Search results for: Future concept device

Authors: Khaled M. Ali, M. A. Abdel-Hamid, Ayman A. Mostafa

Abstract:

Objective: Safety and efficacy of Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation for the management of uveitis induced glaucoma evaluated on the five dogs with uncontrollable glaucoma. Materials and Methods: Ahmed Glaucoma Valve (AGV®; New World Medical, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA) is a flow restrictive, nonobstructive self-regulating valve system. Preoperative ocular evaluation included direct ophthalmoscopy and measurement of the intraocular pressure (IOP). The implant was examined and primed prior to implantation. The selected site of the valve implantation was the superior quadrant between the superior and lateral rectus muscles. A fornix-based incision was made through the conjunectiva and Tenon’s capsule. A pocket is formed by blunt dissection of Tenon’s capsule from the episclera. The body of the implant was inserted into the pocket with the leading edge of the device around 8-10 mm from the limbus. Results: No post-operative complications were detected in the operated eyes except a persistent corneal edema occupied the upper half of the cornea in one case. Hyphaema was very mild and seen only in two cases which resolved quickly two days after surgery. Endoscopical evaluation for the operated eyes revealed a normal ocular fundus with clearly visible optic papilla, tapetum and retinal blood vessels. No evidence of hemorrhage, infection, adhesions or retinal abnormalities was detected. Conclusion: Ahmed glaucoma valve is safe and effective implant for treatment of uveitic glaucoma in dogs.

Keywords: Ahmed valve, endoscopy, glaucoma, ocular fundus.

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Authors: Abdel Ilah Alshabtat, Liang Dong

Abstract:

In this paper, we proposed a new routing protocol for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that equipped with directional antenna. We named this protocol Directional Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (DOLSR). This protocol is based on the well known protocol that is called Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (OLSR). We focused in our protocol on the multipoint relay (MPR) concept which is the most important feature of this protocol. We developed a heuristic that allows DOLSR protocol to minimize the number of the multipoint relays. With this new protocol the number of overhead packets will be reduced and the End-to-End delay of the network will also be minimized. We showed through simulation that our protocol outperformed Optimized Link State Routing Protocol, Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) protocol and Ad- Hoc On demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol in reducing the End-to-End delay and enhancing the overall throughput. Our evaluation of the previous protocols was based on the OPNET network simulation tool.

Keywords: Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks, Ad-Hoc RoutingProtocols, Optimized link State Routing Protocol, Unmanned AerialVehicles, Directional Antenna.

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Authors: Rahmad Wisnu Wardana, Eakachai Warinsiriruk, Sutep Joy-A-Ka

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Selecting the most suitable welding process usually depends on experiences or common application in similar companies. However, this approach generally ignores many criteria that can be affecting the suitable welding process selection. Therefore, knowledge automation through knowledge-based systems will significantly improve the decision-making process. The aims of this research propose integrated data envelopment analysis (DEA) and fuzzy credibility constrained programming approach for identifying the best welding process for stainless steel storage tank in the food and beverage industry. The proposed approach uses fuzzy concept and credibility measure to deal with uncertain data from experts' judgment. Furthermore, 12 parameters are used to determine the most appropriate welding processes among six competitive welding processes.

Keywords: Welding process selection, data envelopment analysis, fuzzy credibility constrained programming, storage tank.

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Authors: Marilyn Lim Chien Hui, Nabil Elmarzouqi, Chan Huah Yong

Abstract:

This paper describes the authorization system architecture for Pervasive Grid environment. It discusses the characteristics of classical authorization system and requirements of the authorization system in pervasive grid environment as well. Based on our analysis of current systems and taking into account the main requirements of such pervasive environment, we propose new authorization system architecture as an extension of the existing grid authorization mechanisms. This architecture not only supports user attributes but also context attributes which act as a key concept for context-awareness thought. The architecture allows authorization of users dynamically when there are changes in the pervasive grid environment. For this, we opt for hybrid authorization method that integrates push and pull mechanisms to combine the existing grid authorization attributes with dynamic context assertions. We will investigate the proposed architecture using a real testing environment that includes heterogeneous pervasive grid infrastructures mapped over multiple virtual organizations. Various scenarios are described in the last section of the article to strengthen the proposed mechanism with different facilities for the authorization procedure.

Keywords: Pervasive Grid, Authorization System, Contextawareness, Ubiquity.

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Authors: Abdel-Samad M. Ali, Ali A. Hadi Al-Shawi

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Discrimination against women and girls impairs progress in all domains of development articulated either in the framework of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Paper aspires to create greater awareness among researchers and policy makers of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them within the Arab region. The study reveals how Arab countries are closing in on gender-oriented targets of the third and fifth MDGs. While some countries can claim remarkable achievements particularly in girls’ equality in education, there is still a long way to go to keep Arab’s commitments to current and future generations in other countries and subregions especially in the economic participation or in the political empowerment of women. No country has closed or even expected to close the economic participation gap or the political empowerment gap. This should provide the incentive to keep moving forward in the Post-2015 Agenda. Findings of the study prove that while Arab states have uneven achievements in reducing maternal mortality, Arab women remain at a disadvantage in the labour market. For Arab region especially LDCs, improving maternal health is part of the unmet agenda for the post-2015 period and still calls for intensified efforts and procedures. While antenatal care coverage is improving across the Arab region, progress is marginal in LDCs. To achieve proper realization of gender equality and empowerment of women in the Arab region in the post-2015 agenda, the study presents critical key challenges to be addressed. These challenges include: Negative cultural norms and stereotypes; violence against women and girls; early marriage and child labour; women’s limited control over their own bodies; limited ability of women to generate their own income and control assets and property; gender-based discrimination in law and in practice; women’s unequal participation in private and public decision making autonomy; and limitations in data. However, in all Arab states, gender equality must be integrated as a goal across all issues, particularly those that affect the future of a country.

Keywords: Gender, equity, millennium development goals, post-2015 development agenda.

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Authors: K. Murali Krishna, Abhijit Mitra, C. Ardil

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This paper presents a single correlator RAKE receiver for direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems. In conventional RAKE receivers, multiple correlators are used to despread the multipath signals and then to align and combine those signals in a later stage before making a bit decision. The simplified receiver structure presented here uses a single correlator and single code sequence generator to recover the multipaths. Modified Walsh- Hadamard codes are used here for data spreading that provides better uncorrelation properties for the multipath signals. The main advantage of this receiver structure is that it requires only a single correlator and a code generator in contrary to the conventional RAKE receiver concept with multiple correlators. It is shown in results that the proposed receiver achieves better bit error rates in comparison with the conventional one for more than one multipaths.

Keywords: RAKE receiver, Code division multiple access, ModifiedWalsh-Hadamard codes, Single correlator.

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Authors: Ishani Pruthi, William Burch Jr

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The concept of sacred and nature have long been interlinked. Various cultural aspects such as religion, faith, traditions bring people closer to nature and the natural environment. Memorial Parks and Sacred Groves are examples of two such cultural landscapes that exist today. The project mainly deals with the significance of such sites to the environment and the deep rooted significance it has to the people. These parks and groves play an important role in biodiversity conservation and environmental protection. There are many differences between the establishment of memorial parks and sacred groves, but the underlying significance is the same. Sentiments, emotions play an important role in landscape planning and management. Hence the people and communities living at these sites need to be involved in any planning activity or decisions. The conservation of the environment should appeal to the sentiments of the people; the need to be 'with nature' should be used in the setting up of memorial forests and in the preservation of sacred groves.

Keywords: Sacred groves, memorial forests, community based natural resource management.

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Authors: Carol B. Collins, M. H. N Tabrizi

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The purposes of this paper are to (1) promote excellence in computer science by suggesting a cohesive innovative approach to fill well documented deficiencies in current computer science education, (2) justify (using the authors' and others anecdotal evidence from both the classroom and the real world) why this approach holds great potential to successfully eliminate the deficiencies, (3) invite other professionals to join the authors in proof of concept research. The authors' experiences, though anecdotal, strongly suggest that a new approach involving visual modeling technologies should allow computer science programs to retain a greater percentage of prospective and declared majors as students become more engaged learners, more successful problem-solvers, and better prepared as programmers. In addition, the graduates of such computer science programs will make greater contributions to the profession as skilled problem-solvers. Instead of wearily rememorizing code as they move to the next course, students will have the problem-solving skills to think and work in more sophisticated and creative ways.

Keywords: Algorithms, CASE, UML, Problem-solving.

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Authors: Isari Pairoa, Proud Arunrangsiwed

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Celebrity and brand mascot endorsement have been explored for more than three decades. Both endorsers can effectively transfer their reputation to corporate image and can influence the customers to purchase the product. However, there was little known about the mediators between the level of endorsement and its effect on buying behavior. The objective of the current study is to identify the gab of the previous studies and to seek possible mediators. It was found that consumer’s memory and identification are the mediators, of source credibility and endorsement effect. A future study should confirm the model of endorsement, which was established in the current study.

Keywords: Product endorsement, memory, identification theory, source credibility, unintentional effect.

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Authors: Dimitrie Marinceu, Alan Murchison

Abstract:

The Canadian Used Fuel Container (UFC) is a mid-size hemispherical headed copper coated steel container measuring 2.5 meters in length and 0.5 meters in diameter containing 48 used fuel bundles. The contained used fuel produces significant gamma radiation requiring automated assembly processes to complete the assembly. The design throughput of 2,500 UFCs per year places constraints on equipment and hot cell design for repeatability, speed of processing, robustness and recovery from upset conditions. After UFC assembly, the UFC is inserted into a Buffer Box (BB). The BB is made from adequately pre-shaped blocks (lower and upper block) and Highly Compacted Bentonite (HCB) material. The blocks are practically ‘sandwiching’ the UFC between them after assembly. This paper identifies one possible approach for the BB automatic assembly cell and processes. Automation of the BB assembly will have a significant positive impact on nuclear safety, quality, productivity, and reliability.

Keywords: Used fuel packing plant, automatic assembly cell, used fuel container, buffer box, deep geological repository.

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Authors: Kevin Fong-Rey Liu, Cheng-Wu Chen, Ken Yeh, Han-Hsi Liang

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Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a procedure tool of environmental management for identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the adverse effects of development proposals. EIA reports usually analyze how the amounts or concentrations of pollutants obey the relevant standards. Actually, many analytical tools can deepen the analysis of environmental impacts in EIA reports, such as life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental risk assessment (ERA). Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is one of steps in LCA to introduce the causal relationships among environmental hazards and damage. Incorporating the LCIA concept into ERA as an integrated tool for EIA can extend the focus of the regulatory compliance of environmental impacts to determine of the significance of environmental impacts. Sometimes, when using integrated tools, it is necessary to consider fuzzy situations due to insufficient information; therefore, ERA should be generalized to fuzzy risk assessment (FRA). Finally, the use of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through the study case of the expansion plan of the world-s largest plastics processing factory.

Keywords: Fuzzy risk analysis, life cycle impact assessment, fuzzy logic, environmental impact assessment

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Authors: Mustahsan Mir, Ahmed Hassanin, Mohammed A. Al-Saleh

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The layout optimization of building blocks of unequal areas has applications in many disciplines including VLSI floorplanning, macrocell placement, unequal-area facilities layout optimization, and plant or machine layout design. A number of heuristics and some analytical and hybrid techniques have been published to solve this problem. This paper presents an efficient high-quality building-block layout design technique especially suited for solving large-size problems. The higher efficiency and improved quality of optimized solutions are made possible by introducing the concept of Promising Infant Clusters in a constructive placement procedure. The results presented in the paper demonstrate the improved performance of the presented technique for benchmark problems in comparison with published heuristic, analytic, and hybrid techniques.

Keywords: Block layout problem, building-block layout design, CAD, optimization, search techniques.

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Authors: Towards Better Quality in Healthcare, Operations Management: A Developmental Literature Review

Abstract:

This work presents the various perspectives, dimensions, components and definitions given to quality in the operations management (OM) and healthcare services (HCS) literature in time, highlighting gaps and learning opportunities between the two disciplines through a thorough search into their rich and distinct body of knowledge. Greater and new insights about the general nature of quality are obtained with findings such as in OM, quality has been approached in six fairly distinct paradigms (excellence, value, conformity to specifications, attributes, satisfaction and meeting or exceeding customer expectations), whereas in HCS, two approaches are prominent (Donabedian’s structure, process and outcomes model and Lohr and Schroeder’s circumscribed definition). The two disciplines views on quality seem to have progressed much in parallel with little cross-learning from each other. This work then proposes an encompassing definition of quality as a lever and suggests further research and development avenues for a better use of the concept of quality by academics and practitioners alike toward the goals of greater organizational performance and improved management in healthcare and possibly other service domains.

Keywords: Healthcare, management, operations, quality, services.

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Authors: Sean Paulsen, Michael Casey

Abstract:

In this work, we present a self-supervised pretraining framework for transformers on functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data. First, we pretrain our architecture on two self-supervised tasks simultaneously to teach the model a general understanding of the temporal and spatial dynamics of human auditory cortex during music listening. Our pretraining results are the first to suggest a synergistic effect of multitask training on fMRI data. Second, we finetune the pretrained models and train additional fresh models on a supervised fMRI classification task. We observe significantly improved accuracy on held-out runs with the finetuned models, which demonstrates the ability of our pretraining tasks to facilitate transfer learning. This work contributes to the growing body of literature on transformer architectures for pretraining and transfer learning with fMRI data, and serves as a proof of concept for our pretraining tasks and multitask pretraining on fMRI data.

Keywords: Transfer learning, fMRI, self-supervised, brain decoding, transformer, multitask training.

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Authors: Liming Zhang

Abstract:

There have been different approaches to compute the analytic instantaneous frequency with a variety of background reasoning and applicability in practice, as well as restrictions. This paper presents an adaptive Fourier decomposition and (α-counting) based instantaneous frequency computation approach. The adaptive Fourier decomposition is a recently proposed new signal decomposition approach. The instantaneous frequency can be computed through the so called mono-components decomposed by it. Due to the fast energy convergency, the highest frequency of the signal will be discarded by the adaptive Fourier decomposition, which represents the noise of the signal in most of the situation. A new instantaneous frequency definition for a large class of so-called simple waves is also proposed in this paper. Simple wave contains a wide range of signals for which the concept instantaneous frequency has a perfect physical sense. The α-counting instantaneous frequency can be used to compute the highest frequency for a signal. Combination of these two approaches one can obtain the IFs of the whole signal. An experiment is demonstrated the computation procedure with promising results.

Keywords: Adaptive Fourier decomposition, Fourier series, signal processing, instantaneous frequency

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Authors: Chokri Baccouch, Chayma Bahhar, Hedi Sakli, Nizar Sakli, Taoufik Aguili

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This paper presents a hybrid system solar cell antenna for 5G mobile communications networks. We propose here a solar cell antenna with either a front face collection grid or mesh patch. The solar cell antenna of our contribution combines both optical and radiofrequency signals. Thus, we propose two solar cell antenna structures in the frequency bands of future 5G standard respectively in both 2.6 and 3.5 GHz bands. Simulation using the Advanced Design System (ADS) software allows us to analyze and determine the antenna parameters proposed in this work such as the reflection coefficient (S11), gain, directivity and radiated power.

Keywords: Patch antenna, solar cell, DC, RF, 5G.

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Authors: Y. Djouadi., F. Souam.

Abstract:

Most of the existing text mining approaches are proposed, keeping in mind, transaction databases model. Thus, the mined dataset is structured using just one concept: the “transaction", whereas the whole dataset is modeled using the “set" abstract type. In such cases, the structure of the whole dataset and the relationships among the transactions themselves are not modeled and consequently, not considered in the mining process. We believe that taking into account structure properties of hierarchically structured information (e.g. textual document, etc ...) in the mining process, can leads to best results. For this purpose, an hierarchical associations rule mining approach for textual documents is proposed in this paper and the classical set-oriented mining approach is reconsidered profits to a Direct Acyclic Graph (DAG) oriented approach. Natural languages processing techniques are used in order to obtain the DAG structure. Based on this graph model, an hierarchical bottom up algorithm is proposed. The main idea is that each node is mined with its parent node.

Keywords: Graph based association rules mining, Hierarchical document structure, Text mining.

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Authors: Bhavneet Sidhu, Hardeep Singh

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Cellular networks provide voice and data services to the users with mobility. To deliver services to the mobile users, the cellular network is capable of tracking the locations of the users, and allowing user movement during the conversations. These capabilities are achieved by the location management. Location management in mobile communication systems is concerned with those network functions necessary to allow the users to be reached wherever they are in the network coverage area. In a cellular network, a service coverage area is divided into smaller areas of hexagonal shape, referred to as cells. The cellular concept was introduced to reuse the radio frequency. Continued expansion of cellular networks, coupled with an increasingly restricted mobile spectrum, has established the reduction of communication overhead as a highly important issue. Much of this traffic is used in determining the precise location of individual users when relaying calls, with the field of location management aiming to reduce this overhead through prediction of user location. This paper describes and compares various location management schemes in the cellular networks.

Keywords: Cellular Networks, Location Area, MobilityManagement, Paging.

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Authors: Anju S. Pillai, T.B. Isha

Abstract:

With the necessity of increased processing capacity with less energy consumption; power aware multiprocessor system has gained more attention in the recent future. One of the additional challenges that is to be solved in a multi-processor system when compared to uni-processor system is job allocation. This paper presents a novel task dependent job allocation algorithm: Energy centric- Allocation (Ec-A) and Rate Monotonic (RM) scheduling to minimize energy consumption in a multiprocessor system. A simulation analysis is carried out to verify the performance increase with reduction in energy consumption and required number of processors in the system.

Keywords: Energy consumption, Job allocation, Multiprocessor systems, Task dependent.

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Authors: Hani Baek, Gwang Min Sun, Chansun Shin, Sung Ho Ahn

Abstract:

Fast neutron irradiation using nuclear reactors is an effective method to improve switching loss and short circuit durability of power semiconductor (insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) and insulated gate transistors (IGT), etc.). However, not only fast neutrons but also thermal neutrons, epithermal neutrons and gamma exist in the nuclear reactor. And the electrical properties of the IGBT may be deteriorated by the irradiation of gamma. Gamma irradiation damages are known to be caused by Total Ionizing Dose (TID) effect and Single Event Effect (SEE), Displacement Damage. Especially, the TID effect deteriorated the electrical properties such as leakage current and threshold voltage of a power semiconductor. This work can confirm the effect of the gamma irradiation on the electrical properties of 600 V NPT-IGBT. Irradiation of gamma forms lattice defects in the gate oxide and Si-SiO₂ interface of the IGBT. It was confirmed that this lattice defect acts on the center of the trap and affects the threshold voltage, thereby negatively shifted the threshold voltage according to TID. In addition to the change in the carrier mobility, the conductivity modulation decreases in the n-drift region, indicating a negative influence that the forward voltage drop decreases. The turn-off delay time of the device before irradiation was 212 ns. Those of 2.5, 10, 30, 70 and 100 kRad(Si) were 225, 258, 311, 328, and 350 ns, respectively. The gamma irradiation increased the turn-off delay time of the IGBT by approximately 65%, and the switching characteristics deteriorated.

Keywords: NPT-IGBT, gamma irradiation, switching, turn-off delay time, recombination, trap center.

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Authors: Z. Zarid, C. Gamba, A. Brusseaux, C. Laborie, K. Briens

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Cooling with sound is a physical phenomenon allowed by Thermo-Acoustics in which acoustic energy is transformed into a negative heat transfer, in other words: into cooling! Without needing any harmful gas, the transformation is environmentally friendly and can respond to many needs in terms of air conditioning, food refrigeration for domestic use, and cooling medical samples for example. To explore the possibilities of this cooling solution on a small scale, the TACS prototype has been designed, consisting of a low cost thermoacoustic refrigerant “pipe” able to lower the temperature by a few degrees. The obtained results are providing an interesting element for possible future of thermo-acoustic refrigeration.

Keywords: Domestic Scale Cooling System, Thermoacoustic, Environmental Friendly Refrigeration.

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Authors: M. M. M. Salem, Ayman A. Aly

Abstract:

An active suspension system has been proposed to improve the ride comfort. A quarter-car 2 degree-of-freedom (DOF) system is designed and constructed on the basis of the concept of a four-wheel independent suspension to simulate the actions of an active vehicle suspension system. The purpose of a suspension system is to support the vehicle body and increase ride comfort. The aim of the work described in the paper was to illustrate the application of fuzzy logic technique to the control of a continuously damping automotive suspension system. The ride comfort is improved by means of the reduction of the body acceleration caused by the car body when road disturbances from smooth road and real road roughness. The paper describes also the model and controller used in the study and discusses the vehicle response results obtained from a range of road input simulations. In the conclusion, a comparison of active suspension fuzzy control and Proportional Integration derivative (PID) control is shown using MATLAB simulations.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic control, ride comfort, vehicle dynamics, active suspension system, quarter-car model.

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Authors: Ajay Verma, Nitin Seth

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of the concept of competitiveness in the supply chain and to present a conceptual framework for Supply Chain Competitiveness (SCC). The framework is based on supply chain activities, which are inputs, necessary for SCC and the benefits which are the outputs of SCC. A literature review is conducted on key supply chain competitiveness issues, its determinants, its various dimensions followed by exploration for SCC. Based on the insights gained, a conceptual framework for SCC is presented based on activities for SCC, SCC environment and outcomes of SCC. The information flow in the conceptual framework is bi-directional at all levels and the activities are interrelated in a global competitive environment. The activities include the activities of suppliers, manufacturers and distributors, giving more emphasis on manufacturers- activities. Further, implications of various factors such as economic, politicolegal, technical, socio-cultural, competition, demographic etc. are also highlighted. The SCC framework is an attempt to cover the relatively less explored area of supply chain competitiveness. It is expected that this work will further motivate researchers, academicians and practitioners to work in this area and offers conceptual help in providing a directions for supply chain competitiveness which leads to improvement in the supply chain and supply chain performance.

Keywords: Competitive advantage, supply chain, SCC, supplychain management.

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Authors: Amer Al Mahmoud Alsheikh, Jan Žídek, František Krčma

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Using ab initio theoretical calculations, we present analysis of fragmentation process. The analysis is performed in two steps. The first step is calculation of fragmentation energies by ab initio calculations. The second step is application of the energies to kinetic description of process. The energies of fragments are presented in this paper. The kinetics of fragmentation process can be described by numerical models. The method for kinetic analysis is described in this paper. The result - composition of fragmentation products - will be calculated in future. The results from model can be compared to the concentrations of fragments from mass spectrum.

Keywords: Ab initio, Density functional theory, Fragmentation energy, Geometry optimization.

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Authors: Peerapong Uthansakul, Monthippa Uthansakul

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WLAN Positioning has been presented by many approaches in literatures using the characteristics of Received Signal Strength (RSS), Time of Arrival (TOA) or Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), Angle of Arrival (AOA) and cell ID. Among these, RSS approach is the simplest method to implement because there is no need of modification on both access points and client devices whereas its accuracy is terrible due to physical environments. For TOA or TDOA approach, the accuracy is quite acceptable but most researches have to modify either software or hardware on existing WLAN infrastructure. The scales of modifications are made on only access card up to the changes in protocol of WLAN. Hence, it is an unattractive approach to use TOA or TDOA for positioning system. In this paper, the new concept of merging both RSS and TOA positioning techniques is proposed. In addition, the method to achieve TOA characteristic for positioning WLAN user without any extra modification necessarily appended in the existing system is presented. The measurement results confirm that the proposed technique using both RSS and TOA characteristics provides better accuracy than using only either RSS or TOA approach.

Keywords: Received signal strength, Time of arrival, Positioning system, WLAN, Measurement.

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Authors: Ingu Kim, Shangmun Shin, Yongsun Choi, Nguyen Manh Thang, Edwin R. Ramos, Won-Joo Hwang

Abstract:

Project selection problems on management information system (MIS) are often considered a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) for a solving method. These problems contain two aspects, such as interdependencies among criteria and candidate projects and qualitative and quantitative factors of projects. However, most existing methods reported in literature consider these aspects separately even though these two aspects are simultaneously incorporated. For this reason, we proposed a hybrid method using analytic network process (ANP) and fuzzy logic in order to represent both aspects. We then propose a goal programming model to conduct an optimization for the project selection problems interpreted by a hybrid concept. Finally, a numerical example is conducted as verification purposes.

Keywords: Analytic Network Process (ANP), Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM), Fuzzy Logic, Information System Project Selection, Goal Programming.

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Authors: Sharan Badiger, Prema T. Akkasaligar, Patil LS, Manish Patel, Biradar MS

Abstract:

Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a global pandemic with cases reporting from virtually every country and continues to be a common infection in developing country like India. Microalbuminuria is a manifestation of human immunodeficiency virus associated nephropathy. Therefore, microalbuminuria may be an early marker of human immunodeficiency virus associated nephropathy, and screening for its presence may be beneficial. A strikingly high prevalence of microalbuminuria among human immunodeficiency virus infected patients has been described in various studies. Risk factors for clinically significant proteinuria include African - American race, higher human immunodeficiency virus ribonucleic acid level and lower CD4 lymphocyte count. The cardiovascular risk factors of increased systolic blood pressure and increase fasting blood sugar level are strongly associated with microalbuminuria in human immunodeficiency virus patient. These results suggest that microalbuminuria may be a sign of current endothelial dysfunction and micro-vascular disease and there is substantial risk of future cardiovascular disease events. Positive contributing factors include early kidney disease such as human immunodeficiency virus associated nephropathy, a marker of end organ damage related to co morbidities of diabetes or hypertension, or more diffuse endothelial cells dysfunction. Nevertheless after adjustment for non human immunodeficiency virus factors, human immunodeficiency virus itself is a major risk factor. The presence of human immunodeficiency virus infection is independent risk to develop microalbuminuria in human immunodeficiency virus patient. Cardiovascular risk factors appeared to be stronger predictors of microalbuminuria than markers of human immunodeficiency virus severity person with human immunodeficiency virus infection and microalbuminuria therefore appear to potentially bear the burden of two separate damage related to known vascular end organ damage related to know vascular risk factors, and human immunodeficiency virus specific processes such as the direct viral infection of kidney cells.The higher prevalence of microalbuminuria among the human immunodeficiency virus infected could be harbinger of future increased risks of both kidney and cardiovascular disease. Further study defining the prognostic significance of microalbuminuria among human immunodeficiency virus infected persons will be essential. Microalbuminuria seems to be a predictor of cardiovascular disease in diabetic and non diabetic subjects, hence it can also be used for early detection of micro vascular disease in human immunodeficiency virus positive patients, thus can help to diagnose the disease at the earliest.

Keywords: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, Human immunodeficiency virus, Microalbuminuria.

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Authors: J. Chelladurai, G. Saravana Ilango, C. Nagamani, S. Senthil Kumar

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Pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques have been the subject of intensive research for different industrial and power sector applications. A large variety of methods, different in concept and performance, have been newly developed and described. This paper analyzes the comparative merits of Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) and Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM) techniques and the suitability of these techniques in a Shunt Active Filter (SAF). The objective is to select the scheme that offers effective utilization of DC bus voltage and also harmonic reduction at the input side. The effectiveness of the PWM techniques is tested in the SAF configuration with a non linear load. The performance of the SAF with the SPWM and (SVPWM) techniques are compared with respect to the THD in source current. The study reveals that in the context of closed loop SAF control with the SVPWM technique there is only a minor improvement in THD. The utilization of the DC bus with SVPWM is also not significant compared to that with SPWM because of the non sinusoidal modulating signal from the controller in SAF configuration.

Keywords: Voltage source inverter, Shunt active filter, SPWM, SVPWM, Matlab/SIMULINK.

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Authors: Kostyantyn Yermashov, Karsten Wolke, Karl Hayo Siemsen

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Domain-specific languages describe specific solutions to problems in the application domain. Traditionally they form a solution composing black-box abstractions together. This, usually, involves non-deep transformations over the target model. In this paper we argue that it is potentially powerful to operate with grey-box abstractions to build a domain-specific software system. We present parametric code templates as grey-box abstractions and conceptual tools to encapsulate and manipulate these templates. Manipulations introduce template-s merging routines and can be defined in a generic way. This involves reasoning mechanisms at the code templates level. We introduce the concept of Neurath Modelling Language (NML) that operates with parametric code templates and specifies a visualisation mapping mechanism for target models. Finally we provide an example of calculating a domain-specific software system with predefined NML elements.

Keywords: software design, code templates, domain-specific languages, modelling languages, generic tools

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Authors: Abioye A. Oyenuga, Rao Bhamidimarri

Abstract:

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.

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