Abstract: The project was undertaken to determine the effects of modified tissue culture protocols e.g. age of culture and hormone levels (2,4-D) in generating somaclonal variation. Moreover, the utility of molecular markers (SSR and MSAP) in sorting off types/somaclones were investigated.
Results show that somaclonal variation is in effect due to prolonged subculture and high 2,4-D concentration. The resultant variation was observed to be due to high level of methylation events specifically cytosine methylation either at the internal or external cytosine and was identified by methylation sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP).Simple sequence repeats (SSR) on the other hand, was able to associate a marker to a trait of interest.
These therefore, show that molecular markers can be an important tool in sorting out variation/mutants at an early stage.
Abstract: This paper examines the readability of the chairman’s narratives, as determined by the Flesch score, of a Malaysian public listed company’s corporate reports from 1962 to 2009. It partially supports earlier studies which demonstrated that corporate reports were difficult to read, and had shown very negligible decrease in difficulty over time. Net profit to sales and readability was significantly positively correlated but number of financial statements was significantly negatively correlated with readability.
Abstract: Traveling salesman problem (TSP) is hard to resolve
when the number of cities and routes become large. The frequency
graph is constructed to tackle the problem. A frequency graph
maintains the topological relationships of the original weighted graph.
The numbers on the edges are the frequencies of the edges emulated
from the local optimal Hamiltonian paths. The simplest kind of local
optimal Hamiltonian paths are computed based on the four vertices
and three lines inequality. The search algorithm is given to find the
optimal Hamiltonian circuit based on the frequency graph. The
experiments show that the method can find the optimal Hamiltonian
circuit within several trials.
Abstract: Perishable goods constitute a large portion of retailer inventory and lose value with time due to deterioration and/or obsolescence. Retailers dealing with such goods required considering the factors of short shelf life and the dependency of sales on inventory displayed in determining optimal procurement policy. Many retailers follow the practice of using two bins - primary bin sales fresh items at a list price and secondary bin sales unsold items at a discount price transferred from primary bin on attaining certain age. In this paper, mathematical models are developed for primary bin and for secondary bin that maximizes profit with decision variables of order quantities, optimal review period and optimal selling price at secondary bin. The demand rates in two bins are assumed to be deterministic and dependent on displayed inventory level, price and age but independent of each other. The validity of the model is shown by solving an example and the sensitivity analysis of the model is also reported.
Abstract: Combinatorial optimization problems arise in many scientific and practical applications. Therefore many researchers try to find or improve different methods to solve these problems with high quality results and in less time. Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Simulated Annealing (SA) have been used to solve optimization problems. Both GA and SA search a solution space throughout a sequence of iterative states. However, there are also significant differences between them. The GA mechanism is parallel on a set of solutions and exchanges information using the crossover operation. SA works on a single solution at a time. In this work SA and GA are combined using new technique in order to overcome the disadvantages' of both algorithms.
Abstract: The Economic factors are leading to the rise of
infrastructures provides software and computing facilities as a
service, known as cloud services or cloud computing. Cloud services
can provide efficiencies for application providers, both by limiting
up-front capital expenses, and by reducing the cost of ownership over
time. Such services are made available in a data center, using shared
commodity hardware for computation and storage. There is a varied
set of cloud services available today, including application services
(salesforce.com), storage services (Amazon S3), compute services
(Google App Engine, Amazon EC2) and data services (Amazon
SimpleDB, Microsoft SQL Server Data Services, Google-s Data
store). These services represent a variety of reformations of data
management architectures, and more are on the horizon.
Abstract: This study analyses store layout among the many
factors that underlie supermarket store design, this; in terms of what to
display in a shop and where to place the items. This report examines
newly-opened stores and evaluates their interior shop floor layouts,
which we then attempt to categorize by various styles. We then
consider the interaction between shop floor layout and customer
behavior from the perspective of the supermarket as the seller. At this
point, we focus on the “store magnets"–the main sections within the
shop likely to attract customers into the store.
Abstract: Modern information and communication technologies
offer a variety of support options for the efficient handling of
customer relationships. CRM systems have been developed, which
are designed to support the processes in the areas of marketing, sales
and service. Along with technological progress, CRM systems are
constantly changing, i.e. the systems are continually enhanced by
new functions. However, not all functions are suitable for every
company because of different frameworks and business processes. In
this context the question arises whether or not CRM systems are
widely used in Austrian companies and which business processes are
most frequently supported by CRM systems. This paper aims to shed
light on the popularity of CRM systems in Austrian companies in
general and the use of different functions to support their daily
business. First of all, the paper provides a theoretical overview of the
structure of modern CRM systems and proposes a categorization of
currently available software functionality for collaborative,
operational and analytical CRM processes, which provides the
theoretical background for the empirical study. Apart from these
theoretical considerations, the paper presents the empirical results of
a field survey on the use of CRM systems in Austrian companies and
analyzes its findings.
Abstract: Knowledge capabilities are increasingly important for
the innovative technology enterprises to enhance the business
performance in terms of product competitiveness, innovation and
sales. Recognition of the company capability by auditing allows them
to further pursue advancement, strategic planning and hence gain
competitive advantages. This paper attempts to develop an
Organizations- Knowledge Capabilities Assessment (OKCA) method
to assess the knowledge capabilities of technology companies. The
OKCA is a questionnaire-based assessment tool which has been
developed to uncover the impact of various knowledge capabilities on
different organizational performance. The collected data is then
analyzed to find out the crucial elements for different technological
companies. Based on the results, innovative technology enterprises are
able to recognize the direction for further improvement on business
performance and future development plan. External environmental
factors affecting organization performance can be found through the
further analysis of some selected reference companies.
Abstract: Electronic commerce is growing rapidly with on-line
sales already heading for hundreds of billion dollars per year. Due to
the huge amount of money transferred everyday, an increased
security level is required. In this work we present the architecture of
an intelligent speaker verification system, which is able to accurately
verify the registered users of an e-commerce service using only their
voices as an input. According to the proposed architecture, a
transaction-based e-commerce application should be complemented
by a biometric server where customer-s unique set of speech models
(voiceprint) is stored. The verification procedure requests from the
user to pronounce a personalized sequence of digits and after
capturing speech and extracting voice features at the client side are
sent back to the biometric server. The biometric server uses pattern
recognition to decide whether the received features match the stored
voiceprint of the customer who claims to be, and accordingly grants
verification. The proposed architecture can provide e-commerce
applications with a higher degree of certainty regarding the identity
of a customer, and prevent impostors to execute fraudulent
transactions.
Abstract: Because of its global reach, reduction of time
restraints, and ability to reduce costs and increase sales, use of the
Internet, the World Wide Web (WWW), and related technologies
can be a competitive tool in the arsenal of small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs). Countries the world over are interested in the
successful adoption of the Internet by SMEs. Because a vast
majority of jobs come from that sector, greater financial success of
SMEs translates into greater job growth and, subsequently, higher
tax revenue to the government. This research investigated the level
of Internet usage for business solutions by small and medium
enterprises in Jordan. Through the survey of a random sample of
100 firms with less than 500 employees and from data obtained
from this survey that formed the basis for our study, we found that
a majority of respondents use the Internet in business activities ,
the adoption of the Internet as a business tool is limited to a
brochure where Web site which primarily provides one way. As
such, there wasn't interactive information about the company and
its products and services.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to identify the underlying
causes of late payment from the contractors- perspective in the
Malaysian construction industry and to recommend effective solutions
to mitigate late payment problems. The target groups of respondents in
this study were Grades G3, G5, G6 and G7 contractors with
specialization in building works and civil engineering works registered
with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) in
Malaysia. Results from this study were analyzed with Statistical
Package for the Social Science (SPSS 15.0). From this study, it was
found that respondents have highest ranked five significant variables
out of a total of forty-one variables which can caused late payment
problems: a) cash flow problems due to deficiencies in client-s
management capacity (mean = 3.96); b) client-s ineffective utilization
of funds (mean = 3.88); c) scarcity of capital to finance the project
(mean = 3.81); d) clients failure to generate income from bank when
sales of houses do not hit the targeted amount (mean=3.72); and e)
poor cash flow because of lack of proper process implementation,
delay in releasing of the retention monies to contractor and delay in the
evaluation and certification of interim and final payment (mean =
3.66).
Abstract: In the modern manufacturing systems, the use of
thermal cutting techniques using oxyfuel, plasma and laser have
become indispensable for the shape forming of high quality complex
components; however, the conventional chip removal production
techniques still have its widespread space in the manufacturing
industry. Both these types of machining operations require the
positioning of end effector tool at the edge where the cutting process
commences. This repositioning of the cutting tool in every machining
operation is repeated several times and is termed as non-productive
time or airtime motion. Minimization of this non-productive
machining time plays an important role in mass production with high
speed machining. As, the tool moves from one region to the other by
rapid movement and visits a meticulous region once in the whole
operation, hence the non-productive time can be minimized by
synchronizing the tool movements. In this work, this problem is
being formulated as a general travelling salesman problem (TSP) and
a genetic algorithm approach has been applied to solve the same. For
improving the efficiency of the algorithm, the GA has been
hybridized with a noble special heuristic and simulating annealing
(SA). In the present work a novel heuristic in the combination of GA
has been developed for synchronization of toolpath movements
during repositioning of the tool. A comparative analysis of new Meta
heuristic techniques with simple genetic algorithm has been
performed. The proposed metaheuristic approach shows better
performance than simple genetic algorithm for minimization of nonproductive
toolpath length. Also, the results obtained with the help of
hybrid simulated annealing genetic algorithm (HSAGA) are also
found better than the results using simple genetic algorithm only.
Abstract: Ant Colony Algorithms have been applied to difficult
combinatorial optimization problems such as the travelling salesman
problem and the quadratic assignment problem. In this paper gridbased
and random-based ant colony algorithms are proposed for
automatic 3D hose routing and their pros and cons are discussed. The
algorithm uses the tessellated format for the obstacles and the
generated hoses in order to detect collisions. The representation of
obstacles and hoses in the tessellated format greatly helps the
algorithm towards handling free-form objects and speeds up
computation. The performance of algorithm has been tested on a
number of 3D models.
Abstract: Automobile Industry has great importance in the
Spanish economy (8,7 % of the active Spanish population is
employed in this sector).The above mentioned sector has been one of
the principal sectors affected by the current economic crisis,
consistently, the budgets in advertising have been severely limited
(46,9 % less in the period of reference), these needs of reduction
have originated a substantial change in the advertising strategy (from
2007 the increase of the advertising investment in Internet is 251,6
%), and increase profitability. The growing use of social media by
consumers therefore makes online consumer conversations an
attractive additional format for Automobile firms to promote
products at a lower cost. This research analyzes the relation between
the activity in Social Media and the design in the car industry,
looking for relations between strategies of design based on Social
Media and sales and a channel of information for companies to know
what the consumer preferences. For this ongoing research we used a
longitudinal withdrawal of information has been used using
information of panel. Managerial and research implications of the
finding are discussed.
Abstract: Planning the transition period for the adoption of
alternative fuel-technology powertrains is a challenging task that
requires sophisticated analysis tools. In this study, a system dynamic
approach was applied to analyze the bi-directional interaction
between the development of the refueling station network and vehicle
sales. Besides, the developed model was used to estimate the
transition cost to reach a predefined target (share of alternative fuel
vehicles) in different scenarios. Several scenarios have been analyzed
to investigate the effectiveness and cost of incentives on the initial
price of vehicles, and on the evolution of fuel and refueling stations.
Obtained results show that a combined set of incentives will be more
effective than just a single specific type of incentives.
Abstract: This study aims to propose three evaluation methods to
evaluate the Tokyo Cap and Trade Program when emissions trading is
performed virtually among enterprises, focusing on carbon dioxide
(CO2), which is the only emitted greenhouse gas that tends to increase.
The first method clarifies the optimum reduction rate for the highest
cost benefit, the second discusses emissions trading among enterprises
through market trading, and the third verifies long-term emissions
trading during the term of the plan (2010-2019), checking the validity
of emissions trading partly using Geographic Information Systems
(GIS). The findings of this study can be summarized in the following
three points.
1. Since the total cost benefit is the greatest at a 44% reduction rate, it
is possible to set it more highly than that of the Tokyo Cap and
Trade Program to get more total cost benefit.
2. At a 44% reduction rate, among 320 enterprises, 8 purchasing
enterprises and 245 sales enterprises gain profits from emissions
trading, and 67 enterprises perform voluntary reduction without
conducting emissions trading. Therefore, to further promote
emissions trading, it is necessary to increase the sales volumes of
emissions trading in addition to sales enterprises by increasing the
number of purchasing enterprises.
3. Compared to short-term emissions trading, there are few enterprises
which benefit in each year through the long-term emissions trading
of the Tokyo Cap and Trade Program. Only 81 enterprises at the
most can gain profits from emissions trading in FY 2019. Therefore,
by setting the reduction rate more highly, it is necessary to increase
the number of enterprises that participate in emissions trading and
benefit from the restraint of CO2 emissions.
Abstract: Despite the fact that B2c eCommerce has become
important in numerous economies, its adoption varies from country to
country. This paper aims to identify the factors affecting (enabling or
inhibiting) B2c eCommerce and to determine their quantitative
impact on the diffusion of online sales across countries. A dynamic
panel model analyzing the relationship between 13 factors
(Macroeconomic, Demographic, Socio-Cultural, Infrastructural and
Offer related) stemming from a complete literature analysis and the
B2c eCommerce value in 45 countries over 9 years has been
developed. Having a positive correlation coefficient, GDP, mobile
penetration, Internet user penetration and credit card penetration
resulted as enabling drivers of the B2c eCommerce value across
countries, whereas, having a negative correlation coefficient,equal
distribution of income and the development of traditional retailing
network act as inhibiting factors.