Abstract: The objective of the paper is to develop the forecast
model for the HW flows. The methodology of the research included
6 modules: historical data, assumptions, choose of indicators, data
processing, and data analysis with STATGRAPHICS, and forecast
models. The proposed methodology was validated for the case study
for Latvia. Hypothesis on the changes in HW for time period of
2010-2020 have been developed and mathematically described with
confidence level of 95.0% and 50.0%. Sensitivity analysis for the
analyzed scenarios was done. The results show that the growth of
GDP affects the total amount of HW in the country. The total amount
of the HW is projected to be within the corridor of – 27.7% in the
optimistic scenario up to +87.8% in the pessimistic scenario with
confidence level of 50.0% for period of 2010-2020. The optimistic
scenario has shown to be the least flexible to the changes in the GDP
growth.
Abstract: Education, as the most important resource in any country, has multiplying effects on all facets of development in a society. The new social realities, particularly the interplay between democratization of education; unprecedented developments in IT sector; emergence of knowledge society, liberalization of economy and globalization have greatly influenced the educational process of all nations. This turbulence entails upon education to undergo dramatic changes to keep up with the new expectations. Growth of entrepreneurship among Indian women is highly important for empowering them and this is highly essential for socio-economic development of a society. Unfortunately in India there is poor acceptance of entrepreneurship among women as unfounded myths and fears restrain them to be enterprising. To remove these inhibitions, education system needs to be re-engineered to make entrepreneurship more acceptable. This paper empirically analyses the results of a survey done on around 500 female graduates in North India to measure and evaluate various entrepreneurial traits present in them. A formative model has been devised in this context, which should improve the teaching-learning process in our education system, which can lead to sustainable growth of women entrepreneurship in India.
Abstract: This paper focuses on issues of engagement by staff in professional development related to the delivery of e-learning. The paper reports on findings drawn from a New Zealand research project which is producing a sector-wide framework for professional development in tertiary e-learning. The research findings indicate that staff engaged in e-learning in tertiary institutions is not making the most effective use of the professional development opportunities available to them; rather they seem to gain their knowledge and support from a variety of informal means. This is despite an emphasis on the provision of professional development opportunities by both Government Policies and Institutions themselves. The conclusion drawn from the findings is that institutional approaches to professional development for e-learning do not yet fully reflect the demands and constraints that working in a digital context impose.
Abstract: Rapid growth of distance learning resulted in
importance to conduct research on students- satisfaction with distance
learning because differences in students- satisfaction might influence
educational opportunities for learning in a relevant Web-based
environment. In line with this, this paper deals with satisfaction of
students with distance module at Faculty of organizational sciences
(FOS) in Serbia as well as some factors affecting differences in their
satisfaction . We have conducted a research on a population of 68
first-year students of distance learning studies at FOS. Using
statistical techniques, we have found out that there is no significant
difference in students- satisfaction with distance learning module
between men and women. In the same way, we also concluded that
there is a difference in satisfaction with distance learning module
regarding to student-s perception of opportunity to gain knowledge as
the classic students.
Abstract: In the present communication, the existing measures of
fuzzy entropy are reviewed. A generalized parametric exponential
fuzzy entropy is defined.Our study of the four essential and some
other properties of the proposed measure, clearly establishes the
validity of the measure as an entropy.
Abstract: In this paper the problem of face recognition under variable illumination conditions is considered. Most of the works in the literature exhibit good performance under strictly controlled acquisition conditions, but the performance drastically drop when changes in pose and illumination occur, so that recently number of approaches have been proposed to deal with such variability. The aim of this work is to introduce an efficient local appearance feature extraction method based steerable pyramid (SP) for face recognition. Local information is extracted from SP sub-bands using LBP(Local binary Pattern). The underlying statistics allow us to reduce the required amount of data to be stored. The experiments carried out on different face databases confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Abstract: Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan in 2009 and caused
severe damages. The government employs a compulsory relocation
strategy for post-disaster reconstruction. This study analyzes the
impact of this strategy on community solidarity. It employs a multiple
approach for data collection, including semi-structural interview,
secondary data, and documentation. The results indicate that the
government-s strategy for distributing housing has led to conflicts
within the communities. In addition, the relocating process has
stimulated tensions between victims of the disaster and those residents
whose lands were chosen to be new sites for relocation. The
government-s strategy of “collective relocation" also worsened
community integration. In addition, the fact that a permanent housing
community may accommodate people from different places also posts
challenge for the development of new inter-personal relations in the
communities. This study concludes by emphasizing the importance of
bringing social, economic and cultural aspects into consideration for
post-disaster relocation..
Abstract: The most planted cover crops in the Czech Republic
are mustard (Sinapis alba) and phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia
Benth.). A field trial was executed to evaluate root system size (RSS)
in eight varieties of mustard and five varieties of phacelia on two
locations, in three BBCH phases and in two years. The relationship
between RSS and aboveground biomass was inquired. The root
system was assessed by measuring its electric capacity. Aboveground
mass and root samples to be evaluated by means of a digital image
analysis were recovered in the BBCH phase 70. The yield of
aboveground biomass of mustard was always statistically
significantly higher than that of phacelia. Mustard showed a
statistically significant negative correlation between root length
density (RLD) within 10 cm and aboveground biomass weight (r = -
0.46*). Phacelia featured a statistically significant correlation
between aboveground biomass production and nitrate nitrogen
content in soil (r=0.782**).
Abstract: The class of geometric deformable models, so-called
level sets, has brought tremendous impact to medical imagery. In
this paper we present yet another application of level sets to medical
imaging. The method we give here will in a way modify the speed
term in the standard level sets equation of motion. To do so we
build a potential based on the distance and the gradient of the
image we study. In turn the potential gives rise to the force field:
F~F(x, y) = P
∀(p,q)∈I
((x, y) - (p, q)) |ÔêçI(p,q)|
|(x,y)-(p,q)|
2 . The direction
and intensity of the force field at each point will determine the
direction of the contour-s evolution. The images we used to test
our method were produced by the Univesit'e de Sherbrooke-s PET
scanners.
Abstract: One of the ubiquitous routines in medical practice is searching through voluminous piles of clinical documents. In this paper we introduce a distributed system to search and exchange clinical documents. Clinical documents are distributed peer-to-peer. Relevant information is found in multiple iterations of cross-searches between the clinical text and its domain encyclopedia.
Abstract: Computer aided design accounts with the support of
parametric software in the design of machine components as well as
of any other pieces of interest. The complexities of the element under
study sometimes offer certain difficulties to computer design, or ever
might generate mistakes in the final body conception. Reverse
engineering techniques are based on the transformation of already
conceived body images into a matrix of points which can be
visualized by the design software. The literature exhibits several
techniques to obtain machine components dimensional fields, as
contact instrument (MMC), calipers and optical methods as laser
scanner, holograms as well as moiré methods. The objective of this
research work was to analyze the moiré technique as instrument of
reverse engineering, applied to bodies of nom complex geometry as
simple solid figures, creating matrices of points. These matrices were
forwarded to a parametric software named SolidWorks to generate
the virtual object. Volume data obtained by mechanical means, i.e.,
by caliper, the volume obtained through the moiré method and the
volume generated by the SolidWorks software were compared and
found to be in close agreement. This research work suggests the
application of phase shifting moiré methods as instrument of reverse
engineering, serving also to support farm machinery element designs.
Abstract: Flat double-layer grid is from category of space structures that are formed from two flat layers connected together with diagonal members. Increased stiffness and better seismic resistance in relation to other space structures are advantages of flat double layer space structures. The objective of this study is assessment and calculation of Behavior factor of flat double layer space structures. With regarding that these structures are used widely but Behavior factor used to design these structures against seismic force is not determined and exact, the necessity of study is obvious. This study is theoretical. In this study we used structures with span length of 16m and 20 m. All connections are pivotal. ANSYS software is used to non-linear analysis of structures.
Abstract: We have solved the Burgers-Fisher (BF) type equations,
with time-dependent coefficients of convection and reaction terms,
by using the auxiliary equation method. A class of solitary wave
solutions are obtained, and some of which are derived for the first
time. We have studied the effect of variable coefficients on physical
parameters (amplitude and velocity) of solitary wave solutions. In
some cases, the BF equations could be solved for arbitrary timedependent
coefficient of convection term.
Abstract: In this paper, we present two new ranking and unranking
algorithms for k-ary trees represented by x-sequences in Gray
code order. These algorithms are based on a gray code generation algorithm
developed by Ahrabian et al.. In mentioned paper, a recursive
backtracking generation algorithm for x-sequences corresponding to
k-ary trees in Gray code was presented. This generation algorithm
is based on Vajnovszki-s algorithm for generating binary trees in
Gray code ordering. Up to our knowledge no ranking and unranking
algorithms were given for x-sequences in this ordering. we present
ranking and unranking algorithms with O(kn2) time complexity for
x-sequences in this Gray code ordering
Abstract: Flood management is one of the important fields in
urban storm water management. Floods are influenced by the
increase of huge storm event, or improper planning of the area. This study mainly provides the flood protection in four stages; planning,
flood event, responses and evaluation. However it is most effective then flood protection is considered in planning/design and
evaluation stages since both stages represent the land development of the area. Structural adjustments are often more reliable than nonstructural
adjustments in providing flood protection, however
structural adjustments are constrained by numerous factors such as
political constraints and cost. Therefore it is important to balance
both adjustments with the situation. The technical decisions provided
will have to be approved by the higher-ups who have the power to
decide on the final solution. Costs however, are the biggest factor in
determining the final decision. Therefore this study recommends
flood protection system should have been integrated and enforces
more in the early stages (planning and design) as part of the storm
water management plan. Factors influencing the technical decisions
provided should be reduced as low as possible to avoid a reduction in
the expected performance of the proposed adjustments.
Abstract: The purpose of the present paper is to study the concept
of fuzzy bi-ideals in ternary semirings. We give some characterizations of fuzzy bi-ideals. Characterizations of regular ternary semirings
are provided.
Abstract: Numerical analysis naturally finds applications in all
fields of engineering and the physical sciences, but in the
21st century, the life sciences and even the arts have adopted
elements of scientific computations. The numerical data analysis
became key process in research and development of all the fields [6].
In this paper we have made an attempt to analyze the specified
numerical patterns with reference to the association rule mining
techniques with minimum confidence and minimum support mining
criteria. The extracted rules and analyzed results are graphically
demonstrated. Association rules are a simple but very useful form of
data mining that describe the probabilistic co-occurrence of certain
events within a database [7]. They were originally designed to
analyze market-basket data, in which the likelihood of items being
purchased together within the same transactions are analyzed.
Abstract: It is hard to express emotion through only speech when
we watch a character in a movie or a play because we cannot estimate
the size, kind, and quantity of emotion. So this paper proposes an
artificial emotion model for visualizing current emotion with color and
location in emotion model. The artificial emotion model is designed
considering causality of generated emotion, difference of personality,
difference of continual emotional stimulus, and co-relation of various
emotions. This paper supposed the Emotion Field for visualizing
current emotion with location, and current emotion is expressed by
location and color in the Emotion Field. For visualizing changes
within current emotion, the artificial emotion model is adjusted to
characters in Hamlet.
Abstract: One challenging direction of mobile commerce (mcommerce)
that is getting a great deal of attention globally is mobile
financing. The smart-phone and PDA users all around the world are
facing difficulties to become accustomed and trust in m-commerce.
The main rationale can be the slow variation and lack of trust in
mobile payment systems. Mobile payment systems that are in use
need to be more effective and efficient. This paper proposes: the
interface design is not the only factor affecting the m-commerce
adoption and lack of trust; in fact it is the combined effect of
interface usability and trustworthy mobile payment systems, because
it-s the money that the user has to spend at the end of the day, which
the user requires to get transferred securely. The purpose of this
research is to identify the problems regarding the trust and adaption
of m-commerce applications by mobile users and to provide the best
possible solution with respect to human computer interaction (HCI)
principles.
Abstract: Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANET) can provide
communications between vehicles or infrastructures. It provides the
convenience of driving and the secure driving to reduce accidents. In
VANET, the security is more important because it is closely related to
accidents. Additionally, VANET raises a privacy issue because it can
track the location of vehicles and users- identity when a security
mechanism is provided. In this paper, we analyze the problem of an
existing solution for security requirements required in VANET, and
resolve the problem of the existing method when a key management
mechanism is provided for the security operation in VANET.
Therefore, we show suitability of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) in
VANET for the solution of this problem.