Abstract: Nowadays, the reflection on competence management
is the basic for new competitive strategies. It is considered as the core
of the problems of the global supply chain. It interact a variety of
actors: information, physical and activities flows, etc. Even though
competence management is seen as the key factor for any business
success, the existing approaches demonstrate the deficiencies and
limitations of the competence concept. This research has two
objectives: The first is to make a contribution by focusing on the
development of a competence approach, based on continuous
improvement. It allows the enterprise to spot key competencies,
mobilize them in order to serve its strategic objectives and to develop
future competencies. The second is to propose a method to evaluate
the Level of Collective Competence. The approach was confirmed
through an application carried out at an automotive company.
Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the extent
with which knowledge of results influences the performance of
cricket players. A sample of 160 fresh students in the Department of
Physical and Health Education who are novice in the game were
randomly assigned into two groups. The first group of eighty (80)
subjects was classified as experimental group while the second group
of eighty (80) subjects was the control group. Subjects in both groups
were asked to bowl and bat ten times each for a period of six weeks.
After the first round, the subjects in the experimental group were
allowed feedback on their performance in the first trial while those in
the control group were denied feedback. Two null hypotheses
generated for the study were tested using percentages and chi-square
statistical analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Analysis of data
showed that knowledge of results influenced the performance of
cricket players. It was concluded that knowledge of results is
pertinent for effective skill acquisition and could enhance better
performance among unskilled cricket players. Hence, it is suggested
that immediate feedback on the level of skill acquisition by the
prospective and unskilled cricket players would inspire them for
better performance in cricket tournaments.
Abstract: Fresh water is one of the resources which is getting
depleted day by day. A wise method to address this issue is by the
application of renewable energy-sun irradiation and by means of
decentralized, cheap, energetically self-sufficient, robust and simple
to operate plants, distillates can be obtained from sea, river or even
sewage. Solar desalination is a technique used to desalinate water
using solar energy. The present work deals with the comprehensive
design and simulation of solar tracking system using LabVIEW,
temperature and mass flow rate control of the solar desalination plant
using LabVIEW and also analysis of single phase inverter circuit
with LC filters for solar pumping system in MATLAB. The main
objective of this work is to improve the performance of solar
desalination system using automatic tracking system, output control
using temperature and mass flow rate control system and also to
reduce the harmonic distortion in the solar pumping system by means
of LC filters. The simulation of single phase inverter was carried out
using MATLAB and the output waveforms were analyzed.
Simulations were performed for optimum output temperature control,
which in turn controls the mass flow rate of water in the thermal
collectors. Solar tracking system was accomplished using LABVIEW
and was tested successfully. The thermal collectors are tracked in
accordance with the sun’s irradiance levels, thereby increasing the
efficiency of the thermal collectors.
Abstract: Household waste form a larger proportion of waste
generated across the state, accumulation of organic waste is an
apparent problem and the existing dump sites could be overstress.
Niger state has abundant arable land and water resources thus should
be one of the highest producers of agricultural crops in the country.
However, the major challenge to agricultural sector today is loss of
soil nutrient coupled with high cost of fertilizer. These have
continued to increase the use of fertilizer and decomposed solid waste
for enhance agricultural yield, which have varying effects on the soil
as well a threat to human livelihood. Consequently, vegetable yield
samples from poultry droppings, decomposed household waste
manure, NPK treatments and control from each replication were
subjected to proximate analysis to determine the nutritional and antinutritional
component as well as heavy metal concentration. Data
collected was analyzed using SPSS software and Randomized
complete Block Design means were compared. The result shows that
the treatments do not devoid the concentrations of any nutritional
components while the anti-nutritional analysis proved that NPK had
higher oxalate content than control and organic treats. The
concentration of lead and cadmium are within safe permissible level
while the mercury level exceeded the FAO/WHO maximum
permissible limit for the entire treatments depicts the need for urgent
intervention to minimize mercury levels in soil and manure in order
to mitigate its toxic effect. Thus, eco-agriculture should be widely
accepted and promoted by the stakeholders for soil amendment,
higher yield, strategies for sustainable environmental protection, food
security, poverty eradication, attainment of sustainable development
and healthy livelihood.
Abstract: Nowadays, illegal logging has been causing many
effects including flash flood, avalanche, global warming, and etc. The
purpose of this study was to maintain the earth ecosystem by keeping
and regulate Malaysia’s treasurable rainforest by utilizing a new
technology that will assist in real-time alert and give faster response
to the authority to act on these illegal activities. The methodology of
this research consisted of design stages that have been conducted as
well as the system model and system architecture of the prototype in
addition to the proposed hardware and software that have been
mainly used such as microcontroller, sensor with the implementation
of GSM, and GPS integrated system. This prototype was deployed at
Royal Belum forest in December 2014 for phase 1 and April 2015 for
phase 2 at 21 pinpoint locations. The findings of this research were
the capture of data in real-time such as temperature, humidity,
gaseous, fire, and rain detection which indicate the current natural
state and habitat in the forest. Besides, this device location can be
detected via GPS of its current location and then transmitted by SMS
via GSM system. All of its readings were sent in real-time for further
analysis. The data that were compared to meteorological department
showed that the precision of this device was about 95% and these
findings proved that the system is acceptable and suitable to be used
in the field.
Abstract: The Greater Athens Area (GAA) faces photochemical
and particulate pollution episodes as a result of the combined effects
of local pollutant emissions, regional pollution transport, synoptic
circulation and topographic characteristics. The area has undergone
significant changes since the Athens 2004 Olympic Games because
of large scale infrastructure works that lead to the shift of population
to areas previously characterized as rural, the increase of the traffic
fleet and the operation of highways. However, few recent modelling
studies have been performed due to the lack of an accurate, updated
emission inventory. The photochemical modelling system
MM5/CAMx was applied in order to study the photochemical and
particulate pollution characteristics above the GAA for two distinct
ten-day periods in the summer of 2006 and 2010, where air pollution
episodes occurred. A new updated emission inventory was used
based on official data. Comparison of modeled results with
measurements revealed the importance and accuracy of the new
Athens emission inventory as compared to previous modeling
studies. The model managed to reproduce the local meteorological
conditions, the daily ozone and particulates fluctuations at different
locations across the GAA. Higher ozone levels were found at
suburban and rural areas as well as over the sea at the south of the
basin. Concerning PM10, high concentrations were computed at the
city centre and the southeastern suburbs in agreement with measured
data. Source apportionment analysis showed that different sources
contribute to the ozone levels, the local sources (traffic, port
activities) affecting its formation.
Abstract: This paper presents an extensive review of literature
relevant to the modelling techniques adopted in sediment yield and
hydrological modelling. Several studies relating to sediment yield are
discussed. Many research areas of sedimentation in rivers, runoff and
reservoirs are presented. Different types of hydrological models,
different methods employed in selecting appropriate models for
different case studies are analysed. Applications of evolutionary
algorithms and artificial intelligence techniques are discussed and
compared especially in water resources management and modelling.
This review concentrates on Genetic Programming (GP) and fully
discusses its theories and applications. The successful applications of
GP as a soft computing technique were reviewed in sediment
modelling. Some fundamental issues such as benchmark,
generalization ability, bloat, over-fitting and other open issues
relating to the working principles of GP are highlighted. This paper
concludes with the identification of some research gaps in
hydrological modelling and sediment yield.
Abstract: The present study seeks to investigate the application
of expansion strategy in Persian subtitles of English crime movies.
More precisely, this study aims at classifying the different types of
expansion used in subtitles as well as investigating the
appropriateness or inappropriateness of the application of each type.
To achieve this end, three movies; namely, The Net (1995), Contact
(1997) and Mission Impossible 2 (2000), available with Persian
subtitles, were selected for the study. To collect the data, the above
mentioned movies were watched and those parts of the Persian
subtitles in which expansion had been used were identified and
extracted along with their English dialogs. Then, the extracted
Persian subtitles were classified based on the reason that led to
expansion in each case. Next, the appropriateness or
inappropriateness of using expansion in the extracted Persian
subtitles was descriptively investigated. Finally, an equivalent not
containing any expansion was proposed for those cases in which the
meaning could be fully transferred without this strategy. The findings
of the study indicated that the reasons range from explicitation
(explicitation of visual, co-textual and contextual information),
mistranslation and paraphrasing to the preferences of subtitlers.
Furthermore, it was found that the employment of expansion strategy
was inappropriate in all cases except for those caused by explicitation
of contextual information since correct and shorter equivalents which
were equally capable of conveying the intended meaning could be
posited for the original dialogs.
Abstract: In the context of the handwriting recognition, we
propose an off line system for the recognition of the Arabic
handwritten words of the Algerian departments. The study is based
mainly on the evaluation of neural network performances, trained
with the gradient back propagation algorithm. The used parameters to
form the input vector of the neural network are extracted on the
binary images of the handwritten word by several methods. The
Distribution parameters, the centered moments of the different
projections of the different segments, the centered moments of the
word image coding according to the directions of Freeman, and the
Barr features applied binary image of the word and on its different
segments. The classification is achieved by a multi layers perceptron.
A detailed experiment is carried and satisfactory recognition results
are reported.
Abstract: The use of information technology in education have
changed not only the learners learning style but also the way they
taught, where nowadays learners are connected with diversity of
information sources with means of knowledge available everywhere.
The advantage of network wireless technologies and mobility
technologies used in the education and learning processes lead to
mobile learning as a new model of learning technology. Currently,
most of mobile learning applications are developed for the formal
education and learning environment. Despite the long history and
large amount of research on mobile learning and instruction design
model still there is a need of well-defined process in designing
mobile learning applications. Based on this situation, this paper
emphasizes on identifying instruction design phase’s considerations
and influencing factors in developing mobile learning application.
This set of instruction design steps includes analysis, design,
development, implementation, evaluation and continuous has been
built from a literature study, with focus on standards for learning,
mobile application software quality and guidelines. The effort is part
of an Omani-funded research project investigating the development,
adoption and dissemination of mobile learning in Oman.
Abstract: The need to save time and cost of soil testing at the
planning stage of road work has necessitated developing predictive
models. This study proposes a model for predicting the dry density of
lateritic soils stabilized with corn cob ash (CCA) and blended cement
- CCA. Lateritic soil was first stabilized with CCA at 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and
6% of the weight of soil and then stabilized with the same
proportions as replacement for cement. Dry density, specific gravity,
maximum degree of saturation and moisture content were determined
for each stabilized soil specimen, following standard procedure.
Polynomial equations containing alpha and beta parameters for CCA
and blended CCA-cement were developed. Experimental values were
correlated with the values predicted from the Matlab curve fitting
tool, and the Solver function of Microsoft Excel 2010. The correlation
coefficient (R2) of 0.86 was obtained indicating that the model could
be accepted in predicting the maximum dry density of CCA stabilized
soils to facilitate quick decision making in roadworks.
Abstract: The advancements in technology allow the
development of a new system that can continuously measure surface
soil erosion. Continuous soil erosion measurements are required in
order to comprehend the erosional processes and propose effective
and efficient conservation measures to mitigate surface erosion.
Mitigating soil erosion, especially in Mediterranean countries such as
Greece, is essential in order to maintain environmental and
agricultural sustainability. In this paper, we present the Automated
Soil Erosion Monitoring System (ASEMS) that measures surface soil
erosion along with other factors that impact erosional process.
Specifically, this system measures ground level changes (surface soil
erosion), rainfall, air temperature, soil temperature, and soil moisture.
Another important innovation is that the data will be collected by
remote communication. In addition, stakeholder’s awareness is a key
factor to help reduce any environmental problem. The different
dissemination activities that were utilized are described. The overall
outcomes were the development of a new innovative system that can
measure erosion very accurately. These data from the system help
study the process of erosion and find the best possible methods to
reduce erosion. The dissemination activities enhance the stakeholders
and public's awareness on surface soil erosion problems and will lead
to the adoption of more effective soil erosion conservation practices
in Greece.
Abstract: The development of composite materials and the
related design and manufacturing technologies is one of the most
important advances in the history of materials. Composites are
multifunctional materials having unprecedented mechanical and
physical properties that can be tailored to meet the requirements of a
particular application. Some composites also exhibit great resistance
to high-temperature corrosion, oxidation, and wear. Polymers are
widely used indoors and outdoors, therefore they are exposed to a
chemical environment which may include atmospheric oxygen, acidic
fumes, acidic rain, moisture heat and thermal shock, ultra-violet light,
high energy radiation, etc. Different polymers are affected differently
by these factors even though the amorphous polymers are more
sensitive. Ageing is also important and it is defined as the process of
deterioration of engineering materials resulting from the combined
effects of atmospheric radiation, heat, oxygen, water, microorganisms
and other atmospheric factors.
Abstract: Analytical techniques for measuring and planning
railway capacity expansion activities have been considered in this
article. A preliminary mathematical framework involving track
duplication and section sub divisions is proposed for this task. In
railways, these features have a great effect on network performance
and for this reason they have been considered. Additional motivations
have also arisen from the limitations of prior models that have not
included them.
Abstract: In this paper, we present an optimization technique or
a learning algorithm using the hybrid architecture by combining the
most popular sequence recognition models such as Recurrent Neural
Networks (RNNs) and Hidden Markov models (HMMs). In order to
improve the sequence/pattern recognition/classification performance
by applying a hybrid/neural symbolic approach, a gradient descent
learning algorithm is developed using the Real Time Recurrent
Learning of Recurrent Neural Network for processing the knowledge
represented in trained Hidden Markov Models. The developed hybrid
algorithm is implemented on automata theory as a sample test beds
and the performance of the designed algorithm is demonstrated and
evaluated on learning the deterministic finite state automata.
Abstract: This article presents the main results of a numerical
investigation on the uncertainty of dynamic response of structures
with statistically correlated random damping Gamma distributed. A
computational method based on a Linear Statistical Model (LSM) is
implemented to predict second order statistics for the response of a
typical industrial building structure. The significance of random
damping with correlated parameters and its implications on the
sensitivity of structural peak response in the neighborhood of a
resonant frequency are discussed in light of considerable ranges of
damping uncertainties and correlation coefficients. The results are
compared to those generated using Monte Carlo simulation
techniques. The numerical results obtained show the importance of
damping uncertainty and statistical correlation of damping
coefficients when obtaining accurate probabilistic estimates of
dynamic response of structures. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the
LSM model to efficiently predict uncertainty propagation for
structural dynamic problems with correlated damping parameters is
demonstrated.
Abstract: The study conducted a simulation of the effect of sea
water to the bonding capacity of GFRP sheet on the concrete beams
using a simulation tank. Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) has been
developed and applied in many fields civil engineering structures on
the new structures and also for strengthening of the deteriorated
structures. The FRP has advantages such as its corrosion resistance as
well as high tensile strength to weight ratio. Compared to the other
FRP materials, Glass composed FRP (GFRP) is relatively cheaper.
GFRP sheet is applied externally by bonding it on the concrete surface.
The studies regarding the application of GFRP sheet have been
conducted such as strengthening system, bonding behavior of GFRP
sheet including the application as reinforcement in new structures. For
application to the structures with direct contact to sea environment, a
study regarding the effect of sea water to the bonding capacity of
GFRP sheet is important to be clarified. To achieve the objective of the
study, a series of concrete beams strengthened with GFRP sheet on
extreme tension surface were prepared. The beams then were stored on
the sea water tank for six months. Results indicated the bonding
capacity decreased after six month exposed to the sea water.
Abstract: In the last decade the emergence of new social needs
as an effect of the economic crisis has stimulated the flourishing of
business endeavours characterised by explicit social goals. Social
start-ups, social enterprises or Corporate Social Responsibility
operations carried out by traditional companies are quintessential
examples in this regard. This paper analyses these kinds of initiatives
in order to discover the main characteristics of social business models
and to provide insights to social entrepreneurs for developing or
improving their strategies. The research is conducted through the
integration of literature review and case study analysis and, thanks to
the recognition of the importance of both profits and social impacts
as the key success factors for a social business model, proposes a
framework for identifying indicators suitable for measuring the social
impacts generated.
Abstract: The Green Urban Lab took the form of public
installations that were placed at various locations in four cities in
Cyprus. These installations - through which a series of events,
activities, workshops and research took place - were the main tools in
regenerating a series of urban public spaces in Cyprus. The purpose
of this project was to identify issues and opportunities related to
public space and to offer guidelines on how design and participatory
democracy improvements could strengthen civil society, while
raising the quality of the urban public scene. Giant inflatable
structures were injected in important urban fragments in order to
accommodate series of events. The design and playful installation
generated a wide community engagement. The fluid presence of the
installations acted as a catalyst for social interaction. They were
accessed and viewed effortlessly and surprisingly, creating
opportunities to rediscover public spaces.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the factor
structure and psychometric properties (i.e., reliability and convergent
validity) of the Employee Trust Scale, a newly created instrument by
the researchers. The Employee Trust Scale initially contained 82
items to measure employees’ trust toward their supervisors. A sample
of 818 (343 females, 449 males) employees were selected randomly
from public and private organization sectors in Kota Kinabalu,
Sabah, Malaysia. Their ages ranged from 19 to 67 years old with a
mean of 34.55 years old. Their average tenure with their current
employer was 11.2 years (s.d. = 7.5 years). The respondents were
asked to complete the Employee Trust Scale, as well as a managerial
trust questionnaire from Mishra. The exploratory factor analysis on
employees’ trust toward their supervisor’s extracted three factors,
labeled ‘trustworthiness’ (32 items), ‘position status’ (11 items) and
‘relationship’ (6 items) which accounted for 62.49% of the total
variance. Trustworthiness factors were re-categorized into three sub
factors: competency (11 items), benevolence (8 items) and integrity
(13 items). All factors and sub factors of the scales demonstrated
clear reliability with internal consistency of Cronbach’s Alpha above
.85. The convergent validity of the Scale was supported by an
expected pattern of correlations (positive and significant correlation)
between the score of all factors and sub factors of the scale and the
score on the managerial trust questionnaire, which measured the same
construct. The convergent validity of Employee Trust Scale was
further supported by the significant and positive inter-correlation
between the factors and sub factors of the scale. The results suggest
that the Employee Trust Scale is a reliable and valid measure.
However, further studies need to be carried out in other groups of
sample as to further validate the Scale.