Abstract: This study investigates the role and impact of English loan words on Japanese language in travel brochures. The issues arising from a potential switch to English as a tool to absorb the West’s advanced knowledge and technology in the modernization of Japan to a means of linking Japan with the rest of the world and enhancing the country’s international presence. Sociolinguistic contexts was used to analyze data collected from the Nippon Travel agency "HIS"’s brochures in Thailand, revealing that English plays the most important role as lexical gap fillers and special effect givers. An increasing mixer of English to Japanese affects how English is misused, the way the Japanese see the world and the present generation’s communication gap.
Abstract: The rapid development and growth of technology has changed the method of obtaining information for educators and learners. Technology has created a new world of collaboration and communication among people. Incorporating new technology into the teaching process can enhance learning outcomes. Billions of individuals across the world are now connected together, and are cooperating and contributing their knowledge and intelligence. Time is no longer wasted in waiting until the teacher is ready to share information as learners can go online and get it immediatelt.
The objectives of this paper are to understand the reasons why changes in teaching and learning methods are necessary, to find ways of improving them, and to investigate the challenges that present themselves in the adoption of new ICT tools in higher education institutes.
To achieve these objectives two primary research methods were used: questionnaires, which were distributed among students at higher educational institutes and multiple interviews with faculty members (teachers) from different colleges and universities, which were conducted to find out why teaching and learning methodology should change.
The findings show that both learners and educators agree that educational technology plays a significant role in enhancing instructors’ teaching style and students’ overall learning experience; however, time constraints, privacy issues, and not being provided with enough up-to-date technology do create some challenges.
Abstract: This paper increases directivity and gain of Small Planar Dipole Antenna (SPDA) by using Symmetrical Pyramidal Block (SPB) which operates in X band at 11 GHz. The SPB consists four sides; each of which is metamaterial with Epsilon Negative Medium (ENG) and Epsilon Near-Zero (ENZ). The results simulated using the High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) show that the SPB is capable of enhancing directivity and gain for the SPDA with maximum gain of 2.46 dB. The reflection coefficient is -13.7037 dB with narrow beam width.
Abstract: The reported study focuses on pre-service teachers’ professional development during the teaching practice. The cohort studied comprised participants in their final year in the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science with Graduate Certificate in Education programmes of a university in Fiji. Analysis of the data obtained using a survey questionnaire indicates that overall, the pre-service teachers were satisfied with the practicum experience. This is assumed to demonstrate that the practicum experience contributed well towards their professional preparation for work expected of them in Fiji secondary schools. Participants also identified some concerns as needing attention. To conclude, the paper provides suggestions for improving the preparation of teachers by strengthening the identified areas of the practicum offered by the university. The study has implications for other teacher education providers in small developing island states and even beyond for the purpose of enhancing learning in student teachers’ for future work.
Abstract: The topic of enhancing security in XML databases is important as it includes protecting sensitive data and providing a secure environment to users. In order to improve security and provide dynamic access control for XML databases, we presented XLog file to calculate user trust values by recording users’ bad transaction, errors and query severities. Severity-aware trust-based access control for XML databases manages the access policy depending on users' trust values and prevents unauthorized processes, malicious transactions and insider threats. Privileges are automatically modified and adjusted over time depending on user behaviour and query severity. Logging in database is an important process and is used for recovery and security purposes. In this paper, the Xlog file is presented as a dynamic and temporary log file for XML databases to enhance the level of security.
Abstract: The measurement of enterprise-university-research
cooperative efficiency has important meanings in improving the
cooperative efficiency, strengthening the effective integration of
regional resource, enhancing the ability of regional innovation and
promoting the development of regional economy. The paper
constructs the DEA method and DEA-Malmquist productivity index
method to research the cooperation efficiency of Hubei by making
comparisons with other provinces in China. The study found out the
index of technology efficiency is 0.52 and the enterprise-universityresearch
cooperative efficiency is Non-DEA efficient. To realize the
DEA efficiency of Hubei province, the amount of 1652.596 R&D
employees and 638.368 R&D employees’ full time equivalence should
be reduced or 137.89 billion yuan of new products’ sales income be
increased. Finally, it puts forward policy recommendations on existing
problems to strengthen the standings of the cooperation, realize the
effective application of the research results, and improve the level of
management of enterprise-university-research cooperation efficiency.
Abstract: Environmental education is the key to enhancing or changing students’ ways of thinking and acting in order to create an environmentally robust future for all. The present study investigates the beliefs of 812 primary school students, which merit consideration when developing educational interventions. Results of multiple regression analyses reveal that educational interventions should focus on promoting students’ feelings of control over pro-environmental behaviors (PEB). For example, schools could provide recycling bins on the premises. Furthermore, it is critical to develop positive attitudes in students by stressing the various benefits of PEB for keeping our planet clean and protecting wildlife. Unfortunately, our results indicate that students believe that PEB is boring and annoying. Suggestions are offered for making PEB more interesting and relevant. Further research is needed to test the effectiveness of interventions based on the present results.
Abstract: Since information and communication technology (ICT) plays a critical role in enhancing national competitiveness, it is a driving force for social and economic growth and prosperity. The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will integrate this into ASEAN countries as a new mechanism and a measure that will improve economic performance as a global economy. Government policies may support or impede such harmonization. This study was to investigate, analyze the status of Thai IT entrepreneurs and define key strategies to enhance their competitive advantage. Data were collected based on in-depth interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, seminars and fieldwork on information technology excluding communication. SWOT was used as a tool to analyze the study. The results of this study can be used to enable the government to guide policy, measures and strategies for creating a competitive advantage for Thailand’s IT entrepreneurs in the global market.
Abstract: The objectives of memorabilia of Suan Sunandha are to develop a general knowledge presentation about the historical royal garden through interactive graphic simulation technique and to employ high-functionality context in enhancing interactive user navigation. The approach infers non-intrusive display of relevant history in response to situational context. User’s navigation runs through the virtual reality campus, consisting of new and restored buildings. A flash back presentation of information pertaining to the history in the form of photos, paintings, and textual descriptions are displayed along each passing-by building. To keep the presentation lively, graphical simulation is created in a serendipity game play so that the user can both learn and enjoy the educational tour. The benefits of this human-computer interaction development are two folds. First, lively presentation technique and situational context modeling are developed that entail a usable paradigm of knowledge and information presentation combinations. Second, cost effective training and promotion for both internal personnel and public visitors to learn and keep informed of this historical royal garden can be furnished without the need for a dedicated public relations service. Future improvement on graphic simulation and ability based display can extend this work to be more realistic, user-friendly, and informative for all.
Abstract: In this research, n-dodecylthiol was added to P3HT/ PC70BM polymer solar cells to improve the crystallinity of P3HT and enhance the phase separation of P3HT/PC70BM. The improved crystallinity of P3HT:PC70BM doped with 0-5% by volume of n-dodecylthiol resulted in improving the power conversion efficiency of polymer solar cells by 33%. In addition, thermal annealing of the P3HT/PC70MB/n-dodecylthiolcompound showed further improvement in crystallinity with n-dodecylthiol concentration up to 2%. The highest power conversion efficiency of 3.21% was achieved with polymer crystallites size L of 11.2nm, after annealing at 150°C for 30 minutes under a vacuum atmosphere. The smaller crystallite size suggests a shorter path of the charge carriers between P3HT backbones, which could be beneficial to getting a higher short circuit current in the devices made with the additive.
Abstract: ERP has been used in many enterprises for management, the accuracy of the production forecasting module is vital to the decision making of the enterprise, and the profit is affected directly. Therefore, enhancing the accuracy of the production forecasting module can also increase the efficiency and profitability. To deal with a lot of data, a suitable, reliable and accurate statistics model is necessary. LSSVM and Grey System are two main models to be studied in this paper, and a case study is used to demonstrate how the combination model is effective to the result of forecasting.
Abstract: In the literature, Improved Recycling Folded Cascode (IRFC) Operational Transconductance Amplifier (OTA) is proposed for enhancing the DC gain and the Unity Gain Bandwidth (UGB) of the Recycling Folded Cascode (RFC) OTA. In this paper, an enhanced IRFC (EIRFC) OTA which uses positive feedback at the cascode node is proposed for enhancing the differential mode (DM) gain without changing the unity gain bandwidth (UGB) and lowering the Common mode (CM) gain. For the purpose of comparison, IRFC and EIRFC OTAs are implemented using UMC 90nm CMOS technology and studied through simulation. From the simulation, it is found that the DM gain and CM gain of EIRFC OTA is higher by 6dB and lower by 38dB respectively, compared to that of IRFC OTA for the same power and area. The slew rate of EIRFC OTA is also higher by a factor of 1.5.
Abstract: This study aims at identifying the practices that should be taken into consideration by audit committees as a tool of corporate governance in Libyan commercial banks by investigating various perceptions on this topic. The study is based on a questionnaire submitted to audit committees ‘members at Libyan commercial banks, directors of internal audit departments as well as members of board of directors at these banks in addition to a number of external auditors and academic staff from Libyan universities. The study reveals that the role of audit committees has to be shifted from traditional areas of accounting to a broader role including functions related to financial reporting, audit planning, support the independence of internal and external auditors, acting as a channel of communication between external auditors and board of directors, reviewing external audit, and evaluating internal control systems. Although the study is a starting point in developing a framework of good audit committees’ practices in Libya, it is believed that the adoption of its results can result in enhancing the corporate governance practices not only in the banking sector but also in the entire corporate sector in Libya.
Abstract: In this study, the in vitro anticholinesterase activity of
the volatile oils of both O. basilicum and O. africanum was
investigated and both samples showed significant activity. The major
constituents of the two oils were isolated using several column
chromatographies. Linalool, 1,8-cineol and eugenol were isolated
from the volatile oil of O. basilicum and camphor was isolated from
the volatile oil of O. africanum. The anticholinesterase activities of
the isolated compounds were also evaluated where 1,8-cineol showed
the highest inhibitory activity followed by camphor. To confirm these
activities, learning and memory enhancing effects were tested in
mice. Memory impairment was induced by scopolamine, a
cholinergic muscarinic receptor antagonist. Anti-amnesic effects of
both volatile oils and their terpenoids were investigated by the
passive avoidance task in mice. We also examined their effects on
brain acetylcholinesterase activity. Results showed that scopolamineinduced
cognitive dysfunction was significantly attenuated by
administration of the volatile oils and their terpenoids, eugenol and
camphor, in the passive avoidance task and inhibited brain
acetylcholinesterase activity. These results suggest that O. basilicum
and O. africanum volatile oils can be good candidates for further
studies on Alzheimer’s disease via their acetylcholinesterase
inhibitory actions.
Abstract: Dielectric materials play an important role in broad applications, such as electrical and electromagnetic applications. This research studied the prediction of effective permeability of composite and nanocomposite dielectric materials based on theoretical analysis to specify the effects of embedded magnetic inclusions in enhancing magnetic properties of dielectrics. Effective permeability of Plastics and Glass nanodielectrics have been predicted with adding various types and percentages of magnetic nano-particles (Fe, Ni-Cu, Ni-Fe, MgZn_Ferrite, NiZn_Ferrite) for formulating new nanodielectric magnetic industrial materials. Soft nanoparticles powders that have been used in new nanodielectrics often possess the structure of a particle size in the range of micrometer- to nano-sized grains and magnetic isotropy, e.g., a random distribution of magnetic easy axes of the nanograins. It has been succeeded for enhancing characteristics of new nanodielectric magnetic industrial materials. The results have shown a significant effect of inclusions distribution on the effective permeability of nanodielectric magnetic composites, and so, explained the effect of magnetic inclusions types and their concentration on the effective permeability of nanodielectric magnetic materials.
Abstract: Enhancing the quality of two dimensional signals is one of the most important factors in the fields of video surveillance and computer vision. Usually in real-life video surveillance, false detection occurs due to the presence of random noise, illumination
and shadow artifacts. The detection methods based on background subtraction faces several problems in accurately detecting objects in realistic environments: In this paper, we propose a noise removal algorithm using neighborhood comparison method with thresholding. The illumination variations correction is done in the detected foreground objects by using an amalgamation of techniques like homomorphic decomposition, curvelet transformation and gamma adjustment operator. Shadow is removed using chromaticity estimator with local relation estimator. Results are compared with the existing methods and prove as high robustness in the video surveillance.
Abstract: Considering the complexities involved in Cloud computing, there are still plenty of issues that affect the privacy of data in cloud environment. Unless these problems get solved, we think that the problem of preserving privacy in cloud databases is still open. In tokenization and homomorphic cryptography based solutions for privacy preserving cloud database querying, there is possibility that by colluding with service provider adversary may run brute force attacks that will reveal the attribute values.
In this paper we propose a solution by defining the variant of K –means clustering algorithm that effectively detects such brute force attacks and enhances privacy of cloud database querying by preventing this attacks.
Abstract: The efficiency of heavy metals removal from sewage
sludge in bioleaching processes with heterotrophic, chemoautotrophic
(sulphur-oxidizing) sludge cenoses and chemical leaching (in
distilled water, weakly acidic or alkaline medium) was compared.
The efficacy of heavy metals removal from sewage sludge varies
from 83 % (Zn) up to 14 % (Cr) and follows the order: Zn > Mn > Cu
> Ni > Co > Pb > Cr. The advantages of metals bioleaching process
at heterotrophic metabolism were shown. A new process for
bioconversation of sewage sludge into fertilizer at middle
temperatures after partial heavy metals removal was developed. This
process is based on enhancing vital ability of heterotrophic
microorganisms by adding easily metabolized nutrients and synthesis
of metabolites by growing sludge cenoses. These metabolites possess
the properties of heavy metals extractants and flocculants which
provide the enhancement of sludge flocks sedimentation. The process
results in biomineral fertilizer of prolonged action with immobilized
sludge bioelements. The fertilizer satisfies the EU limits for the
sewage sludge of agricultural utilization. High efficiency of the
biomineral fertilizer obtained has been demonstrated in vegetation
experiments.
Abstract: This study investigated the views of teachers, students and their parents on the FATIH (Movement of Enhancing Opportunities and Improving Technology) Project, which was put into service by the Ministry of National Education in cooperation with the Ministry of Transportation in Turkey in November 2010 for the purpose of increasing students’ success and planned to be completed within 5 years. The study group consisted of teachers employed in a pilot school in the province of Karaman in central Turkey included within the scope of the FATIH Project, students attending this school and parents whose children are students in that school. The research data were collected through forms developed by the researchers to determine the views of teachers, students and parents on the FATIH Project. The descriptive analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. An analysis of the data revealed that a large majority of the teachers and the students believed that if computers were used to serve their set purpose, then they could make considerable contributions to education. A large majority of the parents, on the other hand, regard the use of computers in education as a great opportunity for the students. The views of the teachers, students and parents on the FATIH Project usually overlap. Most of the participants in the study pointed out that the FATIH Project was intended to use technology effectively in education. Moreover, each individual participant described their role in the FATIH Project in accordance with their relative position and stated that they could perform whatever was expected of them for the effective and efficient use and progress of the Project. The views of the participants regarding the FATIH Project vary according to the kind of the participants.
Abstract: The effectiveness of a commercial bee attractant, synthetic honey bee queen mandibular pheromone (Fruit Boost®) for enhancing pollination of Gossypium hirsutum was evaluated in a transgenic (Bt) cotton crop. The study assessed the number of bee visitations to blossoms of plants treated with Fruit Boost® as well, as effects on fruit set, yield, and lint quality. Bee activity on plots sprayed with pheromone concentrations of 50 and 500 queen equivalents (QEQ) /ha did not differ significantly from water-only control, on the day of application or the subsequent day. Application of the pheromone did not increase fruit set, yield, or lint quality. Two consecutive pheromone applications, applied two days apart, were not significantly different from a single application for any parameter.