Abstract: Significant attention has recently been paid to the
cross-cultural negotiations due to the growth of international
businesses. Despite the substantial body of literature examining the
influence of National Culture (NC) dimensions on negotiations, there
is a lack of studies comparing the influence of NC in Latin America
with a Western European countries, In particular, an extensive review
of the literature revealed that a contribution to knowledge would be
derived from the comparison of the influence of NC dimensions on
negotiations in UK and Venezuela. The primary data was collected
through qualitative interviews, to obtain an insight about the
perceptions and beliefs of Venezuelan and British business managers
about their negotiating styles. The findings of this study indicated
that NC has a great influence on the negotiating styles. In particular,
Venezuelan and British managers demonstrated to have opposed
negotiating styles, affecting the way they communicate, approach
people and their willingness to take risks.
Abstract: Taiwanese composer Kuo Chih-Yuan (1921-2013)
studied composition at Tokyo University of the Arts and was
influenced by the musical nationalism prevailing in Japan at the time.
Determined to create world-class contemporary works to represent
Taiwan, he created music with elements of traditional Taiwanese
music in ways that had not been done before. The aims of this study
were to examine the traditional elements used in Kuo Chih-Yuan’s
Variations and Fugue on an Ancient Taiwanese Music (1972), and
how an understanding of these elements might guide pianists to
interpret a more proper performance of his work was also presented
in this study.
Abstract: DNA Barcode provides good sources of needed
information to classify living species. The classification problem has
to be supported with reliable methods and algorithms. To analyze
species regions or entire genomes, it becomes necessary to use the
similarity sequence methods. A large set of sequences can be
simultaneously compared using Multiple Sequence Alignment which
is known to be NP-complete. However, all the used methods are still
computationally very expensive and require significant computational
infrastructure. Our goal is to build predictive models that are highly
accurate and interpretable. In fact, our method permits to avoid the
complex problem of form and structure in different classes of
organisms. The empirical data and their classification performances
are compared with other methods. Evenly, in this study, we present
our system which is consisted of three phases. The first one, is called
transformation, is composed of three sub steps; Electron-Ion
Interaction Pseudopotential (EIIP) for the codification of DNA
Barcodes, Fourier Transform and Power Spectrum Signal Processing.
Moreover, the second phase step is an approximation; it is
empowered by the use of Multi Library Wavelet Neural Networks
(MLWNN). Finally, the third one, is called the classification of DNA
Barcodes, is realized by applying the algorithm of hierarchical
classification.
Abstract: Nanotechnology has become the world attention in
various applications including the solar cells devices due to the
uniqueness and benefits of achieving low cost and better
performances of devices. Recently, thin film solar cells such as
Cadmium Telluride (CdTe), Copper-Indium-Gallium-diSelenide
(CIGS), Copper-Zinc-Tin-Sulphide (CZTS), and Dye-Sensitized
Solar Cells (DSSC) enhanced by nanotechnology have attracted
much attention. Thus, a compilation of nanotechnology devices
giving the progress in the solar cells has been presented. It is much
related to nanoparticles or nanocrystallines, carbon nanotubes, and
nanowires or nanorods structures.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a new segmentation approach
for liver lesions in regions of interest within MRI (Magnetic
Resonance Imaging). This approach, based on a two-cluster Fuzzy CMeans
methodology, considers the parameter variable compactness
to handle uncertainty. Fine boundaries are detected by a local
recursive merging of ambiguous pixels with a sequential forward
floating selection with Zernike moments. The method has been tested
on both synthetic and real images. When applied on synthetic images,
the proposed approach provides good performance, segmentations
obtained are accurate, their shape is consistent with the ground truth,
and the extracted information is reliable. The results obtained on MR
images confirm such observations. Our approach allows, even for
difficult cases of MR images, to extract a segmentation with good
performance in terms of accuracy and shape, which implies that the
geometry of the tumor is preserved for further clinical activities (such
as automatic extraction of pharmaco-kinetics properties, lesion
characterization, etc.).
Abstract: This paper is based on a large questionnaire study. The
paper presents how all participants and subgroups (upper- and
lower-level white-collar workers) answered the question, “Have you
had an ache, pain, or numbness, which you associate with desktop
computer use, in the different body parts during the last 12 months?’
14.6% of participants (19.4% of women and 8.2% of men) reported
that they had often or very often physical symptoms in the neck. Even
if our results cannot prove a causal relation of symptoms with
computer use, show that workers believe that computer use can
influence their wellbeing: this is important when devising treatment
modalities to decrease these physical symptoms.
Abstract: New design of three dimensional (3D) flywheel system
based on gimbal and gyro mechanics is proposed. The 3D flywheel
device utilizes the rotational motion of three spherical shells and the
conservation of angular momentum to achieve planar locomotion.
Actuators mounted to the ring-shape frames are installed within the
system to drive the spherical shells to rotate, for the purpose of steering
and stabilization. Similar to the design of 2D flywheel system, it is
expected that the spherical shells may function like a “flyball” to store
and supply mechanical energy; additionally, in comparison with
typical single-wheel and spherical robots, the 3D flywheel can be used
for developing omnidirectional robotic systems with better mobility.
The Lagrangian method is applied to derive the equation of motion of
the 3D flywheel system, and simulation studies are presented to verify
the proposed design.
Abstract: This study utilizes a frequency domain approach over
the period of 1996 to 2013 to examine the causal relationship between
governance and economic growth in ten Asian countries, which have
different levels of democracy; classified as “Free”, “Partly Free”, and
“Not Free” countries. The empirical results show that there is no
Granger causality running from governance to economic growth in
“Not Free” countries and “Partly Free” countries with the exception of
Singapore. As for “Free” countries such as South Korea and Taiwan,
there is a one-way causality running from governance to economic
growth. The findings of this study indicate that policy makers in South
Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore could use governance index to improve
their predictions of the future economic growth.
Abstract: This work presents an improved single fiber pull-out
test for fiber/matrix interface characterization. This test has been
used to study the Inter-Facial Shear Strength ‘IFSS’ of hemp fibers
reinforced polypropylene (PP). For this aim, the fiber diameter
has been carefully measured using a tomography inspired method.
The fiber section contour can then be approximated by a circle
or a polygon. The results show that the IFSS is overestimated if
the circular approximation is used. The Influence of the molding
temperature on the IFSS has also been studied. We find that a molding
temperature of 183◦C leads to better interfacial properties. Above or
below this temperature the interface strength is reduced.
Abstract: Distillery spentwash contains high chemical oxygen
demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), color, total
dissolved solids (TDS) and other contaminants even after biological
treatment. The effluent can’t be discharged as such in the surface
water bodies or land without further treatment. Reverse osmosis (RO)
treatment plants have been installed in many of the distilleries at
tertiary level in many of the distilleries in India, but are not properly
working due to fouling problem which is caused by the presence of
high concentration of organic matter and other contaminants in
biologically treated spentwash. In order to make the membrane
treatment a proven and reliable technology, proper pre-treatment is
mandatory. In the present study, ultra-filtration (UF) for pretreatment
of RO at tertiary stage has been performed. Operating
parameters namely initial pH (pHo: 2–10), trans-membrane pressure
(TMP: 4-20 bars) and temperature (T: 15-43°C) were used for
conducting experiments with UF system. Experiments were
optimized at different operating parameters in terms of COD, color,
TDS and TOC removal by using response surface methodology
(RSM) with central composite design. The results showed that
removal of COD, color and TDS was 62%, 93.5% and 75.5%
respectively, with UF, at optimized conditions with increased
permeate flux from 17.5 l/m2/h (RO) to 38 l/m2/h (UF-RO). The
performance of the RO system was greatly improved both in term of
pollutant removal as well as water recovery.
Abstract: In this study, to clarify the effectiveness of an
aluminum/chromium/tungsten-based-coated tool for cutting sintered
steel, tool wear was experimentally investigated. The sintered steel
was turned with the (Al60,Cr25,W15)N-, (Al60,Cr25,W15)(C,N)- and
(Al64,Cr28,W8)(C,N)-coated cemented carbide tools according to the
physical vapor deposition (PVD) method. Moreover, the tool wear of
the aluminum/chromium/tungsten-based-coated item was compared
with that of the (Al,Cr)N coated tool. Furthermore, to clarify the tool
wear mechanism of the aluminum/chromium/tungsten-coating film for
cutting sintered steel, Scanning Electron Microscope observation and
Energy Dispersive x-ray Spectroscopy mapping analysis were
conducted on the abraded surface. The following results were
obtained: (1) The wear progress of the (Al64,Cr28,W8)(C,N)-coated
tool was the slowest among that of the five coated tools. (2) Adding
carbon (C) to the aluminum/chromium/tungsten-based-coating film
was effective for improving the wear-resistance. (3) The main wear
mechanism of the (Al60,Cr25,W15)N-, the (Al60,Cr25,W15)(C,N)-
and the (Al64,Cr28,W8)(C,N)-coating films was abrasive wear.
Abstract: This paper describes a new approach which can be
used to interpret the experimental creep deformation data obtained
from miniaturized thin plate bending specimen test to the
corresponding uniaxial data based on an inversed application of the
reference stress method. The geometry of the thin plate is fully
defined by the span of the support, l, the width, b, and the thickness,
d. Firstly, analytical solutions for the steady-state, load-line creep
deformation rate of the thin plates for a Norton’s power law under
plane stress (b→0) and plane strain (b→∞) conditions were obtained,
from which it can be seen that the load-line deformation rate of the
thin plate under plane-stress conditions is much higher than that
under the plane-strain conditions. Since analytical solution is not
available for the plates with random b-values, finite element (FE)
analyses are used to obtain the solutions. Based on the FE results
obtained for various b/l ratios and creep exponent, n, as well as the
analytical solutions under plane stress and plane strain conditions, an
approximate, numerical solutions for the deformation rate are
obtained by curve fitting. Using these solutions, a reference stress
method is utilised to establish the conversion relationships between
the applied load and the equivalent uniaxial stress and between the
creep deformations of thin plate and the equivalent uniaxial creep
strains. Finally, the accuracy of the empirical solution was assessed
by using a set of “theoretical” experimental data.
Abstract: Steepest descent method is a simple gradient method
for optimization. This method has a slow convergence in heading to
the optimal solution, which occurs because of the zigzag form of the
steps. Barzilai and Borwein modified this algorithm so that it
performs well for problems with large dimensions. Barzilai and
Borwein method results have sparked a lot of research on the method
of steepest descent, including alternate minimization gradient method
and Yuan method. Inspired by previous works, we modified the step
size of the steepest descent method. We then compare the
modification results against the Barzilai and Borwein method,
alternate minimization gradient method and Yuan method for
quadratic function cases in terms of the iterations number and the
running time. The average results indicate that the steepest descent
method with the new step sizes provide good results for small
dimensions and able to compete with the results of Barzilai and
Borwein method and the alternate minimization gradient method for
large dimensions. The new step sizes have faster convergence
compared to the other methods, especially for cases with large
dimensions.
Abstract: Artificial neural networks have gained a lot of interest
as empirical models for their powerful representational capacity,
multi input and output mapping characteristics. In fact, most feedforward
networks with nonlinear nodal functions have been proved to
be universal approximates. In this paper, we propose a new
supervised method for color image classification based on selforganizing
feature maps (SOFM). This algorithm is based on
competitive learning. The method partitions the input space using
self-organizing feature maps to introduce the concept of local
neighborhoods. Our image classification system entered into RGB
image. Experiments with simulated data showed that separability of
classes increased when increasing training time. In additional, the
result shows proposed algorithms are effective for color image
classification.
Abstract: Optic disk segmentation plays a key role in the mass
screening of individuals with diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma
ailments. An efficient hardware-based algorithm for optic disk
localization and segmentation would aid for developing an automated
retinal image analysis system for real time applications. Herein,
TMS320C6416DSK DSP board pixel intensity based fractal analysis
algorithm for an automatic localization and segmentation of the optic
disk is reported. The experiment has been performed on color and
fluorescent angiography retinal fundus images. Initially, the images
were pre-processed to reduce the noise and enhance the quality. The
retinal vascular tree of the image was then extracted using canny
edge detection technique. Finally, a pixel intensity based fractal
analysis is performed to segment the optic disk by tracing the origin
of the vascular tree. The proposed method is examined on three
publicly available data sets of the retinal image and also with the data
set obtained from an eye clinic. The average accuracy achieved is
96.2%. To the best of the knowledge, this is the first work reporting
the use of TMS320C6416DSK DSP board and pixel intensity based
fractal analysis algorithm for an automatic localization and
segmentation of the optic disk. This will pave the way for developing
devices for detection of retinal diseases in the future.
Abstract: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of
synchronous music in Gymnastics' motor skill performance among
undergraduate female students in physical education college at Basra
University. The researcher used experimental design. 20 female
students of physical education divided equally into two groups, (10)
experimental group with music, (10) control group without music.
All participants complete 6 weeks in testing. Data analysis based on
T-test shows significant difference at (α = 0.05) in all skills level
between experimental and control groups in favor of experimental
group. Results of this study contribute to developing the role of
synchronous music in improving gymnastic skills performance.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a four-step ortho-rectification
procedure for real-time geo-referencing of video data from a low-cost
UAV equipped with a multi-sensor system. The basic procedures for
the real-time ortho-rectification are: (1) decompilation of the video
stream into individual frames; (2) establishing the interior camera
orientation parameters; (3) determining the relative orientation
parameters for each video frame with respect to each other; (4)
finding the absolute orientation parameters, using a self-calibration
bundle and adjustment with the aid of a mathematical model. Each
ortho-rectified video frame is then mosaicked together to produce a
mosaic image of the test area, which is then merged with a well
referenced existing digital map for the purpose of geo-referencing
and aerial surveillance. A test field located in Abuja, Nigeria was
used to evaluate our method. Video and telemetry data were collected
for about fifteen minutes, and they were processed using the four-step
ortho-rectification procedure. The results demonstrated that the
geometric measurement of the control field from ortho-images is
more accurate when compared with those from original perspective
images when used to pin point the exact location of targets on the
video imagery acquired by the UAV. The 2-D planimetric accuracy
when compared with the 6 control points measured by a GPS receiver
is between 3 to 5 metres.
Abstract: Research Objectives: The roles and activities of
Human Resource Management (HRM) have changed a lot in the past
years. Driven by a changing environment and therefore new business
requirements, the scope of human resource (HR) activities has
widened. The extent to which these activities should focus on
strategic issues to support the long term success of a company has
been discussed in science for many years. As many economies of
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) experienced a phase of transition
after the socialist era and are now recovering from the 2008 global
crisis it is needed to examine the current state of HR positioning.
Furthermore a trend in HR work developing from rather
administrative units to being strategic partners of management can be
noticed. This leads to the question of better understanding the
underlying competencies which are necessary to support
organisations. This topic was addressed by the international study
“HR Competencies in international comparison”. The quantitative
survey was conducted by the Institute for Human Resources &
Organisation of FHWien University of Applied Science of WKW (A)
in cooperation with partner universities in the countries Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. Methodology: Using the
questionnaire developed by Dave Ulrich we tested whether the HR
Competency model can be used for Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. After performing confirmatory and
exploratory factor analysis for the whole data set containing all five
countries we could clearly distinguish between four competencies. In
a further step our analysis focused on median and average
comparisons between the HR competency dimensions. Conclusion:
Our literature review, in alignment with other studies, shows a
relatively rapid pace of development of HR Roles and HR
Competencies in BCSS in the past decades. Comparing data from
BCSS and Austria we still can notice that regards strategic orientation
there is a lack in BCSS countries, thus competencies are not as
developed as in Austria. This leads us to the tentative conclusion that
HR has undergone a rapid change but is still in a State of Transition
from being a rather administrative unit to performing the role of a
strategic partner.
Abstract: In this study, the signal of brain electrical activities of
the sixteen students selected from the Department of Electrical and
Energy at Usak University have been recorded during a lecturer
performed happiness emotions for the first group and anger emotions
for the second group in different time while the groups were in the
classroom separately. The attention and meditation data extracted
from the recorded signals have been analyzed and evaluated toward
the teacher’s specific emotion states simultaneously. Attention levels
of students who are under influence of happiness emotions of the
lecturer have a positive trend and attention levels of students who are
under influence of anger emotions of the lecturer have a negative
trend. The meditation or mental relaxation levels of students who are
under influence of happiness emotions of the lecturer are 34.3%
higher comparing with the mental relaxation levels of students who
are under influence of anger emotions of the lecturer.
Abstract: In present global scenario, aluminum alloys are
coining the attention of many innovators as competing structural
materials for automotive and space applications. Comparing to other
challenging alloys, especially, 7xxx series aluminum alloys have
been studied seriously because of benefits such as moderate strength;
better deforming characteristics and affordable cost. It is expected
that substitution of aluminum alloys for steels will result in great
improvements in energy economy, durability and recyclability.
However, it is necessary to improve the strength and the formability
levels at low temperatures in aluminum alloys for still better
applications. Aluminum–Zinc–Magnesium with or without other
wetting agent denoted as 7XXX series alloys are medium strength
heat treatable alloys. In addition to Zn, Mg as major alloying
additions, Cu, Mn and Si are the other solute elements which
contribute for the improvement in mechanical properties by suitable
heat treatment process. Subjecting to suitable treatments like age
hardening or cold deformation assisted heat treatments; known as low
temperature thermomechanical treatments (LTMT) the challenging
properties might be incorporated. T6 is the age hardening or
precipitation hardening process with artificial aging cycle whereas T8
comprises of LTMT treatment aged artificially with X% cold
deformation. When the cold deformation is provided after solution
treatment, there is increase in hardness related properties such as
wear resistance, yield and ultimate strength, toughness with the
expense of ductility. During precipitation hardening both hardness
and strength of the samples are increasing. The hardness value may
further improve when room temperature deformation is positively
supported with age hardening known as thermomechanical treatment.
It is intended to perform heat treatment and evaluate hardness, tensile
strength, wear resistance and distribution pattern of reinforcement in
the matrix. 2 to 2.5 and 3 to 3.5 times increase in hardness is reported
in age hardening and LTMT treatments respectively as compared to
as-cast composite. There was better distribution of reinforcements in
the matrix, nearly two fold increase in strength levels and up to 5
times increase in wear resistance are also observed in the present
study.