Search results for: Project risk management

Authors: Hossam el-ddin Mostafa, Pavel Čičak

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IETF RFC 2002 originally introduced the wireless Mobile-IP protocol to support portable IP addresses for mobile devices that often change their network access points to the Internet. The inefficiency of this protocol mainly within the handoff management produces large end-to-end packet delays, during registration process, and further degrades the system efficiency due to packet losses between subnets. The criterion to initiate a simple and fast full-duplex connection between the home agent and foreign agent, to reduce the roaming duration, is a very important issue to be considered by a work in this paper. State-transition Petri-Nets of the modeling scenario-based CIA: communication inter-agents procedure as an extension to the basic Mobile-IP registration process was designed and manipulated. The heuristic of configuration file during practical Setup session for registration parameters, on Cisco platform Router-1760 using IOS 12.3 (15)T is created. Finally, stand-alone performance simulations results from Simulink Matlab, within each subnet and also between subnets, are illustrated for reporting better end-to-end packet delays. Results verified the effectiveness of our Mathcad analytical manipulation and experimental implementation. It showed lower values of end-to-end packet delay for Mobile-IP using CIA procedure. Furthermore, it reported packets flow between subnets to improve packet losses between subnets.

Keywords: Cisco configuration, handoff, packet delay, Petri-Nets, registration process, Simulink.

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Authors: Alireza Changizi, Arash Rezaei, Jamal Muhammad, Jyrki Latokartano, Minna Lanz

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Offline programming (OLP) is a new method in robot programming which is used widely in the industry nowadays which is a simulation base method that can produce the robot codes for motion according to virtual world in the simulation software. In this project Delmia v5 is used as simulation software. First the work cell component was modelled by Catia v5 and all of them was imported to a process file in Delmia and placed roughly to form the virtual work cell. Then robot was added to the work cell from the Delmia library. Work cell was calibrated corresponding to real world work cell to have accurate code. Tool calibration is the first step of calibration scheme and then work cell equipment can be calibrated using 6 point calibration method. Finally generated code needs to be reformed to match related controller code instruction. At the last stage IO were set to accomplish robots cooperation and make their motion synchronized. The pros and cons also will be discussed to clarify the presented results show the feasibility of the method and its effect on production line efficiency. Finally the positive and negative points of the implementation will be discussed.

Keywords: Component, robotic, automated, production, offline programming, CAD.

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Authors: S. Rezaei, Z. Mirzaei, M. Khalighi, J. Bahrami

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Bridges, as an essential part of road infrastructures, are affected by various deterioration mechanisms over time due to the changes in their performance. As changes in performance can have many negative impacts on society, it is essential to be able to evaluate and measure the performance of bridges throughout their life. This evaluation includes the development or the choice of the appropriate performance indicators, which, in turn, are measured based on the selection of appropriate models for the existing deterioration mechanism. The purpose of this article is a statistical study of indicators and deterioration mechanisms of bridges in order to discover further research capacities in bridges performance assessment. For this purpose, some of the most common indicators of bridge performance, including reliability, risk, vulnerability, robustness, and resilience, were selected. The researches performed on each index based on the desired deterioration mechanisms and hazards were comprehensively reviewed. In addition, the formulation of the indicators and their relationship with each other were studied. The research conducted on the mentioned indicators were classified from the point of view of deterministic or probabilistic method, the level of study (element level, object level, etc.), and the type of hazard and the deterioration mechanism of interest. For each of the indicators, a number of challenges and recommendations were presented according to the review of previous studies.

Keywords: Bridge, deterioration mechanism, lifecycle, performance indicator.

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Authors: Armin Rahimi

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The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has been a very successful project in determining math redistribution within the Earth system. Large deformations caused by earthquakes are in the high frequency band. Unfortunately, GRACE is only capable to provide reliable estimate at the low-to-medium frequency band for the gravitational changes. In this study, we computed the gravity changes after the 2012 Mw8.6 Indian Ocean earthquake off-Sumatra using the GRACE Level-2 monthly spherical harmonic (SH) solutions released by the University of Texas Center for Space Research (UTCSR). Moreover, we calculated gravity changes using different fault models derived from teleseismic data. The model predictions showed non-negligible discrepancies in gravity changes. However, after removing high-frequency signals, using Gaussian filtering 350 km commensurable GRACE spatial resolution, the discrepancies vanished, and the spatial patterns of total gravity changes predicted from all slip models became similar at the spatial resolution attainable by GRACE observations, and predicted-gravity changes were consistent with the GRACE-detected gravity changes. Nevertheless, the fault models, in which give different slip amplitudes, proportionally lead to different amplitude in the predicted gravity changes.

Keywords: Undersea earthquake, GRACE observation, gravity change, dislocation model, slip distribution.

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Authors: Mustafa Bin Yusof, Mohammad Amirul Affiz Bin Afripin

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Safety of bus journey is a fundamental concern. Risk of injuries and fatalities is severe when bus superstructure fails during rollover accident. Adequate design and sufficient strength of bus superstructure can reduce the number of injuries and fatalities. This paper deals with structural analysis of bus superstructure undergoes rollover event. Several value of mass will be varied in multiple simulations. The purpose of this work is to analyze structural response of bus superstructure in terms of deformation, stress and strain under several loading and constraining conditions. A complete bus superstructure with forty four passenger-s capability was developed using finite element analysis software. Simulations have been conducted to observe the effect of total mass of bus on the strength of superstructure. These simulations are following United Nation Economic Commission of Europe regulation 66 which focuses on strength of large vehicle superstructure. Validation process had been done using simple box model experiment and results obtained are comparing with simulation results. Inputs data from validation process had been used in full scale simulation. Analyses suggested that, the failure of bus superstructure during rollover situation is basically dependent on the total mass of bus and on the strength of bus superstructure.

Keywords: Bus, rollover, superstructure strength, UNECE regulation 66.

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Authors: N. Matveev, A. Pervov

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Local utilities often face problems of local industrial wastes, storm water disposal due to existing strict regulations. For many local industries, the problem of wastewater treatment and discharge into surface reservoirs can’t be solved through the use of conventional biological treatment techniques. Current discharge standards require very strict removal of a number of impurities such as ammonia, nitrates, phosphate, etc. To reach this level of removal, expensive reagents and sorbents are used. The modern concept of rational water resources management requires the development of new efficient techniques that provide wastewater treatment and reuse. As RO membranes simultaneously reject all dissolved impurities such as BOD, TDS, ammonia, phosphates etc., they become very attractive for the direct treatment of wastewater without biological stage. To treat wastewater, specially designed membrane "open channel" modules are used that do not possess "dead areas" that cause fouling or require pretreatment. A solution to RO concentrate disposal problem is presented that consists of reducing of initial wastewater volume by 100 times. Concentrate is withdrawn from membrane unit as sludge moisture. The efficient use of membrane RO techniques is connected with a salt balance in water system. Thus, to provide high ecological efficiency of developed techniques, all components of water supply and wastewater discharge systems should be accounted for.

Keywords: Reverse osmosis, stormwater treatment, openchannel module, wastewater reuse.

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Authors: Omar Boutkhoum, Mohamed Hanine, Abdessadek Bendarag

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Sustainable economic growth is nowadays driving firms to extend toward the adoption of many green supply chain management (GSCM) solutions. However, the evaluation and selection of these solutions is a matter of concern that needs very serious decisions, involving complexity owing to the presence of various associated factors. To resolve this problem, a comparative analysis approach based on multi-criteria decision-making methods is proposed for adequate evaluation of sustainable supply chain management solutions. In the present paper, we propose an integrated decision-making model based on FAHP (Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process), TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) and PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organisation METHod for Enrichment Evaluations) to contribute to a better understanding and development of new sustainable strategies for industrial organizations. Due to the varied importance of the selected criteria, FAHP is used to identify the evaluation criteria and assign the importance weights for each criterion, while TOPSIS and PROMETHEE methods employ these weighted criteria as inputs to evaluate and rank the alternatives. The main objective is to provide a comparative analysis based on TOPSIS and PROMETHEE processes to help make sound and reasoned decisions related to the selection problem of GSCM solution.

Keywords: GSCM solutions, multi-criteria analysis, FAHP, TOPSIS, PROMETHEE, decision support system.

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Authors: Amol A. Talankar, Prakash Verma, Nitin Seth

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The purpose of this study is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) for the effective implementation of Six Sigma in non-formal service Sectors.

Based on the survey of literature, the critical success factors (CSFs) for Six Sigma have been identified and are assessed for their importance in Non-formal service sector using Delphi Technique. These selected CSFs were put forth to the panel of expert to cluster them and prepare cognitive map to establish their relationship.

All the critical success factors examined and obtained from the review of literature have been assessed for their importance with respect to their contribution to Six Sigma effectiveness in non formal service sector.

The study is limited to the non-formal service sectors involved in the organization of religious festival only. However, the similar exercise can be conducted for broader sample of other non-formal service sectors like temple/ashram management, religious tours management etc.

The research suggests an approach to identify CSFs of Six Sigma for Non-formal service sector. All the CSFs of the formal service sector will not be applicable to Non-formal services, hence opinion of experts was sought to add or delete the CSFs. In the first round of Delphi, the panel of experts has suggested, two new CSFs-“competitive benchmarking (F19) and resident’s involvement (F28)”, which were added for assessment in the next round of Delphi.  One of the CSFs-“fulltime six sigma personnel (F15)” has been omitted in proposed clusters of CSFs for non-formal organization, as it is practically impossible to deploy full time trained Six Sigma recruits.

Keywords: Critical success factors (CSFs), Quality assurance, non-formal service sectors, Six Sigma.

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Authors: Haining Wang, Hong Zhang

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Problems exist in the present construction industry in China. Conflicts hinder the development of the whole society, such as contradictions between resource reservation and a huge population, living space needs and low building production efficiency, as well as environment protection and high pollution production pattern. In order to solve the problems and find a solution, research is needed to explore a building system. By investigating the whole architectural process and contrasting analysis of light structures and heavy structures, the paper raised the concepts to cope with the existing challenges, such as design conception based on product and real construction processes, design methods focusing on components, and maximum utilization of the temporary building by optimizing the construction speed and building performance. The project was not only designed in virtual reality, but was also physically constructed in the real world. A series of aluminum light structure housing systems were dictated at last, with the characteristics of high performance, extremely rapid construction speed and also flexible function. It can be used in lots of aspects ranging from a single building in a remote area to a large residential community.

Keywords: Aluminum house, light structure, rapid assembly, repeat construction.

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Authors: Giovanni Cicceri, Roberta Maisano, Nathalie Morey, Salvatore Distefano

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The main goal of this paper is to present a solution for a water purification system based on an Environmental Internet of Things (EIoT) platform to monitor and control water quality and machine learning (ML) models to support decision making and speed up the processes of purification of water. A real case study has been implemented by deploying an EIoT platform and a network of devices, called Gramb meters and belonging to the Gramb project, on wastewater purification systems located in Calabria, south of Italy. The data thus collected are used to control the wastewater quality, detect anomalies and predict the behaviour of the purification system. To this extent, three different statistical and machine learning models have been adopted and thus compared: Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) autoencoder, and Facebook Prophet (FP). The results demonstrated that the ML solution (LSTM) out-perform classical statistical approaches (ARIMA, FP), in terms of both accuracy, efficiency and effectiveness in monitoring and controlling the wastewater purification processes.

Keywords: EIoT, machine learning, anomaly detection, environment monitoring.

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Authors: H. Mansor, S. B. Mohd-Noor, T. S. Gunawan, S. Khan, N. I. Othman, N. Tazali, R. B. Islam

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This paper provides a comparative study on the performances of standard PID and adaptive PID controllers tested on travel angle of a 3-Degree-of-Freedom (3-DOF) Quanser bench-top helicopter. Quanser, a well-known manufacturer of educational bench-top helicopter has developed Proportional Integration Derivative (PID) controller with Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) for all travel, pitch and yaw angle of the bench-top helicopter. The performance of the PID controller is relatively good; however, its performance could also be improved if the controller is combined with adaptive element. The objective of this research is to design adaptive PID controller and then compare the performances of the adaptive PID with the standard PID. The controller design and test is focused on travel angle control only. Adaptive method used in this project is self-tuning controller, which controller’s parameters are updated online. Two adaptive algorithms those are pole-placement and deadbeat have been chosen as the method to achieve optimal controller’s parameters. Performance comparisons have shown that the adaptive (deadbeat) PID controller has produced more desirable performance compared to standard PID and adaptive (poleplacement). The adaptive (deadbeat) PID controller attained very fast settling time (5 seconds) and very small percentage of overshoot (5% to 7.5%) for 10° to 30° step change of travel angle.

Keywords: Adaptive control, bench-top helicopter, deadbeat, pole-placement, self-tuning control.

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Authors: Rutanachai Thaipratum

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Free radicals are atoms or molecules with unpaired electrons. Many diseases are caused by free radicals. Normally, free radical formation is controlled naturally by various beneficial compounds known as antioxidants. Several analytical methods have been used for qualitative and quantitative determination of antioxidants, and each has its own specificity. This project aimed to evaluate antioxidant activity of ethanolic and aqueous extracts from the rice paddy herb (Limnophila aromatica (Lam.) Merr.) measured by DPPH and Hydroxyl radical scavenging method. The results showed that averaged antioxidant activity measured in ethanolic extract (µmol Ascorbic acid equivalent/g fresh mass) were 67.09± 4.99 and 15.55±4.82 as determined by DPPH and Hydroxyl radical scavenging activity assays, respectively. Averaged antioxidant activity measured in aqueous extract (µmol Ascorbic acid equivalent/g fresh mass) were 21.08±1.25 and 10.14±3.94 as determined by DPPH and Hydroxyl radical scavenging activity assays respectively.

Keywords: Free radical, antioxidant, rice paddy herb, Limnophila aromatica (Lam.) Merr.

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Authors: Jia-Ru Li, Chih-Hung Wang, Ching-Wen Lin

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Internet addiction has become a critical problem on adolescents in Taiwan, and its negative effects on various dimensions of adolescent development caught the attention of educational and psychological experts. This study examined the correlation between cognitive (locus of control) and emotion (emotion venting strategies) factors on internet addiction of adolescents in Taiwan. Using the Compulsive Internet Use (CIU) and the Emotion Venting Strategy scales, a survey was conducted and 215 effective samples (students ranging from12 to14 years old) returned. Quantitative analysis methods such as descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlations and multiple regression were adopted. The results were as follows: 1. Severity of Internet addiction has significant gender differences; boys were at a higher risk than girls in becoming addicted to the Internet. 2. Emotion venting, locus of control and internet addiction have been shown to be positive correlated with one another. 3. Setting the locus of control as the control variable, emotion venting strategy has positive and significant contribution to internet addiction. The results of this study suggest that coaching deconstructive emotion strategies and cognitive believes are encouraged to integrate with actual field work.

Keywords: Emotion venting strategy, locus of control, adolescent internet addiction.

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Authors: Ayodele Adekunle Faiyetole, Olumide Olawale Jegede

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This paper presents the experimental design and needs justifications for a localized intelligent parking system (L-IPS), ideal for quasi-close communities with increasing vehicular volume that depends on limited or constant parking facilities. For a constant supply in parking facilities, the demand for an increasing vehicular volume could lead to poor time conservation or extended travel time, traffic congestion or impeded mobility, and safety issues. Increased negative environmental and economic externalities are other associated and consequent downsides of disparities in demand and supply. This L-IPS is designed using a microcontroller, ultrasonic sensors, LED indicators, such that the current status, in terms of parking spots availability, can be known from the main entrance to the community or a parking zone on a LCD screen. As an advanced traffic management system (ATMS), the L-IPS is designed to resolve aspects of infrastructure-to-driver (I2D) communication and parking detection issues. Thus, this L-IPS can act as a timesaver for users by helping them know the availability of parking spots. Providing on-time, informed routing, to a next preference or seamless moving to berth on the available spot on a proximate facility as the case may be. Its use could also increase safety and increase mobility, and fuel savings and costs, therefore, reducing negative environmental and economic externalities due to transportation systems.

Keywords: Intelligent parking systems, localized intelligent parking system, intelligent transport systems, advanced traffic management systems, infrastructure-to-drivers communication.

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Authors: Reem I. Altamimi, Geoff D. Skinner

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Extended periods engaged in sedentary behavior increases the risk of becoming overweight and/or obese which is linked to other health problems. Adding technology to the term ‘active living’ permits its inclusion in promoting and facilitating habitual physical activity. Technology can either act as a barrier to, or facilitate this lifestyle, depending on the chosen technology. Physical Activity Monitoring Technologies (PAMTs) are a popular example of such technologies. Different contemporary PAMTs have been evaluated based on customer reviews; however, there is a lack of published experimental research into the efficacy of PAMTs. This research aims to investigate the reliability of four PAMTs: two wristbands (Fitbit Flex and Jawbone UP), a waist-clip (Fitbit One), and a mobile application (iPhone Health Application) for recording a specific distance walked on a treadmill (1.5km) at constant speed. Physical activity tracking technologies are varied in their recordings, even while performing the same activity. This research demonstrates that Jawbone UP band recorded the most accurate distance compared to Fitbit One, Fitbit Flex, and iPhone Health Application.

Keywords: Fitbit, Jawbone UP, mobile tracking applications, physical activity tracking technologies.

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Authors: Mahshid Hatamzad, Geanette Polanco

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Improving the performance of Winter Road Maintenance (WRM) can increase the traffic safety and reduce the cost as well as environmental impacts. This study evaluates the efficiency of WRM technique, named salting, in the Arctic area by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which is a non-parametric linear method to measure the efficiencies of decision-making units (DMUs) based on handling multiple inputs and multiple outputs at the same time that their associated weights are not known. Here, roads are considered as DMUs for which the efficiency must be determined. The three input variables considered are traffic flow, road area and WRM cost. In addition, the two output variables included are level of safety in the roads and environment impacts resulted from WRM, which is also considered as an uncontrollable factor in the second scenario. The results show the performance of DMUs from the most efficient WRM to the inefficient/least efficient one and this information provides decision makers with technical support and the required suggested improvements for inefficient WRM, in order to achieve a cost-effective WRM and a safe road transportation during wintertime in the Arctic areas.

Keywords: DEA, environmental impacts, risk and safety, WRM.

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Authors: Salina Budin, Shaira Ismail

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Students learn effectively in a learning environment with a suitable teaching approach that matches their learning preferences. The main objective of the study is to examine the learning preferences amongst the students in the Science and Technology (S&T), and Social Science (SS) fields of study at the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Pulau Pinang. The measurement instrument is based on the Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles which measure five elements of learning styles; environmental, sociological, emotional, physiological and psychological. Questionnaires are distributed amongst undergraduates in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Faculty of Business Management. The respondents comprise of 131 diploma students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and 111 degree students of the Faculty of Business Management. The results indicate that, both S&T and SS students share a similar learning preferences on the environmental aspect, emotional preferences, motivational level, learning responsibility, persistent level in learning and learning structure. Most of the S&T students are concluded as analytical learners and the majority of SS students are global learners. Both S&T and SS students are concluded as visual learners, preferred to be in an active mobility in a relaxing and enjoying mode with some light of refreshments during the learning process and exhibited reflective characteristics in learning. Obviously, the S&T students are considered as left brain dominant, whereas the SS students are right brain dominant. The findings highlighted that both categories of students exhibited similar learning preferences except on psychological preferences.

Keywords: Learning preferences, Dunn and Dunn learning style, teaching approach, science and technology, social science.

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Authors: H. Bentarzi, A. Zitouni

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The reliability of the power grid depends on the successful operation of thousands of protective relays. The failure of one relay to operate as intended may lead the entire power grid to blackout. In fact, major power system failures during transient disturbances may be caused by unnecessary protective relay tripping rather than by the failure of a relay to operate. Adequate relay testing provides a first defense against false trips of the relay and hence improves power grid stability and prevents catastrophic bulk power system failures. The goal of this research project is to design and enhance the relay tester using a technology such as Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) card NI 7851. A PC based tester framework has been developed using Simulink power system model for generating signals under different conditions (faults or transient disturbances) and LabVIEW for developing the graphical user interface and configuring the FPGA. Besides, the interface system has been developed for outputting and amplifying the signals without distortion. These signals should be like the generated ones by the real power system and large enough for testing the relay’s functionality. The signals generated that have been displayed on the scope are satisfactory. Furthermore, the proposed testing system can be used for improving the performance of protective relay.

Keywords: Amplifier class D, FPGA, protective relay, tester.

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Authors: Csilla M. Szabó

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In Hungary, the society has changed a lot for the past 25 years, and these changes could be detected in educational situations as well. The number and the intensity of conflicts have been increased in most fields of life, as well as at schools. Teachers have difficulties to be able to handle school conflicts. What is more, the new net generation, generation Z has values and behavioural patterns different from those of the previous one, which might generate more serious conflicts at school, especially with teachers who were mainly socialising in a traditional teacher – student relationship. In Hungary, the bill CCIV of 2011 declared the foundation of Institutes of Teacher Training in higher education institutes. One of the tasks of the Institutes is to survey the competences and needs of teachers working in public education and to provide further trainings and services for them according to their needs and requirements. This job is supported by the Social Renewal Operative Programs 4.1.2.B. The professors of a college carried out a questionnaire and surveyed the needs and the requirements of teachers working in the region. Based on the results, the professors of the Institute of Teacher Training decided to meet the requirements of teachers and to launch short teacher further training courses in spring 2015. One of the courses is going to focus on school conflict management through mediation. The aim of the pilot course is to provide conflict management techniques for teachers and to present different mediation techniques to them. The theoretical part of the course (5 hours) will enable participants to understand the main points and the advantages of mediation, while the practical part (10 hours) will involve teachers in role plays to learn how to cope with conflict situations applying mediation. We hope if conflicts could be reduced, it would influence school atmosphere in a positive way and the teaching – learning process could be more successful and effective.

Keywords: Conflict resolution, generation Z, mediation, teacher training.

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Authors: Muhamad Abduh, Jarita Duasa, Mohd. Azmi Omar

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Unlike its conventional counterpart, Islamic principles forbid Islamic banks to take any interest-related income and thus makes deposits from depositors as an important source of fund for its operational and financing. Consequently, the risk of deposit withdrawal by depositors is an important aspect that should be wellmanaged in Islamic banking. This paper aims to investigate factors that influence depositors- withdrawal behavior in Islamic banks, particularly in Malaysia, using the framework of theory of reasoned action. A total of 368 respondents from Klang valley are involved in the analysis. The paper finds that all the constructs variable i.e. normative beliefs, subjective norms, behavioral beliefs, and attitude towards behavior are perceived to be distinct by the respondents. In addition, the structural equation model is able to verify the structural relationships between subjective norms, attitude towards behavior and behavioral intention. Subjective norms gives more influence to depositors- decision on deposit withdrawal compared to attitude towards behavior.

Keywords: Islamic bank, structural equation model, theory of reasoned action, withdrawal behavior

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Authors: Ahmed Barakat, Nourhan A. Saad, Mahmoud Hammad

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Tracking and monitoring agricultural products, cold chain activities, and transportation in real-time can effectively ensure both the quality and safety of agricultural products, as well as reduce overall logistics costs. Effective supply chain practices are one of the main requirements for enhancing agricultural business in Egypt. Cold chain is among the best practices for the storage and transportation of perishable goods and has potential within the agricultural sector in Egypt. This practice has the scope of reducing the wastage of food and increasing the profitability with a reduction in costs. Even though it has several implementation challenges for the farmers, traders, and people involved in the entire supply chain, it has highlighted better benefits for all and for the export of goods for the economic progression for Egypt. The aim of this paper is to explore cold supply chain practices for the agriculture sector in Egypt, to enhance the export performance of fresh goods. In this context, this study attempts to explore those aspects of the performance of cold supply chain practices that can enhance the functioning of the agriculture sector in Egypt from the perspective of export companies (traders) and farmers. Based on the empirical results obtained by data collection from the farmers and traders, the study argues that there is a significant association between cold supply chain practices and enhancement of the agriculture value chain. The paper thus highlights the contribution of the study with final conclusions and limitations with scope for future research.

Keywords: Agriculture sector, cold chain management, export companies, non-traded goods, supply chain management.

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Authors: Matthias Schmidt, Steffen C. Eickemeyer, Prof. Peter Nyhuis

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Guaranteeing the availability of the required parts at the scheduled time represents a key logistical challenge. This is especially important when several parts are required together. This article describes a tool that supports the positioning in the area of conflict between low stock costs and a high service level for a consumer.

Keywords: Systems Modeling, Manufacturing Systems, Simulation & Control, logistics and supply chain management

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Authors: T. S. Shashikumar

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Radon is a radioactive gas emitted from radium, a daughter product of uranium that occurs naturally in rocks and soil. Radon, together with its decay products, emits alpha particles that can damage lung tissue. The activity concentration of ²²²Ra has been analyzed in water samples collected from borewells and rivers in and around Hassan city, Karnataka State, India. The measurements were performed by Emanometry technique. The concentration of ²²²Rn in borewell waters varies from 18.49±1.89 to 397.26±12.3 Bql^-1 with geometric mean 120.48±12.87 Bql^-1 and in river waters it varies from 92.63±9.31 to 93.98±9.51 Bql^-1 with geometric mean of 93.16±9.33 Bql^-1. In the present study, the radon concentrations are higher in Adarshanagar and Viveka Nagar which are found to be 397.26±12.3 Bql^-1 and 325.78±32.56 Bql^-1. Most of the analysed samples show a ²²²Rn concentration more than 100 Bql^-1 and this can be attributed to the geology of the area where the ground waters are located, which is predominantly of granitic characteristic. The average inhalation dose and ingestion dose in the borewell water are found to be 0.405 and 0.033 µSvy^-1; and in river water it is found to be 0.234 and 0.019 µSvy^-1, respectively. The average total effective dose rate in borewell waters and river waters are found to be 0.433 and 0.253 µSvy^-1, which does not cause any health risk to the population of Hassan region.

Keywords: Borewell, effective dose, emanometry, 222Rn.

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Authors: Galal H. Senussi, Muamar Benisa, Sanja Vasin

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In our business field today, one of the most important issues for any enterprises is cost minimization and profit maximization. Second issue is how to develop a strong and capable model that is able to give us desired forecasting of these two issues. Many researches deal with these issues using different methods. In this study, we developed a model for multi-criteria production program optimization, integrated with Artificial Neural Network.

The prediction of the production cost and profit per unit of a product, dealing with two obverse functions at same time can be extremely difficult, especially if there is a great amount of conflict information about production parameters.

Feed-Forward Neural Networks are suitable for generalization, which means that the network will generate a proper output as a result to input it has never seen. Therefore, with small set of examples the network will adjust its weight coefficients so the input will generate a proper output.

This essential characteristic is of the most important abilities enabling this network to be used in variety of problems spreading from engineering to finance etc.

From our results as we will see later, Feed-Forward Neural Networks has a strong ability and capability to map inputs into desired outputs.

Keywords: Project profitability, multi-objective optimization, genetic algorithm, Pareto set, Neural Networks.

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Authors: Emir H. Pernet, Jeimy J. Cano

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Maturity models, used descriptively to explain changes in reality or normatively to guide managers to make interventions to make organizations more effective and efficient, are based on the principles of statistical quality control and PDCA continuous improvement (Plan, Do, Check, Act). Some frameworks developed over the concept of maturity models include COBIT, CMM, and ITIL. This paper presents some limitations of traditional maturity models, most of them related to the mechanistic and reductionist principles over which those models are built. As systems theory helps the understanding of the dynamics of organizations and organizational change, the development of a systemic maturity model can help to overcome some of those limitations. This document proposes a systemic maturity model, based on a systemic conceptualization of organizations, focused on the study of the functioning of the parties, the relationships among them, and their behavior as a whole. The concept of maturity from the system theory perspective is conceptually defined as an emergent property of the organization, which arises as a result of the degree of alignment and integration of their processes. This concept is operationalized through a systemic function that measures the maturity of organizations, and finally validated by the measuring of maturity in some organizations. For its operationalization and validation, the model was applied to measure the maturity of organizational Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) processes.

Keywords: GRC, Maturity Model, Systems Theory, Viable System Model.

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Authors: Romain Bosquet, Pierre-Olivier Vandanjon, Alex Coiret, Tristan Lorino

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In the hardening energy context, the transport sector which constitutes a large worldwide energy demand has to be improving for decrease energy demand and global warming impacts. In a controversial situation where subsists an increasing demand for long-distance and high-speed travels, high-speed trains offer many advantages, as consuming significantly less energy than road or air transports. At the project phase of new rail infrastructures, it is nowadays important to characterize accurately the energy that will be induced by its operation phase, in addition to other more classical criteria as construction costs and travel time. Current literature consumption models used to estimate railways operation phase are obsolete or not enough accurate for taking into account the newest train or railways technologies. In this paper, an updated model of consumption for high-speed is proposed, based on experimental data obtained from full-scale tests performed on a new high-speed line. The assessment of the model is achieved by identifying train parameters and measured power consumptions for more than one hundred train routes. Perspectives are then discussed to use this updated model for accurately assess the energy impact of future railway infrastructures.

Keywords: High-speed train, energy, model, track profile, infrastructure

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Authors: Şt. Creangâ, V. Maciuc, A.V. Bâlteanu, S.S. Chelmu

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The paper presents a part of the results obtained in a complex research project on Romanian Grey Steppe breed, owner of some remarkable qualities such as hardiness, longevity, adaptability, special resistance to ban weather and diseases and included in the genetic fund (G.D. no. 822/2008.) from Romania. Following the researches effectuated, we identified alleles of six loci, codifying the six types of major milk proteins: alpha-casein S1 (α S1-cz); beta-casein (β-cz); kappa-casein (K-cz); beta-lactoglobulin (β-lg); alpha-lactalbumin (α-la) and alpha-casein S2 (α S2-cz). In system αS1-cz allele αs1-Cn B has the highest frequency (0.700), in system β-cz allele β-Cn A2 ( 0.550 ), in system K-cz allele k-CnA2 ( 0.583 ) and heterozygote genotype AB ( 0.416 ) and BB (0.375), in system β-lg allele β-lgA1 has the highest frequency (0.542 ) and heterozygote genotype AB ( 0.500 ), in system α-la there is monomorphism for allele α-la B and similarly in system αS2-cz for allele αs2-Cn A. The milk analysis by the isoelectric focalization technique (I.E.F.) allowed the identification of a new allele for locus αS1-casein, for two of the individuals under analysis, namely allele called αS1-casein IRV. When experiments were repeated, we noticed that this is not a proteolysis band and it really was a new allele that has not been registered in the specialized literature so far. We identified two heterozygote individuals, carriers of this allele, namely: BIRV and CIRV. This discovery is extremely important if focus is laid on the national genetic patrimony.

Keywords: allele, breed, genetic preservation, lactoproteins, Romanian Grey Steppe

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Authors: Kgomotso Matobole, Pascal Mwenge, Tumisang Seodigeng

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The global urbanisation and worldwide economic growth have caused a high rate of food waste generation, resulting in environmental pollution. Food waste disposed on landfills decomposes to produce methane (CH₄), a greenhouse gas. Inadequate waste management practices contribute to food waste polluting the environment. Thus effective organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) management and treatment are attracting widespread attention in many countries. This problem can be minimised by the employment of anaerobic digestion process, since food waste is rich in organic matter and highly biodegradable, resulting in energy generation and waste volume reduction. The current study investigated the Biomethane Potential (BMP) of the Vaal University of Technology canteen food waste using anaerobic digestion. Tests were performed on canteen food waste, as a substrate, with total solids (TS) of 22%, volatile solids (VS) of 21% and moisture content of 78%. The tests were performed in batch reactors, at a mesophilic temperature of 37 °C, with two different types of inoculum, primary and digested sludge. The resulting CH₄ yields for both food waste with digested sludge and primary sludge were equal, being 357 Nml/g VS. This indicated that food waste form this canteen is rich in organic and highly biodegradable. Hence it can be used as a substrate for the anaerobic digestion process. The food waste with digested sludge and primary sludge both fitted the first order kinetic model with k for primary sludge inoculated food waste being 0.278 day^-1 with R² of 0.98, whereas k for digested sludge inoculated food waste being 0.034 day^-1, with R² of 0.847.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, biogas, biomethane potential, food waste.

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Authors: Donatien Callon, Ian Lalonde, Mathieu Nadeau, Alexandre Girard

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Patient transfer is a challenging, critical task because it exposes caregivers to injury risks. Available transfer devices, like floor lifts, lead to improvements but are far from perfect. They do not eliminate the caregivers’ risk of musculoskeletal disorders, and they can be burdensome to use due to their poor maneuverability. This paper presents a motorized floor lift with a single central motorized wheel connected to an instrumented handle. Admittance controllers are designed to 1) improve the device maneuverability, 2) reduce the required caregiver effort, and 3) ensure the security and comfort of patients. Two controller designs, one with a linear admittance law and a non-linear admittance law with variable damping, were developed and implemented on a prototype. Tests were performed on seven participants to evaluate the performance of the assistance system and the controllers. The experimental results show that 1) the motorized assistance with the variable damping controller improves maneuverability by 28%, 2) reduces the amount of effort required to push the lift by 66% and 3) provides the same level of patient comfort compared to a standard unassisted floor lift.

Keywords: Floor lift, human robot interaction, admittance controller, variable admittance.

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Authors: Muhammed Ordu, Eren Demir, Chris Tofallis

Abstract:

Over the past decade, the non-elective admissions in the UK have increased significantly. Taking into account limited resources (i.e. beds), the related service managers are obliged to manage their resources effectively due to the non-elective admissions which are mostly admitted to inpatient specialities via A&E departments. Geriatric medicine is one of specialities that have long length of stay for the non-elective admissions. This study aims to develop a discrete event simulation model to understand how possible increases on non-elective demand over the next 12 months affect the bed occupancy rate and to determine required number of beds in a geriatric medicine speciality in a UK hospital. In our validated simulation model, we take into account observed frequency distributions which are derived from a big data covering the period April, 2009 to January, 2013, for the non-elective admission and the length of stay. An experimental analysis, which consists of 16 experiments, is carried out to better understand possible effects of case studies and scenarios related to increase on demand and number of bed. As a result, the speciality does not achieve the target level in the base model although the bed occupancy rate decreases from 125.94% to 96.41% by increasing the number of beds by 30%. In addition, the number of required beds is more than the number of beds considered in the scenario analysis in order to meet the bed requirement. This paper sheds light on bed management for service managers in geriatric medicine specialities.

Keywords: Bed management, bed occupancy rate, discrete event simulation, geriatric medicine, non-elective admission.

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