Abstract: Higher education institutions are increasingly opting to outsourcing methods in order to sustain themselves and this creates a gap of literature in terms of how they perceive the relationship. This research paper attempts to identify the behavioral and psychological factors that exist in the engagement thus providing valuable information to practicing and potential clients, and vendors. The determinants were gathered from previous literatures and analyzed to formulate the factors. This study adopts the case study and survey approaches in which interviews and questionnaires are deployed on employees of IT-related department in a Malaysian higher education institution.
Abstract: Mobile Ad hoc networks (MANETs) are collections
of wireless mobile nodes dynamically reconfiguring and collectively
forming a temporary network. These types of networks assume
existence of no fixed infrastructure and are often useful in battle-field
tactical operations or emergency search-and-rescue type of
operations where fixed infrastructure is neither feasible nor practical.
They also find use in ad hoc conferences, campus networks and
commercial recreational applications carrying multimedia traffic. All
of the above applications of MANETs require guaranteed levels of
performance as experienced by the end-user. This paper focuses on
key challenges in provisioning predetermined levels of such Quality
of Service (QoS). It also identifies functional areas where QoS
models are currently defined and used. Evolving functional areas
where performance and QoS provisioning may be applied are also
identified and some suggestions are provided for further research in
this area. Although each of the above functional areas have been
discussed separately in recent research studies, since these QoS
functional areas are highly correlated and interdependent, a
comprehensive and comparative analysis of these areas and their
interrelationships is desired. In this paper we have attempted to
provide such an overview.
Abstract: Mammals are known to use Interaural Intensity Difference (IID) to determine azimuthal position of high frequency sounds. In the Lateral Superior Olive (LSO) neurons have firing behaviours which vary systematicaly with IID. Those neurons receive excitatory inputs from the ipsilateral ear and inhibitory inputs from the contralateral one. The IID sensitivity of a LSO neuron is thought to be due to delay differences between both ears, delays due to different synaptic delays and to intensity-dependent delays. In this paper we model the auditory pathway until the LSO. Inputs to LSO neurons are at first numerous and differ in their relative delays. Spike Timing-Dependent Plasticity is then used to prune those connections. We compare the pruned neuron responses with physiological data and analyse the relationship between IID-s of teacher stimuli and IID sensitivities of trained LSO neurons.
Abstract: To extract the important physiological factors related to
diabetes from an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) by mathematical
modeling, highly informative but convenient protocols are required.
Current models require a large number of samples and extended
period of testing, which is not practical for daily use. The purpose
of this study is to make model assessments possible even from a
reduced number of samples taken over a relatively short period.
For this purpose, test values were extrapolated using a support
vector machine. A good correlation was found between reference and
extrapolated values in evaluated 741 OGTTs. This result indicates
that a reduction in the number of clinical test is possible through a
computational approach.
Abstract: The right information at the right time influences the
enterprise and technical success. Sharing knowledge among members
of a big organization may be a complex activity. And as long as the
knowledge is not shared, can not be exploited by the organization.
There are some mechanisms which can originate knowledge sharing.
It is intended, in this paper, to trigger these mechanisms by using
semantic nets. Moreover, the intersection and overlapping of terms
and sub-terms, as well as their relationships will be described through
the mereology science for the whole knowledge sharing system. It is
proposed a knowledge system to supply to operators with the right
information about a specific process and possible risks, e.g. at the
assembly process, at the right time in an automated manufacturing
environment, such as at the automotive industry.
Abstract: Obesity is frequent attendant phenomenon of patients
with endocrinological disease. Between BMI and endocrinological
diseases is close correlation. In thesis we focused on the allocation of
hormone concentration – PTH and TSH, CHOL a mineral element Ca
in a blood serum. The examined group was formed by 100
respondents (women) aged 36 – 83 years, who were divided into two
groups – control group (CG), group with diagnosed endocrine disease
(DED). The concentration of PTH and TSH, Ca and CHOL was
measured through the medium of analyzers Cobas e411 (Japan);
Cobas Integra 400 (Switzerland). At individuals was measured body
weight as well as stature and thereupon from those data we
enumerated BMI. On the basis of Student T-test in biochemical
parameter of PTH and Ca we found out significantly meaningful
difference (p
Abstract: The main goal in this paper is to quantify the quality of
different techniques for radiation treatment plans, a back-propagation
artificial neural network (ANN) combined with biomedicine theory
was used to model thirteen dosimetric parameters and to calculate
two dosimetric indices. The correlations between dosimetric indices
and quality of life were extracted as the features and used in the ANN
model to make decisions in the clinic. The simulation results show
that a trained multilayer back-propagation neural network model can
help a doctor accept or reject a plan efficiently. In addition, the
models are flexible and whenever a new treatment technique enters
the market, the feature variables simply need to be imported and the
model re-trained for it to be ready for use.
Abstract: Background noise is particularly damaging to speech
intelligibility for people with hearing loss especially for sensorineural
loss patients. Several investigations on speech intelligibility have
demonstrated sensorineural loss patients need 5-15 dB higher SNR
than the normal hearing subjects. This paper describes Discrete
Cosine Transform Power Normalized Least Mean Square algorithm
to improve the SNR and to reduce the convergence rate of the LMS
for Sensory neural loss patients. Since it requires only real arithmetic,
it establishes the faster convergence rate as compare to time domain
LMS and also this transformation improves the eigenvalue
distribution of the input autocorrelation matrix of the LMS filter.
The DCT has good ortho-normal, separable, and energy compaction
property. Although the DCT does not separate frequencies, it is a
powerful signal decorrelator. It is a real valued function and thus
can be effectively used in real-time operation. The advantages of
DCT-LMS as compared to standard LMS algorithm are shown via
SNR and eigenvalue ratio computations. . Exploiting the symmetry
of the basis functions, the DCT transform matrix [AN] can be
factored into a series of ±1 butterflies and rotation angles. This
factorization results in one of the fastest DCT implementation. There
are different ways to obtain factorizations. This work uses the fast
factored DCT algorithm developed by Chen and company. The
computer simulations results show superior convergence
characteristics of the proposed algorithm by improving the SNR at
least 10 dB for input SNR less than and equal to 0 dB, faster
convergence speed and better time and frequency characteristics.
Abstract: In the era of great competition, understanding and satisfying
customers- requirements are the critical tasks for a company
to make a profits. Customer relationship management (CRM) thus
becomes an important business issue at present. With the help of
the data mining techniques, the manager can explore and analyze
from a large quantity of data to discover meaningful patterns and
rules. Among all methods, well-known association rule is most
commonly seen. This paper is based on Apriori algorithm and uses
genetic algorithms combining a data mining method to discover fuzzy
classification rules. The mined results can be applied in CRM to
help decision marker make correct business decisions for marketing
strategies.
Abstract: Empirical insights into the implementation of logistics competencies at the top management level are scarce. This paper addresses this issue with an explorative approach which is based on a dataset of 872 observations in the years 2000, 2004 and 2008 using quantitative content analysis from annual reports of the 500 publicly listed firms with the highest global research and development expenditures according to the British Department for Business Innovation and Skills. We find that logistics competencies are more pronounced in Asian companies than in their European or American counterparts. On an industrial level the results are quite mixed. Using partial point-biserial correlations we show that logistics competencies are positively related to financial performance.
Abstract: The objective of this work is to present a expertise on
flooding hazard analysis and how to reduce the risk. The analysis
concerns the disaster induced by the flood on November 10/11, 2001
in the Bab El Oued district of the city of Algiers.The study begins by
an expertise of damages in related with the urban environment and
the history of the urban growth of the site. After this phase, the work
is focalized on the identification of the existing correlations between
the development of the town and its vulnerability. The final step
consists to elaborate the interpretations on the interactions between
the urban growth, the sewerage network and the vulnerability of the
urban system.In conclusion, several recommendations are formulated
permitting the mitigation of the risk in the future. The principal
recommendations concern the new urban operations and the existing
urbanized sites.
Abstract: This paper evaluates the association between
economic environment in the districts of Madrid (Spain) and physical
inactivity, using income per capita as indicator of economic
environment. The analysis included 6,601 individuals aged 16 to 74
years. The measure of association estimated was the prevalence odds
ratio for physical inactivity by income per capita. After adjusting for
sex, age, and individual socioeconomic characteristics, people living
in the districts with the lowest per capita income had an odds ratio for
physical inactivity 1.58 times higher (95% confidence interval 1.35 to
1.85) than those living in districts with the highest per capita income.
Additional adjustment for the availability of sports facilities in each
district did not decrease the magnitude of the association. These
findings show that the widely believed assumption that the
availability of sports and recreational facilities, as a possible
explanation for the relation between economic environment and
physical inactivity, cannot be considered a universal observation.
Abstract: This paper describes the historical development of
interethnic concord in the Republic of Kazakhstan, and emphasizes
the role of tolerance mentality of the Kazakh people in ethno-political
policy of the country. Moreover, pointing out interethnic concord as a
powerful stabilizing factor, it analyses the specifics of interethnic
policy in multinational Kazakh society. It summarizes that the culture
of interethnic concord can be a model of ethno- political policy of
Kazakhstan.
Abstract: The linear methods of heart rate variability analysis
such as non-parametric (e.g. fast Fourier transform analysis) and
parametric methods (e.g. autoregressive modeling) has become an
established non-invasive tool for marking the cardiac health, but their
sensitivity and specificity were found to be lower than expected with
positive predictive value
Abstract: This study investigated students- perception of self
efficacy and anxiety in acquiring English language, and consequently
examined the relationship existing among the independent variables,
confounding variables and students- performances in the English
language. The researcher tested the research hypotheses using a
sample group of 318 respondents out of the population size of 400
students. The results obtained revealed that there was a significant
moderate negative relationship between English language anxiety
and performance in English language, but no significant relationship
between self-efficacy and English language performance, among the
middle-school students. There was a significant moderate negative
relationship between English language anxiety and self-efficacy. It
was discovered that general self-efficacy and English language
anxiety represented a significantly more powerful set of predictors
than the set of confounding variables. Thus, the study concluded that
English language anxiety and general self-efficacy were significant
predictors of English language performance among middle-school
students in Satri Si Suriyothai School.
Abstract: In contrast to existing methods which do not take into account multiconnectivity in a broad sense of this term, we develop mathematical models and highly effective combination (BIEM and FDM) numerical methods of calculation of stationary and quasistationary temperature field of a profile part of a blade with convective cooling (from the point of view of realization on PC). The theoretical substantiation of these methods is proved by appropriate theorems. For it, converging quadrature processes have been developed and the estimations of errors in the terms of A.Ziqmound continuity modules have been received. For visualization of profiles are used: the method of the least squares with automatic conjecture, device spline, smooth replenishment and neural nets. Boundary conditions of heat exchange are determined from the solution of the corresponding integral equations and empirical relationships. The reliability of designed methods is proved by calculation and experimental investigations heat and hydraulic characteristics of the gas turbine first stage nozzle blade.
Abstract: Conception is the primordial part in the realization of
a computer system. Several tools have been used to help inventors to
describe their software. These tools knew a big success in the
relational databases domain since they permit to generate SQL script
modeling the database from an Entity/Association model. However,
with the evolution of the computer domain, the relational databases
proved their limits and object-relational model became used more
and more. Tools of present conception don't support all new concepts
introduced by this model and the syntax of the SQL3 language. We
propose in this paper a tool of help to the conception and
implementation of object-relational databases called «NAVIGTOOLS"
that allows the user to generate script modeling its database
in SQL3 language. This tool bases itself on the Entity/Association
and navigational model for modeling the object-relational databases.
Abstract: Image processing for capsule endoscopy requires large
memory and it takes hours for diagnosis since operation time is
normally more than 8 hours. A real-time analysis algorithm of capsule
images can be clinically very useful. It can differentiate abnormal
tissue from health structure and provide with correlation information
among the images. Bleeding is our interest in this regard and we
propose a method of detecting frames with potential bleeding in
real-time. Our detection algorithm is based on statistical analysis and
the shapes of bleeding spots. We tested our algorithm with 30 cases of
capsule endoscopy in the digestive track. Results were excellent where
a sensitivity of 99% and a specificity of 97% were achieved in
detecting the image frames with bleeding spots.
Abstract: Earlier studies in kinship networks have primarily
focused on observing the social relationships existing between family
relatives. In this study, we pre-identified hubs in the network to
investigate if they could play a catalyst role in the transfer of physical
information. We conducted a case study of a ceremony performed in
one of the families of a small Hindu community – the Uttar Rarhi
Kayasthas. Individuals (n = 168) who resided in 11 geographically
dispersed regions were contacted through our hub-based
representation. We found that using this representation, over 98% of
the individuals were successfully contacted within the stipulated
period. The network also demonstrated a small-world property, with
an average geodesic distance of 3.56.
Abstract: The composition, vapour pressure, and heat capacity
of nine biodiesel fuels from different sources were measured. The
vapour pressure of the biodiesel fuels is modeled assuming an ideal
liquid phase of the fatty acid methyl esters constituting the fuel. New
methodologies to calculate the vapour pressure and ideal gas and
liquid heat capacities of the biodiesel fuel constituents are proposed.
Two alternative optimization scenarios are evaluated: 1) vapour
pressure only; 2) vapour pressure constrained with liquid heat
capacity. Without physical constraints, significant errors in liquid
heat capacity predictions were found whereas the constrained
correlation accurately fit both vapour pressure and liquid heat
capacity.