Prediction of retail sales of footwear using feedforward and recurrent neural networks

Fluctuation of sales over time is one of the major problems faced by most of the industries. To alleviate this problem management tries to base their plans on forecast of sales pattern, which are mostly adhoc and rarely provides solid foundation for the plans. This study makes an attempt to solve this problem by taking a neural network approach, at the process of sales of footwear, and arriving at an optimum neural network model. The algorithms used for developing such model through neural network are both feedforward and recurrent Elman network. The data used in this work are the weekly sales of footwear and the information about the seasonality of sales process. While solving the problem, the focus is on forecasting of weekly retail sales as per the requirement of management. This work would reduce the uncertainty existing in the short-term/middle term planning of sales and distribution logistics of footwear over different time horizons across the entire supply chain of footwear business.     

Hardware-software co-synthesis of hard real-time systems with reconfigurable FPGAs

Real-time systems cover a wide application domain. This paper presents an efficient heuristic algorithm for enforcing the schedulability of aperiodic hard real-time tasks arriving simultaneously with precedence constraints and individual deadlines. The proposed co-synthesis algorithm integrates partitioning and non-preemptive scheduling. Reconfigurable FPGAs are incrementally added when schedulability suffers in a uniprocessor system. Initially, a schedule that minimizes the maximum lateness and satisfies the precedence constraints is made. If individual timing constraints are not met in this schedule, some tasks are selected and transferred to dynamically reconfigured FPGAs. The proposed algorithm was implemented and tested with a large number of task graphs with task size as high as 700 nodes. The algorithm could not only achieve schedulability but also could reduce the total completion time of the task graph. Moreover, incremental addition of reconfigurable FPGAs yielded a cost effective solution.     

A novel microfluidic switch for pH control using Chitosan based hydrogels

We report a novel pH-sensitive hydrogel based micro-valve for metered flow that has applications in a laboratory made “Intelligent valving system”. The hydrogel solution was prepared through Chitosan and poly vinyl alcohol in acetic acid and crystallized using gluteraldehyde as the crosslinking agent in the form of thin wafers and it was found to be very sensitive to pH changes. The pore structure of hydrogel was investigated through Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy and thin wafers of the gel were physically placed inside PDMS microchannels. Flow metering in these channels was observed by controlled expansion of the hydrogel plug till complete valving was realized. This valving device was further precisely characterized with micro Particle Image Velocimetry using a solution containing fluorescent polymeric micro beads. The principle advantage of this hydrogel device is the smaller range of pH (varying between pH 3 and 7) over which the valving response is observed.     

The interplay of conscious and automatic mechanisms in the context of routine use: An integrative and comparative study of contrasting mechanisms

Researchers have been closely studying how information technology services became a routine part of our lives. Studies have found that users who routinely use online services either consciously develop loyalty or automatically develop a habit. But many studies now mix the elements of conscious and automatic use despite the great differences in these phenomena. This study proposes a new theoretical framework of how the conscious and automatic mechanisms simultaneously, but differentially, regulate postadoption phenomena in the context of online information services. An empirical test confirms that these two mechanisms have highly discernible patterns that researchers and managers alike must heed.     

A multi-item transportation problem with fuzzy tolerance

This paper presents the recently introduced modified subgradient method for optimization and its effectiveness in a fuzzy transportation model. Here a multi-item balanced transportation problem (MIBTP) is formulated where unit transportation costs are imprecise. Also available spaces and budgets at destinations are limited but imprecise. The objective is to find a shipment schedule for the items that minimizes the total cost subjected to imprecise warehouse and budget constraints at destinations. The proposed model is reduced to a multi-objective optimization problem using tolerances, then to a crisp single-objective one using fuzzy non-linear programming (FNLP) technique and Zimmermann's method. The above fuzzy MIBTP is also reduced to another form of deterministic one using modified sub-gradient method (MSM). These two crisp optimization problems are solved by Genetic Algorithm (GA). As an extension, fuzzy multi-item balanced solid transportation problems (STPs) with and without restrictions on some routes and items are formulated and reduced to deterministic ones following FNLP and Zimmermann's methods. These models are also solved by GA. Models are illustrated numerically, optimum results of fuzzy MIBTP from two deductions are compared. Results are also presented for different GA parameters.     

Aluminum industry and climate change—Assessment and responses

It is now possible to assess the impact of the production processes of aluminum on the environment and to describe some of the ongoing responses and opportunities for improvement. This is compared with the benefits of aluminum in transportation, where the growing usage in various forms of transport due to its low density, high strength, and ability to be recycled enables reduced mass, increased fuel efficiency, reduced emissions and increased safety. It is the purpose of this paper to compare and contrast the emissions generated in the production of aluminum with the benefits accruing from its increased use in transportation.