Abstract: Resource Discovery in Grids is critical for efficient
resource allocation and management. Heterogeneous nature and
dynamic availability of resources make resource discovery a
challenging task. As numbers of nodes are increasing from tens to
thousands, scalability is essentially desired. Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
techniques, on the other hand, provide effective implementation of
scalable services and applications. In this paper we propose a model
for resource discovery in Condor Middleware by using the four axis
framework defined in P2P approach. The proposed model enhances
Condor to incorporate functionality of a P2P system, thus aim to
make Condor more scalable, flexible, reliable and robust.
Abstract: An efficient transient flow simulation for gas
pipelines and networks is presented. The proposed transient flow
simulation is based on the transfer function models and MATLABSimulink.
The equivalent transfer functions of the nonlinear
governing equations are derived for different types of the boundary
conditions. Next, a MATLAB-Simulink library is developed and
proposed considering any boundary condition type. To verify the
accuracy and the computational efficiency of the proposed
simulation, the results obtained are compared with those of the
conventional finite difference schemes (such as TVD, method of
lines, and other finite difference implicit and explicit schemes). The
effects of the flow inertia and the pipeline inclination are
incorporated in this simulation. It is shown that the proposed
simulation has a sufficient accuracy and it is computationally more
efficient than the other methods.
Abstract: The business strategy of any company wanting to be
competitive on the market should be designed around the concept of
intangibles, with an increasingly decisive role in knowledge transfer
of the biggest corporations. Advancing the research in these areas,
this study integrates the two approaches, emphasizing the
relationships between the components of intellectual capital and
corporate social responsibility. The three dimensions of intellectual
capital in terms of sustainability requirements are debated. The paper
introduces the concept of sustainable intellectual capital and debates
it within an assessment model designed on the base of key
performance indicators. The results refer to the assessment of
possible ways for including the information on intellectual capital
and corporate responsibility within the corporate strategy. The
conclusions enhance the need for companies to be ready to support
the integration of this type of information the knowledge transfer
process, in order to develop competitive advantage on the market.
Abstract: Not many studies have been undertaken on shareholder activism in emerging economies, including Malaysia. Shareholder activism in emerging economies is on the rise. This paper seeks to comprehend the elements of this activism that are unique to Malaysia, specifically with respect to how the agency problem is controlled through shareholder activism in improving corporate governance practices within target companies. Through shareholder activism, shareholders make contact with a target company to voice their dissatisfaction, suggestions, or recommendations. This paper utilises agency theory to explain institutional shareholder activism. This theory has been extensively used within literature on corporate governance with regards to shareholder activism. The effectiveness of shareholder activism in improving corporate governance will be examined as well. This research provides a further understanding of shareholder activism in emerging economies, such as Malaysia; this research also has the potential to enhance shareholder activism and corporate governance practices in general.
Abstract: A considerable progress has been achieved in transient
stability analysis (TSA) with various FACTS controllers. But, all
these controllers are associated with single transmission line. This
paper is intended to discuss a new approach i.e. a multi-line FACTS
controller which is interline power flow controller (IPFC) for TSA of
a multi-machine power system network. A mathematical model of
IPFC, termed as power injection model (PIM) presented and this
model is incorporated in Newton-Raphson (NR) power flow
algorithm. Then, the reduced admittance matrix of a multi-machine
power system network for a three phase fault without and with IPFC
is obtained which is required to draw the machine swing curves. A
general approach based on L-index has also been discussed to find
the best location of IPFC to reduce the proximity to instability of a
power system. Numerical results are carried out on two test systems
namely, 6-bus and 11-bus systems. A program in MATLAB has
been written to plot the variation of generator rotor angle and speed
difference curves without and with IPFC for TSA and also a simple
approach has been presented to evaluate critical clearing time for test
systems. The results obtained without and with IPFC are compared
and discussed.
Abstract: This research aimed to study employees- perceptions and expectations toward their organization-s corporate social responsibility (CSR), to study the differences between employees- personal factors and level of perceptions and expectations toward CSR, and to study the relationship between employees- perceptions and expectations toward CSR. Purposive sampling and questionnaire were applied to collect information from 400 private company employees in Bangkok metropolitan area. The results revealed that employees had “high" level of perceptions and expectations toward CSR, of which the highest level were given on the area of “corporate governance and transparency". It was found that there was different level of expectations of employees with different period of employment, position and employment (by listed and non-listed companies). Employees of different age and period of employment also had different level of expectations. Employees- perceptions were correlated with their expectations toward CSR.
Abstract: Over the past few years, a number of efforts have
been exerted to build parallel processing systems that utilize the idle
power of LAN-s and PC-s available in many homes and corporations.
The main advantage of these approaches is that they provide cheap
parallel processing environments for those who cannot afford the
expenses of supercomputers and parallel processing hardware.
However, most of the solutions provided are not very flexible in the
use of available resources and very difficult to install and setup.
In this paper, a multi-level web-based parallel processing system
(MWPS) is designed (appendix). MWPS is based on the idea of
volunteer computing, very flexible, easy to setup and easy to use.
MWPS allows three types of subscribers: simple volunteers (single
computers), super volunteers (full networks) and end users. All of
these entities are coordinated transparently through a secure web site.
Volunteer nodes provide the required processing power needed by
the system end users. There is no limit on the number of volunteer
nodes, and accordingly the system can grow indefinitely. Both
volunteer and system users must register and subscribe. Once, they
subscribe, each entity is provided with the appropriate MWPS
components. These components are very easy to install.
Super volunteer nodes are provided with special components that
make it possible to delegate some of the load to their inner nodes.
These inner nodes may also delegate some of the load to some other
lower level inner nodes .... and so on. It is the responsibility of the
parent super nodes to coordinate the delegation process and deliver
the results back to the user.
MWPS uses a simple behavior-based scheduler that takes into
consideration the current load and previous behavior of processing
nodes. Nodes that fulfill their contracts within the expected time get a
high degree of trust. Nodes that fail to satisfy their contract get a
lower degree of trust.
MWPS is based on the .NET framework and provides the minimal
level of security expected in distributed processing environments.
Users and processing nodes are fully authenticated. Communications
and messages between nodes are very secure. The system has been
implemented using C#.
MWPS may be used by any group of people or companies to
establish a parallel processing or grid environment.
Abstract: The latest Geographic Information System (GIS)
technology makes it possible to administer the spatial components of
daily “business object," in the corporate database, and apply suitable
geographic analysis efficiently in a desktop-focused application. We
can use wireless internet technology for transfer process in spatial
data from server to client or vice versa. However, the problem in
wireless Internet is system bottlenecks that can make the process of
transferring data not efficient. The reason is large amount of spatial
data. Optimization in the process of transferring and retrieving data,
however, is an essential issue that must be considered. Appropriate
decision to choose between R-tree and Quadtree spatial data indexing
method can optimize the process. With the rapid proliferation of
these databases in the past decade, extensive research has been
conducted on the design of efficient data structures to enable fast
spatial searching. Commercial database vendors like Oracle have also
started implementing these spatial indexing to cater to the large and
diverse GIS. This paper focuses on the decisions to choose R-tree
and quadtree spatial indexing using Oracle spatial database in mobile
GIS application. From our research condition, the result of using
Quadtree and R-tree spatial data indexing method in one single
spatial database can save the time until 42.5%.
Abstract: The issue of leadership has been investigated from
several perspectives; however, very less from ethical perspective.
With the growing number of corporate scandals and unethical roles
played by business leaders in several parts of the world, the need to
examine leadership from ethical perspective cannot be over
emphasized. The importance of leadership credibility has been
discussed in the authentic model of leadership. Authentic leaders
display high degree of integrity, have deep sense of purpose, and
committed to their core values. As a result they promote a more
trusting relationship in their work groups that translates into several
positive outcomes. The present study examined how authentic
leadership contribute to subordinates- trust in leadership and how this
trust, in turn, predicts subordinates- work engagement. A sample of
395 employees was randomly selected from several local banks
operating in Malaysia. Standardized tools such as ALQ, OTI, and
EEQ were employed. Results indicated that authentic leadership
promoted subordinates- trust in leader, and contributed to work
engagement. Also, interpersonal trust predicted employees- work
engagement as well as mediated the relationship between this style of
leadership and employees- work engagement.
Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) viewpoint have challenged the traditional perception to understand corporations position. Production- and managerial-centred views are expanding towards reference group-centred policies. Consequently, the significance of new kind of knowledge has emerged. In addition to management of the organisation, the idea of CSR emphasises the importance to recognise the value-expectations of operational environment. It is know that management is often well-aware of corporate social responsibilities, but it is less clear how well these high level goals are understood in practical product design and development work. In this study, the apprehension above proved to be real to some degree. While management was very aware of CSR it was less familiar to designers. The outcome shows that it is essential to raise ethical values and issues higher in corporate communication, if it is wished that they materialize also in products.
Abstract: In the present research, two nutraceuticals made from
red grape and walnut that showed previously to improve kidney
dysfunction were incorporated separately into functional foods' bread
made from barley and rice bran. The functional foods were evaluated
in rats in which chronic renal failure was induced through feeding
diet rich in adenine and phosphate (APD). The evaluation based on
assessing kidney function, oxidative stress, inflammatory biomarkers
and body weight gain. Results showed induction of chronic kidney
failure reflected in significant increase in plasma urea, creatinine,
malondialdehyde, tumor necrosis factor- α and low density
lipoprotein cholesterol along with significant reduction of plasma
albumin, and total antioxidant and creatinine clearance and body
weight gain on feeding APD compared to control healthy group.
Feeding the functional foods produced amelioration in the different
biochemical parameters and body weight gain indicating
improvement in kidney function.
Abstract: Documents retrieval in Information Retrieval
Systems (IRS) is generally about understanding of
information in the documents concern. The more the system
able to understand the contents of documents the more
effective will be the retrieval outcomes. But understanding of the
contents is a very complex task. Conventional IRS apply algorithms
that can only approximate the meaning of document contents through
keywords approach using vector space model. Keywords may be
unstemmed or stemmed. When keywords are stemmed and conflated
in retrieving process, we are a step forwards in applying semantic
technology in IRS. Word stemming is a process in morphological
analysis under natural language processing, before syntactic and
semantic analysis. We have developed algorithms for Malay and
Arabic and incorporated stemming in our experimental systems in
order to measure retrieval effectiveness. The results have shown that
the retrieval effectiveness has increased when stemming is used in
the systems.
Abstract: Although automotive industry has brought different beneficiaries to human life, it is being pointed out as one of the major cause of global air pollution which resulted in climate change, smog, green house gases (GHGs), and human diseases by many reasons. Since auto industry is one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels, the realization of green innovations is becoming a crucial choice to meet the challenges towards sustainable development. Recently, many auto manufacturers have embarked on green technology initiatives to gain a competitive advantage in the global market; however, innovative manufacturing systems and technologies can enhance operational performance only if the human resource management is in place to elicit the motivation of the employees and develop their organizational expertise. No organization can perform at peak levels unless each employee is committed to the company goals and works as an effective team member. Strategic human resource practices are the primary means by which firms can shape the skills, attitudes, and behavior of individuals to align with the business strategic objectives. This study investigates on the comprehensive approach of multiple advanced technology innovations and human resource management at Toyota Motor Corporation as the market leader of full hybrid technology in the automotive industry. Then, HRM framework of the company is described and three sets of human resource practices that support the innovation-oriented HR system, presented. Finally, a conceptual framework for innovativeness in green technology in automotive industry by applying a deliberate strategic HR management system and knowledge management with the intervening factors of organizational culture, knowledge application and knowledge sharing is proposed.
Abstract: This study examines the effect of Islamic Corporate
Social Responsibility disclosure and on corporate reputation as well
as performance. These relationships are examined based on content
analysis of of annual reports of 17 Islamic banks in Malaysia for
2008, 2009 and 2010. Results of this study provide evidence that
CSR activities communicated in corporate annual reports are
significantly positively related with corporate reputation as well as
firm performance. These results indicate that CSR activities and
disclosure from Islamic perspectives are equally important business
strategies in creating continuous superior performance for
organisations. In addition, it also highlights that organisations need to
develop a stakeholder orientation particularly in an environment of
increasing pressure from jurisdictions dominated by Islamic
stakeholders on organisations engaging in Islamic products to
increase their social responsibilities from the Islamic perspectives.
Abstract: The main objective of the paper has been represented
by the identification of the changes that occurred in the competitive
environment and their impact on the strategic marketing management
of companies in B2B market. At Romania-s level there has not yet
been done a similar research that studies change management in
crises on business to business field. In order to answer to the paper-s
objectives, a qualitative marketing research (in-depth structured
interview) was conducted, within the top management of 27
companies in Romanian business to business field. The main results
of the research highlight the necessity of a management of change, as
a result of the crises, as follows: changes in the corporate objectives
(from development objectives to maintaining objectives), changes
market segmentation and in competitive advantages, changes at the
level of market strategies and of the marketing mix.
Abstract: The segmentation of mouth and lips is a fundamental
problem in facial image analyisis. In this paper we propose a method
for lip segmentation based on rg-color histogram. Statistical analysis
shows, using the rg-color-space is optimal for this purpose of a pure
color based segmentation. Initially a rough adaptive threshold selects
a histogram region, that assures that all pixels in that region are
skin pixels. Based on that pixels we build a gaussian model which
represents the skin pixels distribution and is utilized to obtain a
refined, optimal threshold. We are not incorporating shape or edge
information. In experiments we show the performance of our lip pixel
segmentation method compared to the ground truth of our dataset and
a conventional watershed algorithm.
Abstract: Cement, the most widely used construction material
is very brittle and characterized by low tensile strength and strain
capacity. Macro to nano fibers are added to cement to provide
tensile strength and ductility to it. Carbon Nanotube (CNT), one of
the nanofibers, has proven to be a promising reinforcing material in
the cement composites because of its outstanding mechanical
properties and its ability to close cracks at the nano level. The
experimental investigations for CNT reinforced cement is costly,
time consuming and involves huge number of trials. Mathematical
modeling of CNT reinforced cement can be done effectively and
efficiently to arrive at the mechanical properties and to reduce the
number of trials in the experiments. Hence, an attempt is made to
numerically study the effective mechanical properties of CNT
reinforced cement numerically using Representative Volume
Element (RVE) method. The enhancement in its mechanical
properties for different percentage of CNTs is studied in detail.
Abstract: Quantitative trait loci (QTL) experiments have yielded
important biological and biochemical information necessary for
understanding the relationship between genetic markers and
quantitative traits. For many years, most QTL algorithms only
allowed one observation per genotype. Recently, there has been an
increasing demand for QTL algorithms that can accommodate more
than one observation per genotypic distribution. The Bayesian
hierarchical model is very flexible and can easily incorporate this
information into the model. Herein a methodology is presented that
uses a Bayesian hierarchical model to capture the complexity of the
data. Furthermore, the Markov chain Monte Carlo model composition
(MC3) algorithm is used to search and identify important markers. An
extensive simulation study illustrates that the method captures the
true QTL, even under nonnormal noise and up to 6 QTL.
Abstract: Calibration estimation is a method of adjusting the
original design weights to improve the survey estimates by using
auxiliary information such as the known population total (or mean)
of the auxiliary variables. A calibration estimator uses calibrated
weights that are determined to minimize a given distance measure to
the original design weights while satisfying a set of constraints
related to the auxiliary information. In this paper, we propose a new
multivariate calibration estimator for the population mean in the
stratified sampling design, which incorporates information available
for more than one auxiliary variable. The problem of determining the
optimum calibrated weights is formulated as a Mathematical
Programming Problem (MPP) that is solved using the Lagrange
multiplier technique.
Abstract: In this paper, we present the information life cycle, and analyze the importance of managing the corporate application portfolio across this life cycle. The approach presented here does not correspond just to the extension of the traditional information system development life cycle. This approach is based in the generic life cycle employed in other contexts like manufacturing or marketing. In this paper it is proposed a model of an information system life cycle, supported in the assumption that a system has a limited life. But, this limited life may be extended. This model is also applied in several cases; being reported here two examples of the framework application in a construction enterprise, and in a manufacturing enterprise.