Search results for: Evaluation of Enterprise Architecture Implementation.

Authors: Simon Lessard, Pascal Bigras, Caroline Lau, Daniel Roy, Gilles Soulez, Jacques A. de Guise

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The segmentation of endovascular tools in fluoroscopy images can be accurately performed automatically or by minimum user intervention, using known modern techniques. It has been proven in literature, but no clinical implementation exists so far because the computational time requirements of such technology have not yet been met. A classical segmentation scheme is composed of edge enhancement filtering, line detection, and segmentation. A new method is presented that consists of a vector that propagates in the image to track an edge as it advances. The filtering is performed progressively in the projected path of the vector, whose orientation allows for oriented edge detection, and a minimal image area is globally filtered. Such an algorithm is rapidly computed and can be implemented in real-time applications. It was tested on medical fluoroscopy images from an endovascular cerebral intervention. Ex- periments showed that the 2D tracking was limited to guidewires without intersection crosspoints, while the 3D implementation was able to cope with such planar difficulties.

Keywords: Edge detection, Line Enhancement, Segmentation, Fluoroscopy.

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Authors: Faisal Aburub, Wael Hadi

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Data mining is the process of extracting useful or hidden information from a large database. Extracted information can be used to discover relationships among features, where data objects are grouped according to logical relationships; or to predict unseen objects to one of the predefined groups. In this paper, we aim to investigate four well-known data mining algorithms in order to predict groundwater areas in Jordan. These algorithms are Support Vector Machines (SVMs), Naïve Bayes (NB), K-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) and Classification Based on Association Rule (CBA). The experimental results indicate that the SVMs algorithm outperformed other algorithms in terms of classification accuracy, precision and F1 evaluation measures using the datasets of groundwater areas that were collected from Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

Keywords: Classification, data mining, evaluation measures, groundwater.

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Authors: Zuhal Zeybekoglu Calıskan, Erkan Tabancali

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The aim of this qualitative case study is to examine how school principals perform their new roles and responsibilities defined in accordance with the new curriculum. Of ten primary schools that the new curriculum was piloted in Istanbul in school year of 2004-2005, one school was randomly selected as the sample of the study. The participants of the study were comprised of randomly-selected 26 teachers working in the case school. To collect data, an interview schedule was developed based on the new role definitions for school principals by the National Ministry of Education. Participants were interviewed on one-to-one basis in February and March 2007. Overall results showed that the school principal was perceived to be successful in terms of the application of the new curriculum in school. According to the majority of teachers, the principal has done his best to establish the infrastructure that is necessary for successful application of the new program. In addition to these, the principal was reported to adopt a collegial and participatory leadership style by creating a positive school atmosphere that enables the school community (teachers, parents and students) to involve school more than before. Keywordscase study, curriculum implementation, school principals and curriculum

Keywords: Case study, curriculum implementation, school principals and curriculum.

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Authors: Padmanabhan Balasubramanian, R. Chinnadurai

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This paper deals with a power-conscious ANDEXOR- Inverter type logic implementation for a complex class of Boolean functions, namely Achilles- heel functions. Different variants of the above function class have been considered viz. positive, negative and pure horn for analysis and simulation purposes. The proposed realization is compared with the decomposed implementation corresponding to an existing standard AND-EXOR logic minimizer; both result in Boolean networks with good testability attribute. It could be noted that an AND-OR-EXOR type logic network does not exist for the positive phase of this unique class of logic function. Experimental results report significant savings in all the power consumption components for designs based on standard cells pertaining to a 130nm UMC CMOS process The simulations have been extended to validate the savings across all three library corners (typical, best and worst case specifications).

Keywords: Achilles' heel functions, AND-EXOR-Inverter logic, CMOS technology, low power design.

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Authors: Jonas Mayer, Kai-Frederic Seitz, Thorben Kuprat

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In today’s competitive environment production’s logistic objectives such as ‘delivery reliability’ and ‘delivery time’ and distribution’s logistic objectives such as ‘service level’ and ‘delivery delay’ are attributed great importance. Especially for small and mid-sized enterprises (SME) attaining these objectives pose a key challenge. Within this context, one of the difficulties is that interactions between departments within the enterprise and their specific objectives are insufficiently taken into account and aligned. Interdepartmental independencies along with contradicting targets set within the different departments result in enterprises having sub-optimal logistic performance capability. This paper presents a research project which will systematically describe the interactions between departments and convert them into a quantifiable form.

Keywords: Department-specific actuating and control variables, interdepartmental interactions, cybernetic model, logistic objectives.

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Authors: E. I. Fandi, E. A. Alfandi, M. A. Alrabib

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Implementing of a continues flow gas lift system for one vertical oil well producer in Wafa field was investigated under five reservoir pressures and their dependent parameters. Well 03 producers were responded positively to the gas lift system despite of the high well head operating pressures. However, the flowing bottom hole pressures were reduced by a ratio from 6 to 33 % in the case A3 for example, for the design runs conducted under the existing operating conditions for years 2003, 2006 and 2009. This reduction in FBHP has increased the production rate by a ratio from 12 to 22.5%. The results indicated that continues flow gas lift system is a good candidate as an artificial lift system to be considered for the one vertical producer covered by this study. Most significantly, timing for artificial lift by a gas lift system for this field is highly dependent on the amount of gas available at the time of implementation because of the high gas production rate from the top of the reservoir. 

Keywords: Gas lift, Wafa field, Ghadamis Basin, Artificial lift, Libya.

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Authors: Sadife Güngör, Sevilay Konya, Zeynep Karaçor

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Inflation and foreign trade are the most important economic indicator of a country. In this study, Turkey's economy with the policies adopted after 2000, given how performs an economic transformation. This transformation of the economy is discussed with inflation and foreign trade. In this context, attention is drawn to 2001 Strong Economy and Transition Program and 2006 Inflation Targeting Regime. The evaluation was performed of after the year 2000 inflation and foreign trade figures in Turkey economy. When we looked the progress, after 2000 in Turkey economy, we can say a new process was built up.

Keywords: Inflation, foreign trade, 2001 strong economy program, 2006 ınflation targeting regime.

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Authors: R.M.V. Silva, D.N. Souza

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This paper presents a model for the characterization and selection of beeswaxes for use as base substitute tissue for the manufacture of objects suitable for external radiotherapy using megavoltage photon beams. The model of characterization was divided into three distinct stages: 1) verification of aspects related to the origin of the beeswax, the bee species, the flora in the vicinity of the beehives and procedures to detect adulterations; 2) evaluation of physical and chemical properties; and 3) evaluation of beam attenuation capacity. The chemical composition of the beeswax evaluated in this study was similar to other simulators commonly used in radiotherapy. The behavior of the mass attenuation coefficient in the radiotherapy energy range was comparable to other simulators. The proposed model is efficient and enables convenient assessment of the use of any particular beeswax as a base substitute tissue for radiotherapy.

Keywords: Beeswaxes, characterization, model, radiotherapy

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Authors: L. Sellami, D. Idoughi, P. F. Tiako

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Cloud computing provides infrastructure to the enterprise through the Internet allowing access to cloud services at anytime and anywhere. This pervasive aspect of the services, the distributed nature of data and the wide use of information make cloud computing vulnerable to intrusions that violate the security of the cloud. This requires the use of security mechanisms to detect malicious behavior in network communications and hosts such as intrusion detection systems (IDS). In this article, we focus on the detection of intrusion into the cloud sing IDSs. We base ourselves on client authentication in the computing cloud. This technique allows to detect the abnormal use of ubiquitous service and prevents the intrusion of cloud computing. This is an approach based on client authentication data. Our IDS provides intrusion detection inside and outside cloud computing network. It is a double protection approach: The security user node and the global security cloud computing.

Keywords: Cloud computing, intrusion detection system, privacy, trust.

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Authors: Tomas Cechura, Michal Simon

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This paper describes a proposal for cost calculation of warehouse processes and its usage for setting standards for performance evaluation. One of the most common options of monitoring process performance is benchmarking. The typical outcome is whether the monitored object is better or worse than an average or standard. Traditional approaches, however, cannot find any specific opportunities to improve performance or eliminate inefficiencies in processes. Higher process efficiency can be achieved for example by cost reduction assuming that the same output is generated. However, costs can be reduced only if we know their structure and we are able to calculate them accurately. In the warehouse process area it is rather difficult because in most cases we have available only aggregated values with low explanatory ability. The aim of this paper is to create a suitable method for calculating the storage costs. At the end is shown a practical example of process calculation.

Keywords: Calculation, Costs, Performance, Process, Warehouse.

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Authors: Haythem A. Nakkas, Philip J. Scott, Jim S. Briggs

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This paper reports a structured literature review of the application of Health Information Technology in developing countries, defined as the World Bank categories Low-income countries, Lower-middle-income, and Upper-middle-income countries. The aim was to identify and classify the various applications of health information technology to assess its current state in developing countries and explore potential areas of research. We offer specific analysis and application of HIT in Libya as one of the developing countries. A structured literature review was conducted using the following online databases: IEEE, Science Direct, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Publication dates were set for 2000-2013. For the PubMed search, publications in English, French, and Arabic were specified. Using a content analysis approach, 159 papers were analyzed and a total number of 26 factors were identified that affect the adoption of health information technology. Of the 2681 retrieved articles, 159 met the inclusion criteria which were carefully analyzed and classified. The implementation of health information technology across developing countries is varied. Whilst it was initially expected financial constraints would have severely limited health information technology implementation, some developing countries like India have nevertheless dominated the literature and taken the lead in conducting scientific research. Comparing the number of studies to the number of countries in each category, we found that Low-income countries and Lower-middle-income had more studies carried out than Upper-middle-income countries. However, whilst IT has been used in various sectors of the economy, the healthcare sector in developing countries is still failing to benefit fully from the potential advantages that IT can offer.

Keywords: Developing Countries, Developed Countries, Factors, Failure, Implementation, Libya, Success.

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Authors: Bu Seog Ju, Woo Young Jung

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The cost of damage to the non-structural systems in critical facilities like nuclear power plants and hospitals can exceed 80% of the total cost of damage during an earthquake. The failure of nonstructural components, especially, piping systems led to leakage of water and subsequent shut-down of hospitals immediately after the event. Consequently, the evaluation of performance of these types of structural configurations has become necessary to mitigate the risk and to achieve reliable designs. This paper focuses on a methodology to evaluate the static and dynamic characteristics of complex actual piping system based on NFPA-13 and SMACNA guidelines. The result of this study revealed that current piping system subjected to design lateral force and design spectrum based on UBC-97 was failed in both cases and mode shapes between piping system and building structure were very different

Keywords: Nonstructural component, piping, hospital, seismic, bracing.

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Authors: Perminderjit Singh, Sukhvir Singh

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Total Quality Management (TQM) refers to management methods used to enhance quality and productivity in business organizations. Total Quality Management (TQM) has become a frequently used term in discussions concerning quality. Total Quality management has brought rise in demands on the organizations policy and the customers have gained more importance in the organizations focus. TQM is considered as an important management tool, which helps the organizations to satisfy their customers. In present research critical success factors includes management commitment, customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, work culture and environment, supplier quality management, training and development, employee satisfaction and product/process design are studied. A questionnaire is developed to implement these critical success factors in implementation of total quality management in Indian industry. Questionnaires filled by consulting different industrial organizations. Data collected from questionnaires is analyzed by descriptive and importance indexes. 

Keywords: Total quality management, critical success factor, employee satisfaction.

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Authors: Fatma H. Elfouly, Mohamed I. Mahmoud, Moawad I. M. Dessouky, Salah Deyab

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Recently, the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology offers the potential of designing high performance systems at low cost. The discrete wavelet transform has gained the reputation of being a very effective signal analysis tool for many practical applications. However, due to its computation-intensive nature, current implementation of the transform falls short of meeting real-time processing requirements of most application. The objectives of this paper are implement the Haar and Daubechies wavelets using FPGA technology. In addition, the Bit Error Rate (BER) between the input audio signal and the reconstructed output signal for each wavelet is calculated. From the BER, it is seen that the implementations execute the operation of the wavelet transform correctly and satisfying the perfect reconstruction conditions. The design procedure has been explained and designed using the stat-ofart Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools for system design on FPGA. Simulation, synthesis and implementation on the FPGA target technology has been carried out.

Keywords: Daubechies wavelet, discrete wavelet transform, Haar wavelet, Xilinx FPGA.

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Authors: G. Meccariello, L. Della Ragione

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The exposure to outdoor air pollution causes lung cancer and increases the risk of bladder cancer. Because air pollution in urban areas is mainly caused by transportation, it is necessary to evaluate pollutant exhaust emissions from vehicles during their realworld use. Nevertheless their evaluation and reduction is a key problem, especially in the cities, that account for more than 50% of world population. A particular attention was given to the slope variability along the streets during each journey performed by the instrumented vehicle. In this paper we dealt with the problem of describing a quantitatively approach for the reconstruction of GPS coordinates and altitude, in the context of correlation study between driving cycles / emission / geographical location, during an experimental campaign realized with some instrumented cars. Finally the slope analysis can be correlated to the emission and consumption values in a specific road position, and it could be evaluated its influence on their behaviour.

Keywords: Air pollution, Driving cycles, GPS signal, Slope, Emission factor, fuel consumption.

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Authors: Rajoo Balaji, Omar Yaakob

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The Ballast Water Convention requires less than 5% of the world tonnage for ratification. Consequently, ships will have to comply with the requirements. Compliance evaluation and enforcement will become mandatory. Ship owners have to invest in treatment systems and shipboard personnel have to operate them and ensure compliance. The monitoring and enforcement will be the responsibilities of the Administrations. Herein, a review of the current status of the Ballast Water Management and the issues faced by these are projected. Issues range from efficacy and economics of the treatment systems to sampling and testing. Health issues of chemical systems, paucity of data for decision support etc., are other issues. It is emphasized that management of ballast water must be extended to ashore and sustainable solutions must be researched upon. An exemplar treatment system based on ship’s waste heat is also suggested.

Keywords: Ballast water management, Compliance evaluation, Compliance enforcement, Sustainability.

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Authors: Jenny Paola Forero Pachón, Sonia Cristina Gamboa Sarmiento, Luis Carlos Gómez Flórez

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The Colombian government has defined an e-government strategy to take advantage of Information Technologies (IT) in order to contribute to the building of a more efficient, transparent and participative State that provides better services to citizens and businesses. In this regard, the Justice sector is one of the government sectors where IT has generated more expectation considering that the country has a judicial processes backlog. This situation has led to the search for alternative forms of access to justice that speed up the process while providing a low cost for citizens. To this end, the Colombian government has authorized the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution methods (ADR), a remedy where disputes can be resolved more quickly compared to judicial processes while facilitating greater communication between the parties, without recourse to judicial authority. One of these methods is conciliation, which includes a special modality that takes advantage of IT for the development of itself known as virtual conciliation. With this option the conciliation is supported by information systems, applications or platforms and communications are provided through it. This paper evaluates the level of maturity in how the service of virtual conciliation is under the framework of this strategy. This evaluation is carried out considering Shahkooh's 5-phase model for e-government. As a result, it is evident that in the context of conciliation, maturity does not reach the necessary level in the model so that it can be considered as virtual conciliation; therefore, it is necessary to define strategies to maximize the potential of IT in this context.

Keywords: Alternative dispute resolution, e-government, evaluation of maturity, Shahkooh model, virtual conciliation.

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Authors: Nurfirdawati Muhamad Hanafi, Azmanirah Ab Rahman, Marina Ibrahim Mukhtar, Jamil Ahmad, Sarebah Warman

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This study was conducted to generate empirical evidence on validity and reliability of the item of Competency Assessment Implementation (CAI) Instrument using Rasch Model for polythomous data aided by Winstep software version 3.68. The construct validity was examined by analyzing the point-measure correlation index (PTMEA), infit and outfit MNSQ values; meanwhile the reliability was examined by analyzing item reliability index. A survey technique was used as the major method with the CAI instrument on 156 teachers from vocational schools. The results have shown that the reliability of CAI Instrument items were between 0.80 and 0.98. PTMEA Correlation is in positive values, in which the item is able to distinguish between the ability of the respondent. Statistical data obtained show that out of 154 items, 12 items from the instrument suggested to be omitted. This study is hoped could bring a new direction to the process of data analysis in educational research.

Keywords: Competency Assessment, Reliability, Validity, Item Analysis.

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Authors: S. Kikuchi, Y. Hashimoto, T. Takayama, T. Ikeda, Y. Murata

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Recently, lots of researchers are attracted to retrieving multimedia database by using some impression words and their values. Ikezoe-s research is one of the representatives and uses eight pairs of opposite impression words. We had modified its retrieval interface and proposed '2D-RIB'. In '2D-RIB', after a retrieval person selects a single basic music, the system visually shows some other music around the basic one along relative position. He/she can select one of them fitting to his/her intention, as a retrieval result. The purpose of this paper is to improve his/her satisfaction level to the retrieval result in 2D-RIB. One of our extensions is to define and introduce the following two measures: 'melody goodness' and 'general acceptance'. We implement them in different five combinations. According to an evaluation experiment, both of these two measures can contribute to the improvement. Another extension is three types of customization. We have implemented them and clarified which customization is effective.

Keywords: Multimedia database, impression-based retrieval, interface, satisfaction level.

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Authors: Stuart Palmer, Dale Holt

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Based on 276 responses from academic staff in an evaluation of an online learning environment (OLE), this paper identifies those elements of the OLE that were most used and valued by staff, those elements of the OLE that staff most wanted to see improved, and those factors that most contributed to staff perceptions that the use of the OLE enhanced their teaching. The most used and valued elements were core functions, including accessing unit information, accessing lecture/tutorial/lab notes, and reading online discussions. The elements identified as most needing attention related to online assessment: submitting assignments, managing assessment items, and receiving feedback on assignments. Staff felt that using the OLE enhanced their teaching when they were satisfied that their students were able to access and use their learning materials, and when they were satisfied with the professional development they received and were confident with their ability to teach with the OLE.

Keywords: Academic staff, Distance education, Evaluation, Online learning environment.

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Authors: Wuttigrai Ngamsirijit, Yodmanee Tepanon

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Transportation is one of the main activities related to creating value for the tourists. Transport management in tourism mainly focuses on managing transfer points and vehicle capacity. However, transport service level must also be ensured as it now relates to tourist-s experiences. This paper emphasizes on the responsiveness as one of key service performance measures. An evaluation framework is developed and illustarted by using the case of small bus service in Pattaya city. It can be seen as a great potential for the city to utilize the small bus transportation in order to meet the needs of more diverse group of passengers and to support the expansion of tourist areas. The framework integrates with service operations management, logistics, and tourism behavior perspectives. The findings from the investigation of existing small bus service are presented and preliminarily validate the usability of the framework.

Keywords: Responsiveness, Demand responsive transportation, Tourism, Logistics

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Authors: Xueqin Shan, Chuanming Wu, Wenhua Hou, Xiaosu Ye

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Successful public-private-partnership (PPP) implementation can not be achieved without the active participation of private sector companies. This paper examines the decision-making of private sector companies in public works delivered by the PPP model on the basis of social responsibility theory. It proposes that private sector companies should indentify objectives of entering into PPP projects, and shoulder relevant social responsibilities, while a minimum return should also be guaranteed in their favor, so as to compensate for their assumed risk and support them to take on responsibilities in the future. The paper also gives a calculation regarding the appropriate scale and reasonable degree of private sector involvement in PPP projects through the cost-benefit analysis in a specific case study, with the purpose to guide the private sector companies to create a cooperation environment resembling “symbiosis" and facilitate the smooth implementation of public works delivered by the PPP model.

Keywords: Social Responsibility Theory, Cost-benefit Analysis, PPP Projects, Private Sector Companies, Decision-making Modell

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Authors: Shekhar Parajulee

Abstract:

Nepal practiced a centralized unitary governing system for long and has gone through the federal system after the promulgation of the new constitution on 20 September 2015. There is a big paradigm shift in terms of governance after it. Now, there are three levels of governments, one federal government in the center, seven provincial governments and 753 local governments. Federalism refers to a political governing system with multiple tiers of government working together with coordination. It is preferred for self and shared rule. Though it has opened the door for rights of the people, political stability, state restructuring, and sustainable peace and development, there are many prospects and challenges for its proper implementation. This research analyzes the discourses of federalism implementation in Nepal with special reference to one of seven provinces, Gandaki. Federalism is a new phenomenon in Nepali politics and informed debates on it are required for its right evolution. This research will add value in this regard. Moreover, tracking its evolution and the exploration of the attitudes and behaviors of key actors and stakeholders in a new experiment of a new governing system is also important. The administrative and political system of Gandaki province in terms of service delivery and development will critically be examined. Besides demonstrating the performances of the provincial government and assembly, it will analyze the inter-governmental relation of Gandaki with the other two tiers of government. For this research, people from provincial and local governments (elected representatives and government employees), provincial assembly members, academicians, civil society leaders and journalists are being interviewed. The interview findings will be analyzed by supplementing with published documents. Just going into the federal structure is not the solution. As in the case of other provincial governments, Gandaki also had to start from scratch. It gradually took a shape of government and has been functioning sluggishly. The provincial government has many challenges ahead, which has badly hindered its plans and actions. Additionally, fundamental laws, infrastructures and human resources are found to be insufficient at the sub-national level. Lack of clarity in the jurisdiction is another main challenge. The Nepali Constitution assumes cooperation, coexistence and coordination as the fundamental principles of federalism which, unfortunately, appear to be lacking among the three tiers of government despite their efforts. Though the devolution of power to sub-national governments is essential for the successful implementation of federalism, it has apparently been delayed due to the centralized mentality of bureaucracy as well as a political leader. This research will highlight the reasons for the delay in the implementation of federalism. There might be multiple underlying reasons for the slow pace of implementation of federalism and identifying them is very tough. Moreover, the federal spirit is found to be absent in the main players of today's political system, which is a big irony. So, there are some doubts about whether the federal system in Nepal is just a keepsake or a substantive achievement.

Keywords: federalism, inter-governmental relations, Nepal, provincial government

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Authors: Malinda G. Sirisena

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The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of software quality assurance approaches of Sri Lankan offshore software development organizations, and to propose a framework which could be used across all offshore software development organizations.

An empirical study was conducted using derived framework from popular software quality evaluation models. The research instrument employed was a questionnaire survey among thirty seven Sri Lankan registered offshore software development organizations.

The findings demonstrate a positive view of Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance – the stronger predictors of Stability, Installability, Correctness, Testability and Changeability. The present study’s recommendations indicate a need for much emphasis on software quality assurance for the Sri Lankan offshore software development organizations.

Keywords: Software Quality Assurance (SQA), Offshore Software Development, Quality Assurance Evaluation Models, Effectiveness of Quality Assurance.

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Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah

Abstract:

Governments around the world are adopting Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) because of the important opportunities it provides through E-government (EG) to modernize government public administration processes and delivery of quality and efficient public services. Almost every country in the world is adopting ICT in its public sector administration (EG) to modernize and change the traditional process of government, increase citizen engagement and participation in governance, as well as the provision of timely information to citizens. This paper, therefore, seeks to present the adoption, development and implementation of EG in regions globally, as well as the ICT indicators around the world, which are making EG initiatives successful. Europe leads the world in its EG adoption and development index, followed by the Americas, Asia, Oceania and Africa. There is a gradual growth in ICT indicators in terms of the increase in Internet access and usage, increase in broadband penetration, an increase of individuals using the Internet at home and a decline in fixed telephone use, while the mobile cellular phone has been on the increase year-on-year. Though the lack of ICT infrastructure is a major challenge to EG adoption and implementation around the world, in Africa it is very pervasive, hampering the expansion of Internet access and provision of broadband, and hence is a barrier to the successful adoption, development, and implementation of EG initiatives in countries on the continent. But with the general improvement and increase in ICT indicators around the world, it provides countries in Europe, Americas, Asia, Arab States, Oceania and Africa with the huge opportunity to enhance public service delivery through the adoption of EG. Countries within these regions cannot fail their citizens who desire to enjoy an enhanced and efficient public service delivery from government and its many state institutions.

Keywords: E-government development index, e-government, indicators, information and communication technologies.

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Authors: Yuan-Jye Tseng, Fang-Yu Yu, Feng-Yi Huang

Abstract:

A green design for assembly model is presented to integrate design evaluation and assembly and disassembly sequence planning by evaluating the three activities in one integrated model. For an assembled product, an assembly sequence planning model is required for assembling the product at the start of the product life cycle. A disassembly sequence planning model is needed for disassembling the product at the end. In a green product life cycle, it is important to plan how a product can be disassembled, reused, or recycled, before the product is actually assembled and produced. Given a product requirement, there may be several design alternative cases to design the same product. In the different design cases, the assembly and disassembly sequences for producing the product can be different. In this research, a new model is presented to concurrently evaluate the design and plan the assembly and disassembly sequences. First, the components are represented by using graph based models. Next, a particle swarm optimization (PSO) method with a new encoding scheme is developed. In the new PSO encoding scheme, a particle is represented by a position matrix defining an assembly sequence and a disassembly sequence. The assembly and disassembly sequences can be simultaneously planned with an objective of minimizing the total of assembly costs and disassembly costs. The test results show that the presented method is feasible and efficient for solving the integrated design evaluation and assembly and disassembly sequence planning problem. An example product is implemented and illustrated in this paper.

Keywords: green design, assembly and disassembly sequence planning, green design for assembly, particle swarm optimization.

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Authors: T. C. Chu, S.H. Wu

Abstract:

This paper suggests ranking alternatives under fuzzy MCDM (multiple criteria decision making) via an centroid based ranking approach, where criteria are classified to benefit qualitative, benefit quantitative and cost quantitative ones. The ratings of alternatives versus qualitative criteria and the importance weights of all criteria are assessed in linguistic values represented by fuzzy numbers. The membership function for the final fuzzy evaluation value of each alternative can be developed through α-cuts and interval arithmetic of fuzzy numbers. The distance between the original point and the relative centroid is applied to defuzzify the final fuzzy evaluation values in order to rank alternatives. Finally a numerical example demonstrates the computation procedure of the proposed model.

Keywords: Fuzzy MCDM, Criteria, Fuzzy number, Ranking, Relative centroid.

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Authors: May Phyo Thwal, Khin Htay Kyi, Kyaw Swar Soe

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According to the density of the chips, designers are trying to put so any facilities of computational and storage on single chips. Along with the complexity of computational and storage circuits, the designing, testing and debugging become more and more complex and expensive. So, hardware design will be built by using very high speed hardware description language, which is more efficient and cost effective. This paper will focus on the implementation of 32-bit ALU design based on Verilog hardware description language. Adder and subtracter operate correctly on both unsigned and positive numbers. In ALU, addition takes most of the time if it uses the ripple-carry adder. The general strategy for designing fast adders is to reduce the time required to form carry signals. Adders that use this principle are called carry look- ahead adder. The carry look-ahead adder is to be designed with combination of 4-bit adders. The syntax of Verilog HDL is similar to the C programming language. This paper proposes a unified approach to ALU design in which both simulation and formal verification can co-exist.

Keywords: Addition, arithmetic logic unit, carry look-ahead adder, Verilog HDL.

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Authors: I.V. Matyushkin

Abstract:

The new architecture for quantum cellular automata is offered. A QCA cell includes two layers nc-Si, divided by a dielectric. Among themselves cells are connected by the bridge from a conductive material. The comparison is made between this and QCA, offered earlier by C. Lent's group.

Keywords: quantum cellular automata (QCA), nc-Si, Si/SiO2 superlattices, parallel computing

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Authors: P. Heribanová, J. Polec, S. Ondrušová, M. Hosťovecký

Abstract:

This paper discusses the cued speech recognition methods in videoconference. Cued speech is a specific gesture language that is used for communication between deaf people. We define the criteria for sentence intelligibility according to answers of testing subjects (deaf people). In our tests we use 30 sample videos coded by H.264 codec with various bit-rates and various speed of cued speech. Additionally, we define the criteria for consonant sign recognizability in single-handed finger alphabet (dactyl) analogically to acoustics. We use another 12 sample videos coded by H.264 codec with various bit-rates in four different video formats. To interpret the results we apply the standard scale for subjective video quality evaluation and the percentual evaluation of intelligibility as in acoustics. From the results we construct the minimum coded bit-rate recommendations for every spatial resolution.

Keywords: cued speech, inteligibility, logatom, video

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