Search results for: Sender Policy Framework

Authors: Cheng-Chieh Chiang, Yi-Chia Chan, Greg C. Lee

Abstract:

This paper proposes a video-based framework for face recognition to identify which faces appear in a video sequence. Our basic idea is like a tracking task - to track a selection of person candidates over time according to the observing visual features of face images in video frames. Hence, we employ the state-space model to formulate video-based face recognition by dividing this problem into two parts: the likelihood and the transition measures. The likelihood measure is to recognize whose face is currently being observed in video frames, for which two-dimensional linear discriminant analysis is employed. The transition measure estimates the probability of changing from an incorrect recognition at the previous stage to the correct person at the current stage. Moreover, extra nodes associated with head nodes are incorporated into our proposed state-space model. The experimental results are also provided to demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of our proposed approach.

Keywords: 2DLDA, face recognition, state-space model, likelihood measure, transition measure.

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Authors: Xiaohui Zhao, Shahan Mafuz

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Context-aware technologies provide system applications with the awareness of environmental conditions, customer behaviours, object movements, etc. Further, with such capability system applications can be smart to intelligently adapt their responses to the changing conditions. In regard to business operations, this promises businesses that their business processes can run more intelligently, adaptively and flexibly, and thereby either improve customer experience, enhance reliability of service delivery, or lower operational cost, to make the business more competitive and sustainable. Aiming at realising such context-aware business process management, this paper firstly explores its potential benefit, and then identifies some gaps between the current business process management support and the expected. In addition, some preliminary solutions are also discussed in regard to context definition, rule-based process execution, run-time process evolution, etc. A framework is also presented to give a conceptual architecture of context-aware business process management system to guide system implementation.

Keywords: Business process adaptation, business process evolution, business process modelling, and context awareness.

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Authors: Siti Norfazlina Yusoff, Noorlailahusna Mohd Yusof

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The aging of the workforce is occurring globally and has significant impact on organizations. The Malaysian population is ageing. Although, not as quickly as the populations of a number of Asian nations, or of parts of Europe; the rate is sufficient to cause a concern. The life expectancy of Malaysians has increased in year 2012 with an average of 73.8 years or equal to 71.1 years for males and 76.7 years for females. The birth and death rates are 26.05 births/1,000 population and 5.29 deaths/1,000 population respectively. These figures have placed a greater liability on the government’s shoulder, and have become a push factor for the country to revise a new retirement age for the public servants. The ‘aged population’ impinged on the new challenges faced by the Malaysian government, which had to deal with an unproductive aged workforce. A new retirement age from 58 to 60 years old has been introduced and this could have a positive effect on this cohort, in maintaining financial security. However, keeping older employees might affect organizations’ performance and productivity. The organizations need to pay more attention on them, since they are less effective and might be affected by numerous health problems. An innovative culture should be introduced and this could be a good indicator for organizations that deal with these ‘expensive’ workers.

Keywords: Aged workforce, financial relief, innovative culture retirement policy.

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Authors: Balasundaram Prasaant, Ploix Stephane, Delinchant Benoit, Muresan Cristian

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Hardware in Loop (HIL) testing is done to test and validate a particular product especially in building technology. When it comes to building technology, it is more important to test the products for their efficiency. The test rig in the HIL simulator may contribute to some uncertainties on measured efficiency. The uncertainties include physical uncertainties and scenario-based uncertainties. In this paper, a simple uncertainty analysis framework for an HIL setup is shown considering only the physical uncertainties. The entire modeling of the HIL setup is done in Dymola. The uncertain sources are considered based on available knowledge of the components and also on expert knowledge. For the propagation of uncertainty, Monte Carlo Simulation is used since it is the most reliable and easy to use. In this article it is shown how an HIL setup can be modeled and how uncertainty propagation can be performed on it. Such an approach is not common in building energy analysis.

Keywords: Energy in Buildings, Hardware in Loop, Modelica (Dymola), Monte Carlo Simulation, Uncertainty Propagation.

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Authors: George Yungchih Wang

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This paper argues that increased uncertainty, in certain situations, may actually encourage investment. Since earlier studies mostly base their arguments on the assumption of geometric Brownian motion, the study extends the assumption to alternative stochastic processes, such as mixed diffusion-jump, mean-reverting process, and jump amplitude process. A general approach of Monte Carlo simulation is developed to derive optimal investment trigger for the situation that the closed-form solution could not be readily obtained under the assumption of alternative process. The main finding is that the overall effect of uncertainty on investment is interpreted by the probability of investing, and the relationship appears to be an invested U-shaped curve between uncertainty and investment. The implication is that uncertainty does not always discourage investment even under several sources of uncertainty. Furthermore, high-risk projects are not always dominated by low-risk projects because the high-risk projects may have a positive realization effect on encouraging investment.

Keywords: real options, geometric Brownian motion, mixeddiffusion-jump process, mean- reverting process, jump amplitudeprocess

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Authors: Ayodeji Adesina, Derek Molloy

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Traditional higher-education classrooms allow lecturers to observe students- behaviours and responses to a particular pedagogy during learning in a way that can influence changes to the pedagogical approach. Within current e-learning systems it is difficult to perform continuous analysis of the cohort-s behavioural tendency, making real-time pedagogical decisions difficult. This paper presents a Virtual Learning Process Environment (VLPE) based on the Business Process Management (BPM) conceptual framework. Within the VLPE, course designers can model various education pedagogies in the form of learning process workflows using an intuitive flow diagram interface. These diagrams are used to visually track the learning progresses of a cohort of students. This helps assess the effectiveness of the chosen pedagogy, providing the information required to improve course design. A case scenario of a cohort of students is presented and quantitative statistical analysis of their learning process performance is gathered and displayed in realtime using dashboards.

Keywords: Business process management, cohort analytics, learning processes, virtual learning environment.

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Authors: E. Abdi

Abstract:

The purpose of this theoretical literature review is to study the relevant academic literature on lack of cardiorespiratory fitness and its effects on children. The total of thirty eight relevant documents were identified and considered for this review which nineteen of those were original research articles published in peer reviewed journals. The other nineteen articles were statistical documents. This literature review is structured to examine 5 effects in deficiency of cardiorespiratory fitness in school aged children (A) Relative Age Effect (RAE), (B) Obesity, (C) Inadequate fitness level (D) Unhealthy life style, and (E) Academics. The categories provide a theoretical framework for future studies where results are driven from the literature review. The study discusses that regular physical fitness assists children and adolescents to develop healthy physical activity behaviors which can be sustained throughout adult life. Conclusion suggests that advocacy for increasing physical activity and decreasing sedentary behaviors at school and home are necessary.

Keywords: Cardiorespiratory, endurance, physical activity, physical fitness.

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Authors: Nannan Zong, Manicka Dhanasekar

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The effect of the discontinuity of the rail ends and the presence of lower modulus insulation material at the gap to the variations of stresses in the insulated rail joint (IRJ) is presented. A three-dimensional wheel – rail contact model in the finite element framework is used for the analysis. It is shown that the maximum stress occurs in the subsurface of the railhead when the wheel contact occurs far away from the rail end and migrates to the railhead surface as the wheel approaches the rail end; under this condition, the interface between the rail ends and the insulation material has suffered significantly increased levels of stress concentration. The ratio of the elastic modulus of the railhead and insulation material is found to alter the levels of stress concentration. Numerical result indicates that a higher elastic modulus insulating material can reduce the stress concentration in the railhead but will generate higher stresses in the insulation material, leading to earlier failure of the insulation material

Keywords: Rail end, material interface, wheel-rail contact, stress, finite element method

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Authors: Chastiti Mediafira Wulolo, Tri Legionosuko, Suhirwan, Yusuf

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Terrorism and radicalization have become a common threat to every nation in this world. As a part of the asymmetric warfare threat, terrorism and radicalization need a complex strategy as the problem solver. One such way is by collaborating with the international community. The Our Eyes Initiative (OEI), for example, is a cooperation pact in the field of intelligence information exchanges related to terrorism and radicalization initiated by the Indonesian Ministry of Defence. The pact has been signed by Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, and Singapore. This cooperation mostly engages military acts as a central role, but it still requires the involvement of various parties such as the police, intelligence agencies and other government institutions. This paper will use a qualitative content analysis method to address the opportunity and enhance the optimization of OEI. As the result, it will explain how OEI takes the opportunities as the strategy for counter-terrorism by building it up as the regional cooperation, building the legitimacy of government and creating the legal framework of the information sharing system.

Keywords: Our Eyes Initiative, terrorism, counter-terrorism, ASEAN, cooperation, strategy.

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Authors: Zeeshan Hamid, Asher Ramish

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The purpose of this paper is to focus on security and safety issues facing by pharmaceutical industry globally when counterfeit drugs are in question. Hence, there is an intense need to secure and authenticate pharmaceutical products in the emerging counterfeit product market. This paper will elaborate the application of radio frequency identification (RFID) in pharmaceutical industry and to identify its key benefits for patient’s care. The benefits are: help to co-ordinate the stream of supplies, accuracy in chains of supplies, maintaining trustworthy information, to manage the operations in appropriate and timely manners and finally deliver the genuine drug to patient. It is discussed that how RFID supported supply chain information sharing (SCIS) helps to combat against counterfeit drugs. And a solution how to tag pharmaceutical products; since, some products prevent RFID implementation in this industry. In this paper, a proposed model for pharma industry distribution suggested to combat against the counterfeit drugs when they are in supply chain.

Keywords: Supply chain, RFID, pharmaceutical industry, counterfeit drugs, patients care.

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Authors: Neil Morgan

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The notion of Threshold Concepts has offered a fertile new perspective on the transformative effects of mastery of particular concepts on student understanding of subject matter and their developing identities as inductees into disciplinary discourse communities. Only by successfully traversing essential knowledge thresholds can neophytes achieve the more sophisticated understandings of subject matter possessed by mature members of a discipline. This paper uses thematic analysis of disciplinary guiding principles to identify nine candidate Threshold Concepts that appear to underpin effective TESOL practice. The relationship between these candidate TESOL Threshold Concepts, TESOL principles, and TESOL instructional techniques appears to be amenable to a schematic representation based on superordinate categories of TESOL practitioner concern and, as such, offers an alternative to the view of Threshold Concepts as a privileged subset of disciplinary core concepts. The paper concludes by exploring the potential of a Threshold Concepts framework to productively inform TESOL initial teacher education (ITE) and in-service education and training (INSET).

Keywords: TESOL, threshold concepts, TESOL principles, TESOL ITE/INSET, community of practice.

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Authors: Panagiotis Kosmas, Panayiotis Zaphiris

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Embodied Cognition (EC) as a learning paradigm is based on the idea of an inseparable link between body, mind, and environment. In recent years, the advent of theoretical learning approaches around EC theory has resulted in a number of empirical studies exploring the implementation of the theory in education. This systematic literature overview identifies the mainstream of EC research and emphasizes on the implementation of the theory across learning environments. Based on a corpus of 43 manuscripts, published between 2013 and 2017, it sets out to describe the range of topics covered under the umbrella of EC and provides a holistic view of the field. The aim of the present review is to investigate the main issues in EC research related to the various learning contexts. Particularly, the study addresses the research methods and technologies that are utilized, and it also explores the integration of body into the learning context. An important finding from the overview is the potential of the theory in different educational environments and disciplines. However, there is a lack of an explicit pedagogical framework from an educational perspective for a successful implementation in various learning contexts.

Keywords: Embodied cognition, embodied learning, education, technology, schools.

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Authors: Jerome T. Tolentino, Ma. Victoria Rejuso, Jara Kaye Villanueva, Loureal Camille Inocencio, Ma. Rosario Concepcion O. Ang

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Wind energy is rapidly emerging as the primary source of electricity in the Philippines, although developing an accurate wind resource model is difficult. In this study, Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, an open source mesoscale Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model, was used to produce a 1-year atmospheric simulation with 4 km resolution on the Ilocos Region of the Philippines. The WRF output (netCDF) extracts the annual mean wind speed data using a Python-based Graphical User Interface. Lastly, wind resource assessment was produced using a GIS software. Results of the study showed that it is more flexible to use Python scripts than using other post-processing tools in dealing with netCDF files. Using WRF Model, Python, and Geographic Information Systems, a reliable wind resource map is produced.

Keywords: Wind resource assessment, Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, python, GIS software.

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Authors: Suzanne Yaganeh, Janni Nielsen, Leif Bloch Rasmussen

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This paper invites to dialogue and reflections on innovation and entrepreneurship by presenting concepts of innovation leading to the introduction of a complex theoretical framework; Cooperative Innovation (CO-IN). CO-IN is a didactic model enhancing and scaffolding processes of cooperation creating innovation drawing on a Scandinavian tradition. CO-IN is based on a cross-sectorial and multidisciplinary approach. We introduce the concept of complementarity to help capture the validity of diversity and we suggest the concept of “the space in between" to understand the creation of identity as a collective mind. We see dialogue and the use of multi modal techniques as essential tools for conceptualizations giving possibility for clarification of the complexity and diversity leading to decision making based on knowledge as commons. We introduce the didactic design and present our empirical findings from an innovation workshop in Argentina. In a final paragraph we reflect on the design as a support of the development of common ground, collective mind and collective action and the creation of knowledge as commons to facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship.

Keywords: CO-operative Innovation, didactic design, dialogue and ICT.

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Authors: Mohammad Taghi Taghavifard, Danial Mirheydari

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This paper suggests an algorithm for the evaluation and selection of suppliers. At the beginning, all the needed materials and services used by the organization were identified and categorized with regard to their nature by ABC method. Afterwards, in order to reduce risk factors and maximize the organization's profit, purchase strategies were determined. Then, appropriate criteria were identified for primary evaluation of suppliers applying to the organization. The output of this stage was a list of suppliers qualified by the organization to participate in its tenders. Subsequently, considering a material in particular, appropriate criteria on the ordering of the mentioned material were determined, taking into account the particular materials' specifications as well as the organization's needs. Finally, for the purpose of validation and verification of the proposed model, it was applied to Mobarakeh Steel Company (MSC), the qualified suppliers of this Company are ranked by the means of a Hierarchical Fuzzy TOPSIS method. The obtained results show that the proposed algorithm is quite effective, efficient and easy to apply.

Keywords: ABC analysis, Hierarchical Fuzzy TOPSIS, Primary supplier evaluation, Purchasing strategy, supplier selection

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Authors: A. Saghaei, R. Ghasemi

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Through 1980s, management accounting researchers described the increasing irrelevance of traditional control and performance measurement systems. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a critical business tool for a lot of organizations. It is a performance measurement system which translates mission and strategy into objectives. Strategy map approach is a development variant of BSC in which some necessary causal relations must be established. To recognize these relations, experts usually use experience. It is also possible to utilize regression for the same purpose. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), which is one of the most powerful methods of multivariate data analysis, obtains more appropriate results than traditional methods such as regression. In the present paper, we propose SEM for the first time to identify the relations between objectives in the strategy map, and a test to measure the importance of relations. In SEM, factor analysis and test of hypotheses are done in the same analysis. SEM is known to be better than other techniques at supporting analysis and reporting. Our approach provides a framework which permits the experts to design the strategy map by applying a comprehensive and scientific method together with their experience. Therefore this scheme is a more reliable method in comparison with the previously established methods.

Keywords: BSC, SEM, Strategy map.

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Authors: Peter Newton, Peter Newman, Stephen Glackin, Roman Trubka

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Pressures for urban redevelopment are intensifying in all large cities. A new logic for urban development is required – green urbanism – that provides a spatial framework for directing population and investment inwards to brownfields and greyfields precincts, rather than outwards to the greenfields. This represents both a major opportunity and a major challenge for city planners in pluralist liberal democracies. However, plans for more compact forms of urban redevelopment are stalling in the face of community resistance. A new paradigm and spatial planning platform is required that will support timely multi-level and multi-actor stakeholder engagement, resulting in the emergence of consensus plans for precinct-level urban regeneration capable of more rapid implementation. Using Melbourne, Australia as a case study, this paper addresses two of the urban intervention challenges – where and how – via the application of a 21st century planning tool ENVISION created for this purpose.

Keywords: Green urbanism, greyfields, planning tools, urban regeneration.

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Authors: B. Bakken, O. Boe

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The Norwegian Military Academy (Army) has initiated a project with the main ambition to explore possible avenues to enhancing operational effectiveness through an increased use of simulation-based training and exercises. Within a cost/benefit framework, we discuss opportunities and limitations of vertical and horizontal integration of the existing tactical training system. Vertical integration implies expanding the existing training system to span the full range of training from tactical level (platoon, company) to command and staff level (battalion, brigade). Horizontal integration means including other domains than army tactics and staff procedures in the training, such as military ethics, foreign languages, leadership and decision making. We discuss each of the integration options with respect to purpose and content of training, "best practice" for organising and conducting simulation-based training, and suggest how to evaluate training procedures and measure learning outcomes. We conclude by giving guidelines towards further explorative work and possible implementation.

Keywords: Effectiveness, integration, simulation, training.

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Authors: G.Kavitha, V.Sankaranarayanan

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Grid computing provides a virtual framework for controlled sharing of resources across institutional boundaries. Recently, trust has been recognised as an important factor for selection of optimal resources in a grid. We introduce a new method that provides a quantitative trust value, based on the past interactions and present environment characteristics. This quantitative trust value is used to select a suitable resource for a job and eliminates run time failures arising from incompatible user-resource pairs. The proposed work will act as a tool to calculate the trust values of the various components of the grid and there by improves the success rate of the jobs submitted to the resource on the grid. The access to a resource not only depend on the identity and behaviour of the resource but also upon its context of transaction, time of transaction, connectivity bandwidth, availability of the resource and load on the resource. The quality of the recommender is also evaluated based on the accuracy of the feedback provided about a resource. The jobs are submitted for execution to the selected resource after finding the overall trust value of the resource. The overall trust value is computed with respect to the subjective and objective parameters.

Keywords: access control, feedback, grid computing, reputation, security, trust, trust parameter.

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Authors: Mesnan Silalahi, Dana Indra Sensuse, Indra Budi

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Many studies have revealed the fact of the complexity of ontology building process. Therefore there is a need for a new approach which one of that addresses the socio-technical aspects in the collaboration to reach a consensus. Meta-design approach is considered applicable as a method in the methodological model of socio-technical ontology engineering. Principles in the meta-design framework are applied in the construction phases of the ontology. A web portal is developed to support the meta-design principles requirements. To validate the methodological model semantic web applications were developed and integrated in the portal and also used as a way to show the usefulness of the ontology. The knowledge based system will be filled with data of Indonesian medicinal plants. By showing the usefulness of the developed ontology in a semantic web application, we motivate all stakeholders to participate in the development of knowledge based system of medicinal plants in Indonesia.

Keywords: Socio-technical, meta-design, ontology engineering methodology, semantic web application.

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Authors: Yananda Siraphatthada

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This policy participation action research explores the roles of Thai government units during its 2010 fiscal year on how to create value added to recycling business in the central part of Thailand. The research aims to a) study how the government plays a role to support the business, and its problems and obstacles on supporting the business, b) to design a strategic action – short, medium, and long term plans -- to create value added to the recycling business, particularly in local full-loop companies/organizations licensed by Wongpanit Waste Separation Plant as well as those licensed by the Department of Provincial Administration. Mixed method research design, i.e., a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods is utilized in the present study in both data collection and analysis procedures. Quantitative data was analyzed by frequency, percent value, mean scores, and standard deviation, and aimed to note trend and generalizations. Qualitative data was collected via semi-structured interviews/focus group interviews to explore in-depth views of the operators. The sampling included 1,079 operators in eight provinces in the central part of Thailand.

Keywords: Management, Recycling Business, Value Added.

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Authors: Shanthi Thomas

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This research paper presents the current practices of teacher professional development, perceived as beneficial by teachers themselves, in a private secondary school in Brunei Darussalam. This is part of the findings of a larger qualitative study on teacher empowerment, using ethnographic methods for data collection, i.e. participant observation, interviews and document analysis. The field work was carried out over a period of six months in 2013. An analysis of the field data revealed multiple pathways of teacher professional development existing in the school. The results indicate that school leaders, the teacher community in the school, students, and the teachers themselves were the agents in a school that facilitated teacher empowerment. Besides contributing to the knowledge base on teacher professional development, the results of this study provide directions for educational policy makers in their efforts to enhance professional development in secondary schools of similar characteristics. For school leaders and the teacher community, these findings offer guidelines for maximizing the opportunities for these professional development practices, by strengthening collegiality and by using the existing structures optimally for the benefit of all concerned.

Keywords: Colleagues and the wider teacher community, school leaders, self-driven professional development, teacher professional development.

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Authors: Dimitrios J. Dimitriou, Maria F. Sartzetaki

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The assessment variables of the accessibility and the sustainability of access infrastructure for remote regions may vary significant by location and a wide range of factors may affect the decision process. In this paper, the environmental disturbance implications of transportation system to key demand and supply variables impact the economic system in remote destination are descripted. According to a systemic approach, the key sustainability variables deals with decision making process that have to be included in strategic plan for the critical transport infrastructure development and their relationship to regional socioeconomic system are presented. The application deals with the development of railway in remote destinations, where the traditional CBA not include the external cost generated by the environmental impacts that may have a range of diverse impacts on transport infrastructure and services. The analysis output provides key messages to decision and policy makers towards sustainable development of transport infrastructure, especially for remote destinations where accessibility is a key factor of regional economic development and social stability. The key conclusion could be essential useful for relevant applications in remote regions in the same latitude.

Keywords: Sustainable development in remote regions, sustainability variables, transport infrastructure, strategic planning.

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Authors: Amilia Hasbullah, Wan Zahari Wan Yussof, Maziah Ismail

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The primary education system in Indonesia involved the community recognized as the school committee, to take a part in the process of achieving the quality of education via the school facility performance, the low level of school committee involvement in the education system has become the issue in the development of education and reflected to the quality of education. This paper will discuss the conceptual framework and methodology for the performance of school committees within the management of school facilities in Batubara district of Indonesia. The concepts of Community based Facility Management (CbFM) and Logometrix are used as a basis to measure the school committee performance in order to address the needs of quality school management. The data will be taken from questionnaires distributed for those who work and use school facilities spread over seven sub district of Batubara, Indonesia. The result of this study is expected to provide a guide for evaluating the performance of existing school committee in improving the quality of education in Indonesia.

Keywords: community based facility management, School facility management, School committee performance.

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Authors: Anju Shri, Parvinder S. Sandhu, Vikas Gupta, Sanyam Anand

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In literature, there are metrics for identifying the quality of reusable components but the framework that makes use of these metrics to precisely predict reusability of software components is still need to be worked out. These reusability metrics if identified in the design phase or even in the coding phase can help us to reduce the rework by improving quality of reuse of the software component and hence improve the productivity due to probabilistic increase in the reuse level. As CK metric suit is most widely used metrics for extraction of structural features of an object oriented (OO) software; So, in this study, tuned CK metric suit i.e. WMC, DIT, NOC, CBO and LCOM, is used to obtain the structural analysis of OO-based software components. An algorithm has been proposed in which the inputs can be given to K-Means Clustering system in form of tuned values of the OO software component and decision tree is formed for the 10-fold cross validation of data to evaluate the in terms of linguistic reusability value of the component. The developed reusability model has produced high precision results as desired.

Keywords: CK-Metric, Desicion Tree, Kmeans, Reusability.

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Authors: Mónika Bartalné-Berceli, Eszter Izsó, Szilveszter Gergely, András Salgó

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Presently a significant portion of the Earth's population does not have access to healthy food. Either because they cannot afford it or because they do not know which one are they. The aim of the VII th Framework Chance project (Nr. 266331) supported by the European Union has been to develop relatively cheap food with favourable nutritional value and it should have acceptable quality for consumers. As one task of the project we manufactured bread products as a basic food. We examined the enrichment of bread products with four kinds of bran, with a special milling product of grain industry (aleurone-rich flour) and with a soy-based sprouted additive. The applied concentration of the six mentioned additives has been optimized and the physical properties of the bread products were monitored. The weight/density of the enriched breads increased a bit, however the volume and height decreased slightly compared to the corresponding data of the control bread. The optimized composition of the final product is favourably affected by these additives having highly preferred composition from nutritional point of view.

Keywords: Aleurone-rich flour, Brans, Bread products, Sprouted soybean, YASO.

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Authors: Emad Alenany, M. Adel El-Baz

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In this paper, the flow of different classes of patients into a hospital is modelled and analyzed by using the queueing network analyzer (QNA) algorithm and discrete event simulation. Input data for QNA are the rate and variability parameters of the arrival and service times in addition to the number of servers in each facility. Patient flows mostly match real flow for a hospital in Egypt. Based on the analysis of the waiting times, two approaches are suggested for improving performance: Separating patients into service groups, and adopting different service policies for sequencing patients through hospital units. The separation of a specific group of patients, with higher performance target, to be served separately from the rest of patients requiring lower performance target, requires the same capacity while improves performance for the selected group of patients with higher target. Besides, it is shown that adopting the shortest processing time and shortest remaining processing time service policies among other tested policies would results in, respectively, 11.47% and 13.75% reduction in average waiting time relative to first come first served policy.

Keywords: Queueing network, discrete-event simulation, health applications, SPT.

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Authors: Weishou Shen, Dong Liu, Di Ji, Haoyun Shen, Naifeng Lin

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Based on the field investigation and long term remote sensing data, the dynamics of the alpine wetland in the river basin and their response to climate change were studied. Results showed the alpine wetlands accounted for 3.73% of total basin in 2010. Lake and river appeared an increasing trend in the past 30 years, with an increase of 34.36 % and 24.57%. However, swamp exhibited a tendency of decreasing with 233.74 km2. Annual average temperature, maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation in the river basin all exhibited an increasing trend, whereas relative humidity exhibited a decreasing trend. Ice and snow melting are main reasons of lake and river area enhancement and swamp area descend. There existed 91.78%-97.86% of reduced swamp converted into lakes on the basis of remote sensing image interpretation. China-s government policy of implementing development in the river basin is the major driving force of artificial wetland growth.

Keywords: alpine wetland dynamics, climate change, Yarlung Zangbo River basin

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Authors: A. H. Sajedi Pour, N. Hedayat, Z. Yazdi

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Sediment loads transfer in hydraulic installations and their consequences for the O&M of modern canal systems is emerging as one of the most important considerations in hydraulic engineering projects apriticularly those which are inteded to feed the irrigation and draiange schemes of large command areas such as the Dez and Mogahn in Iran.. The aim of this paper is to investigate the applicability of the vortex tube as a viable means of extracting sediment loads entering the canal systems in general and the water inatke structures in particulars. The Western conveyance canal of the Dez Diversion weir which feeds the Karkheh Flood Plain in Sothwestern Dezful has been used as the case study using the data from the Dastmashan Hydrometric Station. The SHARC software has been used as an analytical framework to interprete the data. Results show that given the grain size D50 and the canal turbulence the adaption length from the beginning of the canal and after the diversion dam is estimated at 477 m, a point which is suitable for laying the vortex tube.

Keywords: Vortex tube, sediments, western canal, SHARCmodel

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Authors: J. J. Gyimah, E. Kissi, S. Osei-Tutu, C. D. Adobor, T. Adjei-Kumi, E. Osei-Tutu

Abstract:

Price fluctuation contract is imperative and of paramount essence in the construction industry as it provides adequate relief and cushioning for changes in the prices of input resources during construction. As a result, several methods have been devised to better help in arriving at fair recompense in the event of price changes. However, stakeholders often appear not to be satisfied with the existing methods of fluctuation evaluation, ostensibly because of the challenges associated with them. The aim of this study was to identify the challenges to usage of building construction cost indices in Ghana. Data were gathered from contractors and quantity surveying firms. The study utilized survey questionnaire approach to elicit responses from the contractors and the consultants. Data gathered were analyzed scientifically, using the Relative Importance Index (RII) to rank the problems associated with the existing methods. The findings revealed the following among others: late release of data; inadequate recovery of costs; and work items of interest not included in the published indices as the main challenges of the existing methods. Findings provided useful lessons for policy makers and practitioners in decision making towards the usage and improvement of available indices.

Keywords: Building construction cost indices, challenges, usage, Ghana.

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