Abstract: Energetic and structural results for ethanol-water mixtures as a function of the mole fraction were calculated using Monte Carlo methodology. Energy partitioning results obtained for equimolar water-ethanol mixture and ether organic liquids are compared. It has been shown that at xet=0.22 the RDFs for waterethanol and ethanol-ethanol interactions indicated strong hydrophobic interactions between ethanol molecules and the local structure of solution is less structured at this concentration as at ether ones. Results obtained for ethanol-water mixture as a function of concentration are in good agreement with the experimental data.
Abstract: Jordan exerts many efforts to nurture their academically gifted students in special schools since 2001. During
the past nine years of launching these schools, their learning and excellence environments were believed to be distinguished compared
to public schools. This study investigated the environments of gifted
students compared with other non-gifted, using a survey instrument
that measures the dimensions of family, peers, teachers, school- support, society, and resources –dimensions rooted deeply in supporting gifted education, learning, and achievement. A total
number of 109 were selected from excellence schools for
academically gifted students, and 119 non-gifted students were selected from public schools. Around 8.3% of the non-gifted students
reported that they “Never" received any support from their surrounding environments, 14.9% reported “Seldom" support, 23.7% reported “ Often" support, 26.0% reported “Frequent" support, and
32.8% reported “Very frequent" support. Where the gifted students reported more “Never" support than the non-gifted did with 11.3%,
“Seldom" support with 15.4%, “Often" support with 26.6%,
“Frequent" support with 29.0%, and reported “Very frequent" support less than the non-gifted students with 23.6%. Unexpectedly,
statistical differences were found between the two groups favoring
non-gifted students in perception of their surrounding environments
in specific dimensions, namely, school- support, teachers, and society. No statistical differences were found in the other dimensions
of the survey, namely, family, peers, and resources. As the
differences were found in teachers, school- support, and society, the
nurturing environments for the excellence schools need to be revised to adopt more creative teaching styles, rich school atmosphere and
infrastructures, interactive guiding for the students and their parents, promoting for the excellence environments, and re-build successful
identification models. Thus, families, schools, and society should
increase their cooperation, communication, and awareness of the
gifted supportive environments. However, more studies to investigate
other aspects of promoting academic giftedness and excellence are recommended.
Abstract: This paper presents nonlinear elastic dynamic analysis
of 3-D semi-rigid steel frames including geometric and connection
nonlinearities. The geometric nonlinearity is considered by using
stability functions and updating geometric stiffness matrix. The
nonlinear behavior of the steel beam-to-column connection is
considered by using a zero-length independent connection element
comprising of six translational and rotational springs. The nonlinear
dynamic equilibrium equations are solved by the Newmark numerical
integration method. The nonlinear time-history analysis results are
compared with those of previous studies and commercial SAP2000
software to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed
procedure.
Abstract: Skin color based tracking techniques often assume a
static skin color model obtained either from an offline set of library
images or the first few frames of a video stream. These models
can show a weak performance in presence of changing lighting or
imaging conditions. We propose an adaptive skin color model based
on the Gaussian mixture model to handle the changing conditions.
Initial estimation of the number and weights of skin color clusters
are obtained using a modified form of the general Expectation
maximization algorithm, The model adapts to changes in imaging
conditions and refines the model parameters dynamically using spatial
and temporal constraints. Experimental results show that the method
can be used in effectively tracking of hand and face regions.
Abstract: Content-based music retrieval generally involves analyzing, searching and retrieving music based on low or high level features of a song which normally used to represent artists, songs or music genre. Identifying them would normally involve feature extraction and classification tasks. Theoretically the greater features analyzed, the better the classification accuracy can be achieved but with longer execution time. Technique to select significant features is important as it will reduce dimensions of feature used in classification and contributes to the accuracy. Artificial Immune System (AIS) approach will be investigated and applied in the classification task. Bio-inspired audio content-based retrieval framework (B-ACRF) is proposed at the end of this paper where it embraces issues that need further consideration in music retrieval performances.
Abstract: The paper deals with the analysis of triggering
conditions and evolution processes of piping phenomena, in relation
to both mechanical and hydraulic aspects. In particular, the aim of
the study is to predict slope instabilities triggered by piping,
analysing the conditions necessary for a flow failure to occur. Really,
the mechanical effect involved in the loads redistribution around the
pipe is coupled to the drainage process arising from higher
permeability of the pipe. If after the pipe formation, the drainage
goes prevented for pipe clogging, the porewater pressure increase can
lead to the failure or even the liquefaction, with a subsequent flow
slide. To simulate the piping evolution and to verify relevant stability
conditions, a iterative coupled modelling approach has been pointed
out. As example, the proposed tool has been applied to the Stava
Valley disaster (July, 1985), demonstrating that piping might be one
of triggering phenomena of the tailings dams collapse.
Abstract: Sports Sciences has been historically supported by the positivism idea of science, especially by the mechanistic/reductionist and becomes a field that views experimentation and measurement as the mayor research domains. The disposition to simplify nature and the world by parts has fragmented and reduced the idea of bodyathletes as machine. In this paper we intent to re-think this perception lined by Complexity Theory. We come with the idea of athletes as a reflexive and active being (corporeity-body). Therefore, the construction of a training that considers the cultural, biological, psychological elements regarding the experience of the human corporal movements in a circumspect and responsible way could bring better chances of accomplishment. In the end, we hope to help coaches understand the intrinsic complexity of the body they are training, how better deal with it, and, in the field of a deep globalization among the different types of knowledge, to respect and accepted the peculiarities of knowledge that comprise this area.
Abstract: Spherical shaped magnetite (Fe3O4) and Au@Fe3O4
nanoparticles were successfully synthesized from Fe electrodes
immersed in water with CTAB surfactant and HAuCl4 solution using
simple method-pulsed plasma in liquid, without the use of dopants or
special conditions for stabilization. Vibrating sample magnetometer
indicated ferromagnetic behavior of particles at room temperature with
coercivity and saturation magnetization of (Hc=105 Oe, Ms=6.83
emu/g) for Fe3O4 and (Hc=175, Ms=3.56emu/g) for Au@Fe3O4
nanoparticles. Structure and morphology of nanoparticles were
characterized by X-ray Diffraction analysis and HR-TEM
measurements. The cytotoxicity of nanoparticles was indicated using a
XTT assay to be very low (cell viability: 98-89% with Fe3O4 and
99-91% for Au@Fe3O4 NPs).
Abstract: The paper compares the treatment of fractions in a
typical undergraduate college curriculum and in abstract algebra
textbooks. It stresses that the main difference is that the
undergraduate curriculum treats equivalent fractions as equal, and
this treatment eventually leads to paradoxes and impairs the students-
ability to perceive ratios, proportions, radicals and rational exponents
adequately. The paper suggests a simplified version of rigorous
theory of fractions suitable for regular college curriculum.
Abstract: The lack of inclusive housing in Australia contributes
to the marginalization and exclusion of people with disability and
older people from family and community life. The Australian
government has handed over the responsibility of increasing the
supply of inclusive housing to the housing industry through an agreed
national access standard and a voluntary strategy. Voluntary
strategies have not been successful in other constituencies and little is
known about what would work in Australia today. Findings from a
research project into the voluntariness of the housing industry
indicate that a reliable and consistent supply is unlikely without an
equivalent increase in demand. The strategy has, however, an
important role to play in the task of changing housing industry
practices towards building more inclusive communities.
Abstract: Medical Surgical Nursing is one of the major subjects
in nursing. This study examined the validity and reliability of the
achievement examination utilizing the Classical Test Theory and
Item Response Theory. The study answered the following objectives
specifically : ( a) To establish the validity and reliability of the
achievement examination utilizing Classical Test Theory and Item
Response Theory ; ( b ) To determine the dimensionality measure of
items and ( c ) to compare the item difficulty and item discrimination
of the Medical Surgical Nursing Achievement examination using
Classical Test Theory ( CTT ) and Item Response Theory ( IRT ).
The developed instrument was administered to fourth year nursing
students (N= 136) of a private university in Manila. The findings
yielded the following results: The achievement examination is
reliable both using CTT and IRT. The findings indicate person and
item statistics from two frameworks are quite alike. The achievement
examination formed a unidimensional construct.
Abstract: With the advent of digital cinema and digital
broadcasting, copyright protection of video data has been one of the
most important issues.
We present a novel method of watermarking for video image data
based on the hardware and digital wavelet transform techniques and
name it as “traceable watermarking" because the watermarked data is
constructed before the transmission process and traced after it has been
received by an authorized user.
In our method, we embed the watermark to the lowest part of each
image frame in decoded video by using a hardware LSI.
Digital Cinema is an important application for traceable
watermarking since digital cinema system makes use of watermarking
technology during content encoding, encryption, transmission,
decoding and all the intermediate process to be done in digital cinema
systems. The watermark is embedded into the randomly selected
movie frames using hash functions.
Embedded watermark information can be extracted from the
decoded video data. For that, there is no need to access original movie
data. Our experimental results show that proposed traceable
watermarking method for digital cinema system is much better than the
convenient watermarking techniques in terms of robustness, image
quality, speed, simplicity and robust structure.
Abstract: The optimization problem using time scales is studied.
Time scale is a model of time. The language of time scales seems to
be an ideal tool to unify the continuous-time and the discrete-time
theories. In this work we present necessary conditions for a solution
of an optimization problem on time scales. To obtain that result we
use properties and results of the partial diamond-alpha derivatives for
continuous-multivariable functions. These results are also presented
here.
Abstract: In this work, several ASP solutions were flooded into
fractured models initially saturated with heavy oil at a constant flow
rate and different geometrical characteristics of fracture. The ASP
solutions are constituted from 2 polymers i.e. a synthetic polymer,
hydrolyzed polyacrylamide as well as a biopolymer, a surfactant and
2types of alkaline. The results showed that using synthetic
hydrolyzed polyacrylamide polymer increases ultimate oil recovery;
however, type of alkaline does not play a significant rule on oil
recovery. In addition, position of the injection well respect to the
fracture system has remarkable effects on ASP flooding. For instance
increasing angle of fractures with mean flow direction causes more
oil recovery and delays breakthrough time. This work can be
accounted as a comprehensive survey on ASP flooding which
considers most of effective factors in this chemical EOR method.
Abstract: Due to the mobility of users, many information
systems are now developed with the capability of supporting retrieval
of information from both static and mobile users. Hence, the
amount, content and format of the information retrieved will need to
be tailored according to the device and the user who requested for it.
Thus, this paper presents a framework for the design and
implementation of such a system, which is to be developed for
communicating final examination related information to the
academic community at one university in Malaysia. The concept of
personalization will be implemented in the system so that only highly
relevant information will be delivered to the users. The
personalization concept used will be based on user profiling as well
as context. The system in its final state will be accessible through cell
phones as well as intranet connected personal computers.
Abstract: This paper aims to provide a conceptual framework to examine competitive disadvantage of banks that suffer from poor performance. Banks generate revenues mainly from the interest rate spread on taking deposits and making loans while collecting fees in the process. To maximize firm value, banks seek loan growth and expense control while managing risk associated with loans with respect to non-performing borrowers or narrowing interest spread between assets and liabilities. Competitive disadvantage refers to the failure to access imitable resources and to build managing capabilities to gain sustainable return given appropriate risk management. This paper proposes a four-quadrant framework of organizational typology is subsequently proposed to examine the features of competitive disadvantage in the banking sector. A resource configuration model, which is extracted from CAMEL indicators to examine the underlying features of bank failures.
Abstract: According to FDA (Food and Drug Administration of the United States), vinegar is definedas a sour liquid containing at least 4 grams acetic acid in 100 cubic centimeter (4% solution of acetic acid) of solution that is produced from sugary materials by alcoholic fermentation. In the base of microbial starters, vinegars could be contained of more than 50 types of volatile and aromatic substances that responsible for their sweet taste and smelling. Recently the vinegar industry has a great proportion in agriculture, food and microbial biotechnology. The acetic acid bacteria are from the family Acetobacteraceae. Regarding to the latest version of Bergy-s Mannual of Systematic Bacteriology that has categorized bacteria in the base of their 16s RNA differences, the most important acetic acid genera are included Acetobacter (genus I), Gluconacetobacter (genus VIII) and Gluconobacter (genus IX). The genus Acetobacter that is primarily used in vinegar manufacturing plants is a gram negative, obligate aerobe coccus or rod shaped bacterium with the size 0.6 - 0.8 X 1.0 - 4.0 μm, nonmotile or motile with peritrichous flagella and catalase positive – oxidase negative biochemically. Some strains are overoxidizer that could convert acetic acid to carbon dioxide and water.In this research one Acetobacter native strain with high acetic acid productivity was isolated from Iranian white – red cherry. We used two specific culture media include Carr medium [yeast extract, 3%; ethanol, 2% (v/v); bromocresol green, 0.002%; agar, 2% and distilled water, 1000 ml], Frateur medium [yeast extract, 10 g/l; CaCO3, 20 g/l; ethanol, 20 g/l; agar, 20 g/l and distilled water, 1000 ml] and an industrial culture medium. In addition to high acetic acid production and high growth rate, this strain had a good tolerance against ethanol concentration that was examined using modified Carr media with 5%, 7% and 9% ethanol concentrations. While the industrial strains of acetic acid bacteria grow in the thermal range of 28 – 30 °C, this strain was adapted for growth in 34 – 36 °C after 96 hours incubation period. These dramatic characteristics suggest a potential biotechnological strain in production of cherry vinegar with a sweet smell and different nutritional properties in comparison to recent vinegar types. The lack of growth after 24, 48 and 72 hours incubation at 34 – 36 °C and the growth after 96 hours indicates a good and fast thermal flexibility of this strain as a significant characteristic of biotechnological and industrial strains.
Abstract: To fight against the economic crisis, French
Government, like many others in Europe, has decided to give a boost
to high-speed line projects. This paper explores the implementation
and decision-making process in TGV projects, their evolutions,
especially since the Mediterranean TGV-line. This project was
probably the most controversial, but paradoxically represents today a
huge success for all the actors involved.
What kind of lessons we can learn from this experience? How to
evaluate the impact of this project on TGV-line planning? How can
we characterize this implementation and decision-making process
regards to the sustainability challenges?
The construction of Mediterranean TGV-line was the occasion to
make several innovations: to introduce more dialog into the decisionmaking
process, to take into account the environment, to introduce a
new project management and technological innovations. That-s why
this project appears today as an example in terms of integration of
sustainable development.
In this paper we examine the different kinds of innovations
developed in this project, by using concepts from sociology of
innovation to understand how these solutions emerged in a
controversial situation. Then we analyze the lessons which were
drawn from this decision-making process (in the immediacy and a
posteriori) and the way in which procedures evolved: creation of new
tools and devices (public consultation, project management...).
Finally we try to highlight the impact of this evolution on TGV
projects governance. In particular, new methods of implementation
and financing involve a reconfiguration of the system of actors. The
aim of this paper is to define the impact of this reconfiguration on
negotiations between stakeholders.
Abstract: This paper discusses the applicability of the Data
Distribution Service (DDS) for the development of automated and modular manufacturing systems which require a flexible and robust
communication infrastructure. DDS is an emergent standard for datacentric publish/subscribe middleware systems that provides an
infrastructure for platform-independent many-to-many
communication. It particularly addresses the needs of real-time systems that require deterministic data transfer, have low memory
footprints and high robustness requirements. After an overview of the
standard, several aspects of DDS are related to current challenges for the development of modern manufacturing systems with distributed architectures. Finally, an example application is presented based on a modular active fixturing system to illustrate the described aspects.
Abstract: In this paper we present the information life cycle and analyze the importance of managing the corporate application portfolio across this life cycle. The approach presented here corresponds not just to the extension of the traditional information system development life cycle. This approach is based in the generic life cycle. In this paper it is proposed a model of an information system life cycle, supported in the assumption that a system has a limited life. But, this limited life may be extended. This model is also applied in several cases; being reported here two examples of the framework application in a construction enterprise and in a manufacturing enterprise.