• Title/Summary/Keyword: Mixed Methods Research

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The Use of Particle Swarm Optimization for Order Allocation Under Multiple Capacitated Sourcing and Quantity Discounts

  • Ting, Ching-Jung;Tsai, Chi-Yang;Yeh, Li-Wen
    • Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.136-145
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    • 2007
  • The selection of suppliers and the determination of order quantities to be placed with those suppliers are important decisions in a supply chain. In this research, a non-linear mixed integer programming model is presented to select suppliers and determine the order quantities. The model considers the purchasing cost which takes into account quantity discount, the cost of transportation, the fixed cost for establishing suppliers, the cost for holding inventory, and the cost of receiving poor quality parts. The capacity constraints for suppliers, quality and lead-time requirements for the parts are also taken into account in the model. Since the purchasing cost, which is a decreasing step function of order quantities, introduces discontinuities to the non-linear objective function, it is not easy to employ traditional optimization methods. Thus, a heuristic algorithm, called particle swarm optimization (PSO), is used to find the (near) optimal solution. However, PSO usually generates initial solutions randomly. To improve the PSO solution quality, a heuristic procedure is proposed to find an initial solution based on the average unit cost including transportation, purchasing, inventory, and poor quality part cost. The results show that PSO with the proposed initial solution heuristic provides better solutions than those with PSO algorithm only.

Electrical Fire Cause Diagnosis System Using a Knowledge Base

  • Lee, Jong-Ho;Kim, Doo-Hyun;Kim, Sung-Chul
    • International Journal of Safety
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.27-32
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    • 2007
  • For last several decades with the achievement of fast economic development, the electrical fires occupies over 30 percent of total fire incidents almost every year in Korea and not decreased in spite of much times and efforts. Electrical fire cause diagnostics are to confirm a cause for the fire by examination of fire scene. Cause diagnosis methods haven't been systematized yet, because of limits for available information, investigator's biased knowledge, etc. Therefore, in order to assist the investigators and to find out the exact causes of electrical fires, required is research for an electrical fire cause diagnosis system using DB, computer programming and some mathematical tools. The electrical fire cause diagnosis system has two functions of DB and electrical fire cause diagnosis. The cause diagnosis is conducted by a case-based reasoning on a case base and rule-based reasoning on a rule base. For the diagnosis with high reliability, a mixed reasoning approach of a case-based reasoning and fuzzy rule-based reasoning has been adopted. The electrical fire cause diagnosis system proposes the electrical fire causes inferred from the diagnosis processes, and possibility of the causes as well.

Effect of Entrepreneurial Passion and Positive Emotions on Customer Responses: Mixed Methods Approach

  • HAN, Youngwee;HAN, Sangho
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.18 no.5
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    • pp.35-47
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    • 2020
  • Purpose: In the highly competitive franchise market, the perceived entrepreneurial passion and emotions of customers are very important, because it impacts on the success of companies. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to suggest how the impact of the franchise entrepreneurial passion and positive emotions on the brand trust and loyalty of customers. Research design, data and methodology: This study analyzes data was collected through questionnaires on customer(n=480) who had visited franchise restaurants. Analysis of used collected data was based on the mix method using quantitative and qualitative comparative analysis. Results: The quantitative analysis results showed inventing passion, developing passion, positive emotions that perceived by customers have a positive impact on brand trust. On the other hand, founding passion did not have an impact on loyalty in quantitative analysis. but when combined with developing passion in qualitative comparison analysis, but when combined with developing passion in qualitative comparison, that became the sufficient condition of high loyalty of customers. Conclusions: The franchisor of the Korean franchise industry is indiscriminately overusing the founding franchisees, causing social problems. In this situation, founding passion can have a negative impact on customers. Therefore, the franchisors must have management capabilities by strictly managing the founding rules of the franchisee and disclosing the corporate vision.

An Analysis of Factors Affecting Energy Drink Consumption in College Students (대학생의 에너지드링크 섭취실태 및 영향 요인 분석)

  • Yun, Haesun;Kim, Su Hee;Lee, Chung Yul
    • Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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    • v.30 no.3
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    • pp.1-12
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    • 2013
  • Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the patterns of energy drink consumption and associated factors in a group of college students in South Korea. Methods: Cross-sectional, self-report survey data were collected from 231 college students in November of 2012 and were analyzed by logistic regression. Results: Students consuming energy drinks accounted for 81.8% of the entire sample and 40.3% of the sample reported that they mixed with alcoholic drink. The most common reason for drinking an energy drink was "To stay awake", followed by "To relieve fatigue". In logistic regression analysis, statistically significant predictors of energy drink consumption was alcohol drinking behavior. Conclusions: Consumption of energy drinks has been quite common in college students. Awareness of college students regarding potential health effects of energy drinks, in particular, those of mixing alcoholic beverage, should be increased through health education.

The Effectiveness of a Cultural Competence Training Program for Public Health Nurses using Intervention Mapping

  • Kim, Yune Kyong;Lee, Hyeonkyeong
    • Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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    • v.27 no.4
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    • pp.410-422
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    • 2016
  • Purpose: This study evaluated the effects of a cultural competence training program for public health nurses (PHNs) using intervention mapping. Methods: An embedded mixed method design was used. Forty-one PHNs (experimental: 21, control: 20) and forty marriage migrant women (MMW) (20, in each group) who were provided nursing care by PHN participated in the study. The experimental group was provided with a four-week cultural competence program consisting of an eight hour offline and online course, e-mail newsletters and social networking services (BAND). Transcultural Self-efficacy (TSE) of the PHNs, client-nurse trust, and satisfaction with nursing care of MMW were measured. Ten PHNs in the experimental group were interviewed after the experimental study. Results: The experimental group showed a significantly greater improvement in TSE, client-nurse trust, and satisfaction with nursing care than did the control group. Six themes emerged from qualitative data: (a) Recognizing cultural differences, (b) Being interested in the multicultural policy, (c) Trying to communicate in MMW's own language, (d) Providing medical information using internet and smart phone, (e) Embracing culturally diverse people into society, and (f) Requiring ongoing cultural competence training. Conclusion: Cultural competence training enabled PHNs to provide culturally competent care and contribute to MMW's health outcomes.

Bayesian Image Denoising with Mixed Prior Using Hypothesis-Testing Problem (가설-검증 문제를 이용한 혼합 프라이어를 가지는 베이지안 영상 잡음 제거)

  • Eom Il-Kyu;Kim Yoo-Shin
    • Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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    • v.43 no.3 s.309
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    • pp.34-42
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    • 2006
  • In general, almost information is stored in only a few wavelet coefficients. This sparse characteristic of wavelet coefficient can be modeled by the mixture of Gaussian probability density function and point mass at zero, and denoising for this prior model is peformed by using Bayesian estimation. In this paper, we propose a method of parameter estimation for denoising using hypothesis-testing problem. Hypothesis-testing problem is applied to variance of wavelet coefficient, and $X^2$-test is used. Simulation results show our method outperforms about 0.3dB higher PSNR(peak signal-to-noise ratio) gains compared to the states-of-art denoising methods when using orthogonal wavelets.

Experimental Study on Compaction Effect of Hydraulic Fill Soils (실내실험을 통한 수중 매립토의 다짐효과 분석)

  • Lee, Haeng-Woo;Chang, Pyoung-Wuck;Chang, Woong-Hee;Bong, Tae-Ho
    • Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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    • 2006.03a
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    • pp.301-310
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    • 2006
  • A series of laboratory tests was carried out for analyzing compaction characteristics of hydraulic fill soils(or hydraulically filled soils). Hydraulic fill soils were settled down by the weight of soil particle itself in water and consolidated by the extraction of water from the soil structures. Water content and dry unit weight were observed as the depth of sedimentation and consolidation soil. It was found from the result that the optimum water content $(W_{cpt})$ of the maximum unit weight$(\gamma_{dmax})$ is higher than that of laboratory compaction test(KS F 2312 A method). It was due to difference in compaction energy and compaction effect between two methods. And the maximum dry unit of hydraulic fill soil is smaller than that of laboratory compaction test. Especially in terms of compaction effect, the maximum relative compaction degrees$(R_{cmax})$ of Seamangum dredged sand, river sand and mixed sand, half and half of dredged and river sands, were 85%, 91% and 86%, respectively. It means that the compaction effect can be $85\sim91%$ of the maximum unit weight in laboratory compaction test.

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New Error Control Algorithms for Residue Number System Codes

  • Xiao, Hanshen;Garg, Hari Krishna;Hu, Jianhao;Xiao, Guoqiang
    • ETRI Journal
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    • v.38 no.2
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    • pp.326-336
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    • 2016
  • We propose and describe new error control algorithms for redundant residue number systems (RRNSs) and residue number system product codes. These algorithms employ search techniques for obtaining error values from within a set of values (that contains all possible error values). For a given RRNS, the error control algorithms have a computational complexity of $t{\cdot}O(log_2\;n+log_2\;{\bar{m}})$ comparison operations, where t denotes the error correcting capability, n denotes the number of moduli, and ${\bar{m}}$ denotes the geometric average of moduli. These algorithms avoid most modular operations. We describe a refinement to the proposed algorithms that further avoids the modular operation required in their respective first steps, with an increase of ${\lceil}log_2\;n{\rceil}$ to their computational complexity. The new algorithms provide significant computational advantages over existing methods.

The Effect of Aromatherapy on Stress of Nurses Working in Operating Room (향기흡입법이 수술실 간호사의 스트레스에 미치는 효과)

  • Sung, Soon Nam;Eun, Young
    • Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.1-11
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    • 2007
  • Purpose: To identify the effects of the aromatherapy on stress of nurses working in operating room. Methods: The study design was nonequivalent control-group pretest-posttest design. The subjects were 45 nurses working in the operating room. Experimental group were 24 nurses in G Hospital and control group were 21 nurses in U Hospital. All of the subjects were measured of the subjective stress, stress responses and the job stress. For aromatherapy, lavender, bergamot, and ylang were mixed in the ratio of 2 : 2 : 1. Results: 1) "The subjective stress of experimental group is lower than that of the control group" was supported (t=-2.70, p=.01). 2) "The stress responses of experi-mental group is lower than that of the control group" was supported (t=-2.49, p=.01). 3) "The job stress of experimental group is lower than that of the control group" was supported (t=-7.97, p=.00). Conclusion: This study suggested that such aroma inhalation method could be effective on stress of nurses working in operating room.

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Multi-channel Speech Enhancement Using Blind Source Separation and Cross-channel Wiener Filtering

  • Jang, Gil-Jin;Choi, Chang-Kyu;Lee, Yong-Beom;Kim, Jeong-Su;Kim, Sang-Ryong
    • The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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    • v.23 no.2E
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    • pp.56-67
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    • 2004
  • Despite abundant research outcomes of blind source separation (BSS) in many types of simulated environments, their performances are still not satisfactory to be applied to the real environments. The major obstacle may seem the finite filter length of the assumed mixing model and the nonlinear sensor noises. This paper presents a two-step speech enhancement method with multiple microphone inputs. The first step performs a frequency-domain BSS algorithm to produce multiple outputs without any prior knowledge of the mixed source signals. The second step further removes the remaining cross-channel interference by a spectral cancellation approach using a probabilistic source absence/presence detection technique. The desired primary source is detected every frame of the signal, and the secondary source is estimated in the power spectral domain using the other BSS output as a reference interfering source. Then the estimated secondary source is subtracted to reduce the cross-channel interference. Our experimental results show good separation enhancement performances on the real recordings of speech and music signals compared to the conventional BSS methods.