Search results for: Dynamic environment
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 4415

Search results for: Dynamic environment

1475 Public R and D Risk and Risk Management Policy

Authors: Youngseok Lee, Dongjin Chung, Youngjin Kim

Abstract:

R&D risk management has been suggested as one of the management approaches for accomplishing the goals of public R&D investment. The investment in basic science and core technology development is the essential roles of government for securing the social base needed for continuous economic growth. And, it is also an important role of the science and technology policy sectors to generate a positive environment in which the outcomes of public R&D can be diffused in a stable fashion by controlling the uncertainties and risk factors in advance that may arise during the application of such achievements to society and industry. Various policies have already been implemented to manage uncertainties and variables that may have negative impact on accomplishing public R& investment goals. But we may derive new policy measures for complementing the existing policies and for exploring progress direction by analyzing them in a policy package from the viewpoint of R&D risk management.

Keywords: Risk management, Public R&D policy, Science andtechnology policy, Performance management.

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1474 Information Overload, Information Literacy and Use of Technology by Students

Authors: Elena Krelja Kurelović, Jasminka Tomljanović, Vlatka Davidović

Abstract:

The development of web technologies and mobile devices makes creating, accessing, using and sharing information or communicating with each other simpler every day. However, while the amount of information constantly increasing it is becoming harder to effectively organize and find quality information despite the availability of web search engines, filtering and indexing tools. Although digital technologies have overall positive impact on students’ lives, frequent use of these technologies and digital media enriched with dynamic hypertext and hypermedia content, as well as multitasking, distractions caused by notifications, calls or messages; can decrease the attention span, make thinking, memorizing and learning more difficult, which can lead to stress and mental exhaustion. This is referred to as “information overload”, “information glut” or “information anxiety”. Objective of this study is to determine whether students show signs of information overload and to identify the possible predictors. Research was conducted using a questionnaire developed for the purpose of this study. The results show that students frequently use technology (computers, gadgets and digital media), while they show moderate level of information literacy. They have sometimes experienced symptoms of information overload. According to the statistical analysis, higher frequency of technology use and lower level of information literacy are correlated with larger information overload. The multiple regression analysis has confirmed that the combination of these two independent variables has statistically significant predictive capacity for information overload. Therefore, the information science teachers should pay attention to improving the level of students’ information literacy and educate them about the risks of excessive technology use.

Keywords: Information overload, technology use, digital media, information literacy, students.

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1473 Describing Learning Features of Reusable Resources: A Proposal

Authors: Serena Alvino, Paola Forcheri, Maria Grazia Ierardi, Luigi Sarti

Abstract:

One of the main advantages of the LO paradigm is to allow the availability of good quality, shareable learning material through the Web. The effectiveness of the retrieval process requires a formal description of the resources (metadata) that closely fits the user-s search criteria; in spite of the huge international efforts in this field, educational metadata schemata often fail to fulfil this requirement. This work aims to improve the situation, by the definition of a metadata model capturing specific didactic features of shareable learning resources. It classifies LOs into “teacher-oriented" and “student-oriented" categories, in order to describe the role a LO is to play when it is integrated into the educational process. This article describes the model and a first experimental validation process that has been carried out in a controlled environment.

Keywords: Learning object, pedagogical metadata, experimental validation.

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1472 Touch Interaction through Tagging Context

Authors: Gabriel Chavira, Jorge Orozco, Salvador Nava, Eduardo Álvarez, Julio Rolón, Roberto Pichardo

Abstract:

Ambient Intelligence promotes a shift in computing which involves fitting-out the environments with devices to support context-aware applications. One of main objectives is the reduction to a minimum of the user’s interactive effort, the diversity and quantity of devices with which people are surrounded with, in existing environments; increase the level of difficulty to achieve this goal. The mobile phones and their amazing global penetration, makes it an excellent device for delivering new services to the user, without requiring a learning effort. The environment will have to be able to perceive all of the interaction techniques. In this paper, we present the PICTAC model (Perceiving touch Interaction through TAgging Context), which similarly delivers service to members of a research group.

Keywords: Ambient Intelligence, Tagging Context, Touch Interaction, Touching Services.

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1471 High Temperature Hydrogen Sensors Based On Pd/Ta2O5/SiC MOS Capacitor

Authors: J. H. Choi, S. J. Kim, M. S. Jung, S. J. Kim, S. J. Joo, S. C. Kim

Abstract:

There are a many of needs for the development of SiC-based hydrogen sensor for harsh environment applications. We fabricated and investigated Pd/Ta2O5/SiC-based hydrogen sensors with MOS capacitor structure for high temperature process monitoring and leak detection applications in such automotive, chemical and petroleum industries as well as direct monitoring of combustion processes. In this work, we used silicon carbide (SiC) as a substrate to replace silicon which operating temperatures are limited to below 200°C. Tantalum oxide was investigated as dielectric layer which has high permeability for hydrogen gas and high dielectric permittivity, compared with silicon dioxide or silicon nitride. Then, electrical response properties, such as I-V curve and dependence of capacitance on hydrogen concentrations were analyzed in the temperature ranges of room temperature to 500°C for performance evaluation of the sensor.

Keywords: High temperature, hydrogen sensor, SiC, Ta2O5 dielectric layer.

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1470 Bone Generation through Mechanical Loading

Authors: R. S. A. Nesbitt, J. Macione, A. Debroy, S. P. Kotha

Abstract:

Bones are dynamic and responsive organs, they regulate their strength and mass according to the loads which they are subjected. Because, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway has profound effects on the regulation of bone mass, we hypothesized that mechanical loading of bone cells stimulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling, which results in the generation of new bone mass. Mechanical loading triggers the secretion of the Wnt molecule, which after binding to transmembrane proteins, causes GSK-3β (Glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta) to cease the phosphorylation of β-catenin. β-catenin accumulation in the cytoplasm, followed by its transport into the nucleus, binding to transcription factors (TCF/LEF) that initiate transcription of genes related to bone formation. To test this hypothesis, we used TOPGAL (Tcf Optimal Promoter β-galactosidase) mice in an experiment in which cyclic loads were applied to the forearm. TOPGAL mice are reporters for cells effected by the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. TOPGAL mice are genetically engineered mice in which transcriptional activation of β- catenin, results in the production of an enzyme, β-galactosidase. The presence of this enzyme allows us to localize transcriptional activation of β-catenin to individual cells, thereby, allowing us to quantify the effects that mechanical loading has on the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and new bone formation. The ulnae of loaded TOPGAL mice were excised and transverse slices along different parts of the ulnar shaft were assayed for the presence of β-galactosidase. Our results indicate that loading increases β-catenin transcriptional activity in regions where this pathway is already primed (i.e. where basal activity is already higher) in a load magnitude dependent manner. Further experiments are needed to determine the temporal and spatial activation of this signaling in relation to bone formation.

Keywords: Bone Resorption and Formation, Mechanical Loading of Bone, Wnt Signaling Pathway & β-catenin.

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1469 High Resolution Images: Segmenting, Extracting Information and GIS Integration

Authors: Erick López-Ornelas

Abstract:

As the world changes more rapidly, the demand for update information for resource management, environment monitoring, planning are increasing exponentially. Integration of Remote Sensing with GIS technology will significantly promote the ability for addressing these concerns. This paper presents an alternative way of update GIS applications using image processing and high resolution images. We show a method of high-resolution image segmentation using graphs and morphological operations, where a preprocessing step (watershed operation) is required. A morphological process is then applied using the opening and closing operations. After this segmentation we can extract significant cartographic elements such as urban areas, streets or green areas. The result of this segmentation and this extraction is then used to update GIS applications. Some examples are shown using aerial photography.

Keywords: GIS, Remote Sensing, image segmentation, feature extraction.

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1468 The Intuitionistic Fuzzy Ordered Weighted Averaging-Weighted Average Operator and its Application in Financial Decision Making

Authors: Shouzhen Zeng

Abstract:

We present a new intuitionistic fuzzy aggregation operator called the intuitionistic fuzzy ordered weighted averaging-weighted average (IFOWAWA) operator. The main advantage of the IFOWAWA operator is that it unifies the OWA operator with the WA in the same formulation considering the degree of importance that each concept has in the aggregation. Moreover, it is able to deal with an uncertain environment that can be assessed with intuitionistic fuzzy numbers. We study some of its main properties and we see that it has a lot of particular cases such as the intuitionistic fuzzy weighted average (IFWA) and the intuitionistic fuzzy OWA (IFOWA) operator. Finally, we study the applicability of the new approach on a financial decision making problem concerning the selection of financial strategies.

Keywords: Intuitionistic fuzzy numbers, Weighted average, OWA operator, Financial decision making

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1467 Causal Modeling of the Glucose-Insulin System in Type-I Diabetic Patients

Authors: J. Fernandez, N. Aguilar, R. Fernandez de Canete, J. C. Ramos-Diaz

Abstract:

In this paper, a simulation model of the glucose-insulin system for a patient undergoing diabetes Type 1 is developed by using a causal modeling approach under system dynamics. The OpenModelica simulation environment has been employed to build the so called causal model, while the glucose-insulin model parameters were adjusted to fit recorded mean data of a diabetic patient database. Model results under different conditions of a three-meal glucose and exogenous insulin ingestion patterns have been obtained. This simulation model can be useful to evaluate glucose-insulin performance in several circumstances, including insulin infusion algorithms in open-loop and decision support systems in closed-loop.

Keywords: Causal modeling, diabetes, glucose-insulin system, diabetes, causal modeling, OpenModelica software.

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1466 A CBR System to New Product Development: An Application for Hearing Devices Design

Authors: J.L. Castro, K. Benghazi, M.V. Hurtado, M. Navarro, J.M. Zurita

Abstract:

Nowadays, quick technological changes force companies to develop innovative products in an increasingly competitive environment. Therefore, how to enhance the time of new product development is very important. This design problem often lacks the exact formula for getting it, and highly depends upon human designers- past experiences. For these reasons, in this work, a Casebased reasoning (CBR) system to assist in new product development is proposed. When a case is recovered from the case base, the system will take into account not only the attribute-s specific value and how important it is. It will also take into account if the attribute has a positive influence over the product development. Hence the manufacturing time will be improved. This information will be introduced as a new concept called “adaptability". An application to this method for hearing instrument new design illustrates the proposed approach.

Keywords: Case based reasoning, Fuzzy logic, New product development, Retrieval stage, Similarity.

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1465 Determination of Temperature and Velocity Fields in a Corridor at a Central Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility Using Numerical Simulation

Authors: V. Salajka, J. Kala, P. Hradil

Abstract:

The presented article deals with the description of a numerical model of a corridor at a Central Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility (hereinafter CISFSF). The model takes into account the effect of air flows on the temperature of stored waste. The computational model was implemented in the ANSYS/CFX programming environment in the form of a CFD task solution, which was compared with an approximate analytical calculation. The article includes a categorization of the individual alternatives for the ventilation of such underground systems. The aim was to evaluate a ventilation system for a CISFSF with regard to its stability and capacity to provide sufficient ventilation for the removal of heat produced by stored casks with spent nuclear fuel.

Keywords: Temperature fields, Spent Fuel, Interim storage facility, CFD.

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1464 Energy Performance of Buildings Due to Downscaled Seasonal Models

Authors: Anastasia K. Eleftheriadou, Athanasios Sfetsos, Nikolaos Gounaris

Abstract:

The current paper presents an extensive bottom-up framework for assessing building sector-specific vulnerability to climate change: energy supply and demand. The research focuses on the application of downscaled seasonal models for estimating energy performance of buildings in Greece. The ARW-WRF model has been set-up and suitably parameterized to produce downscaled climatological fields for Greece, forced by the output of the CFSv2 model. The outer domain, D01/Europe, included 345 x 345 cells of horizontal resolution 20 x 20 km2 and the inner domain, D02/Greece, comprised 180 x 180 cells of 5 x 5 km2 horizontal resolution. The model run has been setup for a period with a forecast horizon of 6 months, storing outputs on a six hourly basis.

Keywords: Urban environment, vulnerability, climate change, energy performance, seasonal forecast models.

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1463 A Study of Relationship between Mountaineering Participation Motivation and Risk Perception

Authors: Yen-Chieh Wen, Ching-Hui Lin

Abstract:

The main purpose of this study is to analyze climbers involved in motivation and risk perception and analysis of the predictive ability of the risk perception "mountaineering" involved in motivation. This study used questionnaires, to have to climb the 3000m high mountain in Taiwan climbers object to carry out an investigation in order to non-random sampling, a total of 231 valid questionnaires were. After statistical analysis, the study found that: 1. Climbers the highest climbers involved in motivation "to enjoy the natural beauty of the fun. 2 climbers for climbers "risk perception" the highest: the natural environment of risk. 3. Climbers “seeking adventure stimulate", “competence achievement" motivation highly predictive of risk perception. Based on these findings, this study not only practices the recommendations of the outdoor leisure industry, and also related research proposals for future researchers.

Keywords: Mountaineering, motivation, risk perception, decision-making.

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1462 Virtual Mechanical Engineering Education – A Case Study

Authors: S. H. R. Lo

Abstract:

Virtual engineering technology has undergone rapid progress in recent years and is being adopted increasingly by manufacturing companies of many engineering disciplines. There is an increasing demand from industry for qualified virtual engineers. The qualified virtual engineers should have the ability of applying engineering principles and mechanical design methods within the commercial software package environment. It is a challenge to the engineering education in universities which traditionally tends to lack the integration of knowledge and skills required for solving real world problems. In this paper, a case study shows some recent development of a MSc Mechanical Engineering course at Department of Engineering and Technology in MMU, and in particular, two units Simulation of Mechanical Systems(SMS) and Computer Aided Fatigue Analysis(CAFA) that emphasize virtual engineering education and promote integration of knowledge acquisition, skill training and industrial application.

Keywords: Computational modelling and simulation, mechanical engineering education.

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1461 A New Framework to Model a Secure E-Commerce System

Authors: A. Youseef, F. Liu

Abstract:

The existing information system (IS) developments methods are not met the requirements to resolve the security related IS problems and they fail to provide a successful integration of security and systems engineering during all development process stages. Hence, the security should be considered during the whole software development process and identified with the requirements specification. This paper aims to propose an integrated security and IS engineering approach in all software development process stages by using i* language. This proposed framework categorizes into three separate parts: modelling business environment part, modelling information technology system part and modelling IS security part. The results show that considering security IS goals in the whole system development process can have a positive influence on system implementation and better meet business expectations.

Keywords: Business Process Modelling (BPM), Information System Security, Software Development Process, Requirement Engineering.

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1460 A New Approach In Protein Folding Studies Revealed The Potential Site For Nucleation Center

Authors: Nurul Bahiyah Ahmad Khairudin, Habibah A Wahab

Abstract:

A new approach to predict the 3D structures of proteins by combining the knowledge-based method and Molecular Dynamics Simulation is presented on the chicken villin headpiece subdomain (HP-36). Comparative modeling is employed as the knowledge-based method to predict the core region (Ala9-Asn28) of the protein while the remaining residues are built as extended regions (Met1-Lys8; Leu29-Phe36) which then further refined using Molecular Dynamics Simulation for 120 ns. Since the core region is built based on a high sequence identity to the template (65%) resulting in RMSD of 1.39 Å from the native, it is believed that this well-developed core region can act as a 'nucleation center' for subsequent rapid downhill folding. Results also demonstrate that the formation of the non-native contact which tends to hamper folding rate can be avoided. The best 3D model that exhibits most of the native characteristics is identified using clustering method which then further ranked based on the conformational free energies. It is found that the backbone RMSD of the best model compared to the NMR-MDavg is 1.01 Å and 3.53 Å, for the core region and the complete protein, respectively. In addition to this, the conformational free energy of the best model is lower by 5.85 kcal/mol as compared to the NMR-MDavg. This structure prediction protocol is shown to be effective in predicting the 3D structure of small globular protein with a considerable accuracy in much shorter time compared to the conventional Molecular Dynamics simulation alone.

Keywords: 3D model, Chicken villin headpiece subdomain, Molecular dynamic simulation NMR-MDavg, RMSD.

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1459 Decision Support Framework in Managerial Learning Environment for Organization

Authors: M. Mazhar Manzoor, Nasar.A, A. Sattar

Abstract:

In the open space of decision support system the mental impression of a manager-s decision has been the subject of large importance than the ordinary famous one, when helped by decision support system. Much of this study is an attempt to realize the relation of decision support system usage and decision outcomes that governs the system. For example, several researchers have proposed so many different models to analyze the linkage between decision support system processes and results of decision making. This study draws the important relation of manager-s mental approach with the use of decision support system. The findings of this paper are theoretical attempts to provide Decision Support System (DSS) in a way to exhibit and promote the learning in semi structured area. The proposed model shows the points of one-s learning improvements and maintains a theoretical approach in order to explore the DSS contribution in enhancing the decision forming and governing the system.

Keywords: Decision Support System , Learning Organization,

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1458 Synthesis of Mg/B Containing Compound in a Modified Microwave Oven

Authors: Gülşah Çelik Gül, Figen Kurtuluş

Abstract:

Magnesium containing boron compounds with hexagonal structure have been drawn much attention due to their superconductive nature. The main target of this work is new modified microwave oven by on our own has an ability about passing through a gas in the oven medium for attainment of oxygen-free compounds such as c-BN.  Mg containing boride was synthesized by modified-microwave method under nitrogen atmosphere using amorphous boron and magnesium source in appropriate molar ratio. Microwave oven with oxygen free environment has been modified to aimed to obtain magnesium boride without oxygen. Characterizations were done by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Mg containing boride, generally named magnesium boride, with amorphous character without oxygen is obtained via designed microwave oven system.

Keywords: Magnesium containing boron compounds, modified microwave synthesis, powder X-ray diffraction, FTIR.

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1457 Exploring Influence Range of Tainan City Using Electronic Toll Collection Big Data

Authors: Chen Chou, Feng-Tyan Lin

Abstract:

Big Data has been attracted a lot of attentions in many fields for analyzing research issues based on a large number of maternal data. Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) is one of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) applications in Taiwan, used to record starting point, end point, distance and travel time of vehicle on the national freeway. This study, taking advantage of ETC big data, combined with urban planning theory, attempts to explore various phenomena of inter-city transportation activities. ETC, one of government's open data, is numerous, complete and quick-update. One may recall that living area has been delimited with location, population, area and subjective consciousness. However, these factors cannot appropriately reflect what people’s movement path is in daily life. In this study, the concept of "Living Area" is replaced by "Influence Range" to show dynamic and variation with time and purposes of activities. This study uses data mining with Python and Excel, and visualizes the number of trips with GIS to explore influence range of Tainan city and the purpose of trips, and discuss living area delimited in current. It dialogues between the concepts of "Central Place Theory" and "Living Area", presents the new point of view, integrates the application of big data, urban planning and transportation. The finding will be valuable for resource allocation and land apportionment of spatial planning.

Keywords: Big Data, ITS, influence range, living area, central place theory, visualization.

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1456 Investigating the Treatability of a Compost Leachate in a Hybrid Anaerobic Reactor: An Experimental Study

Authors: Shima Rajabi, Leila Vafajoo

Abstract:

Compost manufacturing plants are one of units where wastewater is produced in significantly large amounts. Wastewater produced in these plants contains high amounts of substrate (organic loads) and is classified as stringent waste which creates significant pollution when discharged into the environment without treatment. A compost production plant in the one of the Iran-s province treating 200 tons/day of waste is one of the most important environmental pollutant operations in this zone. The main objectives of this paper are to investigate the compost wastewater treatability in hybrid anaerobic reactors with an upflow-downflow arrangement, to determine the kinetic constants, and eventually to obtain an appropriate mathematical model. After starting the hybrid anaerobic reactor of the compost production plant, the average COD removal rate efficiency was 95%.

Keywords: Leachate treatment, anaerobic hybrid reactor

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1455 The Use of the Limit Cycles of Dynamic Systems for Formation of Program Trajectories of Points Feet of the Anthropomorphous Robot

Authors: A. S. Gorobtsov, A. S. Polyanina, A. E. Andreev

Abstract:

The movement of points feet of the anthropomorphous robot in space occurs along some stable trajectory of a known form. A large number of modifications to the methods of control of biped robots indicate the fundamental complexity of the problem of stability of the program trajectory and, consequently, the stability of the control for the deviation for this trajectory. Existing gait generators use piecewise interpolation of program trajectories. This leads to jumps in the acceleration at the boundaries of sites. Another interpolation can be realized using differential equations with fractional derivatives. In work, the approach to synthesis of generators of program trajectories is considered. The resulting system of nonlinear differential equations describes a smooth trajectory of movement having rectilinear sites. The method is based on the theory of an asymptotic stability of invariant sets. The stability of such systems in the area of localization of oscillatory processes is investigated. The boundary of the area is a bounded closed surface. In the corresponding subspaces of the oscillatory circuits, the resulting stable limit cycles are curves having rectilinear sites. The solution of the problem is carried out by means of synthesis of a set of the continuous smooth controls with feedback. The necessary geometry of closed trajectories of movement is obtained due to the introduction of high-order nonlinearities in the control of stabilization systems. The offered method was used for the generation of trajectories of movement of point’s feet of the anthropomorphous robot. The synthesis of the robot's program movement was carried out by means of the inverse method.

Keywords: Control, limits cycle, robot, stability.

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1454 Influence of Organizational Culture on Frequency of Disputes in Commercial Projects in Egypt: A Contractor’s Perspective

Authors: Omneya N. Mekhaimer, Elkhayam M. Dorra, A. Samer Ezeldin

Abstract:

Over the recent decades, studies on organizational culture have gained global attention in the business management literature, where it has been established that the cultural factors embedded in the organization have an implicit yet significant influence on the organization’s success. Unlike other industries, the construction industry is widely known to be operating in a dynamic and adversarial nature; considering the unique characteristics it denotes, thereby the level of disputes has propagated in the construction industry throughout the years. To that end, this paper aims to study the influence of organizational culture in the contractor’s organization on the frequency of disputes caused between the owner and the contractor in commercial projects based in Egypt. This objective is achieved by using a quantitative approach through a survey questionnaire to explore the dominant cultural attributes that exist in the contractor’s organization based on the Competing Value Framework (CVF) theory, which classifies organizational culture into four main cultural types: (1) clan, (2) adhocracy, (3) market, and (4) hierarchy. Accordingly, the collected data are statistically analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 28) software, whereby a correlation analysis using Pearson Correlation is carried out to assess the relationship between these variables and their statistical significance using the p-value. The results show that there is an influence of organizational culture attributes on the frequency of disputes whereby market culture is identified to be the most dominant organizational culture that is currently practiced in contractor’s organization, which consequently contributes to increasing the frequency of disputes in commercial projects. These findings suggest that alternative management practices should be adopted rather than the existing ones with an aim to minimize dispute occurrence.

Keywords: Construction projects, correlation analysis, disputes, Egypt, organizational culture.

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1453 A Proposed Performance Prediction Approach for Manufacturing Processes using ANNs

Authors: M. S. Abdelwahed, M. A. El-Baz, T. T. El-Midany

Abstract:

this paper aims to provide an approach to predict the performance of the product produced after multi-stages of manufacturing processes, as well as the assembly. Such approach aims to control and subsequently identify the relationship between the process inputs and outputs so that a process engineer can more accurately predict how the process output shall perform based on the system inputs. The approach is guided by a six-sigma methodology to obtain improved performance. In this paper a case study of the manufacture of a hermetic reciprocating compressor is presented. The application of artificial neural networks (ANNs) technique is introduced to improve performance prediction within this manufacturing environment. The results demonstrate that the approach predicts accurately and effectively.

Keywords: Artificial neural networks, Reciprocating compressor manufacturing, Performance prediction, Quality improvement

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1452 Carrying Out the Steps of Decision Making Process in Concrete Organization

Authors: Eva Štěpánková

Abstract:

The decision-making process is theoretically clearly defined. Generally, it includes the problem identification and analysis, data gathering, goals and criteria setting, alternatives development and optimal alternative choice and its implementation. In practice however, various modifications of the theoretical decision-making process can occur. The managers can consider some of the phases to be too complicated or unfeasible and thus they do not carry them out and conversely some of the steps can be overestimated. The aim of the paper is to reveal and characterize the perception of the individual phases of decision-making process by the managers. The research is concerned with managers in the military environment – commanders. Quantitative survey is focused cross-sectionally in the individual levels of management of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic. On the total number of 135 respondents the analysis focuses on which of the decision-making process phases are problematic or not carried out in practice and which are again perceived to be the easiest. Then it is examined the reasons of the findings.

Keywords: Decision making, decision making process, decision problems.

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1451 A Method for Modeling Multiple Antenna Channels

Authors: S. Rajabi, M. ArdebiliPoor, M. Shahabadi

Abstract:

In this paper we propose a method for modeling the correlation between the received signals by two or more antennas operating in a multipath environment. Considering the maximum excess delay in the channel being modeled, an elliptical region surrounding both transmitter and receiver antennas is produced. A number of scatterers are randomly distributed in this region and scatter the incoming waves. The amplitude and phase of incoming waves are computed and used to obtain statistical properties of the received signals. This model has the distinguishable advantage of being applicable for any configuration of antennas. Furthermore the common PDF (Probability Distribution Function) of received wave amplitudes for any pair of antennas can be calculated and used to produce statistical parameters of received signals.

Keywords: MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output), SIMO (Single Input Multiple Output), GBSBEM (Geometrically Based Single Bounce Elliptical Model).

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1450 Enhanced Weighted Centroid Localization Algorithm for Indoor Environments

Authors: I. Nižetić Kosović, T. Jagušt

Abstract:

Lately, with the increasing number of location-based applications, demand for highly accurate and reliable indoor localization became urgent. This is a challenging problem, due to the measurement variance which is the consequence of various factors like obstacles, equipment properties and environmental changes in complex nature of indoor environments. In this paper we propose low-cost custom-setup infrastructure solution and localization algorithm based on the Weighted Centroid Localization (WCL) method. Localization accuracy is increased by several enhancements: calibration of RSSI values gained from wireless nodes, repetitive measurements of RSSI to exclude deviating values from the position estimation, and by considering orientation of the device according to the wireless nodes. We conducted several experiments to evaluate the proposed algorithm. High accuracy of ~1m was achieved.

Keywords: Indoor environment, received signal strength indicator, weighted centroid localization, wireless localization.

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1449 Value from Environmental and Cultural Perspectives or Two Sides of the Same Coin

Authors: Vilém Pařil, Dominika Tóthová

Abstract:

This paper discusses the value theory in cultural heritage and the value theory in environmental economics. Two economic views of the value theory are compared, within the field of cultural heritage maintenance and within the field of the environment. The main aims are to find common features in these two differently structured theories under the layer of differently defined terms as well as really differing features of these two approaches; to clear the confusion which stems from different terminology as in fact these terms capture the same aspects of reality; and to show possible inspiration these two perspectives can offer one another. Another aim is to present these two value systems in one value framework. First, important moments of the value theory from the economic perspective are presented, leading to the marginal revolution of (not only) the Austrian School. Then the theory of value within cultural heritage and environmental economics are explored. Finally, individual approaches are compared and their potential mutual inspiration searched for.

Keywords: Cultural heritage, environmental economics, existence value, value theory.

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1448 An Aggregate Production Planning Model for Brass Casting Industry in Fuzzy Environment

Authors: Ömer Faruk Baykoç, Ümit Sami Sakalli

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose a fuzzy aggregate production planning (APP) model for blending problem in a brass factory which is the problem of computing optimal amounts of raw materials for the total production of several types of brass in a period. The model has deterministic and imprecise parameters which follows triangular possibility distributions. The brass casting APP model can not always be solved by using common approaches used in the literature. Therefore a mathematical model is presented for solving this problem. In the proposed model, the Lai and Hwang-s fuzzy ranking concept is relaxed by using one constraint instead of three constraints. An application of the brass casting APP model in a brass factory shows that the proposed model successfully solves the multi-blend problem in casting process and determines the optimal raw material purchasing policies.

Keywords: Aggregate production planning, Blending, brasscasting, possibilistic programming.

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1447 Vision-based Network System for Industrial Applications

Authors: Taweepol Suesut, Arjin Numsomran, Vittaya Tipsuwanporn

Abstract:

This paper presents the communication network for machine vision system to implement to control systems and logistics applications in industrial environment. The real-time distributed over the network is very important for communication among vision node, image processing and control as well as the distributed I/O node. A robust implementation both with respect to camera packaging and data transmission has been accounted. This network consists of a gigabit Ethernet network and a switch with integrated fire-wall is used to distribute the data and provide connection to the imaging control station and IEC-61131 conform signal integration comprising the Modbus TCP protocol. The real-time and delay time properties each part on the network were considered and worked out in this paper.

Keywords: Distributed Real-Time Automation, Machine Visionand Ethernet.

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1446 Performance of Nakagami Fading Channel over Energy Detection Based Spectrum Sensing

Authors: M. Ranjeeth, S. Anuradha

Abstract:

Spectrum sensing is the main feature of cognitive radio technology. Spectrum sensing gives an idea of detecting the presence of the primary users in a licensed spectrum. In this paper we compare the theoretical results of detection probability of different fading environments like Rayleigh, Rician, Nakagami-m fading channels with the simulation results using energy detection based spectrum sensing. The numerical results are plotted as Pf Vs Pd for different SNR values, fading parameters. It is observed that Nakagami fading channel performance is better than other fading channels by using energy detection in spectrum sensing. A MATLAB simulation test bench has been implemented to know the performance of energy detection in different fading channel environment.

Keywords: Spectrum sensing, Energy detection, fading channels, Probability of detection, probability of false alarm.

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