Abstract: Indigenous Knowledge (IK) has many social and
economic benefits. However, IK is at the risk of extinction due to the
difficulties to preserve it as most of the IK largely remains
undocumented. This study aims to design a model of the factors
affecting the adoption of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) for the preservation of IK. The proposed model
is based on theoretical frameworks on ICT adoption. It was designed
following a literature review of ICT adoption theories for households,
and of the factors affecting ICT adoption for IK. The theory that
fitted to the best all factors was then chosen as the basis for the
proposed model. This study found that the Model of Adoption of
Technology in Households (MATH) is the most suitable theoretical
framework for modeling ICT adoption factors for the preservation of
IK.
Abstract: Successful public-private-partnership (PPP)
implementation can not be achieved without the active participation of
private sector companies. This paper examines the decision-making of
private sector companies in public works delivered by the PPP model
on the basis of social responsibility theory. It proposes that private
sector companies should indentify objectives of entering into PPP
projects, and shoulder relevant social responsibilities, while a
minimum return should also be guaranteed in their favor, so as to
compensate for their assumed risk and support them to take on
responsibilities in the future. The paper also gives a calculation
regarding the appropriate scale and reasonable degree of private sector
involvement in PPP projects through the cost-benefit analysis in a
specific case study, with the purpose to guide the private sector
companies to create a cooperation environment resembling
“symbiosis" and facilitate the smooth implementation of public works
delivered by the PPP model.
Abstract: Expression and secretion of inflammation markers are
disturbed in obesity. Interleukin-6 reduces body fat mass. The
common G-174C polymorphism in the promoter of IL-6 gene has
been reported that effects on transcriptional regulation. The objective
was to investigate association of the common polymorphism G-174C
with obesity in Iranian population. The present study is cross
sectional association study that included 242 individuals (110 men
and 132 women). Serum IL-6 levels, C-reactive protein, fasting
blood glucose and blood lipids profile were measured .BMI and
WHR were calculated. Genotyping is carried out by PCR and RFLP.
The frequencies of G and C allele were 64.5% and 35.5%,
respectively. The G-174C polymorphism was not associated with
BMI and WHR. However in obese individual, fasting blood glucose
was significantly higher in carrier of C allele compared with the noncarrier.
The IL-6 G-174C polymorphism is not a risk factor for
obesity in Iranian population.
Abstract: We investigate an asymmetric connections model with a
dynamic network formation process, using an agent based simulation.
We permit heterogeneity of agents- value. Valuable persons seem
to have many links on real social networks. We focus on this
point of view, and examine whether valuable agents change the
structures of the terminal networks. Simulation reveals that valuable
agents diversify the terminal networks. We can not find evidence that
valuable agents increase the possibility that star networks survive the
dynamic process. We find that valuable agents disperse the degrees
of agents in each terminal network on an average.
Abstract: The increasing popularity of wireless technologies
and mobile computing devices has enabled new application areas and
research. One of these new areas is pervasive systems in urban
environments, because urban environments are characterized by high
concentration of these technologies and devices. In this paper we will
show the process of pervasive system design in urban environments,
using as use case a local zoo in Cali, Colombia. Based on an
ethnographic studio, we present the design of a pervasive system for
urban computing based on service oriented architecture to controlled
environment of Cali Zoo. In this paper, the reader will find a
methodological approach for the design of similar systems, using
data collection methods, conceptual frameworks for urban
environments and considerations of analysis and design of service
oriented systems.
Abstract: The present study investigated the relationship
between personality characteristics of drivers and the number and
amount of fines they have in a year .This study was carried out on
120 male taxi drivers that worked at least seven hours in a day in
Lamerd - a city in the south of IRAN. Subjects were chosen
voluntarily among those available. Predictive variables were the NEO
–five great personality factors (1. conscientiousness 2. Openness to
Experience 3.Neuroticism4 .Extraversion 5.Agreeableness )
thecriterion variables were the number and amount of fines the
drivers have had the last three years. the result of regression analysis
showed that conscientiousness factor was able to negatively predict
the number and amount of financial fines the drivers had during the
last three years. The openness factor positively predicted the number
of fines they had in last 3 years and the amount of financial fines
during the last year. The extraversion factor both meaningfully and
positively could predict only the amount of financial fines they had
during the last year. Increasing age was associated with decreasing
driving offenses as well as financial loss.The findings can be useful
in recognizing the high-risk drivers and leading them to counseling
centers .They can also be used to inform the drivers about their
personality and it’s relation with their accident rate. Such criteria
would be of great importance in employing drivers in different places
such as companies, offices etc…
Abstract: Ethical Education is a compulsorily optional subject in
primary and secondary schools. The Ethical Education objective is
the education of a personality with one´s own identity, with
interiorized ethical standards, with mature moral judgement and
therefore with the behaviour determined by one´s own beliefs; with a
positive attitude to himself/herself and other people and that is why
he/she is able to cooperate and to initiate cooperation. In the paper we
describe the contents and the principles of Ethical education. We also
shows that Ethical education is subject supported primary socialpathological
prevention and education to citizenship. In this context
we try to show that ethical education contributes to the education of
good people who are aware of the necessity to respect social norms
and are able to assume responsibility for their own behaviour in any
situation at present and in the future.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between satisfaction with major and career decision efficacy and career attitude maturity of engineering college students by performing correlation analysis. Gender differences in between satisfaction with major and career decision efficacy and career attitude maturity were also examined by T-test. The results T-test revealed gender differences in only career decision efficacy. Male Students scored significantly higher than did female students on career decision efficacy and satisfaction with major. The results of correlation analysis showed a) satisfaction with major were significantly associated with career decision efficacy, b) satisfaction with major were significantly associated with career attitude maturity, and c) career decision efficacy were significantly associated with career attitude maturity. As a result,we found the importance of satisfaction in engineering college students- major studies when deciding their career.
Abstract: e-mail has become an important means of electronic
communication but the viability of its usage is marred by Unsolicited
Bulk e-mail (UBE) messages. UBE consists of many types
like pornographic, virus infected and 'cry-for-help' messages as well
as fake and fraudulent offers for jobs, winnings and medicines. UBE
poses technical and socio-economic challenges to usage of e-mails.
To meet this challenge and combat this menace, we need to
understand UBE. Towards this end, the current paper presents a
content-based textual analysis of more than 2700 body enhancement
medicinal UBE. Technically, this is an application of Text Parsing
and Tokenization for an un-structured textual document and we
approach it using Bag Of Words (BOW) and Vector Space Document
Model techniques. We have attempted to identify the most
frequently occurring lexis in the UBE documents that advertise
various products for body enhancement. The analysis of such top
100 lexis is also presented. We exhibit the relationship between
occurrence of a word from the identified lexis-set in the given UBE
and the probability that the given UBE will be the one advertising for
fake medicinal product. To the best of our knowledge and survey of
related literature, this is the first formal attempt for identification of
most frequently occurring lexis in such UBE by its textual analysis.
Finally, this is a sincere attempt to bring about alertness against and
mitigate the threat of such luring but fake UBE.
Abstract: Bond Graph as a unified multidisciplinary tool is widely
used not only for dynamic modelling but also for Fault Detection and
Isolation because of its structural and causal proprieties. A binary
Fault Signature Matrix is systematically generated but to make the
final binary decision is not always feasible because of the problems
revealed by such method. The purpose of this paper is introducing a
methodology for the improvement of the classical binary method of
decision-making, so that the unknown and identical failure signatures
can be treated to improve the robustness. This approach consists of
associating the evaluated residuals and the components reliability data
to build a Hybrid Bayesian Network. This network is used in two
distinct inference procedures: one for the continuous part and the
other for the discrete part. The continuous nodes of the network are
the prior probabilities of the components failures, which are used by
the inference procedure on the discrete part to compute the posterior
probabilities of the failures. The developed methodology is applied
to a real steam generator pilot process.
Abstract: Data Warehouses (DWs) are repositories which contain the unified history of an enterprise for decision support. The data must be Extracted from information sources, Transformed and integrated to be Loaded (ETL) into the DW, using ETL tools. These tools focus on data movement, where the models are only used as a means to this aim. Under a conceptual viewpoint, the authors want to innovate the ETL process in two ways: 1) to make clear compatibility between models in a declarative fashion, using correspondence assertions and 2) to identify the instances of different sources that represent the same entity in the real-world. This paper presents the overview of the proposed framework to model the ETL process, which is based on the use of a reference model and perspective schemata. This approach provides the designer with a better understanding of the semantic associated with the ETL process.
Abstract: This paper aims to present knowledge management for solving economic problem and poverty in Thai community. A community in Thailand is studied as a case study for master plan or social and economic plan which derived form the research people conducted by themselves in their community. The result shows that community uses knowledge management in recording income and expense, analyzing their consumption, and then systematic planning of the production, distribution and consumption in the community. Besides, community enterprises, that people create as the by-products of master plan, can facilitate diverse economic activities which are able to reduce economic problem and poverty. The knowledge that people gain from solving their problem through building community enterprises are both tacit and explicit knowledge. Four styles of knowledge conversion: socialization,externalization, combination and internalization, are used. Besides, knowledge sharing inside the organization, between organizations and its environment are found. Keywordsknowledge management, community enterprise, Thailand.
Abstract: The purpose of my research proposal is to
demonstrate that there is a relationship between EEG and
endometrial cancer.
The above relationship is based on an Aristotelian Syllogism;
since it is known that the 14-3-3 protein is related to the electrical
activity of the brain via control of the flow of Na+ and K+ ions and
since it is also known that many types of cancer are associated with
14-3-3 protein, it is possible that there is a relationship between EEG
and cancer. This research will be carried out by well-defined
diagnostic indicators, obtained via the EEG, using signal processing
procedures and pattern recognition tools such as neural networks in
order to recognize the endometrial cancer type. The current research
shall compare the findings from EEG and hysteroscopy performed on
women of a wide age range. Moreover, this practice could be
expanded to other types of cancer. The implementation of this
methodology will be completed with the creation of an ontology.
This ontology shall define the concepts existing in this research-s
domain and the relationships between them. It will represent the
types of relationships between hysteroscopy and EEG findings.
Abstract: "Bazaar" is a Persian word from the language of Iranians of 2500 years ago which has entered the languages of other countries. “Bazaar", the trading or marketing place with the architectural principles and concerns, was formed in Iran because of the long experience of marketing. This has become a valuable inheritance of Islamic ideological civilization and Iranian advanced architecture and a model of Islamic-marketing places with spectacular elements and parts, and the place for economical, social and cultural exchanges. “Bazaars" are found in cities of Iran and many Islamic countries in west of Asia and north of Africa. With the stable structure and function as a symbol of social values, this place has become the economic center and the illustration of stable architecture and advanced principles. “Bazaars" as the heart of Iranian cities economy with several major and minor rows of shops, in closed and open areas, along a fixed line or branches with beautiful arcs, patios, and frameworks are among the main national inheritance of Iran and one of the important Iranian architectural treasures because of its Iranian nobility.
Abstract: The practice of burying the solid waste under the ground is one of the waste disposal methods and dumping is known as an ultimate method in the fastest-growing cities like Rasht city in Iran. Some municipalities select the solid waste landfills without feasibility studies, programming, design and management plans. Therefore, several social and environmental impacts are created by these sites. In this study, the suitability of solid waste landfill in Rasht city, capital of Gilan Province is reviewed using Regional Screening Method (RSM), Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results indicated that according to the suitability maps, the value of study site is midsuitable to suitable based on RSM and mid-suitable based on AHP.
Abstract: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a severe
cardiovascular disorder characterized by progressive systolic
dysfunction due to cardiac chamber dilatation and inefficient
myocardial contractility often leading to chronic heart failure.
Recently, a genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on DCM
indicate that the ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 single nucleotide
polymorphism is associated with DCM. The aim of the study was to
identify the distribution of ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 polymorphism
in 50 Slovak patients with DCM and 80 healthy control subjects
using the Custom Taqman®SNP Genotyping assays. Risk factors
detected at baseline in each group included age, sex, body mass
index, smoking status, diabetes and blood pressure. The mean age of
patients with DCM was 52.9±6.3 years; the mean age of individuals
in control group was 50.3±8.9 years. The distribution of investigated
genotypes of rs10927875 polymorphism within ZBTB17 gene in the
cohort of Slovak patients with DCM was as follows: CC (38.8%), CT
(55.1%), TT (6.1%), in controls: CC (43.8%), CT (51.2%), TT
(5.0%). The risk allele T was more common among the patients with
dilated cardiomyopathy than in normal controls (33.7% versus
30.6%). The differences in genotype or allele frequencies of ZBTB17
gene rs10927875 polymorphism were not statistically significant
(p=0.6908; p=0.6098). The results of this study suggest that ZBTB17
gene rs10927875 polymorphism may be a risk factor for
susceptibility to DCM in Slovak patients with DCM. Studies of
numerous files and additional functional investigations are needed to
fully understand the roles of genetic associations.
Abstract: This paper analyzes different techniques of the fine grained security of relational databases for the two variables-data accessibility and inference. Data accessibility measures the amount of data available to the users after applying a security technique on a table. Inference is the proportion of information leakage after suppressing a cell containing secret data. A row containing a secret cell which is suppressed can become a security threat if an intruder generates useful information from the related visible information of the same row. This paper measures data accessibility and inference associated with row, cell, and column level security techniques. Cell level security offers greatest data accessibility as it suppresses secret data only. But on the other hand, there is a high probability of inference in cell level security. Row and column level security techniques have least data accessibility and inference. This paper introduces cell plus innocent security technique that utilizes the cell level security method but suppresses some innocent data to dodge an intruder that a suppressed cell may not necessarily contain secret data. Four variations of the technique namely cell plus innocent 1/4, cell plus innocent 2/4, cell plus innocent 3/4, and cell plus innocent 4/4 respectively have been introduced to suppress innocent data equal to 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 percent of the true secret data inside the database. Results show that the new technique offers better control over data accessibility and inference as compared to the state-of-theart security techniques. This paper further discusses the combination of techniques together to be used. The paper shows that cell plus innocent 1/4, 2/4, and 3/4 techniques can be used as a replacement for the cell level security.
Abstract: Non-uniform current distribution in polymer
electrolyte membrane fuel cells results in local over-heating,
accelerated ageing, and lower power output than expected. This
issue is very critical when fuel cell experiences water flooding. In
this work, the performance of a PEM fuel cell is investigated under
cathode flooding conditions. Two-dimensional partially flooded
GDL models based on the conservation laws and electrochemical
relations are proposed to study local current density distributions
along flow fields over a wide range of cell operating conditions.
The model results show a direct association between cathode inlet
humidity increases and that of average current density but the
system becomes more sensitive to flooding. The anode inlet
relative humidity shows a similar effect. Operating the cell at
higher temperatures would lead to higher average current densities
and the chance of system being flooded is reduced. In addition,
higher cathode stoichiometries prevent system flooding but the
average current density remains almost constant. The higher anode
stoichiometry leads to higher average current density and higher
sensitivity to cathode flooding.
Abstract: Many water supply systems in Australia are currently
undergoing significant reconfiguration due to reductions in long term
average rainfall and resulting low inflows to water supply reservoirs
since the second half of the 20th century. When water supply systems
undergo change, it is necessary to develop new operating rules,
which should consider climate, because the climate change is likely
to further reduce inflows. In addition, water resource systems are
increasingly intended to be operated to meet complex and multiple
objectives representing social, economic, environmental and
sustainability criteria. This is further complicated by conflicting
preferences on these objectives from diverse stakeholders. This paper
describes a methodology to develop optimum operating rules for
complex multi-reservoir systems undergoing significant change,
considering all of the above issues. The methodology is demonstrated
using the Grampians water supply system in northwest Victoria,
Australia. Initial work conducted on the project is also presented in
this paper.
Abstract: With previous studies that examined the importance
of functional store image and CSR, this study is aimed at examining
their effects in the self-congruity model in influencing store loyalty.
In particular, this study developed and tested a structural model in the
context of retailing industry on the self-congruity theory. Whilst
much of the self-congruity studies have incorporated functional store
image, there has been lack of studies that examined social
responsibility image of retail stores in the self-congruity studies.
Findings indicate that self-congruity influence on store loyalty was
mediated by both functional store image and social responsibility
image. In influencing store loyalty, the findings have shown that
social responsibility image has a stronger influence on store loyalty
than functional store image. This study offers important findings and
implications for future research as it presents a new framework on
the importance of social responsibility image.