Abstract: The after–sales activities are nowadays acknowledged
as a relevant source of revenue, profit and competitive advantage in
most manufacturing industries. Top and middle management,
therefore, should focus on the definition of a structured business
performance measurement system for the after-sales business. The
paper aims at filling this gap, and presents an integrated methodology
for the after-sales network performance measurement, and provides
an empirical application to automotive case companies and their
official service network. This is the first study that presents an
integrated multivariate approach for total assessment and
improvement of after-sale services.
Abstract: This study reports the preparation of soft magnetic
ribbons of Fe-based amorphous alloys using the single-roller melt-spinning technique. Ribbon width varied from 142 mm to 213
mm and, with a thickness of approximately 22 μm ± 2 μm. The microstructure and magnetic properties of the ribbons were
characterized by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and electrical resistivity measurements (ERM). The amorphous material
properties dependence of the cooling rate and nozzle pressure have uneven surface in ribbon thicknesses are investigated. Magnetic
measurement results indicate that some region of the ribbon exhibits good magnetic properties, higher saturation induction and lower coercivity. However, due to the uneven surface of 213 mm wide
ribbon, the magnetic responses are not uniformly distributed. To
understand the transformer magnetic performances, this study analyzes the measurements of a three-phase 2 MVA amorphous-cored transformer. Experimental results confirm that the transformer with a
ribbon width of 142 mm has better magnetic properties in terms of lower core loss, exciting power, and audible noise.
Abstract: The concept of housing affordability is a contested
issue, but a pressing and widespread problem for many countries.
Simple ratio measures based on housing expenditure and income are
habitually used to defined and assess housing affordability. However,
conceptualising and measuring affordability in this manner focuses
only on financial attributes and fails to deal with wider issues such as
housing quality, location and access to services and facilities.
The research is based on the notion that the housing affordability
problem encompasses more than the financial costs of housing and a
households ability to meet such costs and must address larger issues
such as social and environmental sustainability and the welfare of
households. Therefore, the need arises for a broad and more
encompassing set of attributes by which housing affordability can be
assessed. This paper presents a system of criteria by which the
affordability of different housing locations could be assessed in a
comprehensive and sustainable manner. Moreover, the paper explores
the way in which such criteria could be measured.
Abstract: In this study, the kinetic of biogas production was studied by performing a series laboratory experiment using rumen fluid of animal ruminant as inoculums. Cattle manure as substrate was inoculated by rumen fluid to the anaerobic biodigester. Laboratory experiments using 400 ml biodigester were performed in batch operation mode. Given 100 grams of fresh cattle manure was fed to each biodigester and mixed with rumen fluid by manure : rumen weight ratio of 1:1 (MR11). The operating temperatures were varied at room temperature and 38.5 oC. The cumulative volume of biogas produced was used to measure the biodigester performance. The research showed that the rumen fluid inoculated to biodigester gave significant effect to biogas production (P
Abstract: The neurogenic potential of many herbal extracts used
in Indian medicine is hitherto unknown. Extracts derived from
Clitoria ternatea Linn have been used in Indian Ayurvedic system of
medicine as an ingredient of “Medhya rasayana", consumed for
improving memory and longevity in humans and also in treatment of
various neurological disorders. Our earlier experimental studies with
oral intubation of Clitoria ternatea aqueous root extract (CTR) had
shown significant enhancement of learning and memory in postnatal
and young adult Wistar rats. The present study was designed to
elucidate the in vitro effects of 200ng/ml of CTR on proliferation,
differentiation and growth of anterior subventricular zone neural
stem cells (aSVZ NSC-s) derived from prenatal and postnatal rat
pups. Results show significant increase in proliferation and growth of
neurospheres and increase in the yield of differentiated neurons of
aSVZ neural precursor cells (aSVZNPC-s) at 7 days in vitro when
treated with 200ng/ml of CTR as compared to age matched control.
Results indicate that CTR has growth promoting neurogenic effect on
aSVZ neural stem cells and their survival similar to neurotrophic
factors like Survivin, Neuregulin 1, FGF-2, BDNF possibly the basis
for enhanced learning and memory.
Abstract: Hair is a non homogenous complex material which
can be associated with a polymer. It is made up 95% of Keratin.
Hair has a great social significance for human beings. In the High
Middle Ages, for example, long hairs have been reserved for kings
and nobles.
Most common interest in hair is focused on hair growth, hair types
and hair care, but hair is also an important biomaterial which can
vary depending on ethnic origin or on age, hair colour for example
can be a sign of ethnic ancestry or age (dark hair for Asiatic, blond
hair for Caucasian and white hair for old people in general).
In this context, different approaches have been conducted to
determine the differences in mechanical properties and characterize
the fracture topography at the surface of hair depending on its type
and its age.
A tensile testing machine was especially designed to achieve
tensile tests on hair. This device is composed of a microdisplacement
system and a force sensor whose peak load is limited to
3N. The curves and the values extracted from each experiment, allow
us to compare the evolution of the mechanical properties from one
hair to another.
Observations with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and
with an interferometer were made on different hairs. Thus, it is
possible to access the cuticle state and the fracture topography for
each category.
Abstract: Ant colony optimization (ACO) and its variants are
applied extensively to resolve various continuous optimization
problems. As per the various diversification and intensification
schemes of ACO for continuous function optimization, researchers
generally consider components of multidimensional state space to
generate the new search point(s). However, diversifying to a new
search space by updating only components of the multidimensional
vector may not ensure that the new point is at a significant distance
from the current solution. If a minimum distance is not ensured
during diversification, then there is always a possibility that the
search will end up with reaching only local optimum. Therefore, to
overcome such situations, a Mahalanobis distance-based
diversification with Nelder-Mead simplex-based search scheme for
each ant is proposed for the ACO strategy. A comparative
computational run results, based on nine nonlinear standard test
problems, confirms that the performance of ACO is improved
significantly with the integration of the proposed schemes in the
ACO.
Abstract: The Post colonial society in India has witnessed the turmoil to come out from the widespread control and influence of colonialism. The socio-cultural life of a society with all its dynamics is reflected in realistic forms of literature. The social events and human experience are drawn into a new creative form and are given to the reader as a new understanding and perspective of life. It enables the reader to understand the essence of life and motivates him to prepare for a positive change. After India becoming free from the colonial rule in 1947, systematic efforts were made by central and state governments and institutions to limit the role of English and simultaneously enlarge the function of Indian languages by planning in a strategic manner. The eighteen languages recognized as national languages are having very rich literatures. Telugu language is one among the Dravidian language family and is widely spoken by a majority of people. The post colonial socio-cultural factors were very well reflected in Telugu literature. The anti-colonial, reform oriented, progressive, post modernistic trends in Telugu literature are nothing but creative reflections of the post colonial society. This paper examines the major socio-cultural reflections in Telugu literature of the post colonial period.
Abstract: Usually, the solid-fuel flow of an iron ore sinter plant
consists of different types of the solid-fuels, which differ from each
other. Information about the composition of the solid-fuel flow
usually comes every 8-24 hours. It can be clearly seen that this
information cannot be used to control the sintering process in real
time. Due to this, we propose an expert system which uses indirect
measurements from the process in order to obtain the composition of
the solid-fuel flow by solving an optimization task. Then this
information can be used to control the sintering process. The
proposed technique can be successfully used to improve sinter
quality and reduce the amount of solid-fuel used by the process.
Abstract: In two studies we challenged the well consolidated
position in regret literature according to which the necessary
condition for the emergence of regret is a bad outcome ensuing from
free decisions. Without free choice, and, consequently, personal
responsibility, other emotions, such as disappointment, but not regret,
are supposed to be elicited. In our opinion, a main source of regret is
being obliged by circumstance out of our control to chose an
undesired option. We tested the hypothesis that regret resulting from
a forced choice is more intense than regret derived from a free choice
and that the outcome affects the latter, not the former. Besides, we
investigated whether two other variables – the perception of the level
of freedom of the choice and the choice justifiability – mediated the
relationships between choice and regret, as well as the other four
emotions we examined: satisfaction, anger toward oneself,
disappointment, anger towards circumstances. The two studies were
based on the scenario methodology and implied a 2 x 2 (choice x
outcome) between design. In the first study the foreseen short-term
effects of the choice were assessed; in the second study the
experienced long-term effects of the choice were assessed. In each
study 160 students of the Second University of Naples participated.
Results largely corroborated our hypotheses. They were discussed in
the light of the main theories on regret and decision making.
Abstract: In this paper we compare the accuracy of data mining
methods to classifying students in order to predicting student-s class
grade. These predictions are more useful for identifying weak
students and assisting management to take remedial measures at early
stages to produce excellent graduate that will graduate at least with
second class upper. Firstly we examine single classifiers accuracy on
our data set and choose the best one and then ensembles it with a
weak classifier to produce simple voting method. We present results
show that combining different classifiers outperformed other single
classifiers for predicting student performance.
Abstract: The goal of this paper is to segment the countries
based on the value of export from Iran during 14 years ending at 2005. To measure the dissimilarity among export baskets of different countries, we define Dissimilarity Export Basket (DEB) function and
use this distance function in K-means algorithm. The DEB function
is defined based on the concepts of the association rules and the
value of export group-commodities. In this paper, clustering quality
function and clusters intraclass inertia are defined to, respectively,
calculate the optimum number of clusters and to compare the
functionality of DEB versus Euclidean distance. We have also study
the effects of importance weight in DEB function to improve
clustering quality. Lastly when segmentation is completed, a
designated RFM model is used to analyze the relative profitability of
each cluster.
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: This paper describes the modeling and simulation of an
underwater robot glider used in the shallow-water environment. We
followed the Equations of motion derived by [2] and simplified
dynamic Equations of motion of an underwater glider according to our
underwater glider. A simulation code is built and operated in the
MATLAB Simulink environment so that we can make improvements
to our testing glider design. It may be also used to validate a robot
glider design.
Abstract: Seasonal survey of freshwater snails in different water
courses in Egypt during two successive years included 13 snail
species. They represented by Biomphalaria alexandrina, Bulinus
truncatus, Physa acuta, Helisoma duryi, Lymnaea natalensis,
Planorbis pantries, Cleopatra bulimoides, Lanistes carinatus,
Bellamya unicolor, Melanoides tuberculata, Theodoxus niloticus,
Succinia cleopatra and Valvata nilotica. B. alexandrina was most
abundant during autumn and spring represented by 26and14
snails/site, respectively. B. truncatus was most abundant during
winter (7.7and3.6snails/site) of the two years, respectively. L.
natalensis was represented by 7snails/site in summer. The tolerance
of different snail species to the chemical elements was determined
seasonally and correlated to their abundance. In spring, autumn and
winter, B. alexandrina was significantly found to live under the
highest level of Pb, Cd,Cu, Na, K and Ca concentrations than the
other species (p
Abstract: Landfill gas, particularly methane is one of the
greenhouse gases which contributes to global warming. This paper presents the findings of a study on methane gas production from
simulated landfill reactor under saturated conditions. A reactor was constructed to represent a landfill cell of 2.5 m thickness on sandy
soil. The reactor was 0.2 m in diameter and 4 m in height. One meter of sand and pebble layer was packed at the bottom of the reactor
followed by 2.5 m of solid waste layer and 0.4 m of sand layer as the cover soil. Degradation of waste in the solid waste layer was at
acidification stage as indicated by the leachate quality with COD as
high as 55,511 mg/L and pH as low as 5.1. However, methanogenic
environment was established at the bottom sand layer after one year of operation indicated by pH of 7.2 and methane gas generation.
Leachate degradation took place as the leachate moved through the
sand layer at an infiltration of rate 0.7 cm/day. This resulted in landfill gas production of 77 mL/day/kg containing 55 to 65% methane. The application of sand layer contributed to the gas
production from landfill by an in-situ degradation of leachate in the
sand at the bottom of the landfill.
Abstract: In this contribution an innovative platform is being
presented that integrates intelligent agents and evolutionary
computation techniques in legacy e-learning environments. It
introduces the design and development of a scalable and
interoperable integration platform supporting:
I) various assessment agents for e-learning environments,
II) a specific resource retrieval agent for the provision of
additional information from Internet sources matching the
needs and profile of the specific user and
III) a genetic algorithm designed to extract efficient information
(classifying rules) based on the students- answering input
data.
The agents are implemented in order to provide intelligent
assessment services based on computational intelligence techniques
such as Bayesian Networks and Genetic Algorithms.
The proposed Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used in order to extract
efficient information (classifying rules) based on the students-
answering input data. The idea of using a GA in order to fulfil this
difficult task came from the fact that GAs have been widely used in
applications including classification of unknown data.
The utilization of new and emerging technologies like web
services allows integrating the provided services to any web based
legacy e-learning environment.
Abstract: In this paper, the effects of radiation, chemical
reaction and double dispersion on mixed convection heat and mass
transfer along a semi vertical plate are considered. The plate is
embedded in a Newtonian fluid saturated non - Darcy (Forchheimer
flow model) porous medium. The Forchheimer extension and first
order chemical reaction are considered in the flow equations. The
governing sets of partial differential equations are nondimensionalized
and reduced to a set of ordinary differential
equations which are then solved numerically by Fourth order Runge–
Kutta method. Numerical results for the detail of the velocity,
temperature, and concentration profiles as well as heat transfer rates
(Nusselt number) and mass transfer rates (Sherwood number) against
various parameters are presented in graphs. The obtained results are
checked against previously published work for special cases of the
problem and are found to be in good agreement.
Abstract: Location selection is one of the most important
decision making process which requires to consider several criteria
based on the mission and the strategy. This study-s object is to
provide a decision support model in order to help the bank selecting
the most appropriate location for a bank-s branch considering a case
study in Turkey. The object of the bank is to select the most
appropriate city for opening a branch among six alternatives in the
South-Eastern of Turkey. The model in this study was consisted of
five main criteria which are Demographic, Socio-Economic, Sectoral
Employment, Banking and Trade Potential and twenty one subcriteria
which represent the bank-s mission and strategy. Because of
the multi-criteria structure of the problem and the fuzziness in the
comparisons of the criteria, fuzzy AHP is used and for the ranking of
the alternatives, TOPSIS method is used.
Abstract: The Master-s of Public Health (MPH) degree is
growing in popularity among a number of higher education
institutions throughout the world as a distance education graduate
program. This paper offers an overview of program design and
development strategies that promote successful distance delivery of
MPH programs. Design and development challenges are discussed in
terms of type of distance delivery, accreditation, student demand,
faculty development, user needs, course content, and marketing
strategies. The ongoing development of a distance education MPH
program at Utah State University will be used to highlight and
consider various aspects of this important but challenging process.