Search results for: cost of a service

Authors: Young-Jun You, Youn-Ju Jeong, Min-Su Park, Du-Ho Lee

Abstract:

Due to a lot of limited conditions, a large box type floating structure is inevitably constructed by connecting many pontoons. When a floating structure is made with concrete, concrete shear key with saw-teeth shape is often used to carry shear force. Match casting for the shear key and precise construction on a sea are very important for making separated two pontoons as one body but those are not easy work and may increase construction time and cost. To solve this problem, one-way shear key is studied in this paper for a connected part where there is some difference between upward and downward shear force. It has only one inclined plane and can resist shear force in one direction. Big shear force is resisted by concrete which forms an inclined plane and small shear force is resisted by steel bar. This system can reduce manufacturing cost of individual pontoon and construction time and cost for constructing a floating structure on a sea. In this paper, the feasibility study about one-way shear key system is performed by comparing with design example.

Keywords: Connection, floating container terminal, pontoon, pre-stressing, shear key.

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Authors: B. Falah, N. E. Abakouy

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Due to its high computational cost, mutation testing has been neglected by researchers. Recently, many cost and mutants’ reduction techniques have been developed, improved, and experimented, but few of them has relied the possibility of reducing the cost of mutation testing on the program type of the application under test. This paper is a comparative study between four operators’ selection techniques (mutants sampling, class level operators, method level operators, and all operators’ selection) based on the program code type of each application under test. It aims at finding an alternative approach to reveal the effect of code type on mutation testing score. The result of our experiment shows that the program code type can affect the mutation score and that the programs using polymorphism are best suited to be tested with mutation testing.

Keywords: Equivalent mutant, killed mutant, mutation score, mutation testing, program code type.

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Authors: O. S. Ebrahim, K. O. Shawky, M. A. Badr, P. K. Jain

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This paper proposes an intelligent, supervisory, hysteresis liquid-level control with three-state energy saving mode (ESM) for induction motor (IM) in fluid transportation system (FTS) including storage tank. The IM pump drive comprises a modified star/delta switch and hydromantic coupler. Three-state ESM is defined, along with the normal running, and named analog to the computer’s ESMs as follows: Sleeping mode in which the motor runs at no load with delta stator connection, hibernate mode in which the motor runs at no load with a star connection, and motor shutdown is the third energy saver mode. Considering the motor’s thermal capacity used (TCU) and grid-compatible tariff structure, a logic flow-chart is synthesized to select the motor state at no-load for best energetic cost reduction. Fuzzy-logic (FL) based availability assessment is designed and deployed on cloud, in order to provide mobilized service for the star/delta switch and highly reliable contactors. Moreover, an artificial neural network (ANN) state estimator, based on the recurrent architecture, is constructed and learned in order to provide fault-tolerant capability for the supervisory controller. Sequential test of Wald is used for sensor fault detection. Theoretical analysis, preliminary experimental testing and computer simulations are performed to demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed control system in terms of reliability, power quality and operational cost reduction with a motivation of power factor correction.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Network, ANN, Contactor Health Assessment, Energy Saving Mode, Induction Machine, IM, Supervisory Control, Fluid Transportation, Fuzzy Logic, FL, cloud computing, pumped storage.

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Authors: Xiaohui Zhao, Shahan Mafuz

Abstract:

Context-aware technologies provide system applications with the awareness of environmental conditions, customer behaviours, object movements, etc. Further, with such capability system applications can be smart to intelligently adapt their responses to the changing conditions. In regard to business operations, this promises businesses that their business processes can run more intelligently, adaptively and flexibly, and thereby either improve customer experience, enhance reliability of service delivery, or lower operational cost, to make the business more competitive and sustainable. Aiming at realising such context-aware business process management, this paper firstly explores its potential benefit, and then identifies some gaps between the current business process management support and the expected. In addition, some preliminary solutions are also discussed in regard to context definition, rule-based process execution, run-time process evolution, etc. A framework is also presented to give a conceptual architecture of context-aware business process management system to guide system implementation.

Keywords: Business process adaptation, business process evolution, business process modelling, and context awareness.

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Authors: Pradeep Kumar, Shibashish Chakraborty, Sasadhar Bera

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In the anticipation of demand fluctuations, services cannot be inventoried and hence it creates a difficult problem in marketing of services. The inability to meet customers (patients) requirements in healthcare context has more serious consequences than other service sectors. In order to meet patient requirements in the current uncertain environment, healthcare organizations are seeking ways for improved service delivery. Flexibility provides a mechanism for reducing variability in service encounters and improved performance. Flexibility is defined as the ability of the organization to cope with changing circumstances or instability caused by the environment. Patient satisfaction is an important performance outcome of healthcare organizations. However, the paucity of information exists in healthcare delivery context to examine the impact of flexibility on patient satisfaction and behavioral intention. The present study is an attempt to develop a conceptual foundation for investigating overall impact of flexibility on patient satisfaction and behavioral intention. Several dimensions of flexibility in healthcare context are examined and proposed to have a significant impact on patient satisfaction and intention. Furthermore, the study involves a critical examination of determinants of patient satisfaction and development of a comprehensive view the relationship between flexibility, patient satisfaction and behavioral intention. Finally, theoretical contributions and implications for healthcare professionals are suggested from flexibility perspective.

Keywords: Healthcare, flexibility, patient satisfaction, behavioral intention.

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Authors: T. T. Manikandan, Rajeev Sukumaran

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For maintaining the biodiversity of many ecosystems the existence of coral reefs play a vital role. But due to many factors such as pollution and coral mining, coral reefs are dying day by day. One way to protect the coral reefs is to farm them in a carefully monitored underwater environment and restore it in place of dead corals. For successful farming of corals in coral farms, different parameters of the water in the farming area need to be monitored and maintained at optimal level. Sensing underwater parameters using wireless sensor nodes is an effective way for precise and continuous monitoring in a highly dynamic environment like oceans. Here the sensed information is of varying importance and it needs to be provided with desired Quality of Service(QoS) guarantees in delivering the information to offshore monitoring centers. The main interest of this research is Stochastic Network Calculus (SNC) based modeling of network layer design for underwater wireless sensor communication. The model proposed in this research enforces differentiation of service in underwater wireless sensor communication with the help of buffer sizing and link scheduling. The delay and backlog bounds for such differentiated services are analytically derived using stochastic network calculus.

Keywords: Underwater Coral Farms, SNC, differentiated service, delay bound, backlog bound.

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Authors: Marco Ryll, Svetan Ratchev

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This paper discusses the applicability of the Data Distribution Service (DDS) for the development of automated and modular manufacturing systems which require a flexible and robust communication infrastructure. DDS is an emergent standard for datacentric publish/subscribe middleware systems that provides an infrastructure for platform-independent many-to-many communication. It particularly addresses the needs of real-time systems that require deterministic data transfer, have low memory footprints and high robustness requirements. After an overview of the standard, several aspects of DDS are related to current challenges for the development of modern manufacturing systems with distributed architectures. Finally, an example application is presented based on a modular active fixturing system to illustrate the described aspects.

Keywords: Flexible Manufacturing, Publish/Subscribe, Plug & Produce.

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Authors: Young-Seok Choi

Abstract:

We present a family of data-reusing and affine projection algorithms. For identification of a noisy linear finite impulse response channel, a partial knowledge of a channel, especially noise, can be used to improve the performance of the adaptive filter. Motivated by this fact, the proposed scheme incorporates an estimate of a knowledge of noise. A constraint, called the adaptive noise constraint, estimates an unknown information of noise. By imposing this constraint on a cost function of data-reusing and affine projection algorithms, a cost function based on the adaptive noise constraint and Lagrange multiplier is defined. Minimizing the new cost function leads to the adaptive noise constrained (ANC) data-reusing and affine projection algorithms. Experimental results comparing the proposed schemes to standard data-reusing and affine projection algorithms clearly indicate their superior performance.

Keywords: Data-reusing, affine projection algorithm, error constraint, system identification.

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Authors: Miroslav Popelka, Jakub Nožička

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In this paper we deal with using Lego Mindstorms in simulation of robotic systems with respect to cost reduction. Lego Mindstorms kit contains broad variety of hardware components which are required to simulate, program and test the robotics systems in practice. Algorithm programming went in development environment supplied together with Lego kit as in programming language C# as well. Algorithm following the line, which we dealt with in this paper, uses theoretical findings from area of controlling circuits. PID controller has been chosen as controlling circuit whose individual components were experimentally adjusted for optimal motion of robot tracking the line. Data which are determined to process by algorithm are collected by sensors which scan the interface between black and white surfaces followed by robot. Based on discovered facts Lego Mindstorms can be considered for low-cost and capable kit to simulate real robotics systems.

Keywords: LEGO Mindstorms, PID controller, low-cost robotics systems, line follower, sensors, programming language C#, EV3 Home Edition Software.

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Authors: Nazli W. Hardy

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A critical component in the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem is the need for secure and appropriate transmission, processing, and storage of the data. Our current forms of authentication, and identity and access management do not suffice because they are not designed to service cohesive, integrated, interconnected devices, and service applications. The seemingly endless opportunities of IoT are in fact circumscribed on multiple levels by concerns such as trust, privacy, security, loss of control, and related issues. This paper considers multi-factor authentication (MFA) mechanisms and cohesive identity relationship management (IRM) standards. It also surveys messaging protocols that are appropriate for the IoT ecosystem.

Keywords: Survey of internet of things ecosystem, protocols, identity relation management, multifactor authentication.

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Authors: Subramaniam Chandran

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This paper examines the interplay of policy options and cost-effective technology in providing sustainable distance education. A case study has been conducted among the learners and teachers. The emergence of learning technologies through CD, internet, and mobile is increasingly adopted by distance institutes for quick delivery and cost-effective factors. Their sustainability is conditioned by the structure of learners and well as the teaching community. The structure of learners in terms of rural and urban background revealed similarity in adoption and utilization of mobile learning. In other words, the technology transcended the rural-urban dichotomy. The teaching community was divided into two groups on policy issues. This study revealed both cost-effective as well as sustainability impacts on different learners groups divided by rural and urban location.

Keywords: Distance Education, Mobile Learning, Policy, Technology

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Authors: Watcharapan Sukkerd, Teeradej Wuttipornpun

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This paper aims to present non-population search algorithms called tabu search (TS), simulated annealing (SA) and variable neighborhood search (VNS) to minimize the total cost of capacitated MRP problem in multi-stage assembly flow shop with two alternative machines. There are three main steps for the algorithm. Firstly, an initial sequence of orders is constructed by a simple due date-based dispatching rule. Secondly, the sequence of orders is repeatedly improved to reduce the total cost by applying TS, SA and VNS separately. Finally, the total cost is further reduced by optimizing the start time of each operation using the linear programming (LP) model. Parameters of the algorithm are tuned by using real data from automotive companies. The result shows that VNS significantly outperforms TS, SA and the existing algorithm.

Keywords: Capacitated MRP, non-population search algorithms, linear programming, assembly flow shop.

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Authors: Xiaochuan Chen, Jianguo Yang, Beizhi Li

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Design for cost (DFC) is a method that reduces life cycle cost (LCC) from the angle of designers. Multiple domain features mapping (MDFM) methodology was given in DFC. Using MDFM, we can use design features to estimate the LCC. From the angle of DFC, the design features of family cars were obtained, such as all dimensions, engine power and emission volume. At the conceptual design stage, cars- LCC were estimated using back propagation (BP) artificial neural networks (ANN) method and case-based reasoning (CBR). Hamming space was used to measure the similarity among cases in CBR method. Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA) were used in ANN. The differences of LCC estimation model between CBR and artificial neural networks (ANN) were provided. ANN and CBR separately each method has its shortcomings. By combining ANN and CBR improved results accuracy was obtained. Firstly, using ANN selected some design features that affect LCC. Then using LCC estimation results of ANN could raise the accuracy of LCC estimation in CBR method. Thirdly, using ANN estimate LCC errors and correct errors in CBR-s estimation results if the accuracy is not enough accurate. Finally, economically family cars and sport utility vehicle (SUV) was given as LCC estimation cases using this hybrid approach combining ANN and CBR.

Keywords: case-based reasoning, life cycle cost (LCC), artificialneural networks (ANN), family cars

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Authors: Kazunari Meguro, Shinichi Motomura, Takao Kawamura, Kazunori Sugahara

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In this paper, backup and recovery technique for Peer to Peer applications, such as a distributed asynchronous Web-Based Training system that we have previously proposed. In order to improve the scalability and robustness of this system, all contents and function are realized on mobile agents. These agents are distributed to computers, and they can obtain using a Peer to Peer network that modified Content-Addressable Network. In the proposed system, although entire services do not become impossible even if some computers break down, the problem that contents disappear occurs with an agent-s disappearance. As a solution for this issue, backups of agents are distributed to computers. If a failure of a computer is detected, other computers will continue service using backups of the agents belonged to the computer.

Keywords: Distributed Multimedia Systems, e-Learning, P2P, Mobile Agent

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Authors: Stephan Printz, Kristina Lahl, René Vossen, Sabina Jeschke

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Strategic investment decisions are characterized by high innovation potential and long-term effects on the competitiveness of enterprises. Due to the uncertainty and risks involved in this complex decision making process, the need arises for well-structured support activities. A method that considers cost and the long-term added value is the cost-benefit effectiveness estimation. One of those methods is the “profitability estimation focused on benefits – PEFB”-method developed at the Institute of Management Cybernetics at RWTH Aachen University. The method copes with the challenges associated with strategic investment decisions by integrating long-term non-monetary aspects whilst also mapping the chronological sequence of an investment within the organization’s target system. Thus, this method is characterized as a holistic approach for the evaluation of costs and benefits of an investment. This participation-oriented method was applied to business environments in many workshops. The results of the workshops are a library of more than 96 cost aspects, as well as 122 benefit aspects. These aspects are preprocessed and comparatively analyzed with regards to their alignment to a series of risk levels. For the first time, an accumulation and a distribution of cost and benefit aspects regarding their impact and probability of occurrence are given. The results give evidence that the PEFB-method combines precise measures of financial accounting with the incorporation of benefits. Finally, the results constitute the basics for using information technology and data science for decision support when applying within the PEFB-method.

Keywords: Cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria decision, profitability estimation focused on benefits, risk and uncertainty analysis.

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Authors: Manisha Dubey, Gaurav Gupta, Anoop Arya

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The demand for power supply increases day by day in developing countries like India henceforth demand of reactive power support in the form of ancillary services provider also has been increased. The multi-line and multi-type Flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) controllers are playing a vital role to regulate power flow through the transmission line. Unified power flow controller and interline power flow controller can be utilized to control reactive power flow through the transmission line. In a restructured power system, the demand of such controller is being popular due to their inherent capability. The transmission pricing by using reactive power cost allocation through modified matrix methodology has been proposed. The FACTS technologies have quite costly assembly, so it is very useful to apportion the expenses throughout the restructured electricity industry. Therefore, in this work, after embedding the FACTS devices into load flow, the impact on the costs allocated to users in fraction to the transmission framework utilization has been analyzed. From the obtained results, it is clear that the total cost recovery is enhanced towards the Reactive Power flow through the different transmission line for 5 bus test system. The fair pricing policy towards reactive power can be achieved by the proposed method incorporating FACTS controller towards cost recovery of the transmission network.

Keywords: Inter line power flow controller, Transmission Pricing, Unified power flow controller, cost allocation.

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Authors: Teresa L. Ju, Szu-Yuan Sun, Pei-Ju Chao, Chang-Yao Wu

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This study aims to examine the factors affecting knowledge sharing behavior in knowledge-based electronic communities (e-communities) because quantity and quality of knowledge shared among the members play a critical role in the community-s sustainability. Past research has suggested three perspectives that may affect the quantity and quality of knowledge shared: economics, social psychology, and social ecology. In this study, we strongly believe that an economic perspective may be suitable to validate factors influencing newly registered members- knowledge contribution at the beginning of relationship development. Accordingly, this study proposes a model to validate the factors influencing members- knowledge sharing based on Transaction Cost Theory. By doing so, we may empirically test our hypotheses in various types of e-communities to determine the generalizability of our research models.

Keywords: Electronic community, individual behavior, knowledge sharing, transaction cost theory.

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Authors: Beata Czarnacka-Chrobot

Abstract:

Execution of Business Software Systems (BSS) Development and Enhancement Projects (D&EP) is characterized by the exceptionally low effectiveness, leading to considerable financial losses. The general reason for low effectiveness of such projects is that they are inappropriately managed. One of the factors of proper BSS D&EP management is suitable (reliable and objective) method of project work effort estimation since this is what determines correct estimation of its major attributes: project cost and duration. BSS D&EP is usually considered to be accomplished effectively if product of a planned functionality is delivered without cost and time overrun. The goal of this paper is to prove that choosing approach to the BSS D&EP work effort estimation has a considerable influence on the effectiveness of such projects execution.

Keywords: Business software systems, development and enhancement projects, effectiveness, work effort estimation methods, software product size, software product functionality, project duration, project cost.

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Authors: M. A. Fouad, M. A. Badr, Z. S. Abd El-Rehim, Taher Halawa, Mahmoud Bayoumi, M. M. Ibrahim

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Renewable energy-based micro-grids are presently attracting significant consideration. The smart grid system is presently considered a reliable solution for the expected deficiency in the power required from future power systems. The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal components sizes of a micro-grid, investigating technical and economic performance with the environmental impacts. The micro grid load is divided into two small factories with electricity, both on-grid and off-grid modes are considered. The micro-grid includes photovoltaic cells, back-up diesel generator wind turbines, and battery bank. The estimated load pattern is 76 kW peak. The system is modeled and simulated by MATLAB/Simulink tool to identify the technical issues based on renewable power generation units. To evaluate system economy, two criteria are used: the net present cost and the cost of generated electricity. The most feasible system components for the selected application are obtained, based on required parameters, using HOMER simulation package. The results showed that a Wind/Photovoltaic (W/PV) on-grid system is more economical than a Wind/Photovoltaic/Diesel/Battery (W/PV/D/B) off-grid system as the cost of generated electricity (COE) is 0.266 $/kWh and 0.316 $/kWh, respectively. Considering the cost of carbon dioxide emissions, the off-grid will be competitive to the on-grid system as COE is found to be (0.256 $/kWh, 0.266 $/kWh), for on and off grid systems.

Keywords: Optimum energy systems, renewable energy sources, smart grid, micro-grid system, on- grid system, off-grid system, modeling and simulation, economical evaluation, net present value, cost of energy, environmental impacts.

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Authors: Maziyar Nouraee

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Electronic markets in recent decades contribute remarkably in business transactions. Many organizations consider traditional ways of trade non-economical and therefore they do trade only through electronic markets. There are different categorizations of electronic markets functions. In one classification, functions of electronic markets are categorized into classes as information, transactions, and value added. In the present paper, effects of the three classes on the two major elements of the supply chain management are measured. The two elements are decrease in the product unit cost and reduction in response time to the customer. The results of the current research show that among nine minor elements related to the three classes of electronic markets functions, six factors and three factors influence on reduction of the product unit cost and reduction of response time to the customer, respectively.

Keywords: Electronic Commerce, Electronic Market, B2B Trade, Supply Chain Management.

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Authors: W. C. Bracken

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Given that concrete masonry walls are expected to experience shrinkage combined with thermal expansion and contraction, and in some cases even carbonation, throughout their service life, cracking is to be expected. However, after concrete masonry walls have been placed into service, originally anticipated and accounted for cracking is often misdiagnosed as a structural defect. Such misdiagnoses often result in or are used to support litigation. This paper begins by discussing the causes and types of anticipated cracking within concrete masonry walls followed by a discussion on the processes and analyses that exists for properly evaluating them and their significance. From here, the paper then presents a case of misdiagnosed concrete masonry cracking and the flawed logic employed to support litigation.

Keywords: Concrete masonry, masonry wall cracking, structural defect, structural damage, construction defect, forensic investigation.

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Authors: Jin Woo Hwang, Byung Kwan Oh, Yousok Kim, Hyo Seon Park

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As greenhouse effect has been recognized as serious environmental problem of the world, interests in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission which comprises major part of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been increased recently. Since construction industry takes a relatively large portion of total CO₂ emissions of the world, extensive studies about reducing CO₂ emissions in construction and operation of building have been carried out after the 2000s. Also, performance based design (PBD) methodology based on nonlinear analysis has been robustly developed after Northridge Earthquake in 1994 to assure and assess seismic performance of building more exactly because structural engineers recognized that prescriptive code based design approach cannot address inelastic earthquake responses directly and assure performance of building exactly. Although CO₂ emissions and PBD approach are recent rising issues on construction industry and structural engineering, there were few or no researches considering these two issues simultaneously. Thus, the objective of this study is to minimize the CO₂ emissions and cost of building designed by PBD approach in structural design stage considering structural materials. 4 story and 4 span reinforced concrete building optimally designed to minimize CO₂ emissions and cost of building and to satisfy specific seismic performance (collapse prevention in maximum considered earthquake) of building satisfying prescriptive code regulations using non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II). Optimized design result showed that minimized CO₂ emissions and cost of building were acquired satisfying specific seismic performance. Therefore, the methodology proposed in this paper can be used to reduce both CO₂ emissions and cost of building designed by PBD approach.

Keywords: CO2 emissions, performance based design, optimization, sustainable design.

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Authors: Faraj El Dabee, Romeo Marian, Yousef Amer

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Just-In-Time (JIT) is a lean manufacturing tool, which provides the benefits of efficiency, and of minimizing unnecessary costs for many organisations. However, the risks arising from these benefits have been disregarded. These risks impact on system processes disrupting the whole supply chain. This paper proposes an inventory model that can simultaneously reduce costs and risks in JIT systems. This model is developed to ascertain an optimal ordering strategy for procuring raw materials by using regular multi-external and local backup suppliers to reduce the total cost of the products, and at the same time to reduce the risks arising from this cost reduction within production systems. Some results that will be illustrated in the second part of this paper are presented.

Keywords: Lean manufacturing, Just-in-Time (JIT), production system, cost-risk reduction, inventory model, eternal supplier, local backup supplier.

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Authors: Zoltan Theisz, Gergely Mezei

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Modern industrial automation relies on service oriented concepts of Internet of Things (IoT) device modeling in order to provide a flexible and extendable environment for service meta-repository. However, state-of-the-art meta-modeling techniques prefer design-time modeling, which results in a heavy usage of class sometimes unnecessary static subtyping. Although this approach benefits from clear-cut object-oriented design principles, it also seals the model repository for further dynamic extensions. In this paper, a dynamic multi-level modeling approach is introduced that enables dynamic subtyping through a more relaxed partial instantiation mechanism. The approach is demonstrated on a simple sensor network example.

Keywords: Meta-modeling, dynamic subtyping, DMLA, industrial automation, arrowhead.

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Authors: Joerg Schweizer, Jason N. Meggs, Nazanin R. Dehkordi, Frederico Rupi, Anton Pashkevich

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We propose a low-cost uniform analysis framework allowing comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of the bicycling experience within and between cities. A primary component is an expedient, one-page mobility survey from which mode share is calculated. The bicycle mode share of many cities remains unknown, creating a serious barrier for both scientists and policy makers aiming to understand and increase rates of bicycling. Because of its low cost and expedience, this framework could be replicated widely, uniformly filling the data gap. The framework has been applied to 13 Central European cities with success. Data is collected on multiple modes with specific questions regarding both behavior and quality of travel experience. Individual preferences are also collected, examining the conditions under which respondents would change behavior to adopt more sustainable modes (bicycling or public transportation). A broad analysis opportunity results, intended to inform policy choices.

Keywords: bicycling, modal splits, transport policy, surveys.

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Authors: Dezhi Li, Peng Cui, Bo Zhang, Tengyuan Chang

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In order to solve the housing problem for the low-income families, the construction of affordable housing is booming in China. However, due to various reasons, the service facilities and systems in the indemnificatory residential community meet many problems. This article established a Satisfaction Evaluation System of the Fundamental Public Services for Large-scale Indemnificatory Residential Community based on the national standards and local criteria and developed evaluation methods and processes. At last, in the case of Huagang project in Nanjing, the satisfaction of basic public service is calculated according to a survey of local residents.

Keywords: Indemnificatory residential community, public services, satisfaction evaluation, structural equation modeling.

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Authors: Asar Khan, Peter D. Widdop, Andrew J. Day, Aliaster S. Wood, Steve, R. Mounce, John Machell

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This paper describes an automated event detection and location system for water distribution pipelines which is based upon low-cost sensor technology and signature analysis by an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The development of a low cost failure sensor which measures the opacity or cloudiness of the local water flow has been designed, developed and validated, and an ANN based system is then described which uses time series data produced by sensors to construct an empirical model for time series prediction and classification of events. These two components have been installed, tested and verified in an experimental site in a UK water distribution system. Verification of the system has been achieved from a series of simulated burst trials which have provided real data sets. It is concluded that the system has potential in water distribution network management.

Keywords: Detection, leakage, neural networks, sensors, water distribution networks

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Authors: Inês Ramalhete, Hugo Farias, Rui da Silva Pinto

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Adequate housing has been a widely discussed theme in academic circles related to low-cost housing, whereas its physical features are easy to deal with, overcrowding (related to social, cultural and economic aspects) is still ambiguous, particularly regarding the set of indicators that can accurately reflect and measure it. This paper develops research on low-cost housing models for developing countries and what is the best method to embed overcrowding as an important parameter for adaptability. A critical review of international overcrowding indicators and their application in two developing countries, Cape Verde and Angola, is presented. The several rationales and the constraints for an accurate assessment of overcrowding are considered, namely baseline data (statistics), which can induce misjudgments, as well as social and cultural factors (such as personal choices of residents). This paper proposes a way to tackle overcrowding through housing adaptability, considering factors such as physical flexibility, functional ambiguity, and incremental expansion schemes. Moreover, a case-study is presented to establish a framework for the theoretical application of the proposed approach.

Keywords: Adaptive housing, low-cost housing, overcrowding.

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Authors: Dina K. Badawy, Dina M. Ibrahim, Alsayed A. Sallam

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Distributed database is a collection of logically related databases that cooperate in a transparent manner. Query processing uses a communication network for transmitting data between sites. It refers to one of the challenges in the database world. The development of sophisticated query optimization technology is the reason for the commercial success of database systems, which complexity and cost increase with increasing number of relations in the query. Mariposa, query trading and query trading with processing task-trading strategies developed for autonomous distributed database systems, but they cause high optimization cost because of involvement of all nodes in generating an optimal plan. In this paper, we proposed a modification on the autonomous strategy K-QTPT that make the seller’s nodes with the lowest cost have gradually high priorities to reduce the optimization time. We implement our proposed strategy and present the results and analysis based on those results.

Keywords: Autonomous strategies, distributed database systems, high priority, query optimization.

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Authors: Mejía M. Paula, Ramírez L. Leonardo, Puerta A. Gabriel

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In telemedicine, the image repository service is important to increase the accuracy of diagnostic support of medical personnel. This study makes comparison between two routing algorithms regarding the quality of service (QoS), to be able to analyze the optimal performance at the time of loading and/or downloading of medical images. This study focused on comparing the performance of Tabu Search with other heuristic and metaheuristic algorithms that improve QoS in telemedicine services in Colombia. For this, Tabu Search and Simulated Annealing heuristic algorithms are chosen for their high usability in this type of applications; the QoS is measured taking into account the following metrics: Delay, Throughput, Jitter and Latency. In addition, routing tests were carried out on ten images in digital image and communication in medicine (DICOM) format of 40 MB. These tests were carried out for ten minutes with different traffic conditions, reaching a total of 25 tests, from a server of Universidad Militar Nueva Granada (UMNG) in Bogotá-Colombia to a remote user in Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH) - Chile. The results show that Tabu search presents a better QoS performance compared to Simulated Annealing, managing to optimize the routing of medical images, a basic requirement to offer diagnostic images services in telemedicine.

Keywords: Medical image, QoS, simulated annealing, Tabu search, telemedicine.

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