Abstract: Nowadays, many manufacturing companies try to
reinforce their competitiveness or find a breakthrough by considering
collaboration. In Korea, more than 900 manufacturing companies are
using web-based collaboration systems developed by the
government-led project, referred to as i-Manufacturing. The system
supports some similar functions of Product Data Management (PDM)
as well as Project Management System (PMS). A web-based
collaboration system provides many useful functions for collaborative
works. This system, however, does not support new linking services
between buyers and suppliers. Therefore, in order to find new
collaborative partners, this paper proposes a framework which creates
new connections between buyers and suppliers facilitating their
collaboration, referred to as Excellent Manufacturer Scouting System
(EMSS). EMSS plays a role as a bridge between overseas buyers and
suppliers. As a part of study on EMSS, we also propose an evaluation
method of manufacturability of potential partners with six main factors.
Based on the results of evaluation, buyers may get a good guideline to
choose their new partners before getting into negotiation processes
with them.
Abstract: It has been always observed that the effectiveness of
MIS as a support tool for management decisions degenerate after
time of implementation, despite the substantial investments being
made. This is true for organizations at the initial stages of MIS
implementations, manual or computerized. A survey of a sample of
middle to top managers in business and government institutions was
made. A large ratio indicates that the MIS has lost its impact on the
day-to-day operations, and even the response lag time expands
sometimes indefinitely. The data indicates an infant mortality
phenomenon of the bathtub model. Reasons may be monotonous
nature of MIS delivery, irrelevance, irreverence, timeliness, and lack
of adequate detail. All those reasons collaborate to create a degree of
degeneracy. We investigate and model as a bathtub model the
phenomenon of MIS degeneracy that inflicts the MIS systems and
renders it ineffective. A degeneracy index is developed to identify
the status of the MIS system and possible remedies to prevent the
onset of total collapse of the system to the point of being useless.
Abstract: The goal of this work is to describe a new algorithm for finding the optimal variable order, number of nodes for any order and other ROBDD parameters, based on a tabular method. The tabular method makes use of a pre-built backend database table that stores the ROBDD size for selected combinations of min-terms. The user uses the backend table and the proposed algorithm to find the necessary ROBDD parameters, such as best variable order, number of nodes etc. Experimental results on benchmarks are given for this technique.
Abstract: This paper describes the designs of a first and second
generation autonomous gas monitoring system and the successful
field trial of the final system (2nd generation). Infrared sensing
technology is used to detect and measure the greenhouse gases
methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) at point sources. The
ability to monitor real-time events is further enhanced through the
implementation of both GSM and Bluetooth technologies to
communicate these data in real-time. These systems are robust,
reliable and a necessary tool where the monitoring of gas events in
real-time are needed.
Abstract: This paper presents the findings of two experiments that were performed on the Redundancy in Wireless Connection Model (RiWC) using the 802.11b standard. The experiments were simulated using OPNET 11.5 Modeler software. The first was aimed at finding the maximum number of simultaneous Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) users the model would support under the G.711 and G.729 codec standards when the packetization interval was 10 milliseconds (ms). The second experiment examined the model?s VoIP user capacity using the G.729 codec standard along with background traffic using the same packetization interval as in the first experiment. To determine the capacity of the model under various experiments, we checked three metrics: jitter, delay and data loss. When background traffic was added, we checked the response time in addition to the previous three metrics. The findings of the first experiment indicated that the maximum number of simultaneous VoIP users the model was able to support was 5, which is consistent with recent research findings. When using the G.729 codec, the model was able to support up to 16 VoIP users; similar experiments in current literature have indicated a maximum of 7 users. The finding of the second experiment demonstrated that the maximum number of VoIP users the model was able to support was 12, with the existence of background traffic.
Abstract: Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas
(GHG) after carbon dioxide. Amount of methane emission from
energy sector is increasing day by day with various activities. In
present work, various sources of methane emission from upstream,
middle stream and downstream of oil & gas sectors are identified and
categorised as per IPCC-2006 guidelines. Data were collected from
various oil & gas sector like (i) exploration & production of oil & gas
(ii) supply through pipelines (iii) refinery throughput & production
(iv) storage & transportation (v) usage. Methane emission factors for
various categories were determined applying Tier-II and Tier-I
approach using the collected data. Total methane emission from
Indian Oil & Gas sectors was thus estimated for the year 1990 to
2007.
Abstract: This study used positivist quantitative approach to examine the mathematical concepts acquisition of- KS4 (14-16) Special Education Needs (SENs) students within the school sector education in England. The research is based on a pilot study and the design is completely holistic in its approach with mixing methodologies. The study combines the qualitative and quantitative methods of approach in gathering formative data for the design process. Although, the approach could best be described as a mix method, fundamentally with a strong positivist paradigm, hence my earlier understanding of the differentiation of the students, student – teacher body and the various elements of indicators that is being measured which will require an attenuated description of individual research subjects. The design process involves four phases with five key stages which are; literature review and document analysis, the survey, interview, and observation; then finally the analysis of data set. The research identified the need for triangulation with Reid-s phases of data management providing scaffold for the study. The study clearly identified the ideological and philosophical aspects of educational research design for the study of mathematics by the special education needs (SENs) students in England using the virtual learning environment (VLE) platform.
Abstract: The aim of the study is to determine the effects of
perceived organizational support on organizational identification. In
accordance with this purpose was applied on 131 family physicians in
Konya. The data obtained by means of the survey method were
analyzed. According to the results of correlation analysis, while
positive relationship between perceived organizational support,
organizational identification and supervisor support was revealed.
Also, with the scope of the research, relationships between these
variables and certain demographic variables were detected.
According to difference analysis results of the research, significant
differences between organizational identification and gender variable
were determined. However, significant differences were not
determined between demographic variables and perceived
organizational support.
Abstract: The result of process of territory-s development is the territory-s state of development (TSoD), which is pointed towards the provision and improvement of people-s life conditions. The authors offer to measure the TSoD according to their own developed model. Using the available statistical data regarding the values of model-s elements, the authors empirically show which element mainly determines the TSoD. The findings of the research showed that the key elements of the TSoD are the “Material welfare of people" and “People-s health". Performing a deeper statistical analysis of correlation between these elements, it turned out that it is not so necessary for a country to be bent on trying to increase the material growth of a territory, because a relatively high index of life expectancy at birth could be ensured also by much more modest material resources. On the other hand, the economical feedback of longer lifespan within countries with lower material performance is also relatively low.
Abstract: This paper details few mechanical modeling and
design issues of RF MEMS switches. We concentrate on an
electrostatically actuated broad side series switch; surface
micromachined with a crab leg membrane. The same results are
extended to any complex structure. With available experimental data
and fabrication results, we present the variation in dynamic
performance and compliance of the switch with reference to few
design issues, which we find are critical in deciding the dynamic
behavior of the switch, without compromise on the RF
characteristics. The optimization of pull in voltage, transient time and
resonant frequency with regard to these critical design parameters are
also presented.
Abstract: The paper presents an applied study of a multivariate AR(p) process fitted to daily data from U.S. commodity futures markets with the use of Bayesian statistics. In the first part a detailed description of the methods used is given. In the second part two BVAR models are chosen one with assumption of lognormal, the second with normal distribution of prices conditioned on the parameters. For a comparison two simple benchmark models are chosen that are commonly used in todays Financial Mathematics. The article compares the quality of predictions of all the models, tries to find an adequate rate of forgetting of information and questions the validity of Efficient Market Hypothesis in the semi-strong form.
Abstract: In this paper we propose a blind algorithm for peakto- average power ratio (PAPR) reduction in OFDM systems, based on selected mapping (SLM) algorithm as a distortionless method. The main drawback of the conventional SLM technique is the need for transmission of several side information bits, for each data block, which results in loss in data rate transmission. In the proposed method some special number of carriers in the OFDM frame is reserved to be rotated with one of the possible phases according to the number of phase sequence blocks in SLM algorithm. Reserving some limited number of carriers wont effect the reduction in PAPR of OFDM signal. Simulation results show using ML criteria at the receiver will lead to the same system-performance as the conventional SLM algorithm, while there is no need to send any side information to the receiver.
Abstract: In this paper, we rely on the story of the late British
weapons inspector David Kelly to illustrate how sensemaking can
inform the study of the ethics of suppression of dissent. Using
archival data, we reconstruct Dr. Kelly-s key responsibilities as a
weapons inspector and government employee. We begin by clarifying
the concept of dissent and how it is a useful organizational process.
We identify the various ways that dissent has been discussed in the
organizational literature and reconsider the process of sensemaking.
We conclude that suppression of opinions that deviate from the
majority is part of the identity maintenance of the sensemaking
process. We illustrate the prevention of dissent in organizations
consists of a set of unsatisfactory trade-offs.
Abstract: The standard approach to image reconstruction is to stabilize the problem by including an edge-preserving roughness penalty in addition to faithfulness to the data. However, this methodology produces noisy object boundaries and creates a staircase effect. The existing attempts to favor the formation of smooth contour lines take the edge field explicitly into account; they either are computationally expensive or produce disappointing results. In this paper, we propose to incorporate the smoothness of the edge field in an implicit way by means of an additional penalty term defined in the wavelet domain. We also derive an efficient half-quadratic algorithm to solve the resulting optimization problem, including the case when the data fidelity term is non-quadratic and the cost function is nonconvex. Numerical experiments show that our technique preserves edge sharpness while smoothing contour lines; it produces visually pleasing reconstructions which are quantitatively better than those obtained without wavelet-domain constraints.
Abstract: The reservoir of Kowsar dam supply water for
different usages such as aquaculture farms , drinking, agricultural and
industrial usages for some provinces in south of Iran. The Kowsar
dam is located next to the city of Dehdashat in Kohgiluye and
Boyerahmad province in southern Iran. There are some towns and
villages on the Kowsar dam watersheds, which Dehdasht and Choram
are the most important and populated twons in this area, which can to
be sources of pollution for water reservoir of the Kowsar dam . This
study was done to determine of water pollution of the Kowsar dam
reservoir which is one of the most important water resources of
Kohkiloye and Boyerahmad and Bushehr provinces in south-west
Iran. In this study , water samples during 12 months were collected to
examine Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Dissolved
Oxygen(DO) as a criterion for evaluation of water pollution of the
reservoir. In summary ,the study has shown Maximum, average and
minimum levels of BOD have observed 25.9 ,9.15 and 2.3 mg/L
respectively and statistical parameters of data such as standard
deviation , variance and skewness have calculated 7.88, 62 and 1.54
respectively. Finally the results were compared with Iranian national
standards. Among the analyzed samples, as the maximum value of
BOD (25.9 mg/L) was observed at the May 2010 , was within the
maximum admissible limits by the Iranian standards.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a multiple objective optimization model with respect to portfolio selection problem for investors looking forward to diversify their equity investments in a number of equity markets. Based on Markowitz-s M-V model we developed a Fuzzy Mixed Integer Multi-Objective Nonlinear Programming Problem (FMIMONLP) to maximize the investors- future gains on equity markets, reach the optimal proportion of the budget to be invested in different equities. A numerical example with a comprehensive analysis on artificial data from several equity markets is presented in order to illustrate the proposed model and its solution method. The model performed well compared with the deterministic version of the model.
Abstract: This study aims at investigating the empirical
relationships between risk preference, internet preference, and
internet knowledge which are known as user characteristics, in
addition to perceived risk of the customers on the internet purchase
intention. In order to test the relationships between the variables of
model 174, a questionnaire was collected from the students with
previous online experience. For the purpose of data analysis,
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation model
(SEM) was used.
Test results show that the perceived risk affects the internet
purchase intention, and increase or decrease of perceived risk
influences the purchase intention when the customer does the internet
shopping. Other factors such as internet preference, knowledge of the
internet, and risk preference affect the internet purchase intention.
Abstract: This paper presents the elastic buckling of
homogeneous beams with a pair of piezoelectric layers surface
bonded on both sides of the beams. The displacement field of beam is
assumed based on the Engesser-Timoshenko beam theory.
Applying the Hamilton's principle, the equilibrium equation is
established. The influences of applied voltage, dimensionless
geometrical parameter and piezoelectric thickness on the critical
buckling load of beam are presented. To investigate the accuracy of
the present analysis, a compression study is carried out with a known
data.
Abstract: Various mechanisms providing mutual exclusion and
thread synchronization can be used to support parallel processing
within a single computer. Instead of using locks, semaphores, barriers
or other traditional approaches in this paper we focus on alternative
ways for making better use of modern multithreaded architectures
and preparing hash tables for concurrent accesses. Hash structures
will be used to demonstrate and compare two entirely different
approaches (rule based cooperation and hardware synchronization
support) to an efficient parallel implementation using traditional
locks. Comparison includes implementation details, performance
ranking and scalability issues. We aim at understanding the effects
the parallelization schemes have on the execution environment with
special focus on the memory system and memory access
characteristics.
Abstract: Psoriasis is a widespread skin disease affecting up to 2% population with plaque psoriasis accounting to about 80%. It can be identified as a red lesion and for the higher severity the lesion is usually covered with rough scale. Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) scoring is the gold standard method for measuring psoriasis severity. Scaliness is one of PASI parameter that needs to be quantified in PASI scoring. Surface roughness of lesion can be used as a scaliness feature, since existing scale on lesion surface makes the lesion rougher. The dermatologist usually assesses the severity through their tactile sense, therefore direct contact between doctor and patient is required. The problem is the doctor may not assess the lesion objectively. In this paper, a digital image analysis technique is developed to objectively determine the scaliness of the psoriasis lesion and provide the PASI scaliness score. Psoriasis lesion is modelled by a rough surface. The rough surface is created by superimposing a smooth average (curve) surface with a triangular waveform. For roughness determination, a polynomial surface fitting is used to estimate average surface followed by a subtraction between rough and average surface to give elevation surface (surface deviations). Roughness index is calculated by using average roughness equation to the height map matrix. The roughness algorithm has been tested to 444 lesion models. From roughness validation result, only 6 models can not be accepted (percentage error is greater than 10%). These errors occur due the scanned image quality. Roughness algorithm is validated for roughness measurement on abrasive papers at flat surface. The Pearson-s correlation coefficient of grade value (G) of abrasive paper and Ra is -0.9488, its shows there is a strong relation between G and Ra. The algorithm needs to be improved by surface filtering, especially to overcome a problem with noisy data.