Abstract: Marketing establishes a communication network between producers and consumers. Nowadays, marketing approach is customer-focused and products are directly oriented to meet customer needs. Marketing, which is a long process, needs organization and management. Therefore strategic marketing planning becomes more and more important in today’s competitive conditions. Main focus of this paper is to evaluate pricing strategies and select the best pricing strategy solution while considering internal and external factors influencing the company’s pricing decisions associated with new product development. To reflect the decision maker’s subjective preference information and to determine the weight vector of factors (attributes), the fuzzy linear programming technique for multidimensional analysis of preference (LINMAP) under intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) environments is used.
Abstract: High Resolution NMR Spectroscopy offers unique screening capabilities for food quality and safety by combining non-targeted and targeted screening in one analysis.
The objective is to demonstrate, that due to its extreme reproducibility NMR can detect smallest changes in concentrations of many components in a mixture, which is best monitored by statistical evaluation however also delivers reliable quantification results.
The methodology typically uses a 400 MHz high resolution instrument under full automation after minimized sample preparation.
For example one fruit juice analysis in a push button operation takes at maximum 15 minutes and delivers a multitude of results, which are automatically summarized in a PDF report.
The method has been proven on fruit juices, where so far unknown frauds could be detected. In addition conventional targeted parameters are obtained in the same analysis. This technology has the advantage that NMR is completely quantitative and concentration calibration only has to be done once for all compounds. Since NMR is so reproducible, it is also transferable between different instruments (with same field strength) and laboratories. Based on strict SOP`s, statistical models developed once can be used on multiple instruments and strategies for compound identification and quantification are applicable as well across labs.
Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between the reliability of critical medical equipment (CME) and the effectiveness of CME maintenance management strategies in relation to patient outcomes in 84 public hospitals of a top 20 OECD country. The work has examined the effectiveness of CME maintenance management strategies used by the public hospital system of a large state run health organization. The conceptual framework was designed to examine the significance of the relationship between six variables: (1) types of maintenance management strategies, (2) maintenance services, (3) maintenance practice, (4) medical equipment reliability, (5) maintenance costs and (6) patient outcomes. The results provide interesting insights into the effectiveness of the maintenance strategies used. For example, there appears to be about a 1 in 10 000 probability of failure of anesthesia equipment, but these seem to be confined to specific maintenance situations. There are also some findings in relation to outsourcing of maintenance. For each of the variables listed, results are reported in relation to the various types of maintenance strategies and services. Decision-makers may use these results to evaluate more effective maintenance strategies for their CME and generate more effective patient outcomes.
Abstract: The success of renewable powered electric vehicle
charging station in isolated areas depends highly on the availability
and sustainability of renewable resources all year round at a selected
location. The main focus of this paper is to discuss the possible
charging strategies that could be implemented to find the best
possible configuration of an electric Tuk-Tuk charging station at a
given location within South Africa. The charging station is designed,
modeled and simulated to evaluate its performances. The technoeconomic
analysis of different feasible supply configurations of the
charging station using renewable energies is simulated using
HOMER software and the results compared in order to select the best
possible charging strategies in terms of cost of energy consumed.
Abstract: In order to Study the efficacy application of green
manure as chickpea pre plant, field experiments were carried out in
2007 and 2008 growing seasons. In this research the effects of
different strategies for soil fertilization were investigated on grain
yield and yield component, minerals, organic compounds and
cooking time of chickpea. Experimental units were arranged in splitsplit
plots based on randomized complete blocks with three
replications. Main plots consisted of (G1): establishing a mixed
vegetation of Vicia panunica and Hordeum vulgare and (G2):
control, as green manure levels. Also, five strategies for obtaining the
base fertilizer requirement including (N1): 20 t.ha-1 farmyard manure;
(N2): 10 t.ha-1 compost; (N3): 75 kg.ha-1 triple super phosphate;
(N4): 10 t.ha-1 farmyard manure + 5 t.ha-1 compost and (N5): 10 t.ha-1
farmyard manure + 5 t.ha-1 compost + 50 kg.ha-1 triple super
phosphate were considered in sub plots. Furthermoree four levels of
biofertilizers consisted of (B1): Bacillus lentus + Pseudomonas
putida; (B2): Trichoderma harzianum; (B3): Bacillus lentus +
Pseudomonas putida + Trichoderma harzianum; and (B4): control
(without biofertilizers) were arranged in sub-sub plots. Results
showed that integrating biofertilizers (B3) and green manure (G1)
produced the highest grain yield. The highest amounts of yield were
obtained in G1×N5 interaction. Comparison of all 2-way and 3-way
interactions showed that G1N5B3 was determined as the superior
treatment. Significant increasing of N, P2O5, K2O, Fe and Mg content
in leaves and grains emphasized on superiority of mentioned
treatment because each one of these nutrients has an approved role in
chlorophyll synthesis and photosynthesis abilities of the crops. The
combined application of compost, farmyard manure and chemical
phosphorus (N5) in addition to having the highest yield, had the best
grain quality due to high protein, starch and total sugar contents, low
crude fiber and reduced cooking time.
Abstract: The problems with high complexity had been the challenge in combinatorial problems. Due to the none-determined and polynomial characteristics, these problems usually face to unreasonable searching budget. Hence combinatorial optimizations attracted numerous researchers to develop better algorithms. In recent academic researches, most focus on developing to enhance the conventional evolutional algorithms and facilitate the local heuristics, such as VNS, 2-opt and 3-opt. Despite the performances of the introduction of the local strategies are significant, however, these improvement cannot improve the performance for solving the different problems. Therefore, this research proposes a meta-heuristic evolutional algorithm which can be applied to solve several types of problems. The performance validates BBEA has the ability to solve the problems even without the design of local strategies.
Abstract: An adaptive Chinese hand-talking system is presented
in this paper. By analyzing the 3 data collecting strategies for new
users, the adaptation framework including supervised and unsupervised
adaptation methods is proposed. For supervised adaptation,
affinity propagation (AP) is used to extract exemplar subsets, and enhanced
maximum a posteriori / vector field smoothing (eMAP/VFS)
is proposed to pool the adaptation data among different models. For
unsupervised adaptation, polynomial segment models (PSMs) are
used to help hidden Markov models (HMMs) to accurately label
the unlabeled data, then the "labeled" data together with signerindependent
models are inputted to MAP algorithm to generate
signer-adapted models. Experimental results show that the proposed
framework can execute both supervised adaptation with small amount
of labeled data and unsupervised adaptation with large amount
of unlabeled data to tailor the original models, and both achieve
improvements on the performance of recognition rate.
Abstract: Fluency is a skill that, unfortunately, many students
lack. This deficiency causes students to be frustrated with, and
overwhelmed by, the act of reading. However, research suggests that
the repeated reading method may help students to improve their
fluency. This study examines the effects of repeated readings on
student fluency. The study-s overarching question is: What effect do
increases in repeated reading have on reading fluency among middle
school students from diverse backgrounds? More specifically, the
authors examine whether repeated reading improves the fluency,
reading speed, reading-oriented self-esteem, and confidence of
students of diverse academic abilities, socio-economics statuses, and
racial and ethnic backgrounds. To examine these questions the
authors conducted a study using repeated reading strategies with a
sample of students from an urban, middle school in the southeastern
United States. We found that, on average, the use of repeated reading
strategies increased students- fluency, words per minute (wpm)
reading score, reading-oriented self-esteem, and confidence.
Abstract: There is widespread emphasis on reform in the teaching of introductory statistics at the college level. Underpinning this reform is a consensus among educators and practitioners that traditional curricular materials and pedagogical strategies have not been effective in promoting statistical literacy, a competency that is becoming increasingly necessary for effective decision-making and evidence-based practice. This paper explains the historical context of, and rationale for reform-oriented teaching of introductory statistics (at the college level) in the health, social and behavioral sciences (evidence-based disciplines). A firm understanding and appreciation of the basis for change in pedagogical approach is important, in order to facilitate commitment to reform, consensus building on appropriate strategies, and adoption and maintenance of best practices. In essence, reform-oriented pedagogy, in this context, is a function of the interaction among content, pedagogy, technology, and assessment. The challenge is to create an appropriate balance among these domains.
Abstract: Any use of energy in industrial productive activities is combined with various environment impacts. Withintransportation,
this fact was not only found among land transport, railways and maritime transport, but also in the air transport industry. An effective climate protection requires strategies and measures for reducing all
greenhouses gas emissions, in particular carbon dioxide, and must
take into account the economic, ecologic and social aspects. It seem simperative now to develop and manufacture environmentally
friendly products and systems, to reduce consumption and use less
resource, and to save energy and power. Today-sproducts could
better serve these requirements taking into account the integration of
a power management system into the electrical power system.This
paper gives an overview of an approach ofpower management with
load prioritization in modernaircraft. Load dimensioning and load
management strategies on current civil aircraft will be presented and
used as a basis for the proposed approach.
Abstract: This study aims to assess the potential of solar energy technology for improving access to water and hence the livelihood strategies of rural communities in Baja California Sur, Mexico. It focuses on livestock ranches and photovoltaic water-pumptechnology as well as other water extraction methods. The methodology used are the Sustainable Livelihoods and the Appropriate Technology approaches. A household survey was applied in June of 2006 to 32 ranches in the municipality, of which 22 used PV pumps; and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Findings indicate that solar pumps have in fact helped people improve their quality of life by allowing them to pursue a different livelihood strategy and that improved access to water -not necessarily as more water but as less effort to extract and collect it- does not automatically imply overexploitation of the resource; consumption is based on basic needs as well as on storage and pumping capacity. Justification for such systems lies in the avoidance of logistical problems associated to fossil fuels, PV pumps proved to be the most beneficial when substituting gasoline or diesel equipment but of dubious advantage if intended to replace wind or gravity systems. Solar water pumping technology-s main obstacle to dissemination are high investment and repairs costs and it is therefore not suitable for all cases even when insolation rates and water availability are adequate. In cases where affordability is not an obstacle it has become an important asset that contributes –by means of reduced expenses, less effort and saved time- to the improvement of livestock, the main livelihood provider for these ranches.
Abstract: Job stress is one of the most important concepts for
the today-s corporate as well as institutional world. The current study
is conducted to identify the causes of faculty stress at Higher
Education in Pakistan. For the purpose, Public & Private Business
Schools of Punjab is selected as representative of Pakistan. A sample
of 300 faculty members (214 males, 86 females) responded to the
survey. Regression analysis shows that the Workload, Student
Related issues and Role Conflicts are the major sources contributing
significantly towards producing stress. The study also revealed that
Private sector faculty members experienced more stress as compared
to faculty in Public sector Business Schools. Moreover, females,
younger ages, lower designation & low qualification faculty
members experience more stress as compared to males, older ages,
higher designation and high qualification. The study yield many
significant results for the policy makers of Business Institutions.
Abstract: Although the Vietnamese catfish farming has grown
at very high rates in recent years, the industry has also faced many
problems affecting its sustainability. This paper studies the
perceptions of catfish farmers regarding risk and risk management
strategies in their production activities. Specifically, the study aims
to measure the consequences, likelihoods, and levels of risks as well
as the efficacy of risk management in Vietnamese catfish farming.
Data for the study were collected through a sample of 261 catfish
farmers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam using a questionnaire survey
in 2008. Results show that, in general, price and production risks
were perceived as the most important risks. Farm management and
technical measures were perceived more effective than other kinds of
risk management strategies in risk reduction. Although price risks
were rated as important risks, price risk management strategies were
not perceived as important measures for risk mitigation. The results
of the study are discussed to provide implications for various
industry stakeholders, including policy makers, processors, advisors,
and developers of new risk management strategies.
Abstract: This qualitative, quantitative mixed-method study explores how students- motivation and interest in creative hands-on activities affected their conceptual understanding of science. The objectives of this research include developing a greater understanding about how creative activities, incorporated into the classroom as instructional strategies, increase student motivation and their learning or mastery of science concepts. The creative activities are viewed as a motivational tool, a specific type of task, which have an impact on student goals. Pre-and-post tests, pre-and-post interviews, and student responses measure motivational-goal theory variables, interest in the activity, and conceptual change. Implications for education and future research will be discussed.
Abstract: Midpoint filter is quite effective in recovering the
images confounded by the short-tailed (uniform) noise. It, however,
performs poorly in the presence of additive long-tailed (impulse)
noise and it does not preserve the edge structures of the image
signals. Median smoother discards outliers (impulses) effectively, but
it fails to provide adequate smoothing for images corrupted with nonimpulse
noise. In this paper, two nonlinear techniques for image
filtering, namely, New Filter I and New Filter II are proposed based
on a nonlinear high-pass filter algorithm. New Filter I is constructed
using a midpoint filter, a highpass filter and a combiner. It suppresses
uniform noise quite well. New Filter II is configured using an alpha
trimmed midpoint filter, a median smoother of window size 3x3, the
high pass filter and the combiner. It is robust against impulse noise
and attenuates uniform noise satisfactorily. Both the filters are shown
to exhibit good response at the image boundaries (edges). The
proposed filters are evaluated for their performance on a test image
and the results obtained are included.
Abstract: Urban planning, in particular on protected landscape
areas, demands an increasing role of public participation within the
frame of the efficiency of sustainable planning process. The
development of urban planning actions in Protected Landscape areas,
as Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, should perform a methodological
process that is structured over distinct sequential stages, providing
the development of a continuous, interactive, integrated and
participative planning. From the start of Malveira da Serra and Janes
Plan process, several public participation actions were promoted, in
order to involve the local agents, stakeholders and the population in
the decision of specific local key issues and define the appropriate
priorities within the goals and strategies previously settled. As a
result, public participation encouraged an innovative process that
guarantees the efficiency of sustainable urban planning and promotes
a sustainable new way of living in community.
Abstract: Increasing user comfort and reducing operation costs
have always been primary objectives of lighting control strategies in a
building. This paper proposes an architecture of the lighting control
system for a daylit office. The system consists of the lighting
controller, A/D & D/A converter, dimmable LED lights, and the
lighting management software. Verification tests are conducted using
the proposed system specialized for the interior lighting of a open-plan
office. The results showed the proposed architecture of the lighting
system would improve the overall system reliability, lower the system
cost, and provide ease of installation and maintenance.
Abstract: Aim of this paper is to explore the prospect of a new approach of mobile phone banking in Libya. This study evaluates customer knowledge on commercial mobile banking in Libya. To examine the relationship between age, occupation and intention for using mobile banking for commercial purpose, a survey was conducted to gather information from one hundred Libyan bank clients. The results indicate that Libyan customers have accepted the new technology and they are ready to use it. There is no significant joint relationship between age and occupation found in intention to use mobile banking in Libya. On the other hand, the customers’ knowledge about mobile banking has a greater relationship with the intention. This study has implications for demographic researches and consumer behaviour disciplines. It also has profitable implications for banks and managers in Libya, as it will assist in better understanding of the Libyan consumers and their activities, when they develop their market strategies and new service.
Abstract: This paper presents the novel Rao-Blackwellised
particle filter (RBPF) for mobile robot simultaneous localization and
mapping (SLAM) using monocular vision. The particle filter is
combined with unscented Kalman filter (UKF) to extending the path
posterior by sampling new poses that integrate the current observation
which drastically reduces the uncertainty about the robot pose. The
landmark position estimation and update is also implemented through
UKF. Furthermore, the number of resampling steps is determined
adaptively, which seriously reduces the particle depletion problem,
and introducing the evolution strategies (ES) for avoiding particle
impoverishment. The 3D natural point landmarks are structured with
matching Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) feature pairs. The
matching for multi-dimension SIFT features is implemented with a
KD-Tree in the time cost of O(log2
N). Experiment results on real robot
in our indoor environment show the advantages of our methods over
previous approaches.
Abstract: Virtual environments are a hot topic in academia and more importantly in courses offered via distance education. Today-s gaming generation view virtual worlds as strong social and interactive mediums for communicating and socializing. And while institutions of higher education are challenged with increasing enrollment while balancing budget cuts, offering effective courses via distance education become a valid option. Educators can utilize virtual worlds to offer students an enhanced learning environment which has the power to alleviate feelings of isolation through the promotion of communication, interaction, collaboration, teamwork, feedback, engagement and constructivists learning activities. This paper focuses on the use of virtual environments to facilitate interaction in distance education courses so as to produce positive learning outcomes for students. Furthermore, the instructional strategies were reviewed and discussed for use in virtual worlds to enhance learning within a social context.