Abstract: Evidence-based medicine is a new direction in modern healthcare. Its task is to prevent, diagnose and medicate diseases using medical evidence. Medical data about a large patient population is analyzed to perform healthcare management and medical research. In order to obtain the best evidence for a given disease, external clinical expertise as well as internal clinical experience must be available to the healthcare practitioners at right time and in the right manner. External evidence-based knowledge can not be applied directly to the patient without adjusting it to the patient-s health condition. We propose a data warehouse based approach as a suitable solution for the integration of external evidence-based data sources into the existing clinical information system and data mining techniques for finding appropriate therapy for a given patient and a given disease. Through integration of data warehousing, OLAP and data mining techniques in the healthcare area, an easy to use decision support platform, which supports decision making process of care givers and clinical managers, is built. We present three case studies, which show, that a clinical data warehouse that facilitates evidence-based medicine is a reliable, powerful and user-friendly platform for strategic decision making, which has a great relevance for the practice and acceptance of evidence-based medicine.
Abstract: In recent decades, the lean methodology, and the
development of its principles and concepts have widely been applied
in supply chain management. One of the most important strategies of
being lean is having efficient inventory within the chain. On the other
hand, managing inventory efficiently requires appropriate
management of safety stock in order to protect against increasing
stretch in the breaking points of the supply chain, which in turn can
result in possible reduction of inventory. This paper applies a safety
stock cost minimization model in a manufacturing company. The
model results in optimum levels and locations of safety stock within
the company-s supply chain in order to minimize total logistics costs.
Abstract: Purpose:This paper aims to gain insights to the influential factors of ERM adoptions by public listed firms in Malaysia. Findings:The two factors of financial leverage and auditor type were found to be significant influential factors for ERM adoption. In other words the findings indicated that firms with higher financial leverage and with a Big Four auditor are more likely to have a form of ERM framework in place. Originality/Value:Since there are relatively few studies conducted in this area and specially in developing economies like Malaysia, this study will broaden the scope of literature by providing novel empirical evidence.
Abstract: Searching similar documents and document
management subjects have important place in text mining. One of the
most important parts of similar document research studies is the
process of classifying or clustering the documents. In this study, a
similar document search approach that includes discussion of out the
case of belonging to multiple categories (multiple categories
problem) has been carried. The proposed method that based on Fuzzy
Similarity Classification (FSC) has been compared with Rocchio
algorithm and naive Bayes method which are widely used in text
mining. Empirical results show that the proposed method is quite
successful and can be applied effectively. For the second stage,
multiple categories vector method based on information of categories
regarding to frequency of being seen together has been used.
Empirical results show that achievement is increased almost two
times, when proposed method is compared with classical approach.
Abstract: Extensive rainfall disaggregation approaches have been developed and applied in climate change impact studies such as flood risk assessment and urban storm water management.In this study, five rainfall models that were capable ofdisaggregating daily rainfall data into hourly one were investigated for the rainfall record in theChangi Airport, Singapore. The objectives of this study were (i) to study the temporal characteristics of hourly rainfall in Singapore, and (ii) to evaluate the performance of variousdisaggregation models. The used models included: (i) Rectangular pulse Poisson model (RPPM), (ii) Bartlett-Lewis Rectangular pulse model (BLRPM), (iii) Bartlett-Lewis model with 2 cell types (BL2C), (iv) Bartlett-Lewis Rectangular with cell depth distribution dependent on duration (BLRD), and (v) Neyman-Scott Rectangular pulse model (NSRPM). All of these models werefitted using hourly rainfall data ranging from 1980 to 2005 (which was obtained from Changimeteorological station).The study results indicated that the weight scheme of inversely proportional variance could deliver more accurateoutputs for fitting rainfall patterns in tropical areas, and BLRPM performedrelatively better than other disaggregation models.
Abstract: The study examined the influence of pay differentials on employee retention in the State Colleges of Education in the South-South Region of Nigeria. 275 subjects drawn from members of the wage negotiating teams in the Colleges were administered questionnaires constructed for study. Analysis of Variance revealed that the observed pay differentials significantly influenced retainership, f(5,269 = 6.223, P< 0.05). However, the Multiple Classification Analysis and Post-Hoc test indicated that employees in two of the Colleges with slightly lower and higher pay levels may probably remain with their employers while employees in other Colleges with the least and highest pay levels suggested quitting. Based on these observations, the influence of pay on employee retention seems inconclusive. Generally, employees in the colleges studied are dissatisfied with current pay levels. Management should confront these challenges by improving pay packages to encourage employees to remain and be dedicated to duty.
Abstract: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a form of cloud
computing that relieves the user of the burden of hardware and
software installation and management. SaaS can be used at the course
level to enhance curricula and student experience. When cloud
computing and SaaS are included in educational literature, the focus
is typically on implementing administrative functions. Yet, SaaS can
make more immediate and substantial contributions to the technical
course content in educational offerings. This paper explores cloud
computing and SaaS, provides examples, reports on experiences
using SaaS to offer specialized software in courses, and analyzes the
advantages and disadvantages of using SaaS at the course level. The
paper contributes to the literature in higher education by analyzing
the major technical concepts, potential, and constraints for using
SaaS to deliver specialized software at the course level. Further it
may enable more educators and students to benefit from this
emerging technology.
Abstract: Data mining, which is the exploration of
knowledge from the large set of data, generated as a result of
the various data processing activities. Frequent Pattern Mining
is a very important task in data mining. The previous
approaches applied to generate frequent set generally adopt
candidate generation and pruning techniques for the
satisfaction of the desired objective. This paper shows how
the different approaches achieve the objective of frequent
mining along with the complexities required to perform the
job. This paper will also look for hardware approach of cache
coherence to improve efficiency of the above process. The
process of data mining is helpful in generation of support
systems that can help in Management, Bioinformatics,
Biotechnology, Medical Science, Statistics, Mathematics,
Banking, Networking and other Computer related
applications. This paper proposes the use of both upward and
downward closure property for the extraction of frequent item
sets which reduces the total number of scans required for the
generation of Candidate Sets.
Abstract: E-learning aims to build knowledge and skills in order
to enhance the quality of learning. Research has shown that the
majority of the e-learning solutions lack in pedagogical background
and present some serious deficiencies regarding teaching strategies
and content delivery, time and pace management, interface design
and preservation of learners- focus. The aim of this review is to
approach the design of e-learning solutions with a pedagogical
perspective and to present some good practices of e-learning design
grounded on the core principles of Learning Theories (LTs).
Abstract: XML is an important standard of data exchange and
representation. As a mature database system, using relational database
to support XML data may bring some advantages. But storing XML in
relational database has obvious redundancy that wastes disk space,
bandwidth and disk I/O when querying XML data. For the efficiency
of storage and query XML, it is necessary to use compressed XML
data in relational database. In this paper, a compressed relational
database technology supporting XML data is presented. Original
relational storage structure is adaptive to XPath query process. The
compression method keeps this feature. Besides traditional relational
database techniques, additional query process technologies on
compressed relations and for special structure for XML are presented.
In this paper, technologies for XQuery process in compressed
relational database are presented..
Abstract: Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) has been
one on the most vivid research areas in the field of computer vision
over the last 10 years. Many programs and tools have been
developed to formulate and execute queries based on the visual or
audio content and to help browsing large multimedia repositories.
Still, no general breakthrough has been achieved with respect to
large varied databases with documents of difering sorts and with
varying characteristics. Answers to many questions with respect to
speed, semantic descriptors or objective image interpretations are
still unanswered. In the medical field, images, and especially
digital images, are produced in ever increasing quantities and used
for diagnostics and therapy. In several articles, content based
access to medical images for supporting clinical decision making
has been proposed that would ease the management of clinical data
and scenarios for the integration of content-based access methods
into Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) have
been created. This paper gives an overview of soft computing
techniques. New research directions are being defined that can
prove to be useful. Still, there are very few systems that seem to be
used in clinical practice. It needs to be stated as well that the goal
is not, in general, to replace text based retrieval methods as they
exist at the moment.
Abstract: The role of corporate governance is to reduce the
divergence of interests between shareholders and managers. The role
of corporate governance is more useful when managers have an
incentive to deviate from shareholders- interests. One example of
management-s deviation from shareholders- interests is the
management of earnings through the use of accounting accruals. This
paper examines the association between corporate governance
internal mechanisms ownership concentration, board independence,
the existence of CEO-Chairman duality and earnings management.
Firm size and leverage are control variables. The population used in
this study comprises firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange
(TSE) between 2004 and 2008, the sample comprises 196 firms.
Panel Data method is employed as technique to estimate the model.
We find that there is negative significant association between
ownership concentration and board independence manage earnings
with earnings management, there is negative significant association
between the existence of CEO-Chairman duality and earnings
management. This study also found a positive significant association
between control variable (firm size and leverage) and earnings
management.
Abstract: In this paper, the transformers over-load problem of Shiraz substation in Fars Regional Electric Company (FREC) is investigated for a period of three years plan. So the suggestions for using phase shifting transformer (PST) and unified power flow controller (UPFC) in order to solve this problem are examined in details and finally, some economical and practical designs will be given in order to solve the related problems. Practical consideration and using the basic and fundamental concept of powers in transmission lines in order to find the economical design are the main advantages of this research. The simulation results of the integrated overall system with different designs compare them base on economical and practical aspects to solve the over-load and loss-reduction.
Abstract: The environmental impact caused by industries is an issue that, in the last 20 years, has become very important in terms of society, economics and politics in Colombia. Particularly, the tannery process is extremely polluting because of uneffective treatments and regulations given to the dumping process and atmospheric emissions. Considering that, this investigation is intended to propose a management model based on the integration of Lean Supply Chain, Green Supply Chain, Cleaner Production and ISO 14001-2004, that prioritizes the strategic components of the organizations. As a result, a management model will be obtained and it will provide a strategic perspective through a systemic approach to the tanning process. This will be achieved through the use of Multicriteria Decision tools, along with Quality Function Deployment and Fuzzy Logic. The strategic approach that embraces the management model using the alignment of Lean Supply Chain, Green Supply Chain, Cleaner Production and ISO 14001-2004, is an integrated perspective that allows a gradual frame of the tactical and operative elements through the correct setting of the information flow, improving the decision making process. In that way, Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) could improve their productivity, competitiveness and as an added value, the minimization of the environmental impact. This improvement is expected to be controlled through a Dashboard that helps the Organization measure its performance along the implementation of the model in its productive process.
Abstract: Environmental responsibility includes improvement of environmental performance in order to reduce environmental impact. This paper gives a short review of some important environmental objectives, targets and actions that modern shipping company should follow.
Abstract: The study presents a brief and synthetic discussion of selected conclusions resulting from multidimensional and in-depth empirical studies. Its theoretical part presents the assumptions referring to social responsibility management from the perspective of the specific nature of small enterprise functioning, while the empirical part presents the selected dysfunctions and paradoxes in social responsibility management referring to this group of enterprises. The paper is summarized by a short list of the resulting recommendations.
Abstract: Animated graph gives some good impressions in
presenting information. However, not many people are able to produce it because the process of generating an animated graph requires some technical skills. This work presents Content
Management System with Animated Graph (CMS-AG). It is a webbased system enabling users to produce an effective and interactive
graphical report in a short time period. It allows for three levels of user authentication, provides update profile, account management, template management, graph management, and track changes. The system development applies incremental development approach, object-oriented concepts and Web programming technologies. The design architecture promotes new technology of reporting. It also helps user cut off unnecessary expenses, save time and learn new things on different levels of users. In this paper, the developed system is described.
Abstract: Development of levels of service in municipal context
is a flexible vehicle to assist in performing quality-cost trade-off
analysis for municipal services. This trade-off depends on the
willingness of a community to pay as well as on the condition of the
assets. Community perspective of the performance of an asset from
service point of view may be quite different from the municipality
perspective of the performance of the same asset from condition
point of view. This paper presents a three phased level of service
based methodology for water mains that consists of :1)development
of an Analytical Hierarchy model of level of service 2) development
of Fuzzy Weighted Sum model of water main condition index and 3)
deriving a Fuzzy logic based function that maps level of service to
asset condition index. This mapping will assist asset managers in
quantifying condition improvement requirement to meet service
goals and to make more informed decisions on interventions and
relayed priorities.
Abstract: Pleurotus ostreatus is a common edible mushroom with a number of properties that can help to solve the nutritional and economical problems of people in Chiapas, Mexico. The objective of this project was to produce the mushroom under a sustainable management in which only regional products were allowed as a way to promote the cultivation and consumption of Pleurotus ostreatus; 5 different substrates were tested as well as 2 sanitation methods. The obtained results showed that the highest yields were obtained using corn husk and a thermal sanitation method. Pests and diseases were not a problem during the project but they appeared more in the substrates sanitized with calcium hydroxide.
Abstract: Addis Ababa is a seat of African Union (AU), United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA) and hundreds of
embassies and consular representatives. Addis Ababa is one of the
highest capitals in the world with an average 2400 meters above sea
level. It is dichotomous city with a blend of modern high-rise and
deteriorating slum quarters. Water supply and sanitation, waste
management and housing are continuing to be serious problems.
Forest wood based domestic energy use as well as uncontrolled
emissions from mobile and fixed sources has endangered the state of
the urban environment. Analysis based on satellite imagery has
revealed the deteriorating urban environment within the last three
decades. The recently restructured city administration has brought
improvements in the condition of the urban environment. However,
the overwhelming size of the challenges faced by the city dwarfed
their fairly good results.