Abstract: One of the determinants of a firm-s prosperity is the
customers- perceived service quality and satisfaction. While service
quality is wide in scope, and consists of various dimensions, there
may be differences in the relative importance of these dimensions in
affecting customers- overall satisfaction of service quality.
Identifying the relative rank of different dimensions of service quality
is very important in that it can help managers to find out which
service dimensions have a greater effect on customers- overall
satisfaction. Such an insight will consequently lead to more effective
resource allocation which will finally end in higher levels of
customer satisfaction. This issue –despite its criticality- has not
received enough attention so far. Therefore, using a sample of 240
bank customers in Iran, an artificial neural network is developed to
address this gap in the literature. As customers- evaluation of service
quality is a subjective process, artificial neural networks –as a brain
metaphor- may appear to have a potentiality to model such a
complicated process. Proposing a neural network which is able to
predict the customers- overall satisfaction of service quality with a
promising level of accuracy is the first contribution of this study. In
addition, prioritizing the service quality dimensions in affecting
customers- overall satisfaction –by using sensitivity analysis of
neural network- is the second important finding of this paper.
Abstract: Intravitreal injection (IVI) is the most common treatment for eye posterior segment diseases such as endopthalmitis, retinitis, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, uveitis, and retinal detachment. Most of the drugs used to treat vitreoretinal diseases, have a narrow concentration range in which they are effective, and may be toxic at higher concentrations. Therefore, it is critical to know the drug distribution within the eye following intravitreal injection. Having knowledge of drug distribution, ophthalmologists can decide on drug injection frequency while minimizing damage to tissues. The goal of this study was to develop a computer model to predict intraocular concentrations and pharmacokinetics of intravitreally injected drugs. A finite volume model was created to predict distribution of two drugs with different physiochemical properties in the rabbit eye. The model parameters were obtained from literature review. To validate this numeric model, the in vivo data of spatial concentration profile from the lens to the retina were compared with the numeric data. The difference was less than 5% between the numerical and experimental data. This validation provides strong support for the numerical methodology and associated assumptions of the current study.
Abstract: This paper is mainly concerned with the application of a novel technique of data interpretation to the characterization and classification of measurements of plasma columns in Tokamak reactors for nuclear fusion applications. The proposed method exploits several concepts derived from soft computing theory. In particular, Artifical Neural Networks have been exploited to classify magnetic variables useful to determine shape and position of the plasma with a reduced computational complexity. The proposed technique is used to analyze simulated databases of plasma equilibria based on ITER geometry configuration. As well as demonstrating the successful recovery of scalar equilibrium parameters, we show that the technique can yield practical advantages compares with earlier methods.
Abstract: Modern organizations operate under the pressure of
dynamic and often unpredictable changes, both in external and
internal environment. Market success, in this context, requires a
particular competence in the form of flexibility, interpreted here both
on the level of individuals and on the level of organization. This
paper addresses the changes taking place in the sphere of
employment, as observed in economic entities operating on Polish
market. Based on own empirical studies, the authors focus on the
progressing trend of ‘flexibilization’ of employment, particularly in
the context of transformations in organizational structure, designed to
facilitate the transition into management by projects and
differentiation of labor forms.
Abstract: A finite element analysis (FEA) computer software HyperWorks is utilized in re-designing an automotive component to reduce its mass. Reduction of components mass contributes towards environmental sustainability by saving world-s valuable metal resources and by reducing carbon emission through improved overall vehicle fuel efficiency. A shape optimization analysis was performed on a rear spindle component. Pre-processing and solving procedures were performed using HyperMesh and RADIOSS respectively. Shape variables were defined using HyperMorph. Then optimization solver OptiStruct was utilized with fatigue life set as a design constraint. Since Stress-Number of Cycle (S-N) theory deals with uni-axial stress, the Signed von Misses stress on the component was used for looking up damage on S-N curve, and Gerber criterion for mean stress corrections. The optimization analysis resulted in mass reduction of 24% of the original mass. The study proved that the adopted approach has high potential use for environmental sustainability.
Abstract: Despite the fact that B2c eCommerce has become
important in numerous economies, its adoption varies from country to
country. This paper aims to identify the factors affecting (enabling or
inhibiting) B2c eCommerce and to determine their quantitative
impact on the diffusion of online sales across countries. A dynamic
panel model analyzing the relationship between 13 factors
(Macroeconomic, Demographic, Socio-Cultural, Infrastructural and
Offer related) stemming from a complete literature analysis and the
B2c eCommerce value in 45 countries over 9 years has been
developed. Having a positive correlation coefficient, GDP, mobile
penetration, Internet user penetration and credit card penetration
resulted as enabling drivers of the B2c eCommerce value across
countries, whereas, having a negative correlation coefficient,equal
distribution of income and the development of traditional retailing
network act as inhibiting factors.
Abstract: The conceptually construction of axially chiral indolostilbenesi.eN-(2-{(E)-2-[2'-(1-Acetyl-1H-indol-2-yl)-3'chloro-4,4',6,6'-tetramethoxy[1,1'-biphenyl]-2yl]ethenyl}phenyl)acetamide and N-(2-{(E)-2-[2'-(1-Acetyl-1H-indol-2-yl)-3'-chloro-2,4',6,6'-tetramethoxy[1,1'-biphenyl]-4-yl]ethenyl}phenyl) acetamide are described in this paper. These structure, were obtained by the tactical combination of palladium-catalyzed coupling which produced 10-acetamido-3,5-dimethoxystilbene, follow by FeCl3-induced oxidative cyclization/dimerisation. All structures were unambiguously confirmed by 1D (1H, 13C) and 2D NMR experiment, (COSY, HMQC, HMBC) and mass spectrometry.
Abstract: In this paper an attempt has been made to correlate the usefulness of electrodes made through powder metallurgy (PM) in comparison with conventional copper electrode during electric discharge machining. Experimental results are presented on electric discharge machining of AISI D2 steel in kerosene with copper tungsten (30% Cu and 70% W) tool electrode made through powder metallurgy (PM) technique and Cu electrode. An L18 (21 37) orthogonal array of Taguchi methodology was used to identify the effect of process input factors (viz. current, duty cycle and flushing pressure) on the output factors {viz. material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR)}. It was found that CuW electrode (made through PM) gives high surface finish where as the Cu electrode is better for higher material removal rate.
Abstract: To help the client to select a competent agent
construction enterprise (ACE), this study aims to investigate the
selection standards by using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process
(FAHP) and build an evaluation mathematical model with Grey
Relational Analysis (GRA). According to the outputs of literature
review, four orderly levels are established within the model, taking the
consideration of various agent construction models in practice. Then,
the process of applying FAHP and GRA is discussed in detailed.
Finally, through a case study, this paper illustrates how to apply these
methods in getting the weights of each standard and the final
assessment result.
Abstract: Musculoskeletal problems are common in high
performance dance population. This study attempts to identify lower
extremity muscle flexibility parameters prevailing among
bharatanatyam dancers and analyze if there is any significant
difference exist between normal and injured dancers in flexibility
parameters. Four hundred and one female dancers and 17 male
dancers were participated in this study. Flexibility parameters
(hamstring tightness, hip internal and external rotation and
tendoachilles in supine and sitting posture) were measured using
goniometer. Results of our study it is evident that injured female
bharathnatyam dancers had significantly (p < 0.05) high hamstring
tightness on left side lower extremity compared to normal female
dancers. The range of motion for left tendoachilles was significantly
(p < 0.05) high for the normal female group when compared to
injured dancers during supine lying posture. Majority of the injured
dancers had high hamstring tightness that could be a possible reason
for pain and MSDs.
Abstract: Fair share objective has been included into the goaloriented
parallel computer job scheduling policy recently. However,
the previous work only presented the overall scheduling performance.
Thus, the per-user performance of the policy is still lacking. In this
work, the details of per-user fair share performance under the
Tradeoff-fs(Tx:avgX) policy will be further evaluated. A basic fair
share priority backfill policy namely RelShare(1d) is also studied.
The performance of all policies is collected using an event-driven
simulator with three real job traces as input. The experimental results
show that the high demand users are usually benefited under most
policies because their jobs are large or they have a lot of jobs. In the
large job case, one job executed may result in over-share during that
period. In the other case, the jobs may be backfilled for
performances. However, the users with a mixture of jobs may suffer
because if the smaller jobs are executing the priority of the remaining
jobs from the same user will be lower. Further analysis does not show
any significant impact of users with a lot of jobs or users with a large
runtime approximation error.