Search results for: mixed strategy

Authors: Saad Chakkor, Mostafa Baghouri, Abderrahmane Hajraoui

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In new energy development, wind power has boomed. It is due to the proliferation of wind parks and their operation in supplying the national electric grid with low cost and clean resources. Hence, there is an increased need to establish a proactive maintenance for wind turbine machines based on remote control and monitoring. That is necessary with a real-time wireless connection in offshore or inaccessible locations while the wired method has many flaws. The objective of this strategy is to prolong wind turbine lifetime and to increase productivity. The hardware of a remote control and monitoring system for wind turbine parks is designed. It takes advantage of GPRS or Wi-Max wireless module to collect data measurements from different wind machine sensors through IP based multi-hop communication. Computer simulations with Proteus ISIS and OPNET software tools have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the studied system. Study findings show that the designed device is suitable for application in a wind park.

Keywords: Embedded System, Monitoring, Wind Turbine, Faults Diagnosis, TCP/IP Protocol, Real Time, Web.

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Authors: Layla Mujahed, Gang Feng, Jianghua Wang

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An increasing number of construction projects are adopting off-site construction techniques over traditional methods to address longstanding challenges. This research paper explores the integration of design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA), modern methods of construction (MMC), and building information modeling (BIM) within the construction industry. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, using case studies and a review of the existing literature, to examine the role and combined application of each methodology in building projects of varying scales and durations. The study focuses on application mechanisms, stakeholder engagement, knowledge sharing, feedback, and performance metrics to explore the benefits, challenges, and transformative potential of integrating these methodologies. The findings indicate that the synergy among DfMA, MMC, and BIM significantly improves project efficiency, cost reduction, and overall quality. Standardization, increased collaboration among stakeholders, and the adoption of advanced technologies are also highlighted as necessary considerations to fully realize the benefits of this integration. The paper concludes with practical recommendations for industry practitioners seeking to efficiently implement these integrated approaches.

Keywords: BIM, building information modeling, case study, DfMA, design for manufacture and assembly, MMC, modern methods of construction, prefabrication.

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Authors: D. Karthikeyan, G. Balakrishnan

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Human faces, as important visual signals, express a significant amount of nonverbal info for usage in human-to-human communication. Age, specifically, is more significant among these properties. Human age estimation using facial image analysis as an automated method which has numerous potential real‐world applications. In this paper, an automated age estimation framework is presented. Support Vector Regression (SVR) strategy is utilized to investigate age prediction. This paper depicts a feature extraction taking into account Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM), which can be utilized for robust face recognition framework. It applies GLCM operation to remove the face's features images and Active Appearance Models (AAMs) to assess the human age based on image. A fused feature technique and SVR with GA optimization are proposed to lessen the error in age estimation.

Keywords: Support vector regression, feature extraction, gray level co-occurrence matrix, active appearance models.

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Authors: B. Varaprasad, C. Srinivasa Rao

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In the manufacturing sector, hard turning has emerged as vital machining process for cutting hardened steels. Besides many advantages of hard turning operation, one has to implement to achieve close tolerances in terms of surface finish, high product quality, reduced machining time, low operating cost and environmentally friendly characteristics. In the present study, three-dimensional CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) based simulation of  hard turning by using commercial software DEFORM 3D has been compared to experimental results of  stresses, temperatures and tool forces in machining of AISI D3 steel using mixed Ceramic inserts (CC6050). In the present analysis, orthogonal cutting models are proposed, considering several processing parameters such as cutting speed, feed, and depth of cut. An exhaustive friction modeling at the tool-work interfaces is carried out. Work material flow around the cutting edge is carefully modeled with adaptive re-meshing simulation capability. In process simulations, feed rate and cutting speed are constant (i.e.,. 0.075 mm/rev and 155 m/min), and analysis is focused on stresses, forces, and temperatures during machining. Close agreement is observed between CAE simulation and experimental values.

Keywords: Hard-turning, computer-aided engineering, computational machining, finite element method.

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Authors: Khalid Al Siyabi, Angie Al Habib

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To measure or asses any government’s efficiency we need to measure the performance of this government in regards to the quality of the service it provides. Using a technological platform in service provision became a trend and a public demand. It is also a public need to make sure these services are aligned to values and to the whole government’s strategy, vision and goals as well. Providing services using technology tools and channels can enhance the internal business process and also help establish many essential values to government services like transparency and excellence, since in order to establish e-services many standards and policies must be put in place to enable the handing over of decision making to a mature system oriented mechanism. There was no doubt that the Sultanate of Oman wanted to enhance its services and move it towards automation and establishes a smart government as well as links its services to life events. Measuring government efficiency is very essential in achieving social security and economic growth, since it can provide a clear dashboard of all projects and improvements. Based on this data we can improve the strategies and align the country goals to them.

Keywords: Government, Maturity, Oman, Performance, Service.

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Authors: Igor Astrov, Andrus Pedai

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This paper focuses on a critical component of the situational awareness (SA), the neural control of autonomous constant depth flight of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Autonomous constant depth flight is a challenging but important task for AUVs to achieve high level of autonomy under adverse conditions. The fundamental requirement for constant depth flight is the knowledge of the depth, and a properly designed controller to govern the process. The AUV, named VORAM, is used as a model for the verification of the proposed hybrid control algorithm. Three neural network controllers, named NARMA-L2 controllers, are designed for fast and stable diving maneuvers of chosen AUV model. This hybrid control strategy for chosen AUV model has been verified by simulation of diving maneuvers using software package Simulink and demonstrated good performance for fast SA in real-time searchand- rescue operations.

Keywords: Autonomous underwater vehicles, depth control, neurocontrollers, situational awareness.

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Authors: Devdutt

Abstract:

In this paper, vibration control response of passenger seat in quarter car model having three degrees of freedom is studied. Three different control strategies are taken into account using Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) controller. In first case, ANFIS controller is applied in main suspension of active quarter car model. In second case, passenger seat suspension is assembled with ANFIS controller. Finally, both main and passenger seat suspensions are integrated with ANFIS controller. Simulation work under random road excitations is performed using passive and controlled quarter car models for performance comparison of passenger ride comfort. Ride comfort analysis is also compared as per ISO 2631-1 criterion. The obtained simulation responses are compared taking passenger seat acceleration and displacement response in time and frequency domain for the selection of best control strategy in designed quarter car model.

Keywords: Active suspension system, ANFIS controller, passenger ride comfort, quarter car model.

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Authors: C. Cole, M. Osmani, A. Wheatley, M. Quddus

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EU and UK Government targets for minimising and recycling household waste has led the responsible authorities to research the alternatives to landfill. In the work reported here the local waste collection authority (Charnwood Borough Council) has adopted the aspirational strategy of becoming a “Zero Waste Borough” to lead the drive for public participation. The work concludes that the separate collection of food waste would be needed to meet the two regulatory standards on recycling and biologically active wastes.

An analysis of a neighbouring Authority (Newcastle-Under-Lyne Borough Council (NBC), a similar sized local authority that has a successful weekly food waste collection service was undertaken. Results indicate that the main challenges for Charnwood Borough Council would be gaining householder co-operation, the extra costs of collection and organising alternative treatment. The analysis also demonstrated that there was potential offset value via anaerobic digestion for CBC to overcome these difficulties and improve its recycling performance.

Keywords: England, Food Waste Collections, Household Waste, Local Authority.

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Authors: Amin Kamal Akhnoukh, Lois Zaki Kamel, Magued Mourad Barsoum

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The objective of this research is to mitigate and prevent the alkali silica reactivity (ASR) in highway construction projects. ASR is a deleterious reaction initiated when the silica content of the aggregate reacts with alkali hydroxides in cement in the presence of relatively high moisture content. The ASR results in the formation of an expansive white colored gel-like material which forms the destructive tensile stresses inside hardened concrete. In this research, different types of local aggregates available in the State of Arkansas were mixed and mortar bars were poured according to the ASTM specifications. Mortar bars expansion was measured versus time and aggregates with potential ASR problems were detected. Different types of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) were used in remixing mortar bars with highly reactive aggregates. Length changes for remixed bars proved that different types of SCMs can be successfully used in reducing the expansive effect of ASR. SCMs percentage by weight is highly dependent on the SCM type. The result of this study will help avoiding future losses due to ASR cracking in construction project and reduce the maintenance, repair, and replacement budgets required for highways network.

Keywords: Alkali Silica Reaction, Aggregates, Moisture, Cracks, Mortar Bar Test supplementary cementitious materials.

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Authors: Saumyaranjan Sahoo, Sudhir Yadav

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Indian manufacturing firms operating in rapidly changing and highly competitive market, over the last few decades, have embraced organization-wide transformation to achieve cultural and operational excellence. In recent years, numerous approaches have been proposed to improve business and manufacturing performance. Lean practices in particular, Total Productive Management (TPM) and Total Quality Management (TQM) have received considerable attention, as they being adopted and adapted for raising the performance standard of Indian manufacturing firms to world class levels. The complementary nature of TPM and TQM is being practiced in many companies to achieve synergy. Specifically, this research investigates whether joint TPM-TQM implementation contribute to higher business performance when compared to individual implementation. Data from 160 manufacturing firms were analyzed that demonstrate synergetic implementation of both TPM-TQM practices over a reasonable period of time, contributed in delivering better business performance as compared to individual implementation strategy.

Keywords: Total productive management, total quality management, Indian manufacturing firms, business performance.

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Authors: S. Panda, J. S. Yadav, N. P. Patidar, C. Ardil

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Recently, genetic algorithms (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique have attracted considerable attention among various modern heuristic optimization techniques. The GA has been popular in academia and the industry mainly because of its intuitiveness, ease of implementation, and the ability to effectively solve highly non-linear, mixed integer optimization problems that are typical of complex engineering systems. PSO technique is a relatively recent heuristic search method whose mechanics are inspired by the swarming or collaborative behavior of biological populations. In this paper both PSO and GA optimization are employed for finding stable reduced order models of single-input- single-output large-scale linear systems. Both the techniques guarantee stability of reduced order model if the original high order model is stable. PSO method is based on the minimization of the Integral Squared Error (ISE) between the transient responses of original higher order model and the reduced order model pertaining to a unit step input. Both the methods are illustrated through numerical example from literature and the results are compared with recently published conventional model reduction technique.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization, Order Reduction, Stability, Transfer Function, Integral Squared Error.

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Authors: Kittaya Somsai, Thanatchai Kulworawanichpong, Nitus Voraphonpiput

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This paper presents the DC voltage control design of D-STATCOM when the D-STATCOM is used for load voltage regulation. Although, the DC voltage can be controlled by active current of the D-STATCOM, reactive current still affects the DC voltage. To eliminate this effect, the control strategy with elimination effect of the reactive current is proposed and the results of the control with and without the elimination the effect of the reactive current are compared. For obtaining the proportional and integral gains of the PI controllers, the symmetrical optimum and genetic algorithms methods are applied. The stability margin of these methods are obtained and discussed in detail. In addition, the performance of the DC voltage control based on symmetrical optimum and genetic algorithms methods are compared. Effectiveness of the controllers designed was verified through computer simulation performed by using Power System Tool Block (PSB) in SIMULINK/MATLAB. The simulation results demonstrated that the DC voltage control proposed is effective in regulating DC voltage when the DSTATCOM is used for load voltage regulation.

Keywords: D-STATCOM, DC voltage control, Symmetrical optimum, Genetic algorithms

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Authors: P. Vaattovaara, H. B. Swan, G. B. Jones, E. Deschaseaux, B. Miljevic, A. Laaksonen, Z. D. Ristovski

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In order to investigate the properties of coral reef origin secondary aerosol and especially the contribution of secondary organic aerosol, ethanol affinity to atmospheric nucleation mode particles (diameter<15nm) was measured at the Heron reef marine environment in the South Pacific Ocean during the first coral reef aerosol characterization experiment in May-June 2011 using an ultrafine organic tandem differential mobility analyzer.

Our campaign study at Heron reef showed that the nucleation mode size particles (diameter =10nm) composition contain internally mixed sulfate and oxidized organic components in approximately equal proportion in sunny and still conditions around low tide time, indicating local biogenic sources. The produced secondary compounds and aerosols have potential to contribute to cloud condensation nuclei formation and properties that may affect local low-level cloud formation over the GBR. Additionally, primary marine sea-salt and organic material during windy conditions and anthropogenic/biogenic sources during continental air masses can affect the properties of these particles.

Keywords: Coral reef, DMS, particle composition, secondary organics.

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Authors: L. Salhi, M. Talbi, A. Cherif

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This paper presents a new strategy of identification and classification of pathological voices using the hybrid method based on wavelet transform and neural networks. After speech acquisition from a patient, the speech signal is analysed in order to extract the acoustic parameters such as the pitch, the formants, Jitter, and shimmer. Obtained results will be compared to those normal and standard values thanks to a programmable database. Sounds are collected from normal people and patients, and then classified into two different categories. Speech data base is consists of several pathological and normal voices collected from the national hospital “Rabta-Tunis". Speech processing algorithm is conducted in a supervised mode for discrimination of normal and pathology voices and then for classification between neural and vocal pathologies (Parkinson, Alzheimer, laryngeal, dyslexia...). Several simulation results will be presented in function of the disease and will be compared with the clinical diagnosis in order to have an objective evaluation of the developed tool.

Keywords: Formants, Neural Networks, Pathological Voices, Pitch, Wavelet Transform.

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Authors: Ashiquer Rahman, Ummey Salma, Afrin Jannat

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Recently, oil has become more influential in almost every economic sector as a key material. As can be seen from the news, when there are some changes in an oil price or Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announces a new strategy, its effect spreads to every part of the economy directly and indirectly. That’s a reason why people always observe the oil price and try to forecast the changes of it. The most important factor affecting the price is its supply which is determined by the number of wildcats drilled. Therefore, a study in relation between the number of wellheads and other economic variables may give us some understanding of the mechanism indicated the amount of oil supplies. In this paper, we will consider a relationship between the number of wellheads and three key factors: price of the wellhead, domestic output, and Gross National Product (GNP) constant dollars. We also add trend variables in the models because the consumption of oil varies from time to time. Moreover, this paper will use an econometrics method to estimate parameters in the model, apply some tests to verify the result we acquire, and then conclude the model.

Keywords: Price, domestic output, GNP, trend variable, wildcat activity.

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Authors: Sasadhar Bera, Indrajit Mukherjee

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Ant colony optimization (ACO) and its variants are applied extensively to resolve various continuous optimization problems. As per the various diversification and intensification schemes of ACO for continuous function optimization, researchers generally consider components of multidimensional state space to generate the new search point(s). However, diversifying to a new search space by updating only components of the multidimensional vector may not ensure that the new point is at a significant distance from the current solution. If a minimum distance is not ensured during diversification, then there is always a possibility that the search will end up with reaching only local optimum. Therefore, to overcome such situations, a Mahalanobis distance-based diversification with Nelder-Mead simplex-based search scheme for each ant is proposed for the ACO strategy. A comparative computational run results, based on nine nonlinear standard test problems, confirms that the performance of ACO is improved significantly with the integration of the proposed schemes in the ACO.

Keywords: Ant Colony Optimization, Diversification Scheme, Intensification, Mahalanobis Distance, Nelder-Mead Simplex.

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Authors: Masaki Yamaguchi, Akira Ito, Noriaki Okamoto, Yoshinori Kawabe, Masamichi Kamihira

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Heat-inducible gene expression vectors are useful for hyperthermia-induced cancer gene therapy, because the combination of hyperthermia and gene therapy can considerably improve the therapeutic effects. In the present study, we developed an enhanced heat-inducible transgene expression system in which a heat-shock protein (HSP) promoter and tetracycline-responsive transactivator were combined. When the transactivator plasmid containing the tetracycline-responsive transactivator gene was co-transfected with the reporter gene expression plasmid, a high level of heat-induced gene expression was observed compared with that using the HSP promoter without the transactivator. In vitro evaluation of the therapeutic effect using HeLa cells showed that heat-induced therapeutic gene expression caused cell death in a high percentage of these cells, indicating that this strategy is promising for cancer gene therapy.

Keywords: Inducible gene expression, Gene therapy, Hyperthermia, Heat shock protein, Tetracycline transactivator.

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Authors: Francesco Coraci, Abdul-Hadi G. Abulrub

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Digital technology is transforming the landscape of the industrial sector at a precedential level by connecting people, processes, and machines in real-time. It represents the means for a new pathway to achieve innovative, dynamic competitive advantages, deliver unique customers’ values, and sustain critical relationships. Thus, success in a constantly changing environment is governed by the ability of an organization to revolutionize their business models, deliver innovative solutions, and capture values from big data analytics and insights. Businesses need to re-strategize operations and develop extra capabilities to cope with the necessity for additional flexibility and agility. The traditional “command and control” leadership style is structurally and operationally incompatible with the digital era. In this paper, the authors discuss how transformational leaders can act as a glue in the social, organizational context, which is crucial to enable the workforce and develop a psychological attachment to the digital vision.

Keywords: Internet of things, strategy, change leadership, dynamic competitive advantage, digital transformation.

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Authors: Michael Amberg, Dipl. Kfm. Johannes C. Panitz

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Compliance requires an effective communication within an enterprise as well as towards a company-s external environment. This requirement commences with the implementation of compliance within large scale compliance projects and still persists in the compliance reporting within standard operations. On the one hand the understanding of compliance necessities within the organization is promoted. On the other hand reduction of asymmetric information with compliance stakeholders is achieved. To reach this goal, a central reporting must provide a consolidated view of different compliance efforts- statuses. A concept which could be adapted for this purpose is the balanced scorecard by Kaplan / Norton. This concept has not been analyzed in detail concerning its adequacy for a holistic compliance reporting starting in compliance projects until later usage in regularly compliance operations. At first, this paper evaluates if a holistic compliance reporting can be designed by using the balanced scorecard concept. The current status of compliance reporting clearly shows that scorecards are generally accepted as a compliance reporting tool and are already used for corporate governance reporting. Additional specialized compliance IT - solutions exist in the market. After the scorecard-s adequacy is thoroughly examined and proofed, an example strategy map as the basis to derive a compliance balanced scorecard is defined. This definition answers the question on proceeding in designing a compliance reporting tool.

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard, Compliance, ComplianceReporting, Compliance Scorecard.

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Authors: T. M. Agbede, A. O. Adekiya

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An experiment was carried out for three consecutive years at Owo, southwest Nigeria. The objective of the investigation was to determine the effect of Cocoa Pod Ash (CPA) and Poultry Manure (PM) applied solely and their combined form, as sources of fertilizers on soil properties, leaf nutrient composition, growth and yield of cocoyam. Three soil amendments: CPA, PM (sole forms), CPA and PM (mixture), were applied at 7.5 t ha^-1 with an inorganic fertilizer (NPK 15-15-15) at 400 kg ha^-1 as a reference and a natural soil fertility, NSF (control), arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Results showed that soil amendments significantly increased (p = 0.05) corm and cormel weights and growth of cocoyam, soil and leaf N, P, K, Ca and Mg, soil pH and organic carbon (OC) concentrations compared with the NSF (control). The mixture of CPA+PM treatment increased corm and cormel weights, plant height and leaf area of cocoyam by 40, 39, 42, and 48%, respectively, compared with inorganic fertilizer (NPK) and 13, 12, 15 and 7%, respectively, compared with PM alone. Sole or mixed forms of soil amendments showed remarkable improvement in soil physical properties compared with NPK and the NSF (control). The mixture of CPA+PM applied at 7.5 t ha^-1 was the most effective treatment in improving cocoyam yield and growth parameters, soil and leaf nutrient composition.

Keywords: Cocoa pod ash, cocoyam, poultry manure, soil and leaf nutrient composition.

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Authors: Olimpia Matarazzo, Ivana Baldassarre

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The main aim of this study was to examine whether people understand indicative conditionals on the basis of syntactic factors or on the basis of subjective conditional probability. The second aim was to investigate whether the conditional probability of q given p depends on the antecedent and consequent sizes or derives from inductive processes leading to establish a link of plausible cooccurrence between events semantically or experientially associated. These competing hypotheses have been tested through a 3 x 2 x 2 x 2 mixed design involving the manipulation of four variables: type of instructions (“Consider the following statement to be true", “Read the following statement" and condition with no conditional statement); antecedent size (high/low); consequent size (high/low); statement probability (high/low). The first variable was between-subjects, the others were within-subjects. The inferences investigated were Modus Ponens and Modus Tollens. Ninety undergraduates of the Second University of Naples, without any prior knowledge of logic or conditional reasoning, participated in this study. Results suggest that people understand conditionals in a syntactic way rather than in a probabilistic way, even though the perception of the conditional probability of q given p is at least partially involved in the conditionals- comprehension. They also showed that, in presence of a conditional syllogism, inferences are not affected by the antecedent or consequent sizes. From a theoretical point of view these findings suggest that it would be inappropriate to abandon the idea that conditionals are naturally understood in a syntactic way for the idea that they are understood in a probabilistic way.

Keywords: Conditionals, conditional probability, conditional syllogism, inferential task.

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Authors: Alaa-Aldin Abdul Rahim A. Al Athmay

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E-governance is an emerging and challenging initiative in developing countries. It is not only concerning the provision of services through the use ICT but rather entails building external interactions with citizen and businesses, enhancing democracy and trust of the political institutions of government. It embraces among other principles, openness, accountability and citizen engagement in public policy process. This study aims at finding users’ satisfaction with three chosen dimensions of e-governance, namely: openness, collaborative governance, and participation. These dimensions of e-governance are neither studied before in the context of Arab countries and nor explored earlier in relation to some demographics variables. A study of 900 users of e-government in United Arab Emirates (UAE) was undertaken to examine how gender, age, education, nationality, and employment affect their satisfaction with e-governance. Generally, satisfaction ratings vary significantly with these variables. However, the overall level of satisfaction with the three attributes was less favorable. Knowing the differences of  citizen’s perceptions towards e-governance services would help policymakers in the design of effective e-governance strategy.   

Keywords: E-governance, United Arab Emirates, Citizens' perceptions.

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Authors: Nuttanuch Munsakorn

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This questionnaire-based study, aimed to measure and compare the awareness of English reading strategies among EFL learners at Bangkok University (BU) classified by their gender, field of study, and English learning experience. Proportional stratified random sampling was employed to formulate a sample of 380 BU students. The data were statistically analyzed in terms of the mean and standard deviation. t-Test analysis was used to find differences in awareness of reading strategies between two groups (-male and female- /-science and social-science students). In addition, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare reading strategy awareness among BU students with different lengths of English learning experience. The results of this study indicated that the overall awareness of reading strategies of EFL learners at BU was at a high level (ðÑ = 3.60) and that there was no statistically significant difference between males and females, and among students who have different lengths of English learning experience at the significance level of 0.05. However, significant differences among students coming from different fields of study were found at the same level of significance.

Keywords: EFL learners, higher education, reading comprehension, reading strategies

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Authors: Meng Wu

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Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) landing technology is a common task that is required to be fulfilled by fly robots. In this paper, the Crazyflie 2.0 is located by ultra-wideband (UWB) localization system that contains four UWB anchors. Another UWB anchor is introduced and installed on a stationary platform. One cost function is designed to find the minimum distance between Crazyflie 2.0 and the anchor installed on the stationary platform. The coordinates of the anchor are unknown in advance, and the goal of the cost function is to define the location of the anchor, which can be considered as an optimal landing point. When the cost function reaches the minimum value, the corresponding coordinates of the UWB anchor fixed on the stationary platform can be calculated and defined as the landing point. The simulation shows the effectiveness of the method in this paper.

Keywords: Unmanned aerial vehicle landing, ultra-wideband localization system, ultra-wideband anchor, cost function, stationary platform.

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Authors: Francisca Grimón, Marylin Giugni, Josep Monguet F., Joaquín Fernández, Luis León G.

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In blended learning environments, the Internet can be combined with other technologies. The aim of this research was to design, introduce and validate a model to support synchronous and asynchronous activities by managing content domains in an Adaptive Hypermedia System (AHS). The application is based on information recovery techniques, clustering algorithms and adaptation rules to adjust the user's model to contents and objects of study. This system was applied to blended learning in higher education. The research strategy used was the case study method. Empirical studies were carried out on courses at two universities to validate the model. The results of this research show that the model had a positive effect on the learning process. The students indicated that the synchronous and asynchronous scenario is a good option, as it involves a combination of work with the lecturer and the AHS. In addition, they gave positive ratings to the system and stated that the contents were adapted to each user profile.

Keywords: Blended Learning, System Adaptive, Model, Clustering Algorithms.

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Authors: Karen Puren, Ernst Drewes, Vera Roos

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This paper explores the sense of place in the Vredefort Dome World Heritage site, South Africa, as an essential input for the formulation of spatial planning proposals for the area. Intangible aspects such as personal and symbolic meanings of sites are currently not integrated in spatial planning in South Africa. This may have a detrimental effect on local inhabitants who have a long history with the site and built up a strong place identity. Involving local inhabitants at an early stage of the planning process and incorporating their attitudes and opinions in future intervention in the area, may also contribute to the acceptance of the legitimacy of future policy. An interdisciplinary and mixed-method research approach was followed in this study in order to identify possible ways to anchor spatial planning proposals in the identity of the place. In essence, the qualitative study revealed that inhabitants reflect a deep and personal relationship with and within the area, which contributes significantly to their sense of emotional security and selfidentity. Results include a strong conservation-orientated attitude with regard to the natural rural character of the site, especially in the inner core.

Keywords: Place identity, Sense of Place, Spatial Planning, Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site.

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Authors: Paula Ferreira, Madalena Araújo, M.E.J. O’Kelly

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Combining energy efficiency with renewable energy sources constitutes a key strategy for a sustainable future. The wind power sector stands out as a fundamental element for the achievement of the European renewable objectives and Portugal is no exception to the increase of the wind energy for the electricity generation. This work proposes an optimization model for the long range electricity power planning in a system similar to the Portuguese one, where the expected impacts of the increasing installed wind power on the operating performance of thermal power plants are taken into account. The main results indicate that the increasing penetration of wind power in the electricity system will have significant effects on the combined cycle gas power plants operation and on the theoretically expected cost reduction and environmental gains. This research demonstrated the need to address the impact that energy sources with variable output may have, not only on the short-term operational planning, but especially on the medium to long range planning activities, in order to meet the strategic objectives for the energy sector.

Keywords: Wind power, electricity planning model, cost, emissions.

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Authors: Raja Suzana Raja Kasim

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This paper attempts to highlight the significant role of knowledge management practices (KMP) and competencies in improving the performance and efficiency of public sector organizations. It appears that public sector organizations in developing countries have not received much attention in the research literature of knowledge management and competencies. Therefore, this paper seeks to explore the role of KMP and competencies in achieving superior performance among public sector organizations in Malaysia in the broader perspective. Survey questionnaires were distributed to all Administrative and Diplomatic Officers (ADS) from 28 ministries located in Putrajaya, Malaysia. This paper also examines preliminary empirical results on the relationship between support for knowledge management practices, competencies, and orientation in Malaysia-s public organizations. This paper supports the notion that the practices of knowledge management at the organizational level are a prerequisite for successful organizational performance. In conclusion, the results not only have the potential to contribute theoretically to both management strategy and knowledge management field literature but also to the area of organizational performance.

Keywords: knowledge, knowledge management practices, competencies, organizational performance

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Authors: Provides Ng

Abstract:

Platform economy is a peer-to-peer model of distributing resources facilitated by community-based digital platforms. In recent years, digital platforms are rapidly reconfiguring the public realm using hyper-personalisation techniques. This paper aims at investigating how urban planning can leapfrog into the digital age to help relieve the rising tension of the global issue of labour flow; it discusses the means to transfer techniques of hyper-personalisation into urban planning for plasticity using platform technologies. This research first denotes the limitations of the current system of urban residency, where the system maintains itself on the circulation of documents, which are data on paper. Then, this paper tabulates how some of the institutions around the world, both public and private, digitise data, and streamline communications between a network of systems and citizens using platform technologies. Subsequently, this paper proposes ways in which hyper-personalisation can be utilised to form a digital planning platform. Finally, this paper concludes by reviewing how the proposed strategy may help to open up new ways of thinking about how we affiliate ourselves with cities.

Keywords: Platform urbanism, hyper-personalisation, urban residency, digital data.

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Authors: N. Phanthuna V. Phupha N. Rugthaicharoencheep, S. Lerdwanittip

Abstract:

This paper presents an optimization technique to economic load dispatch (ELD) problems with considering the daily load patterns and generator constraints using a particle swarm optimization (PSO). The objective is to minimize the fuel cost. The optimization problem is subject to system constraints consisting of power balance and generation output of each units. The application of a constriction factor into PSO is a useful strategy to ensure convergence of the particle swarm algorithm. The proposed method is able to determine, the output power generation for all of the power generation units, so that the total constraint cost function is minimized. The performance of the developed methodology is demonstrated by case studies in test system of fifteen-generation units. The results show that the proposed algorithm scan give the minimum total cost of generation while satisfying all the constraints and benefiting greatly from saving in power loss reduction

Keywords: Particle Swarm Optimization, Economic Load Dispatch, Generator Constraints.

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