Search results for: Italian strategy

Authors: Wentian Shi, Daming Shi, Maysam Orouskhani, Feng Tian

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Currently the most prevalent deep learning methods require a large amount of data for training, whereas few-shot learning tries to learn a model from limited data without extensive retraining. In this paper, we present a loss function based on triplet loss for solving few-shot problem using metric based learning. Instead of setting the margin distance in triplet loss as a constant number empirically, we propose an adaptive margin distance strategy to obtain the appropriate margin distance automatically. We implement the strategy in the deep siamese network for deep metric embedding, by utilizing an optimization approach by penalizing the worst case and rewarding the best. Our experiments on image recognition and co-segmentation model demonstrate that using our proposed triplet loss with adaptive margin distance can significantly improve the performance.

Keywords: Few-shot learning, triplet network, adaptive margin, deep learning.

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Authors: D. Cardone

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Past earthquakes have shown that seismic events may incur large economic losses in buildings. FEMA P-58 provides engineers a practical tool for the performance seismic assessment of buildings. In this study, FEMA P-58 is applied to two typical Italian pre-1970 reinforced concrete frame buildings, characterized by plain rebars as steel reinforcement and masonry infills and partitions. Given that suitable tools for these buildings are missing in FEMA P- 58, specific fragility curves and loss functions are first developed. Next, building performance is evaluated following a time-based assessment approach. Finally, expected annual losses for the selected buildings are derived and compared with past applications to old RC frame buildings representative of the US building stock. 

Keywords: FEMA P-58, RC frame buildings, plain rebars, masonry infills, fragility functions, loss functions, expected annual loss.

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Authors: Yi-an Cui, Lu Wang, Jian-ping Xiao

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This paper presents an automatic feature recognition method based on center-surround difference detecting and fuzzy logic that can be applied in ground-penetrating radar (GPR) image processing. Adopted center-surround difference method, the salient local image regions are extracted from the GPR images as features of detected objects. And fuzzy logic strategy is used to match the detected features and features in template database. This way, the problem of objects detecting, which is the key problem in GPR image processing, can be converted into two steps, feature extracting and matching. The contributions of these skills make the system have the ability to deal with changes in scale, antenna and noises. The results of experiments also prove that the system has higher ratio of features sensing in using GPR to image the subsurface structures.

Keywords: feature recognition, GPR image, matching strategy, salient image

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Authors: Yi Zhang, Quan Zhou, Jun Li, Yanlang Hu

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Scheduling algorithm is a key technology in satellite switching system with input-buffer. In this paper, a new scheduling algorithm and its realization are proposed. Based on Crossbar switching fabric, the algorithm adopts serial scheduling strategy and adjusts the output port arbitrating strategy for the better equity of every port. Consequently, it increases the matching probability. The algorithm can greatly reduce the scheduling delay and cell loss rate. The analysis and simulation results by OPNET show that the proposed algorithm has the better performance than others in average delay and cell loss rate, and has the equivalent complexity. On the basis of these results, the hardware realization and simulation based on FPGA are completed, which validate the feasibility of the new scheduling algorithm.

Keywords: Scheduling algorithm, input-buffer, serial scheduling, hardware design.

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Authors: F. Loffredo, M. Quarto, M. Pugliese, A. Mazzella, F. De Cicco, V. Roca

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The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of radon remedial action in a school on the Ischia island, South Italy, affected by indoor radon concentration higher than the value of 500 Bq/m³. This value is the limit imposed by the Italian legislation, to above which corrective actions in schools are necessary. Before the application of remedial action, indoor radon concentrations were measured in 9 rooms of the school. The measurements were performed with LR-115 passive alpha detectors (SSNTDs) and E-Perm. The remedial action was conducted in one of the office affected by high radon concentration using a Radonstop paint applied after the construction of a concrete slab under the floor. The effect of remedial action was the reduction of the concentration of radon of 41% and moreover it has demonstrated to be durable over time. The chosen method is cheap and easy to apply and it could be designed for various types of building. This method can be applied to new and existing buildings that show high dose values.

Keywords: E-Perm, LR 115 detectors, radon remediation, school.

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Authors: E. Zippelius

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Urban design aims to provide a stage for public life that, when once brought to life, is right away subject to subtle but continuous transformation. This paper explores such transformations and searches for ways how public life can be reinforced in the case of a housing settlement for the displaced in Nicosia, Cyprus. First, a sound basis of theoretical knowledge is established through literature review, notably the theory of the Production of Space by Henri Lefebvre, exploring its potential and defining key criteria for the following empirical analysis. The analysis is pinpointing the differences between spatial practice, representation of space and spaces of representation as well as their interaction, alliance, or even conflict. In doing so uncertainties, chances and challenges are unraveled that will be consequently linked to practice and action and lead to the formulation of a design strategy. A strategy, though, that does not long for achieving an absolute, finite certainty but understands the three dimensions of space formulated by Lefebvre as equal and space as continuously produced, hence, unfinished.

Keywords: Production of space, public space, urban life, urban transformation.

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Authors: Mohammed Sani Abdulai

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Ghana’s Public Financial Management reforms have been going on for some two decades now (1997/98 to 2017/18). Given this long period of reforms, Ghana in 2019 is putting together both a Public Financial Management (PFM) strategy and a Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) strategy for the next 5-years (2020-2024). The primary aim of these dual strategies is assisting the country in moving beyond reforms to consolidation and sustainability. In this paper we, first, examined the evolution of Ghana’s PFM reforms. We, secondly, reviewed the legal and institutional reforms undertaken to strengthen the country’s key PFM institutions. Thirdly, we summarized the strengths and weaknesses identified by the 2018 Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment of Ghana’s PFM system relating to its macro-fiscal framework, budget preparation and approval, budget execution, accounting and fiscal reporting as well as external scrutiny and audit. We, finally, considered what the country should be doing to achieve its intended goal of PFM consolidation and sustainability. Using a qualitative method of review and analysis of existing documents, we, through this paper, brought to the fore the lessons that could be learnt by other developing countries from Ghana’s PFM reforms experiences. These lessons included the need to: (a) undergird any PFM reform with a comprehensive PFM reform strategy; (b) undertake a legal and institutional reforms of the key PFM institutions; (c) assess the strengths and weaknesses of those reforms using PFM performance evaluation tools such as PEFA framework; and (d) move beyond reforms to consolidation and sustainability.

Keywords: Public financial management, public expenditure and financial accountability (PEFA), reforms, consolidation, sustainability.

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Authors: V.A. Baronenko, S.I. Bugreeva, K.R. Mekhdieva

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Differentiated impact of team sports (basketball, indoor soccer, handball) on general haemodynamics and aerobic potential of students who specialize in technical subjects is detected only on the fourth year of studies in the institute of higher education. Those who play basketball and indoor soccer have shown increase of stroke and minute volume of blood indices, pumping and contractile function of the heart, oxygenation of blood and oxygen delivery to tissues, aerobic energy supply and balance of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity of the nervous regulation mechanism of the circulatory system. Those who play handball have shown these indices statistically decreased. On the whole playing basketball and indoor soccer optimizes the strategy for adaptation of students to the studying process, but playing handball does the opposite thing. The leading factor for adaptation of students is: those who play basketball have increase of minute blood volume which stipulates velocity of the system blood circulation and well-timed oxygen delivery to tissues; those who play indoor soccer have increase of power and velocity of contractile function of the heart; those who play handball have increase of resistance of thorax to the system blood flow which minimizes contractile function of the heart, blood oxygen saturation and delivery of oxygen to tissues.

Keywords: team sports, general haemodynamics, aerobic potential, strategy for adaptation.

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Authors: Ranjan Sarukkalige, Dinushi Gamage

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The aim of this study was to develop a storm water quality improvement strategy plan (WQISP) which assists managers and decision makers of local city councils in enhancing their activities to improve regional water quality. City of Gosnells in Western Australia has been considered as a case study. The procedure on developing the WQISP consists of reviewing existing water quality data, identifying water quality issues in the study areas and developing a decision making tool for the officers, managers and decision makers. It was found that land use type is the main factor affecting the water quality. Therefore, activities, sources and pollutants related to different land use types including residential, industrial, agricultural and commercial are given high importance during the study. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with coordinators of different management sections of the regional councils in order to understand the associated management framework and issues. The issues identified from these interviews were used in preparing the decision making tool. Variables associated with the defined “value versus threat" decision making tool are obtained from the intensive literature review. The main recommendations provided for improvement of water quality in local city councils, include non-structural, structural and management controls and potential impacts of climate change.

Keywords: Storm water quality, Storm water Management, Land use, Strategy plan

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Authors: Michiko Miyamoto

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This paper empirically investigates whether information technology (IT) strategies, business strategies, and divisions are aligned to meet overall business goals for Korean Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), based on structure based Strategic Alignment Model, and make comparison with those of Japanese SMEs. Using 2,869 valid responses of Korean Human Capital Corporate Panel survey, a result of this study suggests that Korean human resources (HR) departments have a major influence over IT strategy, which is the same as Japanese SMEs, even though their management styles are quite different. As for IT strategy, it is not related to other departments at all for Korean SMEs. The Korean management seems to possess a great power over each division, such as Sales/Service, Research and Development/Technical Experts, HR, and Production.

Keywords: IT-business alignment, structured based strategic alignment model, structural equation model, human resources department.

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Authors: P. Beraldi, M. E. Bruni

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Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is one of the most widely used technique for evaluating the relative efficiency of a set of homogeneous decision making units. Traditionally, it assumes that input and output variables are known in advance, ignoring the critical issue of data uncertainty. In this paper, we deal with the problem of efficiency evaluation under uncertain conditions by adopting the general framework of the stochastic programming. We assume that output parameters are represented by discretely distributed random variables and we propose two different models defined according to a neutral and risk-averse perspective. The models have been validated by considering a real case study concerning the evaluation of the technical efficiency of a sample of individual firms operating in the Italian leather manufacturing industry. Our findings show the validity of the proposed approach as ex-ante evaluation technique by providing the decision maker with useful insights depending on his risk aversion degree.

Keywords: DEA, Stochastic Programming, Ex-ante evaluation technique, Conditional Value at Risk.

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Authors: Raouf Fareh, Maarouf Saad, Sofiane Khadraoui, Tamer Rabie

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This paper presents a tracking control strategy based on Lyapunov approach for nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot. This control strategy consists of two levels. First, a kinematic controller is developed to adjust the right and left wheel velocities. Using this velocity control law, the stability of the tracking error is guaranteed using Lyapunov approach. This kinematic controller cannot be generated directly by the motors. To overcome this problem, the second level of the controllers, dynamic control, is designed. This dynamic control law is developed based on Lyapunov theory in order to track the desired trajectories of the mobile robot. The stability of the tracking error is proved using Lupunov and Barbalat approaches. Simulation results on a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot are given to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the presented approach.

Keywords: Mobile robot, trajectory tracking, Lyapunov, stability.

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Authors: Ismail Gerzeli, Cemal Baykara, Osman Akin Kutlar

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Skip cycle is a working strategy for spark ignition engines, which allows changing the effective stroke of an engine through skipping some of the four stroke cycles. This study proposes a new mechanism to achieve the desired skip-cycle strategy for internal combustion engines. The air and fuel leakage, which occurs through the gas exchange, negatively affects the efficiency of the engine at high speeds and loads. An absolute sealing is assured by direct use of poppet valves, which are kept in fully closed position during the skipped mode. All the components of the mechanism were designed according to the real dimensions of the Anadolu Motor's gasoline engine and modeled in 3D by means of CAD software. As the mechanism operates in two modes, two dynamically equivalent models are established to obtain the force and strength analysis for critical components.

Keywords: Dynamic Model, Mechanical Design, Skip Cycle System (SCS), Valve Disabling Mechanism

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Authors: Jaqueline M. R. Vieira

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Different strategies and tools are available at the oil and gas industry for detecting and analyzing tension and possible fractures in borehole walls. Most of these techniques are based on manual observation of the captured borehole images. While this strategy may be possible and convenient with small images and few data, it may become difficult and suitable to errors when big databases of images must be treated. While the patterns may differ among the image area, depending on many characteristics (drilling strategy, rock components, rock strength, etc.). In this work we propose the inclusion of data-mining classification strategies in order to create a knowledge database of the segmented curves. These classifiers allow that, after some time using and manually pointing parts of borehole images that correspond to tension regions and breakout areas, the system will indicate and suggest automatically new candidate regions, with higher accuracy. We suggest the use of different classifiers methods, in order to achieve different knowledge dataset configurations.

Keywords: Brazil, classifiers, data-mining, Image Segmentation, oil well visualization, classifiers.

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Authors: Tsung-Hsien Yu, Ya-Hsuan Chou, Ming-Wei Chen, Chi-Ming Chen, Yi-Hsuan Li

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Observations and long-term trends indicate that climate change impacts would be significant and affects Taiwan directly and severely. Taiwan engages not only in mitigation, but also in adaptation. However, there are cognitive gaps on adaptation between government and populace. Besides, a vision of zero-carbon and renewable energy 100% will be adopted in future. Therefore, the objectives of this article are to 1) hold a National Forum for knowing differences between the strategies of zero-carbon and renewable energy 100% and cognitions of general populace, and 2) plan a clear roadmap for the vision, strategy, and measures. In this forum, we set 5 group topics, 5 presumed themes, and issues mentioned review for concluding the critical issues. Finally, there are 4 strategies and 14 critical issues which correlate with the vision and strategy of government and the cognition of the general populace.

Keywords: Cognitive gap, world café, renewable energy, zero-carbon.

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Authors: Arash Taheri, Meysam Mohammadi-Amin, Seyed Hossein Moosavy

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Medical applications are among the most impactful areas of microrobotics. The ultimate goal of medical microrobots is to reach currently inaccessible areas of the human body and carry out a host of complex operations such as minimally invasive surgery (MIS), highly localized drug delivery, and screening for diseases at their very early stages. Miniature, safe and efficient propulsion systems hold the key to maturing this technology but they pose significant challenges. A new type of propulsion developed recently, uses multi-flagella architecture inspired by the motility mechanism of prokaryotic microorganisms. There is a lack of efficient methods for designing this type of propulsion system. The goal of this paper is to overcome the lack and this way, a numerical strategy is proposed to design multi-flagella propulsion systems. The strategy is based on the implementation of the regularized stokeslet and rotlet theory, RFT theory and new approach of “local corrected velocity". The effects of shape parameters and angular velocities of each flagellum on overall flow field and on the robot net forces and moments are considered. Then a multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network is designed and employed to adjust the angular velocities of the motors for propulsion control. The proposed method applied successfully on a sample configuration and useful demonstrative results is obtained.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Network, Biomimetic Microrobots, Flagellar Propulsion, Swimming Robots.

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Authors: T. Delval, C. Sauvage, Q. Jullien, R. Viano, T. Diallo, B. Collignan, G. Picinbono

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In the context of the international spread of COVID-19, the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) has led a joint research with the French government authorities Hauts-de-Seine department, to analyse the risk in school spaces according to their configuration, ventilation system and spatial segmentation strategy. This paper describes the main results of this joint research. A multidisciplinary team involving experts in indoor air quality/ventilation, pedestrian movements and IT domains was established to develop a COVID risk analysis tool based on Building Information Model. The work started with specific analysis on two pilot schools in order to provide for the local administration specifications to minimize the spread of the virus. Different recommendations were published to optimize/validate the use of ventilation systems and the strategy of student occupancy and student flow segmentation within the building. This COVID expertise has been digitized in order to manage a quick risk analysis on the entire building that could be used by the public administration through an easy user interface implemented in a free BIM Management software. One of the most interesting results is to enable a dynamic comparison of different ventilation system scenarios and space occupation strategy inside the BIM model. This concurrent engineering approach provides users with the optimal solution according to both ventilation and pedestrian flow expertise.

Keywords: BIM, knowledge management, system expert, risk management, indoor ventilation, pedestrian movement, integrated design.

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Authors: Sahar Sohrabi

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The emergence of Cloud data centers has revolutionized the IT industry. Private Clouds in specific provide Cloud services for certain group of customers/businesses. In a real-time private Cloud each task that is given to the system has a deadline that desirably should not be violated. Scheduling tasks in a real-time private CLoud determine the way available resources in the system are shared among incoming tasks. The aim of the scheduling policy is to optimize the system outcome which for a real-time private Cloud can include: energy consumption, deadline violation, execution time and the number of host switches. Different scheduling policies can be used for scheduling. Each lead to a sub-optimal outcome in a certain settings of the system. A Bayesian Scheduling strategy is proposed for scheduling to further improve the system outcome. The Bayesian strategy showed to outperform all selected policies. It also has the flexibility in dealing with complex pattern of incoming task and has the ability to adapt.

Keywords: Bayesian, cloud computing, real-time private cloud, scheduling.

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Authors: Evangelos G. Karvelas, Christos Liosis, Andreas Theodorakakos, Theodoros E. Karakasidis

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In the present work, a numerical method for the estimation of the appropriate gradient magnetic fields for optimum driving of the particles into the desired area inside the human body is presented. The proposed method combines Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Discrete Element Method (DEM) and Covariance Matrix Adaptation (CMA) evolution strategy for the magnetic navigation of nanoparticles. It is based on an iteration procedure that intents to eliminate the deviation of the nanoparticles from a desired path. Hence, the gradient magnetic field is constantly adjusted in a suitable way so that the particles’ follow as close as possible to a desired trajectory. Using the proposed method, it is obvious that the diameter of particles is crucial parameter for an efficient navigation. In addition, increase of particles' diameter decreases their deviation from the desired path. Moreover, the navigation method can navigate nanoparticles into the desired areas with efficiency approximately 99%.

Keywords: CFD, CMA evolution strategy, DEM, magnetic navigation, spherical particles.

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Authors: A. Faro, D. Giordano, F. Maiorana

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Data mining uses a variety of techniques each of which is useful for some particular task. It is important to have a deep understanding of each technique and be able to perform sophisticated analysis. In this article we describe a tool built to simulate a variation of the Kohonen network to perform unsupervised clustering and support the entire data mining process up to results visualization. A graphical representation helps the user to find out a strategy to optmize classification by adding, moving or delete a neuron in order to change the number of classes. The tool is also able to automatically suggest a strategy for number of classes optimization.The tool is used to classify macroeconomic data that report the most developed countries? import and export. It is possible to classify the countries based on their economic behaviour and use an ad hoc tool to characterize the commercial behaviour of a country in a selected class from the analysis of positive and negative features that contribute to classes formation.

Keywords: Unsupervised classification, Kohonen networks, macroeconomics, Visual data mining, cluster interpretation.

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Authors: Satyanadh Gundimada, Vijayan K Asari

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A novel feature selection strategy to improve the recognition accuracy on the faces that are affected due to nonuniform illumination, partial occlusions and varying expressions is proposed in this paper. This technique is applicable especially in scenarios where the possibility of obtaining a reliable intra-class probability distribution is minimal due to fewer numbers of training samples. Phase congruency features in an image are defined as the points where the Fourier components of that image are maximally inphase. These features are invariant to brightness and contrast of the image under consideration. This property allows to achieve the goal of lighting invariant face recognition. Phase congruency maps of the training samples are generated and a novel modular feature selection strategy is implemented. Smaller sub regions from a predefined neighborhood within the phase congruency images of the training samples are merged to obtain a large set of features. These features are arranged in the order of increasing distance between the sub regions involved in merging. The assumption behind the proposed implementation of the region merging and arrangement strategy is that, local dependencies among the pixels are more important than global dependencies. The obtained feature sets are then arranged in the decreasing order of discriminating capability using a criterion function, which is the ratio of the between class variance to the within class variance of the sample set, in the PCA domain. The results indicate high improvement in the classification performance compared to baseline algorithms.

Keywords: Discriminant analysis, intra-class probability distribution, principal component analysis, phase congruency.

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Authors: Ahmed Tawfik, Fausto Giunchiglia, Vincenzo Maltese

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Ontologies provide a common understanding of a specific domain of interest that can be communicated between people and used as background knowledge for automated reasoning in a wide range of applications. In this paper, we address the design of multilingual ontologies following well-defined knowledge engineering methodologies with the support of novel collaborative development approaches. In particular, we present a collaborative platform which allows ontologies to be developed incrementally in multiple languages. This is made possible via an appropriate mapping between language independent concepts and one lexicalization per language (or a lexical gap in case such lexicalization does not exist). The collaborative platform has been designed to support the development of the Universal Knowledge Core, a multilingual ontology currently in English, Italian, Chinese, Mongolian, Hindi and Bangladeshi. Its design follows a workflow-based development methodology that models resources as a set of collaborative objects and assigns customizable workflows to build and maintain each collaborative object in a community driven manner, with extensive support of modern web 2.0 social and collaborative features.

Keywords: Knowledge Diversity, Knowledge Representation, Ontology Development.

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Authors: Elena Fauquet-Alekhine-Pavlovskaya, Irina M. Nesterova

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On the territory of France fenugreek is spread since long on a line from the Gironde to the Italian border. In Belarus experimental cultivation has begun since 2004. Experiments with fenugreek variety Ovari 4 were conducted about time of sowing in order to study their growth, development, and evaluation of productivity in the North-east part of Belarus and Central part of France. Reaching full ripeness of seeds the plants of fenugreek in the Central part of France requires about 94-97 days. Average seeds yield of 2011-2012 is 1259 kg/ha. Plant height is about 36,8 cm. Plants were affected by aphid and in the high moist agro-climatic conditions by powdery mildew. In North-east part of Belarus plants need 86-93 days to full ripeness. Plants of fenugreek have steam about 59 cm. The average seeds yield of 2007-2009 was about 723 kg/ha. Plants were resistant to aphid and diseases.

Keywords: Fenugreek, time of sowing, variety, yield.

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Authors: Magdi M. Nabi, Ding-Li Yu

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This paper presents a neural network based model predictive control (MPC) strategy to control a strongly exothermic reaction with complicated nonlinear kinetics given by Chylla-Haase polymerization reactor that requires a very precise temperature control to maintain product uniformity. In the benchmark scenario, the operation of the reactor must be guaranteed under various disturbing influences, e.g., changing ambient temperatures or impurity of the monomer. Such a process usually controlled by conventional cascade control, it provides a robust operation, but often lacks accuracy concerning the required strict temperature tolerances. The predictive control strategy based on the RBF neural model is applied to solve this problem to achieve set-point tracking of the reactor temperature against disturbances. The result shows that the RBF based model predictive control gives reliable result in the presence of some disturbances and keeps the reactor temperature within a tight tolerance range around the desired reaction temperature.

Keywords: Chylla-Haase reactor, RBF neural network modelling, model predictive control.

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Authors: A. S. Salimzhanova, J. C. Sardinas, O. A. Yanovskaya

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The objective of this research work is to discuss the concept of “green growth” in the Republic of Kazakhstan introduced by its government in the “National Sustainable Development Strategy” with the objective of transition to a resource-efficient, “green economy.” We believe that emerging economies like Kazakhstan can pursue a cleaner and more efficient development path by introducing an environmental tax system based on resource consumption rather than only income and labor. The key issues discussed in this article are the eco-efficiency, which refers to closing the gap between economic and ecological efficiencies, and the structural change of the economy toward “green growth.” We also strongly believe that studying the experience of East Asian countries on “green reform” including eco-innovation and “green solutions” in business is essential to the case of Kazakhstan. All of these will raise the status of Kazakhstan to the level of one of the thirty developed countries over the next decades.

Keywords: Economic strategy, green growth, green solutions, natural resource management, environmental tax system.

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Authors: Mihaela Popescu, Alexandru Bitoleanu, Mircea Dobriceanu, Vlad Suru

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The aim of this paper is to identify an optimum control strategy of three-phase shunt active filters to minimize the total harmonic distortion factor of the supply current. A classical PIPI cascade control solution of the output current of the active filterand the voltage across the DC capacitor based on Modulus–Optimum criterion is taken into consideration. The control system operation has been simulated using Matlab-Simulink environment and the results agree with the theoretical expectation. It is shown that there is an optimum value of the DC-bus voltage which minimizes the supply current harmonic distortion factor. It corresponds to the equality of the apparent power at the output of the active filter and the apparent power across the capacitor. Finally, predicted results are verified experimentally on a MaxSine active power filter.

Keywords: Active filtering, Controller tuning, Modulus Optimum criterion, Optimum control.

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Authors: Svetlana Perovic

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This paper examines the role and the place of transdisciplinarity in the urbanism of the 21st century, with the emphasis on Montenegro urbanism. Global processes require a systematic strategy and systemic synergistic engagement in the development of cities in 21st centuries. Urbanism as a profession and a discipline should be developed parallel and in correlation, based on the principles of integrality and communication skills, in order to enable development of the sustainable urban system. The importance of integrated urbanism and other disciplines are also emphasized as well as their synergies activities. The paper also presents the positive examples of urban theory and practice in the world, which influenced the direction of development of the modern urbanism. Transdisciplinarity is a priority methodology for sustainable urban development, which is insufficiently developed in Montenegro, but there is a basis for its development. It is necessary to unite different social sensibilities, academic and non-academic knowledge, as well as the public and private sectors in order to develop holistic, inclusive and sustainable urban spaces of the 21st centuries.

Keywords: Montenegro urbanism, sustainability, the 21st century, transdisciplinarity.

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Authors: Igor Astrov, Andrus Pedai, Boris Gordon

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This paper focuses on a critical component of the situational awareness (SA), the control of autonomous vertical flight for tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (TUAV). With the SA strategy, we proposed a two stage flight control procedure using two autonomous control subsystems to address the dynamics variation and performance requirement difference in initial and final stages of flight trajectory for an unmanned helicopter model with coaxial rotor and ducted fan configuration. This control strategy for chosen model of TUAV has been verified by simulation of hovering maneuvers using software package Simulink and demonstrated good performance for fast stabilization of engines in hovering, consequently, fast SA with economy in energy can be asserted during search-and-rescue operations.

Keywords: Coaxial rotors, ducted fan, NARMA-L2 neurocontroller, situational awareness, tactical unmanned aerial vehicle.

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Authors: E. Cenderelli, E. Bruno, G. Iacoviello, A. Lazzini

Abstract:

The financial sector is exposed to the risk of cyber-attacks like any other industrial sector. Furthermore, the topic of CybeRisk (cyber risk) has become particularly relevant given that Information Technology (IT) attacks have increased drastically in recent years, and cannot be stopped by single organizations requiring a response at international and national level. IT risk is never a matter purely for the IT manager, although he clearly plays a key role. A bank's risk management function requires a thorough understanding of the evolving risks as well as the tools and practical techniques available to address them. Upon the request of European and national legislation regarding CybeRisk in the financial system, banks are therefore called upon to strengthen the operational model for CybeRisk management. This will require an important change with a more intense collaboration with the structures that deal with information security for the development of an ad hoc system for the evaluation and control of this type of risk. The aim of the work is to propose a framework for the management and control of CybeRisk that will bridge the gap in the literature regarding the understanding and consideration of CybeRisk as an integral part of business management. The IT function has a strong relevance in the management of CybeRisk, which is perceived mainly as operational risk, but with a positive tendency on the part of risk management to the identification of CybeRisk assessment methods that are increasingly complete, quantitative and able to better describe the possible impacts on the business. The paper provides answers to the research questions: Is it possible to define a CybeRisk governance structure able to support the comparison between risk and security? How can the relationships between IT assets be integrated into a cyberisk assessment framework to guarantee a system of protection and risks control? From a methodological point of view, this research uses a case study approach. The choice of “Monte dei Paschi di Siena” was determined by the specific features of one of Italy’s biggest lenders. It is chosen to use an intensive research strategy: an in-depth study of reality. The case study methodology is an empirical approach to explore a complex and current phenomenon that develops over time. The use of cases has also the advantage of allowing the deepening of aspects concerning the "how" and "why" of contemporary events, on which the scholar has little control. The research bases on quantitative data and qualitative information obtained through semi-structured interviews of an open-ended nature and questionnaires to directors, members of the audit committee, risk, IT and compliance managers, and those responsible for internal audit function and anti-money laundering. The added value of the paper can be seen in the development of a framework based on a mapping of IT assets from which it is possible to identify their relationships for purposes of a more effective management and control of cyber risk.

Keywords: Bank, CybeRisk, information technology, risk management.

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Authors: M. Balestrieri, C. Pusceddu

Abstract:

Issues relating to the destructive phenomena that can damage people and goods have returned to the centre of debate in Italy with the increase in catastrophic episodes in recent years in a country which is highly vulnerable to hydrological risk. Environmental factors and geological and geomorphological territorial characteristics play an important role in determining the level of vulnerability and the natural tendency to risk. However, a territory has also been subjected to the requirements of and transformations of society and this brings other relevant factors. The reasons for the increase in destructive phenomena are often to be found in the territorial development models adopted. Stewardship of the landscape and management of risk are related issues. This study aims to summarize the most relevant elements about this connection and at the same time to clarify the role of environmental risk assessment as a tool to aid in the sustainable management of landscape. Finally, the study reflects on how regional and urban planners deal with environmental risk and which aspects should be monitored in order to adopt responsible and useful interventions.

Keywords: Assessment, landscape, risk, planning.

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