The Application of Queuing Theory in Multi-Stage Production Lines

The purpose of this work is examining the multiproduct multi-stage in a battery production line. To improve the performances of an assembly production line by determine the efficiency of each workstation. Data collected from every workstation. The data are throughput rate, number of operator, and number of parts that arrive and leaves during part processing. Data for the number of parts that arrives and leaves are collected at least at the amount of ten samples to make the data is possible to be analyzed by Chi-Squared Goodness Test and queuing theory. Measures of this model served as the comparison with the standard data available in the company. Validation of the task time value resulted by comparing it with the task time value based on the company database. Some performance factors for the multi-product multi-stage in a battery production line in this work are shown. The efficiency in each workstation was also shown. Total production time to produce each part can be determined by adding the total task time in each workstation. To reduce the queuing time and increase the efficiency based on the analysis any probably improvement should be done. One probably action is by increasing the number of operators how manually operate this workstation.

Global GMRES with Deflated Restarting for Families of Shifted Linear Systems

Many problems in science and engineering field require the solution of shifted linear systems with multiple right hand sides and multiple shifts. To solve such systems efficiently, the implicitly restarted global GMRES algorithm is extended in this paper. However, the shift invariant property could no longer hold over the augmented global Krylov subspace due to adding the harmonic Ritz matrices. To remedy this situation, we enforce the collinearity condition on the shifted system and propose shift implicitly restarted global GMRES. The new method not only improves the convergence but also has a potential to simultaneously compute approximate solution for the shifted systems using only as many matrix vector multiplications as the solution of the seed system requires. In addition, some numerical experiments also confirm the effectiveness of our method.

Life Cycle Assessment of Expressway Passenger Transport Service: A Case Study of Thailand

This research work is concerned with the life cycle assessment (LCA) of an expressway, as well as its infrastructure, in Thailand. The life cycle of an expressway encompasses the raw material acquisition phase, the construction phase, the use or service phase, the rehabilitation phase, and finally the demolition and disposal phase. The LCA in this research was carried out using CML baseline 2000 and in accordance with the ISO 14040 standard. A functional unit refers to transportation of one person over one kilometer of a 3-lane expressway with a 50-year lifetime. This research has revealed that the construction phase produced the largest proportion of the environmental impact (81.46%), followed by the service, rehabilitation, demolition and disposal phases and transportation at 11.97%, 3.72% 0.33% and 2.52%, respectively. For the expressway under study, the total carbon footprint over its lifetime is equivalent to 245,639 tons CO2-eq per 1 kilometer functional unit, with the phases of construction, service, rehabilitation, demolition and disposal and transportation contributing 153,690; 73,773; 3693, 755 and 13,728 tons CO2-eq, respectively. The findings could be adopted as a benchmark against which the environmental impacts of future similar projects can be measured.

Bio-Estimation of Selected Heavy Metals in Shellfish and Their Surrounding Environmental Media

Due to the determination of the pollution status of fresh resources in the Egyptian territorial waters is very important for public health; this study was carried out to reveal the levels of heavy metals in the shellfish and their environment and its relation to the highly developed industrial activities in those areas. A total of 100 shellfish samples from the Rosetta, Edku, El-Maadiya, Abo-Kir and El-Max coasts [10 crustaceans (shrimp) and 10 mollusks (oysters)] were randomly collected from each coast. Additionally, 10 samples from both the water and the sediment were collected from each coast. Each collected sample was analyzed for cadmium, chromium, copper, lead and zinc residues using a Perkin Elmer atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The results showed that the levels of heavy metals were higher in the water and sediment from Abo-Kir. The heavy metal levels decreased successively for the Rosetta, Edku, El-Maadiya, and El-Max coasts, and the concentrations of heavy metals, except copper and zinc, in shellfish exhibited the same pattern. For the concentration of heavy metals in shellfish tissue, the highest was zinc and the concentrations decreased successively for copper, lead, chromium and cadmium for all coasts, except the Abo-Kir coast, where the chromium level was highest and the other metals decreased successively for zinc, copper, lead and cadmium. In Rosetta, chromium was higher only in the mollusks, while the level of this metal was lower in the crustaceans; this trend was observed at the Edku, El-Maadiya and El-Max coasts as well. Herein, we discuss the importance of such contamination for public health and the sources of shellfish contamination with heavy metals. We suggest measures to minimize and prevent these pollutants in the aquatic environment and, furthermore, how to protect humans from excessive intake.

Frequency Controller Design for Distributed Generation by Load Shedding: Multi-Agent Systems Approach

Frequency stability of microgrids under islanded operation attracts particular attention recently. A new cooperative frequency control strategy based on centralized multi-agent system (CMAS) is proposed in this study. Based on this strategy, agents sent data and furthermore each component has its own to center operating decisions (MGCC).After deciding on the information, they are returned. Frequency control strategies include primary and secondary frequency control and disposal of multi-stage load in which this study will also provide a method and algorithm for load shedding. This could also be a big problem for the performance of micro-grid in times of disaster. The simulation results show the promising performance of the proposed structure of the controller based on multi agent systems.

Using Cooperation Approaches at Different Levels of Artificial Bee Colony Method

In this work, a Multi-Level Artificial Bee Colony (called MLABC) for optimizing numerical test functions is presented. In MLABC, two species are used. The first species employs n colonies where each of them optimizes the complete solution vector. The cooperation between these colonies is carried out by exchanging information through a leader colony, which contains a set of elite bees. The second species uses a cooperative approach in which the complete solution vector is divided to k sub-vectors, and each of these sub-vectors is optimized by a colony. The cooperation between these colonies is carried out by compiling sub-vectors into the complete solution vector. Finally, the cooperation between two species is obtained by exchanging information. The proposed algorithm is tested on a set of well-known test functions. The results show that MLABC algorithm provides efficiency and robustness to solve numerical functions.

Designing Intelligent Adaptive Controller for Nonlinear Pendulum Dynamical System

This paper proposes the designing direct adaptive neural controller to apply for a class of a nonlinear pendulum dynamic system. The radial basis function (RBF) neural adaptive controller is robust in presence of external and internal uncertainties. Both the effectiveness of the controller and robustness against disturbances are importance of this paper. The simulation results show the promising performance of the proposed controller.

Network Effects and QoS as Determining Factors in Selection of Mobile Operator: A Case Study from Higher Learning Institution in Dodoma Municipality in Tanzania

The use of mobile phones is growing tremendously all over the world. In Tanzania there are a number of operators licensed by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) aiming at attracting customers into their networks. So far telecommunications market competition has been very stiff. Various measures are being taken by mobile operators to survive in the market. Such measure include introducing of different air time bundles on daily, weekly and monthly at lower tariffs. Other measures include the introduction of normal tariff, tourist package and one network. Despite of all these strategies, there is a dynamic competition in the market which needs to be explored. Some influences which attract customers to choose a certain mobile operator are of particular interest. This paper is investigating if the network effects and Quality of Services (QoS) influence mobile customers in selection of their mobile network operators. Seventy seven students from high learning institutions in Dodoma Municipality in Tanzania participated in responding to prepared questionnaires. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Software. The results indicate that, network coverage does influence customers in selection of mobile operators. In addition, this paper proposes further research in some areas especially where the study came up with different findings from what the theory has in place.

From Traditional to Applied: A Case Study in Industrial Engineering Curriculum

Applied industrial engineering is concerned with imparting employable skills to improve the productivity for current situation of products and services. The purpose of this case study is to present the results of an initial research study conducted to identify the desired professional characteristics of an industrial engineer with an undergraduate degree and the emerging topic areas that should be incorporated into the curriculum to prepare industrial engineering (IE) graduates for the future workforce. Conclusions and recommendations for applied industrial engineering syllabus have been gathered and reported below. A two-pronged approach was taken which included a method of benchmarking by comparing the applied industrial engineering curricula of various universities and an industry survey to identify job market requirements. This methodology produced an analysis of the changing nature of industrial engineering from learning to practical education. A curriculum study for engineering is a relatively unexplored area of research in the Middle East, much less for applied industrial engineering. This work is an effort to bridge the gap between theoretical study in the classroom and the real world work applications in the industrial and service sectors.

Laser Beam Welding of Ti/Al Dissimilar Thin Sheets - A Literature Review

Dissimilar joining of Titanium and Aluminum thin sheets has potential applications in aerospace and automobile industry which can reduce weight and cost and improve strength, corrosion resistance and high temperature properties. However successful welding of Titanium/Aluminium sheets is of challenge due to differences in physical, chemical and metallurgical properties between the two. This paper describes research results of Laser Beam Welding (LBW) of Ti/Al thin sheets in which many researchers have recently performed and critically reviewed from different perspectives. Also some of notable works in the field of laser welding with changes in mechanical properties, crack propagation, diffusion behavior, chemical potential, interfacial reaction and the microstructure are reported.

Effect of Laser Welding Properties on Ti/Al Dissimilar Thin Sheets – A Review

Laser beam welding is an important joining technique for Titanium/Aluminum thin sheet alloys with their increasing applications in aerospace, aircraft, automotive, electronics and other industries. In this paper the research and progress in laser welding of Ti/Al thin sheets are critically reviewed from different perspectives. Some important aspects such as microstructure, metallurgical defects and mechanical properties in weldments are discussed. Also the recent progress in laser welding of Ti/Al dissimilar thin sheets to provide a basis for further research work is reported.

Apoptosis Inspired Intrusion Detection System

Artificial Immune Systems (AIS), inspired by the human immune system, are algorithms and mechanisms which are self-adaptive and self-learning classifiers capable of recognizing and classifying by learning, long-term memory and association. Unlike other human system inspired techniques like genetic algorithms and neural networks, AIS includes a range of algorithms modeling on different immune mechanism of the body. In this paper, a mechanism of a human immune system based on apoptosis is adopted to build an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to protect computer networks. Features are selected from network traffic using Fisher Score. Based on the selected features, the record/connection is classified as either an attack or normal traffic by the proposed methodology. Simulation results demonstrates that the proposed AIS based on apoptosis performs better than existing AIS for intrusion detection.

The Effective of Classroom Management on Nurturing

The primary purpose of this paper is to explain the impact of successful classroom management on the academic achievements of students, the importance of positive relationship between teacher and students, among students, between teacher and parents. Effective communication plays an important role to encourage students study hard and learn materials which are covered by the teacher in the class. Friendly relationships among students other than their preferred friends help them to have team working and be socialized. In addition, a well-organized classroom arrangement enhances students learning. As the consequence of successful classroom management students should feel responsibility and need to feel it. The one who is responsible to provide a comfortable environment and help students learn is the manager of the classroom who is named Teacher.

Distributed Self-Healing Protocol for Unattended Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless sensor network is vulnerable to a wide range of attacks. Recover secrecy after compromise, to develop technique that can detect intrusions and able to resilient networks that isolates the point(s) of intrusion while maintaining network connectivity for other legitimate users. To define new security metrics to evaluate collaborative intrusion resilience protocol, by leveraging the sensor mobility that allows compromised sensors to recover secure state after compromise. This is obtained with very low overhead and in a fully distributed fashion using extensive simulations support our findings.

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Literature Review and Value Chain Activities Filter

In today’s era, it is no news that organizations should demonstrate honest conduct as well as ethical administration. Therefore, the concept of corporate social responsibility (subsequently CSR) has created its tag upon the company’s focal point as well as marketing communications, and will continue in the future. The importance of CSR has increased in the last decade, and this concept has attracted global attention. The notion of CSR has strategic significance for many organizations. However, businesses are not adapting the activities of CSR that benefit to all of its stakeholders (including society). The main reason is the practitioners are unfortunately unable to comprehend its importance; and therefore, the activities of the CSR are so detached from the business activities. Hence, it is required to develop an understanding that the activities of CSR are not only beneficial for the society but it also benefit to business. This paper focuses on the concept of strategic CSR, and develops a theoretical framework that will help practitioners to filter and chose the activities of CSR that are strategic in nature.

Study of Influencing Factors of Shrinking Cities Based On Factor Analysis – The Example of Halle, Germany

City shrinkage is one of the thorny problems that many European cities have to face with nowadays. It is mainly expressed as the decrease of population in these cities. Eastern Germany is one of the pioneers of European shrinking cities with long shrinking history. The paper selects one representative shrinking city Halle (Saale) in eastern Germany as research objective, collecting and investigating nearly 20 years (1993-2010) municipal data after the reunification of Germany. These data based on five dimensions, which are demographic, economic, social, spatial and environmental and total 16 eligible variables. Factor Analysis is used to deal with these variables in order to assess the most important factors affecting shrinking Halle. The results show that there are three main factors determine the shrinkage of Halle, respectively named “demographical and economical factor”, “social stability factor”, and “city vitality factor”. The three factors act at different time period of Halle’s shrinkage: from 1993 to 1997 the demographical and economical factor played an important role; from 1997 to 2004 the social stability factor is significant to city shrinkage; since 2005 city vitality factor determines the shrinkage of Halle. In recent years, the shrinkage in Halle mitigates that shows the sign of growing population. Thus the city Halle should focus on attaching more importance on the city vitality factor to prevent the city from shrinkage. Meanwhile, the city should possess a positive perspective to shift the growth-oriented development to tap the potential of shrinking cities. This method is expected to apply to further research and other shrinking cities

Effects of Specific Essential Oil Compounds on, Feed Intake, Milk Production, and Ruminal Environment in Dairy Cows during Heat Exposure

The objective of this study was to determine effect of dietary essential oil (EO) compounds, which contained cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, peppermint, coriander, cumin, lemongrass, and an organic carrier on feed intake, milk composition, and rumen fermentation of dairy cows during heat exposure. Thirty-two Holstein cows (days in milk= 60 ± 5) were assigned to one of two treatment groups: a Control and EO fed. The experiment lasted 28 days. Dry matter intake (DMI) was measured daily while and milk production was measured weekly. Our result showed that DMI and milk yield was decreased (P < 0.01) in control cows relative to EO cows. Furthermore, supplementation with EO was associated with a decrease in the molar proportion of propionate (P < 0.05) and increase (P < 0.05) in acetate to propionate ratio. In conclusion, EO supplementations in diets can be useful nutritional modification to alleviate for the decrease DMI and milk production during heat exposure in lactating dairy cows.

Visualized Flow Patterns around and inside a Two-Sided Wind-Catcher in the Presence of Upstream Structures

In this paper, the influence of upstream structures on the flow patternaround and inside the wind-catcher is experimentally investigated by smoke flow visualization techniques. Wind-catchers are an important part of natural ventilation in residential buildings or public places such as shopping centers, libraries, etc. Wind-catchers might be also used in places of high urban densities; hence their potential to provide natural ventilation is dependent on the presence of upstream structures. In this study, the two-sided wind-catcher model was based on a real wind-catcher observed in the city of Yazd, Iran. The present study focuses on the flow patterns around and inside the isolated two-sided wind-catcher, and on a two-sided wind-catcher in the presence of an upstream structure. The results show that the presence of an upstream structure influences the airflow pattern force and direction. Placing a high upstream structure reverses the airflow direction inside the wind-catcher.

DNA Polymorphism Studies of β-Lactoglobulin Gene in Saudi Goats

Domestic goats (Capra hircus) are extremely diverse species and principal animal genetic resource of the developing world. These facilitate a persistent supply of meat, milk, fibre, and skin and are considered as important revenue generators in small pastoral environments. This study aimed to fingerprint β-LG gene at PCR-RFLP level in native Saudi goat breeds (Ardi, Habsi and Harri) in an attempt to have a preliminary image of β-LG genotypic patterns in Saudi breeds as compared to other foreign breeds such as Indian and Egyptian. Also, the Phylogenetic analysis was done to investigate evolutionary trends and similarities among the caprine β-LG gene with that of the other domestic specie, viz. cow, buffalo and sheep. Blood samples were collected from 300 animals (100 for each breed) and genomic DNA was extracted. A fragment of the β-LG gene (427bp) was amplified using specific primers. Subsequent digestion with Sac II restriction endonuclease revealed two alleles (A and B) and three different banding patterns or genotypes i.e. AA, AB and BB. The statistical analysis showed a general trend that β-LG AA genotype had higher milk yield than β-LG AB and β-LG BB genotypes. Nucleotide sequencing of the selected β-LG fragments was done and submitted to GenBank NCBI (Accession No. KJ544248, KJ588275, KJ588276, KJ783455, KJ783456 and KJ874959). Phylogenetic analysis on the basis of nucleotide sequences of native Saudi goats indicated evolutional similarity with the GenBank reference sequences of goat, Bubalus bubalis and Bos taurus. However, the origin of sheep which is the most closely related from the evolutionary point of view, was located some distance away.

Quad Tree Decomposition Based Analysis of Compressed Image Data Communication for Lossy and Lossless Using WSN

The Quad Tree Decomposition based performance analysis of compressed image data communication for lossy and lossless through wireless sensor network is presented. Images have considerably higher storage requirement than text. While transmitting a multimedia content there is chance of the packets being dropped due to noise and interference. At the receiver end the packets that carry valuable information might be damaged or lost due to noise, interference and congestion. In order to avoid the valuable information from being dropped various retransmission schemes have been proposed. In this proposed scheme QTD is used. QTD is an image segmentation method that divides the image into homogeneous areas. In this proposed scheme involves analysis of parameters such as compression ratio, peak signal to noise ratio, mean square error, bits per pixel in compressed image and analysis of difficulties during data packet communication in Wireless Sensor Networks. By considering the above, this paper is to use the QTD to improve the compression ratio as well as visual quality and the algorithm in MATLAB 7.1 and NS2 Simulator software tool.