Search results for: supply chain management

Authors: Panudet Saengseedam, Nanthachai Kantanantha

Abstract:

This paper proposes a linear mixed model (LMM) with spatial effects to forecast rice and cassava yields in Thailand at the same time. A multivariate conditional autoregressive (MCAR) model is assumed to present the spatial effects. A Bayesian method is used for parameter estimation via Gibbs sampling Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). The model is applied to the rice and cassava yields monthly data which have been extracted from the Office of Agricultural Economics, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand. The results show that the proposed model has better performance in most provinces in both fitting part and validation part compared to the simple exponential smoothing and conditional auto regressive models (CAR) from our previous study.

Keywords: Bayesian method, Linear mixed model, Multivariate conditional autoregressive model, Spatial time series.

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Authors: M. Bounechada, F. Benia, M. Aiouaz, S. Bouharati, N. Djirar, H. Benamrani

Abstract:

The cuticular hydrocarbons of Pamphagus elephas (Orthoptera: Pamphagidae) has been analysed by gas chromatography and by combined gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry. The following hydrocarbon classes have been identified in insect cuticular hydrocarbons are: n-alkanes and methylalkanes comprising Monomethyl-, dimethyl-and trimethylalkanes. Sexual dimorphism is observed in long chain alkanes (C24-C36) present on male and female. The cuticulars hydrocarbons of P.elephas ranged from 24 to 36 carbons and incluted n-alkanes, Dimethylalkanes and Trimethylalkanes. nalkanes represented by (C24-C36,72,7% on male and 79,2% on female), internally branched Monomethylalkanes identified were (C25, C30-C32,C35-C37;11% on male and 9,4% on female), Dimethylalkanes detected are (C31-C32, C36; 2,2% on male and 2,06% on female) and Trimethylalkanes detected are (C32, C36; 3,1% on male and 4, 97 on female). Larvae male and female (stage 7) showed the same quality of n-alkanes observed in adults. However a difference quantity is noted.

Keywords: Cuticular hydrocarbons, Gas chromatography, Mass spectrometry, Pamphagus elephas, , Sexual dimorphism

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Authors: V. T. S. Dao, T. G. Etoh, C. Vo Le, H. D. Nguyen, K. Takehara, T. Akino, K. Nishi

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We present an explicit expression to estimate driving voltage attenuation through RC networks representation of an ultrahigh- speed image sensor. Elmore delay metric for a fundamental RC chain is employed as the first-order approximation. By application of dimensional analysis to SPICE simulation data, we found a simple expression that significantly improves the accuracy of the approximation. Estimation error of the resultant expression for uniform RC networks is less than 2%. Similarly, another simple closed-form model to estimate 50 % delay through fundamental RC networks is also derived with sufficient accuracy. The framework of this analysis can be extended to address delay or attenuation issues of other VLSI structures.

Keywords: Dimensional Analysis, Elmore model, RC network, Signal Attenuation, Ultra-High-Speed Image Sensor.

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Authors: Mohammad Mirwais Yusufi

Abstract:

Skillful management is one of the most important success factors for today’s farms. When a farm is well managed, it can generate funds for its sustainability. Grape is one of the most diffused fruits in the world and one of the most important cash crops with high potential of production in Afghanistan as well. While there are several organizations intervening for improvement of this cash crop, the quality and quantity are still not satisfactory for producers and external markets. The situation has not changed over the years. Therefore, a survey was conducted in 2017 with 60 grape growers, supported by questionnaires in Mirbachakot, Kalakan and Shakardara districts of Kabul province. The purpose was to get an understanding of the current socio-demographic characteristics of farmers, management methods, constraints, farm size, yield and contribution of grape farming to household income. Findings indicate that grape farming was predominant 83.3% male, 16.6% female and small-scale farmers were the main grape producers, 60% < 1 ha of land under grape production. Likewise, 50% had more than > 10 years and 33.3% between 1-5 years’ experience in grape farming. The high level of illiteracy and diseases had significant digit effect on growth, yield and quality of grapes. The results showed that vineyard management operations to protect grapes from mechanical damage are very poor or completely absent. Comparing developed countries, table grape is one of the fruits with the highest input of technology, while in developing countries the cost of labor is low but the purchase of the equipment is very high due to financial situation. Hence the low quality and quantity of grape are influenced by poor management methods, such as non-availability of experts and lack of technical guidance in the study site. Thereby, the study suggested that improved agricultural extension services and managerial skills could contribute to addressing the problems.

Keywords: Efficient resources use, management skills, constraints factors, Kabul.

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Authors: L. Bokopane, K. Kusakana, H. J. Vermaark

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The success of renewable powered electric vehicle charging station in isolated areas depends highly on the availability and sustainability of renewable resources all year round at a selected location. The main focus of this paper is to discuss the possible charging strategies that could be implemented to find the best possible configuration of an electric Tuk-Tuk charging station at a given location within South Africa. The charging station is designed, modeled and simulated to evaluate its performances. The technoeconomic analysis of different feasible supply configurations of the charging station using renewable energies is simulated using HOMER software and the results compared in order to select the best possible charging strategies in terms of cost of energy consumed.

Keywords: Electric Tuk-Tuk, Renewable energy, Energy Storage, Hybrid systems, HOMER.

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Authors: Shuib Rambat, Ruzsyahriman Jenal, John Elgy

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This paper presented the potential of smart phone to provide support on mapping the indoor asset. The advantage of using the smart phone to generate the indoor map is that it has the ability to capture, store and reproduces still or video images; indeed most of us do have this powerful gadget. The captured images usually used by maintenance team to save a record for future reference. Here, these images are used to generate 3D models of an object precisely and accurately for efficient and effective solution in data gathering. Thus, it could be a resource for an informative database in asset management.

Keywords: 3D modeling, Asset Management, Object Extraction, Smart Device

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Authors: Guilherme B. B. Vieira, Rafael M. da Silva, Eliana T. P. Senna, Luiz A. S. Senna, Francisco J. Kliemann Neto

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Due to the importance of ports to trade and economic development of the regions in which they are inserted, in recent decades the number of studies devoted to this subject has increased. Part of these studies considers the ports as business agglomerations and focuses on port governance. This is an important approach since the port performance is the result of activities performed by actors belonging to the port-logistics chain, which need to be properly coordinated. This coordination takes place through a port governance model. Given this context, this study aims to analyze the governance model of the port of Santos from the perspective of port customers. To do this, a closed-ended questionnaire based on a conceptual model that considers the key dimensions associated with port governance was applied to the international freight forwarders that operate in the port. The results show the applicability of the considered model and highlight improvement opportunities to be implemented at the port of Santos.

Keywords: Port Governance, Model, Port of Santos, Customers’ Perception.

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Authors: Tung-Sheng Zhan, Chih-Cheng Kao, Chin-Der Yang, Jong-Ian Tsai

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Fossil fuel-firing power plants dominate electric power generation in Taiwan, which are also the major contributor to Green House gases (GHG). CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas that cause global warming. This paper penetrates the relationship between carbon trading for GHG reduction and power generation expansion planning (GEP) problem for the electrical utility. The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) Algorithm is presented to deal with the generation expansion planning strategy of the utility with independent power providers (IPPs). The utility has to take both the IPPs- participation and environment impact into account when a new generation unit is considering expanded from view of supply side.

Keywords: Carbon Trading, CO2 Emission, GenerationExpansion Planning (GEP), Green House gases (GHG), ParticleSwarm Optimization (PSO).

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Authors: Mahbobeh Hajirostamloo

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Aquatic and semi aquatic birds as a group are suited to feed and breed in environments in which water forms a fundamental part. These birds are biological indicator in aquatic environment, because these birds belong to the top level of food chain in aquatic ecosystems. There are 61 species in 14 families of aquatic and semi aquatic birds in Iran. The birds of the Sattarkhan Lake belong to 16 species in 8 families which include 26.2 percent of total Aquatic and semi aquatic bird species and 57% of Aquatic and semi aquatic bird's family of Iran. Study was carried out monthly at Sattarkhan Lake show the existence of Phalacrocorax carbo, Ardea cinerea, Egretta alba, Egretta garzetta, Bubulcus ibis, Botaurus stellaris, Sterna hirundo, Chlidonias leucopterus, Larus minutus, Larus argentatus, Larus ridibunbus, Alcedo atthis, Ciconia ciconia, Plegadis falcinellus, Circus aeruginosus, Corvus frugilegus

Keywords: Aquatic bird, Sattarkhan Lake, Identification, Iran

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Authors: Li Zhu, Binghua Wang, Yong Sun

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China is experiencing the rural development process, with the agritourism complex becoming one of the significant modes. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the energy performance of agritourism complex. This study focuses on a typical case of the agritourism complex and simulates the energy consumption performance on condition of the regular energy system. It was found that HVAC took 90% of the whole energy demand range. In order to optimize the energy supply structure, the hierarchical analysis was carried out on the level of architecture with three main factors such as construction situation, building types and energy demand types. Finally, the energy planning suggestion of the agritourism complex was put forward and the relevant results were obtained.

Keywords: Agritourism complex, energy planning, energy demand simulation, hierarchical structure model.

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Authors: Hyunwon Moon

Abstract:

It is necessary to realize new biomedical wireless communication systems which send the signals collected from various bio sensors located at human body in order to monitor our health. Also, it should seamlessly connect to the existing wireless communication systems. A 5.8 GHz ISM band low power RF front-end receiver for a biomedical wireless communication system is implemented using a 0.5 µm SiGe BiCMOS process. To achieve low power RF front-end, the current optimization technique for selecting device size is utilized. The implemented low noise amplifier (LNA) shows a power gain of 9.8 dB, a noise figure (NF) of below 1.75 dB, and an IIP3 of higher than 7.5 dBm while current consumption is only 6 mA at supply voltage of 2.5 V. Also, the performance of a down-conversion mixer is measured as a conversion gain of 11 dB and SSB NF of 10 dB.

Keywords: Biomedical, low noise amplifier, mixer, receiver, RF front-end, SiGe.

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Authors: Goh Yen Nee

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This research aimed to find out the determining factors for ISO 14001 EMS implementation among SMEs in Malaysia from the Resource based view. A cross-sectional approach using survey was conducted. A research model been proposed which comprises of ISO 14001 EMS implementation as the criterion variable while physical capital resources (i.e. environmental performance tracking and organizational infrastructures), human capital resources (i.e. top management commitment and support, training and education, employee empowerment and teamwork) and organizational capital resources (i.e. recognition and reward, organizational culture and organizational communication) as the explanatory variables. The research findings show that only environmental performance tracking, top management commitment and support and organizational culture are found to be positively and significantly associated with ISO 14001 EMS implementation. It is expected that this research will shed new knowledge and provide a base for future studies about the role played by firm-s internal resources.

Keywords: ISO 14001 Environmental Management System, Malaysia, Resource based view, SMEs

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Authors: F. Fernandes, C. Poleto

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This paper aims at assessing the concentrations of heavy metals and the isotopic composition of lead ²¹⁰Pb in different fractions of sediment produced in the watershed that makes up the Mãe d'água dam and thus characterizing the distribution of metals along the sedimentary column and inferencing in the urbanization of the same process. Sample collection was carried out in June 2014; eight sediment cores were sampled in the lake of the dam. For extraction of the sediments core, a core sampler “Piston Core” was used. The trace metal concentrations were determined by conventional atomic absorption spectrophotometric methods. The samples were subjected to radiochemical analysis of ²¹⁰Po. ²¹⁰Pb activity was obtained by measuring ²¹⁰Po activity. The chronology was calculated using the constant rate of supply (CRS). ²¹⁰Pb is used to estimate the sedimentation rate.

Keywords: 210Pb dating method, heavy metal, lakes urban, pollution history.

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Authors: J. Gu, W.B. Lee, C.F. Cheung, E. Tsui, W.M. Wang

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Knowledge of an organization does not merely reside in structured form of information and data; it is also embedded in unstructured form. The discovery of such knowledge is particularly difficult as the characteristic is dynamic, scattered, massive and multiplying at high speed. Conventional methods of managing unstructured information are considered too resource demanding and time consuming to cope with the rapid information growth. In this paper, a Multi-faceted and Automatic Knowledge Elicitation System (MAKES) is introduced for the purpose of discovery and capture of organizational knowledge. A trial implementation has been conducted in a public organization to achieve the objective of decision capture and navigation from a number of meeting minutes which are autonomously organized, classified and presented in a multi-faceted taxonomy map in both document and content level. Key concepts such as critical decision made, key knowledge workers, knowledge flow and the relationship among them are elicited and displayed in predefined knowledge model and maps. Hence, the structured knowledge can be retained, shared and reused. Conducting Knowledge Management with MAKES reduces work in searching and retrieving the target decision, saves a great deal of time and manpower, and also enables an organization to keep pace with the knowledge life cycle. This is particularly important when the amount of unstructured information and data grows extremely quickly. This system approach of knowledge management can accelerate value extraction and creation cycles of organizations.

Keywords: Knowledge-Based System, Knowledge Elicitation, Knowledge Management, Taxonomy, Unstructured Information Management

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Authors: F. Amin, A. H. Jahangir, H. Rasifard

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With the widespread growth of applications of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), the need for reliable security mechanisms these networks has increased manifold. Many security solutions have been proposed in the domain of WSN so far. These solutions are usually based on well-known cryptographic algorithms. In this paper, we have made an effort to survey well known security issues in WSNs and study the behavior of WSN nodes that perform public key cryptographic operations. We evaluate time and power consumption of public key cryptography algorithm for signature and key management by simulation.

Keywords: Wireless Sensor Networks, Security, Public Key Cryptography, Key Management.

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Authors: Aline Alves Bandeira, Luís Pedro Lima, Maria Cecília de Paula Silva, Paulo Henrique de Viveiros Tavares

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Nowadays, the study of public policies regarding management efficiency is essential. Public policies are about what governments do or do not do, being an area that has grown worldwide, contributing through the knowledge of technologies and methodologies that monitor and evaluate the performance of public administrators. The information published on official government websites needs to provide for transparency and responsiveness of managers. Thus, transparency is a primordial factor for the execution of accountability, providing, in this way, services to the citizen with the expansion of transparent, efficient, democratic information and that value administrative eco-efficiency. The ecologically balanced management of a Smart City must optimize environmental education, building a fairer society, which brings about equality in the use of quality environmental resources. Smart Cities add value in the construction of public management, enabling interaction between people, enhancing environmental education and the practical applicability of administrative eco-efficiency, fostering economic development and improving the quality of life.

Keywords: Accountability, environmental education, new public administration, smart cities.

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Authors: D. M. Cocârță, I. A. Istrate, C. Streche, D. M. Dumitru

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Soil contamination phenomena are a wide world issue that has received the important attention in the last decades. The main pollutants that have affected soils are especially those resulted from the oil extraction, transport and processing. This paper presents results obtained in the framework of a research project focused on the management of contaminated sites with petroleum products/ REMPET. One of the specific objectives of the REMPET project was to assess the electrochemical treatment (improved with polarity change respect to the typical approach) as a treatment option for the remediation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) from contaminated soils. Petroleum hydrocarbon compounds attach to soil components and are difficult to remove and degrade. Electrochemical treatment is a physicochemical treatment that has gained acceptance as an alternative method, for the remediation of organic contaminated soils comparing with the traditional methods as bioremediation and chemical oxidation. This type of treatment need short time and have high removal efficiency, being usually applied in heterogeneous soils with low permeability. During the experimental tests, the following parameters were monitored: pH, redox potential, humidity, current intensity, energy consumption. The electrochemical method was applied in an experimental setup with the next dimensions: 450 mm x 150 mm x 150 mm (L x l x h). The setup length was devised in three electrochemical cells that were connected at two power supplies. The power supplies configuration was provided in such manner that each cell has a cathode and an anode without overlapping. The initial value of TPH concentration in soil was of 1420.28 mg/kg_dw. The remediation method has been applied for only 21 days, when it was already noticed an average removal efficiency of 31 %, with better results in the anode area respect to the cathode one (33% respect to 27%). The energy consumption registered after the development of the experiment was 10.6 kWh for exterior power supply and 16.1 kWh for the interior one. Taking into account that at national level, the most used methods for soil remediation are bioremediation (which needs too much time to be implemented and depends on many factors) and thermal desorption (which involves high costs in order to be implemented), the study of electrochemical treatment will give an alternative to these two methods (and their limitations).

Keywords: Electrochemical remediation, pollution, soil contamination, total petroleum hydrocarbons

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Authors: A.K.Jayanthy, N.Sujatha, M.Ramasubba Reddy

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Microcirculation is essential for the proper supply of oxygen and nutritive substances to the biological tissue and the removal of waste products of metabolism. The determination of blood flow in the capillaries is therefore of great interest to clinicians. A comparison has been carried out using the developed non-invasive, non-contact and whole field laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) based technique and as well as a commercially available laser Doppler blood flowmeter (LDF) to evaluate blood flow at the finger tip and elbow and is presented here. The LSCI technique gives more quantitative information on the velocity of blood when compared to the perfusion values obtained using the LDF. Measurement of blood flow in capillaries can be of great interest to clinicians in the diagnosis of vascular diseases of the upper extremities.

Keywords: Blood flow, Laser Doppler flowmeter, LSCI, speckle

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Authors: Sirilak Namwong , Wonnop Visessanguan, Soottawat Benjakul, Somboon Tanasupawat

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The halophilic proteinase showed a maximal activity at 50°C and pH 9~10, in 20% NaCl and was highly stabilized by NaCl. It was able to hydrolyse natural actomyosin (NAM), collagen and anchovy protein. For NAM hydrolysis, the myosin heavy chain was completely digested by halophilic proteinase as evidenced by the lowest band intensity remaining, but partially hydrolysed actin. The SR5-3 proteinase was also capable hydrolyzing two major components of collagen, β- and α-compounds, effectively. The degree of hydrolysis (DH) of the halophilic proteinase and commercial proteinases (Novozyme, Neutrase, chymotrypsin and Flavourzyme) on the anchovy protein, were compared, and it was found that the proteinase showed a greater degree of hydrolysis towards anchovy protein than that from commercial proteinases. DH of halophilic proteinase was sharply enhanced according to the increase in the concentration of enzyme from 0.035 U to 0.105 U. The results warranting that the acceleration of the production of fish sauce with higher quality, may be achieved by adding of the halophilic proteinase from this bacterium.

Keywords: Halophilic proteinase, Halobacillus sp. SR5-3, anchovy (Spolephorus spp.) proteins, fish sauce

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Authors: Loke Kean Koay, Horizon Gitano-Briggs, Mani Maran Ratnam

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Today air-core coils (ACC) are a viable alternative to ferrite-core coils in a range of applications due to their low induction effect. An analytical study was carried out and the results were used as a guide to understand the relationship between the magnet-coil distance and the resulting attractive magnetic force. Four different ACC models were fabricated for experimental study. The variation in the models included the dimensions, the number of coil turns and the current supply to the coil. Comparison between the analytical and experimental results for all the models shows an average discrepancy of less than 10%. An optimized ACC design was selected for the scanner which can provide maximum magnetic force.

Keywords: Air-Core Coils, Electromagnetic, Linear Optical Scanner

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Authors: Zakir Husain

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This paper presents modeling and analysis of 12-phase distribution static compensator (DSTATCOM), which is capable of balancing the source currents in spite of unbalanced loading and phase outages. In addition to balance the supply current, the power factor can be set to a desired value. The theory of instantaneous symmetrical components is used to generate the twelve-phase reference currents. These reference currents are then tracked using current controlled voltage source inverter, operated in a hysteresis band control scheme. An ideal compensator in place of physical realization of the compensator is used. The performance of the proposed DTATCOM is validated through MATLAB simulation and detailed simulation results are given.

Keywords: DSTATCOM, Modeling, Load balancing, Multiphase, Power factor correction.

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Authors: D.T. Mirzarakhmetova

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The studying of enzymatic esterification of carboxylic acids and higher alcohols was performed by esterase Saccharomyces cerevisiae in water-organic medium. Investigation of the enzyme specificity to acetic substrates showed the best result with acetic acid in esterification reactions with ethanol whereas within other carboxylic acids the esterification decreased with acids: hexanoic > pentanoic > butyric > decanoic. In relation to higher alcohols C3-C5, esterification increased with alcohols propanol < butanol < amylol. Also it was determined that esterase was more specific to alcohols with branched chain such as isobutyl alcohol and isoamyl alcohol. Data obtained may have important practical implications, for example, for application of yeast esterase in producing various volatile esters as well as in enzymatic transformation of volatile acids and toxic fusel alcohols into volatile esters by providing the production of the high quality alcoholic beverages with redused content of higher alcohols as well as with improved degustational and hygienic properties.

Keywords: enzymes in non-conventional media, esterification, higher alcohols, volatile esters, yeast esterase

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Authors: M. C. Pardo-Ferreira, J. C. Rubio-Romero, M. Martínez-Rojas

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Resilience Engineering is a new paradigm of safety management that proposes to change the way of managing the safety to focus on the things that go well instead of the things that go wrong. Many complex and high-risk sectors such as air traffic control, health care, nuclear power plants, railways or emergencies, have applied this new vision of safety and have obtained very positive results. In the construction sector, safety management continues to be a problem as indicated by the statistics of occupational injuries worldwide. Therefore, it is important to improve safety management in this sector. For this reason, it is proposed to apply Resilience Engineering to the construction sector. The Construction Phase Health and Safety Plan emerges as a key element for the planning of safety management. One of the key tools of Resilience Engineering is the Resilience Assessment Grid that allows measuring the four essential abilities (respond, monitor, learn and anticipate) for resilient performance. The purpose of this paper is to develop a questionnaire based on the Resilience Assessment Grid, specifically on the ability to learn, to assess whether a Construction Phase Health and Safety Plans helps companies in a construction site to implement this ability. The research process was divided into four stages: (i) initial design of a questionnaire, (ii) validation of the content of the questionnaire, (iii) redesign of the questionnaire and (iii) application of the Delphi method. The questionnaire obtained could be used as a tool to help construction companies to evolve from Safety-I to Safety-II. In this way, companies could begin to develop the ability to learn, which will serve as a basis for the development of the other abilities necessary for resilient performance. The following steps in this research are intended to develop other questions that allow evaluating the rest of abilities for resilient performance such as monitoring, learning and anticipating.

Keywords: Resilience engineering, construction sector, resilience assessment grid, construction phase health and safety plan.

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Authors: Rimpi Rani

Abstract:

In the 2000s, a new migration trend of highly skilled Indian professionals towards Japan has appeared. This paper examines the factors that set off the incoming of highly skilled Indian professionals in Japan, mainly focusing on IT professionals’ immigration, and the reasons of the increase in their number. It investigates the influence of four factors: The Japanese immigration policy, the bilateral relations between India and Japan, the higher education system in India and the American H-1B visa policy with its cap system. This study concludes that increased and continuous supply of highly skilled Indian professionals have intensified the competition for migration to traditional destinations like the USA. This led Indian professionals   to consider other options such as Japan.

Keywords: International migration, India, Japan, highly skilled professionals.

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Authors: Jun Yu, Yat-Hei Lam, Boris Grinberg, Kevin Chai Tshun Chuan

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This paper presents a 5-V to 30-V current-mode boost converter for powering the drive circuit of a micro-electro-mechanical sensor. The design of a transconductance amplifier and an integrated current sensing circuit are presented. In addition, essential building blocks for power-on protection such as a soft-start and clamp block and supply and clock ready block are discussed in details. The chip is fabricated in a 0.18-μm CMOS process. Measurement results show that the soft-start and clamp block can effectively limit the inrush current during startup and protect the boost converter from startup failure.

Keywords: Boost Converter, Current Sensing, Power-on protection, Step-up Converter, Soft-start.

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Authors: Jong-Bae Lee, Seongsoo Lee

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This paper proposes an alternating discharge method of multiple battery cells to extend battery operation time. In the proposed method, two battery cells are periodically connected in turn to a mobile device and only one cell supply power while the other rests. Battery operation time of the connecting cell decreases due to rate-capacity effect, while that of the resting cell increases due to recovery effect. These two effects conflict each other, but recovery effect is generally larger than rate-capacity effect and battery lifetime is extended. It was found from the result that battery operation time increase about 7% by using alternating battery cell discharge.

Keywords: Battery, Recovery Effect, Rate-Capacity Effect, Low-Power, Alternating Battery Cell Discharge.

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Authors: Christian Mosch, Reiner Anderl, Antonio Álvaro de Assis Moura, Klaus Schützer

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Due to short product life cycles, increasing variety of products and short cycles of leap innovations manufacturing companies have to increase the flexibility of factory structures. Flexibility of factory structures is based on defined factory planning processes in which product, process and resource data of various partial domains have to be considered. Thus factory planning processes can be characterized as iterative, interdisciplinary and participative processes [1]. To support interdisciplinary and participative character of planning processes, a federative factory data management (FFDM) as a holistic solution will be described. FFDM is already implemented in form of a prototype. The interim results of the development of FFDM will be shown in this paper. The principles are the extracting of product, process and resource data from documents of various partial domains providing as web services on a server. The described data can be requested by the factory planner by using a FFDM-browser.

Keywords: BRAGECRIM, Factory Planning Process, FactoryData Management, Web Services

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Authors: Andrew Chimpololo

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Open and distance learning is a fairly new concept in Malawi. The major public provider, the Malawi College of Distance Education, rolled out its activities only about 40 years ago. Over the years, the demand for distance education has tremendously increased. The present government has displayed positive political will to uplift ODL as outlined in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy as well as the National Education Sector Plan. A growing national interest in education coupled with political stability and a booming ICT industry also raise hope for success. However, a fragile economy with a GNI per capita of -US$ 200 over the last decade, poor public funding, erratic power supply and lack of expertise put strain on efforts towards the promotion of ODL initiatives. Despite the challenges, the nation appears determined to go flat out and explore all possible avenues that could revolutionise education access and equity through ODL.

Keywords: challenges, distance education, Malawi, openlearning, prospects.

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Authors: O. A. Novitskaya

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The emerging markets of post-USSR countries have attracted Western multinational companies; however, weak institutions and unstable host country environments have hindered the implementation of successful management practices. The Ukrainian market, in light of recent events, is particularly interesting to study for its compatibility with Western businesses. This paper focuses on factors that can facilitate or inhibit the transfer of human resource management practices from Western headquarters to Ukrainian subsidiaries. To explain the national context’s effects better, a business systems approach has been applied to a qualitative study of 16 wholly owned Western subsidiaries, dissecting the reasons for a weak integration of Western practices in Ukraine. Results show that underdeveloped institutions have forced companies to develop additional practices that compensate for national weaknesses, as well as to adjust to a constantly changing environment. Flexibility and local responsiveness were observed as vital for success in Ukraine.

Keywords: Business system, HR practices, human resource management, multinational companies, Ukraine.

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Authors: E. Farshidi

Abstract:

In this paper, based on a novel synthesis, a set of new simplified circuit design to implement the linguistic-hedge operations for adjusting the fuzzy membership function set is presented. The circuits work in current-mode and employ floating-gate MOS (FGMOS) transistors that operate in weak inversion region. Compared to the other proposed circuits, these circuits feature severe reduction of the elements number, low supply voltage (0.7V), low power consumption (<200nW), immunity from body effect and wide input dynamic range (>60dB). In this paper, a set of fuzzy linguistic hedge circuits, including absolutely, very, much more, more, plus minus, more or less and slightly, has been implemented in 0.18 mm CMOS process. Simulation results by Hspice confirm the validity of the proposed design technique and show high performance of the circuits.

Keywords: Current-mode, Linguistic-Hedge, Fuzzy Logic, lowpower

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