Search results for: Integration Management.
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 3362

Search results for: Integration Management.

842 The Use of Scuba Diving Tourism for Marine Protected Area Management

Authors: L. Mota, O. Frausto

Abstract:

Marine Protected Areas can benefit from nature based tourism, monitoring environmental impacts and also become target for human presence. From more than 3 million tourists visiting Cozumel Island every year, an average of 2,8 million arrive by cruise ship, and 41% are estimated to have motivation for water activities. The destination is relying so much on the tourism activity, that scuba diving and snorkeling in the National Park Reef of Cozumel sustain the major economic activity. In order to achieve the sustainable development indicator designed for regional environmental development, the PNAC offers a training course to tourism providers to access the protected area. This way, the update of the last 5 years of such training is directed to diving staff, boat crew and professionals, making them able to assist in managing the natural resource. Moreover, the case study is an example to be used for raising awareness among tourists visiting protected areas.

Keywords: Education, Marine Protected Area, scuba diving, sustainability, tourism.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2530
841 Cloud Computing Cryptography "State-of-the-Art"

Authors: Omer K. Jasim, Safia Abbas, El-Sayed M. El-Horbaty, Abdel-Badeeh M. Salem

Abstract:

Cloud computing technology is very useful in present day to day life, it uses the internet and the central remote servers to provide and maintain data as well as applications. Such applications in turn can be used by the end users via the cloud communications without any installation. Moreover, the end users’ data files can be accessed and manipulated from any other computer using the internet services. Despite the flexibility of data and application accessing and usage that cloud computing environments provide, there are many questions still coming up on how to gain a trusted environment that protect data and applications in clouds from hackers and intruders. This paper surveys the “keys generation and management” mechanism and encryption/decryption algorithms used in cloud computing environments, we proposed new security architecture for cloud computing environment that considers the various security gaps as much as possible. A new cryptographic environment that implements quantum mechanics in order to gain more trusted with less computation cloud communications is given.

Keywords: Cloud Computing, Cloud Encryption Model, Quantum Key Distribution.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4092
840 3A Distributed Method Algorithm for Exact Side Load Managing Smart Grid Using LABVIEW

Authors: N. Ravi Kumar, R. Kamalakannan

Abstract:

The advancement of hybrid energy resources such as solar and wind power leading to the emergence of customer owned grid. It provides an opportunity to regulars to obtain low energy costs as well as enabling the power supplier to regulate the utility grid. There is a need to develop smart systems that will automatically submit energy demand schedule and monitors energy price signals in real-time without the prompt of customers. In this paper, a demand side energy management for a grid connected household and also smart preparation of electrical appliance have been presented. It also reduces electricity bill for the consumers in the grid. In addition to this, when production is high, the surplus energy fashioned in the customer owned grid is given to main grid or neighboring micro grids. The simulation of the entire system is presented using LabVIEW software.

Keywords: Distributed renewable energy resource, power storage devices, scheduling, smart meters, smart micro grid, electric vehicle.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1092
839 Multi-Dimensional Concerns Mining for Web Applications via Concept-Analysis

Authors: Carlo Bellettini, Alessandro Marchetto, Andrea Trentini

Abstract:

Web applications have become very complex and crucial, especially when combined with areas such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and BPR (Business Process Reengineering), the scientific community has focused attention to Web applications design, development, analysis, and testing, by studying and proposing methodologies and tools. This paper proposes an approach to automatic multi-dimensional concern mining for Web Applications, based on concepts analysis, impact analysis, and token-based concern identification. This approach lets the user to analyse and traverse Web software relevant to a particular concern (concept, goal, purpose, etc.) via multi-dimensional separation of concerns, to document, understand and test Web applications. This technique was developed in the context of WAAT (Web Applications Analysis and Testing) project. A semi-automatic tool to support this technique is currently under development.

Keywords: Concepts Analysis, Concerns Mining, Multi-Dimensional Separation of Concerns, Impact Analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1471
838 The Effect of Enzymatic Keratin Hydrolyzate on the Susceptibility of Cellulosic-Elastomeric Material to Biodecomposition

Authors: Y.-H Tshela Ntumba, A. Przepiórkowska, M. Prochoń

Abstract:

Polymeric materials have become an integral part of every aspect of today's industry. They have wide applications, inter alia, in areas such as medicine, food industry and agriculture. In agriculture, for example, they are used for the production of pots, irrigation systems and for soil mulching. The aim of this study was the attempt to produce a biodecomposable agricultural mat, by coating cotton fabric with a blend of carboxylated styrene-butadiene latex (LBSK) containing the enzymatic hydrolyzate of keratin from cattle hair, which would serve as a material for mulching.

The production of such material allows the beneficial management of burdensome tannery waste constituted by keratin from cattle hair and at the same time, the production of agricultural mats that much faster undergo decomposition than commonly used polyethylene mats.

Keywords: Agricultural mat, biodecomposition, biodegradation, carboxylated styrene-butadiene latex, cellulosic-elastomeric material, keratin hydrolyzate, mulching, protein hydrolyzate.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2227
837 Recovery of Post-Consumer PET Bottles in a Composite Material Preparation

Authors: Rafenomananjara Tsinjo Nirina, Tomoo Sekito, Andrianaivoravelona Jaconnet Oliva

Abstract:

Manufacturing a composite material from post-consumer bottles is an interesting outlet since Madagascar is still facing the challenges of managing plastic waste on the one hand and appropriate waste treatment facilities are not yet developed on the other hand. New waste management options are needed to divert End-Of-Life (EOL) soft plastic wastes from landfills and incineration. Waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles might be considered as a valuable resource and recovered into polymer concrete. The methodology is easy to implement and appropriate to the local context in Madagascar. This approach will contribute to the production of ecological building materials that might be profitable for the environment and the construction sector. This work aims to study the feasibility of using the post-consumer PET bottles as an alternative binding agent instead of the conventional Portland cement and water. Then, the mechanical and physical properties of the materials were evaluated.

Keywords: PET recycling, polymer concrete, ecological building materials, pollution mitigation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 952
836 Improving the Road Construction Supply Chain by Developing a National Level Performance Measurement System: the Case of Estonia

Authors: Kati Kõrbe Kaare, Ott Koppel

Abstract:

Transport and logistics are the lifeblood of societies. There is a strong correlation between overall growth in economic activity and growth of transport. The movement of people and goods has the potential for creating wealth and prosperity, therefore the state of transportation infrastructure and especially the condition of road networks is often a governmental priority. The design, building and maintenance of national roads constitute a substantial share of government budgets. Taking into account the magnitude and importance of these investments, the expedience, efficiency and sustainability of these projects are of great public interest. This paper provides an overview of supply chain management principles applied to road construction. In addition, road construction performance measurement systems and ICT solutions are discussed. Road construction in Estonia is analyzed. The authors propose the development of a national performance measurement system for road construction.

Keywords: ICT in road construction, key performance indicators, quality performance measurement, road construction supply chain.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3731
835 Hybrid Machine Learning Approach for Text Categorization

Authors: Nerijus Remeikis, Ignas Skucas, Vida Melninkaite

Abstract:

Text categorization - the assignment of natural language documents to one or more predefined categories based on their semantic content - is an important component in many information organization and management tasks. Performance of neural networks learning is known to be sensitive to the initial weights and architecture. This paper discusses the use multilayer neural network initialization with decision tree classifier for improving text categorization accuracy. An adaptation of the algorithm is proposed in which a decision tree from root node until a final leave is used for initialization of multilayer neural network. The experimental evaluation demonstrates this approach provides better classification accuracy with Reuters-21578 corpus, one of the standard benchmarks for text categorization tasks. We present results comparing the accuracy of this approach with multilayer neural network initialized with traditional random method and decision tree classifiers.

Keywords: Text categorization, decision trees, neural networks, machine learning.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1805
834 Using Lean Six-Sigma in the Improvement of Service Quality at Aviation Industry: Case Study at the Departure Area in KKIA

Authors: T. M. Al Muhareb, J. Graham-Jones

Abstract:

The service quality is a significant element in aviation industry especially in the international airports. Through this paper, the researchers built a model based on Lean six sigma methodologies and applied it in the departure area at KKIA (King Khalid International Airport) in order to assess it. This model characterized with many special features that can become over the cultural differences in aviation industry since it is considered the most critical circumstance in this field. Applying the model of this study is depending on following the DMAIC procedure systemized in lean thinking aspects. This model of Lean-six-sigma as a managerial procedure is mostly focused on the change management culture that requires high level of planning, organizing, modifying, and controlling in order to benefit from strengths as well as revoke weaknesses.

Keywords: Lean-six-sigma, Service quality, Aviation industry, KKIA (King Khalid International Airport), SERVQUAL.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7639
833 Connect among Green, Sustainability and Hotel Industry: A Prospective Simulation Study

Authors: Leena N. Fukey, Surya S. Issac

Abstract:

This review paper aims at understanding the importance of implementing sustainable green practices in the current hotel industry and the perception of the same from the point of view of the customers as well as the industry experts. Many hotels have benefited from green management such as enhanced reputation of the firm and more worth customers. For the business standing, it reduces business’s cost for posting advertisements and the clear hotel’s orientation shows hotels’ positive image which might increase employees’ recognition toward the business. Sustainability in business is the growth in lively processes which enable people to understand the potential to protect the Earth’s existent support systems. Well, looking to the future today’s green concerns will definitely become facet of more synchronized business environment, perhaps the concerns discussed in this study, may exchange a few words which hotels may consider in near future to widen awareness and improve business model.

Keywords: Environmental Protection, Green Hotel Concept, Hotel Industry, Sustainability.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8854
832 Urban Environmental Challenges in Developing Cities: The Case of Ethiopian Capital Addis Ababa

Authors: Dubbale Daniel A., Tsutsumi J., Michael J. Bendewald

Abstract:

Addis Ababa is a seat of African Union (AU), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA) and hundreds of embassies and consular representatives. Addis Ababa is one of the highest capitals in the world with an average 2400 meters above sea level. It is dichotomous city with a blend of modern high-rise and deteriorating slum quarters. Water supply and sanitation, waste management and housing are continuing to be serious problems. Forest wood based domestic energy use as well as uncontrolled emissions from mobile and fixed sources has endangered the state of the urban environment. Analysis based on satellite imagery has revealed the deteriorating urban environment within the last three decades. The recently restructured city administration has brought improvements in the condition of the urban environment. However, the overwhelming size of the challenges faced by the city dwarfed their fairly good results.

Keywords: Addis Ababa, Urban environment, Slum, Housing, Relocation

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6470
831 The Economic Cost of Health and Safety in Work Places: An Approach on the Costs Calculating Model

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

Abstract:

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.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2230
830 Air Cargo Overbooking Model under Stochastic Weight and Volume Cancellation

Authors: N. Phumchusri, K. Roekdethawesab, M. Lohatepanont

Abstract:

Overbooking is an approach of selling more goods or services than available capacities because sellers anticipate that some buyers will not show-up or may cancel their bookings. At present, many airlines deploy overbooking strategy in order to deal with the uncertainty of their customers. Particularly, some airlines sell more cargo capacity than what they have available to freight forwarders with beliefs that some of them will cancel later. In this paper, we propose methods to find the optimal overbooking level of volume and weight for air cargo in order to minimize the total cost, containing cost of spoilage and cost of offloaded. Cancellations of volume and weight are jointly random variables with a known joint distribution. Heuristic approaches applying the idea of weight and volume independency is considered to find an appropriate answer to the full problem. Computational experiments are used to explore the performance of approaches presented in this paper, as compared to a naïve method under different scenarios.

Keywords: Air cargo overbooking, offloaded capacity, optimal overbooking level, revenue management, spoilage capacity.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2186
829 Review of Carbon Materials: Application in Alternative Energy Sources and Catalysis

Authors: Marita Pigłowska, Beata Kurc, Maciej Galiński

Abstract:

The application of carbon materials in the branches of the electrochemical industry shows an increasing tendency each year due to the many interesting properties they possess. These are, among others, a well-developed specific surface, porosity, high sorption capacity, good adsorption properties, low bulk density, electrical conductivity and chemical resistance. All these properties allow for their effective use, among others in supercapacitors, which can store electric charges of the order of 100 F due to carbon electrodes constituting the capacitor plates. Coals (including expanded graphite, carbon black, graphite carbon fibers, activated carbon) are commonly used in electrochemical methods of removing oil derivatives from water after tanker disasters, e.g., phenols and their derivatives by their electrochemical anodic oxidation. Phenol can occupy practically the entire surface of carbon material and leave the water clean of hydrophobic impurities. Regeneration of such electrodes is also not complicated, it is carried out by electrochemical methods consisting in unblocking the pores and reducing resistances, and thus their reactivation for subsequent adsorption processes. Graphite is commonly used as an anode material in lithium-ion cells, while due to the limited capacity it offers (372 mAh g-1), new solutions are sought that meet both capacitive, efficiency and economic criteria. Increasingly, biodegradable materials, green materials, biomass, waste (including agricultural waste) are used in order to reuse them and reduce greenhouse effects and, above all, to meet the biodegradability criterion necessary for the production of lithium-ion cells as chemical power sources. The most common of these materials are cellulose, starch, wheat, rice, and corn waste, e.g., from agricultural, paper and pharmaceutical production. Such products are subjected to appropriate treatments depending on the desired application (including chemical, thermal, electrochemical). Starch is a biodegradable polysaccharide that consists of polymeric units such as amylose and amylopectin that build an ordered (linear) and amorphous (branched) structure of the polymer. Carbon is also used as a catalyst. Elemental carbon has become available in many nano-structured forms representing the hybridization combinations found in the primary carbon allotropes, and the materials can be enriched with a large number of surface functional groups. There are many examples of catalytic applications of coal in the literature, but the development of this field has been hampered by the lack of a conceptual approach combining structure and function and a lack of understanding of material synthesis. In the context of catalytic applications, the integrity of carbon environmental management properties and parameters such as metal conductivity range and bond sequence management should be characterized. Such data, along with surface and textured information, can form the basis for the provision of network support services.

Keywords: carbon materials, catalysis, BET, capacitors, lithium ion cell

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1162
828 Study the Biological Activities of Tribulus Terrestris Extracts

Authors: Ahmed A. Hussain, Abbas A. Mohammed, Heba. H. Ibrahim, Amir H. Abbas

Abstract:

In this study the extracts of the Iraqi herb Tribulus terrestris (Al-Hassage or Al-Kutub) was done by using of polar and non polar solvents, then the biological activity of these extractants was studied in three fields, First, the antibacterial activity (in vitro) on gram positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus), and gram negative bacteria (E. coli, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aerugiuosa, and Klebsiella), all extracts showed considerable activity against all bacteria. Second, the effect of extracts on free serum testosterone level in male mice (in vivo), the alcoholic, and acetonitrilic extracts showed significant (P < 0.05) increase in free serum testosterone level, and we found that the extracts contained compounds with less genotoxic effects in mice germ cells. 3rd, was to study the effect of methanolic extract of T. terrestris in diabetes management.

Keywords: Genotoxic, germ cells, tribulus terrestris, testosterone.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4690
827 Disturbances of the Normal Operation of Kosovo Power System Regarding Atmospheric Discharges

Authors: B. Prebreza, I. Krasniqi, G. Kabashi, G. Pula, N. Avdiu

Abstract:

This paper discusses aspects of outages in the electric transmission network in the Kosovo Power System caused by the atmospheric discharges.

Frequency and location of the atmospheric discharges in Kosovo territory will be provided by a lightning location system ALARM (Automated Lightning Alert and Risk Management) and from the data from the Meteorological Department in Prishtina International Airport. These data will be used to make comparisons with the actual outages registered in the Kosovo Power System from the Kosovo Transmission, systems and market operator (KOSTT) during a specific time period.

The lines with the worst performance determined, regarding the atmospheric discharges, will be choose for further discussions in terms of over voltages caused by the direct or indirect lightning strokes.

Recommendations for protection in terms of insulator coordination and surge arresters will be given at the end and in this stage dynamic simulation will take part.

Keywords: Atmospheric discharges, dynamic simulations, Kosovo Power System, surge arresters.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1838
826 GA Based Optimal Feature Extraction Method for Functional Data Classification

Authors: Jun Wan, Zehua Chen, Yingwu Chen, Zhidong Bai

Abstract:

Classification is an interesting problem in functional data analysis (FDA), because many science and application problems end up with classification problems, such as recognition, prediction, control, decision making, management, etc. As the high dimension and high correlation in functional data (FD), it is a key problem to extract features from FD whereas keeping its global characters, which relates to the classification efficiency and precision to heavens. In this paper, a novel automatic method which combined Genetic Algorithm (GA) and classification algorithm to extract classification features is proposed. In this method, the optimal features and classification model are approached via evolutional study step by step. It is proved by theory analysis and experiment test that this method has advantages in improving classification efficiency, precision and robustness whereas using less features and the dimension of extracted classification features can be controlled.

Keywords: Classification, functional data, feature extraction, genetic algorithm, wavelet.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1554
825 Optimal Route Policy in Air Traffic Control with Competing Airlines

Authors: Siliang Wang, Minghui Wang

Abstract:

This work proposes a novel market-based air traffic flow control model considering competitive airlines in air traffic network. In the flow model, an agent based framework for resources (link/time pair) pricing is described. Resource agent and auctioneer for groups of resources are also introduced to simulate the flow management in Air Traffic Control (ATC). Secondly, the distributed group pricing algorithm is introduced, which efficiently reflect the competitive nature of the airline industry. Resources in the system are grouped according to the degree of interaction, and each auctioneer adjust s the price of one group of resources respectively until the excess demand of resources becomes zero when the demand and supply of resources of the system changes. Numerical simulation results show the feasibility of solving the air traffic flow control problem using market mechanism and pricing algorithms on the air traffic network.

Keywords: Air traffic control, Nonlinear programming, Marketmechanism, Route policy.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1820
824 A Method for 3D Mesh Adaptation in FEA

Authors: S. Sfarni, E. Bellenger, J. Fortin, M. Guessasma

Abstract:

The use of the mechanical simulation (in particular the finite element analysis) requires the management of assumptions in order to analyse a real complex system. In finite element analysis (FEA), two modeling steps require assumptions to be able to carry out the computations and to obtain some results: the building of the physical model and the building of the simulation model. The simplification assumptions made on the analysed system in these two steps can generate two kinds of errors: the physical modeling errors (mathematical model, domain simplifications, materials properties, boundary conditions and loads) and the mesh discretization errors. This paper proposes a mesh adaptive method based on the use of an h-adaptive scheme in combination with an error estimator in order to choose the mesh of the simulation model. This method allows us to choose the mesh of the simulation model in order to control the cost and the quality of the finite element analysis.

Keywords: Finite element, discretization errors, adaptivity.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1477
823 A Tool for Rational Assessment of Dynamic Trust in Networked Organizations

Authors: Simon Samwel Msanjila

Abstract:

Networked environments which provide platforms for business organizations are configured in different forms depending on many factors including life time, member characteristics, communication structure, and business objectives, among others. With continuing advances in digital technologies the distance has become a less barrier for business minded collaboration among organizations. With the need and ease to make business collaborate nowadays organizations are sometimes forced to co-work with others that are either unknown or less known to them in terms of history and performance. A promising approach for sustaining established collaboration has been establishment of trust relationship among organizations based on assessed trustworthiness for each participating organization. It has been stated in research that trust in organization is dynamic and thus assessment of trust level must address such dynamic nature. This paper assesses relevant aspects of trust and applies the assessed concepts to propose a semi-automated system for the management of Sustainability and Evolution of trust in organizations participating in specific objective in a networked organizations environment.

Keywords: Trust evolution, trust sustainability, networked organizations, dynamic trust.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1761
822 Modeling “Web of Trust“ with Web 2.0

Authors: Omer Mahmood, Selvakennedy Selvadurai

Abstract:

“Web of Trust" is one of the recognized goals for Web 2.0. It aims to make it possible for the people to take responsibility for what they publish on the web, including organizations, businesses and individual users. These objectives, among others, drive most of the technologies and protocols recently standardized by the governing bodies. One of the great advantages of Web infrastructure is decentralization of publication. The primary motivation behind Web 2.0 is to assist the people to add contents for Collective Intelligence (CI) while providing mechanisms to link content with people for evaluations and accountability of information. Such structure of contents will interconnect users and contents so that users can use contents to find participants and vice versa. This paper proposes conceptual information storage and linking model, based on decentralized information structure, that links contents and people together. The model uses FOAF, Atom, RDF and RDFS and can be used as a blueprint to develop Web 2.0 applications for any e-domain. However, primary target for this paper is online trust evaluation domain. The proposed model targets to assist the individuals to establish “Web of Trust" in online trust domain.

Keywords: Web of Trust, Semantic Web, Electronic SocialNetworks, Information Management

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2221
821 Vermicomposting of Waste Corn Pulp Blended with Cow Dung Manure using Eisenia Fetida

Authors: Musaida M. M. Manyuchi, Anthony Phiri, Ngoni Chirinda, Perkins Muredzi, Joseph Govhaand, Thamary Sengudzwa

Abstract:

Waste corn pulp was investigated as a potential feedstock during vermicomposting using Eisenia fetida. Corn pulp is the major staple food in Southern Africa and constitutes about 25% of the total organic waste. Wastecooked corn pulp was blended with cow dung in the ratio 6:1 respectively to optimize the vermicomposting process. The feedstock was allowed to vermicompost for 30 days. The vermicomposting took place in a 3- tray plastic worm bin. Moisture content, temperature, pH, and electrical conductivity were monitoreddaily. The NPK content was determined at day 30. During vermicomposting, moisture content increased from 27.68% to 52.41%, temperature ranged between 19- 25◦C, pH increased from 5.5 to 7.7, and electrical conductivity decreased from 80000μS/cm to 60000μS/cm. The ash content increased from 11.40% to 28.15%; additionally the volatile matter increased from 1.45% to 10.02%. An odorless, dark brown vermicompost was obtained. The vermicompost NPK content was 4.19%, 1.15%, and 6.18% respectively.

Keywords: Corn pulp, Eisenia fetida, vermicomposting, waste management.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3316
820 The Critical Success Factors for Effective ICT Governance in Malaysian Public Sector: A Delphi Study

Authors: Rosida Ab. Razak, Mohamad Shanudin Zakaria

Abstract:

The fundamental issues in ICT Governance (ICTG) implementation for Malaysian Public Sector (MPS) is how ICT be applied to support improvements in productivity, management effectiveness and the quality of services offered to its citizens. Our main concern is to develop and adopt a common definition and framework to illustrate how ICTG can be used to better align ICT with government’s operations and strategic focus. In particular, we want to identify and categorize factors that drive a successful ICTG process. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study to identify, validate and refine such Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and confirmed seven CSFs and nineteen sub-factors as influential factors that fit MPS after further validated and refined. The Delphi method applied in validation and refining process before being endorsed as appropriate for MPS. The identified CSFs reflect the focus areas that need to be considered strategically to strengthen ICT Governance implementation and ensure business success.

Keywords: IT Governance, Critical Success Factors.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3974
819 Determination of the Best Fit Probability Distribution for Annual Rainfall in Karkheh River at Iran

Authors: Karim Hamidi Machekposhti, Hossein Sedghi

Abstract:

This study was designed to find the best-fit probability distribution of annual rainfall based on 50 years sample (1966-2015) in the Karkheh river basin at Iran using six probability distributions: Normal, 2-Parameter Log Normal, 3-Parameter Log Normal, Pearson Type 3, Log Pearson Type 3 and Gumbel distribution. The best fit probability distribution was selected using Stormwater Management and Design Aid (SMADA) software and based on the Residual Sum of Squares (R.S.S) between observed and estimated values Based on the R.S.S values of fit tests, the Log Pearson Type 3 and then Pearson Type 3 distributions were found to be the best-fit probability distribution at the Jelogir Majin and Pole Zal rainfall gauging station. The annual values of expected rainfall were calculated using the best fit probability distributions and can be used by hydrologists and design engineers in future research at studied region and other region in the world.

Keywords: Log Pearson Type 3, SMADA, rainfall, Karkheh River.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 752
818 Analysis of Risk-Based Disaster Planning in Local Communities

Authors: R. A. Temah, L. A. Nkengla-Asi

Abstract:

Planning for future disasters sets the stage for a variety of activities that may trigger multiple recurring operations and expose the community to opportunities to minimize risks. Local communities are increasingly embracing the necessity for planning based on local risks, but are also significantly challenged to effectively plan and response to disasters. This research examines basic risk-based disaster planning model and compares it with advanced risk-based planning that introduces the identification and alignment of varieties of local capabilities within and out of the local community that can be pivotal to facilitate the management of local risks and cascading effects prior to a disaster. A critical review shows that the identification and alignment of capabilities can potentially enhance risk-based disaster planning. A tailored holistic approach to risk based disaster planning is pivotal to enhance collective action and a reduction in disaster collective cost.

Keywords: Capabilities, disaster planning, hazards, local community, risk-based.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1067
817 A Reinforcement Learning Approach for Evaluation of Real-Time Disaster Relief Demand and Network Condition

Authors: Ali Nadi, Ali Edrissi

Abstract:

Relief demand and transportation links availability is the essential information that is needed for every natural disaster operation. This information is not in hand once a disaster strikes. Relief demand and network condition has been evaluated based on prediction method in related works. Nevertheless, prediction seems to be over or under estimated due to uncertainties and may lead to a failure operation. Therefore, in this paper a stochastic programming model is proposed to evaluate real-time relief demand and network condition at the onset of a natural disaster. To address the time sensitivity of the emergency response, the proposed model uses reinforcement learning for optimization of the total relief assessment time. The proposed model is tested on a real size network problem. The simulation results indicate that the proposed model performs well in the case of collecting real-time information.

Keywords: Disaster management, real-time demand, reinforcement learning, relief demand.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1936
816 Innovation Policy and Development of Creative Industries: Case Study of Lithuanian Animation Industry

Authors: Tomas Mitkus, Vaida Nedzinskaitė-Mitkė

Abstract:

The objective of this study is to identify and explore how adequate is modern innovation support mechanism to developed creative industries. We argue that current development and support strategy for creative industries, although acknowledge high correlation between innovation and creativity, do not seek to improve conditions to promote systematic innovation development in the creative sector. Using the Lithuanian animation industry as a case study, this paper will examine innovation contribution to creativity and, for that matter, the competitiveness of animation enterprises. This paper proposes insights that contribute to theoretical and practical discussions on how creative profile companies build national and international competitiveness through innovations. The conclusions suggest that development of creative industries could greatly benefit if policymakers would implement tools that would encourage creative profile enterprises to invest in to development of innovation at a constant rate.

Keywords: Creative industries, animation, innovation, innovation policy, management.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1030
815 The Current Awareness of Just-In-Time Techniques within the Libyan Textile Private Industry: A Case Study

Authors: Rajab Abdullah Hokoma

Abstract:

Almost all Libyan industries (both private and public) have struggled with many difficulties during the past three decades due to many problems. These problems have created a strongly negative impact on the productivity and utilization of many companies within Libya. This paper studies the current awareness and implementation levels of Just-In-Time (JIT) within the Libyan Textile private industry. A survey has been applied in this study using an intensive detailed questionnaire. Based on the analysis of the survey responses, the results show that the management body within the surveyed companies has a modest strategy towards most of the areas that are considered as being very crucial in any successful implementation of JIT. The results also show a variation within the implementation levels of the JIT elements as these varies between Low and Acceptable levels. The paper has also identified limitations within the investigated areas within this industry, and has pointed to areas where senior managers within the Libyan textile industry should take immediate actions in order to achieve effective implementation of JIT within their companies.

Keywords: Industry, questionnaire, JIT, textile.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2043
814 Approach for an Integrative Technology Assessment Method Combining Product Design and Manufacturing Process

Authors: Guenther Schuh, Sebastian Woelk, Daniel Schraknepper, Anders Such

Abstract:

The systematic evaluation of manufacturing technologies with regard to the potential for product designing constitutes a major challenge. Until now, conventional evaluation methods primarily consider the costs of manufacturing technologies. Thus, the potential of manufacturing technologies for achieving additional product design features is not completely captured. To compensate this deficit, final evaluations of new technologies are mainly intuitive in practice. Therefore, an additional evaluation dimension is needed which takes the potential of manufacturing technologies for specific realizable product designs into account. In this paper, we present the approach of an evaluation method for selecting manufacturing technologies with regard to their potential for product designing. This research is done within the Fraunhofer innovation cluster »AdaM« (Adaptive Manufacturing) which targets the development of resource efficient and adaptive manufacturing technology processes for complex turbomachinery components.

Keywords: Manufacturing, product design, production, technology assessment, technology management.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2199
813 School Age and Building Defects: Analysis Using Condition Survey Protocol (CSP) 1 Matrix

Authors: M. Mahli, A.I. Che-Ani, M.Z. Abd-Razak. N.M. Tawil, H. Yahaya

Abstract:

Building condition assessment is a critical activity in Malaysia-s Comprehensive Asset Management Model. It is closely related to building performance that impact user-s life and decision making. This study focuses on public primary school, one of the most valuable assets for the country. The assessment was carried out based on CSP1 Matrix in Kuching Division of Sarawak, Malaysia. Based on the matrix used, three main criteria of the buildings has successfully evaluate: the number of defects; schools rating; and total schools rating. The analysis carried out on 24 schools found that the overall 4, 725 defects has been identified. Meanwhile, the overall score obtained was 45, 868 and the overall rating is 9.71, which is at the fair condition. This result has been associated with building age to evaluate its impacts on school buildings condition. The findings proved that building condition is closely related to building age and its support the theory that 'the ageing building has more defect than the new one'.

Keywords: building condition, CSP1 Matrix, assessment, school, Malaysia

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2238