Abstract: In this paper, there is concentration on collaborative transportation planning (CTP) among multiple carriers with pickup and delivery requests and time windows. This problem is a vehicle routing problem with constraints from standard vehicle routing problems and new constraints from a real-world application. In the problem, each carrier has a finite number of vehicles, and each request is a pickup and delivery request with time window. Moreover, each carrier has reserved requests, which must be served by itself, whereas its exchangeable requests can be outsourced to and served by other carriers. This collaboration among carriers can help them to reduce total transportation costs. A mixed integer programming model is proposed to the problem. To solve the model, a hybrid algorithm that combines Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing (GASA) is proposed. This algorithm takes advantages of GASA at the same time. After tuning the parameters of the algorithm with the Taguchi method, the experiments are conducted and experimental results are provided for the hybrid algorithm. The results are compared with those obtained by a commercial solver. The comparison indicates that the GASA significantly outperforms the commercial solver.
Abstract: We develop a periodically-poled LiNbO3 (PPLN)
device for highly-efficient third-harmonic generation (THG), where
the THG efficiency is enhanced with a cavity. THG can usually be
produced via χ(3)-nonlinear materials by optical pumping with very
high pump-power. Instead, we here propose THG by moderate-power
pumping through a specially-designed PPLN device containing
only χ(2)-nonlinearity, where sum-frequency generation in the χ(2)
process is employed for the mixing of a pump beam and a
second-harmonic-generation (SHG) beam produced from the pump
beam. The cavity is designed to increase the SHG power with dichroic
mirrors attached to both ends of the device that perfectly reflect
the SHG beam back to the device and yet let the pump and THG
beams pass through the mirrors. This brings about a THG-power
enhancement because of THG power proportional to the enhanced
SHG power. We examine the THG-efficiency dependence on the
mirror reflectance and show that very high THG-efficiency is obtained
at moderate pump-power when compared with that of a cavity-free
PPLN device.
Abstract: This paper presents the static and cyclic stresses in combination with fatigue analysis resultant of loads applied on the friction discs usually utilized on industrial clutches. The material chosen to simulate the friction discs under load is aluminum. The numerical simulation was done by software COMSOLTM Multiphysics. The results obtained for static loads showed enough stiffness for both geometries and the material utilized. On the other hand, in the fatigue standpoint, failure is clearly verified, what demonstrates the importance of both approaches, mainly dynamical analysis. The results and the conclusion are based on the stresses on disc, counted stress cycles, and fatigue usage factor.
Abstract: One of the main aims of current social robotic research
is to improve the robots’ abilities to interact with humans. In order
to achieve an interaction similar to that among humans, robots
should be able to communicate in an intuitive and natural way
and appropriately interpret human affects during social interactions.
Similarly to how humans are able to recognize emotions in other
humans, machines are capable of extracting information from the
various ways humans convey emotions—including facial expression,
speech, gesture or text—and using this information for improved
human computer interaction. This can be described as Affective
Computing, an interdisciplinary field that expands into otherwise
unrelated fields like psychology and cognitive science and involves
the research and development of systems that can recognize and
interpret human affects. To leverage these emotional capabilities
by embedding them in humanoid robots is the foundation of
the concept Affective Robots, which has the objective of making
robots capable of sensing the user’s current mood and personality
traits and adapt their behavior in the most appropriate manner
based on that. In this paper, the emotion recognition capabilities
of the humanoid robot Pepper are experimentally explored, based
on the facial expressions for the so-called basic emotions, as
well as how it performs in contrast to other state-of-the-art
approaches with both expression databases compiled in academic
environments and real subjects showing posed expressions as well
as spontaneous emotional reactions. The experiments’ results show
that the detection accuracy amongst the evaluated approaches differs
substantially. The introduced experiments offer a general structure
and approach for conducting such experimental evaluations. The
paper further suggests that the most meaningful results are obtained
by conducting experiments with real subjects expressing the emotions
as spontaneous reactions.
Abstract: Seabed instability around an offshore pipeline is one
of key factors that need to be considered in the design of offshore
infrastructures. Unlike previous investigations, a three-dimensional
numerical model for the wave-induced soil response around an
offshore pipeline is proposed in this paper. The numerical model was
first validated with 2-D experimental data available in the literature.
Then, a parametric study will be carried out to examine the effects of
wave, seabed characteristics and confirmation of pipeline. Numerical
examples demonstrate significant influence of wave obliquity on the
wave-induced pore pressures and the resultant seabed liquefaction
around the pipeline, which cannot be observed in 2-D numerical
simulation.
Abstract: In order to survive on the market, companies must
constantly develop improved and new products. These products are
designed to serve the needs of their customers in the best possible
way. The creation of new products is also called innovation and is
primarily driven by a company’s internal research and development
department. However, a new approach has been taking place for some
years now, involving external knowledge in the innovation process.
This approach is called open innovation and identifies customer
knowledge as the most important source in the innovation process. This paper presents a concept of using social media posts as an external source to support the open innovation approach in its
initial phase, the Ideation phase. For this purpose, the social media
posts are semantically structured with the help of an ontology and
the authors are evaluated using graph-theoretical metrics such as
density. For the structuring and evaluation of relevant social media
posts, we also use the findings of Natural Language Processing, e.
g. Named Entity Recognition, specific dictionaries, Triple Tagger
and Part-of-Speech-Tagger. The selection and evaluation of the tools
used are discussed in this paper. Using our ontology and metrics
to structure social media posts enables users to semantically search
these posts for new product ideas and thus gain an improved insight
into the external sources such as customer needs.
Abstract: The multi-level inverters present an important novelty in the field of energy control with high voltage and power. The major advantage of all multi-level inverters is the improvement and spectral quality of its generated output signals. In recent years, various pulse width modulation techniques have been developed. From these technics we have: Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) and Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM). This work presents a detailed analysis of the comparative advantage of space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) and the standard SPWM technique for Three Level Diode Clamped Inverter fed Induction Motor. The comparison is based on the evaluation of harmonic distortion THD.
Abstract: A bio-sensing method, based on the plasmonic property of gold nano-islands, has been developed for detection of exosomes in a clinical setting. The position of the gold plasmon band in the UV-Visible spectrum depends on the size and shape of gold nanoparticles as well as on the surrounding environment. By adsorbing various chemical entities, or binding them, the gold plasmon band will shift toward longer wavelengths and the shift is proportional to the concentration. Exosomes transport cargoes of molecules and genetic materials to proximal and distal cells. Presently, the standard method for their isolation and quantification from body fluids is by ultracentrifugation, not a practical method to be implemented in a clinical setting. Thus, a versatile and cutting-edge platform is required to selectively detect and isolate exosomes for further analysis at clinical level. The new sensing protocol, instead of antibodies, makes use of a specially synthesized polypeptide (Vn96), to capture and quantify the exosomes from different media, by binding the heat shock proteins from exosomes. The protocol has been established and optimized by using a glass substrate, in order to facilitate the next stage, namely the transfer of the protocol to a microfluidic environment. After each step of the protocol, the UV-Vis spectrum was recorded and the position of gold Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) band was measured. The sensing process was modelled, taking into account the characteristics of the nano-island structure, prepared by thermal convection and annealing. The optimal molar ratios of the most important chemical entities, involved in the detection of exosomes were calculated as well. Indeed, it was found that the results of the sensing process depend on the two major steps: the molar ratios of streptavidin to biotin-PEG-Vn96 and, the final step, the capture of exosomes by the biotin-PEG-Vn96 complex. The microfluidic device designed for sensing of exosomes consists of a glass substrate, sealed by a PDMS layer that contains the channel and a collecting chamber. In the device, the solutions of linker, cross-linker, etc., are pumped over the gold nano-islands and an Ocean Optics spectrometer is used to measure the position of the Au plasmon band at each step of the sensing. The experiments have shown that the shift of the Au LSPR band is proportional to the concentration of exosomes and, thereby, exosomes can be accurately quantified. An important advantage of the method is the ability to discriminate between exosomes having different origins.
Abstract: Jharkhand is newly constituted 28th State in the eastern part of India which is known for the oldest settlement of the indigenous people. In the State of Jharkhand in which broadly three language family are found namely, Austric, Dravidian, and Indo-European. Ex-Mundari, kharia, Ho Santali come from the Austric Language family. Kurukh, Malto under Dravidian language family and Nagpuri Khorta etc. under Indo-European language family. There are 32 Indigenous Communities identified as Scheduled Tribe in the State of Jharkhand. Santhal, Munda, Kahria, Ho and Oraons are some of the major Tribe of the Jharkhand state. Jharkhand has a Rich Cultural heritage which includes Folk art, folklore, Folk Dance, Folk Music, Folk Songs for which diversity can been seen from place to place, season to season and all traditional Culture and practices. The languages as well as the songs are vulnerable to dominant culture and hence needed to be protected. The collection and documentation of these songs in their natural setting adds significant contribution to the conservation and propagation of the cultural elements. This paper reflects to bring out the Originality of the Collected Songs from remote areas of the plateau of Sothern Jharkhand as a rich intangible Cultural heritage of the Country. The research was done through participatory observation. In this research project more than 100 songs which were never documented before.
Abstract: In this article, Optimal Control for Coordinated Control (COC) of Series Vectorial Compensator (SVeC) and Power System Stabilizer (PSS) in order to damp Low Frequency Oscillations (LFO) is proposed. SVeC is a series Flexible Alternating Current Transmission System (FACTS) device. The Optimal Control strategy based on state feedback control for coordination of PSS and SVeC controllers under different loading conditions has not been developed. So, the Optimal State Feedback Controller (OSFC) for incorporating of PSS and SVeC controllers in COC manner has been developed in this paper. The performance of the proposed controller is checked through eigenvalue analysis and nonlinear time domain simulation results. The proposed Optimal Controller design for the COC of SVeC and PSS results will be analyzed without controller. The comparative results show that Optimal Controller for COC of SVeC and PSSs improve greatly the system damping LFO than without controller.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to get insight on the nature of university-industry technology transfer (UITT) and technology transfer offices (TTOs) activity at universities in the case of emerging economies. In relation to the process of transferring knowledge/technology in the case of emerging economies, knowledge/technology transfer in these economies are more reactive than in developed economies due to differences in maturity of technologies. It is assumed in this paper that knowledge/technology transfer is a complex phenomenon, and thus the paper contributes to get insight on the nature of UITT and TTOs creation in the case of emerging economies by using a system dynamics model of knowledge/technology transfer in these countries. The paper recognizes the differences between industrialized countries and emerging economies on these phenomena.
Abstract: The modern world faces huge challenges. Globalization changed the socio-economic conditions of many countries. The current processes in the global environment have a different impact on countries with different cultures. However, an alleviation of poverty and improvement of living conditions is still the basic challenge for the majority of countries, because much of the population still lives under the official threshold of poverty. It is very important to stimulate youth employment. In order to prepare young people for the labour market, it is essential to provide them with the appropriate professional skills and knowledge. It is necessary to plan efficient activities for decreasing an unemployment rate and for developing the perfect mechanisms for regulation of a labour market. Such planning requires thorough study and analysis of existing reality, as well as development of corresponding mechanisms. Statistical analysis of unemployment is one of the main platforms for regulation of the labour market key mechanisms. The corresponding statistical methods should be used in the study process. Such methods are observation, gathering, grouping, and calculation of the generalized indicators. Unemployment is one of the most severe socioeconomic problems in Georgia. According to the past as well as the current statistics, unemployment rates always have been the most problematic issue to resolve for policy makers. Analytical works towards to the above-mentioned problem will be the basis for the next sustainable steps to solve the main problem. The results of the study showed that the choice of young people is not often due to their inclinations, their interests and the labour market demand. That is why the wrong professional orientation of young people in most cases leads to their unemployment. At the same time, it was shown that there are a number of professions in the labour market with a high demand because of the deficit the appropriate specialties. To achieve healthy competitiveness in youth employment, it is necessary to formulate regional employment programs with taking into account the regional infrastructure specifications.
Abstract: The main objective of this work is to enhance the Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC) response from the aluminum structure using signal processing. Cracks and metal loss in different structures cause changes in PEC response measurements. In this paper, time-frequency analysis is used to represent PEC response, which generates a large quantity of data and reduce the noise due to measurement. Power Spectral Density (PSD) after Wavelet Decomposition (PSD-WD) is proposed for defect detection. The experimental results demonstrate that the cracks in the surface can be extracted satisfactorily by the proposed methods. The validity of the proposed method is discussed.
Abstract: In recent few decades, business process management (BPM) has been in focus of a great number of researchers and organizations. There are many benefits derived from the implementation of BPM in organizations. However, there has been also noticed that lately traditional BPM faces some difficulties in terms of the divide between models and their execution, lost innovations, lack of information fusioning and so on. As a result, there has been a new discipline, called social BPM, which incorporates principles of social software into the BPM. On the other hand, many researchers indicate organizational culture as a vital part of the BPM success and maturity. Therefore, the goal of this study is to investigate the current state of BPM maturity and the usage of social BPM among the organizations from Croatia, Slovenia and Austria, with the regards to the organizational culture as well. The paper presents the results of a survey conducted as part of the PROSPER project (IP-2014-09-3729), financed by Croatian Science Foundation. The results indicate differences in the level of BPM maturity, the usage of social BPM and the dominant organizational culture in the observed organizations from different countries. These differences are further discussed in the paper.
Abstract: With this contribution, we want to show how the AiRT system could change the future way of working of a part of the creative industry and what new economic opportunities could arise for them. Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), also more commonly known as drones, are now essential tools used by many different companies for their creative outdoor work. However, using this very flexible applicable tool indoor is almost impossible, since safe navigation cannot be guaranteed by the operator due to the lack of a reliable and affordable indoor positioning system which ensures a stable flight, among other issues. Here we present our first results of a European project, which consists of developing an indoor drone for professional footage especially designed for the creative industries. One of the main achievements of this project is the successful implication of the end-users in the overall design process from the very beginning. To ensure safe flight in confined spaces, our drone incorporates a positioning system based on ultra-wide band technology, an RGB-D (depth) camera for 3D environment reconstruction and the possibility to fully pre-program automatic flights. Since we also want to offer this tool for inexperienced pilots, we have always focused on user-friendly handling of the whole system throughout the entire process.
Abstract: Image retrieval is the most interesting technique which is being used today in our digital world. CBIR, commonly expanded as Content Based Image Retrieval is an image processing technique which identifies the relevant images and retrieves them based on the patterns that are extracted from the digital images. In this paper, two research works have been presented using CBIR. The first work provides an automated and interactive approach to the analysis of CBIR techniques. CBIR works on the principle of supervised machine learning which involves feature selection followed by training and testing phase applied on a classifier in order to perform prediction. By using feature extraction, the image transforms such as Contourlet, Ridgelet and Shearlet could be utilized to retrieve the texture features from the images. The features extracted are used to train and build a classifier using the classification algorithms such as Naïve Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbour and Multi-class Support Vector Machine. Further the testing phase involves prediction which predicts the new input image using the trained classifier and label them from one of the four classes namely 1- Normal brain, 2- Benign tumour, 3- Malignant tumour and 4- Severe tumour. The second research work includes developing a tool which is used for tumour stage identification using the best feature extraction and classifier identified from the first work. Finally, the tool will be used to predict tumour stage and provide suggestions based on the stage of tumour identified by the system. This paper presents these two approaches which is a contribution to the medical field for giving better retrieval performance and for tumour stages identification.
Abstract: In this study, we have investigated the strict stability
of fuzzy differential systems and we compare the classical notion of
strict stability criteria of ordinary differential equations and the notion
of strict stability of fuzzy differential systems. In addition that, we
present definitions of stability and strict stability of fuzzy differential
equations and also we have some theorems and comparison results.
Strict Stability is a different stability definition and this stability
type can give us an information about the rate of decay of the
solutions. Lyapunov’s second method is a standard technique used
in the study of the qualitative behavior of fuzzy differential systems
along with a comparison result that allows the prediction of behavior
of a fuzzy differential system when the behavior of the null solution
of a fuzzy comparison system is known. This method is a usefull
for investigating strict stability of fuzzy systems. First of all, we
present definitions and necessary background material. Secondly, we
discuss and compare the differences between the classical notion
of stability and the recent notion of strict stability. And then, we
have a comparison result in which the stability properties of the null
solution of the comparison system imply the corresponding stability
properties of the fuzzy differential system. Consequently, we give
the strict stability results and a comparison theorem. We have used
Lyapunov second method and we have proved a comparison result
with scalar differential equations.
Abstract: Open Multiagent Systems (MASs) are societies in
which heterogeneous and independently designed entities (agents)
work towards similar, or different ends. Software agents are
autonomous and the diversity of interests among different members
living in the same society is a fact. In order to deal with this
autonomy, these open systems use mechanisms of social control
(norms) to ensure a desirable social order. This paper considers the
following types of norms: (i) obligation — agents must accomplish
a specific outcome; (ii) permission — agents may act in a particular
way, and (iii) prohibition — agents must not act in a specific way. All
of these characteristics mean to encourage the fulfillment of norms
through rewards and to discourage norm violation by pointing out the
punishments. Once the software agent decides that its priority is the
satisfaction of its own desires and goals, each agent must evaluate
the effects associated to the fulfillment of one or more norms before
choosing which one should be fulfilled. The same applies when agents
decide to violate a norm. This paper also introduces a framework
for the development of MASs that provide support mechanisms
to the agent’s decision-making, using norm-based reasoning. The
applicability and validation of this approach is demonstrated applying
a traffic intersection scenario.
Abstract: Egypt suffers from a severe shortage of data and charts concerning the physical dimensions, measurements, qualities and consumer behavior. The shortage of needed information and appropriate methods has forced the Egyptian designer to use any other foreign standard when designing a product for the Egyptian consumer which has led to many problems. The urgently needed database concerning the physical specifications, measurements of the Egyptian consumers, as well as the need to support the Ergonomics given courses in many colleges and institutes with the latest technologies, is stated as the research problem. Descriptive analytical method relying on the compiling, comparing and analyzing of information and facts in order to get acceptable perceptions, ideas and considerations is the used methodology by the researcher. The research concludes that: 1. Good interaction relationship between users and products shows the success of that product. 2. An integration linkage between the most prominent fields of science specially Ergonomics, Interaction Design and Ethnography should be encouraged to provide an ultimately updated database concerning the nature, specifications and environment of the Egyptian consumer, in order to achieve a higher benefit for both user and product. 3. Chinese economic policy based on the study of market requirements long before any market activities should be emulated. 4. Using Ethnography supports the design activities creating new products or updating existent ones through measuring the compatibility of products with their environment and user expectations, While contracting a joint cooperation between military colleges, sports education institutes from one side, and design institutes from the other side to provide an ultimately updated (annually updated) database concerning some specifications about students of both sexes applying in those institutes (height, weight, etc.) to provide the Industrial designer with the needed information when creating a new product or updating an existing one concerning that category is recommended by the researcher.
Abstract: Recent years have an upward trend in the research of renewable energy sector, due to the low availability of resources and huge consumption of conventional energies. Considerable renewable energy can be achieved from the available solar power with the utilization of collecting systems. Parabolic trough concentrating collector systems are mostly used to utilize maximum availability of solar power. This paper reviews the contributing factors for the overall performance of parabolic trough collectors. Its performance depends on the operating parameters such as the type of receiver and the collector material, medium of heat transfer, type of application and various climatic conditions.