Abstract: Feature selection plays an important role in applications with high dimensional data. The assessment of the stability of feature selection/ranking algorithms becomes an important issue when the dataset is small and the aim is to gain insight into the underlying process by analyzing the most relevant features. In this work, we propose a graphical approach that enables to analyze the similarity between feature ranking techniques as well as their individual stability. Moreover, it works with whatever stability metric (Canberra distance, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, Kuncheva's stability index,...). We illustrate this visualization technique evaluating the stability of several feature selection techniques on a spectral binary dataset. Experimental results with a neural-based classifier show that stability and ranking quality may not be linked together and both issues have to be studied jointly in order to offer answers to the domain experts.
Abstract: A mathematical model for the transmission of SARS is developed. In addition to dividing the population into susceptible (high and low risk), exposed, infected, quarantined, diagnosed and recovered classes, we have included a class called untraced. The model simulates the Gompertz curves which are the best representation of the cumulative numbers of probable SARS cases in Hong Kong and Singapore. The values of the parameters in the model which produces the best fit of the observed data for each city are obtained by using a differential evolution algorithm. It is seen that the values for the parameters needed to simulate the observed daily behaviors of the two epidemics are different.
Abstract: The article describes problems of city centers with regard to possibilities of their delimitation in a GIS environment. First the definitions and delimitations of a city centre which are in use are mentioned, furthermore a chosen case study (the historical centre of Olomouc city in the Czech Republic) is employed to describe the methods of delimitation in use. In addition to describing the current state, the article also deals with possibilities of delimitation of a city centre in GIS environment by means of several chosen approaches. The authors describe, compare and discuss the chosen methods and assess the achieved results and also applicability of the designed methods for other cities.
Abstract: The Czech Republic is a country whose economy has
undergone a transformation since 1989. Since joining the EU it has
been striving to reduce the differences in its economic standard and
the quality of its institutional environment in comparison with
developed countries. According to an assessment carried out by the
World Bank, the Czech Republic was long classed as a country
whose institutional development was seen as problematic. For many
years one of the things it was rated most poorly on was its bankruptcy
law. The new Insolvency Act, which is a modern law in terms of its
treatment of bankruptcy, was first adopted in the Czech Republic in
2006. This law, together with other regulatory measures, offers debtridden
Czech economic subjects legal instruments which are well
established and in common practice in developed market economies.
Since then, analyses performed by the World Bank and the London
EBRD have shown that there have been significant steps forward in
the quality of Czech bankruptcy law. The Czech Republic still lacks
an analytical apparatus which can offer a structured characterisation
of the general and specific conditions of Czech company and
household debt which is subject to current changes in the global
economy. This area has so far not been given the attention it
deserves. The lack of research is particularly clear as regards analysis
of household debt and householders- ability to settle their debts in a
reasonable manner using legal and other state means of regulation.
We assume that Czech households have recourse to a modern
insolvency law, yet the effective application of this law is hampered
by the inconsistencies in the formal and informal institutions
involved in resolving debt. This in turn is based on the assumption
that this lack of consistency is more marked in cases of personal
bankruptcy. Our aim is to identify the symptoms which indicate that
for some time the effective application of bankruptcy law in the
Czech Republic will be hindered by factors originating in
householders- relative inability to identify the risks of falling into
debt.
Abstract: Technology transfer is a common method for
companies to acquire new technology and presents both challenges
and substantial benefits. In some cases especially in developing
countries, the mere possession of technology does not guarantee a
competitive advantage if the appropriate infrastructure is not in place.
In this paper, we identify the localization factors needed to provide a
better understanding of the conditions necessary for localization in
order to benefit from future technology developments. Our
theoretical and empirical analyses allow us to identify several factors
in the technology transfer process that affect localization and provide
leverage in enhancing capabilities and absorptive capacity.The
impact factors are categorized within different groups of government,
firms, institutes and market, and are verified through the empirical
survey of a technology transfer experience. Moreover, statistical
analysis has allowed a deeper understanding of the importance of
each factor and has enabled each group to prioritize their
organizational policies to effectively localize their technology.
Abstract: Development of a Robust Supply Chain for Dynamic
Operating Environment as we move further into the twenty first
century, organisations are under increasing pressure to deliver a high
product variation at a reasonable cost without compromise in quality.
In a number of cases this will take the form of a customised or high
variety low volume manufacturing system that requires prudent
management of resources, among a number of functions, to achieve
competitive advantage. Purchasing and Supply Chain management is
one of such function and due to the substantial interaction with
external elements needs to be strategically managed. This requires a
number of primary and supporting tools that will enable the
appropriate decisions to be made rapidly. This capability is
especially vital in a dynamic environment as it provides a pivotal role
in increasing the profit margin of the product. The management of
this function can be challenging by itself and even more for Small
and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) due to the limited resources and
expertise available at their disposal.
This paper discusses the development of tools and concepts
towards effectively managing the purchasing and supply chain
function. The developed tools and concepts will provide a cost
effective way of managing this function within SMEs. The paper
further shows the use of these tools within Contechs, a manufacturer
of luxury boat interiors, and the associated benefits achieved as a
result of this implementation. Finally a generic framework towards
use in such environments is presented.
Abstract: The aim of the current work is to present a comparison among three popular optimization methods in the inverse elastostatics problem (IESP) of flaw detection within a solid. In more details, the performance of a simulated annealing, a Hooke & Jeeves and a sequential quadratic programming algorithm was studied in the test case of one circular flaw in a plate solved by both the boundary element (BEM) and the finite element method (FEM). The proposed optimization methods use a cost function that utilizes the displacements of the static response. The methods were ranked according to the required number of iterations to converge and to their ability to locate the global optimum. Hence, a clear impression regarding the performance of the aforementioned algorithms in flaw identification problems was obtained. Furthermore, the coupling of BEM or FEM with these optimization methods was investigated in order to track differences in their performance.
Abstract: Efficient modulo 2n+1 adders are important for
several applications including residue number system, digital signal
processors and cryptography algorithms. In this paper we present a
novel modulo 2n+1 addition algorithm for a recently represented
number system. The proposed approach is introduced for the
reduction of the power dissipated. In a conventional modulo 2n+1
adder, all operands have (n+1)-bit length. To avoid using (n+1)-bit
circuits, the diminished-1 and carry save diminished-1 number
systems can be effectively used in applications. In the paper, we also
derive two new architectures for designing modulo 2n+1 adder, based
on n-bit ripple-carry adder. The first architecture is a faster design
whereas the second one uses less hardware. In the proposed method,
the special treatment required for zero operands in Diminished-1
number system is removed. In the fastest modulo 2n+1 adders in
normal binary system, there are 3-operand adders. This problem is
also resolved in this paper. The proposed architectures are compared
with some efficient adders based on ripple-carry adder and highspeed
adder. It is shown that the hardware overhead and power
consumption will be reduced. As well as power reduction, in some
cases, power-delay product will be also reduced.
Abstract: Value engineering is an efficacious contraption for
administrators to make up their minds. Value perusals proffer the
gaffers a suitable instrument to decrease the expenditures of the life
span, quality amelioration, structural improvement, curtailment of the
construction schedule, longevity prolongation or a merging of the
aforementioned cases. Subjecting organizers to pressures on one
hand and their accountability towards their pertinent fields together
with inherent risks and ambiguities of other options on the other hand
set some comptrollers in a dilemma utilization of risk management
and the value engineering in projects manipulation with regard to
complexities of implementing projects can be wielded as a
contraption to identify and efface each item which wreaks
unnecessary expenses and time squandering sans inflicting any
damages upon the essential project applications. Of course It should
be noted that implementation of risk management and value
engineering with regard to the betterment of efficiency and functions
may lead to the project implementation timing elongation. Here time
revamping does not refer to time diminishing in the whole cases. his
article deals with risk and value engineering conceptualizations at
first. The germane reverberations effectuated due to its execution in
Iran Khodro Corporation are regarded together with the joint features
and amalgamation of the aforesaid entia; hence the proposed
blueprint is submitted to be taken advantage of in engineering and
industrial projects including Iran Khodro Corporation.
Abstract: Customer-supplier collaboration enables firms to
achieve greater success than acting independently. Nevertheless, not
many firms have fully utilized the potential of collaboration. This
paper presents organizational and human related success factors for
collaboration in manufacturing supply chains in casting industry. Our
research approach was a case study including multiple cases. Data
was gathered by interviews and group discussions in two different
research projects. In the first research project we studied seven firms
and in the second five. It was found that the success factors are
interrelated, in other words, organizational and human factors
together enable success but not any of them alone. Some of the found
success factors are a culture of following agreements, and a speed of
informing the partner about changes affecting to the product or the
delivery chain.
Abstract: The complex shape of the human pelvic bone was
successfully imaged and modeled using finite element FE processing.
The bone was subjected to quasi-static and dynamic loading
conditions simulating the effect of both weight gain and impact.
Loads varying between 500 – 2500 N (~50 – 250 Kg of weight) was
used to simulate 3D quasi-static weight gain. Two different 3D
dynamic analyses, body free fall at two different heights (1 and 2 m)
and forced side impact at two different velocities (20 and 40 Km/hr)
were also studied. The computed resulted stresses were compared for
the four loading cases, where Von Misses stresses increases linearly
with the weight gain increase under quasi-static loading. For the
dynamic models, the Von Misses stress history behaviors were
studied for the affected area and effected load with respect to time.
The normalization Von Misses stresses with respect to the applied
load were used for comparing the free fall and the forced impact load
results. It was found that under the forced impact loading condition
an over lapping behavior was noticed, where as for the free fall the
normalized Von Misses stresses behavior was found to nonlinearly
different. This phenomenon was explained through the energy
dissipation concept. This study will help designers in different
specialization in defining the weakest spots for designing different
supporting systems.
Abstract: Under the difficult access to finance of SMEs, they expect that its relationship with the banks shall constitute a real help to access appropriate financing, at reasonable costs and requirements, given the possibility of mutually beneficial and long lasting relation. The literature, but also the research we have carried on, is centered on such determinants as concentration and the length of the relationship, but at the same time, there is little certainty that banks are responding positively to them. Furthermore, although the trust is considered as being a fundamental element of bank relationship – see the case house bank – SMEs find that the banks finance them looking rather on collaterals and covenants than to trust. Moreover, a positive behavior, such as prompt or advance repayments of loans, doesn-t generate any positive feedback from the banks side. All these show a deep un-satisfaction of the SMEs concerning their relationship banking.
Abstract: Let n be an integer. We show the existence of at least
three non-isomorphic non-commutative Latin squares of order n
which are embeddable in groups when n ≥ 5 is odd. By using a
similar construction for the case when n ≥ 4 is even, we show that
certain non-commutative Latin squares of order n are not embeddable
in groups.
Abstract: According to dramatic growth of internet services, an easy and prompt service deployment has been important for internet service providers to successfully maintain time-to-market. Before global service deployment, they have to pay the big cost for service evaluation to make a decision of the proper system location, system scale, service delay and so on. But, intra-Lab evaluation tends to have big gaps in the measured data compared with the realistic situation, because it is very difficult to accurately expect the local service environment, network congestion, service delay, network bandwidth and other factors. Therefore, to resolve or ease the upper problems, we propose multiple cloud based GPES Broker system and use case that helps internet service providers to alleviate the above problems in beta release phase and to make a prompt decision for their service launching. By supporting more realistic and reliable evaluation information, the proposed GPES Broker system saves the service release cost and enables internet service provider to make a prompt decision about their service launching to various remote regions.
Abstract: This main purpose of the study reported here was to
investigate the extent to which the form of school
governance (particularly decision-making) had an impact upon the
effectiveness of the school with reference to parental involvement,
planning and budgeting, professional development of teachers,
school facilities and resources, and student outcomes. Particular
attention was given to decision-making within the governance
arrangements. The study was based on four case studies of high
schools in New South Wales, Australia including one government
school, one independent Christian community school, one
independent Catholic school, and one Catholic systemic school.
The focus of the research was principals, teachers, parents, and
students of four schools with varying governance structures. To
gain a greater insight into the issues, the researchers collected
information by questionnaire, semi-structured interview, and
review of school key documents. This study found that it was not
so much structure but the centrality of the school Principal and the
way that the Principal perceived his/her roles in relation to others
that impacted most on school governance.
Abstract: In this work, we consider the rational points on elliptic curves over finite fields Fp where p ≡ 5 (mod 6). We obtain results on the number of points on an elliptic curve y2 ≡ x3 + a3(mod p), where p ≡ 5 (mod 6) is prime. We give some results concerning the sum of the abscissae of these points. A similar case where p ≡ 1 (mod 6) is considered in [5]. The main difference between two cases is that when p ≡ 5 (mod 6), all elements of Fp are cubic residues.
Abstract: to simulate the phenomenon of electronic transport in semiconductors, we try to adapt a numerical method, often and most frequently it’s that of Monte Carlo. In our work, we applied this method in the case of a ternary alloy semiconductor GaInP in its cubic form; The Calculations are made using a non-parabolic effective-mass energy band model. We consider a band of conduction to three valleys (ΓLX), major of the scattering mechanisms are taken into account in this modeling, as the interactions with the acoustic phonons (elastic collisions) and optics (inelastic collisions). The polar optical phonons cause anisotropic collisions, intra-valleys, very probable in the III-V semiconductors. Other optical phonons, no polar, allow transitions inter-valleys. Initially, we present the full results obtained by the simulation of Monte Carlo in GaInP in stationary regime. We consider thereafter the effects related to the application of an electric field varying according to time, we thus study the transient phenomenon which make their appearance in ternary material
Abstract: Protein-protein interactions (PPI) play a crucial role in many biological processes such as cell signalling, transcription, translation, replication, signal transduction, and drug targeting, etc. Structural information about protein-protein interaction is essential for understanding the molecular mechanisms of these processes. Structures of protein-protein complexes are still difficult to obtain by biophysical methods such as NMR and X-ray crystallography, and therefore protein-protein docking computation is considered an important approach for understanding protein-protein interactions. However, reliable prediction of the protein-protein complexes is still under way. In the past decades, several grid-based docking algorithms based on the Katchalski-Katzir scoring scheme were developed, e.g., FTDock, ZDOCK, HADDOCK, RosettaDock, HEX, etc. However, the success rate of protein-protein docking prediction is still far from ideal. In this work, we first propose a more practical measure for evaluating the success of protein-protein docking predictions,the rate of first success (RFS), which is similar to the concept of mean first passage time (MFPT). Accordingly, we have assessed the ZDOCK bound and unbound benchmarks 2.0 and 3.0. We also createda new benchmark set for protein-protein docking predictions, in which the complexes have experimentally determined binding affinity data. We performed free energy calculation based on the solution of non-linear Poisson-Boltzmann equation (nlPBE) to improve the binding mode prediction. We used the well-studied thebarnase-barstarsystem to validate the parameters for free energy calculations. Besides,thenlPBE-based free energy calculations were conducted for the badly predicted cases by ZDOCK and ZRANK. We found that direct molecular mechanics energetics cannot be used to discriminate the native binding pose from the decoys.Our results indicate that nlPBE-based calculations appeared to be one of the promising approaches for improving the success rate of binding pose predictions.
Abstract: Production of hard-to-cut materials with uncoated carbide cutting tools in turning, not only cause tool life reduction but also, impairs the product surface roughness. In this paper, influence of hot machining method were studied and presented in two cases. Case1-Workpiece surface roughness quality with constant cutting parameter and 300 ºC initial workpiece surface temperature. Case 2- Tool temperature variation when cutting with two speeds 78.5 (m/min) and 51 (m/min). The workpiece material and tool used in this study were AISI 1060 steel (45HRC) and uncoated carbide TNNM 120408-SP10(SANDVIK Coromant) respectively. A gas flam heating source was used to preheating of the workpiece surface up to 300 ºC, causing reduction of yield stress about 15%. Results obtained experimentally, show that the method used can considerably improved surface quality of the workpiece.
Abstract: The objectives of this research were to explore factors
influencing knowledge management process in the manufacturing
industry and develop a model to support knowledge management
processes. The studied factors were technology infrastructure, human
resource, knowledge sharing, and the culture of the organization. The
knowledge management processes included discovery, capture,
sharing, and application. Data were collected through questionnaires
and analyzed using multiple linear regression and multiple
correlation. The results found that technology infrastructure, human
resource, knowledge sharing, and culture of the organization
influenced the discovery and capture processes. However, knowledge
sharing had no influence in sharing and application processes. A
model to support knowledge management processes was developed,
which indicated that sharing knowledge needed further improvement
in the organization.