SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is a commonly used and an important technique for analyzing internal and external environments in order to provide a systematic approach and support for a decision making. SWOT is criticized mostly for considering only qualitative examination of environmental factors, no priority for various factors and strategies, and no vaguenes...

Résumé. De nos jours, les entrepôts de données et les outils d’analyse OLAP sont très utilisés dans les entreprises qui ont besoin de systèmes décisionnels qui s’adaptent à toutes les situations particulières du monde réel, pour éviter les erreurs d’analyse (plus connues dans la littérature sous le nom de problèmes d’additivité ou summarizability issues en Anglais). Dans cet article, nous prése...

In this paper we propose a Generic Analytical DesiGn EnvironmenT (GADGET) Toolbox for designing the most suitable MAC protocol for an arbitrary wireless sensor network (WSN) application. Furthermore, a model to weight the metrics in the design and a new single compound metric are proposed. Comparing performance curves produced by a number of metrics make it difficult to evaluate how well a give...

We report a method, based on the principles of origami (paper folding), for fabricating three-dimensional (3-D) paper microfluidic devices. The entire 3-D device is fabricated on a single sheet of flat paper in a single photolithographic step. It is assembled by simply folding the paper by hand. Following analysis, the device can be unfolded to reveal each layer. The applicability of the device...

Developing consensus is crucial to effective collaborative decision making and is particularly difficult in cases involving disruptive technologies, a new technology that unexpectedly displaces an established technology. Collaborative decision making often involves multiple criteria. Multicriteria decision making (MCDM) techniques, such as the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and multiattribu...

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As “kidneys of the earth”, wetlands play an important role in ameliorating weather conditions, flood storage, and the control and reduction of environmental pollution. With the development of local economies, the wetlands in both the Amazon and Yangtze River Basins have been affected and threatened by human activities, such as urban expansion, reclamation of land from lakes, land degradation, a...

Analytical ultracentrifugation has again become a widely used biomolecular research technique for determining sample purity, characterizing assembly and disassembly mechanisms of biomolecular complexes, determining subunit stoichiometries, detecting and characterizing macromolecular conformational changes, and measuring equilibrium constants and thermodynamic parameters for self- and hetero-ass...