Search results for: Business knowledge
1510 Case Study: Linking Career Education to University Education in Japan
Authors: Kumiko Inagaki
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Japanese society is experiencing an aging population and declining birth rate along with the popularization of higher education, spread of economic globalization, rapid progress in technical innovation, changes in employment conditions, and emergence of a knowledge-based society. Against this background, interest in career education at Japanese universities has increased in recent years. This paper describes how the government has implemented career education policies in Japan, and introduces the cases of two universities that have successfully linked career education to university education in Japan.
Keywords: Career Education, Employability, Higher Education, Japanese University, University Education.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24731509 Outsourcing Opportunities for Internet Banking Solutions
Authors: Ondruska Marek, Matustik Ondrej
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The main goal of the article is to present new model of application architecture of banking IT solution providing the Internet Banking services that is particularly outsourced. At first, we propose business rationale and a SWOT analysis to explain the reasons for the model in the article. The most important factor for our model is nowadays- big boom around smart phones and tablet devices. As next, we focus on IT architecture viewpoint where we design application, integration and security model. Finally, we propose a generic governance model that serves as a basis for the specialized governance model. The specialized instance of governance model is designed to ensure that the development and the maintenance of different parts of the IT solution are well governed in time.Keywords: governance model, front-end application, Internet Banking, smart phones
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17521508 Mechanical Properties of Hybrid Cement Based Mortars Containing Two Biopolymers
Authors: Z. Abdollahnejad, M. Kheradmand, F. Pacheco-Torgal
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The use of bio-based admixtures on construction materials is a recent trend that is gaining momentum. However, to our knowledge, no studies have been reported concerning the use of biopolymers on hybrid cement based mortars. This paper reports experimental results regarding the study of the influence of mix design of 43 hybrid cement mortars containing two different biopolymers on its mechanical performance. The results show that the use of the biopolymer carrageenan is much more effective than the biopolymer xanthan concerning the increase in compressive strength. An optimum biopolymer content was found.Keywords: Waste reuse, fly ash, waste glass, hybrid cement, biopolymers, mechanical strength.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10311507 TRS: System for Recommending Semantic Web Service Composition Approaches
Authors: Sandeep Kumar, R. B. Mishra
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A large number of semantic web service composition approaches are developed by the research community and one is more efficient than the other one depending on the particular situation of use. So a close look at the requirements of ones particular situation is necessary to find a suitable approach to use. In this paper, we present a Technique Recommendation System (TRS) which using a classification of state-of-art semantic web service composition approaches, can provide the user of the system with the recommendations regarding the use of service composition approach based on some parameters regarding situation of use. TRS has modular architecture and uses the production-rules for knowledge representation.Keywords: Classification, composition techniques, recommendation system, rule-based, semantic web service.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13831506 Predicting the Success of Bank Telemarketing Using Artificial Neural Network
Authors: Mokrane Selma
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The shift towards decision making (DM) based on artificial intelligence (AI) techniques will change the way in which consumer markets and our societies function. Through AI, predictive analytics is being used by businesses to identify these patterns and major trends with the objective to improve the DM and influence future business outcomes. This paper proposes an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach to predict the success of telemarketing calls for selling bank long-term deposits. To validate the proposed model, we uses the bank marketing data of 41188 phone calls. The ANN attains 98.93% of accuracy which outperforms other conventional classifiers and confirms that it is credible and valuable approach for telemarketing campaign managers.
Keywords: Bank telemarketing, prediction, decision making, artificial intelligence, artificial neural network.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31631505 Proposition of an Ontology of Diseases and Their Signs from Medical Ontologies Integration
Authors: Adama Sow, Abdoulaye Guiss´e, Oumar Niang
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To assist medical diagnosis, we propose a federation of several existing and open medical ontologies and terminologies. The goal is to merge the strengths of all these resources to provide clinicians the access to a variety of shared knowledges that can facilitate identification and association of human diseases and all of their available characteristic signs such as symptoms and clinical signs. This work results to an integration model loaded from target known ontologies of the bioportal platform such as DOID, MESH, and SNOMED for diseases selection, SYMP, and CSSO for all existing signs.Keywords: Medical decision, medical ontologies, ontologies integration, linked data, knowledge ingeneering, e-health system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7841504 Temporal Extension to OWL Ontologies
Authors: Sudeep Marwaha, Punam Bedi
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Ontologies play an important role in semantic web applications and are often developed by different groups and continues to evolve over time. The knowledge in ontologies changes very rapidly that make the applications outdated if they continue to use old versions or unstable if they jump to new versions. Temporal frames using frame versioning and slot versioning are used to take care of dynamic nature of the ontologies. The paper proposes new tags and restructured OWL format enabling the applications to work with the old or new version of ontologies. Gene Ontology, a very dynamic ontology, has been used as a case study to explain the OWL Ontology with Temporal Tags.Keywords: Frame and slot Versioning, OWL, OntologyVersioning, Semantic Web.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13951503 Kazakhstani Humanism: Challenges and Prospects
Authors: Samat Turganbekov, Zhakan Mol
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This article examines the emergence and development of the Kazakhstan species of humanism. The biggest challenge for Kazakhstan in terms of humanism is connected with advocating human values in parallel to promoting national interests; preserving the continuity of traditions in various spheres of life, business and culture. This should be a common goal for the entire society, the main direction for a national intelligence, and a platform for the state policy. An idea worth considering is a formation of national humanist tradition model; the challenges are adapting people to live in the context of new industrial and innovative economic conditions, keeping the balance during intensive economic development of the country, and ensuring social harmony in the society.Keywords: Kazakh humanism, humanist tradition, national culture, spiritual and moral priority, national interest.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15661502 From “Boat to Plate”: Creating Value through Sustainable Fish Supply Chain Visibility
Authors: Isabel Duarte de Almeida, João Vilas-Boas, Luís Miguel Ferreira
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Environmental concerns about the scarcity of marine resources are critical driving forces for firms aiming to prepare their supply chains for sustainability. Building on previous work, this paper highlights the implementation of good practices geared towards sustainable operations in the seafood department, which were pursued in an exploratory retailer case. Outcomes of the adopted environmentally and socially acceptable fish retailing strategies, ranged from traceability, to self-certification and eco-labelling. The consequences for business were, as follows: stronger collaboration and trust across the chain of custody, improvement of sponsors’ image and of consumers’ loyalty and, progress in the Greenpeace retailers’ evaluation ranking.Keywords: Sustainability in sea food, Supply Chain Traceability, Social Responsibility.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17391501 New Data Reuse Adaptive Filters with Noise Constraint
Authors: Young-Seok Choi
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We present a new framework of the data-reusing (DR) adaptive algorithms by incorporating a constraint on noise, referred to as a noise constraint. The motivation behind this work is that the use of the statistical knowledge of the channel noise can contribute toward improving the convergence performance of an adaptive filter in identifying a noisy linear finite impulse response (FIR) channel. By incorporating the noise constraint into the cost function of the DR adaptive algorithms, the noise constrained DR (NC-DR) adaptive algorithms are derived. Experimental results clearly indicate their superior performance over the conventional DR ones.Keywords: Adaptive filter, data-reusing, least-mean square (LMS), affine projection (AP), noise constraint.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16361500 Hybrid Knowledge Approach for Determining Health Care Provider Specialty from Patient Diagnoses
Authors: Erin Lynne Plettenberg, Jeremy Vickery
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In an access-control situation, the role of a user determines whether a data request is appropriate. This paper combines vetted web mining and logic modeling to build a lightweight system for determining the role of a health care provider based only on their prior authorized requests. The model identifies provider roles with 100% recall from very little data. This shows the value of vetted web mining in AI systems, and suggests the impact of the ICD classification on medical practice.
Keywords: Ontology, logic modeling, electronic medical records, information extraction, vetted web mining.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9441499 Adaptive Algorithm to Predict the QoS of Web Processes and Workflows
Authors: Jorge Cardoso
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Workflow Management Systems (WfMS) alloworganizations to streamline and automate business processes and reengineer their structure. One important requirement for this type of system is the management and computation of the Quality of Service(QoS) of processes and workflows. Currently, a range of Web processes and workflow languages exist. Each language can be characterized by the set of patterns they support. Developing andimplementing a suitable and generic algorithm to compute the QoSof processes that have been designed using different languages is a difficult task. This is because some patterns are specific to particular process languages and new patterns may be introduced in future versions of a language. In this paper, we describe an adaptive algorithm implemented to cope with these two problems. The algorithm is called adaptive since it can be dynamically changed as the patterns of a process language also change.
Keywords: quality of service, web processes, workflows, web services
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20201498 Critical Success Factors of Information Technology Projects
Authors: Md. Athar Imtiaz, Abduljalil S. Al-Mudhary, Md. Taha Mirhashemi, Roslina Ibrahim
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Information Technology (IT) is being used by almost all organizations throughout the world. However its success at supporting and improving business is debatable. There is always the risk of IT project failure and studies have proven that a large number of IT projects indeed do fail. There are many components that further the success of IT projects; these have been studied in previous studies. Studies have found the most necessary components for success in software development projects, executive information systems etc. In this study previous literatures that have looked into these success promoting factors have been critically reviewed and analyzed. 15 Critical Success Factors (CSF) of IT projects were enlisted and examined. These factors can be applied to all IT projects and is not specific to a particular type of IT/IS project. A hypothesis was also generated after the evaluation of the factors.
Keywords: Critical Success Factors, CSF, IT Projects, IS Projects, Software Development Projects.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 124651497 Mass Transfer Modeling in a Packed Bed of Palm Kernels under Supercritical Conditions
Authors: I. Norhuda, A. K. Mohd Omar
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Studies on gas solid mass transfer using Supercritical fluid CO2 (SC-CO2) in a packed bed of palm kernels was investigated at operating conditions of temperature 50 °C and 70 °C and pressures ranges from 27.6 MPa, 34.5 MPa, 41.4 MPa and 48.3 MPa. The development of mass transfer models requires knowledge of three properties: the diffusion coefficient of the solute, the viscosity and density of the Supercritical fluids (SCF). Matematical model with respect to the dimensionless number of Sherwood (Sh), Schmidt (Sc) and Reynolds (Re) was developed. It was found that the model developed was found to be in good agreement with the experimental data within the system studied.
Keywords: Mass Transfer, Palm Kernel, Supercritical fluid.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18221496 Ontology for Semantic Enrichment of Radio Frequency Identification Systems
Authors: Haitham S. Hamza, Mohamed Maher, Shourok Alaa, Aya Khattab, Hadeal Ismail, Kamilia Hosny
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Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has become a key technology in the emerging concept of Internet of Things (IoT). Naturally, business applications would require the deployment of various RFID systems developed by different vendors that use different data formats and structures. This heterogeneity poses a challenge in developing real-life IoT systems with RFID, as integration is becoming very complex and challenging. Semantic integration is a key approach to deal with this challenge. To do so, ontology for RFID systems need to be developed in order to annotated semantically RFID systems, and hence, facilitate their integration. Accordingly, in this paper, we propose ontology for RFID systems. The proposed ontology can be used to semantically enrich RFID systems, and hence, improve their usage and reasoning.Keywords: IoT, RFID, Semantic, sparql, Ontology.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18781495 Comparing Test Equating by Item Response Theory and Raw Score Methods with Small Sample Sizes on a Study of the ARTé: Mecenas Learning Game
Authors: Steven W. Carruthers
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The purpose of the present research is to equate two test forms as part of a study to evaluate the educational effectiveness of the ARTé: Mecenas art history learning game. The researcher applied Item Response Theory (IRT) procedures to calculate item, test, and mean-sigma equating parameters. With the sample size n=134, test parameters indicated “good” model fit but low Test Information Functions and more acute than expected equating parameters. Therefore, the researcher applied equipercentile equating and linear equating to raw scores and compared the equated form parameters and effect sizes from each method. Item scaling in IRT enables the researcher to select a subset of well-discriminating items. The mean-sigma step produces a mean-slope adjustment from the anchor items, which was used to scale the score on the new form (Form R) to the reference form (Form Q) scale. In equipercentile equating, scores are adjusted to align the proportion of scores in each quintile segment. Linear equating produces a mean-slope adjustment, which was applied to all core items on the new form. The study followed a quasi-experimental design with purposeful sampling of students enrolled in a college level art history course (n=134) and counterbalancing design to distribute both forms on the pre- and posttests. The Experimental Group (n=82) was asked to play ARTé: Mecenas online and complete Level 4 of the game within a two-week period; 37 participants completed Level 4. Over the same period, the Control Group (n=52) did not play the game. The researcher examined between group differences from post-test scores on test Form Q and Form R by full-factorial Two-Way ANOVA. The raw score analysis indicated a 1.29% direct effect of form, which was statistically non-significant but may be practically significant. The researcher repeated the between group differences analysis with all three equating methods. For the IRT mean-sigma adjusted scores, form had a direct effect of 8.39%. Mean-sigma equating with a small sample may have resulted in inaccurate equating parameters. Equipercentile equating aligned test means and standard deviations, but resultant skewness and kurtosis worsened compared to raw score parameters. Form had a 3.18% direct effect. Linear equating produced the lowest Form effect, approaching 0%. Using linearly equated scores, the researcher conducted an ANCOVA to examine the effect size in terms of prior knowledge. The between group effect size for the Control Group versus Experimental Group participants who completed the game was 14.39% with a 4.77% effect size attributed to pre-test score. Playing and completing the game increased art history knowledge, and individuals with low prior knowledge tended to gain more from pre- to post test. Ultimately, researchers should approach test equating based on their theoretical stance on Classical Test Theory and IRT and the respective assumptions. Regardless of the approach or method, test equating requires a representative sample of sufficient size. With small sample sizes, the application of a range of equating approaches can expose item and test features for review, inform interpretation, and identify paths for improving instruments for future study.Keywords: Effectiveness, equipercentile equating, IRT, learning games, linear equating, mean-sigma equating.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10251494 Method for Concept Labeling Based on Mapping between Ontology and Thesaurus
Authors: Kazuki Sonoda, Masahiro Hori
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When designing information systems that deal with large amount of domain knowledge, system designers need to consider ambiguities of labeling termsin domain vocabulary for navigating users in the information space. The goal of this study is to develop a methodology for system designers to label navigation items, taking account of ambiguities stems from synonyms or polysemes of labeling terms. In this paper, we propose a method for concept labeling based on mappings between domain ontology andthesaurus, and report results of an empirical evaluation.Keywords: Concept Labeling, Ontology, Thesaurus, VocabularyProblem
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13471493 Chaotic Dynamics of Cost Overruns in Oil and Gas Megaprojects: A Review
Authors: O. J. Olaniran, P. E. D. Love, D. J. Edwards, O. Olatunji, J. Matthews
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Cost overruns are a persistent problem in oil and gas megaprojects. Whilst the extant literature is filled with studies on incidents and causes of cost overruns, underlying theories to explain their emergence in oil and gas megaprojects are few. Yet, a way to contain the syndrome of cost overruns is to understand the bases of ‘how and why’ they occur. Such knowledge will also help to develop pragmatic techniques for better overall management of oil and gas megaprojects. The aim of this paper is to explain the development of cost overruns in hydrocarbon megaprojects through the perspective of chaos theory. The underlying principles of chaos theory and its implications for cost overruns are examined and practical recommendations proposed. In addition, directions for future research in this fertile area provided.Keywords: Chaos theory, oil and gas, cost overruns, megaprojects.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23481492 Gender Discrimination and Pay Gap on Tourism Labor Market
Authors: Alka Obadić
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The research concentrates on the role of tourism in generating female employment and on impact of gender discrimination in tourism sector. Unfortunately, in many countries there are still some barriers to the inclusion of women at all hierarchical levels of tourism labor market. Research analysis focuses on EU countries where tourism is a main employer of women. The analysis shows that women represent over third persons employed in the non-financial business economy and almost two thirds in core tourism activities. Women's gross hourly earnings in accommodation and food services were below those of men in the European Union and only countries who recorded increase of gender pay gap from the beginning of crisis are Bulgaria and Croatia. Women in tourism industry are still overrepresented in lower status jobs with fewer opportunities for career progression and are often treated unequally.
Keywords: Employment, gender discrimination, tourism, women’s participation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 35071491 Aromatic and Medicinal Plants in Morocco: Diversity and Socio-Economic Role
Authors: Mohammed Sghir Taleb
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Morocco is characterized by a great richness and diversity in aromatic and medicinal plants and it has an ancestral knowledge in the use of plants for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. In effect, the poverty of riparian, specially, mountain populations have greatly contributed to the development of traditional pharmacopoeia in Morocco. The analysis of the bibliographic data showed that a large number of plants in Morocco are exploited for aromatic and medicinal purposes and several of them are commercialized internationally. However, these potentialities of aromatic and medicinal plants are currently subjected to climate change and strong human pressures: Collecting fruits, agriculture development, harvesting plants, urbanization, overgrazing...Keywords: Aromatic, medicinal, plants, socioeconomy, Morocco.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13431490 Studying the Implementation of 5S System in Egyptian Garment Enterprises
Authors: K. M. Seddik
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This paper explores the implementation of 5S elements in the Egyptian garment enterprises. The paper depended on a survey questionnaire (established from Summit Business Solutions, New York) and observations to collect data from the respondents. The observations are based on the on-site visits and interviews with the managers, supervisors and labors. The enterprises divided into three groups according to the nature activity. The first group of enterprises encompassed 49.52% of the total samples, the second and third group of enterprises represented 50.48% The results of this research indicated to the influence of the nature activity in implementing 5S systems and conclude that sustain is a difficult element which involve encourage workers for developing and practicing a highly discipline. In addition the results demonstrate that although the enterprises may achieve a higher executing of 5S elements but it may realize a low coherence in implementation.Keywords: 5S elements, garment enterprises, implementation, lean manufacturing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10531489 The Characterisation of TLC NAND Flash Memory, Leading to a Definable Endurance/Retention Trade-Off
Authors: Sorcha Bennett, Joe Sullivan
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Triple-Level Cell (TLC) NAND Flash memory at, and below, 20nm (nanometer) is still largely unexplored by researchers, and with the ever more commonplace existence of Flash in consumer and enterprise applications there is a need for such gaps in knowledge to be filled. At the time of writing, there was little published data or literature on TLC, and more specifically reliability testing, with a further emphasis on both endurance and retention. This paper will give an introduction to NAND Flash memory, followed by an overview of the relevant current research on the reliability of Flash memory, along with the planned future work which will provide results to help characterise the reliability of TLC memory.Keywords: TLC NAND flash memory, reliability, endurance, retention, trade-off, raw flash, patterns.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 35251488 E-Procurement, the Golden Key to Optimizing the Supply Chains System
Authors: Somayeh Farzin, Hossein Teimoori Nezhad
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Procurement is an important component in the field of operating resource management and e-procurement is the golden key to optimizing the supply chains system. Global firms are optimistic on the level of savings that can be achieved through full implementation of e-procurement strategies. E-procurement is an Internet-based business process for obtaining materials and services and managing their inflow into the organization. In this paper, the subjects of supply chains and e-procurement and its benefits to organizations have been studied. Also, e-procurement in construction and its drivers and barriers have been discussed and a framework of supplier selection in an e-procurement environment has been demonstrated. This paper also has addressed critical success factors in adopting e-procurement in supply chains.Keywords: E-Procurement, Supply Chain, Benefits, Construction, Drivers, Barriers, Supplier Selection, CFSs.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 32451487 Estimation of Natural Frequency of the Bearing System under Periodic Force Based on Principal of Hydrodynamic Mass of Fluid
Authors: M. H. Pol, A. Bidi, A. V. Hoseini
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Estimation of natural frequency of structures is very important and isn-t usually calculated simply and sometimes complicated. Lack of knowledge about that caused hard damage and hazardous effects. In this paper, with using from two different models in FEM method and based on hydrodynamic mass of fluids, natural frequency of an especial bearing (Fig. 1) in an electric field (or, a periodic force) is calculated in different stiffness and different geometric. In final, the results of two models and analytical solution are compared.Keywords: Natural frequency of the bearing, Hydrodynamic mass of fluid method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26511486 Versioning OWL Ontologies using Temporal Tags
Authors: Punam Bedi, Sudeep Marwaha
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Ontologies play an important role in semantic web applications and are often developed by different groups and continues to evolve over time. The knowledge in ontologies changes very rapidly that make the applications outdated if they continue to use old versions or unstable if they jump to new versions. Temporal frames using frame versioning and slot versioning are used to take care of dynamic nature of the ontologies. The paper proposes new tags and restructured OWL format enabling the applications to work with the old or new version of ontologies. Gene Ontology, a very dynamic ontology, has been used as a case study to explain the OWL Ontology with Temporal Tags.Keywords: Frame and slot Versioning, OWL, OntologyVersioning, Semantic Web.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17301485 Achieving Design-Stage Elemental Cost Planning Accuracy: Case Study of New Zealand
Authors: Johnson Adafin, James O. B. Rotimi, Suzanne Wilkinson, Abimbola O. Windapo
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An aspect of client expenditure management that requires attention is the level of accuracy achievable in design-stage elemental cost planning. This has been a major concern for construction clients and practitioners in New Zealand (NZ). Pre-tender estimating inaccuracies are significantly influenced by the level of risk information available to estimators. Proper cost planning activities should ensure the production of a project’s likely construction costs (initial and final), and subsequent cost control activities should prevent unpleasant consequences of cost overruns, disputes and project abandonment. If risks were properly identified and priced at the design stage, observed variance between design-stage elemental cost plans (ECPs) and final tender sums (FTS) (initial contract sums) could be reduced. This study investigates the variations between design-stage ECPs and FTS of construction projects, with a view to identifying risk factors that are responsible for the observed variance. Data were sourced through interviews, and risk factors were identified by using thematic analysis. Access was obtained to project files from the records of study participants (consultant quantity surveyors), and document analysis was employed in complementing the responses from the interviews. Study findings revealed the discrepancies between ECPs and FTS in the region of -14% and +16%. It is opined in this study that the identified risk factors were responsible for the variability observed. The values obtained from the analysis would enable greater accuracy in the forecast of FTS by Quantity Surveyors. Further, whilst inherent risks in construction project developments are observed globally, these findings have important ramifications for construction projects by expanding existing knowledge on what is needed for reasonable budgetary performance and successful delivery of construction projects. The findings contribute significantly to the study by providing quantitative confirmation to justify the theoretical conclusions generated in the literature from around the world. This therefore adds to and consolidates existing knowledge.
Keywords: Accuracy, design-stage, elemental cost plan, final tender sum, New Zealand.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18091484 An Empirical Analysis of the Board Composition Concerning Logistics Competencies
Authors: Ingrid Göpfert, Michael Stephan, Wanja Wellbrock, Malte Ackermann
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Empirical insights into the implementation of logistics competencies at the top management level are scarce. This paper addresses this issue with an explorative approach which is based on a dataset of 872 observations in the years 2000, 2004 and 2008 using quantitative content analysis from annual reports of the 500 publicly listed firms with the highest global research and development expenditures according to the British Department for Business Innovation and Skills. We find that logistics competencies are more pronounced in Asian companies than in their European or American counterparts. On an industrial level the results are quite mixed. Using partial point-biserial correlations we show that logistics competencies are positively related to financial performance.
Keywords: Logistics, supply chain management, content analysis, executive boards, multinational corporations.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21241483 Balanced Scorecard in SMEs – A Proposal for Small Gas Stations in Portugal
Authors: Ana Paula Monte, Christiane Fontenete
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As current business environment is demanding a constant adaptation of companies, the planning and strategic management should be an ongoing and natural process in all kind of organizations. The use of management and monitoring strategic performance tools such as the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) have been popular; even to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. This paper aims to investigate whether the BSC is being used in monitoring the performance of small businesses, particularly in small fuel retailers companies, which are competing in co-branding; and if not, it aims to identify its strategic orientation in order to recommend a possible strategy map for those managers that are willing to adopt this model as an alternative to traditional ones for organizational performance evaluation, which often focus only on evaluation of the organizational financial performance.Keywords: Balanced Scorecard, Performance Management and Evaluation, SMEs, Strategy Maps
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 41891482 Teaching Method in Situational Crisis Communication Theory: A Literature Review
Authors: Proud Arunrangsiwed
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Crisis management strategies could be found in various curriculums, not only in schools of business, but also schools of communication. Young students, such as freshmen and sophomores of undergraduate schools, may not care about learning crisis management strategies. Moreover, crisis management strategies are not a topic art students are familiar with. The current paper discusses a way to adapt entertainment media into a crisis management lesson, and the importance of learning crisis management strategies in the school of animation. Students could learn crisis management strategies by watching movies with content about a crisis and responding to crisis responding. The students should then participate in follow up discussions related to the strategies that were used to address the crisis, as well as their success in solving the crisis.Keywords: Situational crisis communication theory, crisis response strategies, media effect, unintentional effect.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18841481 Linguistic Phenomena in Men and Women - TOT, FOK, Verbal Fluency
Authors: Ewa Szepietowska, Barbara Gawda, Agnieszka Gawda
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The aim of this study is to describe the differences between women and men in the phenomena of feeling of knowing/know (FOK), tip of the tongue (TOT), and verbal fluency. Two studies are presented. The first included a group of 60 participants and focused on the analysis of FOK and TOT in men and women. The second study described the performance of 302 participants in verbal fluency tasks. Both studies showed that sex is not a significant predictor of linguistic abilities. Rather, the main factors influencing one’s linguistic ability were Vocabulary and education. This study enriches the knowledge on mechanisms of memory and verbal production.
Keywords: Feeling of knowing, Tip of the tongue, Verbal fluency, Sex differences.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2535