Hybrid Approaches of Verbal Decision Analysis in the Selection of Project Management Approaches

AbstractDecision support methods aim at assisting in the decision-making process by simplifying the analysis of the problem and justifying the choice of a particular potential action. Recent researches have shown that the hybridization of methods is able to overcome limitations presented by the methods when applied separately: the classification of alternatives before submitting them to an ordination methodology would be an e ective way of filtering the set to be ordered. Specific Practices of Capability Maturity Model Integration were analyzed through a decision making model, assisted by the methods SAC and ZAPROS III-i. The results will be compared to previous studies

Designing low carbon buildings : a framework to reduce energy consumption and embed the use of renewables

EU policies to mitigate climate change set ambitious goals for energy and carbon reduction for the built environment. In order meet and even exceed the EU targets the UK Government's Climate Change Act 2008 sets a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the UK by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. To support these targets the UK government also aims to ensure that 20% of the UK's electricity is supplied from renewable sources by 2020. This article presents a design framework and a set of integrated IT tools to enable an analysis of the energy performance of building designs, including consideration of active and passive renewable energy technologies, when the opportunity to substantially improve the whole life-cycle energy performance of those designs is still open. To ensure a good fit with current architectural practices the design framework is integrated with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) key stages, which is the most widely used framework for the delivery of construction projects. The main aims of this article are to illustrate the need for new approaches to support low carbon building design that can be integrated into current architectural practice, to present the design framework developed in this research and illustrate its application in a case study

Keberkesanan modul infusi kemahiran berfikir aras tinggi pembelajaran luar bilik darjah (iKBAT-PLBD) bagi bidang pembelajaran sukatan dan geometri

Kemahiran berfikir aras tinggi (KBAT) merupakan satu kemahiran berfikir yang sangat diperlukan dalam mendepani cabaran kehidupan masa kini terutama dalam bidang matematik. Oleh itu, kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji sama ada KBAT matematik pelajar dapat ditingkatkan dengan menggunakan modul infusi Kemahiran Berfikir Aras Tinggi - Pembelajaran Luar Bilik Darjah (iKBAT–PLBD) atau tidak? Justeru itu, satu kerangka perancangan telah dibuat terhadap empat kemahiran tertinggi dalam Taksonomi Bloom semakan semula yang juga merupakan konstruk utama dalam KBAT. Konstruk KBAT tersebut ialah konstruk menganlisis, mengaplikasi menilai dan mencipta. Sampel kajian ini melibatkan 120 pelajar tingkatan 1 di empat buah sekolah yang berbeza di negeri Johor. Dalam menjalankan kajian kuasi eksperimental ini, data dikumpul melalui kajian keputusan ujian pra dan ujian pos sebelum dan selepas menggunakan modul bagi kumpulan rawatan. Manakala pendekatan PdP tradisional pula digunakan bagi kumpulan kawalan. Hasil daripada analisis data menunjukkan bahawa aktiviti pembelajaran dan pemudahcaraan (PdPc) yang bertunjangkan modul iKBAT–PLBD telah dapat meningkatkan penguasaan matematik pelajar dalam kempat-empat tahap KBAT serta bagi keseluruhan tahap. Dapatan kajian ini menunjukkan terdapat perbezaan yang signifikasi antara kumpulan kawalan dan kumpulan rawatan terhadap peningkatan KBAT pelajar dalam matematik dengan menggunakan pendekatan iKBAT–PLBD bagi tahap mengaplikasi, menganalisis, menilai, mencipta juga secara keseluruhan. Kesimpulannya, kajian ini dapat memberi manfaat kepada semua pihak termasuk pihak Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia (KPM), pihak pentadbiran sekolah, ibubapa, guru matematik malah bagi pelajar itu dari segi pengubalan dasar yang berkaitan, pengaplikasian dan sebagai satu bukti keberkesanan dalam proses pemerkasaan KBAT matematik di Malaysia

Virtual Reality Games for Motor Rehabilitation

This paper presents a fuzzy logic based method to track user satisfaction without the need for devices to monitor users physiological conditions. User satisfaction is the key to any product’s acceptance; computer applications and video games provide a unique opportunity to provide a tailored environment for each user to better suit their needs. We have implemented a non-adaptive fuzzy logic model of emotion, based on the emotional component of the Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotion (FLAME) proposed by El-Nasr, to estimate player emotion in UnrealTournament 2004. In this paper we describe the implementation of this system and present the results of one of several play tests. Our research contradicts the current literature that suggests physiological measurements are needed. We show that it is possible to use a software only method to estimate user emotion

Rapid Situation Analysis: a hybrid, multi-methods, qualitative, participatory approach to researching tourism development phenomena

This study develops a hybrid, bottom-up approach to field research, namely Rapid Situation Analysis, and implements it in Ghana. It draws on elements from two existing participatory methodological approaches: Rapid Rural Appraisal and Participatory RuralAppraisal. The approachwas developed to suit the particular needs of investigating corporate social responsibility practices, sustainable development and poverty reduction through tourism, a fragmented sector which tends to be ambiguous and unstructured and lack cohesion (unlike, for example, agriculture or primary health care, both of which are familiar territory for Rapid Rural Appraisal and Participatory Rural Appraisal). The Rapid Situation Analysis bottom-up approach to data gathering was underpinned by supporting methods, including participant and direct observation, in-depth interviews, stakeholder focus groups and informal conversations. Moreover, the multiple methods were further enriched by the collection of visual data in the form of moving and still images. These research findings were fed back to the communities at the centre of the research

Fuzzy Transfer Pricing World: On the Analysis of Transfer Pricing with Fuzzy Logic Techniques

The arm’s length analysis of international transfer prices of multinational firms lacks sound methodological approach of the so-called function and risk analysis. In practice, such analyses are descriptive. Derived from Zadeh’s mathematical theory of fuzzy sets, this paper investigates a quantitative approach to identify the function and risk pattern of related parties of multinational companies. We illustrate our fuzzy logic approach with a simple case.