Abstract: Knowledge management is a critical component of
competitive success in service organizations. Knowledge
management centers on creating new knowledge and utilizing
existing knowledge. While utilizing existing knowledge relates to
input and control and can lead to a reduction in costs; creating new
knowledge relates to output and growth and can lead to an increase in
revenue. Therefore managers must ensure that they can successfully
optimize the knowledge and talent in their organizations. To do this
they and must try to develop an environment that promotes the
generation, acquisition, transfer and use of valuable knowledge in
creative ways. However knowledge management is complex and
diverse. Research suggests that organizations in general and SMEs in
particular are finding it difficult to implement successful knowledge
management initiatives. Our research attempts to understand whether
organizations are adopting best practice initiatives in their
organizations. This paper presents findings from an exploratory study
of 139 SMEs operating in the tourism sector across Europe. The
goals of the survey is to assess the level of awareness of knowledge
and talent management strategies and methodologies and to
determine whether the responding companies implement best practice
knowledge management initiatives in their organizations Analysis of
the findings from the study are presented and discussed.
Abstract: Heuristics-based search methodologies normally
work on searching a problem space of possible solutions toward
finding a “satisfactory" solution based on “hints" estimated from the
problem-specific knowledge. Research communities use different
types of methodologies. Unfortunately, most of the times, these hints
are immature and can lead toward hindering these methodologies by
a premature convergence. This is due to a decrease of diversity in
search space that leads to a total implosion and ultimately fitness
stagnation of the population. In this paper, a novel Decision Maturity
framework (DMF) is introduced as a solution to this problem. The
framework simply improves the decision on the direction of the
search by materializing hints enough before using them. Ideas from
this framework are injected into the particle swarm optimization
methodology. Results were obtained under both static and dynamic
environment. The results show that decision maturity prevents
premature converges to a high degree.
Abstract: A multi-block algorithm and its implementation in two-dimensional finite element numerical model CCHE2D are presented. In addition to a conventional Lagrangian Interpolation Method (LIM), a novel interpolation method, called Consistent Interpolation Method (CIM), is proposed for more accurate information transfer across the interfaces. The consistent interpolation solves the governing equations over the auxiliary elements constructed around the interpolation nodes using the same numerical scheme used for the internal computational nodes. With the CIM, the momentum conservation can be maintained as well as the mass conservation. An imbalance correction scheme is used to enforce the conservation laws (mass and momentum) across the interfaces. Comparisons of the LIM and the CIM are made using several flow simulation examples. It is shown that the proposed CIM is physically more accurate and produces satisfactory results efficiently.
Abstract: Composite steel shear wall is a lateral load resisting system which consists of a steel plate with concrete wall attached to one or both sides to prevent it from elastic buckling. The composite behavior is ensured by utilizing high-strength bolts. This paper investigates the effect of distance between bolts, and for this purpose 14 one-story one-bay specimens with various bolts spacing were modeled by finite element code which is developed by the authors. To verify the model, numerical results were compared with a valid experiment which illustrate proper agreement. Results depict increasing the distance between bolts would improve the seismic ever, this increase must be limited, because of large distances will cause widespread buckling of the steel plate in free subpanels between bolts and would result in no improvement. By comparing the results in elastic region, it was observed initial stiffness is not affected by changing the distance.
Abstract: In this paper, the thermo-electro-structural coupledfield
in a cracked metal plate is studied using the finite element
analysis. From the computational results, the compressive stresses
reveal near the crack tip. This conclusion agrees with the past
reference. Furthermore, the compressive condition can retard and stop
the crack growth during the Joule heating process.
Abstract: According to historical legend, after the revelation of the holy Qur'an, which gave the hijab compulsory and women were required to cover the head and body with a handkerchief, and the general form of clothing in her veil, Muslim women have begun to comply with this worthy tradition. This article discusses the history of the rise and spread of the hijab and its types. And here is described in detail types of hijab and its intended value, style hijab in different regions. Now wearing the hijab, hijab in general the problem is important not only in the Arab world, but also in the world.
Abstract: The temperature distribution and the heat transfer
rates through a multi-layer door of a furnace were investigated. The
inside of the door was in contact with hot air and the other side of the
door was in contact with room air. Radiation heat transfer from the
walls of the furnace to the door and the door to the surrounding area
was included in the problem. This work is a two dimensional steady
state problem. The Churchill and Chu correlation was used to find
local convection heat transfer coefficients at the surfaces of the
furnace door. The thermophysical properties of air were the functions
of the temperatures. Polynomial curve fitting for the fluid properties
were carried out. Finite difference method was used to discretize for
conduction heat transfer within the furnace door. The Gauss-Seidel
Iteration was employed to compute the temperature distribution in
the door.
The temperature distribution in the horizontal mid plane of the
furnace door in a two dimensional problem agrees with the one
dimensional problem. The local convection heat transfer coefficients
at the inside and outside surfaces of the furnace door are exhibited.
Abstract: A finite element analysis was conducted to determine
the effect of moisture diffusion and hygroscopic swelling in rice. A
parallel simple stochastic modeling was performed to predict the
number of grains cracked as a result of moisture absorption and
hygroscopic swelling. Rice grains were soaked in thermally (25 oC)
controlled water and then tested for compressive stress. The
destructive compressive stress tests revealed through compressive
stress calculation that the peak force required to cause cracking in
grains soaked in water reduced with time as soaking duration was
extended. Results of the experiment showed that several grains had
their value of the predicted compressive stress below the von Mises
stress and were interpreted as grains which become cracked and/or
broke during soaking. The technique developed in this experiment
will facilitate the approximation of the number of grains which will
crack during soaking.
Abstract: Due to short product life cycles, increasing variety of
products and short cycles of leap innovations manufacturing
companies have to increase the flexibility of factory structures.
Flexibility of factory structures is based on defined factory planning
processes in which product, process and resource data of various
partial domains have to be considered. Thus factory planning
processes can be characterized as iterative, interdisciplinary and
participative processes [1]. To support interdisciplinary and
participative character of planning processes, a federative factory
data management (FFDM) as a holistic solution will be described.
FFDM is already implemented in form of a prototype. The interim
results of the development of FFDM will be shown in this paper. The
principles are the extracting of product, process and resource data
from documents of various partial domains providing as web services
on a server. The described data can be requested by the factory
planner by using a FFDM-browser.
Abstract: A new decomposition form is introduced in this report
to establish a criterion for the bi-partite separability of Bell diagonal
states. A such criterion takes a quadratic inequality of the coefficients
of a given Bell diagonal states and can be derived via a simple
algorithmic calculation of its invariants. In addition, the criterion can
be extended to a quantum system of higher dimension.
Abstract: Developing a university course schedule is
difficult. This is due to the limitations in the resources
available. The process is made even harder with different
faculties or departments having different ways of stating their
schedule requirements. The person in charge of taking the
schedule requirements and turning them into a proper course
schedule is not only burden with the task of allocating the
appropriate classes and time to lecturers and students, they
also need to understand the schedule requirements. Therefore
a scheduling support system named SATA is developed to
assist ICRESS in the course scheduling process. SATA has
been put to use for several semesters and the results have been
encouraging. It won a bronze medal in the 2008 Invention,
Innovation and Design competition (IID-08) and has been
submitted to be patented in October 2008
Abstract: Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID) affect millions of people spread all age regardless of race and sex. Emotional stress and obesity have been associated with increased reporting of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, but the relationship between FGID and risk factors (emotional stress or obesity) is unclear. Our aim was to assess the changes of the mechanical characteristics on the gastrointestinal tracts of the mentally fatigued obese and normal rat models. Finally, using the physical characteristics with micro-indentation test, we made a close investigation into the relation between FGID and risk factors quantitatively.
Abstract: Training with Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES)
has both physiological and psychological benefits for spinal cord
injured subjects. Commonly used methods for quantification of
spasticity have shown controversial reliability. In this study we
propose a method for quick determination of spasticity in spinal cord
injured subjects on a cycling and measurement system. 23 patients
did training sessions on an instrumented mobile FES cycle three
times a week over two months as part of their clinical rehabilitation
program. Spasticity (MAS) and the legs resistance to the pedaling
motion were assessed before and after the FES training and
measurements were done on the subjects ability to pedal with our
without motor assistance. Measurements with test persons with
incomplete spastic paraplegia have shown that spasticity is decreased
after a 30 min cycling training with functional electrical stimulation
(FES).
Abstract: Pepper spray use has gained momentum since 1992
and although the active ingredient is readily available, it is considered
a weapon with restricted use in many regions, including The
Bahamas. In light of controversy in the literature regarding the
severity of presenting respiration complaints among individuals postacute
exposure of pepper spray inhalation, this descriptive case series
study was conducted to assess the respiratory status of persons
evaluated during a mass casualty in The Bahamas. Parameters noted
were patients- demographics and respiration severity determined via
clinical examination findings, disposition and follow-up review of the
20 persons. Their most common complaint was difficulty breathing
post exposure. Two required admission and stayed for
Abstract: A wireless power transfer system can attribute to the
fields in robot, aviation and space in which lightening the weight of
device and improving the movement play an important role. A
wireless power transfer system was investigated to overcome the
inconvenience of using power cable. Especially a wireless power
transfer technology is important element for mobile robots. We
proposed the wireless power transfer system of the half-bridge
resonant converter with the frequency tracking and optimized
power transfer control unit. And the possibility of the application
and development system was verified through the experiment with
LED loads.
Abstract: Component-Based software engineering provides an
opportunity for better quality and increased productivity in software
development by using reusable software components [10]. One of the
most critical aspects of the quality of a software system is its
performance. The systematic application of software performance
engineering techniques throughout the development process can help
to identify design alternatives that preserve desirable qualities such
as extensibility and reusability while meeting performance objectives
[1]. In the present scenario, software engineering methodologies
strongly focus on the functionality of the system, while applying a
“fix- it-later" approach to software performance aspects [3]. As a
result, lengthy fine-tunings, expensive extra hard ware, or even
redesigns are necessary for the system to meet the performance
requirements. In this paper, we propose design based,
implementation independent, performance prediction approach to
reduce the overhead associated in the later phases while developing a
performance guaranteed software product with the help of Unified
Modeling Language (UML).
Abstract: Extraction of lactic acid by emulsion liquid membrane technology (ELM) using n-trioctyl amine (TOA) in n-heptane as carrier within the organic membrane along with sodium carbonate as acceptor phase was optimized by using response surface methodology (RSM). A three level Box-Behnken design was employed for experimental design, analysis of the results and to depict the combined effect of five independent variables, vizlactic acid concentration in aqueous phase (cl), sodium carbonate concentration in stripping phase (cs), carrier concentration in membrane phase (ψ), treat ratio, and batch extraction time (τ)
with equal volume of organic and external aqueous phase on lactic acid extraction efficiency. The maximum lactic acid extraction efficiency (ηext) of 98.21%from aqueous phase in a batch reactor using ELM was found at the optimized values for test variables, cl, cs, ψ, and τ as 0.06 [M], 0.18 [M], 4.72 (%,v/v), 1.98 (v/v) and 13.36 min respectively.
Abstract: This research analyzes factors affecting the success of
Litecoin Value within Thailand and develops a guideline for selfreliance
for effective business implementation. Samples in this study
included 119 people through surveys. The results revealed four main
factors affecting the success as follows: 1) Future Career training
should be pursued in applied Litecoin development. 2) Didn't grasp
the concept of a digital currency or see the benefit of a digital
currency. 3) There is a great need to educate the next generation of
learners on the benefits of Litecoin within the community. 4) A great
majority didn't know what Litecoin was.
The guideline for self-reliance planning consisted of 4 aspects: 1)
Development planning: by arranging meet up groups to conduct
further education on Litecoin and share solutions on adoption into
every day usage. Local communities need to develop awareness of
the usefulness of Litecoin and share the value of Litecoin among
friends and family. 2) Computer Science and Business Management
staff should develop skills to expand on the benefits of Litecoin
within their departments. 3) Further research should be pursued on
how Litecoin Value can improve business and tourism within
Thailand. 4) Local communities should focus on developing Litecoin
awareness by encouraging street vendors to accept Litecoin as
another form of payment for services rendered.
Abstract: This paper describes dynamic analysis using proposed
fast finite element method for a shock absorbing structure including a
sponge. The structure is supported by nonlinear concentrated springs.
The restoring force of the spring has cubic nonlinearity and linear
hysteresis damping. To calculate damping properties for the structures
including elastic body and porous body, displacement vectors as
common unknown variable are solved under coupled condition. Under
small amplitude, we apply asymptotic method to complex eigenvalue
problem of this system to obtain modal parameters. And then
expressions of modal loss factor are derived approximately. This
approach was proposed by one of the authors previously. We call this
method as Modal Strain and Kinetic Energy Method (MSKE method).
Further, using the modal loss factors, the discretized equations in
physical coordinate are transformed into the nonlinear ordinary
coupled equations using normal coordinate corresponding to linear
natural modes. This transformation yields computation efficiency. As
a numerical example of a shock absorbing structures, we adopt double
skins with a sponge. The double skins are supported by nonlinear
concentrated springs. We clarify influences of amplitude of the input
force on nonlinear and chaotic responses.
Abstract: Sign language is used by the deaf and hard of hearing people for communication. Automatic sign language recognition is a challenging research area since sign language often is the only way of communication for the deaf people. Sign language includes different components of visual actions made by the signer using the hands, the face, and the torso, to convey his/her meaning. To use different aspects of signs, we combine the different groups of features which have been extracted from the image frames recorded directly by a stationary camera. We combine the features in two levels by employing three techniques. At the feature level, an early feature combination can be performed by concatenating and weighting different feature groups, or by concatenating feature groups over time and using LDA to choose the most discriminant elements. At the model level, a late fusion of differently trained models can be carried out by a log-linear model combination. In this paper, we investigate these three combination techniques in an automatic sign language recognition system and show that the recognition rate can be significantly improved.