A Framework for Enterprise Knowledge Discovery from Databases

Knowledge discovery from large databases has become an emerging research topic and application area in recent years primarily because of the successful introduction of large business information systems to enterprises in the electronic business era. However, transferring subjects/problems from managerial perspective to data mining tasks from information technology perspective requires multidisciplinary domain knowledge. This paper proposes a practical framework for enterprise knowledge discovery in a systematical manner. The six-step framework employs the cause-andeffect diagram to model enterprise processes, tasks and attributes corresponding diagram to define data mining tasks, and multi-criteria method to assess the mined results in the form of association rules. This research also applied the proposed framework to a real case study of knowledge discovery from service records. The mining results have been proven useful in product design and quality improvement and the framework has demonstrated its applicability of guiding an enterprise to discover knowledge from historical data to tackle existing problems

Secure Software Development: Issues and Challenges

In recent years, technology has advanced considerably with the introduction of many systems including advanced robotics, big data analytics, cloud computing, machine learning and many more. The opportunities to exploit the yet to come security that comes with these systems are going toe to toe with new releases of security protocols to combat this exploitation to provide a secure system. The digitization of our lives proves to solve our human problems as well as improve quality of life but because it is digitalized, information and technology could be misused for other malicious gains. Hackers aim to steal the data of innocent people to use it for other causes such as identity fraud, scams and many more. This issue can be corrected during the software development life cycle, integrating security across the development phases, and testing of the software is done early to reduce the number of vulnerabilities that might or might not heavily impact an organisation depending on the range of the attack. The goal of a secured system software is to prevent such exploitations from ever happening by conducting a system life cycle where through planning and testing is done to maximise security while maintaining functionality of the system. In this paper, we are going to discuss the recent trends in security for system development as well as our predictions and suggestions to improve the current security practices in this industry.Comment: 20 Pages, 4 Figure

3D Geometry of the Chelungpu Thrust System in Central Taiwan: Its Implications for Active Tectonics

This study is aimed at constructing a 3D subsurface geometry of the Chelungpu thrust and its associated structures, as well as examining the implications of the studies results for active tectonics in the area. Nine balanced cross-sections were constructed across the foothills belt in the study area to delineate the subsurface geometry of the major thrusts in the foreland of the fold-and-thrust belt

The effect of cigarette price increase on the cigarette consumption in Taiwan: evidence from the National Health Interview Surveys on cigarette consumption

BACKGROUND: This study uses cigarette price elasticity to evaluate the effect of a new excise tax increase on cigarette consumption and to investigate responses from various types of smokers. METHODS: Our sample consisted of current smokers between 17 and 69 years old interviewed during an annual face-to-face survey conducted by Taiwan National Health Research Institutes between 2000 to 2003. We used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) procedure to estimate double logarithmic function of cigarette demand and cigarette price elasticity. RESULTS: In 2002, after Taiwan had enacted the new tax scheme, cigarette price elasticity in Taiwan was found to be -0.5274. The new tax scheme brought about an average annual 13.27 packs/person (10.5%) reduction in cigarette consumption. Using the cigarette price elasticity estimate from -0.309 in 2003, we calculated that if the Health and Welfare Tax were increased by another NT$ 3 per pack and cigarette producers shifted this increase to the consumers, cigarette consumption would be reduced by 2.47 packs/person (2.2%). The value of the estimated cigarette price elasticity is smaller than one, meaning that the tax will not only reduce cigarette consumption but it will also generate additional tax revenues. Male smokers who had no income or who smoked light cigarettes were found to be more responsive to changes in cigarette price. CONCLUSIONS: An additional tax added to the cost of cigarettes would bring about a reduction in cigarette consumption and increased tax revenues. It would also help reduce incidents smoking-related illnesses. The additional tax revenues generated by the tax increase could be used to offset the current financial deficiency of Taiwan's National Health Insurance program and provide better public services

A Model to Predict Total Chlorine Residue in the Cooling Seawater of a Power Plant Using Iodine Colorimetric Method

A model experiment monitoring the fate of total residue oxidant (TRO) in water at a constant temperature and salinity indicated that it decayed exponentially with time, and with TRO decaying faster in seawater than in distilled water. The reduction of TRO by temperature (°K) was found to fit a curvilinear relationship in distilled water (r2 = 0.997) and a linear relationship in seawater (r2 = 0.996). Based on the decay rate, flow rate, and the length of cooling water flowing through at a given temperature, the TRO level in the cooling water of a power plant could be estimated using the equation developed in this study. This predictive model would provide a benchmark for power plant operators to adjust the addition of chlorine to levels necessary to control bio-fouling of cooling water intake pipelines, but without irritating ambient marine organisms

Relations between Average Distance, Heterogeneity and Network Synchronizability

By using the random interchanging algorithm, we investigate the relations between average distance, standard deviation of degree distribution and synchronizability of complex networks. We find that both increasing the average distance and magnifying the degree deviation will make the network synchronize harder. Only the combination of short average distance and small standard deviation of degree distribution that ensures strong synchronizability. Some previous studies assert that the maximal betweenness is a right quantity to estimate network synchronizability: the larger the maximal betweenness, the poorer the network synchronizability. Here we address an interesting case, which strongly suggests that the single quantity, maximal betweenness, may not give a comprehensive description of network synchronizability.Comment: 14 pages, and 7 figures (to be published in Physica A

Effects of Molecular Structure and Packing Order on the Stretchability of Semicrystalline Conjugated Poly(Tetrathienoacene-diketopyrrolopyrrole) Polymers

The design of polymer semiconductors possessing high charge transport performance, coupled with good ductility, remains a challenge. Understanding the distribution and behavior of both crystalline domains and amorphous regions in conjugated polymer films, upon an applied stress, shall provide general guiding principles to design stretchable organic semiconductors. Structure–property relationships (especially in both side chain and backbone engineering) are investigated for a series of poly(tetrathienoacene-diketopyrrolopyrrole) polymers. It is observed that the fused thiophene diketopyrrolopyrrole-based polymer, when incorporated with branched side chains and an additional thiophene spacer in the backbone, exhibits improved mechanical endurance and, in addition, does not show crack propagation until 40% strain. Furthermore, this polymer exhibits a hole mobility of 0.1 cm2 V−1 s−1 even at 100% strain or after recovered from strain, which reveals prominent continuity and viscoelasticity of the polymer thin film. It is also observed that the molecular packing orientations (either edge-on or face-on) significantly affect the mechanical compliance of the polymer films. The improved stretchability of the polymers is attributed to both the presence of soft amorphous regions and the intrinsic packing arrangement of its crystalline domains

On the growth of primary industry and population of China's counties

The growth dynamics of complex organizations have attracted much interest of econophysicists and sociophysicists in recent years. However, most of the studies are done for developed countries. We investigate the growth dynamics of the primary industry and the population of 2079 counties in mainland China using the data from the China County Statistical Yearbooks from 2000 to 2006. We find that the annual growth rates are distributed according to Student's $t$ distribution with the tail exponent less than 2. We find power-law relationships between the sample standard deviation of the growth rates and the initial size. The scaling exponent is less than 0.5 for the primary industry and close to 0.5 for the population.Comment: 8 page

Experimental Investigation on Thermoelectric Chiller Driven by Solar Cell

This paper presents experimental explorations on cooling performance of thermoelectric chillers being driven by solar cells, as well as comparison results to the performance being driven by fixed direct current. Solar energy is clear and limitless and can be collected by solar cells. We use solar cells to drive thermoelectric chillers, where the cold side is connected to the water tank. It is found that 250 mL of water can be cooled from 18.5°C to 13°C, where the corresponding coefficient of performance (COP) is changed between 0.55 and 1.05, when solar insolation is changed between 450 W/m2 and 1000 W/m2. The experimental results demonstrate that the thermoelectric chiller driven by solar cell is feasible and effective for energy saving issues