Abstract: Evolutionary robotics is concerned with the design of
intelligent systems with life-like properties by means of simulated
evolution. Approaches in evolutionary robotics can be categorized
according to the control structures that represent the behavior and the
parameters of the controller that undergo adaptation. The basic idea
is to automatically synthesize behaviors that enable the robot to
perform useful tasks in complex environments. The evolutionary
algorithm searches through the space of parameterized controllers
that map sensory perceptions to control actions, thus realizing a
specific robotic behavior. Further, the evolutionary algorithm
maintains and improves a population of candidate behaviors by
means of selection, recombination and mutation. A fitness function
evaluates the performance of the resulting behavior according to the
robot-s task or mission. In this paper, the focus is in the use of
genetic algorithms to solve a multi-objective optimization problem
representing robot behaviors; in particular, the A-Compander Law is
employed in selecting the weight of each objective during the
optimization process. Results using an adaptive fitness function show
that this approach can efficiently react to complex tasks under
variable environments.
Abstract: The ubiquitous payment problems within construction
industry of China are notoriously hard to be resolved, thus lead to a
series of impacts to the industry chain. Among of them, the most direct
result is affecting the normal operation of contractors negatively. A
wealth of research has already discussed reasons of the payment
problems by introducing a number of possible improvement strategies.
But the causalities of these problems are still far from harsh reality. In
this paper, the authors propose a model for cash flow system of
construction projects by introducing System Dynamics techniques to
explore causal facets of the payment problem. The effects of payment
arrears on both cash flow and profitability of project are simulated into
four scenarios by using data from real projects. Simulating results
show visible clues to help contractors quantitatively determining the
consequences for the construction project that arise from payment
delay.
Abstract: Self-sensing estimates the air gap within an electro
magnetic path by analyzing the bearing coil current and/or voltage
waveform. The self-sensing concept presented in this paper has been
developed within the research project “Active Magnetic Bearings
with Supreme Reliability" and is used for position sensor fault
detection.
Within this new concept gap calculation is carried out by an alldigital
analysis of the digitized coil current and voltage waveform.
For analysis those time periods within the PWM period are used,
which give the best results. Additionally, the concept allows the
digital compensation of nonlinearities, for example magnetic
saturation, without degrading signal quality. This increases the
accuracy and robustness of the air gap estimation and additionally
reduces phase delays.
Beneath an overview about the developed concept first
measurement results are presented which show the potential of this
all-digital self-sensing concept.
Abstract: The interrelationship between international stock
markets has been a key study area among the financial market
researchers for international portfolio management and risk
measurement. The characteristics of security returns and their
dynamics play a vital role in the financial market theory. This study
is an attempt to find out the dynamic linkages among the equity
market of USA and emerging markets of Pakistan and India using
daily data covering the period of January 2003–December 2009. The
study utilizes Johansen (Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control,
12, 1988) and Johansen and Juselius (Oxford Bulletin of Economics
and Statistics, 52, 1990) cointegration procedure for long run
relationship and Granger-causality tests based on Toda and
Yamamoto (Journal of Econometrics, 66, 1995) methodology.
No cointegration was found among stock markets of USA, Pakistan
and India, while Granger-causality test showed the evidence of
unidirectional causality running from New York stock exchange to
Bombay and Karachi stock exchanges.
Abstract: The paper presents the applications of artificial
intelligence technique called adaptive tabu search to design the
controller of a buck converter. The averaging model derived from the
DQ and generalized state-space averaging methods is applied to
simulate the system during a searching process. The simulations
using such averaging model require the faster computational time
compared with that of the full topology model from the software
packages. The reported model is suitable for the work in the paper in
which the repeating calculation is needed for searching the best
solution. The results will show that the proposed design technique
can provide the better output waveforms compared with those
designed from the classical method.
Abstract: The link between urban planning and design principles and the built environment of an urban renewal area is of interest to the field of urban studies. During the past decade, there has also been increasing interest in urban planning and design; this interest is motivated by the possibility that design policies associated with the built environment can be used to control, manage, and shape individual activity and behavior. However, direct assessments and design techniques of the links between how urban planning design policies influence individuals are still rare in the field. Recent research efforts in urban design have focused on the idea that land use and design policies can be used to increase the quality of design projects for an urban renewal area-s built environment. The development of appropriate design techniques for the built environment is an essential element of this research. Quality function deployment (QFD) is a powerful tool for improving alternative urban design and quality for urban renewal areas, and for procuring a citizen-driven quality system. In this research, we propose an integrated framework based on QFD and an Analytic Network Process (ANP) approach to determine the Alternative Technical Requirements (ATRs) to be considered in designing an urban renewal planning and design alternative. We also identify the research designs and methodologies that can be used to evaluate the performance of urban built environment projects. An application in an urban renewal built environment planning and design project evaluation is presented to illustrate the proposed framework.
Abstract: Mixed Model Production is the practice of assembling
several distinct and different models of a product on the same
assembly line without changeovers and then sequencing those models
in a way that smoothes the demand for upstream components. In this
paper, we consider an objective function which minimizes total
stoppage time and total idle time and it is presented sequence
dependent set up time. Many studies have been done on the mixed
model assembly lines. But in this paper we specifically focused on
reducing the idle times. This is possible through various help policies.
For improving the solutions, some cases developed and about 40 tests
problem was considered. We use scatter search for optimization and
for showing the efficiency of our algorithm, experimental results
shows behavior of method. Scatter search and help policies can
produce high quality answers, so it has been used in this paper.
Abstract: The adoption of building information modeling (BIM)
is increasing in the construction industry. However, quantity
surveyors are slow in adoption compared to other professions due to
lack of awareness of the BIM’s potential in their profession. It is still
unclear on how BIM application can enhance quantity surveyors’
work performance and project performance. The aim of this research
is to identify the capabilities of BIM in quantity surveying practices
and examine the relationship between BIM capabilities and project
performance. Questionnaire survey and interviews were adopted for
data collection. Literature reviews identified there are eleven BIM
capabilities in quantity surveying practice. Questionnaire results
showed that there are several BIM capabilities significantly
correlated with project performance in time, cost and quality aspects
and the results were validated through interviews. These findings
show that BIM has the capabilities to enhance quantity surveyors’
performances and subsequently improved project performance.
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: In this research, the laminar heat transfer of natural convection on vertical surfaces has been investigated. Most of the studies on natural convection have been considered constantly whereas velocity and temperature domain, do not change with time, transient one are used a lot. Governing equations are solved using a finite volume approach. The convective terms are discretized using the power-law scheme, whereas for diffusive terms the central difference is employed. Coupling between the velocity and pressure is made with SIMPLE algorithm. The resultant system of discretized linear algebraic equations is solved with an alternating direction implicit scheme. Then a configuration of rectangular fins is put in different ways on the surface and heat transfer of natural convection on these surfaces without sliding is studied and finally optimization is done.
Abstract: Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 viruses have created demand for a cost-effective vaccine to prevent a pandemic of the disease. Here, we report that Trichoplusia ni (T. ni) larvae can act as a cost-effective bioreactor to produce recombinant HA5 (rH5HA) proteins as an potential effective vaccine for chickens. To facilitate the recombinant virus identification, virus titer determination and access the infected larvae, we employed the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) derived from Perina nuda virus (PnV, belongs to insect picorna like Iflavirus genus) to construct a bi-cistronic baculovirus expression vector that can express the rH5HA protein and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) simultaneously. Western blot analysis revealed that the 70 kDa rH5HA protein and partially cleaved products (40 kDa H5HA1) were generated in T. ni larvae infected with recombinant baculovirus carrying the H5HA gene. These data suggest that the baculovirus-larvae recombinant protein expression system could be a cost-effective platform for H5N1 vaccine production.
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: 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.
Abstract: Hand gesture is an active area of research in the vision
community, mainly for the purpose of sign language recognition and
Human Computer Interaction. In this paper, we propose a system to
recognize alphabet characters (A-Z) and numbers (0-9) in real-time
from stereo color image sequences using Hidden Markov Models
(HMMs). Our system is based on three main stages; automatic segmentation
and preprocessing of the hand regions, feature extraction
and classification. In automatic segmentation and preprocessing stage,
color and 3D depth map are used to detect hands where the hand
trajectory will take place in further step using Mean-shift algorithm
and Kalman filter. In the feature extraction stage, 3D combined features
of location, orientation and velocity with respected to Cartesian
systems are used. And then, k-means clustering is employed for
HMMs codeword. The final stage so-called classification, Baum-
Welch algorithm is used to do a full train for HMMs parameters.
The gesture of alphabets and numbers is recognized using Left-Right
Banded model in conjunction with Viterbi algorithm. Experimental
results demonstrate that, our system can successfully recognize hand
gestures with 98.33% recognition rate.
Abstract: Social, mobility and information aggregation inside
business environment need to converge to reach the next step of
collaboration to enhance interaction and innovation. The following
article is based on the “Assemblage" concept seen as a framework to
formalize new user interfaces and applications. The area of research
is the Energy Social Business Environment, especially the Energy
Smart Grids, which are considered as functional and technical
foundations of the revolution of the Energy Sector of tomorrow. The
assemblages are modelized by means of mereology and simplicial
complexes. Its objective is to offer new central attention and
decision-making tools to end-users.
Abstract: Via a large scale cross-sectional study among Japanese white color workers, the authors aimed to elucidate: (1) the distributions of Sense of Coherence (SOC), which reflect stress coping abilities, (2) the distributions of Life experience; (3) and the association between SOC and Life experience. Anonymous self-administered questionnaires were sent to 15,891 in 2001 and 21,922 in 2011 employees at educational and research institutions in Tsukuba Research Park City. A total of 5,868 (36.9%) and 9,528 (43.5%) respectively workers completed and returned the questionnaire; 5,715 and 9,515 respectively workers without missing data were analyzed. SOC scale scores differed by gender, age, and other demographic features in both study years. Among the life experiences, workers who have got over parenting or management position were higher SOC scale scores adjusted by gender and age. The life experiences that workers have got over could develop their stronger SOC in their life course.
Abstract: Hot tear cracking and residual stress are two different consequences of thermal stress both of which can be considered as casting problem. The purpose of the present study is simulation of the effect of casting shape characteristic on hot tearing and residual stress. This study shows that the temperature range for simulation of hot tearing and residual stress are different. In this study, in order to study the development of thermal stress and to predict the hot tearing and residual stress of shaped casting, MAGMASOFT simulation program was used. The strategy of this research was the prediction of hot tear location using pinpointing hot spot and thermal stress concentration zones. The results shows that existing of stress concentration zone increases the hot tearing probability and consequently reduces the amount of remaining residual stress in casting parts.
Abstract: Successful intelligence (SI) is the integrated set of the
ability needed to attain success in life, within individual-s sociocultural
context. People are successfully intelligent by recognizing
their strengths and weaknesses. They will find ways to strengthen
their weakness and maintain their strength or even improve it. SI
people can shape, select, and adapt to the environments by using
balance of higher-ordered thinking abilities including; critical,
creative, and applicative. Aims: The purposes of this study were to;
1) develop curriculum that promotes SI for nursing students, and 2)
study the effectiveness of the curriculum development. Method:
Research and Development was a method used for this study. The
design was divided into two phases; 1) the curriculum development
which composed of three steps (needs assessment, curriculum
development and curriculum field trail), and 2) the curriculum
implementation. In this phase, a pre-experimental research design
(one group pretest-posttest design) was conducted. The sample
composed of 49 sophomore nursing students of Boromarajonani
College of Nursing, Surin, Thailand who enrolled in Nursing care of
Health problem course I in 2011 academic year. Data were carefully
collected using 4 instruments; 1) Modified essay questions test
(MEQ) 2) Nursing Care Plan evaluation form 3) Group processing
observation form (α = 0.74) and 4) Satisfied evaluation form of
learning (α = 0.82). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics
and content analysis. Results: The results revealed that the sample
had post-test average score of SI higher than pre-test average score
(mean difference was 5.03, S.D. = 2.84). Fifty seven percentages of
the sample passed the MEQ posttest at the criteria of 60 percentages.
Students demonstrated the strategies of how to develop nursing care
plan. Overall, students- satisfaction on teaching performance was at
high level (mean = 4.35, S.D. = 0.46). Conclusion: This curriculum
can promote the attribute of characteristic of SI person and was
highly required to be continued.
Abstract: The objective of this research work is to discuss the concept of “green growth” in the Republic of Kazakhstan introduced by its government in the “National Sustainable Development Strategy” with the objective of transition to a resource-efficient, “green economy.” We believe that emerging economies like Kazakhstan can pursue a cleaner and more efficient development path by introducing an environmental tax system based on resource consumption rather than only income and labor. The key issues discussed in this article are the eco-efficiency, which refers to closing the gap between economic and ecological efficiencies, and the structural change of the economy toward “green growth.” We also strongly believe that studying the experience of East Asian countries on “green reform” including eco-innovation and “green solutions” in business is essential to the case of Kazakhstan. All of these will raise the status of Kazakhstan to the level of one of the thirty developed countries over the next decades.