Search results for: Organization Level.

Authors: D. M. Onyango, P. O. Angienda

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The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the epidemiology of waterborne diarrhoeal among children aged 6-36 months old in Busia town, western Kenya. The study was carried out between Feb. 2008 and Feb. 2010. Cases of diarrhoea reported in 385 households were linked to household water handling practices. A mother with a child of 6-36 months old was also included in the study. Diarrhoea prevalence among children 6-36 months was 16.7% in Busia town, Bwamani (19.6%) and Mayenje (10.6%) clustered in Mayenje sub-location reported the highest and the lowest prevalence of diarrhoea. There was a positive correlation between the prevalence of diarrhoea in children and the level of the mother-s education, 29.9% (n= 100). Diarrhoea cases decreased in range from 35.5% (n =102) to 4.8% (n= 16), corresponding to increase in age from 6-35 months on average. In conclusion, prevalence of diarrhoea in children of 6-36 months old was 16.7% in Busia town. This was higher in children whose mother-s age was below 18 years and with low level of education, the rate decreased with increase in age of children. Prevalence of diarrhoea in children aged 6-36months in households was higher in children aged 6-17 and 36 months and whose mothers were less educated and fell between the ages of 18-24 years. The Influence of human activities at the main source of drinking water on the prevalence of diarrhoea in these children was insignificant.

Keywords: Diarrhoea, Children, Mortality, Waterborne disease,

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Authors: Kevin Fong-Rey Liu, Ken Yeh, Cheng-Wu Chen, Han-Hsi Liang

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Environmental aspects plays a central role in environmental management system (EMS) because it is the basis for the identification of an organization-s environmental targets. The existing methods for the assessment of environmental aspects are grouped into three categories: risk assessment-based (RA-based), LCA-based and criterion-based methods. To combine the benefits of these three categories of research, this study proposes an integrated framework, combining RA-, LCA- and criterion-based methods. The integrated framework incorporates LCA techniques for the identification of the causal linkage for aspect, pathway, receptor and impact, uses fuzzy logic to assess aspects, considers fuzzy conditions, in likelihood assessment, and employs a new multi-criteria decision analysis method - multi-criteria and multi-connection comprehensive assessment (MMCA) - to estimate significant aspects in EMS. The proposed model is verified, using a real case study and the results show that this method successfully prioritizes the environmental aspects.

Keywords: Environmental management system, environmental aspect, risk assessment, life cycle assessment.

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Authors: Serin Lee, Takashi Kubota, Ichiro Nakatani

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The approaches to make an agent generate intelligent actions in the AI field might be roughly categorized into two ways–the classical planning and situated action system. It is well known that each system have its own strength and weakness. However, each system also has its own application field. In particular, most of situated action systems do not directly deal with the logical problem. This paper first briefly mentions the novel action generator to situatedly extract a set of actions, which is likely to help to achieve the goal at the current situation in the relaxed logical space. After performing the action set, the agent should recognize the situation for deciding the next likely action set. However, since the extracted action is an approximation of the action which helps to achieve the goal, the agent could be caught into the deadlock of the problem. This paper proposes the newly developed hybrid architecture to solve the problem, which combines the novel situated action generator with the conventional planner. The empirical result in some planning domains shows that the quality of the resultant path to the goal is mostly acceptable as well as deriving the fast response time, and suggests the correlation between the structure of problems and the organization of each system which generates the action.

Keywords: Situated reasoning, situated action, planning, hybrid architecture

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Authors: P. Parthiban, J. Karthikeyan

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This paper deals with the performance of semi-light weight concrete, prepared by using wood ash pellets as coarse aggregates which were improved by partial replacement of cement with alccofine. Alccofine is a mineral admixture which contains high glass content obtained through the process of controlled granulation. This is finer than cement which carries its own pozzolanic property. Therefore, cement could be replaced by alccofine as 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, and 70% to enhance the strength and durability properties of concrete. High range water reducing admixtures (HRWA) were used in these mixes which were dosed up to 1.5% weight of the total cementitious content (alccofine & cement). It also develops the weaker transition zone into more impermeable layer. Specimens were subjected in both the accelerated curing method as well as conventional curing method. Experimental results were compared and reported, in that the maximum compressive strength of 32.6 MPa was achieved on 28^th day with 30% replacement level in a density of 2200 kg/m³ to a conventional curing, while in the accelerated curing, maximum compressive strength was achieved at 40% replacement level. Rapid chloride penetration test (RCPT) output results for the conventional curing method at 0% and 70% give 3296.7 and 545.6 coulombs.

Keywords: Alccofine, compressive strength, RCPT, wood ash pellets.

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Authors: XhevrieMamaqi

Abstract:

Organization capacity learning is a process referring to the sum total of individual and collective learning through training programs, experience and experimentation, among others. Today, in-business ongoing training is one of the most important strategies for human capital development and it is crucial to sustain and improve workers’ knowledge and skills. Many organizations, firms and business are adopting a strategy of continuous learning, encouraging employees to learn new skills continually to be innovative and to try new processes and work in order to achieve a competitive advantage and superior business results. This paper uses the Resource Based View and Capacities (RBV) approach to construct a hypothetical relationships model between training and business results. The test of the model is applied on transversal data. A sample of 266 business of Spanish sector service has been selected. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) is used to estimate the relationship between ongoing training, represented by two latent dimension denominated Human and Social Capital resources and economic business results. The coefficients estimated have shown the efficient of some training aspectsexplaining the variation in business results.

Keywords: Business results, Human and Social Capital resources, training, RBV Theory, SEM.

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Authors: Kornchanok Chidchaisuwan

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This project is a study of learning activities of creating experience from actual work performance to enhance career skills and technological usage abilities for uses in advertising career work performance for undergraduate students who enroll in the Creative Strategies for Advertising Course. The instructional model consisted of two learning approaches: (1) simulation-based learning, which is the learning with the use of simulations of working in various sections of creative advertisement work with their own work process and steps as well as the virtual technology learning in advertising companies; and (2) project-based learning, which is the learning that the learners engage in actual work performance based on the process of creating and producing creative advertisement works to be present on new media channels. The results of learning management showed that the effects on the students in various aspects were as follows: (1) the students had experience in the advertising process at the higher level; and (2) the students had work performance skills from the actual work performance that enabled them to possess the abilities to create and present their own work; also, they had created more efficient work outcomes and disseminated them on new media channels at a better level.

Keywords: Technical literacy, career skill, experience, simulation-based learning.

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Authors: P. Ninduangdee, V. I. Kuprianov

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Palm kernel shell is an important bioenergy resource in Thailand. However, due to elevated alkali content in biomass ash, this oil palm residue shows high tendency to bed agglomeration in a fluidized-bed combustion system using conventional bed material (silica sand). In this study, palm kernel shell was burned in the conical fluidized-bed combustor (FBC) using alumina and dolomite as alternative bed materials to prevent bed agglomeration. For each bed material, the combustion tests were performed at 45kg/h fuel feed rate with excess air within 20–80%. Experimental results revealed rather weak effects of the bed material type but substantial influence of excess air on the behavior of temperature, O2, CO, CxHy, and NO inside the reactor, as well as on the combustion efficiency and major gaseous emissions of the conical FBC. The optimal level of excess air ensuring high combustion efficiency (about 98.5%) and acceptable level of the emissions was found to be about 40% when using alumina and 60% with dolomite. By using these alternative bed materials, bed agglomeration can be prevented when burning the shell in the proposed conical FBC. However, both bed materials exhibited significant changes in their morphological, physical and chemical properties in the course of the time.

Keywords: Palm kernel shell, fluidized-bed combustion, alternative bed materials, combustion and emission performance, bed agglomeration prevention.

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Authors: Steve J. Drew, Christopher J. Klopper

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In this paper, the action research driven design of a context relevant, developmental peer review of teaching model, its implementation strategy and its impact at an Australian university is presented. PRO-Teaching realizes an innovative process that triangulates contemporaneous teaching quality data from a range of stakeholders including students, discipline academics, learning and teaching expert academics, and teacher reflection to create reliable evidence of teaching quality. Data collected over multiple classroom observations allows objective reporting on development differentials in constructive alignment, peer, and student evaluations. Further innovation is realized in the application of this highly structured developmental process to provide summative evidence of sufficient validity to support claims for professional advancement and learning and teaching awards. Design decision points and contextual triggers are described within the operating domain. Academics and developers seeking to introduce structured peer review of teaching into their organization will find this paper a useful reference.

Keywords: Development loop, Multiple data sources, Objective reporting, Peer review of teaching.

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Authors: Jaya Mahar Maligan, Teti Estiasih, Joni Kusnadi

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Structured phospholipids from commercial soybean lecithin with oil enriched omega-3 fatty acid form by product of tuna canning is alternative procedure to provides the stability of omega-3 fatty acid structure and increase these bioactive function in metabolism. Best treatment condition was obtain in 18 hours acidolysis reaction with 30% enzyme concentration, which EPADHA incorporation level was 127,47 mg/g and incorporation percentage of EPA-DHA was 51,04% at phospholipids structure. This structured phospolipids could reduce atherosclerosis risk in male Sprague dawley rat. Provision of structured phospholipids has significant effect (α = 0.05) on changes in lipid profile, intima-media thickness of aorta rats (male Sprague dawley) fed atherogenic diet. Structured phospholipids intake can lower total cholesterol 78.36 mg/dL, total triglycerides 94,57 mg/dL, LDL levels 87.08 mg/dL and increased HDL level as much as 12,64 mg/dL in 10 weeks cares. Structured phospholipids intake also can prevent the thickening of the intima-media layer of the aorta.

Keywords: Structured phospholipids, commercial soybean lecithin, omega-3 fatty acid, atherosclerosis risk.

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Authors: Nickolay Jelev, Andy Keane, Carren Holden, András Sóbester

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In aircraft design, the jump from the conceptual to preliminary design stage introduces a level of complexity which cannot be realistically handled by a single optimiser, be that a human (chief engineer) or an algorithm. The design process is often partitioned along disciplinary lines, with each discipline given a level of autonomy. This introduces a number of challenges including, but not limited to: coupling of design variables; coordinating disciplinary teams; handling of large amounts of analysis data; reaching an acceptable design within time constraints. A number of classical Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation (MDO) architectures exist in academia specifically designed to address these challenges. Their limited use in the industrial aircraft design process has inspired the authors of this paper to develop an alternative strategy based on well established ideas from Decision Support Systems. The proposed rule based architecture sacrifices possibly elusive guarantees of convergence for an attractive return in simplicity. The method is demonstrated on analytical and aircraft design test cases and its performance is compared to a number of classical distributed MDO architectures.

Keywords: Multidisciplinary design optimisation, rule based architecture, aircraft design, decision support system.

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Authors: Chanisada Choosuk, Napisporn Memongkol Runchana Sinthavalai, Fareeda Lambensah

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The objective of this research is to explore the role of actors at the local level in managing the Pre-hospital Emergency Medical Service (EMS) system in Thailand. The research method was done through documentary research, individual interviews, and one forum conducted in each province. This paper uses the case of three provinces located in three regions in Thailand including; Ubon Ratchathani (North-eastern region), Lampang (Northern Region), and Songkhla (Southern Region). The result shows that, recently, the role of the local government in being the service provider for their local people is increasingly concerned. In identifying the key success factors towards the EMS system, it includes; (i) the local executives- vision and influence that the decisions made by them, for both PAO (Provincial Administration Organisation (PAO) and TAO (Tambon Administration Organisation), is vital to address the overall challenges in EMS development, (ii) the administrative system through reforming their working style create the flexibility in running the EMS task, (iii) the network-based management among different agencies at the local level leads to the better EMS practices, and (iv) the development in human resource is very vital in delivering the effective services.

Keywords: Local governments, Management, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Thailand

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Authors: R. Deju, M. Mincu, D. Gurau

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During the interim storage or final disposal of low level waste, migration/diffusion of radionuclides can occur when the waste comes in contact with water. The long-term leaching behaviour into surrounding fluid (demineralized water) of ¹³⁷Cs, ⁶⁰Co and ¹⁵²Eu radionuclides, artificially incorporated in mortar matrices made from natural aggregates (river sand) and recycled radioactive concrete was studied. Results presented in this work are obtained in two years of mortar testing and will be used for the safety increasing in the storage of low level radioactive waste. The study involved the influence of curing time, type and size distribution of the aggregates on leaching behaviour. The mortar samples were immersed in distilled water for 30 days. The leached activity of the mortar samples was measured on samples from the immersing water and analyzed through a gamma-ray spectrometry method using an HPGe detector with a GESPECOR code for efficiency evaluation. The long-term leaching behaviour of the radionuclides was evaluated from the leaching data calculating the apparent diffusion coefficient.

Keywords: Leaching behaviour, recycling of radioactive concrete, waste management, gamma-ray spectrometry.

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Authors: Vesna Bosilj Vukšić, Darija Ivandić Vidović, Ljubica Milanović Glavan

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Information technology plays an irreplaceable role in introducing and improving business process orientation in a company. It enables implementation of the theoretical concept, measurement of results achieved and undertaking corrective measures aimed at improvements. Information technology is a key concept in the development and implementation of the business process management systems as it establishes a connection to business operations. Both in the literature and practice, insurance companies are often seen as highly process oriented due to the nature of their business and focus on customers. They are also considered leaders in using information technology for business process management. The research conducted aimed to investigate whether the perceived leadership status of insurance companies is well deserved, i.e. to establish the level of process orientation and explore the practice of information technology use in insurance companies in the region. The main instrument for primary data collection within this research was an electronic survey questionnaire sent to the management of insurance companies in the Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Macedonia. The conducted research has shown that insurance companies have a satisfactory level of process orientation, but that there is also a huge potential for improvement, especially in the segment of information technology and its connection to business processes.

Keywords: Business processes management, process orientation, information technology, insurance companies.

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Authors: Jun Wang, Tingcun Wei

Abstract:

The digital pulse width modulator (DPWM) is the crucial building block for digitally-controlled DC-DC switching converter, which converts the digital duty ratio signal into its analog counterpart to control the power MOSFET transistors on or off. With the increase of switching frequency of digitally-controlled DC-DC converter, the DPWM with higher time resolution is required. In this paper, a 15-bits DPWM with three-level hybrid structure is presented; the first level is composed of a7-bits counter and a comparator, the second one is a 5-bits delay line, and the third one is a 3-bits digital dither. The presented DPWM is designed and implemented using the PLL megafunction of FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), and the required frequency of clock signal is 128 times of switching frequency. The simulation results show that, for the switching frequency of 2 MHz, a DPWM which has the time resolution of 15 ps is achieved using a maximum clock frequency of 256MHz. The designed DPWM in this paper is especially useful for high-frequency digitally-controlled DC-DC switching converters.

Keywords: DPWM, PLL megafunction, FPGA, time resolution, digitally-controlled DC-DC switching converter.

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Authors: Emmy Pratiwi, Ketut B. Artana, A. A. B. Dinariyana

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Madura Strait is considered as one of the busiest shipping channels in Indonesia. High vessel traffic density in Madura Strait gives serious threat due to navigational safety in this area, i.e. ship collision. This study is necessary as an attempt to enhance the safety of marine traffic. Fuzzy inference system (FIS) is proposed to calculate risk collision of ships. Collision risk is evaluated based on ship domain, Distance to Closest Point of Approach (DCPA), and Time to Closest Point of Approach (TCPA). Data were collected by utilizing Automatic Identification System (AIS). This study considers several ships’ domain models to give the characteristic of marine traffic in the waterways. Each encounter in the ship domain is analyzed to obtain the level of collision risk. Risk level of ships, as the result in this study, can be used as guidance to avoid the accident, providing brief description about safety traffic in Madura Strait and improving the navigational safety in the area.

Keywords: Automatic identification system, collision risk, DCPA, fuzzy inference system, TCPA.

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Authors: Kjersti Engan, Thor Ole Gulsrud, Karl Fredrik Fretheim, Barbro Furebotten Iversen, Liv Eriksen

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Clusters of microcalcifications in mammograms are an important sign of breast cancer. This paper presents a complete Computer Aided Detection (CAD) scheme for automatic detection of clustered microcalcifications in digital mammograms. The proposed system, MammoScan μCaD, consists of three main steps. Firstly all potential microcalcifications are detected using a a method for feature extraction, VarMet, and adaptive thresholding. This will also give a number of false detections. The goal of the second step, Classifier level 1, is to remove everything but microcalcifications. The last step, Classifier level 2, uses learned dictionaries and sparse representations as a texture classification technique to distinguish single, benign microcalcifications from clustered microcalcifications, in addition to remove some remaining false detections. The system is trained and tested on true digital data from Stavanger University Hospital, and the results are evaluated by radiologists. The overall results are promising, with a sensitivity > 90 % and a low false detection rate (approx 1 unwanted pr. image, or 0.3 false pr. image).

Keywords: mammogram, microcalcifications, detection, CAD, MammoScan μCaD, VarMet, dictionary learning, texture, FTCM, classification, adaptive thresholding

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Authors: Jonathan D. Morales M., Ramón Silva R.

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The purpose of this project is to carry out an analysis and determine the profile of actual lean manufacturing processes in the Metropolitan Area of Bucaramanga. Through the analysis of qualitative and quantitative variables it was possible to establish how these manufacturers develop production practices that ensure their competitiveness and productivity in the market. In this study, a random sample of metallurgic and wrought iron companies was applied, following which a quantitative focus and analysis was used to formulate a qualitative methodology for measuring the level of lean manufacturing procedures in the industry. A qualitative evaluation was also carried out through a multivariate analysis using the Numerical Taxonomy System (NTSYS) program which should allow for the determination of Lean Manufacturing profiles. Through the results it was possible to observe how the companies in the sector are doing with respect to Lean Manufacturing Practices, as well as identify the level of management that these companies practice with respect to this topic. In addition, it was possible to ascertain that there is no one dominant profile in the sector when it comes to Lean Manufacturing. It was established that the companies in the metallurgic and wrought iron industry show low levels of Lean Manufacturing implementation. Each one carries out diverse actions that are insufficient to consolidate a sectoral strategy for developing a competitive advantage which enables them to tie together a production strategy.

Keywords: Lean manufacturing, metallurgic industry, production line management, productivity.

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Authors: Prapoj Na Bangchang

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The research aimed to study the satisfaction of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University students towards the university radio station which broadcasts in both analog on FM 97.25 MHz and online via the university website. The sample used in this study consists of undergraduate students year 1 to year 4 from 6 faculties i.e. Faculty of Education, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Management Science and Faculty of Industrial Technology, and Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts totaling 200 students. The tools used for data collection is survey. Data analysis applied statistics that are percentage, mean and standard deviation. The results showed that Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University students were satisfied to the place of listening service, followed by channels of broadcasting that cover both analog signals on 97.25 MHz FM and online via the Internet. However, the satisfaction level of the content offered was very low. Most of the students want the station to improve the content. Entertainment content was requested the most, followed by sports content. The lowest satisfaction level is with the broadcasting quality through analog signal. Most students asked the station to improve on the issue. However, overall, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University students were satisfied with the university radio station broadcasted online via the university website.

Keywords: Satisfaction, students, radio station, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University.

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Authors: M. Zeydan, G. Toğa

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This study deals with a multi-criteria optimization problem which has been transformed into a single objective optimization problem using Response Surface Methodology (RSM), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Grey Relational Analyses (GRA) approach. Grey-RSM and Grey-ANN are hybrid techniques which can be used for solving multi-criteria optimization problem. There have been two main purposes of this research as follows. 1. To determine optimum and robust fiber dyeing process conditions by using RSM and ANN based on GRA, 2. To obtain the best suitable model by comparing models developed by different methodologies. The design variables for fiber dyeing process in textile are temperature, time, softener, anti-static, material quantity, pH, retarder, and dispergator. The quality characteristics to be evaluated are nominal color consistency of fiber, maximum strength of fiber, minimum color of dyeing solution. GRA-RSM with exact level value, GRA-RSM with interval level value and GRA-ANN models were compared based on GRA output value and MSE (Mean Square Error) performance measurement of outputs with each other. As a result, GRA-ANN with interval value model seems to be suitable reducing the variation of dyeing process for GRA output value of the model.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Network, Grey Relational Analysis, Optimization, Response Surface Methodology

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Authors: Fuyang Peng, Donghong Li

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The aim of information systems integration is to make all the data sources, applications and business flows integrated into the new environment so that unwanted redundancies are reduced and bottlenecks and mismatches are eliminated. Two issues have to be dealt with to meet such requirements: the software architecture that supports resource integration, and the adaptor development tool that help integration and migration of legacy applications. In this paper, a service-enabled dependable integration environment (SDIE), is presented, which has two key components, i.e., a dependable service integration platform and a legacy application integration tool. For the dependable platform for service integration, the service integration bus, the service management framework, the dependable engine for service composition, and the service registry and discovery components are described. For the legacy application integration tool, its basic organization, functionalities and dependable measures taken are presented. Due to its service-oriented integration model, the light-weight extensible container, the service component combination-oriented p-lattice structure, and other features, SDIE has advantages in openness, flexibility, performance-price ratio and feature support over commercial products, is better than most of the open source integration software in functionality, performance and dependability support.

Keywords: Application integration, dependability, legacy, SOA.

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Authors: S. H. Iranmanesh, L. Aliabadi, A. Mollajan

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Integrated resilience engineering (IRE) is capable of returning banking systems to the normal state in extensive economic circumstances. In this study, information system of a large bank (with several branches) is assessed and optimized under severe economic conditions. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) models are employed to achieve the objective of this study. Nine IRE factors are considered to be the outputs, and a dummy variable is defined as the input of the DEA models. A standard questionnaire is designed and distributed among executive managers to be considered as the decision-making units (DMUs). Reliability and validity of the questionnaire is examined based on Cronbach's alpha and t-test. The most appropriate DEA model is determined based on average efficiency and normality test. It is shown that the proposed integrated design provides higher efficiency than the conventional RE design. Results of sensitivity and perturbation analysis indicate that self-organization, fault tolerance, and reporting culture respectively compose about 50 percent of total weight.

Keywords: Banking system, data envelopment analysis, DEA, integrated resilience engineering, IRE, performance evaluation, perturbation analysis.

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Authors: Suleiman Musa, Shuaibu Sidi Safiyanu

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This study examined the digital preservation in Nigeria university libraries. A comparison between the university of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (ABU, Zaria). The study utilized primary source of data obtained from two selected institution librarians. Finding revealed varying results in terms of skills acquired by librarians before and after digitization of the two institutions. The study reports that journals publication, text book, CD-ROMS, conference papers and proceedings, theses, dissertations and seminar papers are among the information resources available for digitization. The study further documents that copyright issue, power failure, and unavailability of needed materials are among the challenges facing the digitization of library of the institution. On the basis of the finding, the study concluded that digitization of library enhances efficiency in organization and retrieval of information services. The study therefore recommended that software should be upgraded with backup, training of the librarians on digital process, installation of antivirus and enhancement of technical collaboration between the library and MIS.

Keywords: Digitalization, preservation, libraries, comparison.

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Authors: T. Teo, S. W. Lye, Y. F. Li, Z. Zakaria

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Wearable devices such as Electroencephalography (EEG) hold immense potential in the monitoring and assessment of a person’s task engagement. This is especially so in remote or online sites. Research into its use in measuring an individual's cognitive state while performing task activities is therefore expected to increase. Despite the growing number of EEG research into brain functioning activities of a person, key challenges remain in adopting EEG for real-time operations. These include limited portability, long preparation time, high number of channel dimensionality, intrusiveness, as well as level of accuracy in acquiring neurological data. This paper proposes an approach using a 4-6 EEG channels to determine the cognitive states of a subject when undertaking a set of passive and active monitoring tasks of a subject. Air traffic controller (ATC) dynamic-tasks are used as a proxy. The work found that using a developed channel reduction and identifier algorithm, good trend adherence of 89.1% can be obtained between a commercially available brain computer interface (BCI) 14 channel Emotiv EPOC+ EEG headset and that of a carefully selected set of reduced 4-6 channels. The approach can also identify different levels of engagement activities ranging from general monitoring, ad hoc and repeated active monitoring activities involving information search, extraction, and memory activities.

Keywords: Neurophysiology, monitoring, EEG, outliers, electroencephalography.

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Authors: J. K. Adedeji, M. O. Oyekanmi

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This paper has critically examined the use of Machine Learning procedures in curbing unauthorized access into valuable areas of an organization. The use of passwords, pin codes, user’s identification in recent times has been partially successful in curbing crimes involving identities, hence the need for the design of a system which incorporates biometric characteristics such as DNA and pattern recognition of variations in facial expressions. The facial model used is the OpenCV library which is based on the use of certain physiological features, the Raspberry Pi 3 module is used to compile the OpenCV library, which extracts and stores the detected faces into the datasets directory through the use of camera. The model is trained with 50 epoch run in the database and recognized by the Local Binary Pattern Histogram (LBPH) recognizer contained in the OpenCV. The training algorithm used by the neural network is back propagation coded using python algorithmic language with 200 epoch runs to identify specific resemblance in the exclusive OR (XOR) output neurons. The research however confirmed that physiological parameters are better effective measures to curb crimes relating to identities.

Keywords: Biometric characters, facial recognition, neural network, OpenCV.

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Authors: Arūnas Burinskas

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Although Europe is on the threshold of a new industrial revolution called Industry 4.0, many believe that this will increase the flexibility of production, the mass adaptation of products to consumers and the speed of their service; it will also improve product quality and dramatically increase productivity. However, as expected, all the benefits of Industry 4.0 face many of the inevitable changes and challenges they pose. One of them is the inevitable transformation of current competition and business models. This article examines the possible results of competitive conversion from the classic Bertrand and Cournot models to qualitatively new competition based on innovation. Ability to deliver a new product quickly and the possibility to produce the individual design (through flexible and quickly configurable factories) by reducing equipment failures and increasing process automation and control is highly important. This study shows that the ongoing transformation of the competition model is changing the game. This, together with the creation of complex value networks, means huge investments that make it particularly difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, the ongoing digitalization of data raises new concerns regarding legal obligations, intellectual property, and security.

Keywords: Bertrand and Cournot Competition, competition model, Industry 4.0, industrial organization, monopolistic competition.

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Authors: Siri-Orn Champatong

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This research paper was aimed to examine the relationship between visitors’ attitude towards the service marketing mix and visitors’ frequency of visit to Bangpu Recreation Centre. Based on a large and uncalculated population, the number of samples was calculated according to the formula to obtain a total of 385 samples. In collecting the samples, systematic random sampling was applied and by using of a Likert five-scale questionnaire for, a total of 21 days to collect the needed information. Mean, Standard Deviation, and Pearson’s basic statistical correlations were utilized in analyzing the data. This study discovered a high level of visitors’ attitude product and service of Bangpu Recreation Centre, price, place, promotional activities, people who provided service and physical evidence of the centre. The attitude towards process of service was discovered to be at a medium level. Additionally, the finding of an examination of a relationship between visitors’ attitude towards service marketing mix and visitors’ frequency of visit to Bangpu Recreation Centre presented that product and service, people, physical evidence and process of service provision showed a relationship with the visitors’ frequency of visit to the centre per year.

Keywords: Frequency of Visit, Visitor, Service Marketing Mix, Bangpu Recreation Centre.

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Authors: Federico Pérez González, Iñaki Goiricelaia Ordorika, Pedro Iriondo Bengoa

Abstract:

A new method for low complexity image coding is presented, that permits different settings and great scalability in the generation of the final bit stream. This coding presents a continuoustone still image compression system that groups loss and lossless compression making use of finite arithmetic reversible transforms. Both transformation in the space of color and wavelet transformation are reversible. The transformed coefficients are coded by means of a coding system in depending on a subdivision into smaller components (CFDS) similar to the bit importance codification. The subcomponents so obtained are reordered by means of a highly configure alignment system depending on the application that makes possible the re-configure of the elements of the image and obtaining different levels of importance from which the bit stream will be generated. The subcomponents of each level of importance are coded using a variable length entropy coding system (VBLm) that permits the generation of an embedded bit stream. This bit stream supposes itself a bit stream that codes a compressed still image. However, the use of a packing system on the bit stream after the VBLm allows the realization of a final highly scalable bit stream from a basic image level and one or several enhance levels.

Keywords: Image compression, wavelet transform, highlyscalable, reversible transform, embedded, subcomponents.

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Authors: Qasim Kriri, Harsh B. Desai

Abstract:

Water supply and sanitation in Saudi Arabia is portrayed by difficulties and accomplishments. One of the fundamental difficulties is water shortage. With a specific end goal to beat water shortage, significant ventures have been attempted in sea water desalination, water circulation, sewerage, and wastewater treatment. The motivation behind Statistical Process Control (SPC) is to decide whether the execution of a procedure is keeping up an acceptable quality level [AQL]. SPC is an analytical decision-making method. A fundamental apparatus in the SPC is the Control Charts, which follow the inconstancy in the estimations of the item quality attributes. By utilizing the suitable outline, administration can decide whether changes should be made with a specific end goal to keep the procedure in charge. The two most important quality factors in the distilled water which were taken into consideration were pH (Potential of Hydrogen) and TDS (Total Dissolved Solids). There were three stages at which the quality checks were done. The stages were as follows: (1) Water at the source, (2) water after chemical treatment & (3) water which is sent for packing. The upper specification limit, central limit and lower specification limit are taken as per Saudi water standards. The procedure capacity to accomplish the particulars set for the quality attributes of Berain water Factory chose to be focused by the proposed SPC system.

Keywords: Acceptable quality level, statistical quality control, control charts, process charts.

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Authors: A. F. Ali, D. M. Shawky

Abstract:

Discovering new biological knowledge from the highthroughput biological data is a major challenge to bioinformatics today. To address this challenge, we developed a new approach for protein classification. Proteins that are evolutionarily- and thereby functionally- related are said to belong to the same classification. Identifying protein classification is of fundamental importance to document the diversity of the known protein universe. It also provides a means to determine the functional roles of newly discovered protein sequences. Our goal is to predict the functional classification of novel protein sequences based on a set of features extracted from each protein sequence. The proposed technique used datasets extracted from the Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP) database. A set of spectral domain features based on Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is used. The proposed classifier uses multilayer back propagation (MLBP) neural network for protein classification. The maximum classification accuracy is about 91% when applying the classifier to the full four levels of the SCOP database. However, it reaches a maximum of 96% when limiting the classification to the family level. The classification results reveal that spectral domain contains information that can be used for classification with high accuracy. In addition, the results emphasize that sequence similarity measures are of great importance especially at the family level.

Keywords: Bioinformatics, Artificial Neural Networks, Protein Sequence Analysis, Feature Extraction.

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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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