Search results for: production line

Authors: A. Pesin, D. Pustovoytov, M. Sverdlik

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Materials with ultrafine-grained structure and unique physical and mechanical properties can be obtained by methods of severe plastic deformation, which include processes of asymmetric rolling (AR). Asymmetric rolling is a very effective way to create ultrafine-grained structures of metals and alloys. Since the asymmetric rolling is a continuous process, it has great potential for industrial production of ultrafine-grained structure sheets. Basic principles of asymmetric rolling are described in detail in scientific literature. In this work finite element modeling of asymmetric rolling and metal forming processes in multiroll gauge was performed. Parameters of the processes which allow achieving significant values of shear strain were defined. The results of the study will be useful for the research of the evolution of ultra-fine metal structure in asymmetric rolling.

Keywords: Asymmetric rolling, equivalent strain, FEM, multiroll gauge, profile, severe plastic deformation, shear strain, sheet.

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Authors: U. A. Asli, H. Hamid, Z.A. Zakaria, A. N. Sadikin, R. Rasit

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This study investigated the effect of a dilute acid, lime and ammonia aqueous pretreatment on the fermentable sugars conversion from empty fruit bunch (EFB) biomass. The dilute acid treatment was carried out in an autoclave, at 121ºC with 4% of sulfuric acid. In the lime pretreatment, 3 wt % of calcium hydroxide was used, whereas the third method was done by soaking EFB with 28% ammonia solution. The EFB biomass was then subjected to a two-stage-acid hydrolysis process. Subsequently, the hydrolysate was fermented by using instant baker’s yeast to produce bioethanol. The highest glucose yield was 890 mg/g of biomass, obtained from the sample which underwent lime pretreatment. The highest bioethanol yield of 6.1mg/g of glucose was achieved from acid pretreatment. This showed that the acid pretreatment gave the most fermentable sugars compared to the other two pretreatments.

Keywords: Bioethanol, biomass, empty fruit bunch (EFB), fermentable sugars.

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Authors: Lovorka Galetic, Zeljko Vukelic

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The advanced concepts of strategic and innovation management in the sphere of company dynamic and innovation capabilities, and achieving their mutual alignment and a synergy effect, are important elements in business today. This paper analyses the theory and empirically investigates the influence of a company’s dynamic capabilities on its innovation capabilities. A new multidimensional model of dynamic capabilities is presented, consisting of five factors appropriate to real time requirements, while innovation capabilities are considered pursuant to the official OECD and Eurostat standards. After examination of dynamic and innovation capabilities indicated their theoretical links, the empirical study testing the model and examining the influence of a company’s dynamic capabilities on its innovation capabilities showed significant results. In the study, a research model was posed to relate company dynamic and innovation capabilities. One side of the model features the variables that are the determinants of dynamic capabilities defined through their factors, while the other side features the determinants of innovation capabilities pursuant to the official standards. With regard to the research model, five hypotheses were set. The study was performed in late 2014 on a representative sample of large and very large Croatian enterprises with a minimum of 250 employees. The research instrument was a questionnaire administered to company top management. For both variables, the position of the company was tested in comparison to industry competitors, on a fivepoint scale. In order to test the hypotheses, correlation tests were performed to determine whether there is a correlation between each individual factor of company dynamic capabilities with the existence of its innovation capabilities, in line with the research model. The results indicate a strong correlation between a company’s possession of dynamic capabilities in terms of their factors, due to the new multi-dimensional model presented in this paper, with its possession of innovation capabilities. Based on the results, all five hypotheses were accepted. Ultimately, it was concluded that there is a strong association between the dynamic and innovation capabilities of a company. 

Keywords: Dynamic capabilities, innovation capabilities, competitive advantage, business results.

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Authors: Ali Ghaffari, Mansour Nikkhah Bahrami, Hesam Parsa

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In this paper a comprehensive model of a fossil fueled power plant (FFPP) is developed in order to evaluate the performance of a newly designed turbine follower controller. Considering the drawbacks of previous works, an overall model is developed to minimize the error between each subsystem model output and the experimental data obtained at the actual power plant. The developed model is organized in two main subsystems namely; Boiler and Turbine. Considering each FFPP subsystem characteristics, different modeling approaches are developed. For economizer, evaporator, superheater and reheater, first order models are determined based on principles of mass and energy conservation. Simulations verify the accuracy of the developed models. Due to the nonlinear characteristics of attemperator, a new model, based on a genetic-fuzzy systems utilizing Pittsburgh approach is developed showing a promising performance vis-à-vis those derived with other methods like ANFIS. The optimization constraints are handled utilizing penalty functions. The effect of increasing the number of rules and membership functions on the performance of the proposed model is also studied and evaluated. The turbine model is developed based on the equation of adiabatic expansion. Parameters of all evaluated models are tuned by means of evolutionary algorithms. Based on the developed model a fuzzy PI controller is developed. It is then successfully implemented in the turbine follower control strategy of the plant. In this control strategy instead of keeping control parameters constant, they are adjusted on-line with regard to the error and the error rate. It is shown that the response of the system improves significantly. It is also shown that fuel consumption decreases considerably.

Keywords: Attemperator, Evolutionary algorithms, Fossil fuelled power plant (FFPP), Fuzzy set theory, Gain scheduling

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Authors: Abdolvahab Ehsani Rad, Mohd Shafry Mohd Rahim, Alireza Norouzi

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Medical image analysis is one of the great effects of computer image processing. There are several processes to analysis the medical images which the segmentation process is one of the challenging and most important step. In this paper the segmentation method proposed in order to segment the dental radiograph images. Thresholding method has been applied to simplify the images and to morphologically open binary image technique performed to eliminate the unnecessary regions on images. Furthermore, horizontal and vertical integral projection techniques used to extract the each individual tooth from radiograph images. Segmentation process has been done by applying the level set method on each extracted images. Nevertheless, the experiments results by 90% accuracy demonstrate that proposed method achieves high accuracy and promising result.

Keywords: Integral production, level set method, morphological operation, segmentation.

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Authors: Jamaludin Sallim

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This paper describes the challenges on the requirements engineering for developing an enterprise applications in higher education environment. The development activities include software implementation, maintenance, and enhancement and support for online transaction processing and overnight batch processing. Generally, an enterprise application for higher education environment may include Student Information System (SIS), HR/Payroll system, Financial Systems etc. By the way, there are so many challenges in requirement engineering phases in order to provide two distinctive services that are production processing support and systems development.

Keywords: enterprise applications development, enterprise information systems, business process, requirement engineering, requirement standards, software development activities, software requirement reviews.

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Authors: Tzong Yuan Wu, Sheng Kuo Hsieh, Tzyy Rong Jinn

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Fip-gts, an immunomodulatory protein purified from Ganoderma tsugae, has been reported to possess therapeutic effects in the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. For medicinal application, a recombinant Fip-gts was successfully expressed and purified in Sf21 insect cells by our previously work. It is important to evaluate the immunomodulatory activity of the rFip-gts. To assess the immunomodulatory potential of rFip-gts, the T lymphocytes of murine splenocytes were used in the present study. Results revealed that rFip-gts induced cellular aggregation formation. Additionally, the expression of IL-2 and IFN-r were up-regulated after the treatment of rFip-gts, and a corresponding increased production of IL-2 and IFN-r in a dose-dependent manner. The results showed that rFip-gts has an immunomodulatory activity in inducing Th1 lymphocytes from murine splenocytes released IL-2 and IFN-γ, thus suggest that rFip-gts may have therapeutic potential in vivo as an immune modulator.

Keywords: Fungal immunomodulatory protein, Ganodermatsugae, Interleukin 2, Interferon γ, Lingzhi.

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Authors: Caroline Foulquier-Expert

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In many states around the world, actions to improve judicial ethics are developing significantly through the production of professional standards for judges. The quest to improve the ethics of judges is legitimate. However, as this development tends to be very important at the moment, some risks it presents must be highlighted. Indeed, if the objective of improving Judges’ Ethics is legitimate, it can also lead to banalization of justice, reinforcement of criticism against the judiciary and to broach incidentally the question of the limits of judgment, which is most perilous for the independence of the judiciary. This research, based on case studies, interviews with judges and an analysis of the literature on this topic (mainly from the United States of America and European Union Member States), tends to draw attention to the fact that the result of the development of these professional standards is that the ethical requirements of judges become ethical requirements of justice, which is an undesirable effect of which we must be aware, in order to prevent it.

Keywords: Judicial Ethics, Codes of conduct, Independence, Limits of Judgment.

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Authors: N. A. Salim, M. M. Othman, I. Musirin, M. S. Serwan

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Over the past few decades, power system industry in many developing and developed countries has gone through a restructuring process of the industry where they are moving towards deregulated power industry. This situation will lead to competition among the generation and distribution companies to provide quality and efficient production of electric energy, which will reduce the price of electricity. Therefore it is important to obtain an accurate value of the available transfer capability (ATC) and transmission reliability margin (TRM) in order to ensure the effective power transfer between areas during the occurrence of uncertainties in the system. In this paper, the TRM and ATC is determined by taking into consideration the uncertainties of the system operating condition and system cascading collapse by applying the bootstrap technique. A case study of the IEEE RTS-79 is employed to verify the robustness of the technique proposed in the determination of TRM and ATC.

Keywords: Available transfer capability, bootstrap technique, cascading collapse, transmission reliability margin.

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Authors: V. Veeraprathap, G. S. Harish, G. Narendra Kumar

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Uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the lung in the form of tumor can be either benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Patients with Lung Cancer (LC) have an average of five years life span expectancy provided diagnosis, detection and prediction, which reduces many treatment options to risk of invasive surgery increasing survival rate. Computed Tomography (CT), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for earlier detection of cancer are common. Gaussian filter along with median filter used for smoothing and noise removal, Histogram Equalization (HE) for image enhancement gives the best results without inviting further opinions. Lung cavities are extracted and the background portion other than two lung cavities is completely removed with right and left lungs segmented separately. Region properties measurements area, perimeter, diameter, centroid and eccentricity measured for the tumor segmented image, while texture is characterized by Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) functions, feature extraction provides Region of Interest (ROI) given as input to classifier. Two levels of classifications, K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) is used for determining patient condition as normal or abnormal, while Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) is used for identifying the cancer stage is employed. Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) algorithm is used for the main feature extraction leading to best efficiency. The developed technology finds encouraging results for real time information and on line detection for future research.

Keywords: ANN, DWT, GLCM, KNN, ROI, artificial neural networks, discrete wavelet transform, gray-level co-occurrence matrix, k-nearest neighbor, region of interest.

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Authors: Jae-Min Yu, Hyoung-Ho Doh, Ji-Su Kim, Dong-Ho Lee, Sung-Ho Nam

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A reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is an advanced system designed at the outset for rapid changes in its hardware and software components in order to quickly adjust its production capacity and functionally. Among various operational decisions, this study considers the scheduling problem that determines the input sequence and schedule at the same time for a given set of parts. In particular, we consider the practical constraints that the numbers of pallets/fixtures are limited and hence a part can be released into the system only when the fixture required for the part is available. To solve the integrated input sequencing and scheduling problems, we suggest a priority rule based approach in which the two sub-problems are solved using a combination of priority rules. To show the effectiveness of various rule combinations, a simulation experiment was done on the data for a real RMS, and the test results are reported.

Keywords: Reconfigurable manufacturing system, scheduling, priority rules, multiple process plans, pallets/fixtures

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Authors: Masoud Madadelahi, Amir Shamloo, Seyedeh Sara Salehi

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Previously, some materials like solid metals and their alloys have been used as implants in human’s body. In order to amend fixation of these artificial hard human tissues, some porous structures have been introduced. In this way, tissues in vicinity of the porous structure can be attached more easily to the inserted implant. In particular, the porous bone scaffolds are useful since they can deliver important biomolecules like growth factors and proteins. This study focuses on the properties of the degradable porous hard tissues using a three-dimensional numerical Finite Element Method (FEM). The most important studied properties of these structures are diffusivity flux and concentration of different species like glucose, oxygen, and lactate. The process of cells migration into the scaffold is considered as a diffusion process, and related parameters are studied for different values of production/consumption rates.

Keywords: Bone scaffolds, diffusivity, numerical simulation, tissue engineering.

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Authors: Radovan Holubek, Matus Vlasek, Peter Kostal

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Development of intelligent assembly cell conception includes new solution kind of how to create structures of automated and flexible assembly system. The current trend of the final product quality increasing is affected by time analysis of the entire manufacturing process. The primary requirement of manufacturing is to produce as many products as soon as possible, at the lowest possible cost, but of course with the highest quality. Such requirements may be satisfied only if all the elements entering and affecting the production cycle are in a fully functional condition. These elements consist of sensory equipment and intelligent control elements that are essential for building intelligent manufacturing systems. Intelligent behavior of the system as the control system will repose on monitoring of important parameters of the system in the real time. Intelligent manufacturing system itself should be a system that can flexibly respond to changes in entering and exiting the process in interaction with the surroundings.

Keywords: Control system, intelligent manufacturing / assemble systems, manufacturing, monitoring process.

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Authors: A. Ashjaran, M. E. Yazdanshenas, A. Rashidi, R. Khajavi, A. Rezaee

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fibers of pure cellulose can be made from some bacteria such as acetobacter xylinum. Bacterial cellulose fibers are very pure, tens of nm across and about 0.5 micron long. The fibers are very stiff and, although nobody seems to have measured the strength of individual fibers. Their stiffness up to 70 GPa. Fundamental strengths should be at least greater than those of the best commercial polymers, but best bulk strength seems to about the same as that of steel. They can potentially be produced in industrial quantities at greatly lowered cost and water content, and with triple the yield, by a new process. This article presents a critical review of the available information on the bacterial cellulose as a biological nonwoven fabric with special emphasis on its fermentative production and applications. Characteristics of bacterial cellulose biofabric with respect to its structure and physicochemical properties are discussed. Current and potential applications of bacterial cellulose in textile, nonwoven cloth, paper, films synthetic fiber coating, food, pharmaceutical and other industries are also presented.

Keywords: Microbial cellulose, Biofabric, Microorganisms Acetobacter xylinum, Polysaccharide

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Authors: Norlin Pauzi, Ahmad R.M. Yahya, Zairossani Nor, Amirul A. Abdullah

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Strain M was isolated from the latex of Hevea brasiliensis that grow in the rubber farm area of Malaysia Rubber Board. Strain M was tentatively identified as Bacillus sp. Strain M demonstrated high protease production at pH 9, and this was suitable to be applied in rubber processing that was in alkaline conditions. The right and suitable proportion to be used in applying supernatant into the latex was two parts of latex and one part of enzyme. In this proportion, the latex was stable throughout the 72 hours of treatment. The potential of strain M to degrade protein in the natural rubber latex was proven with the reduction of 79.3% nitrogen in 24 hours treatment. Centrifugation process of the latex before undergoing the treatment had increased the protein degradation in latex. Although the centrifugation process did not achieve zero nitrogen content, it had improved the performance of protein denaturing in the natural rubber.

Keywords: Hevea brasiliensis, Bacillus sp., protease, latex.

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Authors: Mohammed Saleem Tariq

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The enthusiasm for gluten avoidance in a growing market is met by improvements in sensitive detection methods for analysing gluten content. Paradoxically, manufacturers employ no such systems in the production process but continue to market their product as gluten free, a significant risk posed to an undetermined coeliac population. This paper resonates with an immunological response that causes gastrointestinal scarring and villous atrophy with the conventional description of personal injury. This thesis divulges into evaluating potential inadequacies of gluten labelling laws which not only present a diagnostic challenge for general practitioners in the UK but it also exposes a less than adequate form of available legal protection to those who suffer adverse reactions as a result of gluten digestion. Central to this discussion is whether a claim brought in misrepresentation, negligence and/or under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 could be sustained. An interesting comparison is then made with the legal regimes of neighboring jurisdictions furthering the theme of a legally un-catered for gluten kingdom.

Keywords: Coeliac, litigation, misrepresentation, negligence.

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Authors: Jagdeep Singh, Prem Singh

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Milk is considered as an essential and complete food. The present study was conducted at Milk Plant Mohali especially in reference to the procurement section where the cash inflow was maximum, with the objective to achieve higher productivity and reduce wastage of milk. In milk plant it was observed that during the month of Jan-2014 to March-2014 the average procurement of milk was Rs. 4, 19, 361 liter per month and cost of procurement of milk is Rs 35/- per liter. The total cost of procurement thereby equal to Rs. 1crore 46 lakh per month, but there was mismatch in procurementproduction of milk, which leads to an average loss of Rs. 12, 94, 405 per month. To solve the procurement-production problem Quality Control Tools like brainstorming, Flow Chart, Cause effect diagram and Pareto analysis are applied wherever applicable. With the successful implementation of Quality Control tools an average saving of Rs. 4, 59, 445 per month is done.

Keywords: Milk, Procurement-demand, quality control tools.

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Authors: Somchai Seviset, Lin Jian Qun

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Amarindra-vinitchai-mahaisuraya Bhiman throne hall is one of the most significant throne halls in the grand palace in the Ratthanakosin city situated in Bangkok, Thailand. This is the first group of throne halls built in order to serve as a place for meetings, performing state affairs and royal duties until the present time. The structure and pattern of architectural design including the decoration and interior design of the throne hall obviously exhibits and convey the status of the king under the context of Thai society in the early period of Ratthanakosin era. According to the tradition of ruling the kingdom in absolute monarchy which had been in place since Ayutthaya era (A.D.1350-1767), the king was deemed as Deva Raja, the highest power and authority over the kingdom and as the greatest emperor of the universe (Chakkravatin). The architectural design adopted the concept of “Prasada" or Viman which served as the dwelling place of the gods and was presented in the form of “Thai traditional architecture" For the interior design of the throne hall, it had been adopted to be the heaven and the centre of the Universe in line with the cosmological beliefs of ancient people described in scripture Tribhumikatha (Tri Bhumi) written by Phra Maha Thamma Raja (Phraya Lithai) of the Sukhothai era (A.D.1347-1368). According to this belief, the throne hall had been designed to represent mount Meru, the central of the universe. On the top end of Mount Meru is situated the Viman and dwelling place of Indra who is the king of gods according to the idea of Deva Raja (the king god Avatar). At the same time, Indra also existed as the king of the universe simultaneously.

Keywords: Amarindra-vinitchai-mahaisuraya Bhiman throne hall, throne hall architecture, grand palace, Thai traditional architecture, Ratthanakosin era

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Authors: M.A.Grigoras, A.Popescu, D.Pamfil, I.Has, L.C.Cota

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An experimental study is presented on the effect of Conservation Agriculture (CA) compared to Conventional Agriculture (ConvA) upon Maize Yield based on split-plot model. Two factors have been considered: A Factor-Fertilization with two variants: A1- N40P40 kg/ha and A2- N90P70 kg/ha; B Factor- Crop protection with 4 variants : B1- 4 treatments, B2-3 treatments, B3- 2 treatments and B4- 1 treatment. In comparison with conventional agriculture, CA determined lower maize yields. Fertilization is the key factor determining a yield gain of 973.58 kg/ha in ConvA and 1,123.33 kg/ha in CA. A reduced number of treatments determined a yield decline. The A-B interaction had a positive effect on maize yield when a larger amount of fertilizer and 4 or 3 treatments were applied in ConvA and a benefic in CA for highest fertilization level and 2 treatments. The B2A2 ConvA variant was the most efficient leading to 302.67 kg/ha gain while B3A2 CA variant brought 181.33 kg production gain.

Keywords: conservation agriculture, conventional agriculture, maize, yield

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Authors: F. M. Mohamed, A. Y. Abdelaziz

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The subject of petroleum storage tank fires has gained a great deal of attention due to the high cost of petroleum, and the consequent disruption of petroleum production; therefore, much of the current research has focused on petroleum storage tank fires. Also, the number of petroleum tank fires is oscillating between 15 and 20 fires per year. About 33% of all tank fires are attributed to lightning. Floating roof tanks (FRT’s) are especially vulnerable to lightning. To minimize the likelihood of a fire, the API RP 545 recommends three major modifications to floating roof tanks. This paper was inspired by a stroke of lightning that ignited a fire in a crude oil storage tank belonging to an Egyptian oil company, and is aimed at providing an efficient lightning protection system to the tank under study, in order to avoid the occurrence of such phenomena in the future and also, to give valuable recommendations to be applied to floating roof tank projects.

Keywords: Crude oil, fire, floating roof tank, lightning protection system.

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Authors: W. Munyoka, F. M. Manzira

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The purpose of this study is to analyze how varying alignment of e-Government policies in four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa Region, namely South Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius and Cape Verde lead to the success or failure of e-Government; and what should be done to ensure positive alignment that lead to e-Government project growth. In addition, the study aims to understand how various governments’ efforts in e-Government awareness campaign strategies, international cooperation, functional literacy and anticipated organizational change can influence implementation.

This study extensively explores contemporary research undertaken in the field of e-Government and explores the actual respective national ICT policies, strategies and implemented e-Government projects for in-depth comprehension of the status core. Data is analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively to reach a conclusion.

The study found that resounding successes in strategic e-Government alignment was achieved in Seychelles, Mauritius, South Africa and Cape Verde - (Ranked number 1 to 4 respectively).

The implications of the study is that policy makers in developing countries should put mechanisms in place for constant monitoring and evaluation of project implementation in line with ICT policies to ensure that e-Government projects reach maturity levels and do not die mid-way implementation as often noticed in many countries. The study recommends that countries within the region should make consented collaborative efforts and synergies with the private sector players and international donor agencies to achieve the implementation part of the set ICT policies.

Keywords: E-Government, ICT-Policy Alignment, Implementation, Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Authors: Jiří Klečka, Dagmar Čámská

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This paper is focused on the investigation of productivity (total productivity and partial productivity). The value productivity is an indicator of level and changes in technical economic efficiency of production factors. It represents an important factor in achieving corporate objectives. This text works with the contemporary concept of value productivity that means that indicators of the productivity express the effect of economic efficiency not only of inputs consumption, but also of inputs binding efficiency. This approach is based on principles of the economic profit, respectively the economic value added (EVA). The research is done on the sample of Czech enterprises operating in the automotive industry in the regions of Liberec and the Central Bohemia. The data sample covers the time period 2006-2011 which allows the comparison of development before crisis and during crisis period. It enables to discover the companies' reaction during crises and the regional comparison allows to showing if there are significant differences between regions.

Keywords: Automotive industry, Czech Republic, economic efficiency, regional comparison, value productivity.

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Authors: D. M. Reddy Prasad, Nur Sabrina Binti Rahmat, Huei Ruey Ong, Chin Kui Cheng, Maksudur Rahman Khan, D. Sathiyamoorthy

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Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission to the environment is inevitable which is responsible for global warming. Photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to fuel, such as methanol, methane etc. is a promising way to reduce greenhouse gas CO₂ emission. In the present work, Bi₂S₃/CdS was synthesized as an effective visible light responsive photocatalyst for CO₂ reduction into methanol. The Bi₂S₃/CdS photocatalyst was prepared by hydrothermal reaction. The catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) instrument. The photocatalytic activity of the catalyst has been investigated for methanol production as a function of time. Gas chromatograph flame ionization detector (GC-FID) was employed to analyze the product. The yield of methanol was found to increase with higher CdS concentration in Bi₂S₃/CdS and the maximum yield was obtained for 45 wt% of Bi₂S₃/CdS under visible light irradiation was 20 μmole/g. The result establishes that Bi₂S₃/CdS is favorable catalyst to reduce CO₂ to methanol.

Keywords: Photocatalyst, Carbon dioxide reduction, visible light, Irradiation.

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Authors: R. Behmanesh, I. Rahimi

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recurrent neural network (RNN) is an efficient tool for modeling production control process as well as modeling services. In this paper one RNN was combined with regression model and were employed in order to be checked whether the obtained data by the model in comparison with actual data, are valid for variable process control chart. Therefore, one maintenance process in workshop of Esfahan Oil Refining Co. (EORC) was taken for illustration of models. First, the regression was made for predicting the response time of process based upon determined factors, and then the error between actual and predicted response time as output and also the same factors as input were used in RNN. Finally, according to predicted data from combined model, it is scrutinized for test values in statistical process control whether forecasting efficiency is acceptable. Meanwhile, in training process of RNN, design of experiments was set so as to optimize the RNN.

Keywords: RNN, DOE, regression, control chart.

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Authors: Matura Unhasirikul, Nuanphan Naranong, Woatthichai Narkrugsa

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Agricultural waste is mainly composed of cellulose and hemicelluloses which can be converted to sugars. The inexpensive reducing sugar from durian peel was obtained by hydrolysis with HCl concentration at 0.5-2.0% (v/v). The hydrolysis range of time was for 15-60 min when the mixture was autoclaved at 121 °C. The result showed that acid hydrolysis efficiency (AHE) highest to 80.99% at condition is 2.0%concentration for 15 min. Reducing sugar highest to 56.07 g/litre at condition is 2.0% concentration for 45min. Total sugar highest to 59.83 g/litre at condition is 2.0%concentration for 45min, which was not significant (p < 0.05) with condition 2.0% concentration for 30 min and 1.5 % concentration for 45 and 60 min. The increase in concentration increased AHE, reducing sugar and total sugar. The hydrolysis time had no effect on AHE, reducing sugar and total sugar. The maximum reducing sugars of each concentration were at hydrolysis time 45 min .The hydrolysated were analysis by HPLC, the results revealed that the principle of sugar were glucose, fructose and xylose.

Keywords: acid hydrolysis efficiency (AHE), reducing sugar, total sugar

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Authors: Majid Tolouei-Rad, Ankit Shah

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Drilling is the most common machining operation and it forms the highest machining cost in many manufacturing activities including automotive engine production. The outcome of this operation depends upon many factors including utilization of proper cutting tool geometry, cutting tool material and the type of coating used to improve hardness and resistance to wear, and also cutting parameters. With the availability of a large array of tool geometries, materials and coatings, is has become a challenging task to select the best tool and cutting parameters that would result in the lowest machining cost or highest profit rate. This paper describes an algorithm developed to help achieve good performances in drilling operations by automatically determination of proper cutting tools and cutting parameters. It also helps determine machining sequences resulting in minimum tool changes that would eventually reduce machining time and cost where multiple tools are used.

Keywords: Cutting tool, drilling, machining, algorithm.

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Authors: S. Minhas, C. Juzek, U. Berger

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The planning in manufacturing system is becoming complicated day by day due to the expanding networks and shortage of skilled people to manage change. Consequently, faster lead time and rising demands for eco-efficient evaluation of manufacturing products and processes need exploitation of new and intelligent knowledge management concepts for manufacturing planning. This paper highlights motivation for incorporation of new features in the manufacturing planning system. Furthermore, it elaborates requirements for the development of intelligent knowledge management concept to support planning related decisions. Afterwards, the derived concept is presented in this paper considering two case studies. The first case study is concerned with the automotive ramp-up planning. The second case study specifies requirements for knowledge management system to support decisions in eco-efficient evaluation of manufacturing products and processes

Keywords: Ramp-up, Environmental impact, Knowledge management.

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Authors: Nattapol Pourprasert

Abstract:

This study has an objective to analyze foreign policy of member states in globalization current, aiming to answer that the foreign policy of member states have been changed or remained the same and there are any factors affecting changing of foreign policy of the member states. From the study results, it is found that the foreign policy of Thailand is a friendly foreign policy with all states. The policy of Indonesia is more opened because of a change in leader, allowing more democratic development in the country; the government has proceeded with friendly foreign policy with the states in order to bring funds into the state. The foreign policy of Malaysia is not much changed as there is no changing in the leader; the policy of Malaysia has reconciled relations with main city of Indian and Chinese residing in the country in order to bring investments into the country and to relieve tensions in the country. The foreign policy of the Philippines has proceeded with policy under the ASEAN framework and emphasized on international Islam communities. The foreign policy of Singapore has the least changed as the Singapore's policy focuses on internal trade since the state was found. As for the foreign policy of Brunei Darussalam, Brunei has a little role in the international stage; the state having closest relationship as from the view of history is Singapore as the Singaporean has invested in retailing business in Brunei. The foreign policy of Vietnam has emphasized on an omnidirectional foreign policy in order to compete with several states in global stage. The foreign policy of Myanmar has proceeded with a friendly foreign policy with all ASEAN member states, the East-west Corridor transportation line from Myanmar through Thailand and Lao to Vietnam has been developed. As for the foreign policy of Lao, In 2001, the Thai government and Lao government held a discussion which Thailand reaffirmed the position not to support the anti-Lao group. The foreign policy of Cambodia has proceeded with more openness, having good relation with China, Russia and USA as these states has invested in the state, especially the US company.

Keywords: Globalization, Public Policy Analysis, Foreign Policy, ASEAN Member States.

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Authors: Matta S. N. S. Kiran, Manikantadhar Maheswaram, Akshat Upadhyay, Rohit Mishra, Bhagat Singh

Abstract:

A bearing is a very common and useful component of mechanical systems in order to transfer power from one end to another. Therefore, to ensure the accountability and robustness of the rotating mechanical systems, the bearing part's health condition must be checked at regular intervals, also known as preventive maintenance. This condition may lead to unnecessary higher maintenance costs and later result in higher production costs. These costs can be minimized by diagnosing the faulty bearing in its incipient stage. This paper describes an approach to detect rolling bearing defects based on Empirical Mode Decomposition. The novelty of the proposed methodology is validated experimentally using Case Western Reserve University bearing's data sets. The selected data sets comprise the two vibration signals, i.e., inner race and outer, for healthy and faulty conditions.

Keywords: Ball bearing, denoising, signal processing, statistical indicators.

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Authors: Chizzoniti Domenico, Beggiora Klizia, Cattani Letizia, Moscatelli Monica

Abstract:

This paper concerns the study of sustainable construction materials applied on the "Health Post", a prototype for the primary health care situated in alienated areas of the world. It's suitable for social and climatic Sub-Saharan context; however, it could be moved in other countries of the world with similar urgent needs. The idea is to create a Health Post with local construction materials that have a low environmental impact and promote the local workforce allowing reuse of traditional building techniques lowering production costs and transport. The aim of Primary Health Care Centre is to be a flexible and expandable structure identifying a modular form that can be repeated several times to expand its existing functions. In this way it could be not only a health care centre but also a socio-cultural facility.

Keywords: Low costs building, sustainable construction materials, green construction system, prototype, health care, emergency.

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