Search results for: Project Portfolio Selection

Authors: Peggy S. C. van Teunenbroek

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Recently, philanthropic crowd-funding -the raising of external funding from a large audience via social networks or social media- emerged as a new funding instrument for the Dutch cultural sector. However, such philanthropic crowdfunding in the US and the Netherlands is less successful than any other form of crowdfunding. We argue that social aspects are an important stimulus in philanthropic crowd-funding since previous research has shown that crowdfunding is stimulated by something beyond financial merits. Put simply, crowd-funding seems to be a socially motivated activity. In this paper we focus on the effect of social information, described as information about the donation behavior of previous donors. Using a classroom experiment we demonstrated a positive effect of social information on the donation behavior in crowdfunding campaigns. Our study extends previous research by showing who is affected by social information and why, and highlights how social information can be used to stimulate individuals to donate more to crowdfunding projects.

Keywords: Online donation behavior, philanthropic crowd-funding, social information, social influence, social motivation.

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Authors: Mohd Hasmadi Ismail, Kamaruzaman Jusoff

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In order to develop forest management strategies in tropical forest in Malaysia, surveying the forest resources and monitoring the forest area affected by logging activities is essential. There are tremendous effort has been done in classification of land cover related to forest resource management in this country as it is a priority in all aspects of forest mapping using remote sensing and related technology such as GIS. In fact classification process is a compulsory step in any remote sensing research. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to assess classification accuracy of classified forest map on Landsat TM data from difference number of reference data (200 and 388 reference data). This comparison was made through observation (200 reference data), and interpretation and observation approaches (388 reference data). Five land cover classes namely primary forest, logged over forest, water bodies, bare land and agricultural crop/mixed horticultural can be identified by the differences in spectral wavelength. Result showed that an overall accuracy from 200 reference data was 83.5 % (kappa value 0.7502459; kappa variance 0.002871), which was considered acceptable or good for optical data. However, when 200 reference data was increased to 388 in the confusion matrix, the accuracy slightly improved from 83.5% to 89.17%, with Kappa statistic increased from 0.7502459 to 0.8026135, respectively. The accuracy in this classification suggested that this strategy for the selection of training area, interpretation approaches and number of reference data used were importance to perform better classification result.

Keywords: Image Classification, Reference Data, Accuracy Assessment, Kappa Statistic, Forest Land Cover

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Authors: Milan Paudel, Fook Fah Yap, Anil K. Bastola

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The difficulties in riding small wheel bicycles and their lesser stability have been perceived for a long time. Although small wheel bicycles are designed using the similar approach and guidelines that have worked well for big wheel bicycles, the performance of the big wheelers and the smaller wheelers are markedly different. Since both the big wheelers and small wheelers have same fundamental geometry, most blame the small wheel for this discrepancy in the performance. This paper reviews existing guidelines for bicycle design, especially the front steering geometry for the bicycle, and provides a systematic and quantitative analysis of different wheel sized bicycles. A validated mathematical model has been used as a tool to assess the dynamic performance of the bicycles in term of their self-stability. The results obtained were found to corroborate the subjective perception of cyclists for small wheel bicycles. The current approach for small wheel bicycle design requires higher speed to be self-stable. However, it was found that increasing the headtube angle and selecting a proper trail could improve the dynamic performance of small wheel bicycles. A range of parameters for front steering geometry has been identified for small wheel bicycles that have comparable stability as big wheel bicycles. Interestingly, most of the identified geometries are found to be beyond the ISO recommended range and seem to counter the current approach of small wheel bicycle design. Therefore, it was successfully shown that the guidelines for big wheelers do not translate directly to small wheelers, but careful selection of the front geometry could make small wheel bicycles as stable as big wheel bicycles.

Keywords: Big wheel bicycle, design approach, ISO requirements, small wheel bicycle, stability and performance.

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Authors: Goodarz Sabetian, Sajjad Moshfe

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Control system for hi-tech industries could be realized generally and deeply by a special document. Vast heavy industries such as power plants with a large number of I/O signals are controlled by a distributed control system (DCS). This system comprises of so many parts from field level to high control level, and junior instrument engineers may be confused by this enormous information. The key document which can solve this problem is “control configuration system diagram” for each type of DCS. This is a road map that covers all of activities respect to control system in each industrial plant and inevitable to be studied by whom corresponded. It plays an important role from designing control system start point until the end; deliver the system to operate. This should be inserted in bid documents, contracts, purchasing specification and used in different periods of project EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction). Separate parts of DCS are categorized here in order of importance and a brief description and some practical plan is offered. This article could be useful for all instrument and control engineers who worked is EPC projects.

Keywords: Control, configuration, DCS, power plant, bus.

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Authors: Michael Grigutsch, Marco Kennemann, Peter Nyhuis

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Due to the recovering global economy, enterprises are increasingly focusing on logistics. Investing in logistic measures for a production generates a large potential for achieving a good starting point within a competitive field. Unlike during the global economic crisis, enterprises are now challenged with investing available capital to maximize profits. In order to be able to create an informed and quantifiably comprehensible basis for a decision, enterprises need an adequate model for logistically and monetarily evaluating measures in production. The Collaborate Research Centre 489 (SFB 489) at the Institute for Production Systems (IFA) developed a Logistic Information System which provides support in making decisions and is designed specifically for the forging industry. The aim of a project that has been applied for is to now transfer this process in order to develop a universal approach to logistically and monetarily evaluate measures in production.

Keywords: Measures in Production, Logistic Operating Curves, Transfer Functions, Production Logistics

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Authors: E. T. L. Cöuras Ford, V. A. C.Vale, J. U. L Mendes

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The sun is an inexhaustible source and harness its potential both for heating and power generation is one of the most promising and necessary alternatives, mainly due to environmental issues. However, it should be noted that this has always been present in the generation of energy on earth, only indirectly, since it is responsible for virtually all other energy sources, such as generating source of evaporation of the water cycle, allowing the impoundment and the consequent generation of electricity (hydroelectric power); winds are caused by atmospheric induction caused by large scale solar radiation; petroleum, coal and natural gas were generated from waste plants and animals that originally derived energy required for their development of solar radiation. This paper presents a study on the feasibility of using solar energy for water heating in homes. A simplified methodology developed for formulation of solar heating operation model of water in alternative systems of solar energy in Brazil, and compared it to that in the international market. Across this research, it was possible to create new paradigms for alternative applications to the use of solar energy.

Keywords: Solar energy, solar heating, solar project.

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Authors: L. Yu, W. K. Li, S. K. Ong, A. Y. C. Nee

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In this paper, a scalable augmented reality framework for handheld devices is presented. The presented framework is enabled by using a server-client data communication structure, in which the search for tracking targets among a database of images is performed on the server-side while pixel-wise 3D tracking is performed on the client-side, which, in this case, is a handheld mobile device. Image search on the server-side adopts a residual-enhanced image descriptors representation that gives the framework a scalability property. The tracking algorithm on the client-side is based on a gravity-aligned feature descriptor which takes the advantage of a sensor-equipped mobile device and an optimized intensity-based image alignment approach that ensures the accuracy of 3D tracking. Automatic content streaming is achieved by using a key-frame selection algorithm, client working phase monitoring and standardized rules for content communication between the server and client. The recognition accuracy test performed on a standard dataset shows that the method adopted in the presented framework outperforms the Bag-of-Words (BoW) method that has been used in some of the previous systems. Experimental test conducted on a set of video sequences indicated the real-time performance of the tracking system with a frame rate at 15-30 frames per second. The presented framework is exposed to be functional in practical situations with a demonstration application on a campus walk-around.

Keywords: Augmented reality framework, server-client model, vision-based tracking, image search.

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Authors: Norbert Burger, Thorsten Staake

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What influences microsystems (MEMS) and nanosystems (NEMS) innovation teams apart from technology complexity? Based on in-depth interviews with innovators, this research explores the key influences on innovation teams in the early phases of MEMS/NEMS. Projects are rare and may last from 5 to 10 years or more from idea to concept. As fundamental technology development in MEMS/NEMS is highly complex and interdisciplinary by involving expertise from different basic and engineering disciplines, R&D is rather a 'testing of ideas' with many uncertainties than a clearly structured process. The purpose of this study is to explore the innovation teams- environment and give specific insights for future management practices. The findings are grouped into three major areas: people, know-how and experience, and market. The results highlight the importance and differences of innovation teams- composition, transdisciplinary knowledge, project evaluation and management compared to the counterparts from new product development teams.

Keywords: Innovation teams, early phases, Microsystems, Nanosystems, technology developments.

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Authors: P. Parvizi, F. Norouzifard, S.Mohammadi

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The need to implement intelligent highways is much more emphasized with the growth of vehicle production line as well as vehicle intelligence. The control of intelligent vehicles in order to reduce human error and boost ease congestion is not accomplished solely by the aid of human resources. The present article is an attempt to introduce an intelligent control system based on a single central computer. In this project, central computer, without utilizing Global Positioning System (GPS), is capable of tracking all vehicles, crisis management and control, traffic guidance and recording traffic crimes along the highway. By the help of RFID technology, vehicles are connected to computerized systems, intelligent light poles and other available hardware along the way. By the aid of Wimax communicative technology, all components of the system are virtually connected together through local and global networks devised in them and the energy of the network is provided by the solar cells installed on the intelligent light poles.

Keywords: intelligent highway, intelligent light pole, highway automation

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Authors: Salvatore Pinna

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The growth of organic farming practices in the last few decades is continuing to stimulate the international debate about this alternative food market. As a part of a PhD project research about embeddedness in Alternative Food Networks (AFNs), this paper focuses on the promotional aspects of organic farms websites from the Madrid region. As a theoretical tool, some knowledge categories drawn on the geographic studies literature are used to classify the many ideas expressed in the web pages. By analysing texts and pictures of 30 websites, the study aims to question how and to what extent actors from organic world communicate to the potential customers their personal beliefs about farming practices, products qualities, and ecological and social benefits. Moreover, the paper raises the question of whether organic farming laws and regulations lack of completeness about the social and cultural aspects of food.

Keywords: Alternative food networks, de-commoditisation, organic farming, Madrid, reconnection of food.

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Authors: Tanja Radu, Cormac Fay, King Tong Lau, Rhys Waite, Dermot Diamond

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The development of wearable sensing technologies is a great challenge which is being addressed by the Proetex FP6 project (www.proetex.org). Its main aim is the development of wearable sensors to improve the safety and efficiency of emergency personnel. This will be achieved by continuous, real-time monitoring of vital signs, posture, activity, and external hazards surrounding emergency workers. We report here the development of carbon dioxide (CO2) sensing boot by incorporating commercially available CO2 sensor with a wireless platform into the boot assembly. Carefully selected commercially available sensors have been tested. Some of the key characteristics of the selected sensors are high selectivity and sensitivity, robustness and the power demand. This paper discusses some of the results of CO2 sensor tests and sensor integration with wireless data transmission

Keywords: Proetex, gas sensing, wireless, wearable sensors, carbon dioxide

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Authors: Alessandra Battisti, Silvia Cimini

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This article stands in the context of rural communities in Brazil, where, like many others emerging countries, the overwhelming increasing markets and the overcrowded cities are leaving behind informal settlements based on obsolete agricultural economies and techniques. The pilot project for the community of Goiabeira reflects the attempt to imagine a development model that privileges the actual improvement of living conditions, the education and training, the social inclusion and participation of the dwellers of rural communities. Through the inclusion of operative public space, the aim is for them to become self-sustaining, encouraging the use of local resources for appropriate architectural, ecological and energy technologies and devices, that are efficient, affordable and foster community participation, in the respect of the surrounding environment.

Keywords: Economical development, environment conservation, local resources, participation and social inclusion.

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Authors: Adriana Ávila Zúñiga Nordfjeld

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This paper provides a literature review to document the state of the art with respect to handling “human bias” in decision making within the established quality management systems (QMS) and LEAN theory, in the context of shipbuilding. Previous research shows that in shipbuilding there is a huge deviation from the planned man-hours under the project management to the actual man-hours used because of errors in planning and reworks caused by human bias in the information flows, among others. This reduces the efficiency, and increases operational costs. Thus, the research question is how QMS and LEAN handle biases. The findings show the gap in studying the integration of methods to handle human bias in decision making into QMS and lean, not only within shipbuilding, but in general. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed for researchers and practitioners in the areas of decision making, QMS and LEAN, and future research is suggested.

Keywords: Human bias, decision making, LEAN Shipbuilding, quality management systems.

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Authors: Lejla A. Bexheti, Visar S. Shehu, Adrian A. Besimi

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The Learning Management Systems present learning environment which offers a collection of e-learning tools in a package that allows a common interface and information sharing among the tools. South East European University initial experience in LMS was with the usage of the commercial LMS-ANGEL. After a three year experience on ANGEL usage because of expenses that were very high it was decided to develop our own software. As part of the research project team for the in-house design and development of the new LMS, we primarily had to select the features that would cover our needs and also comply with the actual trends in the area of software development, and then design and develop the system. In this paper we present the process of LMS in-house development for South East European University, its architecture, conception and strengths with a special accent on the process of migration and integration with other enterprise applications.

Keywords: e-learning tools, LMS, migration, user feedback.

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Authors: G.S. Abdiraiymova, D.K. Burkhanova, G.A. Kenzhakimova

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Education in the modern world provides the socioeconomic progress of society. In today's society, where the presence of large middle class ensures its stability and is a symbol of resolution of hidden economic problems, education is an integral part of formation and reproduction of the middle class. This article presents part of results of the sociological study conducted under the project "Kazakhstan model of education: international experience and national traditions" supported by the Foundation of the First President of Republic of Kazakhstan - Leader of the Nation to determine the ratio of students to the transformations of the educational system. The authors conclude that the Kazakhstani system of education, passing through the transformation processes, improving the quality of educational programs and trying to correspond to the international standards, not yet in full range, but begins to perform important functions in the formation of the middle class.

Keywords: Higher education, middle class, reforms, students, transformation processes.

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Authors: Ghassan A. Abed, Mahamod Ismail, Kasmiran Jumari

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Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a 4G wireless broadband technology developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) release 8, and it's represent the competitiveness of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) for the next 10 years and beyond. The concepts for LTE systems have been introduced in 3GPP release 8, with objective of high-data-rate, low-latency and packet-optimized radio access technology. In this paper, performance of different TCP variants during LTE network investigated. The performance of TCP over LTE is affected mostly by the links of the wired network and total bandwidth available at the serving base station. This paper describes an NS-2 based simulation analysis of TCP-Vegas, TCP-Tahoe, TCPReno, TCP-Newreno, TCP-SACK, and TCP-FACK, with full modeling of all traffics of LTE system. The Evaluation of the network performance with all TCP variants is mainly based on throughput, average delay and lost packet. The analysis of TCP performance over LTE ensures that all TCP's have a similar throughput and the best performance return to TCP-Vegas than other variants.

Keywords: LTE; EUTRAN; 3GPPP, SAE; TCP Variants; NS-2

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Authors: M. M. Islam, Rajib K. Saha, Abdullah A. Amin, M. Z. Haq

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The autonomous mobile robot was designed and implemented which was capable of navigating in the industrial environments and did a job of picking objects from variable height and delivering it to another location following a predefined trajectory. In developing country like Bangladesh industrial robotics is not very prevalent yet, due to the high installation cost. The objective of this project was to develop an autonomous mobile robot for industrial application using the available resources in the local market at lower manufacturing cost. The mechanical system of the robot was comprised of locomotion, gripping and elevation system. Grippers were designed to grip objects of a predefined shape. Cartesian elevation system was designed for vertical movement of the gripper. PIC18F452 microcontroller was the brain of the control system. The prototype autonomous robot was fabricated for relatively lower load than the industry and the performance was tested in a virtual industrial environment created within the laboratory to realize the effectiveness.

Keywords: Industrial application, autonomous mobile robot, appropriate technology.

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Authors: M. Z. Othman, S. Uludag-Demirer, G. N. Demirer

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One of the main challenges for one phase anaerobic digestion processes is the high concentration of NH4+ and PO4 3- ions  in the digested sludge supernatant. This project focuses on enhancing the removal of nutrients during the anaerobic digestion process through fixing both NH4+ and PO4 3- ions in the form of struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate, MAP, MgNH4PO4.6H2O) within the anaerobic sludge. Batch anaerobic digestion tests showed that Mg2+ concentration in the range 279 – 812 mg/L had insignificant effect on CGP but incurred a slight increase in COD removal. The reactor that had soluble Mg2+:NH4+:PO43- at a molar ratio of 1.28:1:00:1:00 achieved the best performance enhancement of 8% increase in COD removal and 32% reduction in NH4+ in the reactor supernatant. Overall, the results show that there is a potential to optimise conventional anaerobic digestion such that supernatant lean in P and N, and sludge rich in nutrients are obtained. 

Keywords: Anaerobic Digestion, Nutrients, Struvite, Waste Activated Sludge (WAS)

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Authors: Belkacem Chikhaoui, Helene Pigot, Mathieu Beaudoin, Guillaume Pratte, Philippe Bellefeuille, Fernando Laudares

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The way music is interpreted by the human brain is a very interesting topic, but also an intricate one. Although this domain has been studied for over a century, many gray areas remain in the understanding of music. Recent advances have enabled us to perform accurate measurements of the time taken by the human brain to interpret and assimilate a sound. Cognitive computing provides tools and development environments that facilitate human cognition simulation. ACT-R is a cognitive architecture which offers an environment for implementing human cognitive tasks. This project combines our understanding of the music interpretation by a human listener and the ACT-R cognitive architecture to build SINGER, a computerized simulation for listening and recalling songs. The results are similar to human experimental data. Simulation results also show how it is easier to remember short melodies than long melodies which require more trials to be recalled correctly.

Keywords: Computational model, cognitive modeling, simulation, learning, song, music.

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Authors: N. F. F. Ebecken, G. C. Pereira

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Ecological systems are exposed and are influenced by various natural and anthropogenic disturbances. They produce various effects and states seeking response symmetry to a state of global phase coherence or stability and balance of their food webs. This research project addresses the development of a computational methodology for modeling plankton food webs. The use of algorithms to establish connections, the generation of representative fuzzy multigraphs and application of technical analysis of complex networks provide a set of tools for defining, analyzing and evaluating community structure of coastal aquatic ecosystems, beyond the estimate of possible external impacts to the networks. Thus, this study aims to develop computational systems and data models to assess how these ecological networks are structurally and functionally organized, to analyze the types and degree of compartmentalization and synchronization between oscillatory and interconnected elements network and the influence of disturbances on the overall pattern of rhythmicity of the system.

Keywords: Ecological networks, plankton food webs, fuzzy multigraphs, dynamic of networks.

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Authors: Markandeya Kunchi

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Usability testing (UT) is one of the vital steps in the User-centred design (UCD) process when designing a product. In an e-commerce ecosystem, UT becomes primary as new products, features, and services are launched very frequently. And, there are losses attached to the company if an unusable and inefficient product is put out to market and is rejected by customers. This paper tries to answer why UT is important in the product life-cycle of an E-commerce ecosystem. Secondary user research was conducted to find out work patterns, development methods, type of stakeholders, and technology constraints, etc. of a typical E-commerce company. Qualitative user interviews were conducted with product managers and designers to find out the structure, project planning, product management method and role of the design team in a mid-level company. The paper tries to address the usual apprehensions of the company to inculcate UT within the team. As well, it stresses upon factors like monetary resources, lack of usability expert, narrow timelines, and lack of understanding of higher management as some primary reasons. Outsourcing UT to vendors is also very prevalent with mid-level e-commerce companies, but it has its own severe repercussions like very little team involvement, huge cost, misinterpretation of the findings, elongated timelines, and lack of empathy towards the customer, etc. The shortfalls of the unavailability of a UT process in place within the team and conducting UT through vendors are bad user experiences for customers while interacting with the product, badly designed products which are neither useful and nor utilitarian. As a result, companies see dipping conversions rates in apps and websites, huge bounce rates and increased uninstall rates. Thus, there was a need for a more lean UT system in place which could solve all these issues for the company. This paper highlights on optimizing the UT process with a collaborative method. The degree of optimization and structure of collaborative method is the highlight of this paper. Collaborative method of UT is one in which the centralised design team of the company takes for conducting and analysing the UT. The UT is usually a formative kind where designers take findings into account and uses in the ideation process. The success of collaborative method of UT is due to its ability to sync with the product management method employed by the company or team. The collaborative methods focus on engaging various teams (design, marketing, product, administration, IT, etc.) each with its own defined roles and responsibility in conducting a smooth UT with users In-house. The paper finally highlights the positive results of collaborative UT method after conducting more than 100 In-lab interviews with users across the different lines of businesses. Some of which are the improvement of interaction between stakeholders and the design team, empathy towards users, improved design iteration, better sanity check of design solutions, optimization of time and money, effective and efficient design solution. The future scope of collaborative UT is to make this method leaner, by reducing the number of days to complete the entire project starting from planning between teams to publishing the UT report.

Keywords: Usability testing, collaborative method, e-commerce, product management method.

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Authors: P. Mekpruksawong, S. Chuenchooklin, T. Ichikawa

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The aim of research project is to evaluate quantity and quality for conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water in lower in the Lower Nam Kam area, Thailand, even though there have been hints of saline soil and water. The mathematical model named WUSMO and MIKE Basin were applied for the calculation of crop water utilization. Results of the study showed that, in irrigation command area, water consumption rely on various sources; rain water 21.56%, irrigation water 78.29%, groundwater and some small surface storage 0.15%. Meanwhile, for non-irrigation command area, water consumption depends on the Nam Kam and Nambang stream 42%, rain water 36.75% and groundwater and some small surface storage 19.18%. Samples of surface water and groundwater were collected for 2 seasons. The criterion was determined for the assessment of suitable water for irrigation. It was found that this area has very limited sources of suitable water for irrigation.

Keywords: Conjunctive use, Groundwater, Surface water, Saline soil.

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Authors: Kadkhodaie A., Bagheri M.

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Evaluation of crop plants resistance to environmental stresses specially in germination stage is a critical factor in their selection in different conditions of cultivation. Therefore use of a procedure in controllable situation can help to evaluate plants reaction to stress quickly and precisely. In order to study germination characteristics of flax in water and salinity stress conditions were conducted two laboratories experimental. The two experimental were conducted in 4-replicant completing random design for salinity and water stress. The treatment, for salinity and water stress was three potential (zero, 40, 80 mM) of NaCl and three potential (zero, -2, -4 bar) of PEG respectively. Germination percentage and rate, in addition to Radical and plumule length and dry-weight and plumule/Radical ration were measured. All of characteristics reduce under water stress conditions. salinity stress significant reduce germination rate and Radical and plumule length of flax seeds. Hydropriming and osmopriming significant increased germination rate, plumule length and plumule/Radical ration ration of flax seeds. But germination percentage and Radical and plumule dry weight significant increased only in hydropriming treat. Hydropriming and osmopriming could not be used to improved germination under saline and drought stress. But has more tolerance in salinity and drought stress in flax by less reduce in Radical and plumule length under saline and drought stress.

Keywords: linseed, salt stress, water stress, seed treatment, Germination

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Authors: Yuxin Chen, Qingyun Di, C. Dinis da Gama

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In projects like waterpower, transportation and mining, etc., proving up the rock-mass structure and hidden tectonic to estimate the geological body-s activity is very important. Integrating the seismic results, drilling and trenching data, CSAMT method was carried out at a planning dame site in southwest China to evaluate the stability of a deformation. 2D and imitated 3D inversion resistivity results of CSAMT method were analyzed. The results indicated that CSAMT was an effective method for defining an outline of deformation body to several hundred meters deep; the Lung Pan Deformation was stable in natural conditions; but uncertain after the future reservoir was impounded. This research presents a good case study of the fine surveying and research on complex geological structure and hidden tectonic in engineering project.

Keywords: CSAMT Surveying, Deformation Stability.

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Authors: W. S. Barber, S. L. King

Abstract:

This paper reports on a pilot project to develop a collaborative partnership between a community college in rural northern Ontario, Canada, and an urban university in the greater Toronto area in Oshawa, Canada. Partner institutions will collaborate to address learning needs of university applicants whose goals are to attain an undergraduate university BA in Educational Studies and Digital Technology degree, but who may not live in a geographical location that would facilitate this pathways process. The UOIT BA degree is attained through a 2+2 program, where students with a 2 year college diploma or equivalent can attain a four year undergraduate degree. The goals reported on the project are as: 1. Our aim is to expand the BA program to include an additional stream which includes serious educational games, simulations and virtual environments, 2. Develop fully (using both synchronous and asynchronous technologies) online learning modules for use by university applicants who otherwise are not geographically located close to a physical university site, 3. Assess the digital competencies of all students, including members of local, distance and Indigenous communities using a validated tool developed and tested by UOIT across numerous populations. This tool, the General Technical Competency Use and Scale (GTCU) will provide the collaborating institutions with data that will allow for analyzing how well students are prepared to succeed in fully online learning communities. Philosophically, the UOIT BA program is based on a fully online learning communities model (FOLC) that can be accessed from anywhere in the world through digital learning environments via audio video conferencing tools such as Adobe Connect. It also follows models of adult learning and mobile learning, and makes a university degree accessible to the increasing demographic of adult learners who may use mobile devices to learn anywhere anytime. The program is based on key principles of Problem Based Learning, allowing students to build their own understandings through the co-design of the learning environment in collaboration with the instructors and their peers. In this way, this degree allows students to personalize and individualize the learning based on their own culture, background and professional/personal experiences. Using modified flipped classroom strategies, students are able to interrogate video modules on their own time in preparation for one hour discussions occurring in video conferencing sessions. As a consequence of the program flexibility, students may continue to work full or part time. All of the partner institutions will co-develop four new modules, administer the GTCU and share data, while creating a new stream of the UOIT BA degree. This will increase accessibility for students to bridge from community colleges to university through a fully digital environment. We aim to work collaboratively with Indigenous elders, community members and distance education instructors to increase opportunities for more students to attain a university education.

Keywords: Aboriginal, college, competencies, digital, universities.

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Authors: E. Ardil, Erdem Uçar, Parvinder S. Sandhu

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As the majority of faults are found in a few of its modules so there is a need to investigate the modules that are affected severely as compared to other modules and proper maintenance need to be done on time especially for the critical applications. In this paper, we have explored the different predictor models to NASA-s public domain defect dataset coded in Perl programming language. Different machine learning algorithms belonging to the different learner categories of the WEKA project including Mamdani Based Fuzzy Inference System and Neuro-fuzzy based system have been evaluated for the modeling of maintenance severity or impact of fault severity. The results are recorded in terms of Accuracy, Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE). The results show that Neuro-fuzzy based model provides relatively better prediction accuracy as compared to other models and hence, can be used for the maintenance severity prediction of the software.

Keywords: Software Metrics, Fuzzy, Neuro-Fuzzy, SoftwareFaults, Accuracy, MAE, RMSE.

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Authors: Sunil Dehipawala, Todd Holden, E. Cheung, Robert Regan, P. Schneider, G. Tremberger Jr, D. Lieberman, T. Cheung

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The zinc and iron environments in different growth stages have been studied with EXAFS and XANES with Brookhaven Synchrotron Light Source. Tissue samples included meat, organ, vegetable, leaf, and yeast. The project studied the EXAFS and XANES of tissue samples using Zn and Fe K-edges. Duck embryo samples show that brain and intestine would contain shorter EXFAS determined Zn-N/O bond; as with the cases of fresh yeast versus reconstituted live yeast and green leaf versus yellow leaf. The XANES Fourier transform characteristic-length would be useful as a functionality index for selected types of tissue samples in various physical states. The extension to the development of functional synchrotron imaging for tissue engineering application based on spectroscopic technique is discussed.

Keywords: EXAFS, Fourier Transform, metalloproteins, XANES

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Authors: Hani N. Hermiz, Sukar H. Ali

Abstract:

This study include the effect of strain and storage period and their interaction on some quantitative and qualitative traits and percentages of the egg components in the eggs collected at the start of production (at age 24 weeks). Eggs were divided into three storage periods (1, 7 and 14) days under refrigerator temperature (5- 7)0C. Fifty seven eggs obtained randomly from each strain including Isa Brown and Lohman White. General Linear Model within SAS programme was used to analyze the collected data and correlations between the studied traits were calculated for each strain.Average egg weight (EW), Haugh Unit (HU), yolk index (YI), yolk % (HP), albumin % (AP) and yolk to albumin ratio (YAR) was 56.629 gm, 87.968 %, 0.493, 22.13%, 67.74% and 32.76 respectively. Egg produced from ISA Brown surpassed those produced by Lohman White significantly (P<0.01) in EW (59.337 vs. 53.921 g) and AP (68.46 vs. 67.02 %), while Lohman White surpassed ISA Brown significantly (P<0.01) in HU (91.998 against 83.939 %), YI (0.498 against 0.487), YP (22.83 against 21.44%) and YAR (34.12 against 31.40). Storage period did not have any significant effect on EW and YI. Increasing the storage period caused a significant (P<0.01) decrease in HU. A non-significant increasing in YP and significant decreasing in AP % due to increasing storage period caused a significant increasing in YAR. The interaction between strain and storage period affect EW, HU and YI significantly (P <0.01), while its effect on YP, AP and YAR was not significant. Highest and significant (P<0.01) correlation was recorded between YP with YAR (0.99) in both strains, while the lowest values were between AP with YAR and being -0.97 and -0.95 in ISA Brown and Lohman White, respectively. The conclusion: increasing storage period caused a few decreasing in egg weight and this enabling the consumer to store eggs without any damage. Because of using the albumin in many food industries, so it is very important to focus on its weight. The correlations between some of the studied traits were significant, which means that selection for any trait will improve other traits.

Keywords: Quality, Quantity, Storage period, Strain, Table egg

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Authors: A. Khodabakhshi, A. Mortazavi

Abstract:

Accurate determination of rock mass deformation modulus, as an important design parameter, is one of the most controversial issues in most engineering projects. A 3D numerical model of standard plate load test (PLT) using the FLAC3D code was carried to investigate the mechanism governing the test process. Five objectives were the focus of this study. The first goal was to employ 3D modeling in the interpretation of PLT conducted at the Bazoft dam site, Iran. The second objective was to investigate the effect of displacements measuring depth from the loading plates on the calculated moduli. The magnitude of rock mass deformation modulus calculated from PLT depends on anchor depth, and in practice, this may be a cause of error in the selection of realistic deformation modulus for the rock mass. The third goal of the study was to investigate the effect of testing plate diameter on the calculated modulus. Moreover, a comparison of the calculated modulus from ISRM formula, numerical modeling and calculated modulus from the actual PLT carried out at right abutment of the Bazoft dam site was another objective of the study. Finally, the effect of plastic strains on the calculated moduli in each of the loading-unloading cycles for three loading plates was investigated. The geometry, material properties, and boundary conditions on the constructed 3D model were selected based on the in-situ conditions of PLT at Bazoft dam site. A good agreement was achieved between numerical model results and the field tests results.

Keywords: Deformation modulus, numerical model, plate loading test, rock mass.

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Authors: Mohammad Tipu Sultan, Farzana Sharmin, Ke Xue

Abstract:

Social media create a better opportunity for travelers to search for travel information, select destination and share their personal experiences of the travel. This study proposes a framework which describes the relationships between social media, and positive or negative tourism experience sharing impact on destination choice. To find out new trends of travelers behavioral intention, we propose an extended theoretical model, the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). We conducted a survey to analyze three external factors, subjective norms, and positive and negative experience influence on travel destination choice. Structural questionnaire analysis was employed to confirm the proposed research hypothesis within the relationship between consumer influences on the shared experience of social media. The results of the study confirm that sharing positive experiences influence the positive effect of destination choice, while negative experiences decrease the destination selection option. The results indicate that attitudes, subjective norms are passively influenced by shared experience. Moreover, we find that sharing live pictures of travel experiences through social media helps to reduce negative perceptions of the destination brand. This research contribution is useable to the research field as a new determination factor and the findings could be used by destination organization management (DMO) to enhancing their tourism promotion through social media.

Keywords: Destination choice, tourism experience sharing, Theory of Reasoned Action, social media.

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