Abstract: Logistics outsourcing is a growing trend and measuring its performance, a challenge. It must be consistent with the objectives set for logistics outsourcing, but we have found no objective-based performance measurement system. We have conducted a comprehensive review of the specialist literature to cover this gap, which has led us to identify and define these objectives. The outcome is that we have obtained a list of the most relevant objectives and their descriptions. This will enable us to analyse in a future study whether the indicators used for measuring logistics outsourcing performance are consistent with the objectives pursued with the outsourcing. If this is not the case, a proposal will be made for a set of financial and operational indicators to measure performance in logistics outsourcing that take the goals being pursued into account.
Abstract: Wavelet transform or wavelet analysis is a recently
developed mathematical tool in applied mathematics. In numerical
analysis, wavelets also serve as a Galerkin basis to solve partial
differential equations. Haar transform or Haar wavelet transform has
been used as a simplest and earliest example for orthonormal wavelet
transform. Since its popularity in wavelet analysis, there are several
definitions and various generalizations or algorithms for calculating
Haar transform. Fast Haar transform, FHT, is one of the algorithms
which can reduce the tedious calculation works in Haar transform. In
this paper, we present a modified fast and exact algorithm for FHT,
namely Modified Fast Haar Transform, MFHT. The algorithm or
procedure proposed allows certain calculation in the process
decomposition be ignored without affecting the results.
Abstract: PARADIGMA (PARticipative Approach to DIsease
Global Management) is a pilot project which aims to develop and
demonstrate an Internet based reference framework to share scientific
resources and findings in the treatment of major diseases.
PARADIGMA defines and disseminates a common methodology and
optimised protocols (Clinical Pathways) to support service functions
directed to patients and individuals on matters like prevention, posthospitalisation
support and awareness. PARADIGMA will provide a
platform of information services - user oriented and optimised
against social, cultural and technological constraints - supporting the
Health Care Global System of the Euro-Mediterranean Community
in a continuous improvement process.
Abstract: Software effort estimation is the process of predicting
the most realistic use of effort required to develop or maintain
software based on incomplete, uncertain and/or noisy input. Effort
estimates may be used as input to project plans, iteration plans,
budgets. There are various models like Halstead, Walston-Felix,
Bailey-Basili, Doty and GA Based models which have already used
to estimate the software effort for projects. In this study Statistical
Models, Fuzzy-GA and Neuro-Fuzzy (NF) Inference Systems are
experimented to estimate the software effort for projects. The
performances of the developed models were tested on NASA
software project datasets and results are compared with the Halstead,
Walston-Felix, Bailey-Basili, Doty and Genetic Algorithm Based
models mentioned in the literature. The result shows that the NF
Model has the lowest MMRE and RMSE values. The NF Model
shows the best results as compared with the Fuzzy-GA based hybrid
Inference System and other existing Models that are being used for
the Effort Prediction with lowest MMRE and RMSE values.
Abstract: The objective of this study was to improve our
understanding of vulnerability and environmental change; it's causes
basically show the intensity, its distribution and human-environment
effect on the ecosystem in the Apodi Valley Region, This paper is
identify, assess and classify vulnerability and environmental change
in the Apodi valley region using a combined approach of landscape
pattern and ecosystem sensitivity. Models were developed using the
following five thematic layers: Geology, geomorphology, soil,
vegetation and land use/cover, by means of a Geographical
Information Systems (GIS)-based on hydro-geophysical parameters.
In spite of the data problems and shortcomings, using ESRI-s ArcGIS
9.3 program, the vulnerability score, to classify, weight and combine
a number of 15 separate land cover classes to create a single indicator
provides a reliable measure of differences (6 classes) among regions
and communities that are exposed to similar ranges of hazards.
Indeed, the ongoing and active development of vulnerability
concepts and methods have already produced some tools to help
overcome common issues, such as acting in a context of high
uncertainties, taking into account the dynamics and spatial scale of
asocial-ecological system, or gathering viewpoints from different
sciences to combine human and impact-based approaches. Based on
this assessment, this paper proposes concrete perspectives and
possibilities to benefit from existing commonalities in the
construction and application of assessment tools.
Abstract: In Algeria, liberalization reforms undertaken since the 1990s have resulted in negative effects on the development and management of irrigation schemes, as well as on the conditions of farmers. Reforms have been undertaken to improve the performance of irrigation schemes, such as the national plan of agricultural development (PNDA) in 2000 and the water pricing policy of 2005. However, after implementation of these policies, questions have arisen with regard to irrigation performance and its suitability for agricultural development. Hence, the aim of this paper is to provide insight into the profitability of irrigation during the transition period under current irrigation agricultural policies in Algeria. By using the method of farm crop budget analysis in the East Mitidja irrigation scheme, the returns from using surface water resources based on farm typology were found to vary among crops and farmers- groups within the scheme. Irrigation under the current situation is profitable for all farmers, including both those who benefit from subsidies and those who do not. However, the returns to water were found to be very sensitive to crop price fluctuations, particularly for non-subsidized groups and less so for those whose farming is based on orchards. Moreover, the socio-economic environment of the farmers contributed to less significant impacts of the PNDA policy. In fact, the limiting factor is not only the water, but also the lack of land ownership title. Market access constraints led to less agricultural investment and therefore to low intensification and low water productivity. It is financially feasible to recover the annual O&M costs in the irrigation scheme. By comparing the irrigation water price, returns to water, and O&M costs of water delivery, it is clear that irrigation can be profitable in the future. However, water productivity must be improved by enhancing farmers- income through farming investment, improving assets access, and the allocation of activities and crops which bring high returns to water; this could allow the farmers to pay more for water and allow cost recovery for water systems.
Abstract: In this work, ionic liquids (ILs) for CO2 capturing in typical absorption/stripper process are considered. The use of ionic liquids is considered to be cost-effective because it requires less energy for solvent recovery compared to other conventional processes. A mathematical model is developed for the process based on Peng-Robinson (PR) equation of state (EoS) which is validated with experimental data for various solutions involving CO2. The model is utilized to study the sorbent and energy demand for three types of ILs at specific CO2 capturing rates. The energy demand is manifested by the vapor-liquid equilibrium temperature necessary to remove the captured CO2 from the used solvent in the regeneration step. It is found that higher recovery temperature is required for solvents with higher solubility coefficient. For all ILs, the temperature requirement is less than that required by the typical monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent. The effect of the CO2 loading in the sorbent stream on the process performance is also examined.
Abstract: We investigate the planar quasi-septic non-analytic systems which have a center-focus equilibrium at the origin and whose angular speed is constant. The system could be changed into an analytic system by two transformations, with the help of computer algebra system MATHEMATICA, the conditions of uniform isochronous center are obtained.
Abstract: The investigating and assessing the effects of
relaxation training on the levels of state anxiety concerning first year
female nursing students at their initial experience in clinical setting.
This research is a quasi experimental study that was carried out in
nursing and midwifery faculty of Tehran university of medical
sciences .The sample of research consists 60 first term female
nursing students were selected through convenience and random
sampling. 30 of them were the experimental group and 30 of them
were in control group. The Instruments of data-collection has been a
questionnaire which consists of 3 parts. The first part includes 10
questions about demographic characteristics .the second part includes
20 question about anxiety (test 'Spielberg' ). The 3rd part includes
physiological indicators of anxiety (BP, P, R, body temperature). The
statistical tests included t-test and and fisher test, Data were
analyzed by SPSS software.
Abstract: In this work we adopt a combination of Laplace
transform and the decomposition method to find numerical solutions
of a system of multi-pantograph equations. The procedure leads to a
rapid convergence of the series to the exact solution after computing a
few terms. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated in some
examples by obtaining the exact solution and in others by computing
the absolute error which decreases as the number of terms of the series
increases.
Abstract: The camera parameters are changed due to temperature
variations, which directly influence calibrated cameras accuracy.
Robustness of calibration methods were measured and their accuracy
was tested. An error ratio due to camera parameters change
with respect to total error originated during calibration process was
determined. It pointed out that influence of temperature variations
decrease by increasing distance of observed objects from cameras.
Abstract: The current paper conceptualizes the technique of
release consistency indispensable with the concept of
synchronization that is user-defined. Programming model concreted
with object and class is illustrated and demonstrated. The essence of
the paper is phases, events and parallel computing execution .The
technique by which the values are visible on shared variables is
implemented. The second part of the paper consist of user defined
high level synchronization primitives implementation and system
architecture with memory protocols. There is a proposition of
techniques which are core in deciding the validating and invalidating
a stall page .
Abstract: Cyber physical system (CPS) for target tracking, military surveillance, human health monitoring, and vehicle detection all require maximizing the utility and saving the energy. Sensor selection is one of the most important parts of CPS. Sensor selection problem (SSP) is concentrating to balance the tradeoff between the number of sensors which we used and the utility which we will get. In this paper, we propose a performance constrained slide windows (PCSW) based algorithm for SSP in CPS. we present results of extensive simulations that we have carried out to test and validate the PCSW algorithms when we track a target, Experiment shows that the PCSW based algorithm improved the performance including selecting time and communication times for selecting.
Abstract: Multimedia information availability has increased
dramatically with the advent of video broadcasting on handheld
devices. But with this availability comes problems of maintaining the
security of information that is displayed in public. ISMA Encryption
and Authentication (ISMACryp) is one of the chosen technologies for
service protection in DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-
Handheld), the TV system for portable handheld devices. The
ISMACryp is encoded with H.264/AVC (advanced video coding),
while leaving all structural data as it is. Two modes of ISMACryp are
available; the CTR mode (Counter type) and CBC mode (Cipher
Block Chaining) mode. Both modes of ISMACryp are based on 128-
bit AES algorithm. AES algorithms are more complex and require
larger time for execution which is not suitable for real time
application like live TV. The proposed system aims to gain a deep
understanding of video data security on multimedia technologies and
to provide security for real time video applications using selective
encryption for H.264/AVC. Five level of security proposed in this
paper based on the content of NAL unit in Baseline Constrain profile
of H.264/AVC. The selective encryption in different levels provides
encryption of intra-prediction mode, residue data, inter-prediction
mode or motion vectors only. Experimental results shown in this
paper described that fifth level which is ISMACryp provide higher
level of security with more encryption time and the one level provide
lower level of security by encrypting only motion vectors with lower
execution time without compromise on compression and quality of
visual content. This encryption scheme with compression process
with low cost, and keeps the file format unchanged with some direct
operations supported. Simulation was being carried out in Matlab.
Abstract: This paper addresses one important aspect of
combustion system analysis, the spray evaporation and
dispersion modeling. In this study we assume an empty
cylinder which is as a simulator for a ramjet engine and the
cylinder has been studied by cold flow. Four nozzles have the
duties of injection which are located in the entrance of
cylinder. The air flow comes into the cylinder from one side
and injection operation will be done. By changing injection
velocity and entrance air flow velocity, we have studied
droplet sizing and efficient mass fraction of fuel vapor near
and at the exit area. We named the mass of fuel vapor inside
the flammability limit as the efficient mass fraction. Further,
we decreased the initial temperature of fuel droplets and we
have repeated the investigating again. To fulfill the calculation
we used a modified version of KIVA-3V.
Abstract: The healthcare environment is generally perceived as
being information rich yet knowledge poor. However, there is a lack
of effective analysis tools to discover hidden relationships and trends
in data. In fact, valuable knowledge can be discovered from
application of data mining techniques in healthcare system. In this
study, a proficient methodology for the extraction of significant
patterns from the Coronary Heart Disease warehouses for heart
attack prediction, which unfortunately continues to be a leading cause
of mortality in the whole world, has been presented. For this purpose,
we propose to enumerate dynamically the optimal subsets of the
reduced features of high interest by using rough sets technique
associated to dynamic programming. Therefore, we propose to
validate the classification using Random Forest (RF) decision tree to
identify the risky heart disease cases. This work is based on a large
amount of data collected from several clinical institutions based on
the medical profile of patient. Moreover, the experts- knowledge in
this field has been taken into consideration in order to define the
disease, its risk factors, and to establish significant knowledge
relationships among the medical factors. A computer-aided system is
developed for this purpose based on a population of 525 adults. The
performance of the proposed model is analyzed and evaluated based
on set of benchmark techniques applied in this classification problem.
Abstract: The Wavelet-Galerkin finite element method for
solving the one-dimensional heat equation is presented in this work.
Two types of basis functions which are the Lagrange and multi-level
wavelet bases are employed to derive the full form of matrix system.
We consider both linear and quadratic bases in the Galerkin method.
Time derivative is approximated by polynomial time basis that
provides easily extend the order of approximation in time space. Our
numerical results show that the rate of convergences for the linear
Lagrange and the linear wavelet bases are the same and in order 2
while the rate of convergences for the quadratic Lagrange and the
quadratic wavelet bases are approximately in order 4. It also reveals
that the wavelet basis provides an easy treatment to improve
numerical resolutions that can be done by increasing just its desired
levels in the multilevel construction process.
Abstract: The work we have accomplished in implementing a
Mobile Payment mechanism that enables customers to pay bills for
groceries and other purchased items in a store through the means of a
mobile phone, specifically a Smartphone. The mode of transaction, as
far as communication between the customer-s handset and the
merchant-s POS is concerned, we have decided upon NFC (Near
Field Communication). This is due to the fact that for the most part,
Pakistani Smartphone users have handsets that have Android mobile
OS, which supports the aforementioned platform, IOS, on the other
hand does not.
Abstract: In this paper, the hardware implementation of the
RSA public-key cryptographic algorithm is presented. The RSA
cryptographic algorithm is depends on the computation of repeated
modular exponentials.
The Montgomery algorithm is used and modified to reduce
hardware resources and to achieve reasonable operating speed for
FPGA. An efficient architecture for modular multiplications based on
the array multiplier is proposed. We have implemented a RSA
cryptosystem based on Montgomery algorithm. As a result, it is
shown that proposed architecture contributes to small area and
reasonable speed.
Abstract: Global warming and continental changes have been
one of the people's issues in the recent years and its consequences
have appeared in the most parts of the earth planet or will appear in
the future. Temperature and Precipitation are two main parameters in
climatology. Any changes in these two parameters in this region
cause widespread changes in the ecosystem and its natural and
humanistic structure. One of the important consequences of this
procedure is change in surface and underground water resources.
Zayanderood watershed basin which is the main central river in Iran
has faced water shortage in the recent years and also it has resulted in
drought in Gavkhuni swamp and the river itself. Managers and
experts in provinces which are the Zayanderood water consumers
believe that global warming; raining decrease and continental
changes are the main reason of water decrease. By statistical
investigation of annual Precipitation and 46 years temperature of
internal and external areas of Zayanderood watershed basin's stations
and by using Kendal-man method, Precipitation and temperature
procedure changes have been analyzed in this basin. According to
obtained results, there was not any noticeable decrease or increase
procedure in Precipitation and annual temperature in the basin during
this period. However, regarding to Precipitation, a noticeable
decrease and increase have been observed in small part of western
and some parts of eastern and southern basin, respectively.
Furthermore, the investigation of annual temperature procedure has
shown that a noticeable increase has been observed in some parts of
western and eastern basin, and also a noticeable increasing procedure
of temperature in the central parts of metropolitan Esfahan can be
observed.