Search results for: Risk Management.

Authors: Oscar Javier Herrera, Manuel Ángel Camacho

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This paper addresses a cutting edge method of business demand forecasting, based on an empirical probability function when the historical behavior of the data is random. Additionally, it presents error determination based on the numerical method technique ‘propagation of errors.’ The methodology was conducted characterization and process diagnostics demand planning as part of the production management, then new ways to predict its value through techniques of probability and to calculate their mistake investigated, it was tools used numerical methods. All this based on the behavior of the data. This analysis was determined considering the specific business circumstances of a company in the sector of communications, located in the city of Bogota, Colombia. In conclusion, using this application it was possible to obtain the adequate stock of the products required by the company to provide its services, helping the company reduce its service time, increase the client satisfaction rate, reduce stock which has not been in rotation for a long time, code its inventory, and plan reorder points for the replenishment of stock.

Keywords: Demand Forecasting, Empirical Distribution, Propagation of Error.

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Authors: S.H. Mirdamadian, S.M. Khayam-Nekoui, H. Ghanavati

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Composting is the process in which municipal solid waste (MSW) and other organic waste materials such as biosolids and manures are decomposed through the action of bacteria and other microorganisms into a stable granular material which, applied to land, as soil conditioner. Microorganisms, especially those that are able to degrade polymeric organic material have a key role in speed up this process. The aim of this study has been established to isolation of microorganisms with high ability to production extracellular enzymes for degradation of natural polymers that are exists in MSW for decreasing time of degradation phase. Our experimental study for isolation designed in two phases: in first phase we isolated degrading microorganism with selected media that consist a special natural polymer such as cellulose, starch, lipids and etc as sole source of carbon. In second phase we selected microorganism that had high degrading enzyme production with enzymatic assay for seed production. However, our findings in pilot scale have indicated that usage of this microbial consortium had high efficiency for decreasing degradation phase.

Keywords: Biodegradation, Compost, Municipal Solid Waste, Waste Management.

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Authors: Gabriele Cecchetti, Anna Lina Ruscelli, Filippo Cugini, Piero Castoldi

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European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is the European reference for interoperable and safer signaling systems to efficiently manage trains running. If implemented, it allows trains cross seamlessly intra-European national borders. ERTMS has defined a secure communication protocol, EURORADIO, based on open communication networks. Its RadioInfill function can improve the reaction of the signaling system to changes in line conditions, avoiding unnecessary braking: its advantages in terms of power saving and travel time has been analyzed. In this paper a software implementation of the EURORADIO protocol with RadioInfill for ERTMS Level 1 using GSM-R is illustrated as part of the SR-Secure Italian project. In this building-blocks architecture the EURORADIO layers communicates together through modular Application Programm Interfaces. Security coding rules and railway industry requirements specified by EN 50128 standard have been respected. The proposed implementation has successfully passed conformity tests and has been tested on a computer-based simulator.

Keywords: ERTMS, ETCS signalling, EURORADIO protocol, radio infill function.

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Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Orkide Donma

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Obesity is associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors and metabolic syndrome (MetS). In this study, associations between adipokines and adipokine as well as obesity indices were evaluated. Plasma adipokine levels may exhibit variations according to body adipose tissue mass. Besides, upon consideration of obesity as an inflammatory disease, adipokines may play some roles in this process. The ratios of proinflammatory adipokines to adiponectin may act as highly sensitive indicators of body adipokine status. The aim of the study is to present some adipokine indices, which are thought to be helpful for the evaluation of childhood obesity and also to determine the best discriminators in the diagnosis of MetS. 80 prepubertal children (aged between 6-9.5 years) included in the study were divided into three groups; 30 children with normal weight (NW), 25 morbid obese (MO) children and 25 MO children with MetS. Physical examinations were performed. Written informed consent forms were obtained from the parents. The study protocol was approved by Ethics Committee of Namik Kemal University Medical Faculty. Anthropometric measurements, such as weight, height, waist circumference (C), hip C, head C, neck C were recorded. Values for body mass index (BMI), diagnostic obesity notation model assessment Index-II (D2 index) as well as waist-to-hip, head-to-neck ratios were calculated. Adiponectin, resistin, leptin, chemerin, vaspin, progranulin assays were performed by ELISA. Adipokine-to-adiponectin ratios were obtained. SPSS Version 20 was used for the evaluation of data. p values ≤ 0.05 were accepted as statistically significant. Values of BMI and D2 index, waist-to-hip, head-to-neck ratios did not differ between MO and MetS groups (p ≥ 0.05). Except progranulin (p ≤ 0.01), similar patterns were observed for plasma levels of each adipokine. There was not any difference in vaspin as well as resistin levels between NW and MO groups. Significantly increased leptin-to-adiponectin, chemerin-to-adiponectin and vaspin-to-adiponectin values were noted in MO in comparison with those of NW. The most valuable adipokine index was progranulin-to-adiponectin (p ≤ 0.01). This index was strongly correlated with vaspin-to-adiponectin ratio in all groups (p ≤ 0.05). There was no correlation between vaspin-to-adiponectin and chemerin-to--adiponectin in NW group. However, a correlation existed in MO group (r = 0.486; p ≤ 0.05). Much stronger correlation (r = 0.609; p ≤ 0.01) was observed in MetS group between these two adipokine indices. No correlations were detected between vaspin and progranulin as well as vaspin and chemerin levels. Correlation analyses showed a unique profile confined to MetS children. Adiponectin was found to be correlated with waist-to-hip (r = -0.435; p ≤ 0.05) as well as head-to-neck (r = 0.541; p ≤ 0.05) ratios only in MetS children. In this study, it has been investigated if adipokine indices have priority over adipokine levels. In conclusion, vaspin-to-adiponectin, progranulin-to-adiponectin, chemerin-to-adiponectin along with waist-to-hip and head-to-neck ratios were the optimal combinations. Adiponectin, waist-to-hip, head-to-neck, vaspin-to-adiponectin, chemerin-to-adiponectin ratios had appropriate discriminatory capability for MetS children.

Keywords: Adipokine indices, metabolic syndrome, obesity indices, pediatric obesity.

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Authors: M. Raeesi, S. A. Hoseini- Aliabad, A. Roofchaee, A. Zare Shahneh, S. Pirali

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A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of periodically use of garlic on performance and carcass characteristics in broiler chickens. 240 1-day-old Ross broiler chicks randomly allocated into the 10 dietary treatments (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J) for 6 wk. Treatment A or control group, received basal diet (based on standards of Ross management guidelines) without supplementation of garlic powder while B, C and D dietary treatments were basal diet supplemented with 0.5, 1 and 3% garlic powder, respectively for the whole time of experiment (6 weeks). Birds in group E, F and G were fed control diet supplemented with 0.5, 1 and 3% garlic powder, respectively just in their starter diet (0- 21d). Birds in three other treatments (H, I and J) received control diet for the first 21 days and 0.5, 1 and 3% of garlic powder was added to their finisher diets, respectively. 1 and 3% supplemented groups in finisher period had better performance as compared with other groups. Since present study conducted in optimum and antiseptic conditions, it seems that better or more responses could be expected in performance if the raising conditions would not be healthy.

Keywords: Garlic powder, periodically use, broiler chickens, carcass characteristics

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Authors: M. Boudjerda, B. Touaibia, M. K. Mihoubi

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In Algeria agricultural irrigation is the primary water consuming sector followed by the domestic and industrial sectors. Economic development in the last decade has weighed heavily on water resources which are relatively limited and gradually decreasing to the detriment of agriculture. The research presented in this paper focuses on the optimization of irrigation water demand. Dynamic Programming-Neural Network (DPNN) method is applied to investigate reservoir optimization. The optimal operation rule is formulated to minimize the gap between water release and water irrigation demand. As a case study, Foum El-Gherza dam’s reservoir system in south of Algeria has been selected to examine our proposed optimization model. The application of DPNN method allowed increasing the satisfaction rate (SR) from 12.32% to 55%. In addition, the operation rule generated showed more reliable and resilience operation for the examined case study.

Keywords: ater management, agricultural demand, dam and reservoir operation, Foum el-Gherza dam, dynamic programming, artificial neural network.

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Authors: Deepak Goswami, Padma Lochan Hazarika, Kandarpa Kumar Sarma

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The customary practice of identifying industrial sickness is a set traditional techniques which rely upon a range of manual monitoring and compilation of financial records. It makes the process tedious, time consuming and often are susceptible to manipulation. Therefore, certain readily available tools are required which can deal with such uncertain situations arising out of industrial sickness. It is more significant for a country like India where the fruits of development are rarely equally distributed. In this paper, we propose an approach based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to deal with industrial sickness with specific focus on a few such units taken from a less developed north-east (NE) Indian state like Assam. The proposed system provides decision regarding industrial sickness using eight different parameters which are directly related to the stages of sickness of such units. The mechanism primarily uses certain signals and symptoms of industrial health to decide upon the state of a unit. Specifically, we formulate an ANN based block with data obtained from a few selected units of Assam so that required decisions related to industrial health could be taken. The system thus formulated could become an important part of planning and development. It can also contribute towards computerization of decision support systems related to industrial health and help in better management.

Keywords: Industrial, Health, Classification, ANN, MLP, MSE.

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Authors: Hen Friman

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Various categories of aqueous solutions are discharged within residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial structures. To safeguard public health and preserve the environment, it is imperative to subject wastewater to treatment processes that eliminate pathogens (such as bacteria and viruses), nutrients (such as nitrogen and phosphorus), and other compounds. Failure to address untreated sewage accumulation can result in an array of adverse consequences. Israel exemplifies a special case in wastewater management. Appropriate wastewater treatment significantly benefits sectors such as agriculture, tourism, horticulture, and industry. Nevertheless, untreated sewage in settlements lacking proper sewage collection or transportation networks remains an ongoing and substantial threat. Notably, the process of wastewater treatment entails substantial energy consumption. Consequently, this study explores the integration of solar energy as a renewable power source within the wastewater treatment framework. By incorporating renewable energy sources into the process, costs can be minimized, and decentralized facilities can be established even in areas lacking adequate infrastructure for traditional treatment methods.

Keywords: Renewable energy, solar energy, decentralized facilities, wastewater treatment.

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Authors: Abu Bakar Sedek Abdul Jamak, Rohani Salleh, Subarna Sivapalan, Azrai Abdullah

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This research focuses on micro-enterprise of Malaysian Malays that are involved in very small-scaled business activities. Among them include food stall and burger stall operators, night market hawkers, grocery store operators as well as construction and small service activities works. The study seeks to explore why some micro-entrepreneurs still lag in entrepreneurship and what needs to be rectified. This quantitative study is conducted on 173 Malay micro-enterprise owners (MEOs) and 58 Malay failed microenterprise owners (FMEOs) involved in all range of businesses throughout the state of Perak, Malaysia. The main aims are to identify the gaps between the failed micro-enterprise owners (FMEOs) and existing micro-enterprise owners (MEOs) and the problems faced among FMEOs. The results reveal that the MEOs had strong motivations and better marketing approaches as compared to FMEOs. Furthermore, the FMEOs failed in the business ventures mainly due to lack of management, sales and marketing skills and poor competitive abilities to keep up with rivals.

Keywords: Micro-enterprises, Malays, entrepreneurship, Malaysia

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Authors: Turki Alotaibi

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Student counseling programs can provide many benefits to students in schools all around the world. In theory, the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabia) has committed itself to school counseling programs in educational institutions throughout the country. Student counselors face a number of burdens and obstacles that impact student counseling programs. It is also widely known that Saudi Arabia has extremely high prevalence rates for overweight and obesity, anxiety and depression, and diabetes in children. It has also been demonstrated that teachers and staff are inadequately prepared when dealing with health issues relating to diabetes in schools in Saudi Arabia. This study will clearly demonstrate how student counselors in Saudi Arabia could become 'New Educators' in Saudi schools in relation to these health issues. This would allow them to leverage their position as student counselor to improve the management of these health issues in Saudi schools, to improve the quality of care provided to school children, and to overcome burdens and obstacles that are currently negatively affecting student counseling in Saudi schools.

Keywords: Anxiety, depression, diabetes, overweight, obesity, policy recommendations, student counseling, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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Authors: Parviz Fattahi

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Scheduling for the flexible job shop is very important in both fields of production management and combinatorial optimization. However, it quit difficult to achieve an optimal solution to this problem with traditional optimization approaches owing to the high computational complexity. The combining of several optimization criteria induces additional complexity and new problems. In this paper, a Pareto approach to solve the multi objective flexible job shop scheduling problems is proposed. The objectives considered are to minimize the overall completion time (makespan) and total weighted tardiness (TWT). An effective simulated annealing algorithm based on the proposed approach is presented to solve multi objective flexible job shop scheduling problem. An external memory of non-dominated solutions is considered to save and update the non-dominated solutions during the solution process. Numerical examples are used to evaluate and study the performance of the proposed algorithm. The proposed algorithm can be applied easily in real factory conditions and for large size problems. It should thus be useful to both practitioners and researchers.

Keywords: Flexible job shop, Scheduling, Hierarchical approach, simulated annealing, tabu search, multi objective.

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Authors: Hazem M. El-Bakry, Ahmed A. Mohammed

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In this paper, an intelligent algorithm for optimal document archiving is presented. It is kown that electronic archives are very important for information system management. Minimizing the size of the stored data in electronic archive is a main issue to reduce the physical storage area. Here, the effect of different types of Arabic fonts on electronic archives size is discussed. Simulation results show that PDF is the best file format for storage of the Arabic documents in electronic archive. Furthermore, fast information detection in a given PDF file is introduced. Such approach uses fast neural networks (FNNs) implemented in the frequency domain. The operation of these networks relies on performing cross correlation in the frequency domain rather than spatial one. It is proved mathematically and practically that the number of computation steps required for the presented FNNs is less than that needed by conventional neural networks (CNNs). Simulation results using MATLAB confirm the theoretical computations.

Keywords: Information Storage and Retrieval, Electronic Archiving, Fast Information Detection, Cross Correlation, Frequency Domain.

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Authors: Fuyang Peng, Donghong Li

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The aim of information systems integration is to make all the data sources, applications and business flows integrated into the new environment so that unwanted redundancies are reduced and bottlenecks and mismatches are eliminated. Two issues have to be dealt with to meet such requirements: the software architecture that supports resource integration, and the adaptor development tool that help integration and migration of legacy applications. In this paper, a service-enabled dependable integration environment (SDIE), is presented, which has two key components, i.e., a dependable service integration platform and a legacy application integration tool. For the dependable platform for service integration, the service integration bus, the service management framework, the dependable engine for service composition, and the service registry and discovery components are described. For the legacy application integration tool, its basic organization, functionalities and dependable measures taken are presented. Due to its service-oriented integration model, the light-weight extensible container, the service component combination-oriented p-lattice structure, and other features, SDIE has advantages in openness, flexibility, performance-price ratio and feature support over commercial products, is better than most of the open source integration software in functionality, performance and dependability support.

Keywords: Application integration, dependability, legacy, SOA.

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Authors: Julien Romieux, Fabio Verdicchio

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Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), which sense environmental data with battery-powered nodes, require multi-hop communication. This power-demanding task adds an extra workload that is unfairly distributed across the network. As a result, nodes run out of battery at different times: this requires an impractical individual node maintenance scheme. Therefore we investigate a new Cooperative Sensing approach that extends the WSN operational life and allows a more practical network maintenance scheme (where all nodes deplete their batteries almost at the same time). We propose a novel cooperative algorithm that derives a piecewise representation of the sensed signal while controlling approximation accuracy. Simulations show that our algorithm increases WSN operational life and spreads communication workload evenly. Results convey a counterintuitive conclusion: distributing workload fairly amongst nodes may not decrease the network power consumption and yet extend the WSN operational life. This is achieved as our cooperative approach decreases the workload of the most burdened cluster in the network.

Keywords: Cooperative signal processing, power management, signal representation, signal approximation, wireless sensor networks.

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Authors: Sajjad Hashemi, Seyyed Yasser Hashemi

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In today's world, success of most systems depend on the use of new technologies and information technology (IT) which aimed to increase efficiency and satisfaction of users. One of the most important systems that use information technology to deliver services is the education system. But for educational services in the form of E-learning systems, hardware and software equipment should be containing high quality, which requires substantial investment. Because the vast majority of educational establishments can not invest in this area so the best way for them is reducing the costs and providing the E-learning services by using cloud computing. But according to the novelty of the cloud technology, it can create challenges and concerns that the most noted among them are security issues. Security concerns about cloud-based E-learning products are critical and security measures essential to protect valuable data of users from security vulnerabilities in products. Thus, the success of these products happened if customers meet security requirements then can overcome security threats. In this paper tried to explore cloud computing and its positive impact on E- learning and put main focus to identify security issues that related to cloud-based E-learning efforts which have been improve security and provide solutions in management challenges.

Keywords: Cloud computing, E-Learning, Security.

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Authors: Ibrahim F. Elbaba, Paul T. Williams

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Hydrogen is regarded to play an important role in future energy systems because it can be produced from abundant resources and its combustion only generates water. The disposal of waste tyres is a major problem in environmental management throughout the world. The use of waste materials as a source of hydrogen is particularly of interest in that it would also solve a waste treatment problem. There is much interest in the use of alternative feedstocks for the production of hydrogen since more than 95% of current production is from fossil fuels. The pyrolysis of waste tyres for the production of liquid fuels, activated carbons and gases has been extensively researched. However, combining pyrolysis with gasification is a novel process that can gasify the gaseous products from pyrolysis. In this paper, an experimental investigation into the production of hydrogen and other gases from the bench scale pyrolysis-gasification of tyres has been investigated. Experiments were carried using a two stage system consisting of pyrolysis of the waste tyres followed by catalytic steam gasification of the evolved gases and vapours in a second reactor. Experiments were conducted at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C using Ni/Al2O3 as a catalyst. The results showed that there was a dramatic increase in gas yield and the potential H2 production when the gasification temperature was increased from 600 to 900 oC. Overall, the process showed that high yields of hydrogen can be produced from waste tyres.

Keywords: Catalyst, Hydrogen, Pyrolysis, Gasification, Tyre, Waste

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Authors: Mengist Hailemariam, Silma Yoseph

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A well designed and executed Production Planning and Control (PPC) system is one of the key levers for superior performance in the current manufacturing set-up. Hence, measuring the PPC system performance has become a necessity for long term success. The present study examined PPC related issues which impact the production capacity and productivity of leather companies with special focus on Kombolcha Tannery Share Company (KTSC), Ethiopia. Physical observation, interview, and questionnaire were used to generate necessary information from the respondents and reach valid conclusions. Company annual reports were referred and analyzed to triangulate primary data. Consequently, the study revealed that KTSC runs below its capacity due to its inefficient PPC system being in use for which the root causes were identified. The study thereby conceptualizes a PPC system improvement framework comprising three pillars viz., management culture, internal capability and performance measurement together with key considerations in each case. The study findings enable the company to recognize the importance of efficient PPC system as a source of competitive advantage. It also aid managers in evaluating various PPC execution schemes to enhance productivity.

Keywords: Ethiopia, Leather manufacturing, Production planning and control, PPC improvement framework.

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Authors: Huiman C. Alberto

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The research cites the various hazardous waste generated in the textile industry. The method used is descriptive and comparative, the process consisted of the search and evaluation of information, both nationally and internationally. The results indicate: (1) Waste is generated from the alpaca fiber industry in the various stages of camelid rearing, they stand out for their dangerousness: excreta, residual fiber and yarn scraps. (2) The main hazardous waste generated by the tannery industry are grease, hides, hair, plastic containers with traces of toxic substances, chips and pieces of leather with chrome. (3) Three companies' Solid Waste Management Plans were analyzed, randomly selected, and none of them detail waste treatment processes and warn of the lack of supervision by the authorities. It is concluded that the hazardous waste generated can affect human and environmental health. There is the possibility of taking advantage of certain hazardous waste such as manure and alpaca fiber, after treatment; while non-hazardous waste from the tannery such as yarn, panel weaving, cloth, scraps, and thread, can be used to produce new products, generating a production chain in favor of the entrepreneur himself.

Keywords: Alpaca fiber, excreta, Haute couture, hazardous waste tannery, hazardous waste treatment, textile waste,

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Authors: Emily Arangote

Abstract:

This paper defined the association between the indigenous knowledge, cultural practices and the ecosystem its implication to the environmental education to the farmers. Farmers recognize the need for sustainability of the ecosystem they inhabit. The cultural practices of farmers on use of indigenous pest control, use of insect-repellant plants, soil management practices that suppress diseases and harmful pests and conserve soil moisture are deemed to be ecologically-friendly. Indigenous plant materials that were more drought- and pest-resistant were grown. Crop rotation was implemented with various crop seeds to increase their disease resistance. Multi-cropping, planting of perennial crops, categorization of soil and planting of appropriate crops, planting of appropriate and leguminous crops, alloting land as watershed, and preserving traditional palay seed varieties were found to be beneficial in preserving the environment. The study also found that indigenous knowledge about crops are still relevant and useful to the current generation. This ensured the sustainability of our environment and incumbent on policy makers and educators to support and preserve for generations yet to come.

Keywords: Cultural practices, ecosystem, environmental education, indigenous knowledge.

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Authors: Giulio Mangano, Alberto De Marco, Giovanni Zenezini

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The concept of City Logistics (CL) has emerged to improve the impacts of last mile freight distribution in urban areas. In this paper, a System Dynamics (SD) model exploring the dynamics of the diffusion of a ICT platform for CL management across different populations is proposed. For the development of the model two sources have been used. On the one hand, the major diffusion variables and feedback loops are derived from a literature review of existing diffusion models. On the other hand, the parameters are represented by the value propositions delivered by the platform as a response to some of the users’ needs. To extract the most important value propositions the Business Model Canvas approach has been used. Such approach in fact focuses on understanding how a company can create value for her target customers. These variables and parameters are thus translated into a SD diffusion model with three different populations namely municipalities, logistics service providers, and own account carriers. Results show that, the three populations under analysis fully adopt the platform within the simulation time frame, highlighting a strong demand by different stakeholders for CL projects aiming at carrying out more efficient urban logistics operations.

Keywords: City logistics, simulation, system dynamics, business model.

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Authors: Masoud Nasri, Rahele Hekmatpanah

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Growing world population has fundamental impacts and often catastrophic on natural habitat. The immethodical consumption of energy, destruction of the forests and extinction of plant and animal species are the consequence of this experience. Urban sustainability and sustainable urban development, that is so spoken these days, should be considered as a strategy, goal and policy, beyond just considering environmental issues and protection. The desert-s climate has made a bunch of problems for its residents. Very hot and dry climate in summers of the Iranian desert areas, when there was no access to modern energy source and mechanical cooling systems in the past, made Iranian architects to design a natural ventilation system in their buildings. The structure, like a tower going upward the roof, besides its ornamental application and giving a beautiful view to the building, was used as a spontaneous ventilation system. In this paper, it has been tried to name the problems of the area and it-s inconvenience, then some answers has pointed out in order to solve the problems and as an alternative solution BADGIR (wind-catcher) has been introduced as a solution knowing that it has been playing a major role in dealing with the problems.

Keywords: Productivity, Sustainable development, hot aridzones, climate design, BADGIR (wind-catcher)

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Authors: M. R. Dahmardeh Ghaleno, M. Nohtani, S. Khaledi

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Flood simulation and prediction is one of the most active research areas in surface water management. WetSpa is a distributed, continuous, and physical model with daily or hourly time step that explains precipitation, runoff, and evapotranspiration processes for both simple and complex contexts. This model uses a modified rational method for runoff calculation. In this model, runoff is routed along the flow path using Diffusion-Wave equation which depends on the slope, velocity, and flow route characteristics. Golestan Dam Basin is located in Golestan province in Iran and it is passing over coordinates 55° 16´ 50" to 56° 4´ 25" E and 37° 19´ 39" to 37° 49´ 28"N. The area of the catchment is about 224 km², and elevations in the catchment range from 414 to 2856 m at the outlet, with average slope of 29.78%. Results of the simulations show a good agreement between calculated and measured hydrographs at the outlet of the basin. Drawing upon Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient for calibration periodic model estimated daily hydrographs and maximum flow rate with an accuracy up to 59% and 80.18%, respectively.

Keywords: Watershed simulation, WetSpa, stream flow, flood prediction.

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Authors: Smain M. Bekhti, Nada T. Matta

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Knowledge sharing in general and the contextual access to knowledge in particular, still represent a key challenge in the knowledge management framework. Researchers on semantic web and human machine interface study techniques to enhance this access. For instance, in semantic web, the information retrieval is based on domain ontology. In human machine interface, keeping track of user's activity provides some elements of the context that can guide the access to information. We suggest an approach based on these two key guidelines, whilst avoiding some of their weaknesses. The approach permits a representation of both the context and the design rationale of a project for an efficient access to knowledge. In fact, the method consists of an information retrieval environment that, in the one hand, can infer knowledge, modeled as a semantic network, and on the other hand, is based on the context and the objectives of a specific activity (the design). The environment we defined can also be used to gather similar project elements in order to build classifications of tasks, problems, arguments, etc. produced in a company. These classifications can show the evolution of design strategies in the company.

Keywords: Project Memory, Knowledge re-use, Design rationale, Knowledge representation.

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Authors: Youngji Yoo, Seung Hwan Park, Daewoong An, Sung-Shick Kim, Jun-Geol Baek

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The yield management system is very important to produce high-quality semiconductor chips in the semiconductor manufacturing process. In order to improve quality of semiconductors, various tests are conducted in the post fabrication (FAB) process. During the test process, large amount of data are collected and the data includes a lot of information about defect. In general, the defect on the wafer is the main causes of yield loss. Therefore, analyzing the defect data is necessary to improve performance of yield prediction. The wafer bin map (WBM) is one of the data collected in the test process and includes defect information such as the fail bit patterns. The fail bit has characteristics of spatial point patterns. Therefore, this paper proposes the feature extraction method using the spatial point pattern analysis. Actual data obtained from the semiconductor process is used for experiments and the experimental result shows that the proposed method is more accurately recognize the fail bit patterns.

Keywords: Semiconductor, wafer bin map (WBM), feature extraction, spatial point patterns, contour map.

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Authors: Jiantao Weng, Yujie Zhao

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With the improvement of living quality and demand for nighttime activities in China, the current situation of outdoor lighting environment at night needs to be assessed. Lighting environment at night plays an important role to guarantee night safety. Two typical residential communities in Hangzhou were selected. A comprehensive test method of outdoor lighting environment at night was established. The road, fitness area, landscape, playground and entrance were included. Field measurements and questionnaires were conducted in these two residential communities. The characteristics of residents’ habits and the subjective evaluation on different aspects of outdoor lighting environment at night were collected via questionnaire. A safety evaluation system on the outdoor lighting environment at night in the residential community was established. The results show that there is a big difference in illumination in different areas. The lighting uniformities of roads cannot meet the requirement of lighting standard in China. Residents pay more attention to the lighting environment of the fitness area and road than others. This study can provide guidance for the design and management of outdoor lighting environment at night.

Keywords: Residential community, lighting environment, night, field measurement.

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Authors: Jyong Lin, Shih-Chang Chen, Yu-Tsen Shih, Shi-Huang Chen

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This paper presents a remote on-line diagnostic system for vehicles via the use of On-Board Diagnostic (OBD), GPS, and 3G techniques. The main parts of the proposed system are on-board computer, vehicle monitor server, and vehicle status browser. First, the on-board computer can obtain the location of deriver and vehicle status from GPS receiver and OBD interface, respectively. Then on-board computer will connect with the vehicle monitor server through 3G network to transmit the real time vehicle system status. Finally, vehicle status browser could show the remote vehicle status including vehicle speed, engine rpm, battery voltage, engine coolant temperature, and diagnostic trouble codes. According to the experimental results, the proposed system can help fleet managers and car knockers to understand the remote vehicle status. Therefore this system can decrease the time of fleet management and vehicle repair due to the fleet managers and car knockers who find the diagnostic trouble messages in time.

Keywords: Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC), Electronic Control Unit (ECU), Global Position System (GPS), On-Board Diagnostic (OBD).

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Authors: Hanaa M. Abdelgawad, Mona Safar, Ayman M. Wahba

Abstract:

Real time image and video processing is a demand in many computer vision applications, e.g. video surveillance, traffic management and medical imaging. The processing of those video applications requires high computational power. Thus, the optimal solution is the collaboration of CPU and hardware accelerators. In this paper, a Canny edge detection hardware accelerator is proposed. Edge detection is one of the basic building blocks of video and image processing applications. It is a common block in the pre-processing phase of image and video processing pipeline. Our presented approach targets offloading the Canny edge detection algorithm from processing system (PS) to programmable logic (PL) taking the advantage of High Level Synthesis (HLS) tool flow to accelerate the implementation on Zynq platform. The resulting implementation enables up to a 100x performance improvement through hardware acceleration. The CPU utilization drops down and the frame rate jumps to 60 fps of 1080p full HD input video stream.

Keywords: High Level Synthesis, Canny edge detection, Hardware accelerators, and Computer Vision.

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Authors: Patrick O. Bobbie, Prince S. Attrams

Abstract:

In recent times, the rapid change in new technologies has spurred up the way and manner records are handled in educational institutions. Also, there is a need for reliable access and ease-of use to these records, resulting in increased productivity in organizations. In academic institutions, such benefits help in quality assessments, institutional performance, and assessments of teaching and evaluation methods. Students in educational institutions benefit the most when advanced technologies are deployed in accessing records. This research paper discusses the use of biometric technologies coupled with smartcard technologies to provide a unique way of identifying students and matching their data to financial records to grant them access to restricted areas such as examination halls. The system developed in this paper, has an identity verification component as part of its main functionalities. A systematic software development cycle of analysis, design, coding, testing and support was used. The system provides a secured way of verifying student’s identity and real time verification of financial records. An advanced prototype version of the system has been developed for testing purposes.

Keywords: Biometrics, fingerprints, identity-verification, smartcards.

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Authors: A. Kasmi, N. E. Abriak, M. Benzerzour, I. Shahrour

Abstract:

Large volumes of river sediments are dredged each year in Europe in order to maintain harbour activities and prevent floods. The management of this sediment has become increasingly complex. Several European projects were implemented to find environmentally sound solutions for these materials. The main objective of this study is to show the ability of river sediment to be used in road. Since sediments contain a high amount of water, then a dehydrating treatment by addition of the flocculation aid has been used. Firstly, a lot of physical characteristics are measured and discussed for a better identification of the raw sediment and this dehydrated sediment by addition the flocculation aid. The identified parameters are, for example, the initial water content, the density, the organic matter content, the grain size distribution, the liquid limit and plastic limit and geotechnical parameters. The environmental impacts of the used material were evaluated. The results obtained show that there is a slight change on the physical-chemical and geotechnical characteristics of sediment after dehydration by the addition of polymer. However, these sediments cannot be used in road construction.

Keywords: River sediment, dehydration, flocculation aid, characteristics, environmental impacts, road construction.

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Authors: Asif Husain, Majid Matouq Assas

Abstract:

In recent years demolished concrete waste handling and management is the new primary challenging issue faced by the countries all over the world. It is very challenging and hectic problem that has to be tackled in an indigenous manner, it is desirable to completely recycle demolished concrete waste in order to protect natural resources and reduce environmental pollution. In this research paper an experimental study is carried out to investigate the feasibility and recycling of demolished waste concrete for new construction. The present investigation to be focused on recycling demolished waste materials in order to reduce construction cost and resolving housing problems faced by the low income communities of the world. The crushed demolished concrete wastes is segregated by sieving to obtain required sizes of aggregate, several tests were conducted to determine the aggregate properties before recycling it into new concrete. This research shows that the recycled aggregate that are obtained from site make good quality concrete. The compressive strength test results of partial replacement and full recycled aggregate concrete and are found to be higher than the compressive strength of normal concrete with new aggregate.

Keywords: Demolished, concrete waste, recycle, new concrete, fresh coarse aggregate.

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