Search results for: human resources manager
1579 A Method for Evaluating the Mechanical Stress on Mandibular Advancement Devices
Authors: Tsung-yin Lin, Yi-yu Lee, Ching-hua Hung
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This study focuses on the stress analysis of Mandibular Advancement Devices (MADs), which are considered as a standard treatment of snoring that promoted by American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). Snoring is the most significant feature of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). SDB will lead to serious problems in human health. Oral appliances are ensured in therapeutic effect and compliance, especially the MADs. This paper proposes a new MAD design, and the finite element analysis (FEA) is introduced to precede the stress simulation for this MAD.Keywords: Finite element analysis, mandibular advancement devices, mechanical stress, snoring.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19011578 Modelling of Powered Roof Supports Work
Authors: Marcin Michalak
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Due to the increasing efforts on saving our natural environment a change in the structure of energy resources can be observed - an increasing fraction of a renewable energy sources. In many countries traditional underground coal mining loses its significance but there are still countries, like Poland or Germany, in which the coal based technologies have the greatest fraction in a total energy production. This necessitates to make an effort to limit the costs and negative effects of underground coal mining. The longwall complex is as essential part of the underground coal mining. The safety and the effectiveness of the work is strongly dependent of the diagnostic state of powered roof supports. The building of a useful and reliable diagnostic system requires a lot of data. As the acquisition of a data of any possible operating conditions it is important to have a possibility to generate a demanded artificial working characteristics. In this paper a new approach of modelling a leg pressure in the single unit of powered roof support. The model is a result of the analysis of a typical working cycles.Keywords: Machine modelling, underground mining, coal mining.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19341577 Dynamics of Protest Mobilization and Rapid Demobilization in Post-2001 Afghanistan: Facing Enlightening Movement
Authors: Ali Aqa Mohammad Jawad
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Taking a relational approach, this paper analyzes the causal mechanisms associated with successful mobilization and rapid demobilization of the Enlightening Movement in post-2001 Afghanistan. The movement emerged after the state-owned Da Afghan Bereshna Sherkat (DABS) decided to divert the route for the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TUTAP) electricity project. The grid was initially planned to go through the Hazara-inhabited province of Bamiyan, according to Afghanistan’s Power Sector Master Plan. The reroute served as an aide-mémoire of historical subordination to other ethno-religious groups for the Hazara community. It was also perceived as deprivation from post-2001 development projects, financed by international aid. This torched the accumulated grievances, which then gave birth to the Enlightening Movement. The movement had a successful mobilization. However, it demobilized after losing much of its mobilizing capabilities through an amalgamation of external and internal relational factors. The successful mobilization yet rapid demobilization constitutes the puzzle of this paper. From the theoretical perspective, this paper is significant as it establishes the applicability of contentious politics theory to protest mobilizations that occurred in Afghanistan, a context-specific, characterized by ethnic politics. Both primary and secondary data are utilized to address the puzzle. As for the primary resources, media coverage, interviews, reports, public media statements of the movement, involved in contentious performances, and data from Social Networking Services (SNS) are used. The covered period is from 2001-2018. As for the secondary resources, published academic articles and books are used to give a historical account of contentious politics. For data analysis, a qualitative comparative historical method is utilized to uncover the causal mechanisms associated with successful mobilization and rapid demobilization of the Movement. In this pursuit, both mobilization and demobilization are considered as larger political processes that could be decomposed to constituent mechanisms. Enlightening Movement’s framing and campaigns are first studied to uncover the associated mechanisms. Then, to avoid introducing some ad hoc mechanisms, the recurrence of mechanisms is checked against another case. Mechanisms qualify as robust if they are “recurrent” in different episodes of contention. Checking the recurrence of causal mechanisms is vital as past contentious events tend to reinforce future events. The findings of this paper suggest that the public sphere in Afghanistan is drastically different from Western democracies known as the birthplace of social movements. In Western democracies, when institutional politics did not respond, movement organizers occupied the public sphere, undermining the legitimacy of the government. In Afghanistan, the public sphere is ethicized. Considering the inter- and intra-relational dynamics of ethnic groups in Afghanistan, the movement reduced to an erosive inter- and intra-ethnic conflict. This undermined the cohesiveness of the movement, which then kicked-off its demobilization process.Keywords: Enlightening movement, contentious politics, mobilization, demobilization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8331576 Determinants of R&D Outsourcing at Japanese Firms: Transaction Cost and Strategic Management Perspectives
Authors: Dai Miyamoto
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This paper examines the factors, which determine R&D outsourcing behaviour at Japanese firms, from the viewpoints of transaction cost and strategic management, since the latter half of the 1990s. This study uses empirical analysis, which involves the application of large-sample data. The principal findings of this paper are listed below. Firms that belong to a wider corporate group are more active in executing R&D outsourcing activities. Diversification strategies such as the expansion of product and sales markets have a positive effect on the R&D outsourcing behaviour of firms. Moreover, while quantitative R&D resources have positive influences on R&D outsourcing, qualitative indices have no effect. These facts suggest that R&D outsourcing behaviour of Japanese firms are consistent with the two perspectives of transaction cost and strategic management. Specifically, a conventional corporate group network plays an important role in R&D outsourcing behaviour. Firms that execute R&D outsourcing leverage 'old' networks to construct 'new' networks and use both networks properly.Keywords: Corporate Group Networks, R&D Outsourcing, Strategic Management Perspective, Transaction Cost Perspective.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16891575 Enabling Remote Desktop in a Virtualized Environment for Cloud Services
Authors: Shuen-Tai Wang, Yu-Ching Lin, Hsi-Ya Chang
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Cloud computing is the innovative and leading information technology model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort. This paper presents our development on enabling an individual user's desktop in a virtualized environment, which is stored on a remote virtual machine rather than locally. We present the initial work on the integration of virtual desktop and application sharing with virtualization technology. Given the development of remote desktop virtualization, this proposed effort has the potential to positively provide an efficient, resilience and elastic environment for online cloud service. Users no longer need to burden the cost of software licenses and platform maintenances. Moreover, this development also helps boost user productivity by promoting a flexible model that lets users access their desktop environments from virtually anywhere.
Keywords: Cloud Computing, Virtualization, Virtual Desktop, Elastic Environment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22141574 Crowdfunding for Saudi Arabia Green Projects
Authors: Saleh Komies, Mona Alharbi, Razan Alhayyani, Mozah Almulhim, Roseanne Khawaja, Ahmed Alradhi
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One of the proposed solutions that face some challenges is encouraging sustainable energy consumption across Saudi Arabia through crowdfunding platforms. To address these challenges, we need to determine the level of awareness of crowdfunding and green projects, as well as the preferences and willingness of Saudis to utilize crowdfunding as an alternative funding source for green projects in Saudi Arabia. In this study, we aim to determine the influence of environmental awareness and concern on the propensity to crowdfund green projects. The survey is being conducted as part of environmental initiatives to assess public perceptions and opinions on crowdfunding green projects in Saudi Arabia. A total of 450 responses to an online questionnaire distributed via convenience and snowball sampling were utilized for data analysis. The survey reveals that Saudis have a low understanding of crowdfunding concepts and a relatively high understanding of implementing green projects. The public is interested in crowdfunding green projects if there is a return on investment.
Keywords: Crowdfunding, green projects, renewable energy, Saudi Arabia, solar farms, wind resources.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2801573 A Novel Steganographic Method for Gray-Level Images
Authors: Ahmad T. Al-Taani, Abdullah M. AL-Issa
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In this work we propose a novel Steganographic method for hiding information within the spatial domain of the gray scale image. The proposed approach works by dividing the cover into blocks of equal sizes and then embeds the message in the edge of the block depending on the number of ones in left four bits of the pixel. The proposed approach is tested on a database consists of 100 different images. Experimental results, compared with other methods, showed that the proposed approach hide more large information and gave a good visual quality stego-image that can be seen by human eyes.Keywords: Data Embedding, Cryptography, Watermarking, Steganography, Least Significant Bit, Information Hiding.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22751572 Energy Efficiency: An Engineering Pathway towards Sustainability
Authors: A. M. Hasna
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Today global warming, climate change and energy supply are of greater concern as it is widely realized that the planet earth does not provide an infinite capacity for absorbing human industrialization in the 21st century. The aim of this paper is to analyze upstream and downstream electricity production in selected case studies: a coal power plant, a pump system and a microwave oven covering and consumption to explore the position of energy efficiency in engineering sustainability. Collectively, the analysis presents energy efficiency as a major pathway towards sustainability that requires an inclusive and a holistic supply chain response in the engineering design process.
Keywords: Sustainability, technology, efficiency, engineering, energy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15471571 A Genetic Algorithm Based Classification Approach for Finding Fault Prone Classes
Authors: Parvinder S. Sandhu, Satish Kumar Dhiman, Anmol Goyal
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Fault-proneness of a software module is the probability that the module contains faults. A correlation exists between the fault-proneness of the software and the measurable attributes of the code (i.e. the static metrics) and of the testing (i.e. the dynamic metrics). Early detection of fault-prone software components enables verification experts to concentrate their time and resources on the problem areas of the software system under development. This paper introduces Genetic Algorithm based software fault prediction models with Object-Oriented metrics. The contribution of this paper is that it has used Metric values of JEdit open source software for generation of the rules for the classification of software modules in the categories of Faulty and non faulty modules and thereafter empirically validation is performed. The results shows that Genetic algorithm approach can be used for finding the fault proneness in object oriented software components.Keywords: Genetic Algorithms, Software Fault, Classification, Object Oriented Metrics.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22981570 Power Management Strategy for Solar-Wind-Diesel Stand-alone Hybrid Energy System
Authors: Md. Aminul Islam, Adel Merabet, Rachid Beguenane, Hussein Ibrahim
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This paper presents a simulation and mathematical model of stand-alone solar-wind-diesel based hybrid energy system (HES). A power management system is designed for multiple energy resources in a stand-alone hybrid energy system. Both Solar photovoltaic and wind energy conversion system consists of maximum power point tracking (MPPT), voltage regulation, and basic power electronic interfaces. An additional diesel generator is included to support and improve the reliability of stand-alone system when renewable energy sources are not available. A power management strategy is introduced to distribute the generated power among resistive load banks. The frequency regulation is developed with conventional phase locked loop (PLL) system. The power management algorithm was applied in Matlab®/Simulink® to simulate the results.
Keywords: Solar photovoltaic, wind energy, diesel engine, hybrid energy system, power management, frequency and voltage regulation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 47241569 A Mixed Approach to Assess Information System Risk, Operational Risk, and Congolese Microfinance Institutions Performance
Authors: Alfred Kamate Siviri, Angelus Mafikiri Tsongo, Jean Robert Kala Kamdjoug
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Well organized digitalization and information systems have been selected as relevant measures to mitigate operational risks within organizations. Unfortunately, information system comes with new threats that can cause severe damage and quick organization lockout. This study aims to measure perceived information system risks and their effects on operational risks within the microfinance institution in D.R. Congo. Also, the factors influencing the operational risk are to be identified, and the link between operational risk with other risks and performance is to be assessed. The study proposes a research model drawn on the combination of Resources-Based-View, dynamic capabilities, the agency theory, the Information System Security Model, and social theories of risk. Therefore, we suggest adopting a mixed methods research with the sole aim of increasing the literature that already exists on perceived operational risk assessment and its link with other risk and performance, with a focus on information system risks.
Keywords: information system risk, operational risk, microfinance performance, DR Congo
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6321568 The Stone in the Identity of the Landscape
Authors: Maria Diogo, Patrícia Diogo
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The stone is a constituent part of the geological structure of the Territory, introducing himself as a subject that has always interconnected human and environment in the development of a discourse of meanings and symbols that reflect elements realized in different cultures and experiences. This action meant that the first settlements and their areas of influence gained importance in the field of humanization and spatial organization of the territory, not only for the appropriation that its inhabitants did, but mainly because the community regardless of their economic or social condition, used it as living space and cultural integration. These factors become decisive in the characterization of the landscape area in the northwest of Portugal, because the stone is a material that appears not only in the natural landscape, but is also a strong element in humanized landscape, becoming this relation the main characterization of the study area.Keywords: Landscape, Men, Stone, Territory.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15591567 Aromatic and Medicinal Plants in Morocco: Diversity and Socio-Economic Role
Authors: Mohammed Sghir Taleb
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Morocco is characterized by a great richness and diversity in aromatic and medicinal plants and it has an ancestral knowledge in the use of plants for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. In effect, the poverty of riparian, specially, mountain populations have greatly contributed to the development of traditional pharmacopoeia in Morocco. The analysis of the bibliographic data showed that a large number of plants in Morocco are exploited for aromatic and medicinal purposes and several of them are commercialized internationally. However, these potentialities of aromatic and medicinal plants are currently subjected to climate change and strong human pressures: Collecting fruits, agriculture development, harvesting plants, urbanization, overgrazing...Keywords: Aromatic, medicinal, plants, socioeconomy, Morocco.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13441566 The Perception of Omani E-consumers on the Importance and Performance of Dubai SMHs' Website Dimensions and Attributes
Authors: Mohammed G. Montasser, Rehab Y. Zoweil
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There is no doubt that Internet technology is widely used by hotels and its demand is constantly booming. Hotels have largely adopted website information services through using different interactive tools, dimensions and attributes to achieve excellence in functionality and usability but these do not necessary equate with website effectiveness. One way to investigate the effectiveness of hotel website is from the perspective ofe-consumers. This exploratory research is to investigate the perceived importance of websites effectiveness of some selected independent small and medium-sized hotels (SMHs) located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from the perspective of Omanie-consumers by using non-random sampling method. From 400 questionnaire addressed to respondents in 27 organizations in Muscat the capital city of Oman, 173 are valid. Findings of this study assist SMHs management in Dubai with the reallocation of their resources and efforts in order to supportebusiness development and to sustain a competitive advantage.
Keywords: Dubai's SMHs, Hotel websites, Omani e-consumer perception, weight and performance evaluation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17941565 Comparative Analysis of Machine Learning Tools: A Review
Authors: S. Sarumathi, M. Vaishnavi, S. Geetha, P. Ranjetha
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Machine learning is a new and exciting area of artificial intelligence nowadays. Machine learning is the most valuable, time, supervised, and cost-effective approach. It is not a narrow learning approach; it also includes a wide range of methods and techniques that can be applied to a wide range of complex realworld problems and time domains. Biological image classification, adaptive testing, computer vision, natural language processing, object detection, cancer detection, face recognition, handwriting recognition, speech recognition, and many other applications of machine learning are widely used in research, industry, and government. Every day, more data are generated, and conventional machine learning techniques are becoming obsolete as users move to distributed and real-time operations. By providing fundamental knowledge of machine learning tools and research opportunities in the field, the aim of this article is to serve as both a comprehensive overview and a guide. A diverse set of machine learning resources is demonstrated and contrasted with the key features in this survey.Keywords: Artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, machine learning algorithms, machine learning tools.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18661564 The Resource Description Framework (RDF) as a Modern Structure for Medical Data
Authors: Gabriela Lindemann, Danilo Schmidt, Thomas Schrader, Dietmar Keune
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The amount and heterogeneity of data in biomedical research, notably in interdisciplinary fields, requires new methods for the collection, presentation and analysis of information. Important data from laboratory experiments as well as patient trials are available but come out of distributed resources. The Charité - University Hospital Berlin has established together with the German Research Foundation (DFG) a new information service centre for kidney diseases and transplantation (Open European Nephrology Science Centre - OpEN.SC). Beside a collaborative aspect to create new research groups every single partner or institution of this science information centre making his own data available is allowed to search the whole data pool of the various involved centres. A core task is the implementation of a non-restricting open data structure for the various different data sources. We decided to use a modern RDF model and in a first phase transformed original data coming from the web-based Electronic Patient Record database TBase©.
Keywords: Medical databases, Resource Description Framework (RDF), metadata repository.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20391563 Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: Grand Challenges in Construction Recovery Process
Authors: Abioye A. Oyenuga, Rao Bhamidimarri
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Hurling a successful Construction and Demolition Waste (C&DW) recycling operation around the globe is a challenge today, predominantly because secondary materials markets are yet to be integrated. Reducing, Reusing and recycling of (C&DW) have been employed over the years, and various techniques have been investigated. However, the economic and environmental viability of its application seems limited. This paper discusses the costs and benefits in using secondary materials and focus on investigating reuse and recycling process for five major types of construction materials: concrete, metal, wood, cardboard/paper and plasterboard. Data obtained from demolition specialists and contractors are considered and evaluated. The research paper found that construction material recovery process fully incorporate a 3R’s principle contributing to saving energy and natural resources. This scrutiny leads to the empathy of grand challenges in construction material recovery process. Recommendations to deepen material recovery process are also discussed.
Keywords: Construction & Demolition Waste (C&DW), 3R concept, Recycling, Reuse, Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA), Waste Management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 51091562 A Comparison of Artificial Neural Networks for Prediction of Suspended Sediment Discharge in River- A Case Study in Malaysia
Authors: M.R. Mustafa, M.H. Isa, R.B. Rezaur
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Prediction of highly non linear behavior of suspended sediment flow in rivers has prime importance in the field of water resources engineering. In this study the predictive performance of two Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) namely, the Radial Basis Function (RBF) Network and the Multi Layer Feed Forward (MLFF) Network have been compared. Time series data of daily suspended sediment discharge and water discharge at Pari River was used for training and testing the networks. A number of statistical parameters i.e. root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), coefficient of efficiency (CE) and coefficient of determination (R2) were used for performance evaluation of the models. Both the models produced satisfactory results and showed a good agreement between the predicted and observed data. The RBF network model provided slightly better results than the MLFF network model in predicting suspended sediment discharge.Keywords: ANN, discharge, modeling, prediction, suspendedsediment,
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17331561 Implementation of MPPT Algorithm for Grid Connected PV Module with IC and P&O Method
Authors: Arvind Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Dattatraya H. Nagaraj, Amanpreet Singh, Jayanthi Prattapati
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In recent years, the use of renewable energy resources instead of pollutant fossil fuels and other forms has increased. Photovoltaic generation is becoming increasingly important as a renewable resource since it does not cause in fuel costs, pollution, maintenance, and emitting noise compared with other alternatives used in power applications. In this paper, Perturb and Observe and Incremental Conductance methods are used to improve energy conversion efficiency under different environmental conditions. PI controllers are used to control easily DC-link voltage, active and reactive currents. The whole system is simulated under standard climatic conditions (1000 W/m2, 250C) in MATLAB and the irradiance is varied from 1000 W/m2 to 300 W/m2. The use of PI controller makes it easy to directly control the power of the grid connected PV system. Finally the validity of the system will be verified through the simulations in MATLAB/Simulink environment.Keywords: Incremental conductance algorithm, modeling of PV panel, perturb and observe algorithm, photovoltaic system and simulation results.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18721560 Predictive Modelling Techniques in Sediment Yield and Hydrological Modelling
Authors: Adesoji T. Jaiyeola, Josiah Adeyemo
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This paper presents an extensive review of literature relevant to the modelling techniques adopted in sediment yield and hydrological modelling. Several studies relating to sediment yield are discussed. Many research areas of sedimentation in rivers, runoff and reservoirs are presented. Different types of hydrological models, different methods employed in selecting appropriate models for different case studies are analysed. Applications of evolutionary algorithms and artificial intelligence techniques are discussed and compared especially in water resources management and modelling. This review concentrates on Genetic Programming (GP) and fully discusses its theories and applications. The successful applications of GP as a soft computing technique were reviewed in sediment modelling. Some fundamental issues such as benchmark, generalization ability, bloat, over-fitting and other open issues relating to the working principles of GP are highlighted. This paper concludes with the identification of some research gaps in hydrological modelling and sediment yield.Keywords: Artificial intelligence, evolutionary algorithm, genetic programming, sediment yield.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18691559 A Constitutional Approach to the Rights to Water and Energy
Authors: Antonios Maniatis
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The present paper focuses on human rights to the water and to the energy and has a scope to promote the legal status on sustainable construction. The right to water constitutes a typical example of 3G fundamental rights, like the right to enjoyment of energy, particularly of electricity, whilst the right to energy efficiency is a right of fourth generation. Both rights to water and energy are examined through their consecration in the framework of the above-mentioned generations. It results that not only decision-makers but also citizens should fight for the further consecration and adequate use of these crucial rights, having to do with the urgent problem of climate change and the sustainable development. The time for the principle of water and energy “rule of law” has come.Keywords: Climate change law, energy (en + ergon) efficiency, fundamental rights, prosumer, water.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10851558 Efficient Hardware Realization of Truncated Multipliers using FPGA
Authors: Muhammad H. Rais,
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Truncated multiplier is a good candidate for digital signal processing (DSP) applications including finite impulse response (FIR) and discrete cosine transform (DCT). Through truncated multiplier a significant reduction in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) resources can be achieved. This paper presents for the first time a comparison of resource utilization of Spartan-3AN and Virtex-5 implementation of standard and truncated multipliers using Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL). The Virtex-5 FPGA shows significant improvement as compared to Spartan-3AN FPGA device. The Virtex-5 FPGA device shows better performance with a percentage ratio of number of occupied slices for standard to truncated multipliers is increased from 40% to 73.86% as compared to Spartan- 3AN is decreased from 68.75% to 58.78%. Results show that the anomaly in Spartan-3AN FPGA device average connection and maximum pin delay have been efficiently reduced in Virtex-5 FPGA device.Keywords: Digital Signal Processing (DSP), FieldProgrammable Gate Array (FPGA), Spartan-3AN, TruncatedMultiplier, Virtex-5, VHDL.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25681557 Modal Analysis for Study of Minor Historical Architecture
Authors: Milorad Pavlovic, Anna Manzato, Antonella Cecchi
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Cultural heritage conservation is a challenge for contemporary society. In recent decades, significant resources have been allocated for the conservation and restoration of architectural heritage. Historical buildings were restored, protected and reinforced with the intent to limit the risks of degradation or loss, due to phenomena of structural damage and to external factors such as differential settlements, earthquake effects, etc. The wide diffusion of historic masonry constructions in Italy, Europe and the Mediterranean area requires reliable tools for the evaluation of their structural safety. In this paper is presented a free modal analysis performed on a minor historical architecture located in the village of Bagno Grande, near the city of L’Aquila in Italy. The location is characterized by a complex urban context, seriously damaged by the earthquake of 2009. The aim of this work is to check the structural behavior of a masonry building characterized by several boundary conditions imposed by adjacent buildings and infrastructural facilities.
Keywords: FEM, masonry, minor historical architecture, modal analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11281556 Optimum Neural Network Architecture for Precipitation Prediction of Myanmar
Authors: Khaing Win Mar, Thinn Thu Naing
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Nowadays, precipitation prediction is required for proper planning and management of water resources. Prediction with neural network models has received increasing interest in various research and application domains. However, it is difficult to determine the best neural network architecture for prediction since it is not immediately obvious how many input or hidden nodes are used in the model. In this paper, neural network model is used as a forecasting tool. The major aim is to evaluate a suitable neural network model for monthly precipitation mapping of Myanmar. Using 3-layerd neural network models, 100 cases are tested by changing the number of input and hidden nodes from 1 to 10 nodes, respectively, and only one outputnode used. The optimum model with the suitable number of nodes is selected in accordance with the minimum forecast error. In measuring network performance using Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), experimental results significantly show that 3 inputs-10 hiddens-1 output architecture model gives the best prediction result for monthly precipitation in Myanmar.
Keywords: Precipitation prediction, monthly precipitation, neural network models, Myanmar.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17571555 The Emotions in Consumers’ Decision Making: Review of Empirical Studies
Authors: Mikel Alonso López
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This paper explores, in depth, the idea that emotions are present in all consumer decision making processes, meaning that purchase decisions have never been purely cognitive or as they traditionally have been defined, rational. Human beings, in all kinds of decisions, has "always" used neural systems related to emotions along with neural systems related to cognition, regardless of the type of purchase or the product or service in question. Therefore, all purchase decisions are, at the same time, cognitive and emotional. This paper presents an analysis of the main contributions of researchers in this regard.
Keywords: Emotions, decision making, consumer behavior.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14971554 Support of Knowledge Sharing in Manufacturing Companies: A Case Study
Authors: Zuzana Crhova, Karel Kolman, Drahomíra Pavelkova
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Knowledge is considered as an important asset which can help organizations to create competitive advantage. The necessity of taking care of these assets is more important in these days – in days of turbulent changes in business environment. Knowledge could facilitate adaption to constant changes. The aim of this paper is to describe how the knowledge sharing can be supported in the manufacturing companies. The methods of case studies and grounded theory were used to present information gained by carrying out semistructured interviews. Results show that knowledge sharing is supported in very similar ways in respondent companies.
Keywords: Case Study, Human Resource Management, Knowledge, Knowledge Sharing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22811553 A Quality Optimization Approach: An Application on Next Generation Networks
Authors: Gülfem I. Alptekin, S. Emre Alptekin
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The next generation wireless systems, especially the cognitive radio networks aim at utilizing network resources more efficiently. They share a wide range of available spectrum in an opportunistic manner. In this paper, we propose a quality management model for short-term sub-lease of unutilized spectrum bands to different service providers. We built our model on competitive secondary market architecture. To establish the necessary conditions for convergent behavior, we utilize techniques from game theory. Our proposed model is based on potential game approach that is suitable for systems with dynamic decision making. The Nash equilibrium point tells the spectrum holders the ideal price values where profit is maximized at the highest level of customer satisfaction. Our numerical results show that the price decisions of the network providers depend on the price and QoS of their own bands as well as the prices and QoS levels of their opponents- bands.Keywords: cognitive radio networks, game theory, nextgeneration wireless networks, spectrum management.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15161552 Mechanical Behaviour of Sisal Fibre Reinforced Cement Composites
Authors: M. Aruna
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Emphasis on the advancement of new materials and technology has been there for the past few decades. The global development towards using cheap and durable materials from renewable resources contributes to sustainable development. An experimental investigation of mechanical behaviour of sisal fibre-reinforced concrete is reported for making a suitable building material in terms of reinforcement. Fibre reinforced Composite is one such material, which has reformed the concept of high strength. Sisal fibres are abundantly available in the hot areas. Sisal fibre has emerged as a reinforcing material for concretes, used in civil structures. In this work, properties such as hardness and tensile strength of sisal fibre reinforced cement composites with 6, 12, 18 and 24% by weight of sisal fibres were assessed. Sisal fibre reinforced cement composite slabs with long sisal fibres were manufactured using a cast hand lay up technique. Mechanical response was measured under tension. The high energy absorption capacity of the developed composite system was reflected in high toughness values under tension respectively.
Keywords: Sisal fibre, fibre-reinforced concrete, mechanical behaviour.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 41271551 Surface Roughness Optimization in End Milling Operation with Damper Inserted End Milling Cutters
Authors: Krishna Mohana Rao, G. Ravi Kumar, P. Sowmya
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This paper presents a study of the Taguchi design application to optimize surface quality in damper inserted end milling operation. Maintaining good surface quality usually involves additional manufacturing cost or loss of productivity. The Taguchi design is an efficient and effective experimental method in which a response variable can be optimized, given various factors, using fewer resources than a factorial design. This Study included spindle speed, feed rate, and depth of cut as control factors, usage of different tools in the same specification, which introduced tool condition and dimensional variability. An orthogonal array of L9(3^4)was used; ANOVA analyses were carried out to identify the significant factors affecting surface roughness, and the optimal cutting combination was determined by seeking the best surface roughness (response) and signal-to-noise ratio. Finally, confirmation tests verified that the Taguchi design was successful in optimizing milling parameters for surface roughness.Keywords: ANOVA, Damper, End Milling, Optimization, Surface roughness, Taguchi design.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23571550 Alive Cemeteries with Augmented Reality and Semantic Web Technologies
Authors: TamásMatuszka, Attila Kiss
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Due the proliferation of smartphones in everyday use, several different outdoor navigation systems have become available. Since these smartphones are able to connect to the Internet, the users can obtain location-based information during the navigation as well. The users could interactively get to know the specifics of a particular area (for instance, ancient cultural area, Statue Park, cemetery) with the help of thus obtained information. In this paper, we present an Augmented Reality system which uses Semantic Web technologies and is based on the interaction between the user and the smartphone. The system allows navigating through a specific area and provides information and details about the sight an interactive manner.
Keywords: Augmented Reality, Semantic Web, Human Computer Interaction, Mobile Application.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2719