Abstract: One of the global combinatorial optimization
problems in machine learning is feature selection. It concerned with
removing the irrelevant, noisy, and redundant data, along with
keeping the original meaning of the original data. Attribute reduction
in rough set theory is an important feature selection method. Since
attribute reduction is an NP-hard problem, it is necessary to
investigate fast and effective approximate algorithms. In this paper,
we proposed two feature selection mechanisms based on memetic
algorithms (MAs) which combine the genetic algorithm with a fuzzy
record to record travel algorithm and a fuzzy controlled great deluge
algorithm, to identify a good balance between local search and
genetic search. In order to verify the proposed approaches, numerical
experiments are carried out on thirteen datasets. The results show that
the MAs approaches are efficient in solving attribute reduction
problems when compared with other meta-heuristic approaches.
Abstract: This study evaluated the acute toxicity and tissue
distribution of intravenously administered gold nanoparticles
(AuNPs) in male rabbits. Rabbits were exposed to single dose of
AuNPs (300 μg/ kg). Toxic effects were assessed via general
behavior, hematological parameters, serum biochemical parameters,
and histopathological examination of various rabbits’ organs.
Inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used
to determine gold concentrations in tissue samples collected at
predetermined time intervals. After one week, AuNPs exerted no
obvious acute toxicity in rabbits. However, inflammatory reactions
were observed in liver, lungs and kidneys accompanied with mild
absolute neutrophilia and significant monocytosis. The highest gold
levels were found in the spleen and liver followed by lungs, and
kidneys. These results indicated that AuNPs could be distributed
extensively to various tissues in the body, but primarily in the spleen
and liver.
Abstract: In 2009, the new HRM policy was implemented in
Qatar for public sector organisations. The purpose of this research is
to examine how Qatar’s 2009 HRM policy was significant in
influencing employee retention in public organisations. The
conducted study utilised quantitative methodology to analyse the data
on employees’ perceptions of such HRM practices as Performance
Management, Rewards and Promotion, Training and Development
associated with the HRM policy in public organisations in
comparison to semi-private organisations. Employees of seven public
and semi-private organisations filled in the questionnaire based on
the 5-point Likert scale to present quantitative results. The data was
analysed with the correlation and multiple regression statistical
analyses. It was found that Performance Management had the
relationship with Employee Retention, and Rewards and Promotion
influenced Job Satisfaction in public organisations. Relationship
between Job Satisfaction and Employee Retention was also observed.
However, no significant differences were observed in the role of
HRM practices in public and semi-private organisations.
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a study on the
influence of varying percentages of rock bridges along a basal surface
defining a biplanar failure mode. A pseudo-coupled-hydromechanical
brittle fracture analysis is adopted using the state-of-the-art code
Slope Model. Model results show that rock bridge failure is strongly
influenced by the incorporation of groundwater pressures. The
models show that groundwater pressure can promote total failure of a
5% rock bridge along the basal surface. Once the percentage of the
rock bridges increases to 10 and 15%, although, the rock bridges are
broken, full interconnection of the surface defining the basal surface
of the biplanar mode does not occur. Increased damage is caused
when the rock bridge is located at the daylighting end of the basal
surface in proximity to the blast damage zone. As expected, some
cracking damage is experienced in the blast damage zone, where
properties representing a good quality controlled damage blast
technique were assumed. Model results indicate the potential increase
of permeability towards the blast damage zone.
Abstract: Laura Island, which is located about 50 km away from
downtown, is a source of water supply in Majuro atoll, which is the
capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Low and flat Majuro
atoll has neither river nor lake. It is very important for Majuro atoll to
ensure the conservation of its water resources. However, upconing,
which is the process of partial rising of the freshwater-saltwater
boundary near the water-supply well, was caused by the excess
pumping from it during the severe drought in 1998. Upconing will
make the water usage of the freshwater lens difficult. Thus,
appropriate water usage is required to prevent up coning in the
freshwater lens because there is no other water source during drought. Numerical simulation of water usage applying SEAWAT model
was conducted at the central part of Laura Island, including the water
supply well, which was affected by upconing. The freshwater lens was
created as a result of infiltration of consistent average rainfall. The lens
shape was almost the same as the one in 1985. 0 of monthly rainfall
and variable daily pump discharge were used to calculate the
sustainable pump discharge from the water supply well. Consequently,
the total amount of pump discharge was increased as the daily pump
discharge was increased, indicating that it needs more time to recover
from upconing. Thus, a pump standard to reduce the pump intensity is
being proposed, which is based on numerical simulation concerning
the occurrence of the up-coning phenomenon in Laura Island during
the drought.
Abstract: Frozen shrimp industry plays an important role in the
development of production industry of the country. There has been a
continuing development to response the increasing demand; however,
there have been some problems in running the enterprises. The
purposes of this study are to: 1) investigate problems related to basic
factors in operating frozen shrimp industry based on the
entrepreneurs’ points of view. The enterprises involved in this study
were small and medium industry receiving Thai Frozen Foods
Association. 2) Compare the problems of the frozen shrimp industry
according to their sizes of operation in 3 provinces of the central
region Thailand. Population in this study consisted of 148 managers
from 148 frozen shrimp enterprises Thai Frozen Foods Association
which 77 were small size and 71 were medium size. The data were
analyzed to find percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and
independent sample T-test with the significant hypothesis at .05. The
results revealed that the problems of the frozen shrimp industries of
both size were in high level. The needs for government supporting
were in high level. The comparison of the problems and the basic
factors between the small and medium size enterprises showed no
statistically significant level. The problems that they mentioned
included raw materials, labors, production, marketing, and the need
for academic supporting from the government sector.
Abstract: This study investigates how the site specific traffic
data differs from the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design
Software default values. Two Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) stations were
installed in Interstate-40 (I-40) and Interstate-25 (I-25) to developed
site specific data. A computer program named WIM Data Analysis
Software (WIMDAS) was developed using Microsoft C-Sharp (.Net)
for quality checking and processing of raw WIM data. A complete
year data from November 2013 to October 2014 was analyzed using
the developed WIM Data Analysis Program. After that, the vehicle
class distribution, directional distribution, lane distribution, monthly
adjustment factor, hourly distribution, axle load spectra, average
number of axle per vehicle, axle spacing, lateral wander distribution,
and wheelbase distribution were calculated. Then a comparative
study was done between measured data and AASHTOWare default
values. It was found that the measured general traffic inputs for I-40
and I-25 significantly differ from the default values.
Abstract: The end panels of a large rectangular industrial duct,
which experience significant internal pressures, also experience
considerable transverse shear due to transfer of gravity loads to the
supports. The current design practice of such thin plate panels for
shear load is based on methods used for the design of plate girder
webs. The structural arrangements, the loadings and the resulting
behavior associated with the industrial duct end panels are, however,
significantly different from those of the web of a plate girder. The
large aspect ratio of the end panels gives rise to multiple bands of
tension fields, whereas the plate girder web design is based on one
tension field. In addition to shear, the industrial end panels are
subjected to internal pressure which in turn produces significant
membrane action. This paper reports a study which was undertaken
to review the current industrial analysis and design methods and to
propose a comprehensive method of designing industrial duct end
panels for shear resistance. In this investigation, a nonlinear finite element model was
developed to simulate the behavior of industrial duct end panel, along
with the associated edge stiffeners, subjected to transverse shear and
internal pressures. The model considered the geometric imperfections
and constitutive relations for steels. Six scale independent
dimensionless parameters that govern the behavior of such end panel
were identified and were then used in a parametric study. It was
concluded that the plate slenderness dominates the shear strength of
stockier end panels, and whereas, both the plate slenderness and the
aspect ratio influence the shear strength of slender end panels. Based
on these studies, this paper proposes design aids for estimating the
shear strength of rectangular duct end panels.
Abstract: Coal fly ash, an industrial by product of coal
combustion thermal power plants is considered as a hazardous
material and its improper disposal has become an environmental
issue. On the other hand, manufacturing conventional clay bricks
involves on consumption of large amount of clay and leads
substantial depletion of topsoil. This paper unveils the possibility of
using fly ash as a partial replacement of clay for brick manufacturing
considering the local technology practiced in Bangladesh. The effect
of fly ash with different replacing ratio (0%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and
50% by volume) of clay on properties of bricks was studied. Bricks
were made in the field parallel to ordinary bricks marked with
specific number for different percentage to identify them at time of
testing. No physical distortion is observed in fly ash brick after
burning in the kiln. Results from laboratory test show that
compressive strength of brick is decreased with the increase of fly
ash and maximum compressive strength is found to be 19.6 MPa at
20% of fly ash. In addition, water absorption of fly ash brick is
increased with the increase of fly ash. The abrasion value and
Specific gravity of coarse aggregate prepared from brick with fly ash
also studied and the results of this study suggests that 20% fly ash
can be considered as the optimum fly ash content for producing good
quality bricks utilizing present practiced technology.
Abstract: Mechanical behavior of 6082T6 aluminum is
investigated at different temperatures. The strain rate sensitivity is
investigated at different temperatures on the grain size variants. The
sensitivity of the measured grain size variants on 3-D grain is
discussed. It is shown that the strain rate sensitivities are negative for
the grain size variants during the deformation of nanostructured
materials. It is also observed that the strain rate sensitivities vary in
different ways with the equivalent radius, semi minor axis radius,
semi major axis radius and major axis radius. From the obtained
results, it is shown that the variation of strain rate sensitivity with
temperature suggests that the strain rate sensitivity at the low and the
high temperature ends of the 6082T6 aluminum range is different.
The obtained results revealed transition at different temperature from
negative strain rate sensitivity as temperature increased on the grain
size variants.
Abstract: In this work, our goal is to optimize the nitriding treatment at a low-temperature of the steel 32CrMoV13 using gas mixtures of ammonia, nitrogen and hydrogen to improve the mechanical properties of the surface (good wear resistance, friction and corrosion), and of the diffusion layer of the nitrogen (good resistance to fatigue and good tenacity with heart). By limiting our work to the pure iron and to the alloys iron-chromium and iron-chromium-carbon, we have studied the various parameters which manage the nitriding: flow rate and composition of the gaseous phase, the interaction chromium-nitrogen and chromium-carbon by the help of experiments of nitriding realized in the laboratory by thermogravimetry. The acquired knowledge has been applied by the mastery of the growth of the γ' combination layer on the α diffusion layer in the case of the industrial steel 32CrMoV13.
Abstract: Agricultural machinery industry plays an important
role in the industrial development especially the production industry
of the country. There has been continuing development responding to
the higher demand of the production. However, the problem in
agricultural machinery production still exists. Thus, the purpose of
this research is to investigate problems on fundamental factors of
industry based on the entrepreneurs’ point of view. The focus was on
the small and medium size industry receiving factory license type
number 0660 from the Department of Industrial Works. The
investigation was on the comparison between the management of the
small and medium size agricultural industry in 3 provinces in the
central region of Thailand. Population in this study consisted of 189
company managers or managing directors, of which 101 were from
the small size and 88 were from the medium size industry. The data
were analyzed to find percentage, arithmetic mean, and standard
deviation with independent sample T-test at the statistical
significance .05. The results showed that the small and medium size
agricultural machinery manufacturers in the central region of
Thailand reported high problems in every aspect. When compared the
problems on basic factors in running the business, it was found that
there was no statistically difference at .05 in managing of the small
and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers. However,
there was a statistically significant difference between the small and
medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers on the aspect of
policy and services of the government. The problems reported by the
small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers were
the services on public tap water and the problem on politic and
stability of the country.
Abstract: Biochar can be produced from the waste matter and its
application has been associated with returning of carbon in large
amounts into the soil. The impacts of this material on physical and
chemical properties of soil have been described. The biggest part of
the research work is dedicated to the hypothesis of this material’s
toxic effects on the soil life regarding its effect on the soil biological
component. At present, it has been worked on methods which could
eliminate these undesirable properties of biochar. One of the
possibilities is to mix biochar with organic material, such as compost,
or focusing on the natural processes acceleration in the soil. In the
experiment has been used as the addition of compost as well as the
elimination of toxic substances by promoting microbial activity in
aerated water environment. Biochar was aerated for 7 days in a
container with a volume of 20 l. This way modified biochar had six
times higher biomass production and reduce mineral nitrogen
leaching. Better results have been achieved by mixing biochar with
compost.
Abstract: Increase of emergency incidents and crisis situations
requires proactive crisis management of authorities and for its
solution. Application Business Continuity Management helps the
crisis management authorities to quickly and responsibly respond to
threats. It also helps effectively and efficiently planning powers and
resources. The main goal of this article is describing Military
Continuity Management System (MCMS) based on the principles of
Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) for dealing with
floods in the territory of the selected municipalities. There are
explained steps of loading, running and evaluating activities in the
software application MCMS. Software MCMS provides complete
control over the tasks, contribute a comprehensive and responsible
approach solutions to solution floods in the municipality.
Abstract: Ensuring of continuity of business is basic strategy of
every company. Continuity of organization activities includes
comprehensive procedures that help in solving unexpected situations
of natural and anthropogenic character (for example flood, blaze,
economic situations). Planning of continuity operations is a process
that helps identify critical processes and implement plans for the
security and recovery of key processes. The aim of this article is to
demonstrate application of system approach to managing business
continuity called business continuity management systems in military
issues. This article describes the life cycle of business continuity
management which is based on the established cycle PDCA (Plan-
Do-Check-Act). After this is carried out by activities which are
making by University of Defence during activation of forces and
means of the integrated rescue system in case of emergencies -
accidents at a nuclear power plant in Czech Republic. Activities of
various stages of deployment earmarked forces and resources are
managed and evaluated by using MCMS application (Military
Continuity Management System).
Abstract: The myocardium is composed of specialized muscle
which relies mainly on fatty acid and sugar metabolism and it is
widely contribute to the heart functioning. The changes of the cardiac
energy-producing system during heart failure have been proved using
autoradiography techniques. This study focused on evaluating sugar
and fatty acid metabolism in myocardium as cardiac energy getting
system using heart-accumulated radiopharmaceuticals. Two sets of
autoradiographs of heart cross sections of Lewis male rats were
analyzed and the time- accumulation curve obtained with use of the
MATLAB image processing software to evaluate fatty acid and sugar
metabolic functions.
Abstract: Over the past few decades, manufacturing has evolved
from a more labor-intensive set of mechanical processes to a
sophisticated set of information based technology processes. With the
existence of various advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs),
more and more functions or jobs are performed by these machines
instead of human labour. This study was undertaken in order to
research the extent of AMTs adoption in manufacturing companies in
Kenya. In order to investigate a survey was conducted via
questionnaires that were sent to 183 selected AMT manufacturing
companies in Kenya. 92 companies responded positively. All the
surveyed companies were found to have a measure of investment in
at least two of the 14 types of AMTs investigated. In general the
company surveyed showed that the level of AMT adoption in Kenya
is very low with investments levels at a mean of 2.057 and
integration levels at a mean of 1.639 in a scale of 1-5.
Abstract: A three-dimensional numerical simulation of flow
through mini and microchannels with designed roughness is
conducted here. The effect of the roughness height (surface
roughness), geometry, Reynolds number on the friction factor, and
Nusselt number is investigated. The study is carried out by
employing CFD software, CFX. Our work focuses on a water flow
inside a circular mini-channel of 1 mm and microchannels of 500 and
100 m in diameter. The speed entry varies from 0.1 m/s to 20 m/s.
The general trend can be observed that bigger sizes of roughness
element lead to higher flow resistance. It is found that the friction
factor increases in a nonlinear fashion with the increase in obstruction
height. Particularly, the effect of roughness can no longer be ignored
at relative roughness height higher than 3%. A significant increase in
Poiseuille number is detected for all configurations considered. The
same observation can be done for Nusselt number. The transition
zone between laminar and turbulent flow depends on the channel
diameter.
Abstract: The goal of this paper is to specify factors influencing
the profitability of selected banks. Next, a model will be created to
help establish variables that have a demonstrable influence on the
development of the selected banks' profitability ratios. Czech banks
and their international parent companies were selected for analyzing
profitability. Banks categorized as large banks (according to the
Czech National Bank's system, which ranks banks according to
balance sheet total) were selected to represent the Czech banks. Two
ratios, the return on assets ratio (ROA) and the return on equity ratio
(ROE) are used to assess bank profitability. Six endogenous and four
external indicators were selected from among other factors that
influence bank profitability. The data analyzed were for 2001–2013.
First, correlation analysis, which was supposed to eliminate
correlated values, was conducted. A large number of correlated
values were established on the basis of this analysis. The strongly
correlated values were omitted. Despite this, the subsequent
regression analysis of profitability for the individual banks that were
selected did not confirm that the selected variables influenced their
profitability. The studied factors' influence on bank profitability was
demonstrated only for Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka and Société
Générale using regression analysis. For Československa Obchodni
Banka, it was demonstrated that inflation level and the amount of the
central bank's interest rate influenced the return on assets ratio and
that capital adequacy and market concentration influenced the return
on equity ratio for Société Générale.
Abstract: We regard forecasting of energy consumption by
private production areas of a large industrial facility as well as by the
facility itself. As for production areas, the forecast is made based on
empirical dependencies of the specific energy consumption and the
production output. As for the facility itself, implementation of the
task to minimize the energy consumption forecasting error is based
on adjustment of the facility’s actual energy consumption values
evaluated with the metering device and the total design energy
consumption of separate production areas of the facility. The
suggested procedure of optimal energy consumption was tested based
on the actual data of core product output and energy consumption by
a group of workshops and power plants of the large iron and steel
facility. Test results show that implementation of this procedure gives
the mean accuracy of energy consumption forecasting for winter
2014 of 0.11% for the group of workshops and 0.137% for the power
plants.