Abstract: Under the limitation of investment budget, a utility
company is required to maximize the utilization of their existing
assets during their life cycle satisfying both engineering and financial
requirements. However, utility does not have knowledge about the
status of each asset in the portfolio neither in terms of technical nor
financial values. This paper presents a knowledge based model for
the utility companies in order to make an optimal decision on power
transformer with their utilization. CommonKADS methodology, a
structured development for knowledge and expertise representation,
is utilized for designing and developing knowledge based model. A
case study of One MVA power transformer of Nepal Electricity
Authority is presented. The results show that the reusable knowledge
can be categorized, modeled and utilized within the utility company
using the proposed methodologies. Moreover, the results depict that
utility company can achieve both engineering and financial benefits
from its utilization.
Abstract: The seismic rehabilitation designs of two reinforced
concrete school buildings, representative of a wide stock of similar
edifices designed under earlier editions of the Italian Technical
Standards, are presented in this paper. The mutual retrofit solution
elaborated for the two buildings consists in the incorporation of a
dissipative bracing system including pressurized fluid viscous springdampers
as passive protective devices. The mechanical parameters,
layouts and locations selected for the constituting elements of the
system; the architectural renovation projects developed to properly
incorporate the structural interventions and improve the appearance
of the buildings; highlights of the installation works already
completed in one of the two structures; and a synthesis of the
performance assessment analyses carried out in original and
rehabilitated conditions, are illustrated. The results of the analyses
show a remarkable enhancement of the seismic response capacities of
both structures. This allows reaching the high performance objectives
postulated in the retrofit designs with much lower costs and
architectural intrusion as compared to traditional rehabilitation
interventions designed for the same objectives.
Abstract: Flood management is one of the important fields in
urban storm water management. Floods are influenced by the
increase of huge storm event, or improper planning of the area. This study mainly provides the flood protection in four stages; planning,
flood event, responses and evaluation. However it is most effective then flood protection is considered in planning/design and
evaluation stages since both stages represent the land development of the area. Structural adjustments are often more reliable than nonstructural
adjustments in providing flood protection, however
structural adjustments are constrained by numerous factors such as
political constraints and cost. Therefore it is important to balance
both adjustments with the situation. The technical decisions provided
will have to be approved by the higher-ups who have the power to
decide on the final solution. Costs however, are the biggest factor in
determining the final decision. Therefore this study recommends
flood protection system should have been integrated and enforces
more in the early stages (planning and design) as part of the storm
water management plan. Factors influencing the technical decisions
provided should be reduced as low as possible to avoid a reduction in
the expected performance of the proposed adjustments.
Abstract: We consider a typical problem in the assembly of
printed circuit boards (PCBs) in a two-machine flow shop system to
simultaneously minimize the weighted sum of weighted tardiness and
weighted flow time. The investigated problem is a group scheduling
problem in which PCBs are assembled in groups and the interest is to
find the best sequence of groups as well as the boards within each
group to minimize the objective function value. The type of setup
operation between any two board groups is characterized as carryover
sequence-dependent setup time, which exactly matches with the real
application of this problem. As a technical constraint, all of the
boards must be kitted before the assembly operation starts (kitting
operation) and by kitting staff. The main idea developed in this paper
is to completely eliminate the role of kitting staff by assigning the
task of kitting to the machine operator during the time he is idle
which is referred to as integration of internal (machine) and external
(kitting) setup times. Performing the kitting operation, which is a
preparation process of the next set of boards while the other boards
are currently being assembled, results in the boards to continuously
enter the system or have dynamic arrival times. Consequently, a
dynamic PCB assembly system is introduced for the first time in the
assembly of PCBs, which also has characteristics similar to that of
just-in-time manufacturing. The problem investigated is
computationally very complex, meaning that finding the optimal
solutions especially when the problem size gets larger is impossible.
Thus, a heuristic based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) is employed. An
example problem on the application of the GA developed is
demonstrated and also numerical results of applying the GA on
solving several instances are provided.
Abstract: Information and communication service providers
(ICSP) that are significant in size and provide Internet-based services
take administrative, technical, and physical protection measures via
the information security check service (ISCS). These protection
measures are the minimum action necessary to secure the stability and
continuity of the information and communication services (ICS) that
they provide. Thus, information assets are essential to providing ICS,
and deciding the relative importance of target assets for protection is a
critical procedure. The risk analysis model designed to decide the
relative importance of information assets, which is described in this
study, evaluates information assets from many angles, in order to
choose which ones should be given priority when it comes to
protection. Many-sided risk analysis (MSRS) grades the importance of
information assets, based on evaluation of major security check items,
evaluation of the dependency on the information and communication
facility (ICF) and influence on potential incidents, and evaluation of
major items according to their service classification, in order to
identify the ISCS target. MSRS could be an efficient risk analysis
model to help ICSPs to identify their core information assets and take
information protection measures first, so that stability of the ICS can
be ensured.
Abstract: Peer review is an activity where students review their
classmates- writing and then evaluate the content, development, unity
and organization. Studies have shown that peer review activities
benefit both the reviewer and the writer in developing their reading
and writing skills. Furthermore, peer review activities may also
enhance students- soft skills. This study was conducted to find out the
benefits of peer review activity in a technical writing class based on
engineering students- perceptions. The study also highlights how
these benefits could improve the students- soft skills. A set of
questionnaire was given to 200 undergraduate students of a technical
writing course. The results of the study indicate that the activity could
help improve their critical thinking skills, written and oral
communication skills, as well as team work. This paper further
discusses how the implications of these benefits could help enhance
students- soft skills.
Abstract: The modern queueing theory is one of the powerful
tools for a quantitative and qualitative analysis of communication systems, computer networks, transportation systems, and many other technical systems. The paper is designated to the analysis of queueing
systems, arising in the networks theory and communications theory
(called open queueing network). The authors of this research in the
sphere of queueing theory present the theorem about the law of the iterated logarithm (LIL) for the queue length of a customers in open
queueing network and its application to the mathematical model of
the open message switching system.
Abstract: The main objective developed in this paper is to find a
graphic technique for modeling, simulation and diagnosis of the
industrial systems. This importance is much apparent when it is about
a complex system such as the nuclear reactor with pressurized water
of several form with various several non-linearity and time scales. In
this case the analytical approach is heavy and does not give a fast
idea on the evolution of the system. The tool Bond Graph enabled us
to transform the analytical model into graphic model and the
software of simulation SYMBOLS 2000 specific to the Bond Graphs
made it possible to validate and have the results given by the
technical specifications. We introduce the analysis of the problem
involved in the faults localization and identification in the complex
industrial processes. We propose a method of fault detection applied
to the diagnosis and to determine the gravity of a detected fault. We
show the possibilities of application of the new diagnosis approaches
to the complex system control. The industrial systems became
increasingly complex with the faults diagnosis procedures in the
physical systems prove to become very complex as soon as the
systems considered are not elementary any more. Indeed, in front of
this complexity, we chose to make recourse to Fault Detection and
Isolation method (FDI) by the analysis of the problem of its control
and to conceive a reliable system of diagnosis making it possible to
apprehend the complex dynamic systems spatially distributed applied
to the standard pressurized water nuclear reactor.
Abstract: This contribution deals with the relationship between
communication effectiveness and the extent of communication
among organizational units. To facilitate communication between
employees and to increase the level of understanding, the knowledge
of communication tools is necessary. Recent experience has shown
that personal communication is critical for smooth running of
companies and cannot be fully replaced by any form of technical
communication devices.
Below are presented the outcomes of the research on the
relationship between the extent of communication among
organisational units and its efficiency.
Abstract: Benefits to the organisation are just as important as technical ability when it comes to software success. The challenge is to provide industry with professionals who understand this. In other words: How to teach computer engineering students to look beyond technology, and at the benefits of software to organizations? This paper reports on the conceptual design of a section of the computer networks module aimed to sensitize the students to the organisational context.
Checkland focuses on different worldviews represented by various role players in the organisation. He developed the Soft Systems Methodology that guides purposeful action in organisations, while incorporating different worldviews in the modeling process. If we can sensitize students to these methods, they are likely to appreciate the wider context of application of system software. This paper will provide literature on these concepts as well as detail on how the students will be guided to adopt these concepts.
Abstract: e-mail has become an important means of electronic
communication but the viability of its usage is marred by Unsolicited
Bulk e-mail (UBE) messages. UBE consists of many types
like pornographic, virus infected and 'cry-for-help' messages as well
as fake and fraudulent offers for jobs, winnings and medicines. UBE
poses technical and socio-economic challenges to usage of e-mails.
To meet this challenge and combat this menace, we need to
understand UBE. Towards this end, the current paper presents a
content-based textual analysis of more than 2700 body enhancement
medicinal UBE. Technically, this is an application of Text Parsing
and Tokenization for an un-structured textual document and we
approach it using Bag Of Words (BOW) and Vector Space Document
Model techniques. We have attempted to identify the most
frequently occurring lexis in the UBE documents that advertise
various products for body enhancement. The analysis of such top
100 lexis is also presented. We exhibit the relationship between
occurrence of a word from the identified lexis-set in the given UBE
and the probability that the given UBE will be the one advertising for
fake medicinal product. To the best of our knowledge and survey of
related literature, this is the first formal attempt for identification of
most frequently occurring lexis in such UBE by its textual analysis.
Finally, this is a sincere attempt to bring about alertness against and
mitigate the threat of such luring but fake UBE.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a hybrid machine learning
system based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Support Vector
Machines (SVM) for stock market prediction. A variety of indicators
from the technical analysis field of study are used as input features.
We also make use of the correlation between stock prices of different
companies to forecast the price of a stock, making use of technical
indicators of highly correlated stocks, not only the stock to be
predicted. The genetic algorithm is used to select the set of most
informative input features from among all the technical indicators.
The results show that the hybrid GA-SVM system outperforms the
stand alone SVM system.
Abstract: Organizations face challenges supporting knowledge
workers due to their particular requirements for an environment
supportive of their self-guided learning activities which are important
to increase their productivity and to develop creative solutions to
non-routine problems. Face-to-face knowledge sharing remains
crucial in spite of a large number of knowledge management
instruments that aim at supporting a more impersonal transfer of
knowledge. This paper first describes the main criteria for a
conceptual and technical solution targeted at flexible management of
office space that aims at assigning those knowledge workers to the
same room that are most likely to thrive when being brought together
thus enhancing their knowledge work productivity. The paper
reflects on lessons learned from the implementation and operation of
such a solution in a project-focused organization and derives several
implications for future extensions that target to foster problem
solving, informal learning and personal development.
Abstract: Utilization of various sensors has made it possible to
extend capabilities of industrial robots. Among these are vision
sensors that are used for providing visual information to assist robot
controllers. This paper presents a method of integrating a vision
system and a simulation program with an industrial robot. The vision
system is employed to detect a target object and compute its location
in the robot environment. Then, the target object-s information is sent
to the robot controller via parallel communication port. The robot
controller uses the extracted object information and the simulation
program to control the robot arm for approaching, grasping and
relocating the object. This paper presents technical details of system
components and describes the methodology used for this integration.
It also provides a case study to prove the validity of the methodology
developed.
Abstract: Quantitative methods of economic decision-making as
the methodological base of the so called operational research
represent an important set of tools for managing complex economic
systems,both at the microeconomic level and on the macroeconomic
scale. Mathematical models of controlled and controlling processes
allow, by means of artificial experiments, obtaining information
foroptimalor optimum approaching managerial decision-making.The
quantitative methods of economic decision-making usually include a
methodology known as structural analysis -an analysisof
interdisciplinary production-consumption relations.
Abstract: At present time, competition, unpredictable fluctuations have made communication engineering education in the global sphere really difficult. Confront with new situation in the engineering education sector. Communication engineering education has to be reformed and ready to use more advanced technologies. We realized that one of the general problems of student`s education is that after graduating from their universities, they are not prepared to face the real life challenges and full skilled to work in industry. They are prepared only to think like engineers and professionals but they also need to possess some others non-technical skills. In today-s environment, technical competence alone is not sufficient for career success. Employers want employees (graduate engineers) who have good oral and written communication (soft) skills. It does require for team work, business awareness, organization, management skills, responsibility, initiative, problem solving and IT competency. This proposed curriculum brings interactive, creative, interesting, effective learning methods, which includes online education, virtual labs, practical work, problem-based learning (PBL), and lectures given by industry experts. Giving short assignments, presentations, reports, research papers and projects students can significantly improve their non-technical skills. Also, we noticed the importance of using ICT technologies in engineering education which used by students and teachers, and included that into proposed teaching and learning methods. We added collaborative learning between students through team work which builds theirs skills besides course materials. The prospective on this research that we intent to update communication engineering curriculum in order to get fully constructed engineer students to ready for real industry work.
Abstract: Proprietary sensor network systems are typically expensive, rigid and difficult to incorporate technologies from other vendors. When using competing and incompatible technologies, a non-proprietary system is complex to create because it requires significant technical expertise and effort, which can be more expensive than a proprietary product. This paper presents the Sensor Abstraction Layer (SAL) that provides middleware architectures with a consistent and uniform view of heterogeneous sensor networks, regardless of the technologies involved. SAL abstracts and hides the hardware disparities and specificities related to accessing, controlling, probing and piloting heterogeneous sensors. SAL is a single software library containing a stable hardware-independent interface with consistent access and control functions to remotely manage the network. The end-user has near-real-time access to the collected data via the network, which results in a cost-effective, flexible and simplified system suitable for novice users. SAL has been used for successfully implementing several low-cost sensor network systems.
Abstract: The use of computer hardware and software in
education and training dates to the early 1940s, when American
researchers developed flight simulators which used analog computers
to generate simulated onboard instrument data.Computer software is
widely used to help engineers and undergraduate student solve their
problems quickly and more accurately. This paper presents the list of
computer software in geotechnical engineering.
Abstract: Software organizations are constantly looking for
better solutions when designing and using well-defined software
processes for the development of their products and services.
However, while the technical aspects are virtually easier to arrange,
many software development processes lack more support on project
management issues. When adopting such processes, an organization
needs to apply good project management skills along with technical
views provided by those models. This research proposes the
definition of a new model that integrates the concepts of PMBOK
and those available on the OPEN metamodel, helping not only
process integration but also building the steps towards a more
comprehensive and automatable model.
Abstract: The scale, complexity and worldwide geographical
spread of the LHC computing and data analysis problems are
unprecedented in scientific research. The complexity of processing
and accessing this data is increased substantially by the size and
global span of the major experiments, combined with the limited
wide area network bandwidth available. We present the latest
generation of the MONARC (MOdels of Networked Analysis at
Regional Centers) simulation framework, as a design and modeling
tool for large scale distributed systems applied to HEP experiments.
We present simulation experiments designed to evaluate the
capabilities of the current real-world distributed infrastructure to
support existing physics analysis processes and the means by which
the experiments bands together to meet the technical challenges
posed by the storage, access and computing requirements of LHC
data analysis within the CMS experiment.