Abstract: In the highly competitive and rapidly changing global
marketplace, independent organizations and enterprises often come
together and form a temporary alignment of virtual enterprise in a
supply chain to better provide products or service. As firms adopt the
systems approach implicit in supply chain management, they must
manage the quality from both internal process control and external
control of supplier quality and customer requirements. How to
incorporate quality management of upstream and downstream supply
chain partners into their own quality management system has recently
received a great deal of attention from both academic and practice.
This paper investigate the collaborative feature and the entities-
relationship in a supply chain, and presents an ontology of
collaborative supply chain from an approach of aligning
service-oriented framework with service-dominant logic. This
perspective facilitates the segregation of material flow management
from manufacturing capability management, which provides a
foundation for the coordination and integration of the business process
to measure, analyze, and continually improve the quality of products,
services, and process. Further, this approach characterizes the different
interests of supply chain partners, providing an innovative approach to
analyze the collaborative features of supply chain. Furthermore, this
ontology is the foundation to develop quality management system
which internalizes the quality management in upstream and
downstream supply chain partners and manages the quality in supply
chain systematically.
Abstract: This paper presents a new Hybrid Fuzzy (HF) PID type controller based on Genetic Algorithms (GA-s) for solution of the Automatic generation Control (AGC) problem in a deregulated electricity environment. In order for a fuzzy rule based control system to perform well, the fuzzy sets must be carefully designed. A major problem plaguing the effective use of this method is the difficulty of accurately constructing the membership functions, because it is a computationally expensive combinatorial optimization problem. On the other hand, GAs is a technique that emulates biological evolutionary theories to solve complex optimization problems by using directed random searches to derive a set of optimal solutions. For this reason, the membership functions are tuned automatically using a modified GA-s based on the hill climbing method. The motivation for using the modified GA-s is to reduce fuzzy system effort and take large parametric uncertainties into account. The global optimum value is guaranteed using the proposed method and the speed of the algorithm-s convergence is extremely improved, too. This newly developed control strategy combines the advantage of GA-s and fuzzy system control techniques and leads to a flexible controller with simple stricture that is easy to implement. The proposed GA based HF (GAHF) controller is tested on a threearea deregulated power system under different operating conditions and contract variations. The results of the proposed GAHF controller are compared with those of Multi Stage Fuzzy (MSF) controller, robust mixed H2/H∞ and classical PID controllers through some performance indices to illustrate its robust performance for a wide range of system parameters and load changes.
Abstract: Recently, business environment and customer needs
have become rapidly changing, hence it is very difficult to fulfill
sophisticated customer needs by product or service innovation only. In
practice, to cope with this problem, various manufacturing companies
have developed services to combine with their products. Along with
this, many academic studies on PSS (Product Service System) which is
the integrated system of products and services have been conducted
from the viewpoint of manufacturers. On the other hand, service
providers are also attempting to develop service-supporting products
to increase their service competitiveness and provide differentiated
value. However, there is a lack of research based on the service-centric
point of view. Accordingly, this paper proposes a concept generation
method for service-supporting product development from the
service-centric point of view. This method is designed to be executed
in five consecutive steps: situation analysis, problem definition,
problem resolution, solution evaluation, and concept generation. In
the proposed approach, some tools of TRIZ (Theory of Solving
Inventive Problem) such as ISQ (Innovative Situation Questionnaire)
and 40 inventive principles are employed in order to define problems
of the current services and solve them by generating
service-supporting product concepts. This research contributes to the
development of service-supporting products and service-centric PSSs.
Abstract: International trade involves both large and small firms
engaged in business overseas. Possible drivers that force companies
to enter international markets include increasing competition at the
domestic market, maturing domestic markets, and limited domestic
market opportunities. Technology is an important driving factor in
shaping international marketing strategy as well as in driving force
towards a more global marketplace, especially technology in
communication. It includes telephones, the internet, computer
systems and e-mail. There are three main marketing strategy choices,
namely standardization approach, adaptation approach and middleof-
the-road approach that companies implement to overseas markets.
The decision depends on situations and factors facing the companies
in the international markets. In this paper, the contingency concept is
considered that no single strategy can be effective in all contexts.
The effect of strategy on performance depends on specific situational
variables. Strategic fit is employed to investigate export marketing
strategy adaptation under certain environmental conditions, which in
turn can lead to superior performance.
Abstract: In this paper, the existence of periodic solutions of a delayed competitive system with the effect of toxic substances is investigated by using the Gaines and Mawhin,s continuation theorem of coincidence degree theory on time scales. New sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence of periodic solutions. The approach is unified to provide the existence of the desired solutions for the continuous differential equations and discrete difference equations. Moreover, The approach has been widely applied to study existence of periodic solutions in differential equations and difference equations.
Abstract: Due to the growing dynamic and complexity within
the market environment production enterprises in particular are faced
with new logistic challenges. Moreover, it is here in this dynamic
environment that the Logistic Operating Curve Theory also reaches
its limits as a method for describing the correlations between the
logistic objectives. In order to convert this theory into a method for
dynamically monitoring productions this paper will introduce
methods for reliably and quickly identifying structural changes
relevant to logistics.
Abstract: This study is concerned with pH solution detection
using 2 × 4 flexible sensor array based on a plastic polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) substrate that is coated a conductive layer and a
ruthenium dioxide (RuO2) sensitive membrane with the technologies
of screen-printing and RF sputtering. For data analysis, we also
prepared a dynamic measurement system for acquiring the response
voltage and analyzing the characteristics of the working electrodes
(WEs), such as sensitivity and linearity. In this condition, an array
measurement system was designed to acquire the original signal from
sensor array, and it is based on the method of digital signal processing
(DSP). The DSP modifies the unstable acquisition data to a direct
current (DC) output using the technique of digital filter. Hence, this
sensor array can obtain a satisfactory yield, 62.5%, through the design
measurement and analysis system in our laboratory.
Abstract: Supplement use is common in athletes. Besides their cost, they may have side effects on health and performance. 250 questionnaires were distributed among female athletes (mean age 27.08 years). The questionnaire aimed to explore the frequency, type, believes, attitudes and knowledge regarding dietary supplements. Knowledge was good in 30.3%, fair in 60.2%, and poor in 9.1% of respondents. 65.3% of athletes did not use supplements regularly. The most widely used supplements were vitamins (48.4%), minerals (42.9%), energy supplements (21.3%), and herbals (20.9%). 68.9% of athletes believed in their efficacy. 34.4% experienced performance enhancement and 6.8% of reported side effects. 68.2% reported little knowledge and 60.9% were eager to learn more. In conclusion, many of the female athletes believe in the efficacy of supplements and think they are an unavoidable part of competitive sports. However, their information is not sufficient. We have to stress on education, consulting sessions, and rational prescription.
Abstract: The future of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) depend on their ability to attract and retain students, increase recognition and prestige. In order to respond to the 'customers' increasingly demanding, HEI need to identify the key factors that influence the satisfaction of a 'customers', thereby creating competitive advantages. These determinants of satisfaction are important elements that guide the strategy of an institution and allow the successful achievement of strategic plans, both teaching and administrative, to offer their ‘costumers’ services and products with higher quality. Following this way of thinking, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the satisfaction with the service quality of the School of Technology and Management of Bragança (ESTiG), of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, identifying, thus, the dimensions related to the quality of services that might influence students' satisfaction. The results showed that, in general, the students are satisfied with the performance of ESTiG.
Abstract: For a spatiotemporal database management system,
I/O cost of queries and other operations is an important performance
criterion. In order to optimize this cost, an intense research on
designing robust index structures has been done in the past decade.
With these major considerations, there are still other design issues
that deserve addressing due to their direct impact on the I/O cost.
Having said this, an efficient buffer management strategy plays a key
role on reducing redundant disk access. In this paper, we proposed an
efficient buffer strategy for a spatiotemporal database index
structure, specifically indexing objects moving over a network of
roads. The proposed strategy, namely MONPAR, is based on the data
type (i.e. spatiotemporal data) and the structure of the index
structure. For the purpose of an experimental evaluation, we set up a
simulation environment that counts the number of disk accesses
while executing a number of spatiotemporal range-queries over the
index. We reiterated simulations with query sets with different
distributions, such as uniform query distribution and skewed query
distribution. Based on the comparison of our strategy with wellknown
page-replacement techniques, like LRU-based and Prioritybased
buffers, we conclude that MONPAR behaves better than its
competitors for small and medium size buffers under all used query-distributions.
Abstract: At the end of the 17th Century the Greek orthodox
Archbishop in Venice -Meletios Typaldos- decided to turn the
doctrine of the orthodox Greeks into Catholicism. More than 5.000
Greeks were living in Venice then. Their leadership -the Greek
confraternity- fought against Meletios. Participants in this conflict
were the Pope, the ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople and Peter
the Great of Russia. All the play according to my opinion -which is
followed by evidence and theoretical support is a strong conflict
between the two actors -the Archbishop and the Confraternity- and
the object of conflict is the change of the Greek orthodox beliefs to
Catholicism. Ethnicity especially for Greeks of the era is identified
with orthodoxy. So this was a conflict of identity. The results of that
conflict were of tremendous importance to the Greeks in Venice and
affected them for long.
Abstract: In practice, we often come across situations where it is
necessary to make decisions based on incomplete or uncertain data.
In control systems it may be due to the unknown exact mathematical
model, or its excessive complexity (e.g. nonlinearity) when it is
necessary to simplify it, respectively, to solve it using a rule base. In
the case of databases, searching data we compare a similarity
measure with of the requirements of the selection with stored data,
where both the select query and the data itself may contain vague
terms, for example in the form of linguistic qualifiers. In this paper,
we focus on the processing of uncertain data in databases and
demonstrate it on the example multi-criteria decision making in the
selection of variants, specified by higher number of technical
parameters.
Abstract: Nowadays the market for industrial companies is becoming more and more globalized and highly competitive, forcing them to shorten the duration of the manufacturing system development time in order to reduce the time to market. In order to achieve this target, the hierarchical systems used in previous manufacturing systems are not enough because they cannot deal effectively with unexpected situations. To achieve flexibility in manufacturing systems, the concept of an Autonomous Decentralized Flexible Manufacturing System (AD-FMS) is useful. In this paper, we introduce a hypothetical reasoning based algorithm called the Algorithm for Future Anticipative Reasoning (AFAR) which is able to decide on a conceivable next action of an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) that works autonomously in the AD-FMS.
Abstract: This work presents the first results from the long-term laboratory experiment dealing with impact of drought on soil properties. Three groups of the treatment (A, B and C) with different regime of irrigation were prepared. The soil water content was maintained at 70 % of soil water holding capacity in group A, at 40 % in group B. In group C, soil water regime was maintained in the range of wilting point. Each group of the experiment was divided into three variants (A1 = B1, C1; A2 = B2, C2 etc.) with three repetitions: Variants A1 (B1, C1) were a controls without addition of another fertilizer. Variants A2 (B2, C2) were fertilized with mineral nitrogen fertilizer DAM 390 (0.140 Mg of N per ha) and variants A3 (B3, C3) contained 45 g of Cp per a pot.
The significant differences (ANOVA, P
Abstract: The purpose of this research was to study the behavior
trend factors of consumers to roasted coffee at the petrol station on
the route of Rangsit to Nakhon Nayok. The research drew upon data
collected from the regular consumers of roasted coffee stands. The
majority of respondents was male, 33-39 years old, and holding a
bachelor degree. The majority of respondents considered themselves
private business proprietors or entrepreneurs and had a monthly
income of between 10,000-16,000 baht. The regular coffee
consumers spent a minimum coffee expense of between 45 and 300
baht per day. These consumers also displayed good attitude and good
motivation which can be ranked as very high. From the hypothesis
testing of the behavior trend for the roasted coffee consumers in
repurchasing coffee and recommended the coffee to others, the
findings revealed that it had a significant correlation. Moreover, the
overall attitude towards the marketing mix factors also had a
significant correlation with the behavior trend consumers.
Abstract: Students with high level skills are in demand, especially in scare skill environments. If universities wish to be successful and competitive, its students need to be adequately equipped with the necessary tools. Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is an essential component of the education of a student. The relevance of higher education should be assessed in terms of how it meets the needs of society and the world of work in a global economy. This paper demonstrates how to use Habermas's theory of communicative action to reflect on students- perceptions on their integration in the work environment to achieve social integration and financial justification. Interpretive questionnaires are used to determine the students- view of how they are integrated into society, and contributing to the economy. This paper explores the use of Habermas-s theory of communicative action to give theoretical and methodological guidance for the practice of social findings obtained in this inquiry.
Abstract: The New Basel Capital Accord (Basel II) influences how financial institutions around the world, and especially European Union institutions, determine the amount of capital to reserve. However, as the recent global crisis has shown, the revision of Basel II is needed to reflect current trends, such as increased volatility and correlation, in the world financial markets. The overall objective of Basel II is to increase the safety and soundness of the international financial system. Basel II builds on three main pillars: Pillar I deals with the minimum capital requirements for credit, market and operational risk, Pillar II focuses on the supervisory review process and finally Pillar III promotes market discipline through enhanced disclosure requirements for banks. The aim of this paper is to provide the historical background, key features and impact of Basel II on financial markets. Moreover, we discuss new proposals for international bank regulation (sometimes referred to as Basel III) which include requirements for higher quality, constituency and transparency of banks' capital and risk management, regulation of OTC markets and introduction of new liquidity standards for internationally active banks.
Abstract: The paper proposes a methodology to process the signals coming from the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) in order to identify the pathology and evaluate the therapy to treat the patients affected by demency diseases. In particular, a fuzzy model is developed to identify the demency of the patients affected by Subcortical Ischemic Vascular Dementia and to measure the positive effect, if any, of a repetitive TMS on their motor performances. A tool is also presented to support the mentioned analysis.
Abstract: This study on “The relationship between human
resource practices and Firm Performance is a speculative
investigation research. The purpose of this research are (1) to provide
and to understand of HRM history and current HR practices in the
Philippines (2) to examine the extent of HRM practice among its
Philippine firms effectively; (3) to investigate the relationship
between HRM practice and firm performance in the Philippines. The
survey was done to 233 companies in the Philippines. The
questionnaire is divided into three parts a) to gathers information on
the profile of respondent, b) to measures the extent to which human
resource practices are being practiced in their organization c) to
measure the organizations performance as perceived by human
resource managers and top executives as compared with their
competitors in the same industry. As a result an interesting finding
was that almost 50 percent of firm performance is affected by the
extent of implementation of HR practices in the firm. These results
show that HR practices that are in line with the organization’s
strategic goals are important for future performance.
Abstract: This paper presents a new function expansion method for finding traveling wave solutions of a nonlinear equations and calls it the G G -expansion method, given by Wang et al recently. As an application of this new method, we study the well-known Sawada-Kotera-Kadomtsev-Petviashivili equation and Bogoyavlensky-Konoplechenko equation. With two new expansions, general types of soliton solutions and periodic solutions for these two equations are obtained.