118,812 research outputs found
A modified AHP algorithm for network selection
This paper addresses the concept of ranking networks to the multiple criteria of customers to find the best and alternative networks. The use of modified AHP algorithm has been shown to provide better network ranking for reasonable customer objectives than the traditional AHP method. Both the traditional method and the proposed method produced results subjective to the customer requirements. However, the proposed method is more intuitive to the customers through direct capture of their exact requirements rather than an interpretation of their requirements through pair-wise comparison alone. Also, the proposed method is less time-consuming and results are of higher quality
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A formal evaluation of data flow path selection criteria
A number of path selection criteria have been proposed throughout the years. Unfortunately, little work has been done on comparing these criteria. To determine what would be an effective path selection criterion for revealing errors in programs, we have undertaken an evaluation of these criteria. This paper reports on the results of our evaluation of path selection criteria based on data flow relationships. We show how these criteria relate to each other, thereby demonstrating some of their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, we suggest minor changes to some criteria that improve their performance. We conclude with a discussion of the major limitations of these criteria and directions for future research
Optimization of the supplier selection process in prefabrication using BIM
Prefabrication offers substantial benefits including reduction in construction waste, material waste, energy use, labor demands, and delivery time, and an improvement in project constructability and cost certainty. As the material cost accounts for nearly 70% of the total cost of the prefabrication project, to select a suitable material supplier plays an important role in such a project. The purpose of this study is to present a method for supporting supplier selection of a prefabrication project. The proposed method consists of three parts. First, a list of assessment criteria was established to evaluate the suitability of supplier alternatives. Second, Building Information Modelling (BIM) was adopted to provide sufficient information about the project requirements and suppliers’ profiles, which facilitates the storage and sharing of information. Finally, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to rank the importance of the assessment criteria and obtain the score of supplier alternatives. The suppliers were ranked based on the total scores. To illustrate how to use the proposed method, it was applied to a real prefabrication project. The proposed method facilitates the supplier selection process by providing sufficient information in an effective way and by improving the understanding of the project requirements
Global network structure of dominance hierarchy of ant workers
Dominance hierarchy among animals is widespread in various species and
believed to serve to regulate resource allocation within an animal group.
Unlike small groups, however, detection and quantification of linear hierarchy
in large groups of animals are a difficult task. Here, we analyse
aggression-based dominance hierarchies formed by worker ants in Diacamma sp. as
large directed networks. We show that the observed dominance networks are
perfect or approximate directed acyclic graphs, which are consistent with
perfect linear hierarchy. The observed networks are also sparse and random but
significantly different from networks generated through thinning of the perfect
linear tournament (i.e., all individuals are linearly ranked and dominance
relationship exists between every pair of individuals). These results pertain
to global structure of the networks, which contrasts with the previous studies
inspecting frequencies of different types of triads. In addition, the
distribution of the out-degree (i.e., number of workers that the focal worker
attacks), not in-degree (i.e., number of workers that attack the focal worker),
of each observed network is right-skewed. Those having excessively large
out-degrees are located near the top, but not the top, of the hierarchy. We
also discuss evolutionary implications of the discovered properties of
dominance networks.Comment: 5 figures, 2 tables, 4 supplementary figures, 2 supplementary table
Development of titanium dioxide nanoparticles/nanosolution for photocatalytic activity
Biological and chemical contaminants by man-made activities have been serious
global issue. Exposure of these contaminants beyond the limits may result in serious
environmental and health problem. Therefore, it is important to develop an effective
solution that can be easily utilized by mankind. One of the effective ways to
overcome this problem is by using titanium dioxide (TiO2). TiO2 is a well-known
photocatalyst that widely used for environmental clean-up due to its ability to
decompose organic pollutant and kill bacteria. Although it is proven TiO2 has an
advantage to solve this concern, its usefulness unfortunately is limited only under
UV light irradiation. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the potential
of TiO2 that can be activated under visible light by the incorporation of metal ions
(Fe, Ag, Zr and Ag-Zr). In this study, sol-gel method was employed for the synthesis
of metal ions incorporated TiO2. XRD analysis revealed that all samples content
biphasic anatase-brookite TiO2 of size 3 nm to 5 nm. It was found that the
incorporation of these metal ions did not change the morphology of TiO2 but the
crystallinity and optical properties were affected. The crystallinity of anatase in the
biphasic TiO2 was found to be decreased and favored brookite formation. PL analysis
showed metal ions incorporation suppressed the recombination of electron-hole pairs
while the band gap energy of TiO2 (3.2 eV) was decreased by the incorporation of Fe
(2.46 eV) and Ag (2.86 eV). Among this incorporation, Ag-Zr incorporated TiO2
showed highest performance for methyl orange degradation (93%) under fluorescent
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light irradiation for 10 h. This follows by Zr-TiO2 (82%), Fe-TiO2 (75%) and Ag�TiO2 (43%). Meanwhile, the highest antibacterial performance was exhibited by Ag�TiO2. TEM images showed that E.coli bacterium was killed within 12 h after treated
with Ag-TiO2. The results obtained from the fieldwork study established that Ag-Zr
incorporation have excellent performances for VOC removal and antibacterial test.
The VOC content after treated with Ag-Zr-TiO2 fulfilled the Industry Code of
Practice on Indoor Air Quality 2010 which is lower than 3 ppm. In addition, the
percentage of microbes also found to be decrease around 45 % within 5 days of
monitoring
End-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling management: improving performance using an ISM approach
With booming of the automobile industry, China has become the country with increasing car ownership all over the world. However, the end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling industry is at infancy, and there is little systematic review on ELV recycling management, as well as low adoption amongst domestic automobile industry. This study presents a literature review and an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach is employed to identify the drivers towards Chinese ELV recycling business from government, recycling organizations and consumer’s perspectives, so as to improve the sustainability of automobile supply chain by providing some strategic insights. The results derived from the ISM analysis manifest that regulations on auto-factory, disassembly technique, and value mining of recycling business are the essential ingredients. It is most effective and efficient to promote ELV recycling business by improving these attributes, also the driving and dependence power analysis are deemed to provide guidance on performance improvement of ELV recycling in the Chinese market
Clustering files of chemical structures using the Szekely-Rizzo generalization of Ward's method
Ward's method is extensively used for clustering chemical structures represented by 2D fingerprints. This paper compares Ward clusterings of 14 datasets (containing between 278 and 4332 molecules) with those obtained using the Szekely–Rizzo clustering method, a generalization of Ward's method. The clusters resulting from these two methods were evaluated by the extent to which the various classifications were able to group active molecules together, using a novel criterion of clustering effectiveness. Analysis of a total of 1400 classifications (Ward and Székely–Rizzo clustering methods, 14 different datasets, 5 different fingerprints and 10 different distance coefficients) demonstrated the general superiority of the Székely–Rizzo method. The distance coefficient first described by Soergel performed extremely well in these experiments, and this was also the case when it was used in simulated virtual screening experiments
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