Abstract: Rooted in the study of social functioning of space in architecture, Space Syntax (SS) and the more recent Network Pattern (NP) researches demonstrate the 'spatial structures' of city, i.e. the hierarchical patterns of streets, junctions and alley ends. Applying SS and NP models, planners can conceptualize the real city-s patterns. Although, both models yield the optimal path of the city their underpinning displays of the city-s spatial configuration differ. The Axial Map analyzes the topological non-distance-based connectivity structure, whereas, the Central-Node Map and the Shortcut-Path Map, in contrast, analyze the metrical distance-based structures. This research contrasts and combines them to understand various forms of city-s structures. It concludes that, while they reveal different spatial structures, Space Syntax and Network Pattern urban models support each the other. Combining together they simulate the global access and the locally compact structures namely the central nodes and the shortcuts for the city.
Abstract: The introduction of haptic elements in a graphic user interfaces are becoming more widespread. Since haptics are being introduced rapidly into computational tools, investigating how these models affect Human-Computer Interaction would help define how to integrate and model new modes of interaction. The interest of this paper is to discuss and investigate the issues surrounding Haptic and Graphic User Interface designs (GUI) as separate systems, as well as understand how these work in tandem. The development of these systems is explored from a psychological perspective, based on how usability is addressed through learning and affordances, defined by J.J. Gibson. Haptic design can be a powerful tool, aiding in intuitive learning. The problems discussed within the text is how can haptic interfaces be integrated within a GUI without the sense of frivolity. Juxtaposing haptics and Graphic user interfaces has issues of motivation; GUI tends to have a performatory process, while Haptic Interfaces use affordances to learn tool use. In a deeper view, it is noted that two modes of perception, foveal and ambient, dictate perception. These two modes were once thought to work in tandem, however it has been discovered that these processes work independently from each other. Foveal modes interpret orientation is space which provide for posture, locomotion, and motor skills with variations of the sensory information, which instructs perceptions of object-task performance. It is contended, here, that object-task performance is a key element in the use of Haptic Interfaces because exploratory learning uses affordances in order to use an object, without meditating an experience cognitively. It is a direct experience that, through iteration, can lead to skill-sets. It is also indicated that object-task performance will not work as efficiently without the use of exploratory or kinesthetic learning practices. Therefore, object-task performance is not as congruently explored in GUI than it is practiced in Haptic interfaces.
Abstract: This paper focuses on the use of project work as a
pretext for applying the conventions of writing, or the correctness of
mechanics, usage, and sentence formation, in a content-based class in
a Rajabhat University. Its aim was to explore to what extent the
student teachers’ academic achievement of the basic writing features
against the 70% attainment target after the use of project is. The
organization of work around an agreed theme in which the students
reproduce language provided by texts and instructors is expected to
enhance students’ correct writing conventions. The sample of the
study comprised of 38 fourth-year English major students. The data
was collected by means of achievement test and student writing
works. The scores in the summative achievement test were analyzed
by mean score, standard deviation, and percentage. It was found that
the student teachers do more achieve of practicing mechanics and
usage, and less in sentence formation. The students benefited from
the exposure to texts during conducting the project; however, their
automaticity of how and when to form phrases and clauses into
simple/complex sentences had room for improvement.
Abstract: Due to the legacy of apartheid segregation South Africa remains a divided society where most voters live in politically homogenous social environments. This paper argues that political discussion within one’s social context plays a primary role in shaping political attitudes and vote choice. Using data from the Comparative National Elections Project 2004 and 2009 South African post-election surveys, the paper explores the extent of social context partisan homogeneity in South Africa and finds that voters are not overly embedded in homogenous social contexts. It then demonstrates the consequences of partisan homogeneity on voting behavior. Homogenous social contexts tend to encourage stronger partisan loyalties and fewer defections in vote choice while voters in more heterogeneous contexts show less consistency in their attitudes and behaviour. Finally, the analysis shows how momentous sociopolitical events at the time of a particular election can change the social context, with important consequences for electoral outcomes.
Abstract: A lot of recent research have spoken on the relation
between the increase of the homocysteinemia and some kinds of
cancer . For that, our study was based on the research of a possible
relation between the increase of the concentration of this amino-acid
in the plasma and the appearance of the disease of the Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in a part of Algerian children with Berber
origin in the East of Algeria . The study has done on 47 ill persons
with an average age of (09±06 ) years , with whom the disease has
diagnosed by blood and marrow examination in the hospital of blood
diseases in the CHU of Batna, and on 194 healthy witnesses of the
same age. The two groups were benefited by a dosage of the
concentration of the homocysteine vitamin B9 ,vitamin B12 , and
also of the study of special polymorphisms of indispensable enzymes
in the metabolism of this acid , and that by the use of the method (
Light cycler ) Real time PCR , on the following enzymes : MS (
C2756G ), MSR ( A66G ) ,MTHFR1 ( C677T ) and MTHFR2
(A1298C). The obtained results have revealed that the rate of the
homozygote muted genotype is the less frequent in the two groups ,
and that exist at list one genotype of each enzyme in the ill group and
in which the percentage exceed with remarkable way the same
genotype in the healthy group and we notice specially the muted
genotype GG of -the methionine synthetase-and the form TT of the
enzyme – methyline tetra hydrofolate reductase – We notice the
existence of considerable number of genotypes in the ill group lied
with characteristic increase of this Amino-acid ,and that for the
reduction of the biologic activity of these enzymes which become
inefficient in the transfer of the homocysteine into the methionine
and cause the diminution of the biologic activity of these enzymes
and with consequence the reduction of the percentage of methylic
radicals in the DNA of studied genes and that lead to the increase of
the activity and the capacity of transcription , and it-s so probably
that this last one is one of the factors of this disease especially if we
know that the specific check-up of vitamins is normal and similar in
the two groups , which ovoid the hypothesis of the reduction of
vitamins . We notice also that the heterozygote genotype is the less in
the sick category except the MTHFR2. Wild genotype is more
frequent in the witness group except MSR. Even these results are
partials; they open a new way in the genetic diagnosis of this
malicious disease which allow a precocious diagnosis and the use of
an effective and appropriated treatment in the same time.
Abstract: Plackett-Burman statistical screening of media
constituents and operational conditions for extracellular lipase
production from isolate Trichoderma viride has been carried out in
submerged fermentation. This statistical design is used in the early
stages of experimentation to screen out unimportant factors from a
large number of possible factors. This design involves screening of
up to 'n-1' variables in just 'n' number of experiments. Regression
coefficients and t-values were calculated by subjecting the
experimental data to statistical analysis using Minitab version 15.
The effects of nine process variables were studied in twelve
experimental trials. Maximum lipase activity of 7.83 μmol /ml /min
was obtained in the 6th trail. Pareto chart illustrates the order of
significance of the variables affecting the lipase production. The
present study concludes that the most significant variables affecting
lipase production were found to be palm oil, yeast extract, K2HPO4,
MgSO4 and CaCl2.
Abstract: A macroscopic constitutive equation is developed for a high-density cellulose insulation material with emphasis on the outof- plane stress relaxation behavior. A hypothesis is proposed where the total stress is additively composed by an out-of-plane visco-elastic isotropic contribution and an in-plane elastic orthotropic response. The theory is validated against out-of-plane stress relaxation, compressive experiments and in-plane tensile hysteresis, respectively. For large scale finite element simulations, the presented model provides a balance between simplicity and capturing the materials constitutive behaviour.
Abstract: The paper presents a multimodal approach for biometric authentication, based on multiple classifiers. The proposed solution uses a post-classification biometric fusion method in which the biometric data classifiers outputs are combined in order to improve the overall biometric system performance by decreasing the classification error rates. The paper shows also the biometric recognition task improvement by means of a carefully feature selection, as much as not all of the feature vectors components support the accuracy improvement.
Abstract: Needs of an efficient information retrieval in recent
years in increased more then ever because of the frequent use of
digital information in our life. We see a lot of work in the area of
textual information but in multimedia information, we cannot find
much progress. In text based information, new technology of data
mining and data marts are now in working that were started from the
basic concept of database some where in 1960.
In image search and especially in image identification,
computerized system at very initial stages. Even in the area of image
search we cannot see much progress as in the case of text based
search techniques. One main reason for this is the wide spread roots
of image search where many area like artificial intelligence,
statistics, image processing, pattern recognition play their role. Even
human psychology and perception and cultural diversity also have
their share for the design of a good and efficient image recognition
and retrieval system.
A new object based search technique is presented in this paper
where object in the image are identified on the basis of their
geometrical shapes and other features like color and texture where
object-co-relation augments this search process.
To be more focused on objects identification, simple images are
selected for the work to reduce the role of segmentation in overall
process however same technique can also be applied for other
images.
Abstract: Generation system reliability assessment is an
important task which can be performed using deterministic or
probabilistic techniques. The probabilistic approaches have
significant advantages over the deterministic methods. However,
more complicated modeling is required by the probabilistic
approaches. Power generation model is a basic requirement for this
assessment. One form of the generation models is the well known
capacity outage probability table (COPT). Different analytical
techniques have been used to construct the COPT. These approaches
require considerable mathematical modeling of the generating units.
The unit-s models are combined to build the COPT which will add
more burdens on the process of creating the COPT. Decimal to
Binary Conversion (DBC) technique is widely and commonly applied
in electronic systems and computing This paper proposes a novel
utilization of the DBC to create the COPT without engaging in
analytical modeling or time consuming simulations. The simple
binary representation , “0 " and “1 " is used to model the states o f
generating units. The proposed technique is proven to be an effective
approach to build the generation model.
Abstract: Post-anthesis drought stress is the most important
problem affecting wheat production in dryland fields, specially in
Mediterranean regions. The main objective of this research was to
evaluate drought tolerance indices in dryland wheat genotypes under
post-anthesis drought stress. The research was including two different
experiments. In each experiment, twenty dryland bread wheat
genotypes were sown in a randomized complete blocks design
(RCBD) with three replications. One of experiments belonged to
rain-fed conditions (post-anthesis drought stress) and other
experiment was under non-stress conditions (with supplemental
irrigation). Different drought tolerance indices include Stress
Tolerance (Tol), Mean Productivity (MP), Geometric Mean
Productivity (GMP), Stress Susceptibility Index (SSI), Stress
Tolerance Index (STI), Harmonic Mean (HAM), Yield Index (YI)
and Yield Stability Index (YSI) were evaluate based on grain yield
under rain-fed (Ys) and supplemental irrigation (Yp) environments.
G10 and G12 were the most tolerant genotypes based on TOL and
SSI. But, based on MP, GMP, STI, HAM and YI indices, G1 and G2
were selected. STI, GMP and MP indices had high correlation with
grain yield under rain-fed and supplementary irrigation conditions
and were recognized as appropriate indices to identify genotypes with
high grain yield and low sensitivity to drought stress environments.
Abstract: For cognitive radio networks, there is a major
spectrum sensing problem, i.e. dynamic spectrum management. It is
an important issue to sense and identify the spectrum holes in
cognitive radio networks. The first-order derivative scheme is usually
used to detect the edge of the spectrum. In this paper, a novel
spectrum sensing technique for cognitive radio is presented. The
proposed algorithm offers efficient edge detection. Then, simulation
results show the performance of the first-order derivative scheme and
the proposed scheme and depict that the proposed scheme obtains
better performance than does the first-order derivative scheme.
Abstract: This paper presents the climatic range calculations for
comfort evaporative cooling for Tehran. In this study the minimum
climatic conditions required to achieve an appropriate comfort zone
will be presented.
Physiologically uncomfortable conditions in arid climates are
mainly caused by the extreme heat and dryness. Direct evaporative
cooling adds moisture to the air stream until the air stream is close to
saturation. The dry bulb temperature is reduced, while the wet bulb
temperature stays the same. Evaporative cooling is economical,
effective, environmentally friendly, and healthy.
Comfort cooling by direct evaporative cooling (passive or fan
forced) in the 35. 41 N (such as Tehran) latitude requires design
wet-bulb temperature not over 25.4 C. Evaporative cooling outside
this limit cannot achieve the required 26.7 ET, and is recommended
for relief cooling only.
Abstract: The paper presents the Romanian realities and perspectives from the point of view of reaching the sustainable development model in the context of the recent accession to the European Union, based on the analysis of the indicators listed in the EU Sustainable Development Strategy. The analysis of the economic-social potential for sustainable development and of the environment aspects show that the objectives stipulated in the renewed EU Sustainable Development Strategy of 2006 can be reached, but an extra effort must be put-in in order to overcome the existing substantial gaps in several areas in relation to the developed countries of the EU. The paper-s conclusions show that even if sustainable development is not an easy target to reach in Romania, there are resources and a growing potential, which can lead to sustainable development if used rationally.
Abstract: Active research is underway on virtual touch screens
that complement the physical limitations of conventional touch
screens. This paper discusses a virtual touch screen that uses a
multi-layer perceptron to recognize and control three-dimensional
(3D) depth information from a time of flight (TOF) camera. This
system extracts an object-s area from the image input and compares it
with the trajectory of the object, which is learned in advance, to
recognize gestures. The system enables the maneuvering of content in
virtual space by utilizing human actions.
Abstract: This study aimed to develop and initially validate an instrument that measures social competency among tertiary level faculty members. A review of extant literature on social competence was done. The review of extant literature led to the writing of the items in the initial instrument which was evaluated by 11 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). The SMEs were either educators or psychologists. The results of the evaluations done by the SMEs served as bases for the creation of the pre-try-out instrument used in the first trial-run. Insights from the first trial-run participants led to the development of the main try-out instrument used in the final test administration. One Hundred Forty-one participants from five private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and five private HEIs in Central Luzon in the Philippines participated in the final test administration. The reliability of the instrument was evaluated using Cronbach-s Coefficient Alpha formula and had a Cronbach-s Alpha of 0.92. On the other hand, Factor Analysis was used to evaluate the validity of the instrument and six factors were identified. The development of the final instrument was based on the results of the evaluation of the instrument-s reliability and validity. For purposes of recognition, the instrument was named “Social Competency Inventory for Tertiary Level Faculty Members (SCI-TLFM)."
Abstract: A Finite Volume method based on Characteristic Fluxes for compressible fluids is developed. An explicit cell-centered resolution is adopted, where second and third order accuracy is provided by using two different MUSCL schemes with Minmod, Sweby or Superbee limiters for the hyperbolic part. Few different times integrator is used and be describe in this paper. Resolution is performed on a generic unstructured Cartesian grid, where solid boundaries are handled by a Cut-Cell method. Interfaces are explicitely advected in a non-diffusive way, ensuring local mass conservation. An improved cell cutting has been developed to handle boundaries of arbitrary geometrical complexity. Instead of using a polygon clipping algorithm, we use the Voxel traversal algorithm coupled with a local floodfill scanline to intersect 2D or 3D boundary surface meshes with the fixed Cartesian grid. Small cells stability problem near the boundaries is solved using a fully conservative merging method. Inflow and outflow conditions are also implemented in the model. The solver is validated on 2D academic test cases, such as the flow past a cylinder. The latter test cases are performed both in the frame of the body and in a fixed frame where the body is moving across the mesh. Adaptive Cartesian grid is provided by Paramesh without complex geometries for the moment.
Abstract: The aim of this study is to compare the innovativeness, risk taking, and focusing on opportunity of the nurse managers and nurses. The data are collected from nurse managers and nurses in Ondokuz Mayıs University, Faculty of Medicine Hospital and Karadeniz Technical University, Faculty of Medicine Hospital. The study sample consisted of 151 participants, 76 nurse managers (50.3%) and 75 nurses (49.7%). All participants have been assessed by Participant Information Form and Corporate Entrepreneurship Scale. In data analysis, independent t-test has applied. The results show that there are significant differences between nurse managers and nurses on innovativeness (t = 2.42, p < 0.05), risk taking (t = 3.62, p < 0.01), and focusing on opportunity (t = 2.16, p < 0.05). Consequently, it can be said that nurse managers have more innovativeness than nurses and tend to take more risks and focus more on opportunities.
Abstract: A large section of the society in Urban India is unable
to afford a basic dwelling unit. Housing shortage due to the rising unafforability makes it logical to consider alternative technologies more seriously for their application How far do these alternative
technologies match up with the conventional techniques? How do these integrate with the present-day need for urban amenities and
facilities? Are the owners of bamboo dwellings, for instance, a part of
the mainstream housing sector, having the same rights and privileges
as those enjoyed by other property owners? Will they have access to loans for building, improving, renovating or repairing their
dwellings? Why do we still hesitate to build a bamboo house for ourselves? Is our policy framework and political resolve in place, to
welcome such alternative technologies? It is time we found these answers, in order to explore the reasons for large-scale nonacceptance,
of a technology proven for its worthiness.
Abstract: Most neural network (NN) models of human category learning use a gradient-based learning method, which assumes that locally-optimal changes are made to model parameters on each learning trial. This method tends to under predict variability in individual-level cognitive processes. In addition many recent models of human category learning have been criticized for not being able to replicate rapid changes in categorization accuracy and attention processes observed in empirical studies. In this paper we introduce stochastic learning algorithms for NN models of human category learning and show that use of the algorithms can result in (a) rapid changes in accuracy and attention allocation, and (b) different learning trajectories and more realistic variability at the individual-level.