Abstract: Traditionally, Yemini Sidr honey has been reported to
cure liver problems, stomach ulcers, and respiratory disorders. In this
experiment, we evaluated Yemeni Sidr honey for its ability to protect
inflammations caused by acetic acid and formalin -induced writhing,
carrageenan and histamine-induced paw oedema in experimental rat
model. Hyperpyrexia, membrane stabilizing activity, and
phytochemical screening of the honey was also examined. Yemini
Sidr Honey at (100, 200 and 500 mg/kg) exhibited a concentration
dependant inhibition of acetic acid induced and formalin induced
writhing, paw oedema induced by carrageenan & histamine, and
hyperpyrexia induced by brewer's yeast, it also inhibited membrane
stabilizing activity. Phytochemical screenings of the honey reveal the
presence of flavonoids, steroid, alkaloids, saponins and tannins. This
study suggested that Yemeni Sidr honey possess very strong antiinflammatory,
analgesic and antipyretic effects and these effects
would be a result of the phytochemicals present.
Abstract: Leonotisleonurus a shrub indigenous to Southern
Africa is widely used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of
conditions ranging from skin diseases and cough to epileptic fits and
‘heart problems’. Studies on the aqueous extract of the leaves have
indicated cycloxegenase enzyme inhibitory activity and an
antihypertensive effect.
Five methanol leaf extract fractions (MLEa - MLEe) of L.
leonurus were tested on anaesthetized normotensive male Wistar rats
(AWR) and isolated perfused working rat hearts (IWH). Fraction
MLEc (0.01mg/kg – 0.05mg/kg) induced significant increases in BP
and HR in AWR and positive chronotropic and inotropic effects in
IWH (1.0mg/ml – 5.0mg/ml). Pre-administration of atenolol
(2.0mg/kg) and prazosin (60μg/kg) significantly inhibited MLEc
effect on HR and MAP respectively in vivo, while atenolol
(7.0mg/ml) pre-perfusion significantly inhibited MLEc effect in vitro.
The hypertensive effect of MLEc is probably via β1agonism.
Results also indicate the presence of multiple cardioactive
compounds in L. leonurus.
Abstract: A Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a radioisotope imaging technique that illustrates the organs and the metabolisms of the human body. This technique is based on the simultaneous detection of 511 keV annihilation photons, annihilated as a result of electrons annihilating positrons that radiate from positron-emitting radioisotopes that enter biological active molecules in the body. This study was conducted on ten patients in an effort to conduct patient-related experimental studies. Dosage monitoring for the bladder, which was the organ that received the highest dose during PET applications, was conducted for 24 hours. Assessment based on measuring urination activities after injecting patients was also a part of this study. The MIRD method was used to conduct dosage calculations for results obtained from experimental studies. Results obtained experimentally and theoretically were assessed comparatively.
Abstract: Academic digital libraries emerged as a result of advances in computing and information systems technologies, and had been introduced in universities and to public. As results, moving in parallel with current technology in learning and researching environment indeed offers myriad of advantages especially to students and academicians, as well as researchers. This is due to dramatic changes in learning environment through the use of digital library system which giving spectacular impact on these societies- way of performing their study/research. This paper presents a survey of current criteria for evaluating academic digital libraries- performance. The goal is to discuss criteria being applied so far for academic digital libraries evaluation in the context of user-centered design. Although this paper does not comprehensively take into account all previous researches in evaluating academic digital libraries but at least it can be a guide in understanding the evaluation criteria being widely applied.
Abstract: Problem Statement:Rapid technological developments of the 21st century have advanced our daily lives in various ways. Particularly in education, students frequently utilize technological resources to aid their homework and to access information. listen to radio or watch television (26.9 %) and e-mails (34.2 %) [26]. Not surprisingly, the increase in the use of technologies also resulted in an increase in the use of e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, mobile phones, mobile phone cameras and web sites by adolescents to bully peers. As cyber bullying occurs in the cyber space, lesser access to technologies would mean lesser cyber-harm. Therefore, the frequency of technology use is a significant predictor of cyber bullying and cyber victims. Cyber bullies try to harm the victim using various media. These tools include sending derogatory texts via mobile phones, sending threatening e-mails and forwarding confidential emails to everyone on the contacts list. Another way of cyber bullying is to set up a humiliating website and invite others to post comments. In other words, cyber bullies use e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging, pagers, mobile texts and online voting tools to humiliate and frighten others and to create a sense of helplessness. No matter what type of bullying it is, it negatively affects its victims. Children who bully exhibit more emotional inhibition and attribute themselves more negative self-statements compared to non-bullies. Students whose families are not sympathetic and who receive lower emotional support are more prone to bully their peers. Bullies have authoritarian families and do not get along well with them. The family is the place where the children-s physical, social and psychological needs are satisfied and where their personalities develop. As the use of the internet became prevalent so did parents- restrictions on their children-s internet use. However, parents are unaware of the real harm. Studies that explain the relationship between parental attitudes and cyber bullying are scarce in literature. Thus, this study aims to investigate the relationship between cyber bullying and parental attitudes in the primary school. Purpose of Study: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between cyber bullying and parental attitudes. A second aim was to determine whether parental attitudes could predict cyber bullying and if so which variables could predict it significantly. Methods:The study had a cross-sectional and relational survey model. A demographics information form, questions about cyber bullying and a Parental Attitudes Inventory were conducted with a total of 346 students (189 females and 157 males) registered at various primary schools. Data was analysed by multiple regression analysis using the software package SPSS 16.
Abstract: The dynamic or complex modulus test is considered
to be a mechanistically based laboratory test to reliably characterize
the strength and load-resistance of Hot-Mix Asphalt (HMA) mixes
used in the construction of roads. The most common observation is
that the data collected from these tests are often noisy and somewhat
non-sinusoidal. This hampers accurate analysis of the data to obtain
engineering insight. The goal of the work presented in this paper is to
develop and compare automated evolutionary computational
techniques to filter test noise in the collection of data for the HMA
complex modulus test. The results showed that the Covariance
Matrix Adaptation-Evolutionary Strategy (CMA-ES) approach is
computationally efficient for filtering data obtained from the HMA
complex modulus test.
Abstract: Educational institutions often implement policies with
the intention of influencing how learning and teaching occur.
Generally, such policies are not as effective as their makers would
like; changing the behavior of third-level teachers proves difficult.
Nevertheless, a policy instituted in 2006 at the Dublin Institute of
Technology has met with success: each newly hired faculty member
must have a post-graduate qualification in “Learning and Teaching"
or successfully complete one within the first two years of
employment. The intention is to build teachers- knowledge about
student-centered pedagogies and their capacity to implement them.
As a result of this policy (and associated programs that support it),
positive outcomes are readily apparent. Individual teachers who have
completed the programs have implemented significant change at the
course and program levels. This paper introduces the policy,
identifies outcomes in relation to existing theory, describes research
underway, and pinpoints areas where organizational learning has
occurred.
Abstract: This paper discusses two observers, which are used
for the estimation of parameters of PMSM. Former one, reduced
order observer, which is used to estimate the inaccessible parameters
of PMSM. Later one, full order observer, which is used to estimate
all the parameters of PMSM even though some of the parameters are
directly available for measurement, so as to meet with the
insensitivity to the parameter variation. However, the state space
model contains some nonlinear terms i.e. the product of different
state variables. The asymptotic state observer, which approximately
reconstructs the state vector for linear systems without uncertainties,
was presented by Luenberger. In this work, a modified form of such
an observer is used by including a non-linear term involving the
speed. So, both the observers are designed in the framework of
nonlinear control; their stability and rate of convergence is discussed.
Abstract: Equilibrium and stability equations of a thin rectangular plate with length a, width b, and thickness h(x)=C1x+C2, made of functionally graded materials under thermal loads are derived based on the first order shear deformation theory. It is assumed that the material properties vary as a power form of thickness coordinate variable z. The derived equilibrium and buckling equations are then solved analytically for a plate with simply supported boundary conditions. One type of thermal loading, uniform temperature rise and gradient through the thickness are considered, and the buckling temperatures are derived. The influences of the plate aspect ratio, the relative thickness, the gradient index and the transverse shear on buckling temperature difference are all discussed.
Abstract: Primary studies are being carried out in Turkey for
expanding information and communication technologies (ICT) aided instruction activities. Subject of the present study is to identify
whether those studies achieved their goals in the application. Information technologies (IT) formative teachers in the primary
schools, and academicians in the faculties of education were interviewed to investigate the process and results of implementing
computer-aided instruction methods whose basis is strengthened in theory. Analysis of the results gained from two separate surveys
demonstrated that capability of the teachers in elementary education institutions for carrying into effect computer-aided instruction and
technical infrastructure has not been established for computer-aided instruction practices yet. Prospective teachers must be well-equipped in ICT to duly fulfill requirements of modern education and also
must be self-confident. Finally, scope and intensity of the courses given in connection with teaching of the ICT in faculties of education needs to be revised.
Abstract: Explosive welding is a process which uses explosive
detonation to move the flyer plate material into the base material to
produce a solid state joint. Experimental tests have been carried out
by other researchers; have been considered to explosively welded
aluminium 7039 and steel 4340 tubes in one step. The tests have been
done using various stand-off distances and explosive ratios. Various
interface geometries have been obtained from these experiments. In
this paper, all the experiments carried out were simulated using the
finite element method. The flyer plate and collision velocities
obtained from the analysis were validated by the pin-measurement
experiments. The numerical results showed that very high localized
plastic deformation produced at the bond interface. The
Ls_dyna_971 FEM has been used for all simulation process.
Abstract: This study presents an exact general solution for
steady-state conductive heat transfer in cylindrical composite
laminates. Appropriate Fourier transformation has been obtained
using Sturm-Liouville theorem. Series coefficients are achieved by
solving a set of equations that related to thermal boundary conditions
at inner and outer of the cylinder, also related to temperature
continuity and heat flux continuity between each layer. The solution
of this set of equations are obtained using Thomas algorithm. In this
paper, the effect of fibers- angle on temperature distribution of
composite laminate is investigated under general boundary
conditions. Here, we show that the temperature distribution for any
composite laminates is between temperature distribution for
laminates with θ = 0° and θ = 90° .
Abstract: In this paper a multi-objective nonlinear programming
model of cellular manufacturing system is presented which minimize
the intercell movements and maximize the sum of reliability of cells.
We present a genetic approach for finding efficient solutions to the
problem of cell formation for products having multiple routings.
These methods find the non-dominated solutions and according to
decision makers prefer, the best solution will be chosen.
Abstract: Mining Sequential Patterns in large databases has become
an important data mining task with broad applications. It is
an important task in data mining field, which describes potential
sequenced relationships among items in a database. There are many
different algorithms introduced for this task. Conventional algorithms
can find the exact optimal Sequential Pattern rule but it takes a
long time, particularly when they are applied on large databases.
Nowadays, some evolutionary algorithms, such as Particle Swarm
Optimization and Genetic Algorithm, were proposed and have been
applied to solve this problem. This paper will introduce a new kind
of hybrid evolutionary algorithm that combines Genetic Algorithm
(GA) with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to mine Sequential
Pattern, in order to improve the speed of evolutionary algorithms
convergence. This algorithm is referred to as SP-GAPSO.
Abstract: Schema matching plays a key role in many different
applications, such as schema integration, data integration, data
warehousing, data transformation, E-commerce, peer-to-peer data
management, ontology matching and integration, semantic Web,
semantic query processing, etc. Manual matching is expensive and
error-prone, so it is therefore important to develop techniques to
automate the schema matching process. In this paper, we present a
solution for XML schema automated matching problem which
produces semantic mappings between corresponding schema
elements of given source and target schemas. This solution
contributed in solving more comprehensively and efficiently XML
schema automated matching problem. Our solution based on
combining linguistic similarity, data type compatibility and structural
similarity of XML schema elements. After describing our solution,
we present experimental results that demonstrate the effectiveness of
this approach.
Abstract: Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) account for an estimated 25-40% nosocomial infection, out of which 90% are associated with urinary catheter, called Catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI). The microbial populations within CAUTI frequently develop as biofilms. In the present study, microbial contamination of indwelling urinary catheters was investigated. Biofilm forming ability of the isolates was determined by tissue culture plate method. Prevention of biofilm formation in the urinary catheter by Pseudomonas aeruginosa was also determined by coating the catheter with some enzymes, gentamycin and EDTA. It was found that 64% of the urinary catheters get contaminated during the course of catheterization. Of the total 6 isolates, biofilm formation was seen in 100% Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. coli, 90% in Enterococci, 80% in Klebsiella and 66% in S. aureus. It was noted that the biofilm production by Pseudomonas was prolonged by 7 days in amylase, 8 days in protease, 6 days in lysozyme, 7days in gentamycin and 5 days in EDTA treated catheter.
Abstract: Grid computing is growing rapidly in the distributed
heterogeneous systems for utilizing and sharing large-scale resources
to solve complex scientific problems. Scheduling is the most recent
topic used to achieve high performance in grid environments. It aims
to find a suitable allocation of resources for each job. A typical
problem which arises during this task is the decision of scheduling. It
is about an effective utilization of processor to minimize tardiness
time of a job, when it is being scheduled. This paper, therefore,
addresses the problem by developing a general framework of grid
scheduling using dynamic information and an ant colony
optimization algorithm to improve the decision of scheduling. The
performance of various dispatching rules such as First Come First
Served (FCFS), Earliest Due Date (EDD), Earliest Release Date
(ERD), and an Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) are compared.
Moreover, the benefit of using an Ant Colony Optimization for
performance improvement of the grid Scheduling is also discussed. It
is found that the scheduling system using an Ant Colony
Optimization algorithm can efficiently and effectively allocate jobs
to proper resources.
Abstract: Distance protection of transmission lines including advanced flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices has been a very challenging task. FACTS devices of interest in this paper are static synchronous series compensators (SSSC) and unified power flow controller (UPFC). In this paper, a new algorithm is proposed to detect and classify the fault and identify the fault position in a transmission line with respect to a FACTS device placed in the midpoint of the transmission line. Discrete wavelet transformation and wavelet entropy calculations are used to analyze during fault current and voltage signals of the compensated transmission line. The proposed algorithm is very simple and accurate in fault detection and classification. A variety of fault cases and simulation results are introduced to show the effectiveness of such algorithm.
Abstract: A new method for color image segmentation using fuzzy logic is proposed in this paper. Our aim here is to automatically produce a fuzzy system for color classification and image segmentation with least number of rules and minimum error rate. Particle swarm optimization is a sub class of evolutionary algorithms that has been inspired from social behavior of fishes, bees, birds, etc, that live together in colonies. We use comprehensive learning particle swarm optimization (CLPSO) technique to find optimal fuzzy rules and membership functions because it discourages premature convergence. Here each particle of the swarm codes a set of fuzzy rules. During evolution, a population member tries to maximize a fitness criterion which is here high classification rate and small number of rules. Finally, particle with the highest fitness value is selected as the best set of fuzzy rules for image segmentation. Our results, using this method for soccer field image segmentation in Robocop contests shows 89% performance. Less computational load is needed when using this method compared with other methods like ANFIS, because it generates a smaller number of fuzzy rules. Large train dataset and its variety, makes the proposed method invariant to illumination noise
Abstract: Recently, fast neural networks for object/face
detection were presented in [1-3]. The speed up factor of these
networks relies on performing cross correlation in the frequency
domain between the input image and the weights of the hidden
layer. But, these equations given in [1-3] for conventional and fast
neural networks are not valid for many reasons presented here. In
this paper, correct equations for cross correlation in the spatial and
frequency domains are presented. Furthermore, correct formulas for
the number of computation steps required by conventional and fast
neural networks given in [1-3] are introduced. A new formula for
the speed up ratio is established. Also, corrections for the equations
of fast multi scale object/face detection are given. Moreover,
commutative cross correlation is achieved. Simulation results show
that sub-image detection based on cross correlation in the frequency
domain is faster than classical neural networks.