Abstract: Cloud computing has emerged as a promising
direction for cost efficient and reliable service delivery across data
communication networks. The dynamic location of service facilities
and the virtualization of hardware and software elements are stressing
the communication networks and protocols, especially when data
centres are interconnected through the internet. Although the
computing aspects of cloud technologies have been largely
investigated, lower attention has been devoted to the networking
services without involving IT operating overhead. Cloud computing
has enabled elastic and transparent access to infrastructure services
without involving IT operating overhead. Virtualization has been a
key enabler for cloud computing. While resource virtualization and
service abstraction have been widely investigated, networking in
cloud remains a difficult puzzle. Even though network has significant
role in facilitating hybrid cloud scenarios, it hasn't received much
attention in research community until recently. We propose Network
as a Service (NaaS), which forms the basis of unifying public and
private clouds. In this paper, we identify various challenges in
adoption of hybrid cloud. We discuss the design and implementation
of a cloud platform.
Abstract: Total Quality Management (TQM) is a managerial
approach that improves the competitiveness of the industry,
meanwhile Information technology (IT) was introduced with TQM
for handling the technical issues which is supported by quality
experts for fulfilling the customers’ requirement. Present paper aims
to utilise AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) methodology to
priorities and rank the hierarchy levels of TQM enablers and IT
resource together for its successful implementation in the Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. A total of 17 TQM
enablers (nine) and IT resources (eight) were identified and
partitioned into 3 categories and were prioritised by AHP approach.
The finding indicates that the 17 sub-criteria can be grouped into
three main categories namely organizing, tools and techniques, and
culture and people. Further, out of 17 sub-criteria, three sub-criteria:
top management commitment and support, total employee
involvement, and continuous improvement got highest priority
whereas three sub-criteria such as structural equation modelling,
culture change, and customer satisfaction got lowest priority. The
result suggests a hierarchy model for ICT industry to prioritise the
enablers and resources as well as to improve the TQM and IT
performance in the ICT industry. This paper has some managerial
implication which suggests the managers of ICT industry to
implement TQM and IT together in their organizations to get
maximum benefits and how to utilize available resources. At the end,
conclusions, limitation, future scope of the study are presented.
Abstract: In more complex systems, such as automotive
gearbox, a rigorous treatment of the data is necessary because there
are several moving parts (gears, bearings, shafts, etc.), and in this
way, there are several possible sources of errors and also noise. The
basic objective of this work is the detection of damage in automotive
gearbox. The detection methods used are the wavelet method, the
bispectrum; advanced filtering techniques (selective filtering) of
vibrational signals and mathematical morphology. Gearbox vibration
tests were performed (gearboxes in good condition and with defects)
of a production line of a large vehicle assembler. The vibration
signals are obtained using five accelerometers in different positions
of the sample. The results obtained using the kurtosis, bispectrum,
wavelet and mathematical morphology showed that it is possible to
identify the existence of defects in automotive gearboxes.
Abstract: The value co-creation has gained much attention in
sales research, but less is known about how salespeople and
customers interact in the authentic business to business (B2B) sales
meetings. The study presented in this paper empirically contributes to
existing research by presenting authentic B2B sales meetings that
were video recorded and analyzed using observation and qualitative
content analysis methods. This paper aims to study key elements of
successful sales interactions between salespeople and customers/
buyers. This study points out that salespeople are selling value rather
than the products or services themselves, which are only enablers in
realizing business benefits. Therefore, our findings suggest that
promoting and easing open discourse is an essential part of a
successful sales encounter. A better understanding of how
salespeople and customers successfully interact would help
salespeople to develop their interpersonal sales skills.
Abstract: Development of a method to estimate gene functions is
an important task in bioinformatics. One of the approaches for the
annotation is the identification of the metabolic pathway that genes are
involved in. Since gene expression data reflect various intracellular
phenomena, those data are considered to be related with genes’
functions. However, it has been difficult to estimate the gene function
with high accuracy. It is considered that the low accuracy of the
estimation is caused by the difficulty of accurately measuring a gene
expression. Even though they are measured under the same condition,
the gene expressions will vary usually. In this study, we proposed a
feature extraction method focusing on the variability of gene
expressions to estimate the genes' metabolic pathway accurately. First,
we estimated the distribution of each gene expression from replicate
data. Next, we calculated the similarity between all gene pairs by KL
divergence, which is a method for calculating the similarity between
distributions. Finally, we utilized the similarity vectors as feature
vectors and trained the multiclass SVM for identifying the genes'
metabolic pathway. To evaluate our developed method, we applied the
method to budding yeast and trained the multiclass SVM for
identifying the seven metabolic pathways. As a result, the accuracy
that calculated by our developed method was higher than the one that
calculated from the raw gene expression data. Thus, our developed
method combined with KL divergence is useful for identifying the
genes' metabolic pathway.
Abstract: It’s an era of high competition, dynamism and
complexities which have forced organizations to change dramatically
due to rising customer expectations. Marketers are under constant
pressure to deliver finest to their customers. With the advent of
technology, marketers have identified latest advertising media
options to reach out to target audience. But the conventional ways of
print advertisements still holds a deeper penetration and coverage.
Various researchers and practitioners have studied the area of print
media advertising and have tried to identify and implement
advertisement effectiveness enablers. The purpose of this paper is to
suggest select enablers for print media in Indian context using an
integrated approach of review of literature and investigative
interviews with academicians and experts from the area of
advertising.
Abstract: Nanotechnology is the new cyber, according to several major leaders in this field. Just as cyber is entrenched across global society now, nano is poised to be major capabilities enabler of the next decades. Expert members from the National Nanotechnology Initiative (in U.S.) representing government and science disciplines say nano has great significance for the military and the general public. It is predicted that after next 15 years nanotechnology will replace information technology as the most economic technology platform. Nanotechnology has even wider applications than information technology.
Abstract: In present days market environment, supply chains has to be competitive enough to handle pressures like varying customer’s expectations, low cost high quality products to be delivered at the minimum time and the most important is throat cutting competition at world wide scale. Recently, supply chain competitiveness has been, therefore, accepted as one of the most important philosophies in the supply chain literature. Various researchers and practitioners have tried to identify and implement enablers in supply chains which can bring competitiveness in the supply chains i.e. supply chain competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to suggest select enablers for supply chain competitiveness in the Indian manufacturing sector using an integrated approach of literature review and exploratory interviews with eminent professionals from the supply chain area in various industries, academia and research. The aim of the paper is to highlight the important enablers in the area of supply chain competitiveness and suggest recommendations to the industry and managers of manufacturing supply chains with a view to encourage more efforts in this wider domain area.
Abstract: Nowadays, IT/Business strategy alignment is still a key topic of concern among managers worldwide. Change has always being considered the primary challenge affecting the strategy alignment. Planning for alignment in uncertain and dynamic changing environments is burdened with risk as organizations seek to understand how much flexibility to build in their management information system so as to maintain high levels of alignment. The literature review showed that there is a tight relationship between IT infrastructure flexibility and the strategy alignment with strategic information systems (SIS) planning serving as a moderator of this relationship, and that emphasized the needs for organizations to use SIS planning consistently and to monitor the relationship between IS flexibility and the alignment. This paper presents the procedure of SIS planning with IS flexibility renovation via future oriented analysis of POC (penalty of change) as a function of cost and time. Using this SIS planning and monitoring IS flexibility and the alignment during periods of increased change in dynamic and uncertain environments reduces the risk that could transform IT into an inhibitor rather than an enabler of change.
Abstract: Radio frequency identification (RFID) has been recognized as a key enabler of efficient and effective supply chains. Recently, with increasing concern for environmental sustainability, researchers and practitioners have been exploring the role of RFID in supporting “green supply chains.” This qualitative study uses the technology-organization-environment framework of Tornatzky and Fleischer, and Zuboff’s concepts of automating-informating-transformating in analyzing two case studies involving RFID use: the recycling of Hewlett Packard inkjet printers and the garbage and recycling program of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Abstract: Currently, the High voltage power supply for microwave generators with one magnetron uses a single-phase transformer with magnetic shunt. To contribute in the development of technological innovation in industry of manufacturing of power supplies of magnetrons for microwaves, ovens for domestic or industrial use, this original work treats the optimization of a new three-phase high voltage power supply for industrial microwaves generators with N magnetrons by phase (Treated case N=1), from its modeling with Matlab-Simulink. The design of this power supply uses three π quadruple models equivalents of new three-phase transformer with magnetic shunt of each phase. Every one supplies at its output a voltage doubler cell composed of a capacitor and a diode that in its output supplies only one magnetron.
In this work we will define a strategy that aims to reduce the volume of the transformer and the weight and cost of the entire system of the high voltage power supply, while respecting the conditions recommended by the manufacturer, concerning the current flowing in each magnetron: (Imax
Abstract: Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a framework for description, coordination and alignment of all activities across the organization in order to achieve strategic goals using ICT enablers. A number of EA-compatible frameworks have been developed. We, in this paper, mainly focus on Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) since its reference models are plentiful. Among these models we are interested here in its business reference model (BRM). The test process is one important subject of an EA project which is to somewhat overlooked. This lack of attention may cause drawbacks or even failure of an enterprise architecture project. To address this issue we intend to use International Software Testing Qualification Board (ISTQB) framework and standard test suites to present a method to improve EA testing process. The main challenge is how to communicate between the concepts of EA and ISTQB. In this paper, we propose a method for integrating these concepts.
Abstract: Wireless sensor network has recently emerged as enablers
of several areas. Real applications of WSN are being explored
and some of them are yet to come. While the potential of sensor
networks has been only beginning to be realized, several challenges
still remain. One of them is the experimental evaluation of WSN.
Therefore, deploying and operating a testbed to study the real
behavior of WSN become more and more important. The main
contribution of this work is to analysis the RF link budget behavior
of wireless sensor networks in underground mine gallery.
Abstract: This paper explores the implementation of adaptive
coding and modulation schemes for Multiple-Input Multiple-Output
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) feedback
systems. Adaptive coding and modulation enables robust and
spectrally-efficient transmission over time-varying channels. The basic
premise is to estimate the channel at the receiver and feed this estimate
back to the transmitter, so that the transmission scheme can be
adapted relative to the channel characteristics. Two types of codebook
based channel feedback techniques are used in this work. The longterm
and short-term CSI at the transmitter is used for efficient channel
utilization. OFDM is a powerful technique employed in communication
systems suffering from frequency selectivity. Combined with
multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver, OFDM proves to be
robust against delay spread. Moreover, it leads to significant data rates
with improved bit error performance over links having only a single
antenna at both the transmitter and receiver. The coded modulation
increases the effective transmit power relative to uncoded variablerate
variable-power MQAM performance for MIMO-OFDM feedback
system. Hence proposed arrangement becomes an attractive approach
to achieve enhanced spectral efficiency and improved error rate
performance for next generation high speed wireless communication
systems.
Abstract: This paper presents an analytical framework for an
effective online personal knowledge management (PKM) of
knowledge workers. The development of this framework is prompted
by our qualitative research on the PKM processes and cognitive
enablers of knowledge workers in eight organisations selected from
three main industries in Malaysia. This multiple-case research
identifies the relationships between the effectiveness of four online
PKM processes: get/retrieve, understand/analyse, share, and connect.
It also establishes the importance of cognitive enablers that mediate
this relationship, namely, method, identify, decide and drive.
Qualitative analysis is presented as the findings, supported by the
preceded quantitative analysis on an exploratory questionnaire
survey.
Abstract: The burst of Web 2.0 technology and social
networking tools manifest different styles of learning and managing
knowledge among both knowledge workers and adult learners. In the
Western countries, open-learning concept has been made popular due
to the ease of use and the reach that the technology provides. In
Malaysia, there are still some gaps between the learners- acceptance
of technology and the full implementation of the technology in the
education system. There is a need to understand how adult learners,
who are knowledge workers, manage their personal knowledge via
social networking tools, especially in their learning process. Four
processes of personal knowledge management (PKM) and four
cognitive enablers are proposed supported by analysed data on adult
learners in a university. The model derived from these processes and
enablers is tested and presented, with recommendations on features to be included in adult learners- learning environment.
Abstract: This study shows palynomorphological description of
pollen grains of Lamium garganicum, species of the family Labiatae.
Fresh material of this plant is taken in Mount Llogara, in Albania. By
comparison made between palinomorphological characteristics of
pollen grains of Lamium garganicum with those of Lamium
maculatum and Lamium purpureum, showed that granules have
similarities in the number of furrows. The pollen grains of Lamium
garganicum were larger in length and width than those of Lamium
maculatum and almost equal with those of Lamium purpureum.
Furrows are longer than those of pollen grains in Lamium maculatum
and shorter than those of Lamium purpureum. The layer of exine of
Lamium garganicum was thinner than that of two others. The
sculpture of exine was fine reticulate, where reticulas were uniform
whereas in Lamium purpureum was verrucate, with small verrucae; in
Lamium maculatum was reticulate.
Abstract: Model Predictive Control (MPC) is increasingly being
proposed for real time applications and embedded systems. However
comparing to PID controller, the implementation of the MPC in
miniaturized devices like Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA)
and microcontrollers has historically been very small scale due to its
complexity in implementation and its computation time requirement.
At the same time, such embedded technologies have become an
enabler for future manufacturing enterprises as well as a transformer
of organizations and markets. Recently, advances in microelectronics
and software allow such technique to be implemented in embedded
systems. In this work, we take advantage of these recent advances
in this area in the deployment of one of the most studied and
applied control technique in the industrial engineering. In fact in
this paper, we propose an efficient framework for implementation
of Generalized Predictive Control (GPC) in the performed STM32
microcontroller. The STM32 keil starter kit based on a JTAG interface
and the STM32 board was used to implement the proposed GPC
firmware. Besides the GPC, the PID anti windup algorithm was
also implemented using Keil development tools designed for ARM
processor-based microcontroller devices and working with C/Cµ
langage. A performances comparison study was done between both
firmwares. This performances study show good execution speed and
low computational burden. These results encourage to develop simple
predictive algorithms to be programmed in industrial standard hardware.
The main features of the proposed framework are illustrated
through two examples and compared with the anti windup PID
controller.
Abstract: Amongst the consistently fluctuating conditions
prevailing today, changeability represents a strategic key factor for a
manufacturing company to achieve success on the international
markets. In order to cope with turbulences and the increasing level of
incalculability, not only the flexible design of production systems but
in particular the employee as enabler of change provide the focus
here. It is important to enable employees from manufacturing
companies to participate actively in change events and in change
decisions. To this end, the learning factory has been created, which is
intended to serve the development of change-promoting competences
and the sensitization of employees for the necessity of changes.
Abstract: The rapid urbanization of cities has a bane in the form
road accidents that cause extensive damage to life and limbs. A
number of location based factors are enablers of road accidents in the
city. The speed of travel of vehicles is non-uniform among locations
within a city. In this study, the perception of vehicle users is captured
on a 10-point rating scale regarding the degree of variation in speed
of travel at chosen locations in the city. The average rating is used to
cluster locations using fuzzy c-means clustering and classify them as
low, moderate and high speed of travel locations. The high speed of
travel locations can be classified proactively to ensure that accidents
do not occur due to the speeding of vehicles at such locations. The
advantage of fuzzy c-means clustering is that a location may be a
part of more than one cluster to a varying degree and this gives a
better picture about the location with respect to the characteristic
(speed of travel) being studied.