Global optimisation of cold-formed steel sections

In this thesis, standard algorithms are used to carry out the optimisation of cold-formed steel purlins such as zed, channel and sigma sections, which are assumed to be simply supported and subjected to a gravity load. For zed, channel and sigma section, the local buckling, distortional buckling and lateral-torsional buckling are considered respectively herein. Currently, the local buckling is based on the BS 5950-5:1998 and EN 1993-1-3:2006. The distortional buckling is calculated by the direct strength method employing the elastic distortional buckling which is calculated by three available approaches such as Hancock (1995), Schafer and Pekoz (1998), Yu (2005). In the optimisation program, the lateral-torsional buckling based on BS 5950-5:1998, AISI and analytical model of Li (2004) are investigated. For the optimisation program, the programming codes are written for optimisation of channel, zed and sigma beam. The full study has been coded into a computer-based analysis program (MATLAB).

Expatriate managers adjustment and its impact on subordinates reactions: a cross cultural leadership study of Kenya and Ethiopia

Research on culture, leadership and adjustment shows that societal culture influences leadership in such a way that it can impact on expatriate managers' effectiveness and adjustment in a new culture. In previous research, cultural background, personality, motives or behaviour of expatriate managers and their followers' reactions to them have been investigated in Europe, America and Asia. However, little attention has been paid on research on expatriate managers in African cultures especially in Eastern Africa. The present study represents an attempt to address the gap by examining how societal culture, leadership and adjustment success are interrelated for expatriate managers in Kenya and Ethiopia. Questionnaire data were obtained from a) local middle managers (N=160) for studying societal culture and leadership in Kenya and Ethiopia, b) expatriate managers in non-governmental organizations - NGOs (N=28) for studying expatriate managers' personality, motives and adjustment success and c) their immediate subordinates (N=125) for studying the expatriate managers' behaviours and their subordinates' reactions to them. Additionally, expatriate managers were interviewed and responses were coded for implicit motives, experiences and adjustment. SPSS was used to analyse data from questionnaires to obtain cultural and leadership dimensions, leader behaviour and subordinate reactions. The NVIVO computer based disclosure analysis package was used to analyse interview data. Findings indicate that societal culture influences leadership behaviours and leadership perceptions while the expatriate managers' motives, behaviours, personality and the cross cultural training they received prior to their assignment impact on the expatriates' adjustment success and on subordinates' reactions to them. The cultural fit between expatriate managers' home country (19 countries) and the target country (Kenya or Ethiopia) had no significant association with adjustment success but was positively related to expatriate behaviour and negatively associated with subordinates reactions. However, some particular societal practices - obviously adopted by expatriates and transferred to their target country - did predict subordinates' commitment, motivation and job satisfaction. Furthermore, expatriates' responsibility motivation was positively related to their adjustment success. Regarding leadership behaviours and effectiveness, expatriate' supportive behaviours predicted subordinates' job satisfaction most strongly. Expatriate managers expressing their management philosophies and experience shed light on the various aspects of adjustment and management of NGOs. In addition, review of Kenyan and Ethiopian cultures and the NGO context in these countries offers valuable information for expatriate managers. This study's general imphcation for Cross Cultural Management and lnternational Human Resources Management is that the combination of culture general and culture specific knowledge and reflections on Eastern Africa countries can inform senior management and international HR staff about the critical issue of what to include in training, coaching, and actual experience in a particular host country in order to ensure effective leadership. Furthennore, this knowledge is expected to influence expatriate managers' behaviour modification to enhance positive subordinate reactions. Questions about how to prepare expatriate managers and subordinates to work more competently and sensitively across cultures are addressed. Further theoretical implications, limitations of the study and directions for future research are also addressed.

Attentional demand and cost responsibility as stressors in shopfloor jobs

Two studies were conducted to test for the effects of attentional demand and cost responsibility on psychological strain. One was a field experiment involving operators of computer-based manufacturing equipment, and the other was a cross-sectional investigation of employees in a wide range of jobs. The results showed increased strain only for those in jobs high on both attentional demand and cost responsibility. Implications for job design for new manufacturing technologies are discussed.

Reinforcing the security of corporate information resources:a critical review of the role of the acceptable use policy

Increasingly users are seen as the weak link in the chain, when it comes to the security of corporate information. Should the users of computer systems act in any inappropriate or insecure manner, then they may put their employers in danger of financial losses, information degradation or litigation, and themselves in danger of dismissal or prosecution. This is a particularly important concern for knowledge-intensive organisations, such as universities, as the effective conduct of their core teaching and research activities is becoming ever more reliant on the availability, integrity and accuracy of computer-based information resources. One increasingly important mechanism for reducing the occurrence of inappropriate behaviours, and in so doing, protecting corporate information, is through the formulation and application of a formal ‘acceptable use policy (AUP). Whilst the AUP has attracted some academic interest, it has tended to be prescriptive and overly focussed on the role of the Internet, and there is relatively little empirical material that explicitly addresses the purpose, positioning or content of real acceptable use policies. The broad aim of the study, reported in this paper, is to fill this gap in the literature by critically examining the structure and composition of a sample of authentic policies – taken from the higher education sector – rather than simply making general prescriptions about what they ought to contain. There are two important conclusions to be drawn from this study: (1) the primary role of the AUP appears to be as a mechanism for dealing with unacceptable behaviour, rather than proactively promoting desirable and effective security behaviours, and (2) the wide variation found in the coverage and positioning of the reviewed policies is unlikely to be fostering a coherent approach to security management, across the higher education sector.

The information security policy unpacked:a critical study of the content of university policies

Ensuring the security of corporate information, that is increasingly stored, processed and disseminated using information and communications technologies [ICTs], has become an extremely complex and challenging activity. This is a particularly important concern for knowledge-intensive organisations, such as universities, as the effective conduct of their core teaching and research activities is becoming ever more reliant on the availability, integrity and accuracy of computer-based information resources. One increasingly important mechanism for reducing the occurrence of security breaches, and in so doing, protecting corporate information, is through the formulation and application of a formal information security policy (InSPy). Whilst a great deal has now been written about the importance and role of the information security policy, and approaches to its formulation and dissemination, there is relatively little empirical material that explicitly addresses the structure or content of security policies. The broad aim of the study, reported in this paper, is to fill this gap in the literature by critically examining the structure and content of authentic information security policies, rather than simply making general prescriptions about what they ought to contain. Having established the structure and key features of the reviewed policies, the paper critically explores the underlying conceptualisation of information security embedded in the policies. There are two important conclusions to be drawn from this study: (1) the wide diversity of disparate policies and standards in use is unlikely to foster a coherent approach to security management; and (2) the range of specific issues explicitly covered in university policies is surprisingly low, and reflects a highly techno-centric view of information security management.

Domain Modeling to Support Anti-cyber Crime Education

This paper describes an approach to a computer-based learning of educational material. We define a model for the class of subjects of our interest - teaching of investigation and prevention of computer crimes, (those including both theoretical and practical issues). From this model, specific content outlines can be derived as subclasses and then instanced into actual domains. The last step consists in generating interactive documents, which use the instanced domain. Students can explore these documents through a web browser. Thus, an interactive learning scenario is created. This approach allows reusing and adapting the contents to a variety of situations, students and teaching purposes.

Using the Business Process Execution Language for Managing Scientific Processes

This paper describes the use of the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS/BPEL) for managing scientific workflows. This work is result of our attempt to adopt Service Oriented Architecture in order to perform Web services – based simulation of metal vapor lasers. Scientific workflows can be more demanding in their requirements than business processes. In the context of addressing these requirements, the features of the BPEL4WS specification are discussed, which is widely regarded as the de-facto standard for orchestrating Web services for business workflows. A typical use case of calculation the electric field potential and intensity distributions is discussed as an example of building a BPEL process to perform distributed simulation constructed by loosely-coupled services.

Handwriting in Forensic Investigations

The process of automatic handwriting investigation in forensic science is described. The general scheme of a computer-based handwriting analysis system is used to point out at the basic problems of image enhancement and segmentation, feature extraction and decision-making. Factors that may compromise the accuracy of expert’s conclusion are underlined and directions for future investigations are marked.

Analogical Reasoning Techniques in Intelligent Counterterrorism Systems

The paper develops a set of ideas and techniques supporting analogical reasoning throughout the life-cycle of terrorist acts. Implementation of these ideas and techniques can enhance the intellectual level of computer-based systems for a wide range of personnel dealing with various aspects of the problem of terrorism and its effects. The method combines techniques of structure-sensitive distributed representations in the framework of Associative-Projective Neural Networks, and knowledge obtained through the progress in analogical reasoning, in particular the Structure Mapping Theory. The impact of these analogical reasoning tools on the efforts to minimize the effects of terrorist acts on civilian population is expected by facilitating knowledge acquisition and formation of terrorism-related knowledge bases, as well as supporting the processes of analysis, decision making, and reasoning with those knowledge bases for users at various levels of expertise before, during, and after terrorist acts.

Методы Интеграции Учебных Материалов для Дистанционного Обучения

The process of training is the most difficult for effective realization through information technologies. Is suggested the methods for the most complete implementation of original techniques of material description, ensuring versatility of development environment and functioning of interactive systems of training process. The given technology requires as the exact description of teaching model, as application of modern methods of development intelligent skills.

Интегрированный Моделирующий Комплекс Поддержки Принятия Решений в Комплексной Корпоративной Системе Управления Магистральной Газотранспортной Сетью

The approach to construction, structuring class of tasks, technology of the use and stages of modernization systems support of decision-making in composition the operative-dispatch control computer-based system by the gas-transport system of Ukraine is considered.

The challenges of developing an online tool to measure the quality of the passenger experience in a PanEuropean context

METPEX is a 3 year, FP7 project which aims to develop a PanEuropean tool to measure the quality of the passenger's experience of multimodal transport. Initial work has led to the development of a comprehensive set of variables relating to different passenger groups, forms of transport and journey stages. This paper addresses the main challenges in transforming the variables into usable, accessible computer based tools allowing for the real time collection of information, across multiple journey stages in different EU countries. Non-computer based measurement instruments will be used to gather information from those who may not have or be familiar with mobile technology. Smartphone-based measurement instruments will also be used, hosted in two applications. The mobile applications need to be easy to use, configurable and adaptable according to the context of use. They should also be inherently interesting and rewarding for the participant, whilst allowing for the collection of high quality, valid and reliable data from all journey types and stages (from planning, through to entry into and egress from different transport modes, travel on public and personal vehicles and support of active forms of transport (e.g. cycling and walking). During all phases of the data collection and processing, the privacy of the participant is highly regarded and is ensured. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.

The impact of coordination on the effectiveness of last mile relief distribution

Last mile relief distribution is the final stage of humanitarian logistics. It refers to the supply of relief items from local distribution centers to the disaster affected people (Balcik et al., 2008). In the last mile relief distribution literature, researchers have focused on the use of optimisation techniques for determining the exact optimal solution (Liberatore et al., 2014), but there is a need to include behavioural factors with those optimisation techniques in order to obtain better predictive results. This paper will explain how improving the coordination factor increases the effectiveness of the last mile relief distribution process. There are two stages of methodology used to achieve the goal: Interviews: The authors conducted interviews with the Indian Government and with South Asian NGOs to identify the critical factors for final relief distribution. After thematic and content analysis of the interviews and the reports, the authors found some behavioural factors which affect the final relief distribution. Model building: Last mile relief distribution in India follows a specific framework described in the Indian Government disaster management handbook. We modelled this framework using agent based simulation and investigated the impact of coordination on effectiveness. We define effectiveness as the speed and accuracy with which aid is delivered to affected people. We tested through simulation modelling whether coordination improves effectiveness.

Application of ensemble averaging to the analysis of electromyography recordings under whole body vibratory stimulation

The aim of this study is to evaluate the application of ensemble averaging to the analysis of electromyography recordings under whole body vibratory stimulation. Recordings from Rectus Femoris, collected during vibratory stimulation at different frequencies, are used. Each signal is subdivided in intervals, which time duration is related to the vibration frequency. Finally the average of the segmented intervals is performed. By using this method for the majority of the recordings the periodic components emerge. The autocorrelation of few seconds of signals confirms the presence of a pseudosinusoidal components strictly related to the soft tissues oscillations caused by the mechanical waves. © 2014 IEEE.

Understanding Computing through Defining its Lexicon

Бойко Банчев - Понятието пресмятане в широкия му смисъл и неговото присъствие в природата, науката, технологията и други области е свързано с редица неизяснени въпроси. Дори в по-тесните рамки на програмирането и използването на компютри то не е адекватно разбрано. Представяме тезата, че един начин за приближаване към такова разбиране е разкриването на дълбинните структури и отношения, свързани с пресмятането, и на тази основа построяване на речник на пресмятането.