Towards A Spatial Model of Rurality

The term rural is used to describe people, places, traditions, and spaces. It is often employed as a setting for study as well as an object of study. People’s perceptions of rural are confused and differ considerably. For over a century researchers have attempted to define more precisely this term using social, economic, and or ecological components. However, problems of interpreting official definitions and measurements exist. These definitions require extensions in order to capture a more objective meaning of the word. This thesis presents the foundations of a new approach to measuring and defining rurality. A spatial based approach is taken in which explicitly spatial data instead of social or economic data are collected and indexed. The index is divided into two clusters, a connectivity cluster and an access-to-service cluster. The indicators in the clusters are chosen based on a list of criteria taken from the Institute for International Development. The model employs mathematical foundations of both topology and metrics. The use of fuzzy measures to determine a degree of rurality, instead of classical set theory, enhances the model. A degree of connectivity, a degree of accessibility, and an overall degree of rurality is determined. The model also incorporates scale. The granularity of an indicator depends on a user-required level of detail. The data are manipulated and analyzed in a GIS. The spatial index is tested on a number of towns throughout Maine. A graphical user interface illustrates the results in an easy to understand format. The results of this thesis show that a spatial approach to defining rural extends formal definitions to capture a different facet of rurality, a degree of rurality. Furthermore, spatial, temporal and attribute queries are possible enabling users a choice given a particular task

Traffic accident predictions based on fuzzy logic approach for safer urban environments, case study: İzmir Metropolitan Area

Thesis (Doctoral)--Izmir Institute of Technology, City and Regional Planning, Izmir, 2009Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 83-88)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxii, 119, leavesDissertation has dealt with one of the most chaotic events of an urban life that is the traffic accidents. This study is a preliminary and an explorative effort to establish an Accident Prediction Model (APM) for road safety in İzmir urban environment. Aim of the dissertation is to prevent or decrease the amount of possible future traffic accidents in İzmir metropolitan region, by the help of the developed APM. Urban traffic accidents have spatial and other external reasons independent from the vehicles or drivers, and these reasons can be predicted by mathematical models. The study deals with the factors of the traffic accidents, which are not based on the human behavior or vehicle characteristics. Therefore the prediction model is established through the following external factors, such as traffic volume, rain status and the geometry of the roads. Fuzzy Logic Modeling (FLM) is applied as a prediction tool in the study. Familiarizing fuzzy logic approach to the planning discipline is the secondary aim of the thesis and contribution to the literature. The conformity of fuzzy logic enables modeling through verbal data and intuitive approach, which is important to achieve uncertainties of planning issues

Prediction of rutting potential of dense bituminous mixtures with polypropylene fibers via repeated creep testing by using neuro-fuzzy approach

This study investigates the potential use of the neuro-fuzzy (NF) approach to model the rutting prediction by the aid of repeated creep testing results for polypropylene modified asphalt mixtures. Marshall specimens, fabricated with M-03 type polypropylene fibers at optimum bitumen content have been tested in order to predict their rutting potential under different load values and loading patterns at 50°C. Throughout the testing phase, it has been clearly shown that the addition of polypropylene fibers results in improved Marshall stabilities and decrease in the flow values, providing an eminent increase of the service life of samples under repeated creep testing. The performance of the accuracy of proposed neuro-fuzzy model is observed to be quite satisfactory. In addition, to obtain the main effects plot, a wide range of detailed two and three dimensional parametric studies have been performed

The Encyclopedia of Neutrosophic Researchers - vol. 1

This is the first volume of the Encyclopedia of Neutrosophic Researchers, edited from materials offered by the authors who responded to the editor’s invitation. The authors are listed alphabetically. The introduction contains a short history of neutrosophics, together with links to the main papers and books. Neutrosophic set, neutrosophic logic, neutrosophic probability, neutrosophic statistics, neutrosophic measure, neutrosophic precalculus, neutrosophic calculus and so on are gaining significant attention in solving many real life problems that involve uncertainty, impreciseness, vagueness, incompleteness, inconsistent, and indeterminacy. In the past years the fields of neutrosophics have been extended and applied in various fields, such as: artificial intelligence, data mining, soft computing, decision making in incomplete / indeterminate / inconsistent information systems, image processing, computational modelling, robotics, medical diagnosis, biomedical engineering, investment problems, economic forecasting, social science, humanistic and practical achievements

Linguistic methodology for the analysis of aviation accidents

A linguistic method for the analysis of small group discourse, was developed and the use of this method on transcripts of commercial air transpot accidents is demonstrated. The method identifies the discourse types that occur and determine their linguistic structure; it identifies significant linguistic variables based upon these structures or other linguistic concepts such as speech act and topic; it tests hypotheses that support significance and reliability of these variables; and it indicates the implications of the validated hypotheses. These implications fall into three categories: (1) to train crews to use more nearly optimal communication patterns; (2) to use linguistic variables as indices for aspects of crew performance such as attention; and (3) to provide guidelines for the design of aviation procedures and equipment, especially those that involve speech

Predictive long-term asset maintenance strategy: development of a fuzzy logic condition-based control system

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Knowledge Management and Business IntelligenceTechnology has accelerated the growth of the Facility Management industry and its roles are broadening to encompass more responsibilities and skill sets. FM budgets and teams are becoming larger and more impactful as new technological trends are incorporated into data-driven strategies. This new scenario has motivated institutions such as the European Central Bank to initiate projects aimed at optimising the use of data to improve the monitoring, control and preservation of the assets that enable the continuity of the Bank's activities. Such projects make it possible to reduce costs, plan, manage and allocate resources, reinforce the control, and efficiency of safety and operational systems. To support the long-term maintenance strategy being developed by the Technical Facility Management section of the ECB, this thesis proposes a model to calculate the Left wear margin of the equipment. This is accomplished through the development of an algorithm based on a fuzzy logic system that uses Python language and presents the system's structure, its reliability, feasibility, potential, and limitations. For Facility Management, this project constitutes a cornerstone of the ongoing digital transformation program

A Design Concept for a Tourism Recommender System for Regional Development

Despite of tourism infrastructure and software, the development of tourism is hampered due to the lack of information support, which encapsulates various aspects of travel implementation. This paper highlights a demand for integrating various approaches and methods to develop a universal tourism information recommender system when building individual tourist routes. The study objective is proposing a concept of a universal information recommender system for building a personalized tourist route. The developed design concept for such a system involves a procedure for data collection and preparation for tourism product synthesis; a methodology for tourism product formation according to user preferences; the main stages of this methodology implementation. To collect and store information from real travelers, this paper proposes to use elements of blockchain technology in order to ensure information security. A model that specifies the key elements of a tourist route planning process is presented. This article can serve as a reference and knowledge base for digital business system analysts, system designers, and digital tourism business implementers for better digital business system design and implementation in the tourism sector

An integrated approach to value chain analysis of end of life aircraft treatment

Dans cette thèse, on propose une approche holistique pour l’analyse, la modélisation et l’optimisation des performances de la chaîne de valeur pour le traitement des avions en fin de vie (FdV). Les recherches réalisées ont débouché sur onze importantes contributions. Dans la première contribution, on traite du contexte, de la complexité, de la diversité et des défis du recyclage d’avions en FdV. La seconde contribution traite du problème de la prédiction du nombre de retraits d’avions et propose une approche intégrée pour l’estimation de ce nombre de retraits. Le troisième et le quatrième articles visent à identifier les parties prenantes, les valeurs perçues par chaque partenaire et indiquent comment cette valeur peut affecter les décisions au stade de la conception. Les considérations relatives à la conception et à la fabrication ont donné lieu à quatre contributions importantes. La cinquième contribution traite des défis et opportunités pouvant résulter de l’application des concepts de la chaîne logistique verte, pour les manufacturiers d’avions. Dans la sixième contribution, un outil d’aide à la décision a été développé pour choisir la stratégie verte qui optimise les performances globales de de toute la chaîne de valeur en tenant compte des priorités et contraintes de chaque partenaire. Dans la septième contribution, un modèle mathématique est proposé pour analyser le choix stratégique des manufacturiers en réponse aux directives en matière de FdV de produits comme le résultat des interactions des compétiteurs dans le marché. La huitième contribution porte sur les travaux réalisés dans le cadre d’un stage chez le constructeur d’avions, Bombardier. Cette dernière traite de l’apport de « l’analyse du cycle de vie » au stade de la conception d’avions. La neuvième contribution introduit une méthodologie d’analyse de la chaîne de valeur dans un contexte de développement durable. Finalement, les dixième et onzième contributions proposent une approche holistique pour le traitement des avions en FdV en intégrant les concepts du « lean », du développement durable et des contraintes et opportunités inhérentes à la mondialisation des affaires. Un modèle d’optimisation intégrant les modèles d’affaires, les stratégies de désassemblage et les structures du réseau qui influencent l’efficacité, la stabilité et l’agilité du réseau de récupération est proposé. Les données requises pour exploiter le modèle sont indiquées dans l’article. Mots-clés: Fin de vie des avions, analyse de la chaîne de valeurs, développement durable, intervenants.The number of aircrafts at the end of life (EOL) is continuously increasing. Dealing with retired aircrafts considering the environmental, social and economic impacts is becoming an emerging problem in the aviation industry in near future. This thesis seeks to develop a holistic approach in order to analyze the value chain of EOL aircraft treatment in the context of sustainable development. The performed researches have led to eleven main contributions. In the first contribution, the complexity and diversity of the EOL aircraft recycling including the challenges and problem context are discussed. The second contribution addresses the challenges for estimation of retired aircrafts and proposes an integrated approach for prediction of EOL aircrafts. The third and fourth contributions aim to identify the players involved in EOL recycling context, values perceived by different shareholders and formulate that how such value can affect design decisions. Design stage consideration and manufacture’s issues are discussed and have led to four main contributions. The fifth contribution addresses the opportunities and challenges of applying green supply chain for aircraft manufacturers. In the sixth contribution, a decision tool is developed to aid manufactures in early stage of design for their green strategy choices. In the seventh contribution, a mathematical model is developed in order to analyze the strategic choice of manufacturers in response to EOL directives as the result of the interaction of competitors in the market. An internship project has been also performed in Bombardier and led to the eighth contribution, which addresses life cycle approach and incorporating the sustainability in early stage of design of aircraft. The ninth contribution introduces a methodology for analyzing the value chain in the context of sustainable development. Finally, the tenth and eleventh contributions propose a holistic approach to EOL aircraft treatment considering lean principals, sustainable development, and global business environment. An optimization model is developed to support decision making in both strategic and managerial level. The analytical approaches, decision tools and step by step guidelines proposed in this thesis will aid decision makers to identify appropriate strategies for the EOL aircraft treatment in the sustainable development context. Keywords: End of life aircraft, value chain analysis, sustainable development, stakeholders

Computational intelligence based complex adaptive system-of-systems architecture evolution strategy

The dynamic planning for a system-of-systems (SoS) is a challenging endeavor. Large scale organizations and operations constantly face challenges to incorporate new systems and upgrade existing systems over a period of time under threats, constrained budget and uncertainty. It is therefore necessary for the program managers to be able to look at the future scenarios and critically assess the impact of technology and stakeholder changes. Managers and engineers are always looking for options that signify affordable acquisition selections and lessen the cycle time for early acquisition and new technology addition. This research helps in analyzing sequential decisions in an evolving SoS architecture based on the wave model through three key features namely; meta-architecture generation, architecture assessment and architecture implementation. Meta-architectures are generated using evolutionary algorithms and assessed using type II fuzzy nets. The approach can accommodate diverse stakeholder views and convert them to key performance parameters (KPP) and use them for architecture assessment. On the other hand, it is not possible to implement such architecture without persuading the systems to participate into the meta-architecture. To address this issue a negotiation model is proposed which helps the SoS manger to adapt his strategy based on system owners behavior. This work helps in capturing the varied differences in the resources required by systems to prepare for participation. The viewpoints of multiple stakeholders are aggregated to assess the overall mission effectiveness of the overarching objective. An SAR SoS example problem illustrates application of the method. Also a dynamic programing approach can be used for generating meta-architectures based on the wave model. --Abstract, page iii