Search results for: Decision Maturity Framework.

Authors: P. Valdez, M. Pelissero, A. Haim, F. Muiño, F. Galia, R. Tula

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As a result of the studies performed on the wave energy resource worldwide, a research project was set up to harvest wave energy for its conversion into electrical energy. Within this framework, a theoretical model of the electromechanical energy harvesting system, developed with MATLAB’s Simulink software, will be provided. This tool recreates the site conditions where the device will be installed and offers valuable information about the amount of energy that can be harnessed. This research provides a deeper understanding of the utilization of wave energy in order to improve the efficiency of a 1:1 scale prototype of the device.

Keywords: Electromechanical device, modeling, renewable energy, sea wave energy, simulation.

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Authors: N. Soussi, M. Bahaj

Abstract:

The enormous amount of information stored on the web increases from one day to the next, exposing the web currently faced with the inevitable difficulties of research pertinent information that users really want. The problem today is not limited to expanding the size of the information highways, but to design a system for intelligent search. The vast majority of this information is stored in relational databases, which in turn represent a backend for managing RDF data of the semantic web. This problem has motivated us to write this paper in order to establish an effective approach to support semantic transformation algorithm for SPARQL queries to SQL queries, more precisely SPARQL SELECT queries; by adopting this method, the relational database can be questioned easily with SPARQL queries maintaining the same performance.

Keywords: RDF, Semantic Web, SPARQL, SPARQL Query Transformation, SQL.

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Authors: Sofia Matoug, Amr Abdel-Dayem

Abstract:

This paper presents a comprehensive survey of recent research studies to segment and classify brain MR (magnetic resonance) images in order to detect significant changes to brain ventricles. The paper also presents a general framework for detecting regions that atrophy, which can help neurologists in detecting and staging Alzheimer. Furthermore, a prototype was implemented to segment brain MR images in order to extract the region of interest (ROI) and then, a classifier was employed to differentiate between normal and abnormal brain tissues. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme can provide a reliable second opinion that neurologists can benefit from.

Keywords: Alzheimer, brain images, classification techniques, Magnetic Resonance Images, MRI.

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Authors: Hussam Al-Shorman, Yosef Hasan Jbara

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A business case is a proposal for an investment initiative to satisfy business and functional requirements. The business case provides the foundation for tactical decision making and technology risk management. It helps to clarify how the organization will use its resources in the best way by providing justification for investment of resources. This paper describes how simulation was used for business case benefits and return on investment for the procurement of 8 production machines. With investment costs of about 4.7 million dollars and annual operating costs of about 1.3 million, we needed to determine if the machines would provide enough cost savings and cost avoidance. We constructed a model of the existing factory environment consisting of 8 machines and subsequently, we conducted average day simulations with light and heavy volumes to facilitate planning decisions required to be documented and substantiated in the business case.

Keywords: Investment cost, business case, return on investment, simulation.

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Authors: A. Amar, N. Burtebayev, Kerimkulov Zhambul, Sh. Hamada, N. Amangeldi

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the elastic scattering of protons, deuterons and 3He on 6Li at different incident energies have been analyzed in the framework of the optical model using ECIS88 as well as SPI GENOA codes. The potential parameters were extracted in the phenomenological treatment of measured by us angular distributions and literature data. A good agreement between theoretical and experimental differential cross sections was obtained in whole angular range. Parameters for real part of potential have been also calculated microscopically with singleand double-folding model for the p and d, 3He scattering, respectively, using DFPOT code. For best agreement with experiment the normalization factor N for the potential depth is obtained in the range of 0.7-0.9.

Keywords: Elastic scattering, Esis88 Code single and doublefolding model, phenomenological, DWBA.

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Authors: V. Anastasov, I.Khamis

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The paper presents an overview of environmental issues that may be expected with nuclear desalination. The analysis of coupling nuclear power with desalination plants indicates that adverse marine impacts can be mitigated with alternative intake designs or cooling systems. The atmospheric impact of desalination may be greatly reduced through the coupling with nuclear power, while maximizing the socio-economic benefit for both processes. The potential for tritium contamination of the desalinated water was reviewed. Experience with the systems and practices related to the radiological quality of the product water, shows no examples of cross-contamination. Furthermore, the indicators for the public acceptance of nuclear desalination, as one of the most important sustainability aspects of any such large project, show a positive trend. From the data collected, a conclusion is made that nuclear desalination should be supported by decision-makers.

Keywords: Environmental impacts, nuclear desalination, publicacceptance, tritium.

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Authors: Adam Rabcewicz

Abstract:

Variational methods for optical flow estimation are known for their excellent performance. The method proposed by Brox et al. [5] exemplifies the strength of that framework. It combines several concepts into single energy functional that is then minimized according to clear numerical procedure. In this paper we propose a modification of that algorithm starting from the spatiotemporal gradient constancy assumption. The numerical scheme allows to establish the connection between our model and the CLG(H) method introduced in [18]. Experimental evaluation carried out on synthetic sequences shows the significant superiority of the spatial variant of the proposed method. The comparison between methods for the realworld sequence is also enclosed.

Keywords: optical flow, variational methods, gradient constancy assumption.

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Authors: Liliana Mâţă

Abstract:

The focus of the study is to understand the factors of curriculum innovation from the perspective of Language teacher education. The overall aim of the study is to investigate Language educators- perceptions of factors of curriculum innovation. In the theoretical framework the main focus is on discussion about different curriculum approaches for language teacher education and limiting and facilitating factors of innovation. In order to achieve the aim of the study, an observational research is employed. The empirical basis of the study consists of questionnaire with sixty-three language teachers from eight Romanian higher education institutions. The findings reveal variation in Language teachers- conceptions of the dominant factors of curricular innovation.

Keywords: curriculum innovation, factors, Language teacher education

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Authors: S.A.M. Yatim, Z.B. Ibrahim, K.I. Othman, F. Ismail

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The implicit block methods based on the backward differentiation formulae (BDF) for the solution of stiff initial value problems (IVPs) using variable step size is derived. We construct a variable step size block methods which will store all the coefficients of the method with a simplified strategy in controlling the step size with the intention of optimizing the performance in terms of precision and computation time. The strategy involves constant, halving or increasing the step size by 1.9 times the previous step size. Decision of changing the step size is determined by the local truncation error (LTE). Numerical results are provided to support the enhancement of method applied.

Keywords: Backward differentiation formulae, block backwarddifferentiation formulae, stiff ordinary differential equation, variablestep size.

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Authors: Zeeshan Hamid, Sarwar Mehmood Azhar

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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the positive impact of SHRM practices and transformational leadership style on employees job satisfaction and to develop a conceptual understanding of the moderating role of transformational leadership between the relationship of SHRM practices and employees job satisfaction. This study focuses on four SHRM practices that have positive relationship with employee’s job satisfaction.

Keywords: Employee’s job satisfaction, moderating effect of transformational leadership, SHRM practices, transformational leadership, theoretical framework.

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Authors: T. N. Mac, B. Shahbodaghkhan, N. Khalili

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A new elastic-viscoplastic (EVP) constitutive model is proposed for the analysis of time-dependent behavior of clay. The proposed model is based on the bounding surface plasticity and the concept of viscoplastic consistency framework to establish continuous transition from plasticity to rate dependent viscoplasticity. Unlike the overstress based models, this model will meet the consistency condition in formulating the constitutive equation for EVP model. The procedure of deriving the constitutive relationship is also presented. Simulation results and comparisons with experimental data are then presented to demonstrate the performance of the model.

Keywords: Bounding surface, consistency theory, constitutive model, viscosity.

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Authors: Jianwei Wu

Abstract:

Based on the one-bit-matching principle and by turning the de-mixing matrix into an orthogonal matrix via certain normalization, Ma et al proposed a one-bit-matching learning algorithm on the Stiefel manifold for independent component analysis [8]. But this algorithm is not adaptive. In this paper, an algorithm which can extract kurtosis and its sign of each independent source component directly from observation data is firstly introduced.With the algorithm , the one-bit-matching learning algorithm is revised, so that it can make the blind separation on the Stiefel manifold implemented completely in the adaptive mode in the framework of natural gradient.

Keywords: Independent component analysis, kurtosis, Stiefel manifold, super-gaussians or sub-gaussians.

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Authors: Brahim Belattar, Abdelhabib Bourouis

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This paper describes important features of JAPROSIM, a free and open source simulation library implemented in Java programming language. It provides a framework for building discrete event simulation models. The process interaction world view adopted by JAPROSIM is discussed. We present the architecture and major components of the simulation library. A pedagogical example is given in order to illustrate how to use JAPROSIM for building discrete event simulation models. Further motivations are discussed and suggestions for improving our work are given.

Keywords: Discrete Event Simulation, Object-Oriented Simulation, JAPROSIM, Process Interaction Worldview, Java-based modeling and simulation.

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Authors: Gh. Jandaghi, H. Zarei Matin, A. Farjami

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In this article, while it is attempted to describe the problem and its importance, transformational leadership is studied by considering leadership theories. Issues such as the definition of transformational leadership and its aspects are compared on the basis of the ideas of various connoisseurs and then it (transformational leadership) is examined in successful and unsuccessful companies. According to the methodology, the method of research, hypotheses, population and statistical sample are investigated and research findings are analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistical methods in the framework of analytical tables. Finally, our conclusion is provided by considering the results of statistical tests. The final result shows that transformational leadership is significantly higher in successful companies than unsuccessful ones P<0.0001).

Keywords: Idealized influence, individualized considerations, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, transformational leadership

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Authors: Fatima Akhmedova, Simon Liao

Abstract:

One of the most critical decision points in the design of a face recognition system is the choice of an appropriate face representation. Effective feature descriptors are expected to convey sufficient, invariant and non-redundant facial information. In this work we propose a set of Hahn moments as a new approach for feature description. Hahn moments have been widely used in image analysis due to their invariance, nonredundancy and the ability to extract features either globally and locally. To assess the applicability of Hahn moments to Face Recognition we conduct two experiments on the Olivetti Research Laboratory (ORL) database and University of Notre-Dame (UND) X1 biometric collection. Fusion of the global features along with the features from local facial regions are used as an input for the conventional k-NN classifier. The method reaches an accuracy of 93% of correctly recognized subjects for the ORL database and 94% for the UND database.

Keywords: Face Recognition, Hahn moments, Recognition-by-parts, Time-lapse.

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Authors: Akram Hatami, Naser Firoozi, Vesa Puhakka

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Ethics and responsibility are rapidly becoming a distinguishing feature of organizations. In this paper, we analyze ethics and responsibility in shadow factories in China. We engage ourselves with Bauman’s moral impulse perspective because his idea can contextualize ethics and responsibility. Moral impulse is a feeling of a selfless, infinite and unconditional responsibility towards, and care for, Others. We analyze a case study from a secondary data source because, for such a critical phenomenon as business ethics in shadow factories, collecting primary data is difficult, since they are unregistered factories. We argue that there has not been enough attention given to the ethics and responsibility in shadow factories in China. Our main goal is to demonstrate that, considering the Other, more importantly the employees, in ethical decision-making is a simple instruction beyond the narrow version of ethics by ethical codes and rules.

Keywords: Moral impulse, responsibility, shadow factories, the other.

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Authors: Kyoung-jae Kim, Hyunchul Ahn, Sangwon Jeong

Abstract:

This study proposes a novel recommender system to provide the advertisements of context-aware services. Our proposed model is designed to apply a modified collaborative filtering (CF) algorithm with regard to the several dimensions for the personalization of mobile devices – location, time and the user-s needs type. In particular, we employ a classification rule to understand user-s needs type using a decision tree algorithm. In addition, we collect primary data from the mobile phone users and apply them to the proposed model to validate its effectiveness. Experimental results show that the proposed system makes more accurate and satisfactory advertisements than comparative systems.

Keywords: Location-based advertisement, Recommender system, Collaborative filtering, User needs type, Mobile user.

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Authors: J. Hodicky, P. Frantis

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Command and Control (C2) system and its interfacethe Common Operational Picture (COP) are main means that supports commander in its decision making process. COP contains information about friendly and enemy unit positions. The friendly position is gathered via tactical network. In the case of tactical network failure the information about units are not available. The tactical simulator can be used as a tool that is capable to predict movements of units in respect of terrain features. Article deals with an experiment that was based on Czech C2 system that is in the case of connectivity lost fed by VR Forces simulator. Article analyzes maximum time interval in which the position created by simulator is still usable and truthful for commander in real time.

Keywords: command and control system, movement prediction, simulation

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Authors: Yuan He, Yupin Luo, Dongcheng Hu

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose a novel variational method for unsupervised texture segmentation. We use a Gabor filter bank to extract texture features. Some of the filtered channels form a multidimensional Gaborian feature space. To avoid deforming contours directly in a vector-valued space we use a Gaussian mixture model to describe the statistical distribution of this space and get the boundary and region probabilities. Then a framework of geodesic active regions is applied based on them. In the end, experimental results are presented, and show that this method can obtain satisfied boundaries between different texture regions.

Keywords: Texture segmentation, Gabor filter, snakes, Geodesicactive regions

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Authors: Sherry S. Herron, Douglas Magomo, Paula Gossard

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In this article, we discuss project-based learning in the context of a wheel garden as an instructional tool in science and mathematics education. A wheel garden provides multiple opportunities to teach across the curriculum, to integrate disciplines, and to promote community involvement. Grounded in the theoretical framework of constructivism, the wheel garden provides a multidisciplined educational tool that provides a hands-on, non-traditional arena for learning. We will examine some of the cultural, art, science, and mathematics connections made with this project.

Keywords: Art education, cross-curriculum instruction, multicultural education, project-based learning, school gardens, task based learning.

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Authors: Onder Yakut, Serdar Solak, Emine Dogru Bolat

Abstract:

Measuring the Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is an essential process for the diagnosis of the heart diseases. The ECG signal has the information of the degree of how much the heart performs its functions. In medical diagnosis and treatment systems, Decision Support Systems processing the ECG signal are being developed for the use of clinicians while medical examination. In this study, a modular wireless ECG (WECG) measuring and recording system using a single board computer and e-Health sensor platform is developed. In this designed modular system, after the ECG signal is taken from the body surface by the electrodes first, it is filtered and converted to digital form. Then, it is recorded to the health database using Wi-Fi communication technology. The real time access of the ECG data is provided through the internet utilizing the developed web interface.

Keywords: ECG, e-health sensor shield, raspberry Pi, wifi technology.

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Authors: Bijaya Krushna Mangaraj, Deepak Kumar Das

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Sustainability in rural production system can only be achieved if it can suitably satisfy the local requirement as well as the outside demand with the changing time. With the increased pressure from the food sector in a globalised world, the agrarian economy needs to re-organise its cultivable land system to be compatible with new management practices as well as the multiple needs of various stakeholders and the changing resource scenario. An attempt has been made to transform this problem into a multi-objective decisionmaking problem considering various objectives, resource constraints and conditional constraints. An interactive fuzzy multi-objective programming approach has been used for such a purpose taking a case study in Indian context to demonstrate the validity of the method.

Keywords: Land re-organisation, Crop planning, Multiobjective Decision-Making, Fuzzy Goal Programming.

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Authors: K. D. Mroczek

Abstract:

In the study presented institutional context is discussed in terms of companies’ entry mode choice. In contrary to many previous analyses, instead of using one or two aggregated variables, a set of eleven determinants is used to establish equity and non-equity internationalization friendly conditions. Based on secondary data, 140 countries are analyzed and grouped into clusters revealing similar framework. The range of the economies explored is wide as it covers all regions distinguished by The World Bank. The results can prove a useful alternative for operationalization of institutional variables in further research concerning entry modes or strategic management in international markets.

Keywords: Clustering, entry mode choice, institutional environment, transaction costs.

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Authors: G. Feletti, D. Tedesco, P. Trucco

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The present study aims to develop a dashboard of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to enhance information and predictive capabilities in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems, supporting both operational and strategic decisions of different actors. The employed research methodology consists of a first phase of revision of the technical-scientific literature concerning the indicators currently in use for the performance measurement of EMS. It emerges that current studies focus on two distinct areas and independent objectives: the ambulance service, a fundamental component of pre-hospital health treatment, and the patient care in the Emergency Department (ED). Conversely, the perspective proposed by this study is to consider an integrated view of the ambulance service process and the ED process, both essential to ensure high quality of care and patient safety. Thus, the proposal covers the end-to-end healthcare service process and, as such, allows considering the interconnection between the two EMS processes, the pre-hospital and hospital ones, connected by the assignment of the patient to a specific ED. In this way, it is possible to optimize the entire patient management. Therefore, attention is paid even to EMS aspects that in current literature tend to be neglected or underestimated. In particular, the integration of the two processes enables to evaluate the advantage of an ED selection decision having visibility on EDs’ saturation status and therefore considering, besides the distance, the available resources and the expected waiting times. Starting from a critical review of the KPIs proposed in extant literature, the design of the dashboard was carried out: the high number of analyzed KPIs was reduced by eliminating firstly the ones not in line with the aim of the study and then the ones supporting a similar functionality. The KPIs finally selected were tested on a realistic dataset, which draw us to exclude additional indicators due to unavailability of data required for their computation. The final dashboard, that was discussed and validated by experts in the field, includes a variety of KPIs able to support operational and planning decisions, early warning, and citizens’ awareness on EDs accessibility in real time. The association of each KPI to the EMS phase it refers to enabled the design of a well-balanced dashboard, covering both efficiency and effectiveness performance objectives of the entire EMS process. Indeed, just the initial phases related to the interconnection between ambulance service and patient care are covered by traditional KPIs. Future developments could be directed to building a hierarchical dashboard, composed by a high-level minimal set of KPIs for measuring the basic performance of the EMS system, at an aggregate level, and lower levels of KPIs that bring additional and more detailed information on specific performance dimensions or EMS phases.

Keywords: Emergency Medical Services, Key Performance Indicators, Dashboard, Decision Support.

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Authors: Soumia Ichoua

Abstract:

In this paper, we investigate the strategic stochastic air traffic flow management problem which seeks to balance airspace capacity and demand under weather disruptions. The goal is to reduce the need for myopic tactical decisions that do not account for probabilistic knowledge about the NAS near-future states. We present and discuss a scenario-based modeling approach based on a time-space stochastic process to depict weather disruption occurrences in the NAS. A solution framework is also proposed along with a distributed implementation aimed at overcoming scalability problems. Issues related to this implementation are also discussed.

Keywords: Air traffic management, sample average approximation, scenario-based approach, stochastic capacity.

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Authors: Zh. Kumganbayev, A. Abdildabekova, E. Teleuova, Zh. Zhappassov

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In this article, by means of examination of Bolshevists Turkistanskie Vedomosti" newspaper and “Erikti Oylar Organi" and “Turkistanskyi Vestnik" newspapers which had been published during 1917-1918, the fact that “Turkistan Governorship" established in city of Kokand in November of 1917, within the framework of former tsarist Russia Turkistan general-governorship, was the legal government formed as a requisition of people of Turkistan was proved. An examination of these two newspapers providing information regarding history of “Turkistan Autonomy" but having opposite to each other views makes it possible to obtain valuable data concerning history of autonomy which was inappropriately misrepresented during Soviet period.

Keywords: Turkestan autonomy, tsarist Russia, Turkic peoples, People's Government of Turkestan.

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Authors: Dimitra Alexiou, Stefanos Katsavounis, Ria Kalfakakou

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In an urban area the determination of transportation routes should be planned so as to minimize the provoked pollution taking into account the cost of such routes. In the sequel these routes are cited as pollution routes.

The transportation network is expressed by a weighted graph G=(V,E,D,P) where every vertex represents a location to be served and E contains unordered pairs (edges) of elements in V that indicate a simple road. The distances / cost and a weight that depict the provoked air pollution by a vehicle transition at every road are assigned to each road as well. These are the items of set D and P respectively.

Furthermore the investigated pollution routes must not exceed predefined corresponding values concerning the route cost and the route pollution level during the vehicle transition.

In this paper we present an algorithm that generates such routes in order that the decision maker selects the most appropriate one. 

Keywords: bi-criteria, pollution, shortest paths.

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Authors: Abubakar Dikko

Abstract:

The research investigates the causes of unemployment in Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa and the role of Capital Accumulation in reducing the unemployment profile of these economies as proposed by the post-Keynesian economics. This is conducted through extensive review of literature on the NAIRU models and focused on the post-Keynesian view of unemployment within the NAIRU framework. The NAIRU (non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment) model has become a dominant framework used in macroeconomic analysis of unemployment. The study views the post-Keynesian economics arguments that capital accumulation is a major determinant of unemployment. Unemployment remains the fundamental socio-economic challenge facing African economies. It has been a burden to citizens of those economies. Namibia, Nigeria, and South Africa are great African nations battling with high unemployment rates. The high unemployment rate in the country led the citizens to chase away foreigners in the country claiming that they have taken away their jobs. The study proposes there is a strong relationship between capital accumulation and unemployment in Namibia, Nigeria, and South Africa, and capital accumulation is responsible for high unemployment rates in these countries. For the economies to achieve steady state level of employment and satisfactory level of economic growth and development, there is need for capital accumulation to take place. The countries in the study have been selected after a critical research and investigations. They are selected based on the following criteria; African economies with high unemployment rates above 15% and have about 40% of their workforce unemployed. This level of unemployment is the critical level of unemployment in Africa as expressed by International Labour Organization (ILO). And finally, the African countries experience a slow growth in their Gross fixed capital formation. Adequate statistical measures have been employed using a time-series analysis in the study and the results revealed that capital accumulation is the main driver of unemployment performance in the chosen African countries. An increase in the accumulation of capital causes unemployment to reduce significantly. The results of the research work will be useful and relevant to federal governments and ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa to resolve the issue of high and persistent unemployment rates in their economies which are great burden that slows growth and development of developing economies. Also, the result can be useful to World Bank, African Development Bank and International Labour Organization (ILO) in their further research and studies on how to tackle unemployment in developing and emerging economies.

Keywords: Capital accumulation, NAIRU, post-Keynesian economics, unemployment.

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Authors: Hassan Haghighi

Abstract:

Probabilistic techniques in computer programs are becoming more and more widely used. Therefore, there is a big interest in the formal specification, verification, and development of probabilistic programs. In our work-in-progress project, we are attempting to make a constructive framework for developing probabilistic programs formally. The main contribution of this paper is to introduce an intermediate artifact of our work, a Z-based formalism called PZ, by which one can build set theoretical models of probabilistic programs. We propose to use a constructive set theory, called CZ set theory, to interpret the specifications written in PZ. Since CZ has an interpretation in Martin-L¨of-s theory of types, this idea enables us to derive probabilistic programs from correctness proofs of their PZ specifications.

Keywords: formal specification, formal program development, probabilistic programs, CZ set theory, type theory.

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Authors: Preeda Sansakorn, Min An

Abstract:

In order to be capable of dealing with uncertainties, subjectivities, including vagueness arising in building construction projects, the application of fuzzy reasoning technique based on fuzzy set theory is proposed. This study contributes significantly to the development of a fuzzy reasoning safety risk assessment model for building construction projects that could be employed to assess the risk magnitude of each hazardous event identified during construction, and a third parameter of probability of consequence is incorporated in the model. By using the proposed safety risk analysis methodology, more reliable and less ambiguities, which provide the safety risk management project team for decision-making purposes.

Keywords: Safety risks assessment, building construction safety, fuzzy reasoning, construction risk assessment model, building construction projects.

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