained in this work. After receiving the Real Time Price for different time slots of the day, HEC interacts automatically by running an algorithm which is based on Linear Programming Problem (LPP) method to find the optimal energy consumption schedule. Algorithm made for utility server can handle more than one off-peak time period during the day. Simulation and experimental work are carried out for different cases. At the end of this work, comparison between simulation results and experimental results are presented to show the effectiveness of the minimization method adopted.

Keywords: Smart Grid, Real Time Pricing, Peak to Average Ratio, Home Area Network, Home Energy Controller, Smart Plug, Utility Server, Linear Programming Problem.

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