Abstract: Brand loyalty is a strategic asset of the company. In
the era of competition to have loyal customers decides on the market
superiority of enterprises. Creating the loyalty of buyers, however, is
a lengthy process and requires the appropriate business strategy,
preceded by the proper market research. The purpose of the paper is
to present the concept of brand loyalty, the creation of loyalty of
customers, the benefits and determinants of loyalty on the example of
brewery market in Poland.
Abstract: Textures are replications, symmetries and
combinations of various basic patterns, usually with some random
variation one of the gray-level statistics. This article proposes a
new approach to Segment texture images. The proposed approach
proceeds in 2 stages. First, in this method, local texture information
of a pixel is obtained by fuzzy texture unit and global texture
information of an image is obtained by fuzzy texture spectrum.
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the usefulness of fuzzy
texture spectrum for texture Segmentation.
The 2nd Stage of the method is devoted to a decision process,
applying a global analysis followed by a fine segmentation,
which is only focused on ambiguous points. The above Proposed
approach was applied to brain image to identify the components
of brain in turn, used to locate the brain tumor and its Growth
rate.
Abstract: The objective of this study is to design an adaptive
neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for estimation of surface
roughness in grinding process. The Used data have been generated
from experimental observations when the wheel has been dressed
using a rotary diamond disc dresser. The input parameters of model
are dressing speed ratio, dressing depth and dresser cross-feed rate
and output parameter is surface roughness. In the experimental
procedure the grinding conditions are constant and only the dressing
conditions are varied. The comparison of the predicted values and the
experimental data indicates that the ANFIS model has a better
performance with respect to back-propagation neural network
(BPNN) model which has been presented by the authors in previous
work for estimation of the surface roughness.
Abstract: Land degradation is of concern in many countries. People more and more must address the problems associated with the degradation of soil properties due to man. Increasingly, organic soil amendments, such as compost are being examined for their potential use in soil restoration and for preventing soil erosion. In the Czech Republic, compost is the most used to improve soil structure and increase the content of soil organic matter. Land reclamation / restoration is one of the ways to evaluate industrially produced compost because Czech farmers are not willing to use compost as organic fertilizer. The most common use of reclamation substrates in the Czech Republic is for the rehabilitation of landfills and contaminated sites.
This paper deals with the influence of reclamation substrates (RS) with different proportions of compost and sand on selected soil properties–chemical characteristics, nitrogen bioavailability, leaching of mineral nitrogen, respiration activity and plant biomass production. Chemical properties vary proportionally with addition of compost and sand to the control variant (topsoil). The highest differences between the variants were recorded in leaching of mineral nitrogen (varies from 1.36mg dm-3 in C to 9.09mg dm-3). Addition of compost to soil improves conditions for plant growth in comparison with soil alone. However, too high addition of compost may have adverse effects on plant growth. In addition, high proportion of compost increases leaching of mineral N. Therefore, mixture of 70% of soil with 10% of compost and 20% of sand may be recommended as optimal composition of RS.
Abstract: This paper present the implementation of a new ordering strategy on Successive Overrelaxation scheme on two dimensional boundary value problems. The strategy involve two directions alternatingly; from top and bottom of the solution domain. The method shows to significantly reduce the iteration number to converge. Four numerical experiments were carried out to examine the performance of the new strategy.
Abstract: This study aims to identify the current situation and
problems of environmental statement for major four home appliances
(refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and television
receivers) sold at online stores in Japan, and then to suggest how to
improve the situation, through a questionnaire survey conducted
among businesses that operate online stores and online malls with
multiple online stores. Results of the study boil down to:
(1) It is found out that environmental statement for the home
appliances at online stores have four problems; (i) less information
on “three Rs" and “chemical substances" than the one on “energy
conservation", (ii) cost for providing environmental statement, (iii)
issues associated with a label and mark placement, and (iv) issues
associated with energy conservation statement.
(2) Improvements are suggested for each of the four problems listed
above, and shown are (i) the effectiveness of, and need to promote, a
label and mark placement, (ii) cost burden on buyers, and (iii) need
of active efforts made by businesses and of dissemination of legal
regulations to businesses.
Abstract: This paper presents an algebraic approach to optimize
queries in domain-specific database management system
for protein structure data. The approach involves the introduction of
several protein structure specific algebraic operators to query the
complex data stored in an object-oriented database system. The
Protein Algebra provides an extensible set of high-level Genomic
Data Types and Protein Data Types along with a comprehensive
collection of appropriate genomic and protein functions. The paper
also presents a query translator that converts high-level query
specifications in algebra into low-level query specifications in
Protein-QL, a query language designed to query protein structure
data. The query transformation process uses a Protein Ontology that
serves the purpose of a dictionary.
Abstract: Prior to 1975, women in Laos suffered from having
reduced levels of power over decision-making in their families and in
their communities. This has had a negative impact on their ability to
develop their own identities. Their roles were identified as being
responsible for household activities and making preparations for their
marriage. Many women lost opportunities to get educated and access
the outdoor work that might have empowered them to improve their
situations. So far, no accurate figures of either emigrants or return
migrants have been compiled but it appears that most of them were
women, and it was women who most and more frequently remitted
money home. However, very few recent studies have addressed the
relationship between remittances and the roles of women in Laos.
This study, therefore, aims at redressing to some extent the
deficiencies in knowledge. Qualitative techniques were used to gather
data, including individual in-depth interviews and direct observation
in combination with the content analysis method. Forty women in
Vientiane Municipality and Savannakhet province were individually
interviewed. It was found that the monetary remittance was typically
used for family security and well-being; on fungible activities; on
economic and business activities; and on community development,
especially concerning hospitality and providing daily household
necessities. Remittances played important roles in improving many
respondents- livelihoods and positively changed their identities in
families and communities. Women became empowered as they were
able to start commercial businesses, rather than taking care of (just)
housework, children and elders. Interviews indicated that 92.5% of
the respondents their quality of lives improved, 90% felt happier in
their families and 82.5% felt conflicts in their families were reduced.
Abstract: Transmission network expansion planning (TNEP) is
a basic part of power system planning that determines where, when
and how many new transmission lines should be added to the
network. Up till now, various methods have been presented to solve
the static transmission network expansion planning (STNEP)
problem. But in all of these methods, transmission expansion
planning considering network adequacy restriction has not been
investigated. Thus, in this paper, STNEP problem is being studied
considering network adequacy restriction using discrete particle
swarm optimization (DPSO) algorithm. The goal of this paper is
obtaining a configuration for network expansion with lowest
expansion cost and a specific adequacy. The proposed idea has been
tested on the Garvers network and compared with the decimal
codification genetic algorithm (DCGA). The results show that the
network will possess maximum efficiency economically. Also, it is
shown that precision and convergence speed of the proposed DPSO
based method for the solution of the STNEP problem is more than
DCGA approach.
Abstract: LES with mixed subgrid-scale model has been used to
simulate aerodynamic performance of hypersonic configuration. The
simulation was conducted to replicate conditions and geometry of a
model which has been previously tested. LES Model has been
successful in predict pressure coefficient with the max error 1.5%
besides afterbody. But in the high Mach number condition, it is poor in
predict ability and product 12.5% error. The calculation error are
mainly conducted by the distribution swirling. The fact of poor ability
in the high Mach number and afterbody region indicated that the
mixed subgrid-scale model should be improved in large eddied
especially in hypersonic separate region. In the condition of attach and
sideslip flight, the calculation results have waves. LES are successful
in the prediction the pressure wave in hypersonic flow.
Abstract: Luxury is an identity, a philosophy and a culture
which requires understanding before the adoption of e-business
practices because of its intricacies and output are essentially different
from other types of goods. Factors such as culture, personal
characteristics, website quality, and vendor characteristics influence
the online purchasing behavior of consumers thus making it a
complex area of study. This paper explores the scope of e-retail for
luxury consumption in the U.A.E. by identifying what motivates and
de-motivates online purchase behavior of U.A.E. consumers and
necessary hypotheses have been drawn to reflect behavior between
online luxury preference consumers and non-online luxury preference
consumers.
Abstract: This paper describes the design of a real-time audiorange
digital oscilloscope and its implementation in 90nm CMOS
FPGA platform. The design consists of sample and hold circuits,
A/D conversion, audio and video processing, on-chip RAM, clock
generation and control logic. The design of internal blocks and
modules in 90nm devices in an FPGA is elaborated. Also the key
features and their implementation algorithms are presented.
Finally, the timing waveforms and simulation results are put
forward.
Abstract: This paper study the segmented split capacitor
Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) implemented in a differentialtype
12-bit Successive Approximation Analog-to-Digital Converter
(SA-ADC). The series capacitance split array method employed as it
reduced the total area of the capacitors required for high resolution
DACs. A 12-bit regular binary array structure requires 2049 unit
capacitors (Cs) while the split array needs 127 unit Cs. These results
in the reduction of the total capacitance and power consumption of
the series split array architectures as to regular binary-weighted
structures. The paper will show the 12-bit DAC series split capacitor
with 4-bit thermometer coded DAC architectures as well as the
simulation and measured results.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the
effectiveness of anaerobic digestion for the treatment of wool
scouring wastes. The experiments design comprised three ratios of
waste (W) to seed(S) (W:S) of 25:75, 50:50 and 75:25, corresponding
to 1.9. 1.7 and 1.5g tCOD/g TS, respectively, with or without
chemicals addition. NH4Cl was added to the reactors as a source for
nitrogen to achieve C:N:P of 420:14:3. A cationic flocculent was
added at 0.5 and 0.75% to enhance flocculation of sludge. The results
showed that the reactors that received W:S at a ratio of 25:75
produced the largest volume of biogas. The final soluble COD
(sCOD) was below the limits for discharge to the sewer system.
Abstract: A fusion classifier composed of two modules, one made by a hidden Markov model (HMM) and the other by a support vector machine (SVM), is proposed to recognize faces with pose variations in open-set recognition settings. The HMM module captures the evolution of facial features across a subject-s face using the subject-s facial images only, without referencing to the faces of others. Because of the captured evolutionary process of facial features, the HMM module retains certain robustness against pose variations, yielding low false rejection rates (FRR) for recognizing faces across poses. This is, however, on the price of poor false acceptance rates (FAR) when recognizing other faces because it is built upon withinclass samples only. The SVM module in the proposed model is developed following a special design able to substantially diminish the FAR and further lower down the FRR. The proposed fusion classifier has been evaluated in performance using the CMU PIE database, and proven effective for open-set face recognition with pose variations. Experiments have also shown that it outperforms the face classifier made by HMM or SVM alone.
Abstract: Bendability is constrained by maximum top roller
load imparting capacity of the machine. Maximum load is
encountered during the edge pre-bending stage of roller bending.
Capacity of 3-roller plate bending machine is specified by
maximum thickness and minimum shell diameter combinations that
can be pre-bend for given plate material of maximum width.
Commercially available plate width or width of the plate that can be
accommodated on machine decides the maximum rolling width.
Original equipment manufacturers (OEM) provide the machine
capacity chart based on reference material considering perfectly
plastic material model. Reported work shows the bendability analysis
of heavy duty 3-roller plate bending machine. The input variables for
the industry are plate thickness, shell diameter and material property
parameters, as it is fixed by the design. Analytical models of
equivalent thickness, equivalent width and maximum width based on
power law material model were derived to study the bendability.
Equation of maximum width provides bendability for designed
configuration i.e. material property, shell diameter and thickness
combinations within the machine limitations. Equivalent thicknesses
based on perfectly plastic and power law material model were
compared for four different materials grades of C-Mn steel in order
to predict the bend-ability. Effect of top roller offset on the
bendability at maximum top roller load imparting capacity is
reported.
Abstract: There are some existing Java benchmarks, application benchmarks as well as micro benchmarks or mixture both of them,such as: Java Grande, Spec98, CaffeMark, HBech, etc. But none of them deal with behaviors of multi tasks operating systems. As a result, the achieved outputs are not satisfied for performance evaluation engineers. Behaviors of multi tasks operating systems are based on a schedule management which is employed in these systems. Different processes can have different priority to share the same resources. The time is measured by estimating from applications started to it is finished does not reflect the real time value which the system need for running those programs. New approach to this problem should be done. Having said that, in this paper we present a new Java benchmark, named FHOJ benchmark, which directly deals with multi tasks behaviors of a system. Our study shows that in some cases, results from FHOJ benchmark are far more reliable in comparison with some existing Java benchmarks.
Abstract: More and more governments around the world are
introducing e-government as a means of reducing costs, improving
services, saving time and increasing effectiveness and efficiency in
the public sector Therefore e-government has been identified as one
of the top priorities for Saudi government and all its agencies.
However, the adoption of e-government is facing many challenges
and barriers such as technological, cultural, organizational, and social
issues which must be considered and treated carefully by any
government contemplating its adoption. This paper reports on a pilot
study amongst online (e-ready) citizens to identify the challenges and
barriers that affect the adoption of e-government services especially
from their perspective in Saudi society. Based on the analysis of data
collected from an online survey the researcher was able to identify
some of the important barriers and challenges from the e-ready
citizen perspective. As a result, this study has generated a list of
possible strategies to move towards successful adoption of egovernment
services in Saudi Arabia.
Abstract: Cs-type nanocomposite zeolite membrane was successfully synthesized on an alumina ceramic hollow fibre with a mean outer diameter of 1.7 mm; cesium cationic exchange test was carried out inside test module with mean wall thickness of 230 μm and an average crossing pore size smaller than 0.2 μm. Separation factor of n-butane/H2 obtained indicate that a relatively high quality closed to 20. Maxwell-Stefan modeling provides an equivalent thickness lower than 1 µm. To compare the difference an application to CO2/N2 separation has been achieved, reaching separation factors close to (4,18) before and after cation exchange on H-zeolite membrane formed within the pores of a ceramic alumina substrate.
Abstract: In this work, we consider an application of neural networks in LD converter. Application of this approach assumes a reliable prediction of steel temperature and reduces a reblow ratio in steel work. It has been applied a conventional model to charge calculation, the obtained results by this technique are not always good, this is due to the process complexity. Difficulties are mainly generated by the noisy measurement and the process non linearities. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have become a powerful tool for these complex applications. It is used a backpropagation algorithm to learn the neural nets. (ANNs) is used to predict the steel bath temperature in oxygen converter process for the end condition. This model has 11 inputs process variables and one output. The model was tested in steel work, the obtained results by neural approach are better than the conventional model.