Abstract: The final step to complete the “Analytical Systems
Engineering Process” is the “Allocated Architecture” in which all
Functional Requirements (FRs) of an engineering system must be
allocated into their corresponding Physical Components (PCs). At
this step, any design for developing the system’s allocated
architecture in which no clear pattern of assigning the exclusive
“responsibility” of each PC for fulfilling the allocated FR(s) can be
found is considered a poor design that may cause difficulties in
determining the specific PC(s) which has (have) failed to satisfy a
given FR successfully. The present study utilizes the Axiomatic
Design method principles to mathematically address this problem and
establishes an “Axiomatic Model” as a solution for reaching good
alternatives for developing the allocated architecture. This study
proposes a “loss Function”, as a quantitative criterion to monetarily
compare non-ideal designs for developing the allocated architecture
and choose the one which imposes relatively lower cost to the
system’s stakeholders. For the case-study, we use the existing design
of U. S. electricity marketing subsystem, based on data provided by
the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The result for
2012 shows the symptoms of a poor design and ineffectiveness due to
coupling among the FRs of this subsystem.
Abstract: Safety is one of the most important considerations
when buying a new car. While active safety aims at avoiding
accidents, passive safety systems such as airbags and seat belts
protect the occupant in case of an accident. In addition to legal
regulations, organizations like Euro NCAP provide consumers with
an independent assessment of the safety performance of cars and
drive the development of safety systems in automobile industry.
Those ratings are mainly based on injury assessment reference values
derived from physical parameters measured in dummies during a car
crash test.
The components and sub-systems of a safety system are designed
to achieve the required restraint performance. Sled tests and other
types of tests are then carried out by car makers and their suppliers
to confirm the protection level of the safety system. A Knowledge
Discovery in Databases (KDD) process is proposed in order to
minimize the number of tests. The KDD process is based on the
data emerging from sled tests according to Euro NCAP specifications.
About 30 parameters of the passive safety systems from different data
sources (crash data, dummy protocol) are first analysed together with
experts opinions. A procedure is proposed to manage missing data
and validated on real data sets. Finally, a procedure is developed to
estimate a set of rough initial parameters of the passive system before
testing aiming at reducing the number of tests.
Abstract: The classroom of the 21st century is an ever changing
forum for new and innovative thoughts and ideas. With increasing
technology and opportunity, students have rapid access to
information that only decades ago would have taken weeks to obtain.
Unfortunately, new techniques and technology are not the cure for
the fundamental problems that have plagued the classroom ever since
education was established. Class size has been an issue long debated
in academia. While it is difficult to pin point an exact number, it is
clear that in this case more does not mean better. By looking into the
success and pitfalls of classroom size the true advantages of smaller
classes will become clear. Previously, one class was comprised of 50
students. Being seventeen and eighteen- year- old students,
sometimes it was quite difficult for them to stay focused. To help
them understand and gain much knowledge, a researcher introduced
“The Theory of Multiple Intelligence” and this, in fact, enabled
students to learn according to their own learning preferences no
matter how they were being taught. In this lesson, the researcher
designed a cycle of learning activities involving all intelligences so
that everyone had equal opportunities to learn.
Abstract: Exact solution of an unsteady flow of elastico-viscous
electrically conducting fluid through a porous media in a tube of
elliptical cross section under the influence of constant pressure
gradient and magnetic field has been obtained in this paper. Initially,
the flow is generated by a constant pressure gradient. After attaining
the steady state, the pressure gradient is suddenly withdrawn and the
resulting fluid motion in a tube of elliptical cross section by taking
into account of the transverse magnetic field and porosity factor of
the bounding surface is investigated. The problem is solved in twostages
the first stage is a steady motion in tube under the influence of
a constant pressure gradient, the second stage concern with an
unsteady motion. The problem is solved employing separation of
variables technique. The results are expressed in terms of a nondimensional
porosity parameter (K), magnetic parameter (m) and
elastico-viscosity parameter (β), which depends on the Non-
Newtonian coefficient. The flow parameters are found to be identical
with that of Newtonian case as elastic-viscosity parameter and
magnetic parameter tends to zero and porosity tends to infinity. It is
seen that the effect of elastico-viscosity parameter, magnetic
parameter and the porosity parameter of the bounding surface has
significant effect on the velocity parameter.
Abstract: The method of introducing the proxy interpretation for
sending and receiving requests increase the capability of the server
and our approach UDIV (User-Data Identity Security) to solve the
data and user authentication without extending size of the data makes
better than hybrid IDS (Intrusion Detection System). And at the same
time all the security stages we have framed have to pass through less
through that minimize the response time of the request. Even though
an anomaly detected, before rejecting it the proxy extracts its identity
to prevent it to enter into system. In case of false anomalies, the
request will be reshaped and transformed into legitimate request for
further response. Finally we are holding the normal and abnormal
requests in two different queues with own priorities.
Abstract: In this paper a comprehensive review on various
factory layouts has been carried out for designing a lucrative process
layout for medium scale industries. Industry data base reveals that the
end product rejection rate is on the order of 10% amounting large
profit loss. In order to avoid these rejection rates and to increase the
quality product production an intermediate non-destructive testing
facility (INDTF) has been recommended for increasing the overall
profit. We observed through detailed case studies that while
introducing INDTF to medium scale industries the expensive
production process can be avoided to the defective products well
before its final shape. Additionally, the defective products identified
during the intermediate stage can be effectively utilized for other
applications or recycling; thereby the overall wastage of the raw
materials can be reduced and profit can be increased. We concluded
that the prudent design of a factory layout through critical path
method facilitating with INDTF will warrant profitable outcome.
Abstract: This paper investigates the joint effect of the
interconnected (n,k)-star network topology and Multi-Agent
automated control on restoration and reconfiguration of power
systems. With the increasing trend in development in Multi-Agent
control technologies applied to power system reconfiguration
in presence of faulty components or nodes. Fault tolerance is
becoming an important challenge in the design processes of the
distributed power system topology. Since the reconfiguration of a
power system is performed by agent communication, the (n,k)-star
interconnected network topology is studied and modeled in this
paper to optimize the process of power reconfiguration. In this paper,
we discuss the recently proposed (n,k)-star topology and examine its
properties and advantages as compared to the traditional multi-bus
power topologies. We design and simulate the topology model for
distributed power system test cases. A related lemma based on the
fault tolerance and conditional diagnosability properties is presented
and proved both theoretically and practically. The conclusion is
reached that (n,k)-star topology model has measurable advantages
compared to standard bus power systems while exhibiting fault
tolerance properties in power restoration, as well as showing
efficiency when applied to power system route discovery.
Abstract: This paper reports a structured literature review of the
application of Health Information Technology in developing
countries, defined as the World Bank categories Low-income
countries, Lower-middle-income, and Upper-middle-income
countries. The aim was to identify and classify the various
applications of health information technology to assess its current
state in developing countries and explore potential areas of research.
We offer specific analysis and application of HIT in Libya as one of
the developing countries. A structured literature review was
conducted using the following online databases: IEEE, Science
Direct, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Publication dates were set for
2000-2013. For the PubMed search, publications in English, French,
and Arabic were specified. Using a content analysis approach, 159
papers were analyzed and a total number of 26 factors were identified
that affect the adoption of health information technology. Of the 2681
retrieved articles, 159 met the inclusion criteria which were carefully
analyzed and classified. The implementation of health information
technology across developing countries is varied. Whilst it was
initially expected financial constraints would have severely limited
health information technology implementation, some developing
countries like India have nevertheless dominated the literature and
taken the lead in conducting scientific research. Comparing the
number of studies to the number of countries in each category, we
found that Low-income countries and Lower-middle-income had
more studies carried out than Upper-middle-income countries.
However, whilst IT has been used in various sectors of the economy,
the healthcare sector in developing countries is still failing to benefit
fully from the potential advantages that IT can offer.
Abstract: The Smart Help for persons with disability (PWD) is a
part of the project SMARTDISABLE which aims to develop relevant
solution for PWD that target to provide an adequate workplace
environment for them. It would support PWD needs smartly through
smart help to allow them access to relevant information and
communicate with other effectively and flexibly, and smart editor
that assist them in their daily work. It will assist PWD in knowledge
processing and creation as well as being able to be productive at the
work place. The technical work of the project involves design of a
technological scenario for the Ambient Intelligence (AmI) - based
assistive technologies at the workplace consisting of an integrated
universal smart solution that suits many different impairment
conditions and will be designed to empower the Physically disabled
persons (PDP) with the capability to access and effectively utilize the
ICTs in order to execute knowledge rich working tasks with
minimum efforts and with sufficient comfort level. The proposed
technology solution for PWD will support voice recognition along
with normal keyboard and mouse to control the smart help and smart
editor with dynamic auto display interface that satisfies the
requirements for different PWD group. In addition, a smart help will
provide intelligent intervention based on the behavior of PWD to
guide them and warn them about possible misbehavior. PWD can
communicate with others using Voice over IP controlled by voice
recognition. Moreover, Auto Emergency Help Response would be
supported to assist PWD in case of emergency. This proposed
technology solution intended to make PWD very effective at the
work environment and flexible using voice to conduct their tasks at
the work environment. The proposed solution aims to provide
favorable outcomes that assist PWD at the work place, with the
opportunity to participate in PWD assistive technology innovation
market which is still small and rapidly growing as well as upgrading
their quality of life to become similar to the normal people at the
workplace. Finally, the proposed smart help solution is applicable in
all workplace setting, including offices, manufacturing, hospital, etc.
Abstract: Excavation and retaining walls are of challenging
issues in civil engineering. In this study, the behavior of one
important type of supporting systems called Contiguous Bored Pile
(CBP) retaining wall is investigated using a physical model. Besides,
a comparison is made between two modes of free end piles (soft bed)
and fixed end piles (stiff bed). Also a back calculation of effective
length (the real free length of pile) is done by measuring lateral
deflection of piles in different stages of excavation in both
aforementioned cases. Based on observed results, for the fixed end
mode, the effective length to free length ratio (Leff/L0) is equal to
unity in initial stages of excavation and less than 1 in its final stages
in a decreasing manner. While this ratio for free end mode, remains
constant during all stages of excavation and is always less than unity.
Abstract: This paper aims to represent the commercial activity
of a city taking as source data the social network Foursquare. The
city of Murcia is selected as case study, and the location-based
social network Foursquare is the main source of information. After
carrying out a reorganisation of the user-generated data extracted
from Foursquare, it is possible to graphically display on a map the
various city spaces and venues especially those related to commercial,
food and entertainment sector businesses. The obtained visualisation
provides information about activity patterns in the city of Murcia
according to the people‘s interests and preferences and, moreover,
interesting facts about certain characteristics of the town itself.
Abstract: Social media continues to grow, and user interfaces
may become more appealing if cultural characteristics are
incorporated into their design.
Facebook was designed in the west, and the original language was
English. Subsequently, the words in the user interface were translated
to other languages, including Arabic.
Arabic words are written from right to left, and English is written
from left to right. The translated version may misrepresent the
original design and users’ preferences may be influenced by their
culture, which should be considered in the user interface design.
Previous research indicates that users are more comfortable when
interacting with a user interface, which relates to their own culture.
Therefore, this paper, using a survey, investigates the preferences of
Saudi Arabians on the Arabic version of the user interface of
Facebook.
Abstract: Communicating and managing customers’
requirements in software development projects play a vital role in the
software development process. While it is difficult to do so locally, it
is even more difficult to communicate these requirements over
distributed boundaries and to convey them to multiple distribution
customers. This paper discusses the communication of multiple
distribution customers’ requirements in the context of customised
software products. The main purpose is to understand the challenges
of communicating and managing customisation requirements across
distributed boundaries. We propose a model for Communicating
Customisation Requirements of Multi-Clients in a Distributed
Domain (CCRD). Thereafter, we evaluate that model by presenting
the findings of a case study conducted with a company with
customisation projects for 18 distributed customers. Then, we
compare the outputs of the real case process and the outputs of the
CCRD model using simulation methods. Our conjecture is that the
CCRD model can reduce the challenge of communication
requirements over distributed organisational boundaries, and the
delay in decision making and in the entire customisation process
time.
Abstract: Components with sensory properties such as gentelligent components developed at the Collaborative Research Centre 653 offer a new angle in terms of the full utilization of the remaining service life as well as preventive maintenance. The developed methodology of component status driven maintenance analyzes the stress data obtained during the component's useful life and on the basis of this knowledge assesses the type of maintenance required in this case. The procedure is derived from the case-based reasoning method and will be explained in detail. The method's functionality is demonstrated with real-life data obtained during test runs of a racing car prototype.
Abstract: In this paper, we study the rainfall using a time series
for weather stations in Nakhon Ratchasima province in Thailand by
various statistical methods to enable us to analyse the behaviour of
rainfall in the study areas. Time-series analysis is an important tool in
modelling and forecasting rainfall. The ARIMA and Holt-Winter
models were built on the basis of exponential smoothing. All the
models proved to be adequate. Therefore it is possible to give
information that can help decision makers establish strategies for the
proper planning of agriculture, drainage systems and other water
resource applications in Nakhon Ratchasima province. We obtained
the best performance from forecasting with the ARIMA
Model(1,0,1)(1,0,1)12.
Abstract: Ontologies provide a common understanding of a
specific domain of interest that can be communicated between people
and used as background knowledge for automated reasoning in a
wide range of applications. In this paper, we address the design of
multilingual ontologies following well-defined knowledge
engineering methodologies with the support of novel collaborative
development approaches. In particular, we present a collaborative
platform which allows ontologies to be developed incrementally in
multiple languages. This is made possible via an appropriate mapping
between language independent concepts and one lexicalization per
language (or a lexical gap in case such lexicalization does not exist).
The collaborative platform has been designed to support the
development of the Universal Knowledge Core, a multilingual
ontology currently in English, Italian, Chinese, Mongolian, Hindi and
Bangladeshi. Its design follows a workflow-based development
methodology that models resources as a set of collaborative objects
and assigns customizable workflows to build and maintain each
collaborative object in a community driven manner, with extensive
support of modern web 2.0 social and collaborative features.
Abstract: This paper focuses on the dynamic behavior of
reinforced concrete (RC) slabs. Therefore, the theoretical modal
analysis was performed using two different types of boundary
conditions. Modal analysis method is the most important dynamic
analyses. The analysis would be modal case when there is no external
force on the structure. By using this method in this paper, the effects
of freely and simply supported boundary conditions on the
frequencies and mode shapes of RC square slabs are studied. ANSYS
software was employed to derive the finite element model to
determine the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the slabs.
Then, the obtained results through numerical analysis (finite element
analysis) would be compared with the exact solution. The main goal
of the research study is to predict how the boundary conditions
change the behavior of the slab structures prior to performing
experimental modal analysis. Based on the results, it is concluded
that simply support boundary condition has obvious influence to
increase the natural frequencies and change the shape of the mode
when it is compared with freely supported boundary condition of
slabs. This means that such support conditions have the direct
influence on the dynamic behavior of the slabs. Thus, it is suggested
to use free-free boundary condition in experimental modal analysis to
precisely reflect the properties of the structure. By using free-free
boundary conditions, the influence of poorly defined supports is
interrupted.
Abstract: The fuzzy composition of objects depicted in images
acquired through MR imaging or the use of bio-scanners has often
been a point of controversy for field experts attempting to effectively
delineate between the visualized objects. Modern approaches in
medical image segmentation tend to consider fuzziness as a
characteristic and inherent feature of the depicted object, instead of
an undesirable trait. In this paper, a novel technique for efficient
image retrieval in the context of images in which segmented objects
are either crisp or fuzzily bounded is presented. Moreover, the
proposed method is applied in the case of multiple, even conflicting,
segmentations from field experts. Experimental results demonstrate
the efficiency of the suggested method in retrieving similar objects
from the aforementioned categories while taking into account the
fuzzy nature of the depicted data.
Abstract: The research conducted in early seventies apparently
assumed the existence of a universal decision model for union
negotiators and furthermore tended to regard financial information as
a ‘neutral’ input into a rational decision making process. However,
research in the eighties began to question the neutrality of financial
information as an input in collective bargaining rather viewing it as a
potentially effective means for controlling the labour force.
Furthermore, this later research also started challenging the simplistic
assumptions relating particularly to union objectives which have
underpinned the earlier search for universal union decision models.
Despite the above developments there seems to be a dearth of studies
in developing countries concerning the use of financial information in
collective bargaining. This paper seeks to begin to remedy this
deficiency. Utilising a case study approach based on two enterprises,
one in the public sector and the other a multinational, the universal
decision model is rejected and it is argued that the decision whether
or not to use financial information is a contingent one and such a
contingency is largely defined by the context and environment in
which both union and management negotiators work. An attempt is
also made to identify the factors constraining as well as promoting
the use of financial information in collective bargaining, these being
regarded as unique to the organisations within which the case studies
are conducted.
Abstract: E-business technologies, whereby business
transactions are conducted remotely using the Internet, present
unique opportunities and challenges for business. E-business
technologies are applicable to a wide range of organizations and
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are no exception. There
is an established body of literature about e-business, looking at
definitions, concepts, benefits and challenges. In general, however,
the research focus has been on larger organizations, not SMEs. In an
attempt to redress the balance of research, this paper looks at ebusiness
technologies specifically from a small business perspective.
It seeks to identify the possible barriers that SMEs might face when
considering adoption of the e-business concept and practice as part of
their business process change initiatives and implementation. To
facilitate analysis of these barriers a conceptual framework has been
developed which outlines the key conceptual and practical challenges
of e-business implementation in SMEs. This is developed following a
literature survey comprised of three categories: characteristics of
SMEs, issues of IS/IT use in SMEs and general e-business adoption
and implementation issues. The framework is then empirically
assessed against 7 SMEs who have yet to implement e-business or
whose e-business efforts have been unsatisfactory. Conclusions from
the case studies can be used to verify the framework, and set
parameters for further larger scale empirical investigation.