Abstract: Electricity has an indispensable role in human daily life, technological development and economy. It is a special product or service that should be instantaneously generated and consumed. Sources of the world are limited so that effective and efficient use of them is very important not only for human life and environment but also for technological and economic development. Competitive electricity market is one of the important way that provides suitable platform for effective and efficient use of electricity. Besides benefits, it brings along some risks that should be carefully managed by a market player like Electricity Generation Company. Risk management is an essential part in market players’ decision making. In this paper, risk management through diversification is applied with the help of Value at Risk methods for case studies. Performance of optimal electricity sale solutions are measured and the portfolio performance has been evaluated via Sharpe-Ratio, and compared with conventional approach. Biennial historical electricity price data of Turkish Day Ahead Market are used to demonstrate the approach.
Abstract: This paper presents the analysis on the performance of monopole antenna with fluorescent tubes. In this research, the simulation and experimental approach is conducted. The fluorescent tube with different length and size is designed using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) software and the characteristics of antenna parameter are simulated throughout the software. CST was used to simulate antenna parameters such as return loss, resonant frequency, gain and directivity. Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) was used to measure the return loss of plasma antenna in order to validate the simulation results. In the simulation and experiment, the supply frequency is set starting from 1 GHz to 10 GHz. The results show that the return loss of plasma antenna changes when size of fluorescent tubes is varied, correspond to the different plasma properties. It shows that different values of plasma properties such as plasma frequency and collision frequency gives difference result of return loss, gain and directivity. For the gain, the values range from 2.14 dB to 2.36 dB. The return loss of plasma antenna offers higher value range from -22.187 dB to -32.903 dB. The higher the values of plasma frequency and collision frequency, the higher return loss can be obtained. The values obtained are comparative to the conventional type of metal antenna.
Abstract: This research aims to examine the influence of mediating effect of corporate social responsibility on the relationship between consumer awareness of green marketing and purchase intentions in the retail setting. Data from 200 valid questionnaires was analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach for the analysis of structural equation models with SmartPLS computer program version 2.0 as research data does not necessarily have a multivariate normal distribution and is less sensitive to sample size than other covariance approaches. PLS results revealed that corporate social responsibility partially mediated the link between consumer awareness of green marketing and purchase intentions of the product in the retail setting. Marketing managers should allocate a sufficient portion of their budget to appropriate corporate social responsibility activities by engaging in voluntary programs for positive return on investment leading to increased business profitability and long run business sustainability. The outcomes of the mediating effects of corporate social responsibility add a new impetus to the growing literature and preceding discoveries on consumer green marketing awareness, which is inadequately researched in the Malaysian setting. Direction for future research is also presented.
Abstract: In view of the present cloud security problem has increasingly become one of the major obstacles hindering the development of the cloud computing, put forward a kind of memory based on Xen cloud environment security isolation technology implementation. And based on Xen virtual machine monitor system, analysis of the model of memory virtualization is implemented, using Xen memory virtualization system mechanism of super calls and grant table, based on the virtual machine manager internal implementation of access control module (ACM) to design the security isolation system memory. Experiments show that, the system can effectively isolate different customer domain OS between illegal access to memory data.
Abstract: In this numerical work, natural convection and entropy generation of Al2O3–water nanofluid in square cavity have been studied. A two-dimensional steady laminar natural convection in a differentially heated square cavity of length L, filled with a nanofluid is investigated numerically. The horizontal walls are considered adiabatic. Vertical walls corresponding to x=0 and x=L are respectively maintained at hot temperature, Th and cold temperature, Tc. The resolution is performed by the CFD code "FLUENT" in combination with GAMBIT as mesh generator. These simulations are performed by maintaining the Rayleigh numbers varied as 103 ≤ Ra ≤ 106, while the solid volume fraction varied from 1% to 5%, the particle size is fixed at dp=33 nm and a range of the temperature from 20 to 70 °C. We used models of thermophysical nanofluids properties based on experimental measurements for studying the effect of adding solid particle into water in natural convection heat transfer and entropy generation of nanofluid. Such as models of thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity which are dependent on solid volume fraction, particle size and temperature. The average Nusselt number is calculated at the hot wall of the cavity in a different solid volume fraction. The most important results is that at low temperatures (less than 40 °C), the addition of nanosolids Al2O3 into water leads to a decrease in heat transfer and entropy generation instead of the expected increase, whereas at high temperature, heat transfer and entropy generation increase with the addition of nanosolids. This behavior is due to the contradictory effects of viscosity and thermal conductivity of the nanofluid. These effects are discussed in this work.
Abstract: Laboratory consolidated undrained triaxial (CU) tests were carried out to study the strength behavior of silty soil reinforced with randomly plastic waste bottle chips. Specimens mixed with plastic waste chips in triaxial compression tests with 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.0, and 1.25% by dry weight of soil and tree different length including 4, 8, and 12 mm. In all of the samples, the width and thickness of plastic chips were kept constant. According to the results, the amount and size of plastic waste bottle chips played an important role in the increasing of the strength parameters of reinforced silt compared to the pure soil. Because of good results, the suggested method of soil improvement can be used in many engineering problems such as increasing the bearing capacity and settlement reduction in foundations.
Abstract: Network lifetime improvement and uncertainty in multiple systems are the issues of wireless sensor network routing. This paper presents fuzzy based particle swarm optimization routing technique to improve the network scalability. Significantly, in the cluster formation procedure, fuzzy based system is used to solve the uncertainty and network balancing. Cluster heads play an important role to reduce the energy consumption using particle swarm optimization algorithm, the cluster head sends its information along data packets to the heads with link. The simulation results show that the presented routing protocol can perform load balancing effectively and reduce the energy consumption of cluster heads.
Abstract: This paper presents a study on the trajectory of a two stage launch vehicle. The study includes dynamic responses of motion parameters as well as the variation of angles affecting the orientation of the launch vehicle (LV). LV dynamic characteristics including state vector variation with corresponding altitude and velocity for the different LV stages separation, as well as the angle of attack and flight path angles are also discussed. A flight trajectory study for the drop zone of first stage and the jettisoning of fairing are introduced in the mathematical modeling to study their effect. To increase the accuracy of the LV model, atmospheric model is used taking into consideration geographical location and the values of solar flux related to the date and time of launch, accurate atmospheric model leads to enhancement of the calculation of Mach number, which affects the drag force over the LV. The mathematical model is implemented on MATLAB based software (Simulink). The real available experimental data are compared with results obtained from the theoretical computation model. The comparison shows good agreement, which proves the validity of the developed simulation model; the maximum error noticed was generally less than 10%, which is a result that can lead to future works and enhancement to decrease this level of error.
Abstract: To study the effect of nitrogenous additive spray solution on the efficacy of three herbicides i.e. pinoxaden (Trade name: Axial), sulfosulfuron+metsulfuron-methyl (Trade name: Total) and sulfosulfuron (Trade name: Apirus) in controlling wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum C. Koch), in different growth stages, a greenhouse experiment as a split plot in a completely randomized design in three replications was conducted. One month after treatments, all plants were harvested and growth parameters were determined. The data were analyzed with computer. The results showed that the herbicide applications with and without nitrogen additive caused significant reductions in growth parameters of wild barley at 2-4 leaf stage. However, the plants were not killed by this herbicide. Plants were killed completely due to applications of the two other herbicides i.e. Apirus and Total at 2-4 leaf. There was no significant difference between the effect of these two herbicides. There was no significant difference between the highest rate of each herbicide used alone and that of the lowest rate with nitrogenous additive.
Abstract: The traditional k-means algorithm has been widely used as a simple and efficient clustering method. However, the algorithm often converges to local minima for the reason that it is sensitive to the initial cluster centers. In this paper, an algorithm for selecting initial cluster centers on the basis of minimum spanning tree (MST) is presented. The set of vertices in MST with same degree are regarded as a whole which is used to find the skeleton data points. Furthermore, a distance measure between the skeleton data points with consideration of degree and Euclidean distance is presented. Finally, MST-based initialization method for the k-means algorithm is presented, and the corresponding time complexity is analyzed as well. The presented algorithm is tested on five data sets from the UCI Machine Learning Repository. The experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the presented algorithm compared to three existing initialization methods.
Abstract: In this paper, a motion generation algorithm for a six Degrees of Freedom (DoF) robotic hand in a static environment is presented. The purpose of developing this method is to be used in the path generation of the end-effector for edge finishing and inspection processes by utilizing the CAD model of the considered workpiece. Nonetheless, the proposed algorithm may be extended to be applicable for other similar manufacturing processes. A software package programmed in the application programming interface (API) of SolidWorks generates tool path data for the robot. The proposed method significantly simplifies the given problem, resulting in a reduction in the CPU time needed to generate the path, and offers an efficient overall solution. The ABB IRB2000 robot is chosen for executing the generated tool path.
Abstract: In order to reach the long-term national climate goals of the German government for the building sector, substantial energetic measures have to be executed. Historically, those measures were primarily energetic efficiency measures at the buildings’ shells. Advanced technologies for the on-site generation of heat (or other types of energy) often are not feasible at this small spatial scale of a single building. Therefore, the present approach uses the spatially larger dimension of a quarter. The main focus of the present paper is the long-term economic-ecological assessment of available decentralized heat-generating (CHP power plants and electrical heat pumps) technologies at the quarter level for the German unrefurbished residential buildings. Three distinct terms have to be described methodologically: i) Quarter approach, ii) Economic assessment, iii) Ecological assessment. The quarter approach is used to enable synergies and scaling effects over a single-building. For the present study, generic quarters that are differentiated according to significant parameters concerning their heat demand are used. The core differentiation of those quarters is made by the construction time period of the buildings. The economic assessment as the second crucial parameter is executed with the following structure: Full costs are quantized for each technology combination and quarter. The investment costs are analyzed on an annual basis and are modeled with the acquisition of debt. Annuity loans are assumed. Consequently, for each generic quarter, an optimal technology combination for decentralized heat generation is provided in each year of the temporal boundaries (2016-2050). The ecological assessment elaborates for each technology combination and each quarter a Life Cycle assessment. The measured impact category hereby is GWP 100. The technology combinations for heat production can be therefore compared against each other concerning their long-term climatic impacts. Core results of the approach can be differentiated to an economic and ecological dimension. With an annual resolution, the investment and running costs of different energetic technology combinations are quantified. For each quarter an optimal technology combination for local heat supply and/or energetic refurbishment of the buildings within the quarter is provided. Coherently to the economic assessment, the climatic impacts of the technology combinations are quantized and compared against each other.
Abstract: In this paper, a shot boundary detection method is presented using octagon square search pattern. The color, edge, motion and texture features of each frame are extracted and used in shot boundary detection. The motion feature is extracted using octagon square search pattern. Then, the transition detection method is capable of detecting the shot or non-shot boundaries in the video using the feature weight values. Experimental results are evaluated in TRECVID video test set containing various types of shot transition with lighting effects, object and camera movement within the shots. Further, this paper compares the experimental results of the proposed method with existing methods. It shows that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-art methods for shot boundary detection.
Abstract: Net fee and commission income is one of the key elements of a bank’s core income. In the current low-interest rate environment, this type of income is gaining importance relative to net interest income. This paper analyses the effects of bank and country specific determinants of net fee and commission income on a set of cooperative banks from European countries in the 2007-2014 period. In order to do that, dynamic panel data methods (system Generalized Methods of Moments) were employed. Subsequently, alternative panel data methods were run as robustness checks of the analysis. Strong positive impact of bank concentration on the share of net fee and commission income was found, which proves that cooperative banks tend to display a higher share of fee income in less competitive markets. This is probably connected with the fact that they stick with their traditional deposit-taking and loan-providing model and fees on these services are driven down by the competitors. Moreover, compared to commercial banks, cooperatives do not expand heavily into non-traditional fee bearing services under competition and their overall fee income share is therefore decreasing with the increased competitiveness of the sector.
Abstract: The management of pharmacotherapy and the process of dispensing medicines is becoming critical in clinical pharmacy due to the increase of incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases, the complexity and customization of therapeutic regimens, the introduction of innovative and more expensive medicines, the unbalanced relation between expenditure and revenue as well as due to the lack of rationalization associated with medication use. For these reasons, co-payments emerged in Europe in the 70s and have been applied over the past few years in healthcare. Co-payments lead to a rationing and rationalization of user’s access under healthcare services and products, and simultaneously, to a qualification and improvement of the services and products for the end-user. This analysis, under hospital practices particularly and co-payment strategies in general, was carried out on all the European regions and identified four reference countries, that apply repeatedly this tool and with different approaches. The structure, content and adaptation of European co-payments were analyzed through 7 qualitative attributes and 19 performance indicators, and the results expressed in a scorecard, allowing to conclude that the German models (total score of 68,2% and 63,6% in both elected co-payments) can collect more compliance and effectiveness, the English models (total score of 50%) can be more accessible, and the French models (total score of 50%) can be more adequate to the socio-economic and legal framework. Other European models did not show the same quality and/or performance, so were not taken as a standard in the future design of co-payments strategies. In this sense, we can see in the co-payments a strategy not only to moderate the consumption of healthcare products and services, but especially to improve them, as well as a strategy to increment the value that the end-user assigns to these services and products, such as medicines.
Abstract: Information quality is a major performance measure for an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system of any firm. This study identifies various critical success factors of information quality. The effect of various critical success factors like project management, reengineering efforts and interdepartmental communications on information quality is analyzed using a multiple regression model. Here quantitative data are collected from respondents from various firms through structured questionnaire for assessment of the information quality, project management, reengineering efforts and interdepartmental communications. The validity and reliability of the data are ensured using techniques like factor analysis, computing of Cronbach’s alpha. This study gives relative importance of each of the critical success factors. The findings suggest that among the various factors influencing information quality careful reengineering efforts are the most influencing factor. This paper gives clear insight to managers and practitioners regarding the relative importance of critical success factors influencing information quality so that they can formulate a strategy at the beginning of ERP system implementation.
Abstract: The brake systems of vehicles are tested periodically by a “brake tester” at Ministry of Transport (MOT) stations. This tester measures the effectiveness of vehicle. This parameter is established by the International Committee of Vehicle Inspection (CITA). In this paper, we present an investigation of the influence of the tire size on the measurements of brake force on three MOT brake testers. We performed an analysis of the vehicle braking capacity test at MOT stations. The influence of varying wheel diameter and width on the measurement of braking at MOT stations has been analyzed. Thereby, the MOT brake tester as a verification system for a vehicle has been evaluated.
Abstract: In this paper, the effect of the intake temperature (IT) and intake pressure (IP) on ignition timing and pollutants emission of Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine is investigated. Numerical computations are performed using the CHEMKIN computer code. The numerical temperature obtained using different boundary conditions is compared to published data and a good agreement is assigned. Results show that the HCCI combustion engine is significantly improved by increasing the IT. With a value of IT lower than 390 K, combustion cannot occur. However, with an IT greater than 420 K, the cylinder pressure decreases. An optimum crank rotation angle is achieved by using IT of 420 K. So, we can conclude that the variation of the IT and IP influence notably the emission concentration.
Abstract: Various exterior factors have perpetual effects on textile materials during wear, use and laundering in everyday life. In accordance with their frequency of use, textile materials are required to be laundered at certain intervals. The medium in which the laundering process takes place have inevitable detrimental physical and chemical effects on textile materials caused by the unique parameters of the process inherently existing. Connatural structures of various textile materials result in many different physical, chemical and mechanical characteristics. Because of their specific structures, these materials have different behaviors against several exterior factors. By modeling the behavior of commercial and test textiles as group-wise against laundering process, it is possible to disclose the relation in between these two groups of materials, which will lead to better understanding of their behaviors in terms of similarities and differences against the washing parameters of the laundering. Thus, the goal of the current research is to examine the behavior of two groups of textile materials as commercial textiles and as test textiles towards the main washing machine parameters during laundering process such as temperature, load quantity, mechanical action and level of water amount by concentrating on shrinkage, pilling, sewing defects, collar abrasion, the other defects other than sewing, whitening and overall properties of textiles. In this study, cotton fabrics were preferred as commercial textiles due to the fact that garments made of cotton are the most demanded products in the market by the textile consumers in daily life. Full factorial experimental set-up was used to design the experimental procedure. All profiles always including all of the commercial and the test textiles were laundered for 20 cycles by commercial home laundering machine to investigate the effects of the chosen parameters. For the laundering process, a modified version of ‘‘IEC 60456 Test Method’’ was utilized. The amount of detergent was altered as 0.5% gram per liter depending on varying load quantity levels. Datacolor 650®, EMPA Photographic Standards for Pilling Test and visual examination were utilized to test and characterize the textiles. Furthermore, in the current study the relation in between commercial and test textiles in terms of their performance was deeply investigated by the help of statistical analysis performed by MINITAB® package program modeling their behavior against the parameters of the laundering process. In the experimental work, the behaviors of both groups of textiles towards washing machine parameters were visually and quantitatively assessed in dry state.
Abstract: This paper presents the development of an algorithm that predicts the arrival of a secondary user (SU) to a base station (BS) in a cognitive network based on infrastructure, requesting a Best Effort (BE) or Real Time (RT) type of service with a determined bandwidth (BW) implementing neural networks. The algorithm dynamically uses a neural network construction technique using the geometric pyramid topology and trains a Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks (MLPNN) based on the historical arrival of an SU to estimate future applications. This will allow efficiently managing the information in the BS, since it precedes the arrival of the SUs in the stage of selection of the best channel in CRN. As a result, the software application determines the probability of arrival at a future time point and calculates the performance metrics to measure the effectiveness of the predictions made.