Search results for: retail food risk factors study

Authors: Yeanchon H. Dulanlebit, Nikmans Hattu, Gloria Bora

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Seaweed is a type of macro algae which are good source of iodine and have been widely used as food and nutrition supplement. One of iodine species that found in ocean plant is iodate. Analysis of iodate in seaweed (Eucheuma cottonii) from coastal area of Maluku has been done. The determination is done by using spectrophotometric method. Iodate in sample is reduced in excess of potassium iodide in the presence of acid solution, and then is reacted with starch to form blue complex. The study found out that the highest wavelength on determination of iodate species using spectrophotometer analysis method is 570 nm. Optimum value to yield maximum absorption is used in this research. Contents of iodate in seawater from coastal area of Ambon Island, Western Seram and Southeast Maluku are 0.2655, 0.2719 and 0.1760 mg/L, respectively. While in seaweeds from Ambon Island, Western Seram, Southeast Maluku-Taar, Ohoidertawun and Wab are 6.3122, 6.3293, 6.2333, 3.7406 and 4.4207 mg/kg in dry weight. Bioconcentration (enrichment) factor of iodate in seaweed (Eucheuma cottonii) from the three samples (cluster) is different; in Coastal area of Ambon Island, Western Seram and Southeast Maluku respectively are 23.78, 23.28 and 27.26.

Keywords: Bioconcentration, Eucheuma cottonii, iodate, iodine, seaweed.

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Authors: Susmita Ghosh, Bhaskar Bhowmick

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Market is an important factor for start-ups to look into during decision-making in product development and related areas. Emerging country markets are more uncertain in terms of information availability and institutional supports. The literature review of market uncertainty reveals the need for identifying factors representing the market uncertainty. This paper identifies factors for market uncertainty using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and confirmed the number of factor retention using an alternative factor retention criterion ‘Parallel Analysis’. 500 entrepreneurs, engaged in start-ups from all over India participated in the study. This paper concludes with the factor structure of ‘market uncertainty’ having dimensions of uncertainty in industry orientation, uncertainty in customer orientation and uncertainty in marketing orientation.

Keywords: Uncertainty, market, orientation, competitor, demand.

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Authors: B. Singh, A. Singh, R. C. Yadav

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Utmost care of human related issues are essentially required for sustainable growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) of India, as these MSMEs are contributing enormously to socio-economic development of country. In this research, aspects related to human factors and functioning of MSMEs of India were studied. The investigation, based on a survey of 84 MSMEs of India cited that the enterprises are mostly employing unskilled labor whose wages are less with poor training. In spite of reported minor accidents, attention towards safety is poorly paid. To meet-out the production target, MSMEs generally employ over-time and payment towards this overtime is sometimes missing. Hence, honest and humanitarian attention for better human resources is needed to improve the performance and competitiveness of MSMEs of India.

Keywords: Human factors, Small and medium enterprises, Working culture.

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Authors: Farshad Mehrabi, Ali kheirodin, Mohsen Gerami

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Ambiguities in effects of earthquake on various structures in all earthquake codes would necessitate more study and research concerning influential factors on dynamic behavior. Previous studies which were done on different features in different buildings play a major role in the type of response a structure makes to lateral vibrations. Diagnosing each of these irregularities can help structure designers in choosing appropriate setbacks for decreasing possible damages. Therefore vertical setback is one of the irregularity factors in the height of the building where can be seen in skyscrapers and hotels. Previous researches reveal notable changes in the place of these setbacks showing dynamic response of the structure. Consequently analyzing 48 models of concrete frames for 3, 6 and 9 stories heights with three different bays in general shape of a surface decline by height have been constructed in ETABS2000 software, and then the shape effect of each and every one of these frames in period scale has been discussed. The result of this study reveals that not only mass, stiffness and height but also shape of the frame is influential.

Keywords: period, concrete frame, irregularity in height, decrease in plan surface, dynamic behavior

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Authors: E. Ewemoje Oluseyi, T. A. Ewemoje, A. A. Adedeji

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Biodegradable solid waste disposal and management has been a major problem in Nigeria and indiscriminate dumping of this waste either into watercourses or drains has led to environmental hazards affecting public health. The study investigated the nutrients level of pit composting and vermicomposting. Wooden bins 60 cm × 30 cm × 30 cm³ in size were constructed and bedding materials (sawdust, egg shell, paper and grasses) and red worms (Eisenia fetida) introduced to facilitate the free movement and protection of the worms against harsh weather. A pit of 100 cm × 100 cm × 100 cm³ was dug and worms were introduced into the pit, which was turned every two weeks. Food waste was fed to the red worms in the bin and pit, respectively. The composts were harvested after 100 days and analysed. The analyses gave: nitrogen has average value 0.87 % and 1.29 %; phosphorus 0.66 % and 1.78 %; potassium 4.35 % and 6.27 % for the pit and vermicomposting, respectively. Higher nutrient status of vermicomposting over pit composting may be attributed to the secretions in the intestinal tracts of worms which are more readily available for plant growth. However, iron and aluminium were more in the pit compost than the vermin compost and this may be attributed to the iron and aluminium already present in the soil before the composting took place. Other nutrients in ppm concentrations were aluminium 4,999.50 and 3,989.33; iron 2,131.83 and 633.40 for the pit and vermicomposting, respectively. These nutrients are only needed by plants in small quantities. Hence, vermicomposting has the higher concentration of essential nutrients necessary for healthy plant growth.

Keywords: Food wastes, pit composting, plant nutrient status, tropical environment, vermicomposting.

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Authors: Mehran Jamshidi, Naghmeh Yazdanfar, Masoud Nasri

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In general architecture means the art of creating the space. Comprehensive and complete body which is created by a creative and purposeful thought to respond the human needs. Professionally, architecture is the are of designing and comprehensive planning of physical spaces that is created for human-s productivity. The purpose of architectural design is to respond the human needs which is appeared in physical frame. Human in response to his needs is always looking to achieve comfort. Throughout history of human civilization this relative comfort has been inspired by nature and assimilating the facility and natural achievement in the format of artifact patterns base on the nature, so that it is achieved in this comfort level and invention of these factors. All physical factors like regional, social and economical factors are made available to human in order to achieve a specific goal and are made to gain an ideal architecture to respond the functional needs and consider the aesthetics and elemental principles and pay attention to residents- comfort. In this study the Persian architecture with exploiting and transforming the energies into the requisite energies of architecture spaces and importing fuel products, utilities, etc, in order to achieve a relative comfort level will be investigated. In this paper the study of structural and physical specialties of traditional houses in desert regions and Central Plateau of Iran gave us this opportunity to being more familiar with important specialties of energy productivity in architecture body of traditional houses in these regions specially traditional houses of Kashan and in order to use these principles to create modern architectures in these regions.

Keywords: architecture principles, stable architecture, management, energy productivity, body, energy

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Authors: Mariann Veresne Somosi, Zoltan Nagy, Krisztina Varga

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Innovation is the key element of economic development and a key factor in social processes. Technical innovations can be identified as prerequisites and causes of social change and cannot be created without the renewal of society. The study of social innovation can be characterised as one of the significant research areas of our day. The study’s aim is to identify the process of social innovation, which can be defined by input, transformation, and output factors. This approach divides the social innovation process into three parts: situation analysis, implementation, follow-up. The methods associated with each stage of the process are illustrated by the chronological line of social innovation. In this study, we have sought to present methodologies that support long- and short-term decision-making that is easy to apply, have different complementary content, and are well visualised for different user groups. When applying the methods, the reference objects are different: county, district, settlement, specific organisation. The solution proposed by the study supports the development of a methodological combination adapted to different situations. Having reviewed metric and conceptualisation issues, we wanted to develop a methodological combination along with a change management logic suitable for structured support to the generation of social innovation in the case of a locality or a specific organisation. In addition to a theoretical summary, in the second part of the study, we want to give a non-exhaustive picture of the two counties located in the north-eastern part of Hungary through specific analyses and case descriptions.

Keywords: Factors of social innovation, methodological combination, social innovation process, supporting decision-making.

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Authors: F. I. Belheouane, M. Bensaibi

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The seismic feedback experiences in Algeria have shown higher percentage of damages for non-code conforming reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. Furthermore, the vulnerability of these buildings was further aggravated due to presence of many factors (e.g. weak the seismic capacity of these buildings, shorts columns, Pounding effect, etc.). Consequently Seismic risk assessments were carried out on populations of buildings to identify the buildings most likely to undergo losses during an earthquake. The results of such studies are important in the mitigation of losses under future seismic events as they allow strengthening intervention and disaster management plans to be drawn up. Within this paper, the state of the existing structures is assessed using "the vulnerability index" method. This method allows the classification of RC constructions taking into account both, structural and non structural parameters, considered to be ones of the main parameters governing the vulnerability of the structure. Based on seismic feedback from past earthquakes DPM (damage probability matrices) were developed too.

Keywords: Seismic vulnerability, Reinforced concrete buildings, Earthquake, DPM, Algeria.

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Authors: Mohammed S. ALSaidi, John P. Mo

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Modern engineering assets are complex and very high in value. They are expected to function for years to come, with ability to handle the change in technology and ageing modification. The aging of an engineering asset and continues increase of vendors and contractors numbers forces the asset operation management (or Owner) to design an asset system which can capture these changes. Furthermore, an accurate performance measurement and risk evaluation processes are highly needed. Therefore, this paper explores the nature of the asset management system performance evaluation for an engineering asset based on the System Support Engineering (SSE) principles. The research work explores the asset support system from a range of perspectives, interviewing managers from across a refinery organization. The factors contributing to complexity of an asset management system are described in context which clusters them into several key areas. It is proposed that SSE framework may then be used as a tool for analysis and management of asset. The paper will conclude with discussion of potential application of the framework and opportunities for future research.

Keywords: Asset management, performance, evaluation.

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Authors: Magdalena Escamilla Quintal, Thelma Cetina Canto, Cecilia Aguilar Ortega

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Due to the importance that people represent for companies, the setting of a clear control of the risks that threaten the health and the material and financial resources of workers is essential. It is irrelevant if the company is a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) or a large multinational, or if it is in the construction or service sector. The risk prevention importance is related to a constitutional and human right that all people have; working in a risk-free environment to prevent accidents or illnesses that may influence their quality of life and the tranquility of their family. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the level of psychosocial risks (physical and emotional) of the employees of an SME. The participants of this study were 186 employees of a productive sector SME; 151 men and 35 women, all with an average age of 31.77 years. Their seniority inside the SME was between one month and 19.91 years. Ninety-six workers were from the production area, 28 from the management area, as well as 25 from the sales area and 40 from the supplies area. Ninety-three workers were found in Uman, 78 in Playa del Carmen, 11 in Cancun and seven in Cd. del Carmen. We found a statistically significant relationship between the burnout variable and the engagement and psychosomatic complaints as well as between the variables of sex, burnout and psychosomatic complaints. We can conclude that, for benefit of the SME, that there are low levels of burnout and psychosomatic complaints, the women experience major levels of burnout and the men show major levels of psychosomatic complaints. The findings, contributions, limitations and future proposals will be analyzed.

Keywords: Psychosocial risks, SME, burnout, engagement, psychosomatic complaints.

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Authors: Kaushal Kumar Jha

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Nagaland, the 16th state of India in order of statehood, is situated between 25° 6' and 27° 4' latitude north and between 93º 20' E and 95º 15' E longitude of equator in the North Eastern part of the India. Endowed with varied topography, soil and agro climatic conditions it is known for its potentiality to grow all most all kinds of horticultural crops. Pineapple being grown since long organically by default is one of the most promising crops of the state with emphasis being laid for commercialization by the government of Nagaland. In light of commercialization, globalization and scope of setting small-scale industries, a research study was undertaken to examine the socio-economic and personal characteristics, entrepreneurial characteristics and attitude of the pineapple growers towards improved package of practices of pineapple cultivation. The study was conducted in Medziphema block of Dimapur district of the Nagaland state of India following ex post facto research design. Ninety pineapple growers were selected from four different villages of Medziphema block based on proportionate random selection procedure. Findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents had medium level of entrepreneurial characteristics in terms of knowledge level, risk orientation, self confidence, management orientation, farm decision making ability and leadership ability and most of them had favourable attitude towards improved package of practices of pineapple cultivation. The variables age, education, farm size, risk orientation, management orientation and sources of information utilized were found important to influence the attitude of the respondents. The study revealed that favourable attitude and entrepreneurial characteristics of the pineapple cultivators might be harnessed for increased production of pineapple in the state thereby bringing socio economic upliftment of the marginal and small-scale farmers.

Keywords: Attitude, Entrepreneurial characteristics, Pineapple, Socio economic upliftment.

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Authors: I. Erins, J. Erina

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The aim of the present article is to determine the impact of the external and internal factors of bank performance on the profitability indicators of the CEE countries banks in the period from 2006 to 2012. On the basis of research conducted abroad on bank and macroeconomic profitability indicators, in order to obtain research results, the authors evaluated return on average assets (ROAA) and return on average equity (ROAE) indicators of the CEE countries banks. The authors analyzed profitability indicators of banks using descriptive methods, SPSS data analysis methods, as well as data correlation and linear regression analysis. The authors concluded that most internal and external indicators of bank performance have no direct influence the profitability of the banks in the CEE countries. The only exceptions are credit risk and bank size, which affect one of the measures of bank profitability – return on average equity.

Keywords: Banks, CEE countries, Profitability ROAA, ROAE.

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Authors: F. Saptouw

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This paper will examine the digitization process of the |Xam and !Kun notebooks, authored by Lucy Lloyd, Dorothea Bleek and Wilhelm Bleek, and their collaborators |a!kunta, ||kabbo, ≠kasin, Dia!kwain, !kweiten ta ||ken, |han≠kass'o, !nanni, Tamme, |uma, and Da during the 19th century. Detail will be provided about the status of the archive, the creation of the digital archive and selected research projects linked to the archive. The Digital Bleek and Lloyd project is an example of institutional collaboration by the University of Cape Town, University of South Africa, Iziko South African Museum, the National Library of South Africa and the Western Cape Provincial Archives and Records Service. The contemporary value of the archive will be discussed in relation to its current manifestation as a collection of archival and digital objects, each with its own set of properties and archival risk factors. This tension between the two ways to access the archive will be interrogated to shed light on the slippages between the digital object and the archival object. The primary argument is that the process of digitization generates an ontological shift in the status of the archival object. The secondary argument is an engagement with practices to curate the encounters with these ontologically shifted objects and how to relate to each as a contemporary viewer. In conclusion this paper will argue for regarding these archival objects according to the interpretive framework utilized to engage secular relics.

Keywords: Archive, curatorship, digitization, The Digital Bleek and Lloyd.

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Authors: Mi Sook Lee

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The number of the companies accepting RFID in Korea has been increased continuously due to the domestic development of information technology. The acceptance of RFID by companies in Korea enabled them to do business with many global enterprises in a much more efficient and effective way. According to a survey[33, p76], many companies in Korea have used RFID for inventory or distribution manages. But, the use of RFID in the companies in Korea is in the early stages and its potential value hasn-t fully been realized yet. At this time, it would be very important to investigate the factors that affect RFID acceptance. For this study, many previous studies were referenced and some RFID experts were interviewed. Through the pilot test, four factors were selected - Security Trust, Employee Knowledge, Partner Influence, Service Provider Trust - affecting RFID acceptance and an extended technology acceptance model(e-TAM) was presented with those factors. The proposed model was empirically tested using data collected from employees in companies or public enterprises. In order to analyze some relationships between exogenous variables and four variables in TAM, structural equation modeling(SEM) was developed and SPSS12.0 and AMOS 7.0 were used for analyses. The results are summarized as follows: 1) security trust perceived by employees positively influences on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use; 2) employee-s knowledge on RFID positively influences on only perceived ease of use; 3) a partner-s influence for RFID acceptance positively influences on only perceived usefulness; 4) service provider trust very positively influences on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use 5) the relationships between TAM variables are the same as the previous studies.

Keywords: RFID, TAM, Security Trust, Employee Knowledge, Partner Influence, Service Provider Trust.

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Authors: Rami H. Fouad

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The purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate the scale of implementation of Just-In-Time (JIT) in the different industrial sectors in the Middle East. This study analyzes the empirical data collected by a questionnaire survey distributed to companies in three main industrial sectors in the Middle East, which are: food, chemicals and fabrics. The following main hypotheses is formulated and tested: (The requirements of JIT application differ according to the type of industrial sector).Descriptive statistics and Box plot analysis were used to examine the hypotheses. This study indicates a reasonable evidence for accepting the main hypotheses. It reveals that there is no standard way to adopt JIT as a production system. But each industrial sector should concentrate in the investment on critical requirements that differ according to the nature and strategy of production followed in that sector.

Keywords: Just-In-Time, JIT, Questionnaire, Types of Industrial Sectors.

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Authors: Helena Costa Oliveira, Carmem Oliveira, Rita Moutinho

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The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a continuous strategic monitoring model focused not only on financial issues but also on internal processes, patients/users, and learning and growth. Initially dedicated to business management, it currently serves organizations of other natures - such as hospitals. This paper presents a BSC designed for a Portuguese Acute Pain Unit (APU). This study is qualitative and based on the experience of collaborators at the APU. The management of APU is based on four perspectives – users, internal processes, learning and growth, and financial and legal. For each perspective, there were identified strategic objectives, critical factors, lead indicators and initiatives. The strategic map of the APU outlining sustained strategic relations among strategic objectives. This study contributes to the development of research in the health management area as it explores how organizational insufficiencies and inconsistencies in this particular case can be addressed, through the identification of critical factors, to clearly establish core outcomes and initiatives to set up.

Keywords: Acute pain unit, balanced scorecard, hospital management, organizational performance, Portugal.

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Authors: Jeries J. Abou-Hanna

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Several techniques exist for determining stress-intensity factors in linear elastic fracture mechanics analysis. These techniques are based on analytical, numerical, and empirical approaches that have been well documented in literature and engineering handbooks. However, not all techniques share the same merit. In addition to overly-conservative results, the numerical methods that require extensive computational effort, and those requiring copious user parameters hinder practicing engineers from efficiently evaluating stress-intensity factors. This paper investigates the prospects of reducing the complexity and required variables to determine stress-intensity factors through the utilization of the stress gradient and a weighting function. The heart of this work resides in the understanding that fracture emanating from stress concentration locations cannot be explained by a single maximum stress value approach, but requires use of a critical volume in which the crack exists. In order to understand the effectiveness of this technique, this study investigated components of different notch geometry and varying levels of stress gradients. Two forms of weighting functions were employed to determine stress-intensity factors and results were compared to analytical exact methods. The results indicated that the “exponential” weighting function was superior to the “absolute” weighting function. An error band +/- 10% was met for cases ranging from a steep stress gradient in a sharp v-notch to the less severe stress transitions of a large circular notch. The incorporation of the proposed method has shown to be a worthwhile consideration.

Keywords: Fracture mechanics, finite element method, stress intensity factor, stress gradient.

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Authors: Abdelrahman Elsehsah, Hany Madkour, Khalid Farah

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This article presents a 3-D modified non-linear elastic model in the strain space. The Helmholtz free energy function is introduced with the existence of a dissipation potential surface in the space of thermodynamic conjugate forces. The constitutive equation and the damage evolution were derived as well. The modified damage has been examined to model the nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs with an opening. A parametric study with RC was carried out to investigate the impact of different factors on the behavior of RC slabs. These factors are the opening area, the opening shape, the place of opening, and the thickness of the slabs. And the numerical results have been compared with the experimental data from literature. Finally, the model showed its ability to be applied to the structural analysis of RC slabs.

Keywords: 3-D numerical analysis, damage mechanics, RC slab with opening.

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Authors: Liu Zhiyuan, Sun Zongdi, Liu Zhiyuan, Sun Zongdi

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Qingdao is a seaside city. Taking into account the characteristics of Qingdao, this article established a multiple linear regression model to analyze the impact of macroeconomic factors on housing prices. We used stepwise regression method to make multiple linear regression analysis, and made statistical analysis of F test values and T test values. According to the analysis results, the model is continuously optimized. Finally, this article obtained the multiple linear regression equation and the influencing factors, and the reliability of the model was verified by F test and T test.

Keywords: Housing prices, multiple linear regression model, macroeconomic factors, Qingdao City.

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Authors: Gabriella Tjondro, Julita Dortua Laurentina Nainggolan

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Introduction: There are several things affecting menstrual cycle, namely, nutritional status, diet, financial status of one’s household and exercises. The most commonly used parameter to calculate the fat in a human body is body mass index. Therefore, it is necessary to do research to prevent complications caused by menstrual disorder in the future. Design Study: This research is an observational analytical study with the cross-sectional-case control approach. Participants (n = 124; median age = 19.5 years ± SD 3.5) were classified into 2 groups: normal, NM (n = 62; BMI = 18-23 kg/m²) and obese, OB (n = 62; BMI = > 25 kg/m²). BMI was calculated from the equation; BMI = weight, kg/height, m². Results: There were 79.10% from obese group who experienced menstrual cycle disorders (n=53, 79.10%; p value 0.00; OR 5.25) and 20.90% from normal BMI group with menstrual cycle disorders. There were several factors in this research that also influence the menstrual cycle disorders such as stress (44.78%; p value 0.00; OR 1.85), sleep disorders (25.37%; p value 0.00; OR 1.01), physical activities (25.37%; p value 0.00; OR 1.24) and diet (10.45%; p value 0.00; OR 1.07). Conclusion: There is a significant relation between body mass index (obese) and menstrual cycle disorders. However, BMI is not the only factor that affects the menstrual cycle disorders. There are several factors that also can affect menstrual cycle disorders, in this study we use stress, sleep disorders, physical activities and diet, in which none of them are dominant.

Keywords: Menstrual disorders, menstrual cycle, obesity, body mass index, stress, sleep disorders, physical activities, diet.

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Authors: S. Jarernprasert, E. Bazan-Zurita, P. C. Rizzo

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Currently, seismic probabilistic risk assessments (SPRA) for nuclear facilities use In-Structure Response Spectra (ISRS) in the calculation of fragilities for systems and components. ISRS are calculated via dynamic analyses of the host building subjected to two orthogonal components of horizontal ground motion. Each component is defined as the median motion in any horizontal direction. Structural engineers applied the components along selected X and Y Cartesian axes. The ISRS at different locations in the building are also calculated in the X and Y directions. The choice of the directions of X and Y are not specified by the ground motion model with respect to geographic coordinates, and are rather arbitrarily selected by the structural engineer. Normally, X and Y coincide with the “principal” axes of the building, in the understanding that this practice is generally conservative. For SPRA purposes, however, it is desirable to remove any conservatism in the estimates of median ISRS. This paper examines the effects of the direction of horizontal seismic motion on the ISRS on typical nuclear structure. We also evaluate the variability of ISRS calculated along different horizontal directions. Our results indicate that some central measures of the ISRS provide robust estimates that are practically independent of the selection of the directions of the horizontal Cartesian axes.

Keywords: Seismic, Directionality, In-Structure Response Spectra, Probabilistic Risk Assessment.

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Authors: Sathya Narayanan V., Sidharth P., Sanal Kumar. V. R.

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The success of any retail business is predisposed by its swift response and its knack in understanding the constraints and the requirements of customers. In this paper a conceptual design model of an automated customer-friendly supermarket has been proposed. In this model a 10-sided, space benefited, regular polygon shaped gravity shelves have been designed for goods storage and effective customer-specific algorithms have been built-in for quick automatic delivery of the randomly listed goods. The algorithm is developed with two main objectives, viz., delivery time and priority. For meeting these objectives the randomly listed items are reorganized according to the critical-path of the robotic arm specific to the identified shop and its layout and the items are categorized according to the demand, shape, size, similarity and nature of the product for an efficient pick-up, packing and delivery process. We conjectured that the proposed automated supermarket model reduces business operating costs with much customer satisfaction warranting a winwin situation.

Keywords: Automated Supermarket, Electronic Shopping, Polygon-shaped Rack, Shortest Path Algorithm for Shopping.

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Authors: Bin Mu, Site Li, Shijin Yuan

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Under the circumstance of environment deterioration, people are increasingly concerned about the quality of the environment, especially air quality. As a result, it is of great value to give accurate and timely forecast of AQI (air quality index). In order to simplify influencing factors of air quality in a city, and forecast the city’s AQI tomorrow, this study used MATLAB software and adopted the method of constructing a mathematic model of PCA-GABP to provide a solution. To be specific, this study firstly made principal component analysis (PCA) of influencing factors of AQI tomorrow including aspects of weather, industry waste gas and IAQI data today. Then, we used the back propagation neural network model (BP), which is optimized by genetic algorithm (GA), to give forecast of AQI tomorrow. In order to verify validity and accuracy of PCA-GABP model’s forecast capability. The study uses two statistical indices to evaluate AQI forecast results (normalized mean square error and fractional bias). Eventually, this study reduces mean square error by optimizing individual gene structure in genetic algorithm and adjusting the parameters of back propagation model. To conclude, the performance of the model to forecast AQI is comparatively convincing and the model is expected to take positive effect in AQI forecast in the future.

Keywords: AQI forecast, principal component analysis, genetic algorithm, back propagation neural network model.

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Authors: Lovorka Galetic, Zeljko Vukelic

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The advanced concepts of strategic and innovation management in the sphere of company dynamic and innovation capabilities, and achieving their mutual alignment and a synergy effect, are important elements in business today. This paper analyses the theory and empirically investigates the influence of a company’s dynamic capabilities on its innovation capabilities. A new multidimensional model of dynamic capabilities is presented, consisting of five factors appropriate to real time requirements, while innovation capabilities are considered pursuant to the official OECD and Eurostat standards. After examination of dynamic and innovation capabilities indicated their theoretical links, the empirical study testing the model and examining the influence of a company’s dynamic capabilities on its innovation capabilities showed significant results. In the study, a research model was posed to relate company dynamic and innovation capabilities. One side of the model features the variables that are the determinants of dynamic capabilities defined through their factors, while the other side features the determinants of innovation capabilities pursuant to the official standards. With regard to the research model, five hypotheses were set. The study was performed in late 2014 on a representative sample of large and very large Croatian enterprises with a minimum of 250 employees. The research instrument was a questionnaire administered to company top management. For both variables, the position of the company was tested in comparison to industry competitors, on a fivepoint scale. In order to test the hypotheses, correlation tests were performed to determine whether there is a correlation between each individual factor of company dynamic capabilities with the existence of its innovation capabilities, in line with the research model. The results indicate a strong correlation between a company’s possession of dynamic capabilities in terms of their factors, due to the new multi-dimensional model presented in this paper, with its possession of innovation capabilities. Based on the results, all five hypotheses were accepted. Ultimately, it was concluded that there is a strong association between the dynamic and innovation capabilities of a company. 

Keywords: Dynamic capabilities, innovation capabilities, competitive advantage, business results.

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Authors: Nader Nabhani, Amir Tofighi

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Nanotechnology is the science of creating, using and manipulating objects which have at least one dimension in range of 0.1 to 100 nanometers. In other words, nanotechnology is reconstructing a substance using its individual atoms and arranging them in a way that is desirable for our purpose. The main reason that nanotechnology has been attracting attentions is the unique properties that objects show when they are formed at nano-scale. These differing characteristics that nano-scale materials show compared to their nature-existing form is both useful in creating high quality products and dangerous when being in contact with body or spread in environment. In order to control and lower the risk of such nano-scale particles, the main following three topics should be considered: 1) First of all, these materials would cause long term diseases that may show their effects on body years after being penetrated in human organs and since this science has become recently developed in industrial scale not enough information is available about their hazards on body. 2) The second is that these particles can easily spread out in environment and remain in air, soil or water for very long time, besides their high ability to penetrate body skin and causing new kinds of diseases. 3) The third one is that to protect body and environment against the danger of these particles, the protective barriers must be finer than these small objects and such defenses are hard to accomplish. This paper will review, discuss and assess the risks that human and environment face as this new science develops at a high rate.

Keywords: Nanotechnology, risk assessment, environment.

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Authors: Al-Shabatat, M. Ahmad, Abbas, M., Ismail, H. Nizam

Abstract:

Achievement motivation is believed to promote giftedness attracting people to invest in many programs to adopt gifted students providing them with challenging activities. Intellectual giftedness is founded on the fluid intelligence and extends to more specific abilities through the growth and inputs from the achievement motivation. Acknowledging the roles played by the motivation in the development of giftedness leads to an effective nurturing of gifted individuals. However, no study has investigated the direct and indirect effects of the achievement motivation and fluid intelligence on intellectual giftedness. Thus, this study investigated the contribution of motivation factors to giftedness development by conducting tests of fluid intelligence using Cattell Culture Fair Test (CCFT) and analytical abilities using culture reduced test items covering problem solving, pattern recognition, audio-logic, audio-matrices, and artificial language, and self report questionnaire for the motivational factors. A number of 180 highscoring students were selected using CCFT from a leading university in Malaysia. Structural equation modeling was employed using Amos V.16 to determine the direct and indirect effects of achievement motivation factors (self confidence, success, perseverance, competition, autonomy, responsibility, ambition, and locus of control) on the intellectual giftedness. The findings showed that the hypothesized model fitted the data, supporting the model postulates and showed significant and strong direct and indirect effects of the motivation and fluid intelligence on the intellectual giftedness.

Keywords: Achievement motivation, Intellectual Giftedness, Fluid Intelligence, Analytical Giftedness, CCFT, Structural EquationModeling.

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Authors: M. T. Artese, G. Ciocca, I. Gagliardi

Abstract:

Food is a social and cultural aspect of every individual. Food products, processing, and traditions have been identified as cultural objects carrying history and identity of social groups. Traditional recipes are passed down from one generation to the other, often to strengthen the link with the territory. The paper presents CookIT, a web portal developed to collect Italian traditional recipes related to regional cuisine, with the purpose to disseminate the knowledge of typical Italian recipes and the Mediterranean diet which is a significant part of Italian cuisine. The system designed is completed with multimodal means of browsing and data retrieval. Stored recipes can be retrieved integrating and combining a number of different methods and keys, while the results are displayed using classical styles, such as list and mosaic, and also using maps and graphs, with which users can play using available keys for interaction.

Keywords: Collaborative portal, Italian cuisine, intangible cultural heritage, traditional recipes, searching and browsing.

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Authors: Amiel Satvedi, Richard Pyne

Abstract:

Injuries in professional sports occur on a regular basis. Some may be minor while others can cause huge impact on a player’s career and earning potential. In soccer, there is a high risk of players picking up injuries during game time. This research work seeks to help soccer players reduce the risk of getting injured by predicting the likelihood of injury while playing in the near future and then providing recommendations for intervention. The injury prediction tool will use a soccer player’s number of minutes played on the field, number of appearances, distance covered and performance data for the current and previous seasons as variables to conduct statistical analysis and provide injury predictive results using a machine learning linear regression model.

Keywords: Injury predictor, soccer injury prevention, machine learning in soccer, big data in soccer.

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Authors: Fatemeh Valizadeh Gamchi, Edward L. Boone

Abstract:

This research focuses on Lyme disease, a widespread infectious condition in the United States caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto. It is critical to identify environmental and economic elements that are contributing to the spread of the disease. This study examined data from Virginia to identify a subset of explanatory variables significant for Lyme disease case numbers. To identify relevant variables and avoid overfitting, linear poisson, and regularization regression methods such as ridge, lasso, and elastic net penalty were employed. Cross-validation was performed to acquire tuning parameters. The methods proposed can automatically identify relevant disease count covariates. The efficacy of the techniques was assessed using four criteria on three simulated datasets. Finally, using the Virginia Department of Health’s Lyme disease dataset, the study successfully identified key factors, and the results were consistent with previous studies.

Keywords: Lyme disease, Poisson generalized linear model, Ridge regression, Lasso Regression, elastic net regression.

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Authors: G. Hernandez-Maskivker, G. Ryan, M. Blazey, M. Pàmies

Abstract:

Waiting times and queues are a daily problem for theme parks. Fast lines or priority queues appear as a solution for a specific segment of customers, that is, tourists who are willing to pay to avoid waiting. This paper analyzes the fast line system and explores the factors that affect the decision to purchase a fast line pass. A greater understanding of these factors may help companies to design appropriate products and services. This conceptual paper was based on a literature review in marketing and consumer behavior. Additional research was identified in related disciplines such as leisure studies, psychology, and sociology. A conceptual framework of the factors influencing the decision to purchase a fast line pass is presented.

Keywords: Tourist behavior, fast lines, theme park, willing to pay.

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