Abstract: The main purpose of the research presented in this paper is the investigation of how lean production is applied and whether business orientation of manufacturing enterprises has any effect on lean production's utilisation. In order to determine the situation of lean production, the paper presents a multidisciplinary research framework consisting of manufacturing, management tools, and business orientation theories and analyses 224 responses of employees in the sampling areas of Western Europe, Central Europe, and Arabian Peninsula. The study indicates intensive utilisation of lean production in the responding enterprises, with its highest use in Central Europe, followed by Western Europe and on the last place the Arabian Peninsula. The analysis of business orientation revealed that: (1) internal orientation is strongest in Western Europe and weakest in Central Europe with small differences in strength of orientation and (2) external orientation is strongest in Western Europe and weakest on the Arabian Peninsula with significant differences between orientations of enterprises. Correlations of business orientation and lean productions’ utilisation showed significant and positive impacts of: (1) internal enterprise orientation on lean production’ utilisation among enterprises from Arabian Peninsula, and (2) external enterprise orientation among enterprises from Western Europe and from the Arabian Peninsula, while other relations were found to be neutral.

Keywords: lean; lean production; business orientation; internal orientation; external orientation; manufacturing enterprises

Abstract: The goal of this paper is to describe the indoor localization of a moving object, such as, an UAV or mobile robot, in real time. For localization, the triangulation method is used, based on a multiple fixed points anchors. The distance measurement between the moving object and the anchors is realized with DWM1000 UWB compliant, wireless transceiver modules. For distance measurement, the double-sided, two-way ranging method is used. The position is revealed after the triangulation is corrected, based on the Kalman filter. This computationally intensive task is running on FPGA and provides a real-time operation. One of the anchors is connected to FPGA with a serial communication interface. For the triangulation and Kalman filter, hardware module generation high level synthesis, is used. In the paper, in addition to the implementation, measurement results are also presented for real-time localization.

Keywords: Indoor localization; FPGA; High level synthesis; Kalman filter

Abstract: This paper deals with the issues of Earnings Management. Earnings Management (hereafter “EM”) can be stated as a modern phenomenon, in recent years. Under the influence of globalization, new ideas penetrate this theory. This topic remains one of the most controversial topics of current financial theories or accounting. The accounting procedures allow managers to exercise their judgment and to make subjective estimates, to a certain extent, when designing financial statements. When this freedom is used correctly, it can be helpful in the process of improving the relevance and reliability of financial statements and reducing information asymmetry. Conversely, the opportunistic use of this freedom can contribute to the exact opposite result - lower relevance and reliability of financial statements, as well as, higher asymmetry of information. The aim of this work is EM initiatives analysis, statistical verification of the existence of the relationship between EM and company size, defined by chosen criteria and provide conclusions with regard to results. The first theoretical part of the paper deals with the theoretical basis of EM. Within the practical part of the contribution, the authors try to detect the presence of earning management based on the calculation of accruals, structured as discretionary and non-discretionary accruals, in the sample of enterprises using a modified Jones model and to verify the existence of the relationship between EM and company size, using the one-way ANOVA test. The differences in the sample averages are too large to be random, it is shown that there is a statistically significant difference in the level of EM, regarding company size.

Keywords: earnings management; accrual-based EM; company size; modified Jones model; the one-way ANOVA test

Abstract: The Automotive Industry has advanced significantly and this process is constantly continuing. Cars are controlled by hundreds of electrical units, which affects directly numberless safety and security related risk factors, especially considering incidents realized in the cyberspace. Due to the increasing number of connected cars, new testing facilities and methods need to be established, to support the solutions, for these novel challenges. For this reason, the Hungarian government has founded the Zalaegerszeg test track, and its special purpose is to provide space for the validation of future vehicles. The overview focused on the presently applied validation methods and processes has highlighted, that cybersecurity related testing methods - from a scientific point of view - are only slightly detailed in the sector of Automobile Industry. In a sector specific term, the lack of a holistic approach, may result a relevant barrier, in the future, for providing a socially tolerable level of cybersecurity. Accordingly, this paper aims to introduce a comprehensive cybersecurity reference model, to provide a solid basis for describing attack patterns and characterizing malicious intervention profiles.

Keywords: Security-and-Privacy; Physical-Layer; Autonomous-Driving-and-Communication; Vehicle-to-vehicle/roadside/Internet-communication; vehicular-security; cybersecurity-reference-space

Abstract: Today´s global economy shows that particular markets have become much more saturated and heterogenous than ever before. They are dominated by consumer´s individual needs whose behaviour is changing under the influence of external or internal factors. Therefore, global consumption is on a constant growth. When taking into account long-term sustainability as well as our moral commitment to nature and its resources, we need to focus on environmental protection and consider reusing materials within a production process. One of the solutions is to focus on green innovations, which are applicable in the circular economy and apply ecological and economic models of initial recycling into a production process. The main goal of our paper is to define a model of application of eco-eco principles in the circular economy by providing a specific view on the model aspect of procurement of production materials from recycling as well as presenting various possibilities on how to meet eco-eco goals of businesses which are based upon circular economy principles. The main output of the paper is the proposal of three variants how to approach product recycling models while emphasising their specificities and usability.

Keywords: modeling; stock management; reverse logistics; recycling; circular economy

Abstract: Quenching of metal products is a complex physical process that is difficult to precisely describe by physical models. The “Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC)” at the surface of the workpiece is a practical parameter that depends on the nature of the flow, the density, viscosity, and the thermal properties of the cooling liquid, the surface quality, shape, and thermal data of the component under quenching. Normally only numerical techniques are available for its estimation that need huge computational power. However, in the practice, on the basis of approximate quantitative data and some qualitative knowledge, often good and simple approximations can be elaborated for the description of quite complicated problems. In this paper a simple approximation is suggested for modeling the time-dependence of the HTC of an Inconel 600 alloy probe of cylindrical shape used in the standard ISO 9950. Simulation results using moderate computational power are presented to substantiate the suggestion.

Keywords: Quenching; Heat Transfer Coefficient; Finite Elements Methods; Newton-Raphson Algorithm; Julia

Abstract: The thermovoltaic effect describes the formation of electromotive force (EMF) in the absence of an external temperature gradient (in contrast to the conventional Seebeck phenomenon, which requires the creation of a temperature gradient between two semiconductor or metal connectors). In the presented research, the structure of a microgenerator using a thermovoltaic effect was proposed, in which the transport of hot electrons through an oxide insulating barrier lead to the accumulation of charge carriers and the formation of inter-layer potential. The microgenerator structures were fabricated in a multi-stage magnetron sputtering process. Planar structures were fabricated, consisting of thin layers of heavily doped degenerate semiconductor (SiC:Zr:B, Ge:Au, Ge:Ta:V, TiO₂:Nb) with a silicon dioxide (SiO₂) insulation barrier and a second silicon-metal based electrode (Ta, Mo, NiCr). The thermovoltaic effect was observed in all of the structures, and the value of the generated electromotive force (thermovoltaic voltage) and the value of effective power was determined. The presented preliminary results show that the concept of constructing of asymmetric multi-layer junction structures can be used to fabricate microgenerators using a thermovoltaic effect.

Keywords: degenerated semiconductor; insulating barrier; thermovoltaic effect

Abstract: The absence of handwritten special Latin character datasets prompted the creation of the T-H-E Dataset (Turkish-Hungarian-English handwritten character dataset) contributing to the recognition of multilingual handwritten texts. This paper represents a public-domain dataset including handwritten Turkish, Hungarian and English characters collected from 200 participants. The T-H-E Dataset is formed from 78 different letters represented in 156000 binary characters including both the upper and lower-case versions. The dataset can be downloaded from the web in six different versions enabling users to combine the different alphabets for different recognition purposes. The evaluation of the dataset is carried out by applying the same deep learning architecture on the T-H-E dataset and the EMNIST dataset. The dataset is publicly available at https://github.com/bartosgaye/thedataset.

Keywords: public dataset; handwritten character dataset; offline character recognition; OCR, multilingual

Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to point out the current state of using selected quality management practices in Slovak manufacturing enterprises. The research was focused on the application of selected practices of quality management, which can ensure that the customers’ needs are met and thus contribute to the higher performance of the business. Selected practices of quality management - TQM, Kaizen, Six Sigma and Controlling of quality were considered such approaches. A specific aim of the paper is to find out the level of their real use and potential effects on business with relation to business’s performance measured by the Return on Equity. The major research method was the primary quantitative research through a questionnaire. The survey data from 461 enterprises were analysed by the means of descriptive and inferential statistics. Since the variables of our interest are categorical in nature, we used appropriate nonparametric statistic technique - Pearson´s chi-square test. The 95% confidence intervals for proportions were also calculated. The results indicate dependence between the business size, capital structure and use of quality management practices. At the same time, it can be concluded that businesses applying at least one of the quality management practices achieve higher performance measured by the ROE (above 7.5%). Using the quality management practices, businesses can increase their economy and efficiency, reduce the unwanted variability in the processes and associated non-productive costs for increasing the production quality and customer satisfaction. Furthermore, these findings partially contribute to extension of knowledge in this research area.

Keywords: quality; quality management practices; performance; return on equity

Abstract: Some of the advantages of CNC machine use are high processing quality and the speed of the final machining of the product. In the paper we present the low cost solution while the goal was to design and implement a 3D model of a CNC machine based on laser engraver that does not contain too many parts (not only because of the price but also because of defectiveness) and to optimize it for easy production use. When implementing, those parts were focused on that are easily accessible for ordinary consumers or they can produce them themselves. Arduino has been used as a microcontroller. The software part was a created GUI that allows direct communication with the laser engraver machine based on the designed 3D model of the processed product, generating and sending a G-code to the machine through the USB port. In the paper we compared the results of laser engraving by our designed engraver CNC machine and the professional solution Akshar Fiber-Pro Laser.

Keywords: laser engraver; CNC machine; Arduino; Prototype; G-Code

Abstract: The aim of the article is to identify the motivation preferences of Czech managers on critical management positions of transport and logistics enterprises and to determine the method for the effective setting of the motivation factors in the interest of keeping them in an enterprise. The article is based on research outcomes from transport and logistics enterprises where the focus is on managers identified as talents by the enterprises. Research was conducted in 2018 in the Czech Republic using a questionnaire. In research, 154 managers were interviewed. Data were processed using basic descriptive statistics. The proposed effective setting of motivational elements is based on the use of a method for determining an appropriate variant - AHP multicriteria decision making method. The results of the article can serve to help entrepreneurs not only in the field of transport and logistics services. Other enterprises also have the potential to gain a strong system not only to retain their talents in society, but also to create satisfaction and commitment to the enterprises. The presented way of setting motivation factors is universally applicable to any sector and regional location.

Keywords: talents; managers; transport and logistics enterprises; AHP decision method

The main concept of this article is to introduce a cost function based algorithm for the reactive motion planning problem of mobile robots. With the usage of the cost function, different strategies can be combined. Next to speed and safety, several aspects can play a role in the motion. i.e. Traffic Regulation rules or lane-keeping. The different methods can be used separately as well, but the combination of methods provides an appropriate solution. The introduced reactive motion planning algorithm generates a collision-free solution for the agent in dynamic environment.

Keywords: motion planning; mobile robots; cost function; dynamic environment; obstacle avoidance

Abstract: Many processes make up cognitive-communication, such as orientation, attention, memory, problem-solving and executive function. Executive functions are necessary for the cognitive control of behavior and refer to some basic cognitive processes such as attentional control, working memory and cognitive flexibility. In this paper, a study is presented, which examines the relationship between algorithmic problem-solving and executive function. Executive functions are examined using Hanoi-tower test and algorithm problem-solving is investigated using a flowchart-based debugging test. The results indicate that a relationship can be found between problem-solving requiring algorithmic thinking and the executive function. The results received may have a positive impact on the efficiency of education of programming through the dedicated development of executive functions.

Keywords: executive functions; problem-solving; programming; Hanoi-tower test