Abstract: We demonstrate through a sample application, Ebanking,
that the Web Service Modelling Language Ontology component
can be used as a very powerful object-oriented database design
language with logic capabilities. Its conceptual syntax allows the
definition of class hierarchies, and logic syntax allows the definition
of constraints in the database. Relations, which are available for
modelling relations of three or more concepts, can be connected to
logical expressions, allowing the implicit specification of database
content. Using a reasoning tool, logic queries can also be made
against the database in simulation mode.
Abstract: Discrimination in employment has its wider social and
economic consequences other than mere violating a basic human
right. Discrimination involves treating people differently because of
certain grounds such as race, color, or sex, which results in the
impairment of equality of opportunity and treatment. As an essential
part of promoting decent work, combating discrimination through the
principle of non-discrimination has been established by the
International Labor Organization (ILO) through the Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work 1998. Considering
elimination of discrimination in employment as a core labor standard,
member states are expected to respect, promote and implement it to
their national laws and policies. Being a member state, Malaysia has
to position herself align with this international requirement. The
author discusses the related convention together with Malaysia-s
responses on the matter. At the closing stage, the prospect of
Malaysia is presumed taking into account of the current positions and
reports submitted to the ILO.
Abstract: In this paper, experimental testing and numerical analysis were used to investigate the effect of tube thickness on the face bending for concrete filled hollow sections connected to other structural members using Extended Hollobolts. Six samples were tested experimentally by applying pull-out load on the bolts. These samples were designed to fail by column face bending. The main variable in all tests is the column face thickness. Finite element analyses were also performed using ABAQUS 6.11 to extend the experimental results and to quantify the effect of column face thickness. Results show that, the column face thickness has a clear impact on the connection strength and stiffness. However, the amount of improvement in the connection stiffness by changing the column face thickness from 5mm to 6.3mm seems to be higher than that when increasing it from 6.3mm to 8mm. The displacement at which the bolts start pulling-out from their holes increased with the use of thinner column face due to the high flexibility of the section. At the ultimate strength, the yielding of the column face propagated to the column corner and there was no yielding in its walls. After the ultimate resistance is reached, the propagation of the yielding was mainly in the column face with a miner yielding in the walls.
Abstract: Color categorization is shared among members in a
society. This allows communication of color, especially when using
natural language such as English. Hence sociable robot, to live
coexist with human in human society, must also have the shared
color categorization. To achieve this, many works have been done
relying on modeling of human color perception and mathematical
complexities. In contrast, in this work, the computer as brain of the
robot learns color categorization through interaction with humans
without much mathematical complexities.
Abstract: Chevron frames (Inverted-V-braced frames or Vbraced
frames) have seismic disadvantages, such as not good exhibit force redistribution capability and compression brace buckles
immediately. Researchers developed new design provisions on
increasing both the ductility and lateral resistance of these structures
in seismic areas. One of these new methods is adding zipper columns, as proposed by Khatib et al. (1988) [2]. Zipper columns are
vertical members connecting the intersection points of the braces
above the first floor. In this paper applicability of the suspended
zipper system to Seismic Rehabilitation of Steel Structures is investigated.
The models are 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-story Inverted-V-braced frames.
In this case, it is assumed that the structures must be rehabilitated. For rehabilitation of structures, zipper column is used. The result of
researches showed that the suspended zipper system is effective in
case of 3-, 6-, and 9-story Inverted-V-braced frames and it would
increase lateral resistance of structure up to life safety level. But in
case of high-rise buildings (such as 12 story frame), it doesn-t show
good performance. For solving this problem, the braced bay can
consist of small “units" over the height of the entire structure, which each of them is a zipper-braced bay with a few stories. By using this
method the lateral resistance of 12 story Inverted-V-braced frames is increased up to safety life level.
Abstract: Stick models are widely used in studying the
behaviour of straight as well as skew bridges and viaducts subjected
to earthquakes while carrying out preliminary studies. The
application of such models to highly curved bridges continues to
pose challenging problems. A viaduct proposed in the foothills of the
Himalayas in Northern India is chosen for the study. It is having 8
simply supported spans @ 30 m c/c. It is doubly curved in horizontal
plane with 20 m radius. It is inclined in vertical plane as well. The
superstructure consists of a box section. Three models have been
used: a conventional stick model, an improved stick model and a 3D
finite element model. The improved stick model is employed by
making use of body constraints in order to study its capabilities. The
first 8 frequencies are about 9.71% away in the latter two models.
Later the difference increases to 80% in 50th mode. The viaduct was
subjected to all three components of the El Centro earthquake of May
1940. The numerical integration was carried out using the Hilber-
Hughes-Taylor method as implemented in SAP2000. Axial forces
and moments in the bridge piers as well as lateral displacements at
the bearing levels are compared for the three models. The maximum
difference in the axial forces and bending moments and
displacements vary by 25% between the improved and finite element
model. Whereas, the maximum difference in the axial forces,
moments, and displacements in various sections vary by 35%
between the improved stick model and equivalent straight stick
model. The difference for torsional moment was as high as 75%. It is
concluded that the stick model with body constraints to model the
bearings and expansion joints is not desirable in very sharp S curved
viaducts even for preliminary analysis. This model can be used only
to determine first 10 frequency and mode shapes but not for member
forces. A 3D finite element analysis must be carried out for
meaningful results.
Abstract: In today's day and age, one of the important topics in
information security is authentication. There are several alternatives
to text-based authentication of which includes Graphical Password
(GP) or Graphical User Authentication (GUA). These methods stems
from the fact that humans recognized and remembers images better
than alphanumerical text characters. This paper will focus on the
security aspect of GP algorithms and what most researchers have
been working on trying to define these security features and
attributes. The goal of this study is to develop a fuzzy decision model
that allows automatic selection of available GP algorithms by taking
into considerations the subjective judgments of the decision makers
who are more than 50 postgraduate students of computer science. The
approach that is being proposed is based on the Fuzzy Analytic
Hierarchy Process (FAHP) which determines the criteria weight as a
linear formula.
Abstract: Trust management and Reputation models are
becoming integral part of Internet based applications such as CSCW,
E-commerce and Grid Computing. Also the trust dimension is a
significant social structure and key to social relations within a
collaborative community. Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) is
a difficult task in the context of distributed environment (information
across different geographical locations) and multidisciplinary
decisions are involved such as Virtual Organization (VO). To aid
team decision making in VO, Decision Support System and social
network analysis approaches are integrated. In such situations social
learning helps an organization in terms of relationship, team
formation, partner selection etc. In this paper we focus on trust
learning. Trust learning is an important activity in terms of
information exchange, negotiation, collaboration and trust
assessment for cooperation among virtual team members. In this
paper we have proposed a reinforcement learning which enhances the
trust decision making capability of interacting agents during
collaboration in problem solving activity. Trust computational model
with learning that we present is adapted for best alternate selection of
new project in the organization. We verify our model in a multi-agent
simulation where the agents in the community learn to identify
trustworthy members, inconsistent behavior and conflicting behavior
of agents.
Abstract: This study presents a new approach based on Tanaka's
fuzzy linear regression (FLP) algorithm to solve well-known power
system economic load dispatch problem (ELD). Tanaka's fuzzy linear
regression (FLP) formulation will be employed to compute the
optimal solution of optimization problem after linearization. The
unknowns are expressed as fuzzy numbers with a triangular
membership function that has middle and spread value reflected on
the unknowns. The proposed fuzzy model is formulated as a linear
optimization problem, where the objective is to minimize the sum of
the spread of the unknowns, subject to double inequality constraints.
Linear programming technique is employed to obtain the middle and
the symmetric spread for every unknown (power generation level).
Simulation results of the proposed approach will be compared with
those reported in literature.
Abstract: For any country the project management has been a
vital part for its development. The highly competitive business world
has created tremendous pressure on the project managers to achieve
success. The pressure is derived from survival and profit building in
business organizations which compels the project managers to pursue
unethical practices. As a result unethical activities in business
projects can be found easily where situations or issues arise due to
dubious business practice, high corruption, or absolute violation of
the law. The recent spur on Commonwealth games to be organized in
New Delhi indicates towards the same. It has been seen that the
project managers mainly focus on cost, time, and quality rather than
social impact and long term effects of the project. Surprisingly the
literature as well as the practitioner-s perspective also does not
identify the role of ethics in project success. This paper identifies
ethics as the fourth most important dimension in the project based
organizations. The paper predicts that the approach of considering
ethics will result in sustainability of the project. It will increase
satisfaction and loyalty of the customers as well as create harmony,
trust, brotherhood, values and morality among the team members.
This paper is conceptual in nature as inadequate literature exists
linking the project success with an ethical approach.
Abstract: It is important problems to increase the detection rates
and reduce false positive rates in Intrusion Detection System (IDS).
Although preventative techniques such as access control and
authentication attempt to prevent intruders, these can fail, and as a
second line of defence, intrusion detection has been introduced. Rare
events are events that occur very infrequently, detection of rare
events is a common problem in many domains. In this paper we
propose an intrusion detection method that combines Rough set and
Fuzzy Clustering. Rough set has to decrease the amount of data and
get rid of redundancy. Fuzzy c-means clustering allow objects to
belong to several clusters simultaneously, with different degrees of
membership. Our approach allows us to recognize not only known
attacks but also to detect suspicious activity that may be the result of
a new, unknown attack. The experimental results on Knowledge
Discovery and Data Mining-(KDDCup 1999) Dataset show that the
method is efficient and practical for intrusion detection systems.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the ability
of a genetic programming (GP) algorithm to evolve a team of data
classification models. The GP algorithm used in this work is
“multigene" in nature, i.e. there are multiple tree structures (genes)
that are used to represent team members. Each team member assigns
a data sample to one of a fixed set of output classes. A majority vote,
determined using the mode (highest occurrence) of classes predicted
by the individual genes, is used to determine the final class
prediction. The algorithm is tested on a binary classification problem.
For the case study investigated, compact classification models are
obtained with comparable accuracy to alternative approaches.
Abstract: Milk is a very important nutrient. Low productivity is
a problem of Turkish dairy farming. During recent years, Turkish government has supported cooperatives that assist milk producers and
encouraged farmers to become cooperative members. Turkish
government established several ways to support specially smallholders. For example Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs
(MARA) provided two to four cows to villagers on a grant or loan basis with a long repayment period at low interest rates by
cooperatives. Social Support Project in Rural Areas (SSPRA) is
another support program targeting only disadvantaged people,
especially poor villager. Both programs have a very strong social
support component and similar objectives. But there are minor
differences between them in terms of target people, terms and conditions of the credit supplied Isparta province in Mediterranean region of Turkey is one of the
supported regions. MARA distributed dairy cows to 1072 farmers through 16 agricultural cooperatives in Isparta province in the context
of SSPRA. In this study, economic-social impacts on dairy cattle project
implemented through cooperatives were examined in Isparta. Primary data were collected from 12 cooperatives- president. The
data were obtained by personal interview through a questionnaire and
to cooperatives and given to farms benefiting from the project in
order to reveal the economic and social developments.
Finding of the study revealed that project provided new job
opportunities and improved quality of livestock. It was found that producers who benefited from the project were more willing to
participate in cooperative or other producer organizations.
Abstract: The right information at the right time influences the
enterprise and technical success. Sharing knowledge among members
of a big organization may be a complex activity. And as long as the
knowledge is not shared, can not be exploited by the organization.
There are some mechanisms which can originate knowledge sharing.
It is intended, in this paper, to trigger these mechanisms by using
semantic nets. Moreover, the intersection and overlapping of terms
and sub-terms, as well as their relationships will be described through
the mereology science for the whole knowledge sharing system. It is
proposed a knowledge system to supply to operators with the right
information about a specific process and possible risks, e.g. at the
assembly process, at the right time in an automated manufacturing
environment, such as at the automotive industry.
Abstract: Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is one of the
most vital planning processes of the project management since it
is considered to be the fundamental of other processes like
scheduling, controlling, assigning responsibilities, etc. In fact
WBS or activity list is the heart of a project and omission of a
simple task can lead to an irrecoverable result. There are some
tools in order to generate a project WBS. One of the most
powerful tools is mind mapping which is the basis of this article.
Mind map is a method for thinking together and helps a project
manager to stimulate the mind of project team members to
generate project WBS. Here we try to generate a WBS of a
sample project involving with the building construction using the
aid of mind map and the artificial intelligence (AI) programming
language. Since mind map structure can not represent data in a
computerized way, we convert it to a semantic network which can
be used by the computer and then extract the final WBS from the
semantic network by the prolog programming language. This
method will result a comprehensive WBS and decrease the
probability of omitting project tasks.
Abstract: Film, as an art form playing a vital role and is a powerful tool in documenting, influencing and shaping the society. Films are the collective creation of a large number of separate individuals, each contributing with creative input, unique talents, and technical expertise to the project. Recently, the Malaysian Independent (or “Indie") filmmakers have made their presence felt by winning awards at various international film festivals. Working in the digital video (DV) format, a number of independent filmmakers really hit their stride with a range of remarkably strong titles and international recognition has been quick in coming and their works are now regularly in exhibition or in competition, winning many top prizes at prestigious festivals around the world. The interaction factors among crewmembers are emphasized as imperative for group success. An in-depth interview is conducted to analyze the social interactions and exchanges between filmmakers through Social Exchanges Theory (SET). Certainly the new millennium that was marked as the digital technology revolution has changed the face of filmmaking in Malaysia. There is a clear need to study the Malaysian independent cinema especially from the perspective of understanding what causes the independent filmmakers to work so well given all of the difficulties and constraints.
Abstract: This article presents a method for elections between the members of a group that is founded by fuzzy logic. Linguistic variables are objects for decision on election cards and deduction is based on t-norms and s-norms. In this election-s method election cards are questionnaire. The questionnaires are comprised of some questions with some choices. The choices are words from natural language. Presented method is accompanied by center of gravity (COG) defuzzification added up to a computer program by MATLAB. Finally the method is illustrated by solving two examples; choose a head for a research group-s members and a representative for students.
Abstract: After the accounting scandals and the financial crisis, regulators have stressed the need for more financial experts on boards. Several studies conducted in countries with developed capital markets report positive effects of board financial competencies. As each country offers a different context and specific institutional factors this paper addresses the subject in the context of Romania. The Romanian capital market offers an interesting research field because of the heterogeneity of listed firms. After analyzing board members education based on public information posted on listed companies websites and their annual reports we found a positive association between the proportion of board members holding a postgraduate degree in financial fields and market based performance measured by Tobin q. We found also that the proportion of Board members holding degrees in financial fields is higher in bigger firms and firms with more concentrated ownership.
Abstract: The new status generated by technological advancements and changes in the global economy raises important issues on how communities and organisations need to innovate upon their traditional processes in order to adapt to the challenges of the Knowledge Society. The DialogoS+ European project aims to study the role of and promote social dialogue in the banking sector, strengthen the link between old and new members and make social dialogue at the European level a force for innovation and change, also given the context of the international crisis emerging in 2008- 2009. Under the scope of DialogoS+, this paper describes how the community of Europe-s banking sector trade unions attempted to adapt to the challenges of the Knowledge Society by exploiting the benefits of new channels of communication, learning, knowledge generation and diffusion focusing on the concept of roadmapping. Important dimensions of social dialogue such as collective bargaining and working conditions are addressed.
Abstract: Vehicle which are turning or maneuvering at high speeds
are susceptible to sliding and subsequently deviate from desired path. In
this paper the dynamics governing the Yaw/Roll behavior of a vehicle
has been simulated. Two different simulations have been used one for
the real vehicle, for which a fuzzy controller is designed to increase its
directional stability property. The other simulation is for a hypothetical
vehicle with much higher tire cornering stiffness which is capable of
developing the required lateral forces at the tire-ground patch contact to
attain the desired lateral acceleration for the vehicle to follow the
desired path without slippage. This simulation model is our reference
model.
The logic for keeping the vehicle on the desired track in the cornering
or maneuvering state is to have some braking forces on the inner or
outer tires based on the direction of vehicle deviation from the desired
path. The inputs to our vehicle simulation model is steer angle δ and
vehicle velocity V , and the outputs can be any kinematical parameters
like yaw rate, yaw acceleration, side slip angle, rate of side slip angle
and so on. The proposed fuzzy controller is a feed forward controller.
This controller has two inputs which are steer angle δ and vehicle
velocity V, and the output of the controller is the correcting moment M,
which guides the vehicle back to the desired track. To develop the
membership functions for the controller inputs and output and the fuzzy
rules, the vehicle simulation has been run for 1000 times and the
correcting moment have been determined by trial and error. Results of
the vehicle simulation with fuzzy controller are very promising
and show the vehicle performance is enhanced greatly over the
vehicle without the controller. In fact the vehicle performance
with the controller is very near the performance of the reference
ideal model.