Search results for: Cost contribution arrangements

Authors: Guanqun Shi, Xueqing Zhang

Abstract:

The frequent occurrence of failures in PPP projects which caused great loss has raised attention from the government as well as the concessionaire. PPPs are complex arrangements for its long operation period and multiple players. Many types of risks in PPP projects may cause the project fail. The insurance is an important tool to transfer the risks. Through a comparison and analysis of international government PPP guidelines and contracts as well as the case studies worldwide, we have identified eight main insurance principles, discussed thirteen insurance types in different stages. An overall procedure would be established to improve the practices in PPP projects.

Keywords: Public-private partnerships, insurance, contract, risk.

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Authors: Juan P. Novoa, Mario A. Rios

Abstract:

This paper presents a transmission planning methodology that considers the conversion of HVAC transmission lines to HVDC as an alternative of expansion of power systems, as a consequence of restrictions for the construction of new lines. The transmission expansion planning problem formulates an optimization problem that minimizes the total cost that includes the investment cost to convert lines from HVAC to HVDC and possible required reinforcements of the power system prior to the conversion. The costs analysis assesses the impact of the conversion on the reliability because transmission lines are out of service during the conversion work. The presented methodology is applied to a test system considering a planning a horizon of 10 years.

Keywords: Cost optimization, energy non supplied, HVAC, HVDC, transmission expansion planning.

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Authors: K. M. Tan, A. Anvar, T.F. Lu

Abstract:

A sophisticated simulator provides a cost-effective measure to carry out preliminary mission testing and diagnostic while reducing potential failures for real life at sea trials. The presented simulation framework covers three key areas: AUV modeling, sensor modeling, and environment modeling. AUV modeling mainly covers the area of AUV dynamics. Sensor modeling deals with physics and mathematical models that govern each sensor installed onto the AUV. Environment model incorporates the hydrostatic, hydrodynamics, and ocean currents that will affect the AUV in a real-time mission. Based on this designed simulation framework, custom scenarios provided by the user can be modeled and its corresponding behaviors can be observed. This paper focuses on the accuracy of the simulated data from AUV model and environmental model derived from a developed AUV test-bed which was jointly upgraded by DSTO and the University of Adelaide. The main contribution of this paper is to experimentally verify the accuracy of the proposed simulation framework.

Keywords: Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), simulator, framework, robotics, maritime robot, modeling.

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Authors: Bahareh Amirjabbari, Nadia Bhuiyan

Abstract:

In recent decades, the lean methodology, and the development of its principles and concepts have widely been applied in supply chain management. One of the most important strategies of being lean is having efficient inventory within the chain. On the other hand, managing inventory efficiently requires appropriate management of safety stock in order to protect against increasing stretch in the breaking points of the supply chain, which in turn can result in possible reduction of inventory. This paper applies a safety stock cost minimization model in a manufacturing company. The model results in optimum levels and locations of safety stock within the company-s supply chain in order to minimize total logistics costs.

Keywords: Cost, efficient inventory, optimization, safety stock, supply chain

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Authors: Amèdédjihundé H. J. Hounnou, Frédéric Dubas, François-Xavier Fifatin, Didier Chamagne, Antoine Vianou

Abstract:

This paper presents the techno-economic evaluation of run-of-river small-hydropower plants. In this regard, a multi-objective optimization procedure is proposed for the optimal sizing of the hydropower plants, and NSGAII is employed as the optimization algorithm. Annual generated energy and investment cost are considered as the objective functions, and number of generator units (n) and nominal turbine flow rate (Q_T) constitute the decision variables. Site of Yeripao in Benin is considered as the case study. We have categorized the river of this site using its environmental characteristics: gross head, and first quartile, median, third quartile and mean of flow. Effects of each decision variable on the objective functions are analysed. The results gave Pareto Front which represents the trade-offs between annual energy generation and the investment cost of hydropower plants, as well as the recommended optimal solutions. We noted that with the increase of the annual energy generation, the investment cost rises. Thus, maximizing energy generation is contradictory with minimizing the investment cost. Moreover, we have noted that the solutions of Pareto Front are grouped according to the number of generator units (n). The results also illustrate that the costs per kWh are grouped according to the n and rise with the increase of the nominal turbine flow rate. The lowest investment costs per kWh are obtained for n equal to one and are between 0.065 and 0.180 €/kWh. Following the values of n (equal to 1, 2, 3 or 4), the investment cost and investment cost per kWh increase almost linearly with increasing the nominal turbine flowrate while annual generated. Energy increases logarithmically with increasing of the nominal turbine flowrate. This study made for the Yeripao river can be applied to other rivers with their own characteristics.

Keywords: Hydropower plant, investment cost, multi-objective optimization, number of generator units.

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Authors: Mihai Brânzei, Ioan Plotog, Ion Pencea

Abstract:

The Pads have unique values of thermophysical properties (THP) having important contribution over heat transfer into the PCB structure. Materials with high thermal diffusivity (TD) rapidly adjust their temperature to that of their surroundings, because the HT is quick in compare to their volumetric heat capacity (VHC). In the paper is presenting the diffusivity tests (ASTM E1461 flash method) for PCBs with different core materials. In the experiments, the multilayer structure of PCBA was taken into consideration, an equivalent property referring to each of experimental structure be practically measured. Concerning to entire structure, the THP emphasize the major contribution of substrate in establishing of reflow soldering process (RSP) heat transfer necessities. This conclusion offer practical solution for heat transfer time constant calculation as function of thickness and substrate material diffusivity with an acceptable error estimation.

Keywords: heat transfer time constant, packaging, reflowsoldering process, thermal diffusivity.

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Authors: Vishal Naranje, S. Kumar

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In this paper a low cost knowledge base system (KBS) framework is proposed for design of deep drawing die and procedure for developing system modules. The task of building the system is structured into different modules for major activities of design of deep drawing die. A manufacturability assessment module of the proposed framework is developed to check the manufacturability of deep drawn parts. The technological knowledge is represented by using IF- THEN rules and it is coded in AutoLISP language. The module is designed to be loaded into the prompt area of AutoCAD. The cost of implementation of proposed system makes it affordable for small and medium scale sheet metal industries.

Keywords: Knowledge base system, Deep drawing die, Manufacturability, Sheet metal.

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Authors: E. K. A. Ogunshile

Abstract:

This paper is aimed at creating an Automatic Java X-Machine testing tool for software development. The nature of software development is changing; thus, the type of software testing tools required is also changing. Software is growing increasingly complex and, in part due to commercial impetus for faster software releases with new features and value, increasingly in danger of containing faults. These faults can incur huge cost for software development organisations and users; Cambridge Judge Business School’s research estimated the cost of software bugs to the global economy is $312 billion. Beyond the cost, faster software development methodologies and increasing expectations on developers to become testers is driving demand for faster, automated, and effective tools to prevent potential faults as early as possible in the software development lifecycle. Using X-Machine theory, this paper will explore a new tool to address software complexity, changing expectations on developers, faster development pressures and methodologies, with a view to reducing the huge cost of fixing software bugs.

Keywords: Conformance testing, finite state machine, software testing, X-Machine.

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Authors: Hussam Al-Shorman, Yosef Hasan Jbara

Abstract:

A business case is a proposal for an investment initiative to satisfy business and functional requirements. The business case provides the foundation for tactical decision making and technology risk management. It helps to clarify how the organization will use its resources in the best way by providing justification for investment of resources. This paper describes how simulation was used for business case benefits and return on investment for the procurement of 8 production machines. With investment costs of about 4.7 million dollars and annual operating costs of about 1.3 million, we needed to determine if the machines would provide enough cost savings and cost avoidance. We constructed a model of the existing factory environment consisting of 8 machines and subsequently, we conducted average day simulations with light and heavy volumes to facilitate planning decisions required to be documented and substantiated in the business case.

Keywords: Investment cost, business case, return on investment, simulation.

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Authors: Zainal Abidin Akasah, Maizam Alias, Azuin Ramli

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The safety and health performances aspects of a building are the most challenging aspect of facility management. It requires a deep understanding by the building managers on the factors that contribute to health and safety performances. This study attempted to develop an explanatory architectural safety performance model for stratified low-cost housing in Malaysia. The proposed Building Safety and Health Performance (BSHP) model was tested empirically through a survey on 308 construction practitioners using partial least squares (PLS) and structural equation modelling (SEM) tool. Statistical analysis results supports the conclusion that architecture, building services, external environment, management approaches and maintenance management have positive influence on safety and health performance of stratified low-cost housing in Malaysia. The findings provide valuable insights for construction industry to introduce BSHP model in the future where the model could be used as a guideline for training purposes of managers and better planning and implementation of building management.

Keywords: Building management, stratified low-cost housing, Safety and health model

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Authors: Mohammad Ahmed Rehmatullah

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to discuss a low-cost methodology that can predict traffic flow conflicts and quantitatively rank crash expectancies (based on relative probability) for various traffic facilities. This paper focuses on the application of statistical distributions to model traffic flow and Monte Carlo techniques to simulate traffic and discusses how to create a tool in order to predict the possibility of a traffic crash. A low-cost data collection methodology has been discussed for the heterogeneous traffic flow that exists and a GIS platform has been proposed to thematically represent traffic flow from simulations and the probability of a crash. Furthermore, discussions have been made to reflect the dynamism of the model in reference to its adaptability, adequacy, economy, and efficiency to ensure adoption.

Keywords: Heterogeneous traffic data collection, Monte CarloSimulation, Traffic Flow Modeling, GIS.

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Authors: Chalakorn Chitsaart, Suchada Rianmora, Noppawat Vongpiyasatit

Abstract:

In order to reduce the transportation time and cost for direct interface between customer and manufacturer, the image processing technique has been introduced in this research where designing part and defining manufacturing process can be performed quickly. A3D virtual model is directly generated from a series of multi-view images of an object, and it can be modified, analyzed, and improved the structure, or function for the further implementations, such as computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). To estimate and quote the production cost, the user-friendly platform has been developed in this research where the appropriate manufacturing parameters and process detections have been identified and planned by CAM simulation.

Keywords: Image processing technique, Feature detections, Surface registrations, Capturing multi-view images, Production costs, and Manufacturing processes.

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Authors: N. M. M. Ammar, S. M. Mustaqim, N. M. Nadzir

Abstract:

The most important problem occurs on oil spills in sea water is to reduce the oil spills size. This study deals with the development of high pressurized nozzle using dispersion method for oil leakage in offshore. 3D numerical simulation results were obtained using ANSYS Fluent 13.0 code and correlate with the experimental data for validation. This paper studies the contribution of the process on flow speed and pressure of the flow from two different geometrical designs of nozzles and to generate a spray pattern suitable for dispersant application. Factor of size distribution of droplets generated by the nozzle is calculated using pressures ranging from 2 to 6 bars. Results obtain from both analyses shows a significant spray pattern and flow distribution as well as distance. Results also show a significant contribution on the effect of oil leakage in terms of the diameter of the oil spills break up.

Keywords: Arc Nozzle, CFD simulation, Droplets, Oil Spills.

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Authors: Ružarovský, Roman, Danišová, Nina, Velíšek, Karol

Abstract:

In this contribution is presented a complex design of individual objects identification in the workplace of intelligent assembly cell. Intelligent assembly cell is situated at Institute of Manufacturing Systems and Applied Mechanics and is used for pneumatic actuator assembly. Pneumatic actuator components are pneumatic roller, cover, piston and spring. Two identification objects alternatives for assembly are designed in the workplace of industrial robot. In the contribution is evaluated and selected suitable alternative for identification – 2D codes reader. The complex design of individual object identification is going out of intelligent manufacturing systems knowledge. Intelligent assembly and manufacturing systems as systems of new generation are gradually loaded in to the mechanical production, when they are removeing human operation out of production process and they also short production times.

Keywords: system, cell, intelligent, mechanics, device

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Authors: C. T. S. Ching, P. W. C hen, T. P. Sun, H. L. Shieh

Abstract:

The biomarker for colorectal cancer (CRC) is CEACAM-6 antigen (C6AG). Therefore, this study aims to develop a novel, simple and low-cost CEACAM-6 antigen immumosensor (C6AG-IMS), based on electrical impedance measurement, for precise determination of C6AG. A low-cost screen-printed graphite electrode was constructed and used as the sensor, with CEACAM-6 antibody (C6AB) immobilized on it. The procedures of sensor fabrication and antibody immobilization are simple and low-cost. Measurement of the electrical impedance at a definite frequency ranges (0.43 – 1.26 MHz) showed that the C6AG-IMS has an excellent linear (r2>0.9) response range (8.125 – 65 pg/mL), covering the normal physiological and pathological ranges of blood C6AG levels. Also, the C6AG-IMS has excellent reliability and validity, with the intraclass correlation coefficient being 0.97. In conclusion, a novel, simple, low-cost and reliable C6AG-IMS was designed and developed, being able to accurately determine blood C6AG levels in the range of pathological and normal physiological regions. The C6AG-IMS can provide a point-of-care and immediate screening results to the user at home.

Keywords: Colorectal Cancer, Immunosensor, Electrical Impedance, CEACAM-6, Measurement, Point-of-Care

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Authors: E. Praynlin, P. Latha

Abstract:

Software Effort Estimation is the process of estimating the effort required to develop software. By estimating the effort, the cost and schedule required to estimate the software can be determined. Accurate Estimate helps the developer to allocate the resource accordingly in order to avoid cost overrun and schedule overrun. Several methods are available in order to estimate the effort among which soft computing based method plays a prominent role. Software cost estimation deals with lot of uncertainty among all soft computing methods neural network is good in handling uncertainty. In this paper Radial Basis Function Network is compared with the back propagation network and the results are validated using six data sets and it is found that RBFN is best suitable to estimate the effort. The Results are validated using two tests the error test and the statistical test.

Keywords: Software cost estimation, Radial Basis Function Network (RBFN), Back propagation function network, Mean Magnitude of Relative Error (MMRE).

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Authors: Z. Noranai, M.Z. Md Yusof

Abstract:

Building Sector is the major electricity consumer and it is costly to building owners. Therefore the application of thermal energy storage (TES) has gained attractive to reduce energy cost. Many attractive tariff packages are being offered by the electricity provider to promote TES. The tariff packages offered higher cost of electricity during peak period and lower cost of electricity during off peak period. This paper presented the return of initial investment by implementing a centralized air-conditioning plant integrated with thermal energy storage with partially operation strategies. Building load profile will be calculated hourly according to building specification and building usage trend. TES operation conditions will be designed according to building load demand profile, storage capacity, tariff packages and peak/off peak period. The Payback Period analysis method was used to evaluate economic analysis. The investment is considered a good investment where by the initial cost is recovered less than ten than seven years.

Keywords: building load profile, energy consumption, payback period, thermal energy storage

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Authors: Paul Amoateng, Patrick B. Cobbinah, Kwasi Ofori-Kumah

Abstract:

Although the importance of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) to local development is globally recognized, less attention is given to their design, development and promotion particularly in developing countries. The main focus of this paper is to examine the process of designing, developing and promoting SMEs in developing countries. Results of a study conducted in a SMEs’ enclave in Kumasi (Ghana) are presented and discussed. Results show that although SMEs in developing countries remain a major source of livelihood for many individuals, their potential contribution to local development can be enhanced and sustained through the creation of common geographical enclaves for related SMEs. Findings indicated that the concentration of SMEs involved in wood processing in one location in Kumasi has reduced the cost of production (e.g., transportation), and resulted in marginal increase in sales for many SMEs, despite the widespread challenges of lack of access to credit and low promotion of products.

Keywords: Developing countries, Kumasi, local development, small and medium-size enterprises.

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Authors: Wennan Long, Yuhao Nie, Yunan Li, Adam Brandt

Abstract:

To fight against climate change, California government issued the Senate Bill No. 100 (SB-100) in 2018 September, which aims at achieving a target of 100% renewable electricity by the end of 2045. A capacity expansion problem is solved in this case study using a binary quadratic programming model. The optimal locations and capacities of the potential renewable power plants (i.e., solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydropower), the phase-out schedule of existing fossil-based (nature gas) power plants and the transmission of electricity across the entire network are determined with the minimal total annualized cost measured by net present value (NPV). The results show that the renewable electricity contribution could increase to 85.9% by 2030 and reach 100% by 2035. Fossil-based power plants will be totally phased out around 2035 and solar and wind will finally become the most dominant renewable energy resource in California electricity mix.

Keywords: 100% renewable electricity, California, capacity expansion, binary quadratic programming.

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Authors: Yasmin Mohd Yacob, Harsa A. Mat Sakim, Nor Ashidi Mat Isa

Abstract:

Feature selection study is gaining importance due to its contribution to save classification cost in terms of time and computation load. In search of essential features, one of the methods to search the features is via the decision tree. Decision tree act as an intermediate feature space inducer in order to choose essential features. In decision tree-based feature selection, some studies used decision tree as a feature ranker with a direct threshold measure, while others remain the decision tree but utilized pruning condition that act as a threshold mechanism to choose features. This paper proposed threshold measure using Manhattan Hierarchical Cluster distance to be utilized in feature ranking in order to choose relevant features as part of the feature selection process. The result is promising, and this method can be improved in the future by including test cases of a higher number of attributes.

Keywords: Feature ranking, decision tree, hierarchical cluster, Manhattan distance.

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Authors: Emel Kızılkaya Aydogan, Mihrimah Ozmen, Yılmaz Delice

Abstract:

In recent days, there is a change and the ongoing development of the telecommunications sector in the global market. In this sector, churn analysis techniques are commonly used for analysing why some customers terminate their service subscriptions prematurely. In addition, customer churn is utmost significant in this sector since it causes to important business loss. Many companies make various researches in order to prevent losses while increasing customer loyalty. Although a large quantity of accumulated data is available in this sector, their usefulness is limited by data quality and relevance. In this paper, a cost-sensitive feature selection framework is developed aiming to obtain the feature reducts to predict customer churn. The framework is a cost based optional pre-processing stage to remove redundant features for churn management. In addition, this cost-based feature selection algorithm is applied in a telecommunication company in Turkey and the results obtained with this algorithm.

Keywords: Churn prediction, data mining, decision-theoretic rough set, feature selection.

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Authors: Tomas Cechura, Michal Simon

Abstract:

This paper describes a proposal for cost calculation of warehouse processes and its usage for setting standards for performance evaluation. One of the most common options of monitoring process performance is benchmarking. The typical outcome is whether the monitored object is better or worse than an average or standard. Traditional approaches, however, cannot find any specific opportunities to improve performance or eliminate inefficiencies in processes. Higher process efficiency can be achieved for example by cost reduction assuming that the same output is generated. However, costs can be reduced only if we know their structure and we are able to calculate them accurately. In the warehouse process area it is rather difficult because in most cases we have available only aggregated values with low explanatory ability. The aim of this paper is to create a suitable method for calculating the storage costs. At the end is shown a practical example of process calculation.

Keywords: Calculation, Costs, Performance, Process, Warehouse.

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Authors: M. Oloomi-Buygi, M. Reza Salehizadeh

Abstract:

In this paper a new approach for transmission pricing is presented. The main idea is voltage angle allocation, i.e. determining the contribution of each contract on the voltage angle of each bus. DC power flow is used to compute a primary solution for angle decomposition. To consider the impacts of system non-linearity on angle decomposition, the primary solution is corrected in different iterations of decoupled Newton-Raphson power flow. Then, the contribution of each contract on power flow of each transmission line is computed based on angle decomposition. Contract-related flows are used as a measure for “extent of use" of transmission network capacity and consequently transmission pricing. The presented approach is applied to a 4-bus test system and IEEE 30-bus test system.

Keywords: Deregulation, Power electric markets, Transmission pricing methodologies, decoupled Newton-Raphson power flow.

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Authors: Ehan Sabah Shukri, Wirachman Wisnoe

Abstract:

Numerical study is performed to investigate the temperature distribution in an annular diffuser fitted with helical tape hub. Different pitches (Y = 20 mm, and Y = 30 mm) for the helical tape are studied with different heights (H = 20 mm, 22 mm, and 24 mm) to be compared. The geometry of the annular diffuser and the inlet condition for both hub arrangements are kept constant. The result obtains that using helical tape insert with different pitches and different heights will force the temperature to distribute in a helical direction; however the use of helical tape hub with height (H = 22 mm) for both pitches enhance the temperature distribution in a good manner.

Keywords: Helical tape, divergent fluid flow, temperature distribution, swirl flow, CFD.

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Authors: Zhan Fengmei Yao, Hui Li, Jiahua Zhang g

Abstract:

The Northeast China (NEC) was the most important agriculture areas and known as the Golden-Maize-Belt. Based on observed crop data and crop model, we design four simulating experiments and separate relative impacts and contribution under climate change, planting date shift, and varieties change as well change of varieties and planting date. Without planting date and varieties change, maize yields had no significant change trend at Hailun station located in the north of NEC, and presented significant decrease by 0.2 - 0.4 t/10a at two stations, which located in the middle and the south of NEC. With planting date change, yields showed a significant increase by 0.09 - 0.47 t/10a. With varieties change, maize yields had significant increase by 1.8~ 1.9 t/10a at Hailun and Huadian stations, but a non-significant and low increase by 0.2t /10a at Benxi located in the south of NEC. With change of varieties and planting date, yields presented a significant increasing by 0.53- 2.0 t/10a. Their contribution to yields was -25% ~ -55% for climate change, 15% ~ 35% for planting date change, and 20% ~110% for varieties change as well 30% ~135% for varieties with planting date shift. It found that change in varieties and planting date were highest yields and were responsible for significant increases in maize yields, varieties was secondly, and planting date was thirdly. It found that adaptation in varieties and planting date greatly improved maize yields, and increased yields annual variability. The increase of contribution with planting date and varieties change in 2000s was lower than in 1990s. Yields with the varieties change and yields with planting date and varieties change all showed a decreasing trend at Huadian and Benxi since 2002 or so. It indicated that maize yields increasing trend stagnated in the middle and south of NEC, and continued in the north of NEC.

Keywords: Climate change, maize yields, varieties, planting date, impacts.

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Authors: Jana Feldmane, Pavels Semjonovs, Inga Ciprovica

Abstract:

Consumer demand for products with low fat or sugar content and low levels of food additives, as well as cost factors, make exopolysaccharides (EPS) a viable alternative. EPS remain an interesting tool to modulate the sensory properties of yoghurt. This study was designed to evaluate EPS production potential of commercial yoghurt starter cultures (Yo-Flex starters: Harmony 1.0, TWIST 1.0 and YF-L902, Chr.Hansen, Denmark) and their influence on an apparent viscosity of yoghurt samples. The production of intracellularly synthesized EPS by different commercial yoghurt starters varies roughly from 144,08 to 440,81 mg/l. Analysing starters’ producing EPS, they showed large variations in concentration and supposedly composition. TWIST 1.0 had produced greater amounts of EPS in MRS medium and in yoghurt samples but there wasn’t determined significant contribution to development of texture as well as an apparent viscosity of the final product. YF-L902 and Harmony 1.0 starters differed considerably in EPS yields, but not in apparent viscosities (p>0.05) of the final yoghurts. Correlation between EPS concentration and viscosity of yoghurt samples was not established in the study.

Keywords: Exopolysaccharides, yoghurt starters, apparent viscosity.

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Authors: Ajab Khan Kasi, Muhammad Waseem Ashraf, Jafar Khan Kasi, Shahzadi Tayyaba, NitinAfzulpurkar

Abstract:

This paper presents the development of low cost Nano membrane fabrication system. The system is specially designed for anodic aluminum oxide membrane. This system is capable to perform the processes such as anodization and electro-polishing. The designed machine was successfully tested for 'mild anodization' (MA) for 48 hours and 'hard anodization' (HA) for 3 hours at constant 0oC. The system is digitally controlled and guided for temperature maintenance during anodization and electro-polishing. The total cost of the developed machine is 20 times less than the multi-cooling systems available in the market which are generally used for this purpose.

Keywords: Anodic aluminum oxide, Nano-membrane, hardanodization, mild anodization, electro-polishing.

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Authors: Jiratta Phuboon-ob, Raweewan Auepanwiriyakul

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A data warehouse (DW) is a system which has value and role for decision-making by querying. Queries to DW are critical regarding to their complexity and length. They often access millions of tuples, and involve joins between relations and aggregations. Materialized views are able to provide the better performance for DW queries. However, these views have maintenance cost, so materialization of all views is not possible. An important challenge of DW environment is materialized view selection because we have to realize the trade-off between performance and view maintenance. Therefore, in this paper, we introduce a new approach aimed to solve this challenge based on Two-Phase Optimization (2PO), which is a combination of Simulated Annealing (SA) and Iterative Improvement (II), with the use of Multiple View Processing Plan (MVPP). Our experiments show that 2PO outperform the original algorithms in terms of query processing cost and view maintenance cost.

Keywords: Data warehouse, materialized views, view selectionproblem, two-phase optimization.

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Authors: Jong Woo Kim, Go Bong Choi, Sang Hwan Son, Dae Shik Kim, Jung Chul Suh, Jong Min Lee

Abstract:

The Markov decision process (MDP) based methodology is implemented in order to establish the optimal schedule which minimizes the cost. Formulation of MDP problem is presented using the information about the current state of pipe, improvement cost, failure cost and pipe deterioration model. The objective function and detailed algorithm of dynamic programming (DP) are modified due to the difficulty of implementing the conventional DP approaches. The optimal schedule derived from suggested model is compared to several policies via Monte Carlo simulation. Validity of the solution and improvement in computational time are proved.

Keywords: Markov decision processes, Dynamic Programming, Monte Carlo simulation, Periodic replacement, Weibull distribution.

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Authors: Gaurav Kumar, Rakesh Kumar Bajaj

Abstract:

The primary objective of the paper is to propose a new method for solving assignment problem under uncertain situation. In the classical assignment problem (AP), z_pqdenotes the cost for assigning the qth job to the pth person which is deterministic in nature. Here in some uncertain situation, we have assigned a cost in the form of composite relative degree F_pq instead of  and this replaced cost is in the maximization form. In this paper, it has been solved and validated by the two proposed algorithms, a new mathematical formulation of IVIF assignment problem has been presented where the cost has been considered to be an IVIFN and the membership of elements in the set can be explained by positive and negative evidences. To determine the composite relative degree of similarity of IVIFS the concept of similarity measure and the score function is used for validating the solution which is obtained by Composite relative similarity degree method. Further, hypothetical numeric illusion is conducted to clarify the method’s effectiveness and feasibility developed in the study. Finally, conclusion and suggestion for future work are also proposed.

Keywords: Assignment problem, Interval-valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets, Similarity Measures, score function.

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