Search results for: demand management

Authors: M. Victor Jose, V. Seenivasagam

Abstract:

This paper describes a logical method to enhance security on the grid computing to restrict the misuse of the grid resources. This method is an economic and efficient one to avoid the usage of the special devices. The security issues, techniques and solutions needed to provide a secure grid computing environment are described. A well defined process for security management among the resource accesses and key holding algorithm is also proposed. In this method, the identity management, access control and authorization and authentication are effectively handled.

Keywords: Grid security, Irregular binary series, Key holding mechanism, Resource identity, Secure resource access.

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Authors: Somlak Wannarumon, Apichai Ritvirool, Thana Boonrit

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The paper proposes a new concept in developing collaborative design system. The concept framework involves applying simulation of supply chain management to collaborative design called – 'SCM–Based Design Tool'. The system is developed particularly to support design activities and to integrate all facilities together. The system is aimed to increase design productivity and creativity. Therefore, designers and customers can collaborate by the system since conceptual design. JAG: Jewelry Art Generator based on artificial intelligence techniques is integrated into the system. Moreover, the proposed system can support users as decision tool and data propagation. The system covers since raw material supply until product delivery. Data management and sharing information are visually supported to designers and customers via user interface. The system is developed on Web–assisted product development environment. The prototype system is presented for Thai jewelry industry as a system prototype demonstration, but applicable for other industry.

Keywords: Collaborative design, evolutionary art, jewelry design, supply chain management.

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Authors: Somlak Wannarumon, Apichai Ritvirool, Thana Boonrit

Abstract:

The paper proposes a new concept in developing collaborative design system. The concept framework involves applying simulation of supply chain management to collaborative design called – 'SCM–Based Design Tool'. The system is developed particularly to support design activities and to integrate all facilities together. The system is aimed to increase design productivity and creativity. Therefore, designers and customers can collaborate by the system since conceptual design. JAG: Jewelry Art Generator based on artificial intelligence techniques is integrated into the system. Moreover, the proposed system can support users as decision tool and data propagation. The system covers since raw material supply until product delivery. Data management and sharing information are visually supported to designers and customers via user interface. The system is developed on Web–assisted product development environment. The prototype system is presented for Thai jewelry industry as a system prototype demonstration, but applicable for other industry.

Keywords: Collaborative design, evolutionary art, jewelry design, supply chain management.

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Authors: Zongjie Du, Shulin Sui, Panpan Xu

Abstract:

Energy consumption of a hotel can be a hot topic in smart city; it is difficult to evaluate the contribution of impact factors to energy consumption of a hotel. Therefore, grasping the key impact factors has great effect on the energy saving management of a hotel. Based on the SPIRTPAT model, we establish the identity with the impact factors of occupancy rate, unit area of revenue, temperature factor, unit revenue of energy consumption. In this paper, we use the LMDI (Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index) to decompose the impact factors of energy consumption of hotel from Jan. to Dec. in 2001. The results indicate that the occupancy rate and unit area of revenue are the main factors that can increase unit area of energy consumption, and the unit revenue of energy consumption is the main factor to restrain the growth of unit area of energy consumption. When the energy consumption of hotel can appear abnormal, the hotel manager can carry out energy saving management and control according to the contribution value of impact factors.

Keywords: Smart city, SPIRTPAT model, LMDI, saving management and control.

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Authors: Mushfiqul Alam, Kashyapa Narenathreyas

Abstract:

The demand for efficient transonic transport has been growing every day and may turn out to be the most pressed innovation in coming years. Oblique wing configuration was proposed as an alternative to conventional wing configuration for supersonic and transonic passenger aircraft due to its aerodynamic advantages. This paper re-demonstrates the aerodynamic advantages of oblique wing configuration using open source CFD code. The aerodynamic data were generated using Panel Method. Results show that Oblique Wing concept with elliptical wing planform offers a significant reduction in drag at transonic and supersonic speeds and approximately twice the lift distribution compared to conventional operating aircrafts. The paper also presents a preliminary conceptual aircraft sizing which can be used for further experimental analysis.

Keywords: Aerodynamics, asymmetric sweep, oblique wing, swing wing.

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Authors: Jain-Shing Liu

Abstract:

In this work, we study the problem of determining the minimum scheduling length that can satisfy end-to-end (ETE) traffic demand in scheduling-based multihop WSNs with cooperative multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission scheme. Specifically, we present a cross-layer formulation for the joint routing, scheduling and stream control problem by incorporating various power and rate adaptation schemes, and taking into account an antenna beam pattern model and the signal-to-interference-and-noise (SINR) constraint at the receiver. In the context, we also propose column generation (CG) solutions to get rid of the complexity requiring the enumeration of all possible sets of scheduling links.

Keywords: Wireless Sensor Networks, Cross-Layer Design, CooperativeMIMO System, Column Generation.

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Authors: Adam Sobey, James Blake, Ajit Shenoi

Abstract:

The leisure boatbuilding industry has tight profit margins that demand that boats are created to a high quality but with low cost. This requirement means reduced design times combined with increased use of design for production can lead to large benefits. The evolutionary nature of the boatbuilding industry can lead to a large usage of previous vessels in new designs. With the increase in automated tools for concurrent engineering within structural design it is important that these tools can reuse this information while subsequently feeding this to designers. The ability to accurately gather this materials and parts data is also a key component to these tools. This paper therefore aims to develop an architecture made up of neural networks and databases to feed information effectively to the designers based on previous design experience.

Keywords:

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Authors: Joanna Błach, Anna Doś, Maria Gorczyńska, Monika Wieczorek-Kosmala

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Financial innovations can be regarded as the cause and the effect of the evolution of the financial system. Most of financial innovations are created by various financial institutions for their own purposes and needs. However, due to their diversity, financial innovations can be also applied by various business entities (other than financial institutions). This paper focuses on the potential application of financial innovations by non-financial companies. It is assumed that financial innovations may be effectively applied in all fields of corporate financial decisions integrating financial management with the risk management process. Appropriate application of financial innovations may enhance the development of the company and increase its value by improving its financial situation and reducing the level of risk. On the other hand, misused financial innovations may become the source of extra risk for the company threatening its further operation. The main objective of the paper is to identify the major types of financial innovations offered to non-financial companies by the banking system in Poland. It also aims at identifying the main factors determining the creation of financial innovations in the banking system in Poland and indicating future directions of their development. This paper consists of conceptual and empirical part. Conceptual part based on theoretical study is focused on the determinants of the process of financial innovations and their application by the nonfinancial companies. Theoretical study is followed by the empirical research based on the analysis of the actual offer of the 20 biggest banks operating in Poland with regard to financial innovations offered to SMEs and large corporations. These innovations are classified according to the main functions of the integrated financial management, such as financing, investment, working capital management and risk management. Empirical study has proved that the biggest banks operating in the Polish market offer to their business customers many types and classes of financial innovations. This offer appears vast and adequate to the needs and purposes of the Polish non-financial companies. It was observed that financial innovations pertained to financing decisions dominate in the banks’ offer. However, due to high diversification of the offered financial innovations, business customers may effectively apply them in all fields and areas of integrated financial management. It should be underlined, that the banks’ offer is highly dispersed, which may limit the implementation of financial innovations in the corporate finance. It would be also recommended for the banks operating in the Polish market to intensify the education campaign aiming at increasing knowledge about financial innovations among business customers.

Keywords: Banking products and services, banking sector in Poland, corporate financial management, financial innovations, theory of innovation.

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Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah, Jianing Mi, Cheng Feng

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The patronage of e-government services (demand side of e-government) is vital to the successful implementation of e-government initiatives. The purpose of this study is to explore the predictors determining the willingness of African students in China to adopt and use e-government services. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) will be used as the theoretical foundation for this research. Research instrument will be developed and administered to 500 African students in China. Factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and culture will be investigated to determine its significant impact on the willingness to use e-government services. This study is a research in progress. The outcome of this study will provide valuable recommendations to improve the provision of public services through e-government.

Keywords: E-government, e-government services, predictors UTAUT.

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Authors: Ming-Ta Yang, Jyh-Cherng Gu, Chun-Wei Huang, Jin-Lung Guan

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Time base maintenance (TBM) is conventionally applied by the power utilities to maintain circuit breakers (CBs), transformers, bus bars and cables, which may result in under maintenance or over maintenance. As information and communication technology (ICT) industry develops, the maintenance policies of many power utilities have gradually changed from TBM to condition base maintenance (CBM) to improve system operating efficiency, operation cost and power supply reliability. This paper discusses the feasibility of using intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) to construct a CB CBM management platform. CBs in power substations can be monitored using IEDs with additional logic configuration and wire connections. The CB monitoring data can be sent through intranet to a control center and be analyzed and integrated by the Elipse Power Studio software. Finally, a human-machine interface (HMI) of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system can be designed to construct a CBM management platform to provide maintenance decision information for the maintenance personnel, management personnel and CB manufacturers.

Keywords: Circuit breaker, Condition base maintenance, Intelligent electronic device, Time base maintenance, SCADA.

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Authors: Alexander Efremov

Abstract:

A system for market identification (SMI) is presented. The resulting representations are multivariable dynamic demand models. The market specifics are analyzed. Appropriate models and identification techniques are chosen. Multivariate static and dynamic models are used to represent the market behavior. The steps of the first stage of SMI, named data preprocessing, are mentioned. Next, the second stage, which is the model estimation, is considered in more details. Stepwise linear regression (SWR) is used to determine the significant cross-effects and the orders of the model polynomials. The estimates of the model parameters are obtained by a numerically stable estimator. Real market data is used to analyze SMI performance. The main conclusion is related to the applicability of multivariate dynamic models for representation of market systems.

Keywords: market identification, dynamic models, stepwise regression.

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Authors: Afif Saleh Abugharsa

Abstract:

The IEEE 802.15.4 standard is designed for low-rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPAN) with focus on enabling wireless sensor networks. It aims to give a low data rate, low power consumption, and low cost wireless networking on the device-level communication. The objective of this study is to investigate the performance of IEEE 802.15.4 based networks using simulation tool. In this project the network simulator 2 NS2 was used to several performance measures of wireless sensor networks. Three scenarios were considered, multi hop network with a single coordinator, star topology, and an ad hoc on demand distance vector AODV. Results such as packet delivery ratio, hop delay, and number of collisions are obtained from these scenarios.

Keywords: ZigBee, wireless sensor networks, IEEE 802.15.4, low power, low data rate

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Authors: Janusz Bobulski, Kamila Pasternak

Abstract:

Despite many years of effort and research, the problem of waste management is still current. There is a lack of fast and effective algorithms for classifying individual waste fractions. Many programs and projects improve statistics on the percentage of waste recycled every year. In these efforts, it is worth using modern Computer Vision techniques supported by artificial intelligence. In the article, we present a method of identifying plastic waste based on the asymmetry analysis of the histogram of the image containing the waste. The method is simple but effective (94%), which allows it to be implemented on devices with low computing power, in particular on microcomputers. Such de-vices will be used both at home and in waste sorting plants.

Keywords: Computer vision, environmental protection, image processing, waste management.

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Authors: Ganiyu Amuda Yusuf, Sarajul Fikri Mohamed

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The procurement and cost management approach adopted for mechanical and electrical (M&E) services in Malaysian construction industry have been criticized for its inefficiency. The study examined early cost estimating practices adopted for mechanical and electrical services (M&E) in Malaysia so as to understand the level of compliance of the current techniques with best practices. The methodology adopted for the study is a review of bidding documents used on both completed and on – going building projects awarded between 2008 – 2010 under 9th Malaysian Plan. The analysis revealed that, M&E services cost cannot be reliably estimated at pre-contract stage; the bidding techniques adopted for M&E services failed to provide uniform basis for contractors to submit tender; detailed measurement of items were not made which could complicate post contract cost control and financial management. The paper concluded that, there is need to follow a structured approach in determining the pre-contract cost estimate for M&E services which will serve as a virile tool for post contract cost control.

Keywords: Cost Management, Mechanical and Electrical Services, Procurement, Standard Method of Measurement

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Authors: Mujeeb Saif Mohsen Al-Absy, Ku Nor Izah Ku Ismail, Sitraselvi Chandren

Abstract:

This study examines whether corporate governance (CG) mechanisms in firms that have a whistle-blowing policy (WHBLP) are more effective in constraining earnings management (EM), than those without. A sample of 288 Malaysian firms for the years 2013 to 2015, amounting to 864 firm-years were grouped into firms with and without WHBLP. Results show that for firms without WHBLP, the board chairman tenure would minimize EM activities. Meanwhile, for firms with WHBLP, board chairman independence, board chairman tenure, audit committee size, audit committee meeting and women in the audit committees are found to be associated with less EM activities. Further, it is found that ownership concentration and Big 4 auditing firms help to reduce EM activities in firms with WHBLP, while not in firms without WHBLP. Hence, functional and effective governance can be achieved by having a WHBLP, which is in line with agency and resource dependent theories. Therefore, this study suggests that firms should have a WHBLP in place, and policymakers should come up with enhanced criteria to strengthen the mechanisms of WHBLP.

Keywords: Corporate governance, earnings management, whistle-blowing policy, audit committee, board of directors.

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Authors: Peyman Ghafari, Reza Karjalian, Ali Mashayekhnia

Abstract:

This paper investigates the relationship between different dimensions of customer relationship management and innovation capabilities in Melli Bank of Iran. Five dimensions of CRM include information sharing, customer involvement, long-term partnership, joint problem solving and technology-based CRM are selected to measure their relationship with innovation capabilities including innovation in product, innovation in process, innovation in administrative affairs, innovation in marketing, and finally innovation in services. Research findings indicate that there is significant relationship between CRM dimensions and innovation capabilities in Melli bank of Iran.

Keywords: Customer relationship management, innovation capabilities.

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Authors: Khelood A. Mkalaf, Peter Gibson, John Flanagan

Abstract:

This study investigates the relationship between the reliability of critical medical equipment (CME) and the effectiveness of CME maintenance management strategies in relation to patient outcomes in 84 public hospitals of a top 20 OECD country. The work has examined the effectiveness of CME maintenance management strategies used by the public hospital system of a large state run health organization. The conceptual framework was designed to examine the significance of the relationship between six variables: (1) types of maintenance management strategies, (2) maintenance services, (3) maintenance practice, (4) medical equipment reliability, (5) maintenance costs and (6) patient outcomes. The results provide interesting insights into the effectiveness of the maintenance strategies used. For example, there appears to be about a 1 in 10 000 probability of failure of anesthesia equipment, but these seem to be confined to specific maintenance situations. There are also some findings in relation to outsourcing of maintenance. For each of the variables listed, results are reported in relation to the various types of maintenance strategies and services. Decision-makers may use these results to evaluate more effective maintenance strategies for their CME and generate more effective patient outcomes.

Keywords: Critical medical equipment, maintenance strategy, patient outcomes, reliability.

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Authors: Ranjan Sarukkalige, Dinushi Gamage

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to develop a storm water quality improvement strategy plan (WQISP) which assists managers and decision makers of local city councils in enhancing their activities to improve regional water quality. City of Gosnells in Western Australia has been considered as a case study. The procedure on developing the WQISP consists of reviewing existing water quality data, identifying water quality issues in the study areas and developing a decision making tool for the officers, managers and decision makers. It was found that land use type is the main factor affecting the water quality. Therefore, activities, sources and pollutants related to different land use types including residential, industrial, agricultural and commercial are given high importance during the study. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with coordinators of different management sections of the regional councils in order to understand the associated management framework and issues. The issues identified from these interviews were used in preparing the decision making tool. Variables associated with the defined “value versus threat" decision making tool are obtained from the intensive literature review. The main recommendations provided for improvement of water quality in local city councils, include non-structural, structural and management controls and potential impacts of climate change.

Keywords: Storm water quality, Storm water Management, Land use, Strategy plan

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Authors: Poonam Garg, Aditya Shastri, D.C. Agarwal

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With the exponential growth of networked system and application such as eCommerce, the demand for effective internet security is increasing. Cryptology is the science and study of systems for secret communication. It consists of two complementary fields of study: cryptography and cryptanalysis. The application of genetic algorithms in the cryptanalysis of knapsack ciphers is suggested by Spillman [7]. In order to improve the efficiency of genetic algorithm attack on knapsack cipher, the previously published attack was enhanced and re-implemented with variation of initial assumptions and results are compared with Spillman results. The experimental result of research indicates that the efficiency of genetic algorithm attack on knapsack cipher can be improved with variation of initial assumption.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Knapsack cipher, Key search.

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Authors: J. P. Méreaux, E. Lamy, J. C. Lopez

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In the face of new regulations related to waste management, it has become essential to understand the organizational process that accompanies this change. Through an experiment on the sorting of food waste in the community of Grand Reims, this research explores the acceptability, the behavior and the tools needed to manage the change. Our position within a private company, SUEZ, a key player in the waste management sector, has allowed us to set up a driven team with concerned public organizations. The research was conducted through a theoretical study combined with semi-structured interviews. This qualitative method allowed us to conduct exchanges with users to assess the motivations and obstacles linked to the sorting of bio-waste. The results revealed the action levers necessary for the project's sustainability. Making the sorting gestures accessible and simplified makes it possible to target all populations. Playful communication adapted to each type of persona allows the user and stakeholders to be placed at the heart of the strategy. These recommendations are spotlighted thanks to the combination of theoretical and operational contributions, with the aim of facilitating the new public management and inducing the notion of performance while providing an example of added value.

Keywords: Bio-waste, Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, stakeholders, public policies.

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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: A. Taqaddas

Abstract:

Purpose: This E-survey was carried out to facilitate the implementation and Education of VMAT (Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy) in Radiotherapy-RT departments and reasons for not using IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy). VMAT Skills in demand were also identified. Method: E-Survey was distributed to NHS hospitals across UK by email. Thirty NHS and related centres in England, 21 in Scotland, 3 in Ireland and 1 in Wales were contacted. This Survey was intended for those working in RT and Medical Physics and who were responsible for Treatment Planning and training. Results: This E-survey have indicated pathways adopted by staff to acquire VMAT skills, strategies to efficiently implement VMAT in RT departments and for obtaining VMAT Education. Conclusion: Despite poor survey response this survey has managed to highlight requirements for education and implementation of VMAT that are also applicable to IMRT. Other RT centres in world can also find these results useful.

Keywords: IMRT, Radiotherapy, Treatment Planning, VMAT.

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Authors: Miguel A. Campano, Jesica Fernández-Agüera, Samuel Domínguez-Amarillo, Juan J. Sendra

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An analysis of the air tightness level is performed on a representative sample of school classrooms in Southern Spain, which allows knowing the infiltration level of these classrooms, mainly through its envelope, which can affect both energy demand and occupant's thermal comfort. By using a pressurization/depressurization equipment (Blower-Door test), a characterization of 45 multipurpose classrooms have been performed in nine non-university educational institutions of the main climate zones of Southern Spain. In spite of having two doors and a high ratio between glass surface and outer surface, it is possible to see in these classrooms that there is an adequate level of airtightness, since all the n50 values obtained are lower than 9.0 ACH, with an average value around 7.0 ACH.

Keywords: Air infiltration, energy efficiency, school buildings, thermal comfort, indoor air quality, ventilation.

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Authors: Abbas Keramati, Abtin Boostani, Mohammad Jamal Sadeghi

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This paper examines the influence of knowledge management factors on organizational commitment for employees in the oil and gas drilling industry of Iran. We determine what knowledge factors have the greatest impact on the personnel loyalty and commitment to the organization using collected data from a survey of over 300 full-time personnel working in three large companies active in oil and gas drilling industry of Iran. To specify the effect of knowledge factors in the organizational commitment of the personnel in the studied organizations, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used. Findings of our study show that the factors such as knowledge and expertise, in-service training, the knowledge value and the application of individuals’ knowledge in the organization as the factor “learning and perception of personnel from the value of knowledge within the organization” has the greatest impact on the organizational commitment. After this factor, “existence of knowledge and knowledge sharing environment in the organization”; “existence of potential knowledge exchanging in the organization”; and “organizational knowledge level” factors have the most impact on the organizational commitment of personnel, respectively.

Keywords: Knowledge management, organizational commitment, loyalty, drilling industry, principle component analysis.

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Authors: Nasser Alalwan, Ahmed Alzahrani, Mohamed Sarrab

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The technology usages of high speed Internet leads to establish and start new era of online education. With the advancement of the information technology and communication systems new opportunities have been created. This leads universities to have various online education channels to meet the demand of different learners- needs. One of these channels is M-learning, which can be used to improve the online education environment. With using such mobile technology in learning both students and instructors can easily access educational courses anytime from anywhere. The paper first presents literature about mobile learning and to what extent this approach can be utilized to enhance the overall learning system. It provides a comparison between mobile learning and traditional elearning showing the wide array of benefits of the new generation of technology. The possible challenges and potential advantages of Mlearning in the online education system are also discussed.

Keywords: Mobile learning, M-learning, eLearning, Educational system.

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Authors: Hanen Nafaa, Maissa Farhat, Sina Ouriemi, Sbita Lassaad

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The use of renewable energies is growing significantly worldwide. Faced with the increasing demand for electrical energy, mainly for the needs of remote, deserted and mountainous regions, numerous applications use photovoltaic energy. In this sense, the proposed study concerns a mathematical modeling and an experimental validation for the recovery of essential oil by a steam distillation system using photovoltaic energy. In this paper, we proceed to a modeling of the solar system that includes a photovoltaic (PV) generator with an electronic power converter allowing a continuation of the optimum operating point. The results obtained are promising and are validated practically.

Keywords: Boiling in tubes, DC-DC converter, desalination, maximum power point tracking command, photovoltaic energy, solar generator.

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Authors: Ivana Bulog

Abstract:

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

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

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Authors: Krešimir Fertalj, Mladen Matejaš

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In turbulent modern economy, the companies need to properly manage their business processes. Well-defined and stable business processes ensure security of crucial data and applications, and provide a quality product or service to the end customer. On the other side, constant changes on the market, new regulatory provisions, and emerging new technologies require the need of issuing prompt and effective changes of business process. In this article, we explore the use of agile principles in working with business process management (BPM) solutions. We deal with difficulties in BPM development cycle, review the benefits of using agility, and choose the basic agile principles that ensure the success of a BPM project.

Keywords: Agile development, BPM environment, Kanban, SCRUM, XP.

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Authors: F. Behrouzi, A. Maimun, M. Nakisa

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The growth of population, rising fossil fuel prices (limited and decreasing day by day), pollution problem due to use of fossil fuels and increasing electrical demand are important factors that encourage the use of green and renewable energy technologies. Among the different renewable energy technologies, hydro power generation (large and small scale) is the prime choice in terms of contribution to the world's electricity generation by using water current turbines. Currently, researchers mainly focused on design and development of different kind of turbines to capture hydropower to generate electricity as clean and reliable energy. This paper is a review of the status of research on water current turbines carried out to generate electricity from hydrokinetic energy especially in places where there is no electricity, but there is access to flowing water.

Keywords: Turbines, Renewable Energy, Hydropower.

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Authors: Merita Dauti, Edita Alili-Idrizi, Sihana Ahmeti–Lika, Ledjan Malaj

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The extermination and proper disposal of pharmaceutical wastes from expired and unused medications remains a disputable issue due to their specific nature and characteristics. Even though the hazards from these wastes are already well known in terms of environment and human health, people still treat them as usual wastes. At a national level, in many countries the management of pharmaceutical and medical wastes has been one of the main objectives in order to protect people’s health and the environment. Even though many legal regulations exist in this respect, there has not been a single law that would clearly explain the procedures of returning medicines, ways of selection, treatment and extermination of pharmaceutical wastes. This paper aims at analyzing the practices of pharmaceutical waste management and treatment in some European countries as well as a review of the legislation and official guidelines in managing these kinds of wastes and protecting the environment and human health. A suitable treatment and management of expired medications and other similar wastes would be in the interest of public health in the first place, as well as in the interest of healthcare institutions and other bodies engaged in environment protection.

Keywords: Pharmaceutical waste, legal regulation, proper disposal, environment pollution.

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