Specifying Strict Serializability of Iterated Transactions in Propositional Temporal Logic

We present an operator for a propositional linear temporal logic over infinite schedules of iterated transactions, which, when applied to a formula, asserts that any schedule satisfying the formula is serializable. The resulting logic is suitable for specifying and verifying consistency properties of concurrent transaction management systems, that can be defined in terms of serializability, as well as other general safety and liveness properties. A strict form of serializability is used requiring that, whenever the read and write steps of a transaction occurrence precede the read and write steps of another transaction occurrence in a schedule, the first transaction must precede the second transaction in an equivalent serial schedule. This work improves on previous work in providing a propositional temporal logic with a serializability operator that is of the same PSPACE complete computational complexity as standard propositional linear temporal logic without a serializability operator.

Effect of Tempering Temperature and Time on the Corrosion Behaviour of 304 and 316 Austenitic Stainless Steels in Oxalic Acid

The effect of different tempering temperatures and heat treatment times on the corrosion resistance of austenitic stainless steels in oxalic acid was studied in this work using conventional weight loss and electrochemical measurements. Typical 304 and 316 stainless steel samples were tempered at 150oC, 250oC and 350oC after being austenized at 1050oC for 10 minutes. These samples were then immersed in 1.0M oxalic acid and their weight losses were measured at every five days for 30 days. The results show that corrosion of both types of ASS samples increased with an increase in tempering temperature and time and this was due to the precipitation of chromium carbides at the grain boundaries of these metals. Electrochemical results also confirm that the 304 ASS is more susceptible to corrosion than 316 ASS in this medium. This is attributed to the molybdenum in the composition of the latter. The metallographic images of these samples showed non–uniform distribution of precipitated chromium carbides at the grain boundaries of these metals and unevenly distributed carbides and retained austenite phases which cause galvanic effects in the medium.

A Study of Distinctive Models for Pre-hospital EMS in Thailand: Knowledge Capture

In Thailand, the practice of pre-hospital Emergency Medical Service (EMS) in each area reveals the different growth rates and effectiveness of the practices. Those can be found as the diverse quality and quantity. To shorten the learning curve prior to speed-up the practices in other areas, story telling and lessons learnt from the effective practices are valued as meaningful knowledge. To this paper, it was to ascertain the factors, lessons learnt and best practices that have impact as contributing to the success of prehospital EMS system. Those were formulized as model prior to speedup the practice in other areas. To develop the model, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), which is widely recognized as a framework for organizational quality assessment and improvement, was chosen as the discussion framework. Remarkably, this study was based on the consideration of knowledge capture; however it was not to complete the loop of knowledge activities. Nevertheless, it was to highlight the recognition of knowledge capture, which is the initiation of knowledge management.

The Systematical Analysis about the Effect of Knowledge Spillover on Technological Innovation Capability

The paper studies implications between knowledge spillovers and technological innovation capability in the following three aspects: firstly, the paper debates on the effect of knowledge spillover on some perspectives of technological innovation ability; secondly, it discusses how different roles of knowledge spillover affect the technological innovation capability; finally, the paper creates the model of the factors of knowledge spillovers influencing to technological innovation capability. It concludes that knowledge spillovers affect all the main aspects of technological innovation ultimately to impact of technological innovation capabilities.

Prevalence of Psychological Resistance to Voluntary Counselling and Testing of HIV/AIDS among Students of Tertiary Institutions in Kano State, Nigeria

The incessant discomfort for Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) exhibited by students in some tertiary institutions in Kano State, Nigeria is capable of causing Psychological Resistance as well as jeopardizing the purpose of HIV intervention. This study investigated the Prevalence of Psychological Resistance to VCT of HIV/AIDS among students of tertiary institutions in the state. Two null hypotheses were postulated and tested. Cross- Sectional Survey Design was employed in which 1512 sample was selected from a student population of 104,841 following Stratified Random Sampling technique. A self-developed 20-item scale whose reliability coefficient is 0.83 was used for data collection. Data analyzed via Chi-square and t-test reveals a prevalence of 38% with males (Mean=0.34; SD=0.475) constituting 60% and females (Mean=0.45; SD=0.498) 40%. Also, the calculated chi-square and ttest were not significant at 0.05 as such the null hypotheses were upheld. Recommendation offered suggests the use of reinforcement and social support for students who patronize HIV/AIDS counselling.

Aspects Regarding the Genesis of the City of Suceava, a Medieval Capital of Moldavia

The city of Suceava, one of the most important medieval capital of Moldova, owes its urban genesis to the power center established in its territory at the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Freed from the effective control exercised by the Emir Nogai through Alanians, the local center of power evolved as the main representative of the interests of indigenous people in relation to the Hungarian Angevin dinasty and to their representatives from Maramures. From this perspective, the political and military role of the settlement of Suceava was archeologically proved by the discovery of extensive fortifications, unrivaled in the first half of the XIVth century-s Moldavia. At the end of that century, voivod Peter I decides to move the capital of the state from Siret to Suceava. That option stimulated the development of the settlement on specific urban coordinates.

Marital Duration and Sexual Frequency among the Muslim and Santal Couples in Rural Bangladesh: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Age and sex are biological terms that are socioculturally constructed for marriage and marital sexual behavior in every society. Marriage is a universal norm that makes legitimate sexual behavior between a man and a woman in marital life cycle to gain bio-social purposes. Cross-cultural studies reveal that marital sexual frequency as a part of marital sexual behavior not only varies within the couple-s life cycle, but also varies between and among couples in diverse cultures. The purpose of the study was to compare marital sexual frequency in association with age status and length of marital relationship between Muslim and Santal couples in rural Bangladesh. For this we assumed that (1) Santal culture compared to Muslim culture preferred earlier age at marriage for meeting marital sexual purposes in rural Bangladesh; (2) Marital duration among the Muslim couples was higher than that among the Santal couples; (3) Sexual frequency among the younger couples in both the ethnic communities was higher than the older couples; (4) Sexual frequency across the Muslim couples- marital life cycle was higher than that the Santal couples- marital life cycle. In so doing, 288 active couples (145 for Muslim and 143 for Santal) selected by cluster random sampling were interviewed with questionnaire method. The findings of Independent Samples T Test on age at marriage, current age, marital duration and sexual frequency independently reveal that there were significant differences in sexual frequency not only across the couples- life cycle but also vary between the Muslim and Santal couples in relation to marital duration. The results of Pearson-s Inter- Correlation Coefficients reveal that although age at marriage, current age and marital duration for husband and wife were significantly positive correlated with each other between the communities, there were significantly negative correlation between the age at marriage, current age, marital duration and sexual frequency among the selected couples between the communities.

Using Radio Frequency Identification Technology in Supply Chain Management

The radio frequency identification (RFID) is a technology for automatic identification of items, particularly in supply chain, but it is becoming increasingly important for industrial applications. Unlike barcode technology that detects the optical signals reflected from barcode labels, RFID uses radio waves to transmit the information from an RFID tag affixed to the physical object. In contrast to today most often use of this technology in warehouse inventory and supply chain, the focus of this paper is an overview of the structure of RFID systems used by RFID technology and it also presents a solution based on the application of RFID for brand authentication, traceability and tracking, by implementing a production management system and extending its use to traders.

Behavior of Droplets in Microfluidic System with T-Junction

Micro droplet formation is considered as a growing emerging area of research due to its wide-range application in chemistry as well as biology. The mechanism of micro droplet formation using two immiscible liquids running through a T-junction has been widely studied. We believe that the flow of these two immiscible phases can be of greater important factor that could have an impact on out-flow hydrodynamic behavior, the droplets generated and the size of the droplets. In this study, the type of the capillary tubes used also represents another important factor that can have an impact on the generation of micro droplets. The tygon capillary tubing with hydrophilic inner surface doesn't allow regular out-flows due to the fact that the continuous phase doesn't adhere to the wall of the capillary inner surface. Teflon capillary tubing, presents better wettability than tygon tubing, and allows to obtain steady and regular regimes of out-flow, and the micro droplets are homogeneoussize. The size of the droplets is directly dependent on the flows of the continuous and dispersed phases. Thus, as increasing the flow of the continuous phase, to flow of the dispersed phase stationary, the size of the drops decreases. Inversely, while increasing the flow of the dispersed phase, to flow of the continuous phase stationary, the size of the droplet increases.

Schmitt Trigger Based SRAM Using Finfet Technology- Shorted Gate Mode

The most widely used semiconductor memory types are the Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and Static Random Access memory (SRAM). Competition among memory manufacturers drives the need to decrease power consumption and reduce the probability of read failure. A technology that is relatively new and has not been explored is the FinFET technology. In this paper, a single cell Schmitt Trigger Based Static RAM using FinFET technology is proposed and analyzed. The accuracy of the result is validated by means of HSPICE simulations with 32nm FinFET technology and the results are then compared with 6T SRAM using the same technology.

Personalization and the Universal Communications Identifier Concept

As communications systems and technology become more advanced and complex, it will be increasingly important to focus on users- individual needs. Personalization and effective user profile management will be necessary to ensure the uptake and success of new services and devices and it is therefore important to focus on the users- requirements in this area and define solutions that meet these requirements. The work on personalization and user profiles emerged from earlier ETSI work on a Universal Communications Identifier (UCI) which is a unique identifier of the user rather than a range of identifiers of the many of communication devices or services (e.g. numbers of fixed phone at home/work, mobile phones, fax and email addresses). This paper describes work on personalization including standardized information and preferences and an architectural framework providing a description of how personalization can be integrated in Next Generation Networks, together with the UCI concept.

Learning Theories within Coaching Process

These days we face with so many advertisements in magazines, those mentioned coaching is pragmatic specialties which help people make change in their lives. Up to know Specialty coaches are not necessarily therapists, consultants or psychologist, thus they may not know psychological theories. The International Coach Federation identifies "facilitating learning and results" as one of its four core coach competencies, without understanding learning theories coaching practice hangs in theoretical abyss. Thus the aim of this article is investigating learning theories within coaching process. Therefore, I reviewed some cognitive and behavioral learning theories and analyzed their contribution with coaching process which has been introduced in mentor coaches and ICF certified coaches' papers and books. The result demonstrated that coaching profession is strongly grounded in learning theories, and it will be strengthened by the validation of theories and evidence-based research as we move forward. Thus, it needs more research in order to applying effective theoretical frameworks.

Determining Optimal Demand Rate and Production Decisions: A Geometric Programming Approach

In this paper a nonlinear model is presented to demonstrate the relation between production and marketing departments. By introducing some functions such as pricing cost and market share loss functions it will be tried to show some aspects of market modelling which has not been regarded before. The proposed model will be a constrained signomial geometric programming model. For model solving, after variables- modifications an iterative technique based on the concept of geometric mean will be introduced to solve the resulting non-standard posynomial model which can be applied to a wide variety of models in non-standard posynomial geometric programming form. At the end a numerical analysis will be presented to accredit the validity of the mentioned model.

Towards a Systematic, Cost-Effective Approach for ERP Selection

Existing experiences indicate that one of the most prominent reasons that some ERP implementations fail is related to selecting an improper ERP package. Among those important factors resulting in inappropriate ERP selections, one is to ignore preliminary activities that should be done before the evaluation of ERP packages. Another factor yielding these unsuitable selections is that usually organizations employ prolonged and costly selection processes in such extent that sometimes the process would never be finalized or sometimes the evaluation team might perform many key final activities in an incomplete or inaccurate way due to exhaustion, lack of interest or out-of-date data. In this paper, a systematic approach that recommends some activities to be done before and after the main selection phase is introduced for choosing an ERP package. On the other hand, the proposed approach has utilized some ideas that accelerates the selection process at the same time that reduces the probability of an erroneous final selection.

Highly Scalable, Reversible and Embedded Image Compression System

A new method for low complexity image coding is presented, that permits different settings and great scalability in the generation of the final bit stream. This coding presents a continuoustone still image compression system that groups loss and lossless compression making use of finite arithmetic reversible transforms. Both transformation in the space of color and wavelet transformation are reversible. The transformed coefficients are coded by means of a coding system in depending on a subdivision into smaller components (CFDS) similar to the bit importance codification. The subcomponents so obtained are reordered by means of a highly configure alignment system depending on the application that makes possible the re-configure of the elements of the image and obtaining different levels of importance from which the bit stream will be generated. The subcomponents of each level of importance are coded using a variable length entropy coding system (VBLm) that permits the generation of an embedded bit stream. This bit stream supposes itself a bit stream that codes a compressed still image. However, the use of a packing system on the bit stream after the VBLm allows the realization of a final highly scalable bit stream from a basic image level and one or several enhance levels.

Assessing the Relation between Theory of Multiple Algebras and Universal Algebras

In this study, we examine multiple algebras and algebraic structures derived from them and by stating a theory on multiple algebras; we will show that the theory of multiple algebras is a natural extension of the theory of universal algebras. Also, we will treat equivalence relations on multiple algebras, for which the quotient constructed modulo them is a universal algebra and will study the basic relation and the fundamental algebra in question. In this study, by stating the characteristic theorem of multiple algebras, we show that the theory of multiple algebras is a natural extension of the theory of universal algebras.

A High Quality Speech Coder at 600 bps

This paper presents a vocoder to obtain high quality synthetic speech at 600 bps. To reduce the bit rate, the algorithm is based on a sinusoidally excited linear prediction model which extracts few coding parameters, and three consecutive frames are grouped into a superframe and jointly vector quantization is used to obtain high coding efficiency. The inter-frame redundancy is exploited with distinct quantization schemes for different unvoiced/voiced frame combinations in the superframe. Experimental results show that the quality of the proposed coder is better than that of 2.4kbps LPC10e and achieves approximately the same as that of 2.4kbps MELP and with high robustness.

Accurate Crosstalk Analysis for RLC On-Chip VLSI Interconnect

This work proposes an accurate crosstalk noise estimation method in the presence of multiple RLC lines for the use in design automation tools. This method correctly models the loading effects of non switching aggressors and aggressor tree branches using resistive shielding effect and realistic exponential input waveforms. Noise peak and width expressions have been derived. The results obtained are at good agreement with SPICE results. Results show that average error for noise peak is 4.7% and for the width is 6.15% while allowing a very fast analysis.

A Comparison of Some Splines-Based Methods for the One-dimensional Heat Equation

In this paper, collocation based cubic B-spline and extended cubic uniform B-spline method are considered for solving one-dimensional heat equation with a nonlocal initial condition. Finite difference and θ-weighted scheme is used for time and space discretization respectively. The stability of the method is analyzed by the Von Neumann method. Accuracy of the methods is illustrated with an example. The numerical results are obtained and compared with the analytical solutions.

MATLAB/SIMULINK Based Model of Single- Machine Infinite-Bus with TCSC for Stability Studies and Tuning Employing GA

With constraints on data availability and for study of power system stability it is adequate to model the synchronous generator with field circuit and one equivalent damper on q-axis known as the model 1.1. This paper presents a systematic procedure for modelling and simulation of a single-machine infinite-bus power system installed with a thyristor controlled series compensator (TCSC) where the synchronous generator is represented by model 1.1, so that impact of TCSC on power system stability can be more reasonably evaluated. The model of the example power system is developed using MATLAB/SIMULINK which can be can be used for teaching the power system stability phenomena, and also for research works especially to develop generator controllers using advanced technologies. Further, the parameters of the TCSC controller are optimized using genetic algorithm. The non-linear simulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.