Search results for: quality of experience (QoE)

Authors: Jinwooung Kim, Jae-Hwan Jung, Seong-Jun Kim, Sung-Ah Kim

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Because the building envelope has a significant impact on the operation and maintenance stage of the building, designing the facade considering the performance can improve the performance of the building and lower the maintenance cost of the building. In general, however, optimizing two or more performance factors confronts the limits of time and computational tools. The optimization phase typically repeats infinitely until a series of processes that generate alternatives and analyze the generated alternatives achieve the desired performance. In particular, as complex geometry or precision increases, computational resources and time are prohibitive to find the required performance, so an optimization methodology is needed to deal with this. Instead of directly analyzing all the alternatives in the optimization process, applying experimental techniques (heuristic method) learned through experimentation and experience can reduce resource waste. This study proposes and verifies a method to optimize the double envelope of a building composed of a perforated panel using machine learning to the design geometry and quantitative performance. The proposed method is to achieve the required performance with fewer resources by supplementing the existing method which cannot calculate the complex shape of the perforated panel.

Keywords: Building envelope, machine learning, perforated metal, multi-factor optimization, façade.

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Authors: M. Mydlárová Blaščáková, J. Poráčová, Z. Tomková, Ľ. Blaščáková, M. Nagy, M. Konečná, E. Petrejčíková, Z. Gogaľová, V. Sedlák, J. Mydlár, M. Zahatňanská, K. Hricová

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Osteoporosis is a multifactorial disease that results in reduced quality of life, causes decreased bone strength, and changes in their microarchitecture. Mostly postmenopausal women are at risk. In our study, we measured anthropometric parameters of postmenopausal women (104 women of control group – CG and 105 women of osteoporotic group - OG) and determined TSH hormone levels and PTH as well as mineral elements - Ca, P, Mg and enzyme alkaline phosphatase. Through the correlation analysis in CG, we have found association based on age and BMI, P and Ca, as well as Mg and Ca; in OG we determined interdependence based on an association of age and BMI, age and Ca. Using the Student's t test, we found significantly important differences in biochemical parameters of Mg (p ˂ 0,001) and TSH (p ˂ 0,05) between CG and OG.

Keywords: Factors, bone mass density, Central Europe, biomarkers.

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Authors: Adibah Shuib, Zati Aqmar Zaharudin

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Our study is concerned with the development of an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) ambulance location and allocation model called the Time-based Ambulance Zoning Optimization Model (TAZ_OPT). This paper presents the framework of the study. The model is formulated using the goal programming (GP), where the goals are to determine the satellite locations of ambulances and the number of ambulances to be allocated at these locations. The model aims at maximizing the expected demand coverage based on probability of reaching the emergency location within targetted time, and minimizing the ambulance busyness likelihood value. Among the benefits of the model is the increased accessibility and availability of ambulances, thus, enhanced quality of the EMS ambulance services.

Keywords: Optimization, Ambulance Location, Location facilities.

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Authors: A. Heidarinasab, V. Moghaddam Nansa

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This paper deals with rheological behavior of tomato paste from the view point of time independent properties inclusive of processing variables such as sample temperature which influence on rheological properties as well as breaking temperature and concentration which beside the rheological properties, influence on the quality of final product. With this aim 10 tomato paste samples at various concentrations (17-25%) and breaking temperatures (65- 85 C o ) have been produced. The experimental results showed tomato paste behaves as a non-Newtonian semi-fluid which follows power law model that consistency coefficient (K) is supposed function of breaking temperature, concentration and sample temperature with consideration to superimpose function.

Keywords: Breaking temperature, Concentration, Power law, Rheology, Time independent.

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Authors: Sharan Badiger, Prema T. Akkasaligar, Deepak Kadeli

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Human Immunodeficiency Virus is known to affect almost all organ systems in the body. In addition to central nervous system it also affects the autonomic nervous system. Autonomic nervous dysfunction has been known to severely affect the quality of life in human immunodeficiency virus positive patients. It is known to have caused fatal consequences in late stages of the disease in patients who go in for invasive diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. The aim of this review is to determine the incidence, clinical significance and frequency of cardiac autonomic neuropathy in patients human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Keywords: Autonomic nervous system, autonomic nervous dysfunction, cardiac autonomic dysfunction, human immunodeficiency virus.

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Authors: T. Alghamdi, G. Alaghband

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In this paper we develop a model that couples Two Concurrent Convolution Neural Network with different filters (TC*CNN) for face recognition and compare its performance to an existing sequential CNN (base model). We also test and compare the quality and performance of the models on three datasets with various levels of complexity (easy, moderate, and difficult) and show that for the most complex datasets, edges will produce the most accurate and efficient results. We further show that in such cases while Support Vector Machine (SVM) models are fast, they do not produce accurate results.

Keywords: Convolution neural network, edges, face recognition, support vector machine.

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Authors: B. Terzioglu, E.S.K. Chan

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The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview on methodological aspects of the information technology outsourcing (ITO) surveys, in an attempt to improve the data quality and reporting in survey research. It is based on a review of thirty articles on ITO surveys and focuses on two commonly explored dimensions of ITO, namely what are outsourced and why should there be ITO. This study highlights weaknesses in ITO surveys including lack of a clear definition of population, lack of information regarding the sampling method used, not citing the response rate, no information pertaining to pilot testing of survey instrument and absence of information on internal validity in the use or reporting of surveys. This study represents an attempt with a limited scope to point to shortfalls in the use survey methodology in ITO, and thus raise awareness among researchers in enhancing the reliability of survey findings.

Keywords: ITO, information technology outsourcing, survey methodology

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Authors: H. Nasiraghdam, A. Jalilian

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DSTATCOM is one of the equipments for voltage sag mitigation in power systems. In this paper a new control method for balanced and unbalanced voltage sag mitigation using DSTATCOM is proposed. The control system has two loops in order to regulate compensator current and load voltage. Delayed signal cancellation has been used for sequence separation. The compensator should protect sensitive loads against different types of voltage sag. Performance of the proposed method is investigated under different types of voltage sags for linear and nonlinear loads. Simulation results show appropriate operation of the proposed control system.

Keywords: Custom power, power quality, voltage sagmitigation, current vector control.

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Authors: Sundus Ayyaz, Saad Rehman, Usman Qamar

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Software Architecture is the basic structure of software that states the development and advancement of a software system. Software architecture is also considered as a significant tool for the construction of high quality software systems. A clean design leads to the control, value and beauty of software resulting in its longer life while a bad design is the cause of architectural erosion where a software evolution completely fails. This paper discusses the occurrence of software architecture erosion and presents a set of methods for the detection, declaration and prevention of architecture erosion. The causes and symptoms of architecture erosion are observed with the examples of prescriptive and descriptive architectures and the practices used to stop this erosion are also discussed by considering different types of software erosion and their affects. Consequently finding and devising the most suitable approach for fighting software architecture erosion and in some way reducing its affect is evaluated and tested on different scenarios.

Keywords: Software Architecture, Architecture Erosion, Prescriptive Architecture, Descriptive Architecture.

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Authors: Ayman M. Mansour

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In this paper, we propose an intelligent system that is used for monitoring the health conditions of patients. Monitoring the health condition of patients is a complex problem that involves different medical units and requires continuous monitoring especially in rural areas because of inadequate number of available specialized physicians. The proposed system will improve patient care and drive costs down comparing to the existing system in Jordan. The proposed system will be the start point to faster and improve the communication between different units in the health system in Jordan. Connecting patients and their physicians beyond hospital doors regarding their geographical area is an important issue in developing the health system in Jordan. The ability of making medical decisions, the quality of medical is expected to be improved.

Keywords: GSM, SMS, Patient, Monitoring system, Fuzzy Logic, Multi-agent system.

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Authors: Mohamed Elshal, Hazim El-Mounayri, Omar El-Mounayri

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Emergency department (ED) is considered as a complex system of interacting entities: patients, human resources, software and hardware systems, interfaces, and other systems. This paper represents a research for implementing a detailed Systems Engineering (SE) approach in a mid-size hospital in central Indiana. This methodology will be applied by “The Initiative for Product Lifecycle Innovation (IPLI)” institution at Indiana University to study and solve the crowding problem with the aim of increasing throughput of patients and enhance their treatment experience; therefore, the nature of crowding problem needs to be investigated with all other problems that leads to it. The presented SE methods are workflow analysis and systems modeling where SE tools such as Microsoft Visio are used to construct a group of system-level diagrams that demonstrate: patient’s workflow, documentation and communication flow, data systems, human resources workflow and requirements, leadership involved, and integration between ER different systems. Finally, the ultimate goal will be managing the process through implementation of an executable model using commercialized software tools, which will identify bottlenecks, improve documentation flow, and help make the process faster.

Keywords: Systems modeling, ED operation, workflow modeling, systems analysis.

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Authors: Ball J., Capanni N., Watt S.

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This paper argues that fostering mutual understanding in landscape planning is as much about the planners educating stakeholder groups as the stakeholders educating the planners. In other words it is an epistemological agreement as to the meaning and nature of place, especially where an effort is made to go beyond the quantitative aspects, which can be achieved by the phenomenological experience of the Virtual Reality (VR) environment. This education needs to be a bi-directional process in which distance can be both temporal as well as spatial separation of participants, that there needs to be a common framework of understanding in which neither 'side' is disadvantaged during the process of information exchange and it follows that a medium such as VR offers an effective way of overcoming some of the shortcomings of traditional media by taking advantage of continuing technological advances in Information, Technology and Communications (ITC). In this paper we make particular reference to this as an extension to Geographical Information Systems (GIS). VR as a two-way communication tool offers considerable potential particularly in the area of Public Participation GIS (PPGIS). Information rich virtual environments that can operate over broadband networks are now possible and thus allow for the representation of large amounts of qualitative and quantitative information 'side-by-side'. Therefore, with broadband access becoming standard for households and enterprises alike, distributed virtual reality environments have great potential to contribute to enabling stakeholder participation and mutual learning within the planning context.

Keywords: 3D, communication, geographical information systems, planning, public participation, virtual reality, visualisation.

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Authors: R. Alipour, F.Najarian

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Because of high ductility, aluminum alloys, have been widely used as an important base of metal forming industries. But the main week point of these alloys is their low strength so in forming them with conventional methods like deep drawing, hydro forming, etc have been always faced with problems like fracture during of forming process. Because of this, recently using of explosive forming method for forming of these plates has been recommended. In this paper free explosive forming of A2024 aluminum alloy is numerically simulated and during it, explosion wave propagation process is studied. Consequences of this simulation can be effective in prediction of quality of production. These consequences are compared with an experimental test and show the superiority of this method to similar methods like hydro forming and deep drawing.

Keywords: Free explosive forming, CEL, Johnson cook.

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Authors: Dipeng Chen, Qi Li

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Image fusion aims to enhance the perception of a scene by combining important information captured by different sensors. Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet (DT-CWT) has been thouroughly investigated for image fusion, since it takes advantages of approximate shift invariance and direction selectivity. But it can only handle limited direction information. To allow a more flexible directional expansion for images, we propose a novel fusion scheme, referred to as complex contourlet transform (CCT). It successfully incorporates directional filter banks (DFB) into DT-CWT. As a result it efficiently deal with images containing contours and textures, whereas it retains the property of shift invariance. Experimental results demonstrated that the method features high quality fusion performance and can facilitate many image processing applications.

Keywords: Complex contourlet transform, Complex wavelettransform, Fusion.

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Authors: Aspalella A. Rahman

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Money laundering has been described by many as the lifeblood of crime and is a major threat to the economic and social well-being of societies. It has been recognized that the banking system has long been the central element of money laundering. This is in part due to the complexity and confidentiality of the banking system itself. It is generally accepted that effective anti-money laundering (AML) measures adopted by banks will make it tougher for criminals to get their "dirty money" into the financial system. In fact, for law enforcement agencies, banks are considered to be an important source of valuable information for the detection of money laundering. However, from the banks- perspective, the main reason for their existence is to make as much profits as possible. Hence their cultural and commercial interests are totally distinct from that of the law enforcement authorities. Undoubtedly, AML laws create a major dilemma for banks as they produce a significant shift in the way banks interact with their customers. Furthermore, the implementation of the laws not only creates significant compliance problems for banks, but also has the potential to adversely affect the operations of banks. As such, it is legitimate to ask whether these laws are effective in preventing money launderers from using banks, or whether they simply put an unreasonable burden on banks and their customers. This paper attempts to address these issues and analyze them against the background of the Malaysian AML laws. It must be said that effective coordination between AML regulator and the banking industry is vital to minimize problems faced by the banks and thereby to ensure effective implementation of the laws in combating money laundering.

Keywords: Banking Industry, Bank Negara Money, Laundering, Malaysia.

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Authors: Norashikin Ahmad, Damminda Alahakoon

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Self-organizing map (SOM) provides both clustering and visualization capabilities in mining data. Dynamic self-organizing maps such as Growing Self-organizing Map (GSOM) has been developed to overcome the problem of fixed structure in SOM to enable better representation of the discovered patterns. However, in mining large datasets or historical data the hierarchical structure of the data is also useful to view the cluster formation at different levels of abstraction. In this paper, we present a technique to generate concept trees from the GSOM. The formation of tree from different spread factor values of GSOM is also investigated and the quality of the trees analyzed. The results show that concept trees can be generated from GSOM, thus, eliminating the need for re-clustering of the data from scratch to obtain a hierarchical view of the data under study.

Keywords: dynamic self-organizing map, concept formation, clustering.

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Authors: PeiWen Liao, Tsung Hau Jen

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This study was conducted to explore the effects of two countries model comparison program in Taiwan and Singapore in TIMSS database. The researchers used Multi-Group Hierarchical Linear Modeling techniques to compare the effects of two different country models and we tested our hypotheses on 4,046 Taiwan students and 4,599 Singapore students in 2007 at two levels: the class level and student (individual) level. Design quality is a class level variable. Student level variables are achievement and self-confidence. The results challenge the widely held view that retention has a positive impact on self-confidence. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: Teaching approach, self-confidence, achievement, multi-group HLM.

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Authors: Phuong T. Dang, Hy G. Le, Giang T. Pham, Hong T. M. Vu, Kien T, Nguyen, Canh D. Dao, Giang H. Le, Hoa T. K. Tran, Quang K. Nguyen, Tuan A. Vu

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Nanostructured catalysts were successfully prepared by acidification of diatomite and regeneration of FCC spent catalysts. The obtained samples were characterized by IR, XRD, SEM, EDX, MAS-NMR (27Al and 29Si), NH3-TPD and tested in catalytic pyrolysis of biomass (rice straw). The results showed that the similar bio-oil yield of 41.4% can be obtained by pyrolysis with catalysts at 450oC as compared to that of the pyrolysis without catalyst at 550oC. The bio-oil yield reached a maximum of 42.55% at the pyrolysis temperature of 500oC with catalytic content of 20%. Moreover, by catalytic pyrolysis, bio-oil quality was better as reflected in higher ratio of H/C, lower ratio of O/C. This clearly indicated high application potential of these new nanostructured catalysts in the production of bio-oil with low oxygenated compounds.

Keywords: Acidified diatomite, biomass, catalytic pyrolysis, bio-oil, nanostructured catalysts, regenerated FCC catalyst.

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Authors: Wael M. El-Mamlouk, Metwally A. El-Sharkawy, Hossam. E. Mostafa

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In this paper, we analyze and test a scheme for the estimation of electrical fundamental frequency signals from the harmonic load current and voltage signals. The scheme was based on using two different Multi Layer Artificial Neural Networks (ML-ANN) one for the current and the other for the voltage. This study also analyzes and tests the effect of choosing the optimum artificial neural networks- sizes which determine the quality and accuracy of the estimation of electrical fundamental frequency signals. The simulink tool box of the Matlab program for the simulation of the test system and the test of the neural networks has been used.

Keywords: Harmonics, Neural Networks, Modeling, Simulation, Active filters, electric Networks.

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Authors: Pedro M. A. Vitoriano, Tito. G. Amaral

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Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) Systems are commonly used on Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) manufacturing. The use of this technology has been proven as highly efficient for process improvements and quality achievements. The correct extraction of the component for posterior analysis is a critical step of the AOI process. Nowadays, the Pattern Matching Algorithm is commonly used, although this algorithm requires extensive calculations and is time consuming. This paper will present an improved algorithm for the component localization process, with the capability of implementation in a parallel execution system.

Keywords: AOI, automated optical inspection, SMD, surface mounting devices, pattern matching, parallel execution.

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Authors: N. Mantalay, N. Chakpitak, W. Janchai, P. Sureepong

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Work-life balance has been acknowledged and promoted for the sake of employee retention. It is essential for a manager to realize the human resources situation within a company to help employees work happily and perform at their best. This paper suggests knowledge management and critical thinking are useful to motivate employees to think about their work-life balance. A qualitative case study is presented, which aimed to discover the meaning of work-life balance-s meaning from the perspective of Thai knowledge workers and how it affects their decision-making towards work resignation. Results found three types of work-life balance dimensions; a work- life balance including a workplace and a private life setting, an organizational working life balance only, and a worklife balance only in a private life setting. These aspects all influenced the decision-making of the employees. Factors within a theme of an organizational work-life balance were involved with systematic administration, fair treatment, employee recognition, challenging assignments to gain working experience, assignment engagement, teamwork, relationship with superiors, and working environment, while factors concerning private life settings were about personal demands such as an increasing their salary or starting their own business.

Keywords: knowledge management, work-life balance, knowledge workers, decision-making, critical thinking, diverse workforce

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Authors: N. Mungkung, S. Wongcharoen, C. Sukkongwari, Somchai Arunrungrasmi

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This study examines the design and construction of AC Electronics load surge protection in order to carry electric surge load arisen from faults in low voltage electricity system (single phase/220V) by using the principle of electronics load clamping voltage during induction period so that electric voltage could go through to safe load and continue to work. The qualification of the designed device could prevent both transient over voltage and voltage swell. Both will work in cooperation, resulting in the ability to improve and modify the quality of electrical power in Thailand electricity distribution system more effective than the past and help increase the lifetime of electric appliances, electric devices, and electricity protection equipments.

Keywords: Electronics Load, Transient Over Voltage, Voltage Swell.

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Authors: Tsair-Wang Chung, Kuan-Ting Liu, Mai-Tzu Chen

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Under the variation of crude oil price and the impact of greenhouse effect, it is urgent to find a potential alternative fuel. Among these alternative fuels, non edible plant oils are the most potential ones, because they don-t have the problem of food and cropland competitions. Among the non-edible plant oils, Jatropha oil is the most potential one. Jatropha oil is non-eatable oil and has good oil quality and low temperature performance. It has potential to become one of the most competitive biomass crude oils. The crude plant oil will be blended with diesel fuel to be tested in a power generator. The international collaboration between Taiwan and Indonesia on the production of Jatropha in Indonesia will also be presented in this study.

Keywords: Jatropha, plant oil, oil blend, diesel, power generator.

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Authors: Angie M. Wolf, Angie Del Prado Lippman, DeVone Boggan, Caroline Glesmann, Estivaliz Castro

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This paper highlights an innovative and nontraditional violence prevention program that is making a noticeable impact in what was once one of the country’s most violent communities. With unique and tailored strategies, the Operation Peacemaker Fellowship, established in Richmond, California, combines components of evidence-based practices with a community-oriented focus on relationships and mentoring to fill a gap in services and increase community safety. In an effort to highlight these unique strategies and provide a blueprint for other communities with violent crime problems, the authors of this paper hope to clearly delineate how one community is moving forward with vanguard approaches to invest in the lives of young men who once were labeled their community’s most violent, even most deadly, youth. The impact of this program is evidenced through the fellows’ own voices as they illuminate the experience of being in the Fellowship. In interviews, fellows describe how participating in this program has transformed their lives and the lives of those they love. The authors of this article spent more than two years researching this Fellowship program in order to conduct an evaluation of it and, ultimately, to demonstrate how this program is a testament to the power of relationships and love combined with evidence-based practices, consequently enriching the lives of youth and the community that embraces them.

Keywords: Community violence, firearm violence, interventions for violent crime, violence prevention.

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Authors: Shin-Jer Yang, Kai-Tai Yang

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In response to a changing world and the fast growth of the Internet, more and more enterprises are replacing web-based services with cloud-based ones. Multi-tenancy technology is becoming more important especially with Software as a Service (SaaS). This in turn leads to a greater focus on the application of Identity and Access Management (IAM). Conventional Near-Field Communication (NFC) based verification relies on a computer browser and a card reader to access an NFC tag. This type of verification does not support mobile device login and user-based access management functions. This study designs an NFC-based third-party cloud identity and access management scheme (NFC-IAM) addressing this shortcoming. Data from simulation tests analyzed with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) suggest that the NFC-IAM not only takes less time in identity identification but also cuts time by 80% in terms of two-factor authentication and improves verification accuracy to 99.9% or better. In functional performance analyses, NFC-IAM performed better in salability and portability. The NFC-IAM App (Application Software) and back-end system to be developed and deployed in mobile device are to support IAM features and also offers users a more user-friendly experience and stronger security protection. In the future, our NFC-IAM can be employed to different environments including identification for mobile payment systems, permission management for remote equipment monitoring, among other applications.

Keywords: Cloud service, multi-tenancy, NFC, IAM, mobile device.

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Authors: Fadzilah Abdul Rahman

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Emotional development is developed between the parents and their child. Behavioural development is also developed between the parents and their child. Social Development is how parents can help their special needs child to adapt to society and to face challenges. In promoting a lifelong learning mindset, enhancing skill sets and readiness to face challenges, parents would be able to counter balance these challenges during their care giving process and better manage their expectations through understanding the hierarchy of needs modality towards a positive attitude, and in turn, improve their quality of life and participation in society. This paper aims to demonstrate how the hierarchy of needs can be applied in various situations of caregiving for parents with a special needs child.

Keywords: Hierarchy of needs, parents, special needs, care-giving.

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Authors: Nafaâ Nacereddine, Latifa Hamami, Djemel Ziou

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In non destructive testing by radiography, a perfect knowledge of the weld defect shape is an essential step to appreciate the quality of the weld and make decision on its acceptability or rejection. Because of the complex nature of the considered images, and in order that the detected defect region represents the most accurately possible the real defect, the choice of thresholding methods must be done judiciously. In this paper, performance criteria are used to conduct a comparative study of thresholding methods based on gray level histogram, 2-D histogram and locally adaptive approach for weld defect extraction in radiographic images.

Keywords: 1D and 2D histogram, locally adaptive approach, performance criteria, radiographic image, thresholding, weld defect.

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Authors: Jin-Lung Guan, Jyh-Cherng Gu, Ming-Ta Yang, Hsin-Hung Chang, Chun-Wei Huang, Shao-Yu Huang

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One of the most important power quality issues is voltage flicker. Nowadays this issue also impacts the power system all over the world. The fact of the matter is that the more and the larger capacity of wind generator has been installed. Under unstable wind power situation, the variation of output current and voltage have caused trouble to voltage flicker. Hence, the major purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of wind generator on voltage flicker of power system. First of all, digital simulation and analysis are carried out based on wind generator operating under various system short circuit capacity, impedance angle, loading, and power factor of load. The simulation results have been confirmed by field measurements.

Keywords: Wind Generator, Voltage Flicker

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Authors: M. Annie Jenifer, Carolin Arul

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Groundwater has become the most dependable source of fresh water for agriculture, domestic and industrial uses in the past few decades. This wide use of groundwater if left uncontrolled and unseen will lead to overexploitation causing sea water intrusion in the coastal areas and illegal water marketing. Several Policies and Acts have been enacted to regulate and manage the use of this valuable resource. In spite of this the over extraction of groundwater beyond the recharging capacity of aquifers and depletion in the quality of groundwater is continuing. The current study aims at reviewing the Acts and Policies existing in the State of Tamil Nadu and in the National level regarding groundwater regulation and management. Further an analysis is made on the rights associated with the usage of groundwater resources and the gaps in these policies have been analyzed. Some suggestions are made to reform the existing groundwater policies for better management and regulation of the resource.

Keywords: Act, groundwater, policy, reform

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Authors: Imelda Smit

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Systems Analysis and Design is a key subject in Information Technology courses, but students do not find it easy to cope with, since it is not “precise" like programming and not exact like Mathematics. It is a subject working with many concepts, modeling ideas into visual representations and then translating the pictures into a real life system. To complicate matters users who are not necessarily familiar with computers need to give their inputs to ensure that they get the system the need. Systems Analysis and Design also covers two fields, namely Analysis, focusing on the analysis of the existing system and Design, focusing on the design of the new system. To be able to test the analysis and design of a system, it is necessary to develop a system or at least a prototype of the system to test the validity of the analysis and design. The skills necessary in each aspect differs vastly. Project Management Skills, Database Knowledge and Object Oriented Principles are all necessary. In the context of a developing country where students enter tertiary education underprepared and the digital divide is alive and well, students need to be motivated to learn the necessary skills, get an opportunity to test it in a “live" but protected environment – within the framework of a university. The purpose of this article is to improve the learning experience in Systems Analysis and Design through reviewing the underlying teaching principles used, the teaching tools implemented, the observations made and the reflections that will influence future developments in Systems Analysis and Design. Action research principles allows the focus to be on a few problematic aspects during a particular semester.

Keywords: Action Research, Project Development, Systems Analysis and Design, Technology in Teaching.

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