Search results for: Energy saving measures

Authors: A. Tellaeche, R. Arana, I.Maurtua

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The exhaustive quality control is becoming more and more important when commercializing competitive products in the world's globalized market. Taken this affirmation as an undeniable truth, it becomes critical in certain sector markets that need to offer the highest restrictions in quality terms. One of these examples is the percussion cap mass production, a critical element assembled in firearm ammunition. These elements, built in great quantities at a very high speed, must achieve a minimum tolerance deviation in their fabrication, due to their vital importance in firing the piece of ammunition where they are built in. This paper outlines a machine vision development for the 100% inspection of percussion caps obtaining data from 2D and 3D simultaneous images. The acquisition speed and precision of these images from a metallic reflective piece as a percussion cap, the accuracy of the measures taken from these images and the multiple fabrication errors detected make the main findings of this work.

Keywords: critical tolerance, high speed decision makingsimultaneous 2D/3D machine vision.

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Authors: Chan Hee Park, Arim Lee, Jung Min Lee, Joo Hyun Moon

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Accident in spent fuel pool (SFP) of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 showed the importance of continuous monitoring of the key environmental parameters such as water temperature, water level, and radiation level in the SFP at accident conditions. Because the SFP water temperature is one of the key parameters indicating SFP conditions, its behavior at accident conditions shall be understood to prepare appropriate measures. This study estimated temporal change in the SFP water temperature at Kori Unit 1 with 587 MWe for 1 hour after initiation of a loss-of-pool-cooling accident. For the estimation, ANSYS CFX 13.0 code was used. The estimation showed that the increasing rate of the water temperature was 3.90C per hour and the SFP water temperature could reach 1000C in 25.6 hours after the initiation of loss-of-pool-cooling accident.

Keywords: Spent fuel pool, water temperature, Kori Unit 1, a loss-of-pool-cooling accident.

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Authors: P. Ahern, D. Collery

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The implementation of lean thinking in the manufacturing industry revolutionized the traditional approach to large-scale production through the process of identifying the waste in each task and putting in place mitigation measures to eliminate the waste in all its forms. The Irish construction industry, however, has been much slower to adopt the principles of lean, opting instead to stick with the traditional approach to construction project delivery which is inherently wasteful. Lean thinking holds the potential to revolutionize the construction industry in a similar manner to the adoption of lean manufacturing. Lean principles present opportunities for reduced project duration, reduced project cost, improved quality, and elimination of re-works and non-value-added activities. This research has been designed to accumulate research data through available literature, electronic surveys, and interviews. The results show an industry reluctant to accept change and an undefined path to successful lean construction implementation.

Keywords: Barriers, lean construction, lean implementation, lean manufacturing, lean philosophy.

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Authors: Efat Lali Dastjerdi, Hassan Sadeghi Naeini, Hadi Sanjari

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One of the important steps in a safety and risk management system is the economical evaluation of occupational accident and diseases costs in order to decrease accidents from reoccurring in the workplace. This study proposed a plausible method for calculating occupational accident costs and illnesses in work place. This method design for cost estimation takes into account both the personnel, organizational level as well as the community level especially intended for an Iranian work place. The research indicates that a using systematic method for calculating costs which also provides risk evaluation can help managers to plan correctly the investment in health and safety measures. Using this method is that not only is it comprehensive, easy and practical and could be applied in practice by a manager within a short period of time but it also shows the importance of accident costs as well as calculates the real cost of an accident and illnesses.

Keywords: ost calculating model, Economics of health and Safety.

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Authors: Jieh-Haur Chen, Pei-Fen Huang

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This paper presents an integrated model that automatically measures the change of rivers, damage area of bridge surroundings, and change of vegetation. The proposed model is on the basis of a neurofuzzy mechanism enhanced by SOM optimization algorithm, and also includes three functions to deal with river imagery. High resolution imagery from FORMOSAT-2 satellite taken before and after the invasion period is adopted. By randomly selecting a bridge out of 129 destroyed bridges, the recognition results show that the average width has increased 66%. The ruined segment of the bridge is located exactly at the most scour region. The vegetation coverage has also reduced to nearly 90% of the original. The results yielded from the proposed model demonstrate a pinpoint accuracy rate at 99.94%. This study brings up a successful tool not only for large-scale damage assessment but for precise measurement to disasters.

Keywords: remote sensing image, damage assessment, typhoon disaster, bridge, ANN, fuzzy, SOM, optimization.

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Authors: Arellano Karina, Diego Avila-Pesántez, Leticia Vaca-Cárdenas, Alberto Arellano, Carmen Mantilla

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Nowadays, security threats in Voice over IP (VoIP) systems are an essential and latent concern for people in charge of security in a corporate network, because, every day, new Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks are developed. These affect the business continuity of an organization, regarding confidentiality, availability, and integrity of services, causing frequent losses of both information and money. The purpose of this study is to establish the necessary measures to mitigate DoS threats, which affect the availability of VoIP systems, based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). A Security Model called MS-DoS-SIP is proposed, which is based on two approaches. The first one analyzes the recommendations of international security standards. The second approach takes into account weaknesses and threats. The implementation of this model in a VoIP simulated system allowed to minimize the present vulnerabilities in 92% and increase the availability time of the VoIP service into an organization.

Keywords: Denial-of-service SIP attacks, MS-DoS-SIP, security model, VoIP-SIP vulnerabilities.

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Authors: A. Bendarma, T. Jankowiak, A. Rusinek, T. Lodygowski, M. Klósak, S. Bouslikhane

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The analysis of the mechanical characteristics and dynamic behavior of aluminum alloy sheet due to perforation tests based on the experimental tests coupled with the numerical simulation is presented. The impact problems (penetration and perforation) of the metallic plates have been of interest for a long time. Experimental, analytical as well as numerical studies have been carried out to analyze in details the perforation process. Based on these approaches, the ballistic properties of the material have been studied. The initial and residual velocities laser sensor is used during experiments to obtain the ballistic curve and the ballistic limit. The energy balance is also reported together with the energy absorbed by the aluminum including the ballistic curve and ballistic limit. The high speed camera helps to estimate the failure time and to calculate the impact force. A wide range of initial impact velocities from 40 up to 180 m/s has been covered during the tests. The mass of the conical nose shaped projectile is 28 g, its diameter is 12 mm, and the thickness of the aluminum sheet is equal to 1.0 mm. The ABAQUS/Explicit finite element code has been used to simulate the perforation processes. The comparison of the ballistic curve was obtained numerically and was verified experimentally, and the failure patterns are presented using the optimal mesh densities which provide the stability of the results. A good agreement of the numerical and experimental results is observed.

Keywords: Aluminum alloy, ballistic behavior, failure criterion, numerical simulation.

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Authors: Zerarka Hizia, Akchiche Mustapha, Prunier Florent

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The landslide of Ain El Hammam (AEH) is characterized by a complex geology and a high hydrogeology hazard. AEH's perpetual reactivation compels us to look closely at its triggers and to better understand the mechanisms of its evolution in mass and in depth. This study builds a numerical model to simulate the influencing factors such as precipitation, non-saturation, and pore pressure fluctuations, using Plaxis software. For a finer analysis of instabilities, we use Hill's criterion, based on the sign of the second order work, which is the most appropriate material stability criterion for non-associated elastoplastic materials. The results of this type of calculation allow us, in theory, to predict the shape and position of the slip surface(s) which are liable to ground movements of the slope, before reaching the rupture given by the plastic limit of Mohr Coulomb. To validate the numerical model, an analysis of inclinometer measures is performed to confirm the direction of movement and kinematic of the sliding mechanism of AEH’s slope.

Keywords: Landslide, second order work, precipitation, inclinometers.

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Authors: Shivalinge Gowda

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The total mass attenuation coefficients m/r, of some halides such as, NaCl, KCl, CuCl, NaBr, KBr, RbCl, AgCl, NaI, KI, AgBr, CsI, HgCl₂, CdI₂ and HgI₂ were determined at photon energies 279.2, 320.07, 514.0, 661.6, 1115.5, 1173.2 and 1332.5 keV in a well-collimated narrow beam good geometry set-up using a high resolution, hyper pure germanium detector. The mass attenuation coefficients and the effective atomic cross sections are found to be in good agreement with the XCOM values. From these mass attenuation coefficients, the effective atomic cross sections s_a, of the compounds were determined. These effective atomic cross section s_a data so obtained are then used to compute the effective atomic numbers Z_eff. For this, the interpolation of total attenuation cross-sections of photons of energy E in elements of atomic number Z was performed by using the logarithmic regression analysis of the data measured by the authors and reported earlier for the above said energies along with XCOM data for standard energies. The best-fit coefficients in the photon energy range of 250 to 350 keV, 350 to 500 keV, 500 to 700 keV, 700 to 1000 keV and 1000 to 1500 keV by a piecewise interpolation method were then used to find the Z_eff of the compounds with respect to the effective atomic cross section s_a from the relation obtained by piece wise interpolation method. Using these Z_eff values, the electron densities N_el of halides were also determined. The present Z_eff and N_el values of halides are found to be in good agreement with the values calculated from XCOM data and other available published values.

Keywords: Mass attenuation coefficient, atomic cross-section, effective atomic number, electron density.

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Authors: Liang-Hsuan Chen, Chia-Jung Chang

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Fuzzy random variables have been introduced as an imprecise concept of numeric values for characterizing the imprecise knowledge. The descriptive parameters can be used to describe the primary features of a set of fuzzy random observations. In fuzzy environments, the expected values are usually represented as fuzzy-valued, interval-valued or numeric-valued descriptive parameters using various metrics. Instead of the concept of area metric that is usually adopted in the relevant studies, the numeric expected value is proposed by the concept of distance metric in this study based on two characters (fuzziness and randomness) of FRVs. Comparing with the existing measures, although the results show that the proposed numeric expected value is same with those using the different metric, if only triangular membership functions are used. However, the proposed approach has the advantages of intuitiveness and computational efficiency, when the membership functions are not triangular types. An example with three datasets is provided for verifying the proposed approach.

Keywords: Fuzzy random variables, Distance measure, Expected value.

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Authors: Janaína F. Guidolini, Jean P. H. B. Ometto, Angélica Giarolla, Peter M. Toledo, Carlos A. Valera

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The water crisis, a major problem of the 21^st century, occurs mainly due to poor management. The central issue that should govern the management is the integration of the various aspects that interfere with the use of water resources and their protection, supported by legal basis. A watershed is a unit of water interacting with the physical, biotic, social, economic and cultural variables. The Brazilian law recognized river basin as the territorial management unit. Based on the diagnosis of the current situation of the water resources of the Rio Grande Basin, a discussion informed in the Brazilian legal basis was made to propose measures to fight or mitigate damages and environmental degradation in the Basin. To manage water resources more efficiently, conserve water and optimize their multiple uses, the integration of acquired scientific knowledge and management is essential. Moreover, it is necessary to monitor compliance with environmental legislation.

Keywords: Conservation of soil and water, river basin, sustainability, water governance.

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Authors: Shohei Nakai, Yasuhiro Yamada

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Weed suppression and weeding are necessary measures for rice cultivation. Weed suppression precedes the process of weeding. It means suppressing the growth of young weeds and creating a weed-less environment. If we suppress the growth of weeds, we can reduce the number of weeds in a paddy field. This would result in a reduction of the weeding work load. In this paper, we will show how we developed a weed suppression robot for the purpose of reducing the weeding work load. The robot has a laser range finder for autonomous mobility and a robot arm for weed suppression. It travels along the rice rows without stepping on and injuring the rice plants in a paddy field. The robot arm applies force to the weed seedlings and thereby suppresses the growth of weeds. This paper will explain the methodology of the autonomous mobile, the experiment in weed suppression, and the method of controlling the robot’s posture on uneven ground.

Keywords: Mobile robot, Paddy field, Robot arm, Weed.

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Authors: Khaled E. A. Negm

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In the current research, we present an operation framework and protection mechanism to facilitate secure environment to protect mobile agents against tampering. The system depends on the presence of an authentication authority. The advantage of the proposed system is that security measures is an integral part of the design, thus common security retrofitting problems do not arise. This is due to the presence of AlGamal encryption mechanism to protect its confidential content and any collected data by the agent from the visited host . So that eavesdropping on information from the agent is no longer possible to reveal any confidential information. Also the inherent security constraints within the framework allow the system to operate as an intrusion detection system for any mobile agent environment. The mechanism is tested for most of the well known severe attacks against agents and networked systems. The scheme proved a promising performance that makes it very much recommended for the types of transactions that needs highly secure environments, e. g., business to business.

Keywords: Mobile agent security, mobile accesses, agent encryption.

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Authors: Aleksandra Nocoń (Szunke)

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The study is a review of the literature concerning the consequences of non-standard monetary policy, which are used by central banks during unconventional periods, threatening banking sector instability. In particular, the attention was paid to the effects of non-standard monetary policy tools for financial markets. However, the empirical evidence about their effects and real consequences for financial markets is still not final. The main aim of the study is to survey consequences of standard and non-standard monetary policy instruments, implemented during the global financial crisis in the United States, United Kingdom and euro area, with particular attention to the results for the stabilization of global financial markets. The study consists mainly of the empirical review, indicating the impact of the implementation of these tools for financial markets. The following research methods were used in the study: literature studies, including domestic and foreign literature, cause and effect analysis and statistical analysis.

Keywords: Asset purchase facility, consequences of monetary policy instruments, non-standard monetary policy, Quantitative Easing.

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Authors: Minsu Seol, Youngjo Tak, Guenjai Kwak, Kijung Yong

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ZnO heteronanostructured nanowires arrays have been fabricated by low temperature solution method. Various heterostructures were synthesized including CdS/ZnO, CdSe/CdS/ZnO nanowires and Co3O4/ZnO, ZnO/SiC nanowires. These multifunctional heterostructure nanowires showed important applications in photocatalysts, sensors, wettability control and solar energy conversion.

Keywords: ZnO nanowires, Heterostructure nanowires, solarenergy conversion, photocatalsis.

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Authors: B. Ferdousi, J. Bari

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Advanced technology can provide vital tools to promote authentic, meaningful, and efficient assessments that measure students' achievement of learning objectives in higher education. However, it also brings several challenges in the learning process. This literature review-based paper describes the challenges in ensuring academic integrity and cybersecurity when students' knowledge and performance are assessed in a digital environment. The paper also reviews the strategies that can be implemented to address these challenges. Using students' authentication and authorship verification of their classwork, designing and developing e-assessments, technology accessibility and instructor training are probable solutions to address these challenges. Given the increasing adoption of digital technology in assessing students' effective learning achievement, this paper will help enhance knowledge and in-depth understanding of measures needed in using technology in academic assessment.

Keywords: Fairness, cybersecurity, e-authentication, academic integrity, e-assessment.

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Authors: Aaron J. Small, Craig A. Fletcher

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This study investigates the effect of closed circuit television (CCTV) image patch layout on performance of a simulated train-platform departure task. The within-subjects experimental design measures target detection rate and response latency during a CCTV visual search task conducted as part of the procedure for safe train dispatch. Three interface designs were developed by manipulating CCTV image patch layout. Eye movements, perceived workload and system usability were measured across experimental conditions. Task performance was compared to identify significant differences between conditions. The results of this study have not been determined.

Keywords: Rail human factors, workload, closed circuit television, platform departure, attention, information processing, interface design.

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Authors: Pawit Tangviroon, Apichit Svang-Ariyaskul

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As the limited availability of petroleum-based fuel has been a major concern, biodiesel is one of the most attractive alternative fuels because it is renewable and it also has advantages over the conventional petroleum-base diesel. At Present, productions of biodiesel generally perform by transesterification of vegetable oils with low molecular weight alcohol, mainly methanol, using chemical catalysts. Methanol is petrochemical product that makes biodiesel producing from methanol to be not pure renewable energy source. Therefore, ethanol as a product produced by fermentation processes. It appears as a potential feed stock that makes biodiesel to be pure renewable alternative fuel. The research is conducted based on two biodiesel production processes by reacting soybean oils with methanol and ethanol. Life cycle assessment was carried out in order to evaluate the environmental impacts and to identify the process alternative. Nine mid-point impact categories are investigated. The results indicate that better performance on abiotic depletion potential (ADP) and acidification potential (AP) are observed in biodiesel production from methanol when compared with biodiesel production from ethanol due to less energy consumption during the production processes. Except for ADP and AP, using methanol as feed stock does not show any advantages over biodiesel from ethanol. The single score method is also included in this study in order to identify the best option between two processes of biodiesel production. The global normalization and weighting factor based on ecotaxes are used and it shows that producing biodiesel form ethanol has less environmental load compare to biodiesel from methanol.

Keywords: Biodiesel, Ethanol, Life Cycle Assessment, Methanol, Soybean Oil.

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Authors: Chang-il Kang, Yoon-Hong Park, Tae-Hyun Kim, Yu Wann

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In this paper, we analyzed the pattern of urban spatial structure of Siheung City that had been divided into two parts and presented alternative plans in order to get rid of these phenomena. Concerning patterns of urban spatial structure, we examined it through means of analyzing status of land use, population density and distribution of residence, status of distribution of main facilities, medical facilities, status of distribution of cultural facilities, distribution of land prices and traffic volume trends. The results of study revealed that status of facilities distribution and distribution of land prices, etc. were bisected by the surrounding area of former municipal office and the district of Sihwa, which were both regarded as one apex of the city divide, forming a duo-centric city. In order to get rid of this problem concerned with urban spatial structure that has been bisected, it is required that measures in order to expand facilities in Siheung City should be taken.

Keywords: Urban Spatial Structure, Duo-centric City, Siheung City.

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Authors: J. M. Counsell, Y. Khalid, M. J. Stewart

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Achieving nearly zero carbon heating continues to be identified by UK government analysis as an important feature of any lowest cost pathway to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Heat currently accounts for 48% of UK energy consumption and approximately one third of UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Heat Networks are being promoted by UK investment policies as one means of supporting hybrid heat pump based solutions. To this effect the RISE (Renewable Integrated and Sustainable Electric) heating system project is investigating how an all-electric heating sourceshybrid configuration could play a key role in long-term decarbonisation of heat.  For the purposes of this study, hybrid systems are defined as systems combining the technologies of an electric driven air source heat pump, electric powered thermal storage, a thermal vessel and micro-heat network as an integrated system.  This hybrid strategy allows for the system to store up energy during periods of low electricity demand from the national grid, turning it into a dynamic supply of low cost heat which is utilized only when required. Currently a prototype of such a system is being tested in a modern house integrated with advanced controls and sensors. This paper presents the virtual performance analysis of the system and its design for a micro heat network with multiple dwelling units. The results show that the RISE system is controllable and can reduce carbon emissions whilst being competitive in running costs with a conventional gas boiler heating system.

Keywords: Gas boilers, heat pumps, hybrid heating and thermal storage, renewable integrated& sustainable electric.

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Authors: Rui Yu, Huiqing Ying

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To enhance installation security, a LNG storage in Rudong of Jiangsu province was adopted as a practical work, and it was analyzed by nonlinear finite element method to research overall and local stability performance, as well as the stress and deformation under the action of wind load and self-weight. Results indicate that deformation is tiny when steel mesh maintains as an overall ring, and stress caused by vertical bending moment and tension of bottom tie wire are also in the safe range. However, axial forces of lap reinforcement in adjacent steel mesh exceed the ultimate bearing capacity of tie wire. Hence, tie wires are ruptured; single mesh loses lateral connection and turns into monolithic status as the destruction of overall structure. Further more, monolithic steel mesh is led to collapse by the damage of bottom connection. So, in order to prevent connection failure and enhance installation security, the overlapping parts of steel mesh should be taken more reliable measures.

Keywords: low temperature steel mesh, installation stability, nonlinear finite element, tie wire.

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Authors: T. H. Rodrigues, Maria J. Reis Lima, R. P. F. Guiné, E. Teixeira de Lemos

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Portuguese diet has been gradually diverging from the basic principles of healthy eating, leading to an unbalanced dietary pattern which, associated with increasing sedentary lifestyle, has a negative impact on public health. The main objective of this work was to characterize the dietary habits of university students in Viseu, Portugal. The study consisted of a sample of 80 university students, aged between 18 and 28 years. Anthropometric data (weight (kg) and height (m)) were collected and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated. The dietary habits were assessed through a three-day food record and the software Medpoint was used to convert food into energy and nutrients. The results showed that students present a normal body mass index. Female university students made a higher number of daily meals than male students, and these last skipped breakfast more frequently. The values of average daily intake of energy, macronutrients and calcium were higher in males. The food pattern was characterized by a predominant consumption of meat, cereal, fats and sugar. Dietary intake of dairy products, fruits, vegetables and legumes does not meet the recommendations, revealing inadequate food habits such as hypoglycemic, hyperprotein and hyperlipidemic diet. Our findings suggest that preventive interventions should be focus in promoting healthy eating habits and physical activity in adulthood.

Keywords: Food habits, BMI, fortified foods, nutritional deficiencies, university students.

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Authors: Paula A. Cruise, Carvell McLeary

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Employee turnover leads to lowered productivity, decreased morale and work quality, and psychological effects associated with employee separation and replacement. Yet, it remains unknown why talented employees willingly withdraw from organizations. This uncertainty is worsened as studies; a) priorities organizational over individual predictors resulting in restriction in range in turnover measurement; b) focus on actual rather than intended turnover thereby limiting conceptual understanding of the turnover construct and its relationship with other variables and; c) produce inconsistent findings across cultures, contexts and industries despite a clear need for a unified perspective. The current study addressed these gaps by adopting the theory of planned behavior (TPB) framework to examine socio-cognitive factors in organizational trust and individual turnover intentions among bankers and energy employees in Jamaica. In a comparative study of n=369 [n_bank= 264; male=57 (22.73%); n_energy =105; male =45 (42.86)], it was hypothesized that organizational trust was a predictor of employee turnover intention, and the effect of individual, group, cognitive and socio-affective variables varied across industry. Findings from structural equation modelling confirmed the hypothesis, with a model of both cognitive and socio-affective variables being a better fit [CMIN (χ²) = 800.067, df = 364, p ≤ .000; CFI = 0.950; RMSEA = 0.057 with 90% C.I. (0.052 - 0.062); PCLOSE = 0.016; PNFI = 0.818 in predicting turnover intention. The findings are discussed in relation to socio-cognitive components of trust models and predicting negative employee behaviors across cultures and industries.

Keywords: Context-specific organizational trust, cross-cultural psychology, theory of planned behavior, employee turnover intention.

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Authors: Khawla Ben Abderrahim

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In order to define a new model of Tunisian foot sizes and for building the most comfortable shoes, Tunisian industrialists must be able to offer for their customers products able to put on and adjust the majority of the target population concerned. Moreover, the use of models of shoes, mainly from others country, causes a mismatch between the foot and comfort of the Tunisian shoes. But every foot is unique; these models become uncomfortable for the Tunisian foot. We have a set of measures produced from a 3D scan of the feet of a diverse population (women, men ...) and we try to analyze this data to define a model of foot specific to the Tunisian footwear design. In this paper we propose tow new approaches to modeling a new foot sizes model. We used, indeed, the neural networks, and specially the Kohonen network. Next, we combine neural networks with the concept of half-foot size to improve the models already found. Finally, it was necessary to compare the results obtained by applying each approach and we decide what-s the best approach that give us the most model of foot improving more comfortable shoes.

Keywords: Morphology of the foot, foot size, half foot size, neural network, Kohonen network, model of foot size.

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Authors: Tien-Shun Chan, Yung-Chung Chang, Cheng-Yu Chu, Wen-Hui Chen, Yuan-Lin Chen, Shun-Chong Wang, Chang-Chun Wang

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98% of the energy needed in Taiwan has been imported. The prices of petroleum and electricity have been increasing. In addition, facility capacity, amount of electricity generation, amount of electricity consumption and number of Taiwan Power Company customers have continued to increase. For these reasons energy conservation has become an important topic. In the past linear regression was used to establish the power consumption models for chillers. In this study, grey prediction is used to evaluate the power consumption of a chiller so as to lower the total power consumption at peak-load (so that the relevant power providers do not need to keep on increasing their power generation capacity and facility capacity). In grey prediction, only several numerical values (at least four numerical values) are needed to establish the power consumption models for chillers. If PLR, the temperatures of supply chilled-water and return chilled-water, and the temperatures of supply cooling-water and return cooling-water are taken into consideration, quite accurate results (with the accuracy close to 99% for short-term predictions) may be obtained. Through such methods, we can predict whether the power consumption at peak-load will exceed the contract power capacity signed by the corresponding entity and Taiwan Power Company. If the power consumption at peak-load exceeds the power demand, the temperature of the supply chilled-water may be adjusted so as to reduce the PLR and hence lower the power consumption.

Keywords: Gery system theory, grey prediction, chller.

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Authors: M. Cizmesija, N. Erjavec, V. Bahovec

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While the European Union (EU) harmonized methodology is a benchmark of worldwide used business survey (BS) methodology, the choice of variables that are components of the confidence indicators, as the leading indicators, is not strictly determined and unique. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate and to quantify the relationship between all business survey variables in manufacturing industry and industrial production as a reference macroeconomic series in Croatia. The assumption is that there are variables in the business survey, that are not components of Industrial Confidence Indicator (ICI) and which can accurately (and sometimes better then ICI) predict changes in Croatian industrial production. Empirical analyses are conducted using quarterly data of BS variables in manufacturing industry and Croatian industrial production over the period from the first quarter 2005 to the first quarter 2013. Research results confirmed the assumption: three BS variables which is not components of ICI (competitive position, demand and liquidity) are the best leading indicator then ICI, in forecasting changes in Croatian industrial production instantaneously, with one, two or three quarter ahead.

Keywords: Balance, Business Survey, Confidence Indicators, Industrial Production, Forecasting.

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Authors: B. R. O. Omidiwura, A. F. Agboola, E. A. Iyayi

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Pure form of L-Dopa is used to enhance muscular development, fat breakdown and suppress Parkinson disease in humans. However, the L-Dopa in mucuna seed, when present with other antinutritional factors, causes nutritional disorders in monogastric animals. Information on the utilisation of pure L-Dopa in monogastric animals is scanty. Therefore, effect of L-Dopa on growth performance and carcass characteristics in broiler chickens was investigated. Two hundred and forty one-day-old chicks were allotted to six treatments, which consisted of a positive control (PC) with standard energy (3100Kcal/Kg) and negative control (NC) with high energy (3500Kcal/Kg). The rest 4 diets were NC+0.1, NC+0.2, NC+0.3 and NC+0.4% L-Dopa, respectively. All treatments had 4 replicates in a completely randomized design. Body weight gain, final weight, feed intake, dressed weight and carcass characteristics were determined. Body weight gain and final weight of birds fed PC were 1791.0 and 1830.0g, NC+0.1% L-Dopa were 1827.7 and 1866.7g and NC+0.2% L-Dopa were 1871.9 and 1910.9g respectively, and the feed intake of PC (3231.5g), were better than other treatments. The dressed weight at 1375.0g and 1357.1g of birds fed NC+0.1% and NC+0.2% L-Dopa, respectively, were similar but better than other treatments. Also, the thigh (202.5g and 194.9g) and the breast meat (413.8g and 410.8g) of birds fed NC+0.1% and NC+0.2% L-Dopa, respectively, were similar but better than birds fed other treatments. The drum stick of birds fed NC+0.1% L-Dopa (220.5g) was observed to be better than birds on other diets. Meat to bone ratio and relative organ weights were not affected across treatments. L-Dopa extract, at levels tested, had no detrimental effect on broilers, rather better bird performance and carcass characteristics were observed especially at 0.1% and 0.2% L-Dopa inclusion rates. Therefore, 0.2% inclusion is recommended in diets of broiler chickens for improved performance and carcass characteristics.

Keywords: Broilers, Carcass characteristics, L-Dopa, performance.

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Authors: Vivek Agrawal, Vikas Tripathi, Nitin Seth

Abstract:

E-service quality plays a significant role to achieve success or failure in any organization, offering services online. It will increase the competition among the organizations, to attract the customers on the basis of the quality of service provided by the organization. Better e-service quality will enhance the relationship with customers and their satisfaction. So the measurement of eservice quality is very important but it is a complex process due to the complex nature of services. Literature predicts that there is a lack of universal definition of e-service quality. The e-service quality measures in banking have great importance in achieving high customer base. This paper proposes a conceptual model for measuring e-service quality in Indian Banking Industry. Nine dimensions reliability, ease of use, personalization, security and trust, website aesthetic, responsiveness, contact and fulfillment had been identified. The results of this paper may help to develop a proper scale to measure the e-service quality in Indian Banking Industry, which may assist to maintain and improve the performance and effectiveness of e-service quality to retain customers.

Keywords: Banking, Service Quality, e-service quality, Dimensions.

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Authors: Sherine Beshara, Khaled S. El-Kilany, Noha M. Galal

Abstract:

Supply chain management has become more challenging with the emerging trend of globalization and sustainability. Lately, research related to perishable products supply chains, in particular agricultural food products, has emerged. This is attributed to the additional complexity of managing this type of supply chains with the recently increased concern of public health, food quality, food safety, demand and price variability, and the limited lifetime of these products. Inventory management for agrifood supply chains is of vital importance due to the product perishability and customers- strive for quality. This paper concentrates on developing a simulation model of a real life case study of a two echelon production-distribution system for agri-food products. The objective is to improve a set of performance measures by developing a simulation model that helps in evaluating and analysing the performance of these supply chains. Simulation results showed that it can help in improving overall system performance.

Keywords: Agri-food supply chains, inventory model, modelling and Simulation, supply chain.

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Authors: Luedech Girdwichai, Witthaya Mekhum

Abstract:

This research intended to develop the model of community management for sustainable utilization by investigating on 2 groups of population, the family heads and the community management team. The population of the former group consisted of family heads from 511 families in 12 areas to complete the questionnaires which were returned at 479 sets. The latter group consisted of the community management team of 12 areas with 1 representative from each area to give the interview. The questionnaires for the family heads consisted of 2 main parts; general information such as occupations, etc. in the form of checklist. The second part dealt with the data on self reliance community development based on 4P Framework, i.e., People (human resource) development, Place (area) development, Product (economic and income source) development, and Plan (community plan) development in the form of rating scales. Data in the 1^st part were calculated to find frequency and percentage while those in the 2^nd part were analyzed to find arithmetic mean and SD. Data from the 2^nd group of population or the community management team were derived from focus group to find factors influencing successful management together with the in depth interview which were analyzed by descriptive statistics. The results showed that 479 family heads reported that the aspect on the implementation of community plan to self reliance community activities based on Sufficient Economy Philosophy and the 4P was at the average of 3.28 or moderate level. When considering in details, it was found that the 1^st aspect was on the area development with the mean of 3.71 or high level followed by human resource development with the mean of 3.44 or moderate level, then, economic and source of income development with the mean of 3.09 or moderate level. The last aspect was community plan development with the mean of 2.89. The results from the small group discussion revealed some factors and guidelines for successful community management as follows: 1) on the People (human resource) development aspect, there was a project to support and develop community leaders. 2) On the aspect of Place (area) development, there was a development on conservative tourism areas. 3) On the aspect of Product (economic and source of income) development, the community leaders promoted the setting of occupational group, saving group, and product processing group. 4) On the aspect of Plan (community plan) development, there was a prioritization through public hearing.

Keywords: Model of community management, sustainable utilization.

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